Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A59617
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A discourse touching Tanger in a letter to a person of quality.
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Sheeres, Henry, Sir, d. 1710.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing S3058; ESTC R219091
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15,852
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52
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from this Place during our War with them Nor have the advantages been small arising from considerable quantities of English Merchandise Manufactures c dispos'd of hence into Barbary but having an eye to may promise of writing you only a Letter I shall in a word as to this first head only say That Tanger may be justly reckon'd to have gon far towards the recompencing to the Government the charge his Majesty has been at in its preservation and improvement And if while in its Infancy when there could be no just regulation of the charge nor the place fram'd and cultivated fully up to the uses and ends of the Government we can demonstrably make such a Calculation what may be hop'd from it when besides the large retrenchment it has already admitted in its charge to the King we shall be able to demonstrate so many farther extraordinary Services it is capable of rendring the Crown as I doubt not to prove in the following Section Which is to shew wherein and to what degree Tanger is applicable to the ends and uses of the Government I think I may challenge mankind to point me out in the whole Globe of the Earth a spot of ground so improvable of the honour and interest of the English Nation as Tanger What is it has rendered England so formidable so rich and so renown'd a Kingdom but the strength of our Navyes and Universality of our Commerce For our Fleeces might grow till they Rot and our Mines remain in the bowels of their Mother and our People rust into the Barbarity of their Ancestors and our Nation become a prey to every aspiring Monarch did not this mighty Machin set all Heads and Hands a-work quicken our understandings and polish our manners and from an object otherwise of pity or contempt render us the greatest Pattern in the World of the power of Industry the Fountain of all the Blessings we enjoy And because there are many various Wheels and Motions therein why should not Tanger be esteem'd among the principal of those movements which keep this vast Engin going First in respect of Spain in case of a War with that People he who knows any thing is not ignorant that the dammages we sustain by such a War are more through the Embargo of a free and open Commerce with them so useful and profitable to this Nation that it becomes a doubt whether it be not of more account than one half of the Trade we have with all Europe besides I say the mischief in such case will be more by a suspention of our Commerce than any great damage can arrive us by their hostilities If so then I undertake to say That Tanger is able in a good degree if not totally to answer this great objection For by virtue of our vicinity with Spain especially the five principal Ports of Sevil Cadiz St. Lucar Port St. Mary's and Malaga and by the convenience of a good Harbor here which by the success of the Mole is now well nigh effected our Nation there in case of a War may remove and settle their Factories here Which both for the safety of their Persons as well as Estates they need not be invited to do having to my certain knowledge sundry times been upon the point of taking that resolution like one man by some jealousies they have had of mis-understandings likely to ensue betwixt us and that People And affairs being once so settled the Spaniards themselves as their occasions press them will take care to be supply'd from hence as in the Instance I have given during the Plague of England By this means our Estates run no hazard of seizure or Confiscation We shall be able to put off our Commodities at better rates and the King of Spain wholly depriv'd of his Customs Tanger it self becomes a proportionable gainer by the bargain and his Majesties Subjects rest under the protection of their own Country Laws and Government and in the liberty of the exercise of their own Religion Thus as on the one hand Tanger renders a War with Spain less burthensome to us by so preserving the Commerce unbroken so by its advantagious Situation and improvement to a good Port it would prove so great a Thorn in their sides by the incessant hostilities we should commit upon them for it is not two hours Sail from Tanger to the Coast of Spain the hazard and obstruction of their West-India Trade the ruining their Commerce one with another all along the Coast of Andaluzia which would certainly ensue and the sundry other damages by the help of Tanger too long to ennumerate or not at present occuring to my observation All this I say put together seems to me to yield matter sufficient to furnish us with the highest sentiments of estimation for Tanger though no other consideration were put into the Scale For if this whole Theory or Postulata be true as a good deal is prov'd by matter of Fact and the rest not to be disproved but as time must try then I may undertake to say that the Nation seems by Tanger to have gain'd this great point which is that if heretofore the reasons touching the importance of preserving our Commerce with Spain have for the most been found superiour to the motives though great which that People may by their affronts and injuries have given his Majesty of resentment those Arguments I say are by means of Tanger removed and his Majesty in a better state of demanding satisfaction or doing himself right or the Spaniard hereby become conscious of the disadvantage deter'd from those provocations And that they are apprehensive of the benefits thus accruing by our possession of Tanger is every day visible from the pains they take to discourage its prosperity by obstructing by all ways possible our supplies of whatever kind from thence especially of materials for carrying on the Mole c. Whereof they are in great fear So that if positive arguments in our Favour were less cogent the bare opinion they have of the use may be made of Tanger in their prejudice ought to beget in any reasonable man who loves and has any regard to the honour and welfare of his Country proportionable wishes for its incouragement But leaving Spain let us proceed to observe what may be of remark touching Tanger with respect to France The French Commerce with Spain and their Interest in the Spanish Gallions and Flota has been universally concluded equivalent to half the Nations of Europe beside and they have more business in and about this Station and frequent the Streights mouth with more shipping of one sort or another than any two Nations in Christendom From whence our Ships riding at Anchor may weigh or slip and speak with all that pass in or out Now what an awe will Tanger bear on such a People and what greater blessing can a Maritime Nation as England is so justly jealous of their Honour and Authority abroad ask of God Almighty than to
