Among the pamphlets in the Halliday collection in the Royal Irish
Academy, Dublin, is a tract with the following title:
"Reasons why we should not lower the Coins now Current in this
Kingdom ... Dublin: Printed and Sold by E. Waters in Dame-street."
At the end of this tract is printed Swift's speech to "an Assembly
of above one Hundred and fifty eminent persons who met at the Guild
Hall, on Saturday the 24th April, 1736, in order to draw up their
Petition, and present it to his grace the Lord Lieutenant against
lowering said Coin." It is from this tract that the present text
has been taken. The editor is obliged to Sir Henry Craik's "Life of
Swift" for drawing attention to this hitherto uncollected piece.
[T. S.]
SPEECH DELIVERED ON THE LOWERING OF THE COIN.
I beg you will consider and very well weigh in your hearts, what I am
going to say and what I have often said before. There are several bodies
of men, among whom the power of this kingdom is divided--1st, The
Lord-Lieutenant, Lords Justices and Council; next to these, my Lords the
Bishops; there is likewise my Lord Chancellor, and my Lords the Judges
of the land--with other eminent persons in the land, who have
employments and great salaries annexed. To these must be added the
Commissioners of the Revenue, with all their under officers: and lastly,
their honours of the Army, of all degrees.
Now, Gentlemen, I beg you again to consider that none of these persons
above named, can ever suffer the loss of one farthing by all the
miseries under which the kingdom groans at present. For, first, until
the kingdom be entirely ruined, the Lord-Lieutenant and Lords Justices
must have their salaries. My Lords the Bishops, whose lands are set at a
fourth part value, will be sure of their rents and their fines. My Lords
the Judges and those of other employments in the country must likewise
have their salaries. The gentlemen of the revenue will pay themselves,
and as to the officers of the army, the consequence of not paying them
is obvious enough. Nay, so far will those persons I have already
mentioned be from suffering, that, on the contrary, their revenues being
no way lessened by the fall of money, and the price of all commodities
considerably sunk thereby, they must be great gainers. Therefore,
Gentlemen, I do entreat you that as long as you live, you will look on
all persons who are for lowering the gold, or any other coin, as no
friends to this poor kingdom, but such, who find their private account
in what will be detrimental to Ireland. And as the absentees are, in
the strongest view, our greatest enemies, first by consuming above
one-half of the rents of this nation abroad, and secondly by turning the
weight, by their absence, so much on the Popish side, by weakening the
Protestant interest, can there be a greater folly than to pave a bridge
of gold at your own expense, to support them in their luxury and vanity
abroad, while hundreds of thousands are starving at home for want of
employment.
MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.
IRISH ELOQUENCE.[196]
I hope you will come and take a drink of my ale. I always brew with my
own bear. I was at your large Toun's house, in the county of Fermanegh.
He has planted a great many oak trees, and elm trees round his lough:
And a good warrent he had, it is kind father for him, I stayd with him a
week. At breakfast we had sometimes sowins, and sometimes stirrabout,
and sometimes fraughauns and milk; but his cows would hardly give a drop
of milk. For his head had lost the pachaun. His neighbour Squire Dolt is
a meer buddaugh. I'd give a cow in Conaught you could see him. He keeps
none but garrauns, and he rides on a soogaun with nothing for his bridle
but gadd. In that, he is a meer spaulpeen, and a perfect Monaghan, and a
Munster Croch to the bargain. Without you saw him on Sunday you would
take him for a Brogadeer and a spaned to a carl did not know had to draw
butter. We drank balcan and whisky out of madders. And the devil a
niglugam had but a caddao. I wonder your cozen does na learn him better
manners. Your cousin desires you will buy him some cheney cups. I
remember he had a great many; I wonder what is gone with them. I
coshered on him for a week. He has a fine staggard of corn. His dedy has
been very unwell. I was sorry that anything ayl her father's child.
Firing is very dear thereabout. The turf is drawn tuo near in Kislers;
and they send new rounds from the mines, nothing comes in the Cleeves
but stock. We had a sereroar of beef, and once a runy for dinner.
A DIALOGUE IN HIBERNIAN STYLE BETWEEN A. AND B.[197]
A. Them aples is very good.
B. I cam _again_ you in that.
A. Lord I was bodderd t'other day with that prating fool, Tom.
B. Pray, how does he _get_ his health?
A. He's often very _unwell_.
B. [I] hear he was a great pet of yours.
A. Where does he live?
B. Opposite the red Lyon.
A. I think he behaved very ill the last sessions.
B. That's true, but I cannot forbear loving his father's child: Will you
take a glass of my ale?
A. No, I thank you, I took a drink of small beer at home before I came
here.
B. I always brew with my own bear: You have a country-house: Are you [a]
planter.