degree it will hereafter come to discount the expence A first rate Ship in time of War is as great a charge to the King as Tanger is And yet did ever any body complain that our Ships were a burthen or our Fleets too numerous when there was occasion for their Service Does not Tanger live principally upon the growth and product of England and the money for the most part circulate among our selves Is the King's Treasure mis-employ'd there Don't we see every day the place improve the Mole in a good forwardness Which expence too will soon be at an end Are there not many useful provisions made for the encourageing of Shipping and Commerce And are we not sensible of it by the increase and improvement thereof For I remember the time when a Boat from Spain would draw down half the Town to the Water-side whereas now a Squadron of Ships scarce excites that curiosity Legorn now a famous Port and Scale of Trade was in this Duke of Florence's Grandfather's time a poor Fisher Town Maturity is the Child of Time and though God Almighty may blast the best form'd purposes yet nothing humanly speaking can prevent our fruition of the great benefits I have enumerated if we but apply the means which in a few words are these To prosecute vigorously the works of the Mole which in two or three years may render it a noble and safe Port. To fortifie the Town to the Landward Which work should go hand in hand with the Mole lest when it shall appear worth a Conquest our weakness should betray us To have a Garrison consisting of two thousand Foot in two Regiments and three hundred Horse to be well and duly paid and to be recruited once in three or four years by draughts out of the Guards By which means we should always have a strong orderly and well-disciplin'd Souldiery and not vagabonds and raw miserable shiftless wretches such as rais'd men for the most part prove whereof scarce the one half survive their seasoning The punctuality of relieving the Garrison as has been of late resolv'd will also keep them in heart chearful in their Duty and not put them upon such desperate courses as many of them in melancholly drunken fits have taken by running to the Moors where to the scandal of our Religion they either turn Renegades or remain in perpetual slavery The health of the Garrison will also by this practice be preserv'd for the Souldiers diet being salt meat disposes them in two or three years to inveterate ill habits of body Obstructions Scurvies Fluxes c. Whereof by reason of returning to the same diet again when a little mended by the care of the Physician they relapse and nothing but removing them to a better can recover them By this course I say Tanger would be the desirablest place for a Souldier in the World where they neither feel hunger or cold nor excess of heat the duty easie unless now and then when the Garrison is thin of men Where an industrious man can never want work and is no where better rewarded In brief 't is a place that instead of a Sepulcher as some call it will by this method become a Nursery of brave men where if they dye in the Field as some now and then do they have their reward in Heaven If they survive to see their Country they will be cherish'd and consider'd at home as men of honour and merit who have drawn their Swords and serv'd their King and Country against the Enemies of our Religion and of God himself The use of Horse is of so great importance to the safety and tranquility of the Place that I take it for granted we shall never be free from the insults of the Moors till our Horse shall be augmented to the aforesaid number The strength of all the Christian Garrisons upon this Coast principally consists in Horse Which example alone might suffice for our instruction for we are but of yesterday and their practice the result of some Ages of experience which is the best guide This Town was once preserv'd or rather recover'd by the bravery and opportune Service of the Horse for the Castle being surpris'd in the Night by the Enemies privately getting in over a low and defective part of the Wall the Horse taking the Alarm in the Town mounted and before they could get possession of the draw-bridge got in attack'd and defeated them who had otherwise demonstrably remain'd with Victory I am bold also to say and it is the Opinion of others who were upon the Place that had our Horse the day the Earl of Tiviot was lost perform'd their Duty that great Man and the major part of those with him had escap'd the Fatal slaughter With such a strength of Horse as this I propose we shall not be only able to perform with ease what is yet wanting for the fortifying and Securing the ground we have gain'd but deprive the Enemy of the profit they make by the Tillage and Pasture of the Country round about us For they will be necessitated either to keep an Army constantly in the Field which we know they cannot to lose the benefit and fruits of one of the sertilest spots of Ground in the World or allot us such Conditions as shall render us in a safe easie and plentiful Estate which I take assurance to affirm we shall in such case easily obtain As the benefits we shall reap by such a number of Horse prudently manag'd will be very great so the hardships we shall suffer without them will be insuperable For the ground about Tanger being uneven broken and proper for Ambushes our Foot will never be able to do any thing to the purpose but in Conjunction of a proportionable number of Horse to discover and clear the ground relieve and succour them when press'd and secure their retreat when out-number'd and forc'd to retire Our Fortifications also relieving our Forts and many other eminent Services will be but very imperfectly perform'd without the assistance of a good body of Horse The fruits of this care and charge will be reap'd in the benefits resulting by the Trade and Commerce it will beget and establish here for upon a secure prospect of safety to Goods and Merchandise both by Sea and Land and exemption from publick Charges and Duties and a general concurrence of all circumstances of ease and expedition in Importing and Exporting of goods will in time render Tanger the general Magazine of all the Merchandise from the Levant appointed for the Trade of the Spanish Indies as it will of our Northern Commodities of greatest value For the exorbitant or rather insupportable Duties upon Goods in Spain puts all People upon By-ways and secret hazardous practices in the Shipping and disposing of their Commodities and while Tanger can yield so good incouragement considered with the benefits of its vicinity with Spain all People will covet to lodge their Estates there where the whole charge besides