A. Yes, I have planted a great many oak trees and ash trees, and some
elm trees round a lough.
B. And so a good warrant you have: It is kind father for you.
A. And what breakfast do you take in the country?
B. Sometimes stirabout, and in sumer we have the best frauhaurg in all
the county.
A. What kind of man is your neighbour Squire Dolt?
B. Why, a meer Buddogh. He sometimes coshers with me; and once a month I
take a pipe with him, and we shot it about for an hour together.
A. I hear he keeps good horses.
B. None but garrauns, and I have seen him often riding on a sougawn. In
short, he is no better than a spawlpien; a perfect Marcghen. When I was
there last, we had nothing but a medder to drink out of; and the devil a
nighigam but a caddao. Will you go see him when you come unto our
quarter?
A. Not _without_ you go with me.
B. Will you lend me your snuff-box?
A. Do you make good cheese and butter?
B. Yes, when we can get milk; but our cows will never keep a drop of
milk without a Puckaun.
TO THE PROVOST AND SENIOR FELLOWS OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
Deanery House,
July 5, 1736.
REV. AND WORTHY SIRS,
As I had the honour of receiving some part of my education in your
university, and the good fortune to be of some service to it while I had
a share of credit at court, as well as since, when I had very little or
none, I may hope to be excused for laying a case before you, and
offering my opinion upon it.
Mr. Dunkin,[198] whom you all know, sent me some time ago a memorial
intended to be laid before you, which perhaps he hath already done. His
request is, that you would be pleased to enlarge his annuity at present,
and that he may have the same right, in his turn, to the first church
preferment, vacant in your gift, as if he had been made a fellow,
according to the scheme of his aunt's will; because the absurdity of the
condition in it ought to be imputed to the old woman's ignorance,
although her intention be very manifest; and the intention of the
testator in all wills is chiefly regarded by the law. What I would
therefore propose is this, that you would increase his pension to one
hundred pounds a-year, and make him a firm promise of the first church
living in your disposal, to the value of two hundred pounds a-year, or
somewhat more. This I take to be a reasonable medium between what he
hath proposed in his memorial, and what you allow him at present.
I am almost a perfect stranger to Mr. Dunkin, having never seen him
above twice, and then in mixed company, nor should I know his person if
I met him in the streets.
But I know he is a man of wit and parts; which if applied properly to
the business of his function, instead of poetry, (wherein it must be
owned he sometimes excels,) might be of great use and service to him.
I hope you will please to remember, that, since your body hath received
no inconsiderable benefaction from the aunt, it will much increase your
reputation, rather to err on the generous side toward the nephew.
These are my thoughts, after frequently reflecting on the case under all
its circumstances; and so I leave it to your wiser judgments.
I am, with true respect and esteem, reverend and worthy Sirs,
Your most obedient and most humble servant,
JON. SWIFT.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN, SHERIFFS, AND
COMMON-COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CORK.
Deanery House, Dublin,
August 15, 1737.
GENTLEMEN,
I received from you, some weeks ago, the honour of my freedom, in a
silver box, by the hands of Mr. Stannard; but it was not delivered to me
in as many weeks more; because, I suppose, he was too full of more
important business. Since that time, I have been wholly confined by
sickness, so that I was not able to return you my acknowledgment; and it
is with much difficulty I do it now, my head continuing in great
disorder. Mr. Faulkner will be the bearer of my letter, who sets out
this morning for Cork.
I could have wished, as I am a private man, that, in the instrument of
my freedom, you had pleased to assign your reasons for making choice of
me. I know it is a usual compliment to bestow the freedom of the city on
an archbishop, or lord-chancellor, and other persons of great titles,
merely on account of their stations or power: but a private man, and a
perfect stranger, without power or grandeur, may justly expect to find
the motives assigned in the instrument of his freedom, on what account
he is thus distinguished. And yet I cannot discover, in the whole
parchment scrip, any one reason offered. Next, as to the silver box,
there is not so much as my name upon it, nor any one syllable to show it
was a present from your city. Therefore I have, by the advice of
friends, agreeable with my opinion, sent back the box and instrument of
freedom by Mr. Faulkner, to be returned to you; leaving to your choice
whether to insert the reasons for which you were pleased to give me my
freedom, or bestow the box upon some more worthy person whom you may
have an intention to honour, because it will equally fit everybody.
I am, with true esteem and gratitude,
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient and obliged servant,
JON. SWIFT.
TO THE HONOURABLE THE SOCIETY OF THE
GOVERNOR AND ASSISTANTS, LONDON,
FOR THE NEW PLANTATION IN ULSTER, WITHIN THE REALM OF IRELAND,
AT THE CHAMBER IN GUILDHALL, LONDON.
April 19, 1739.
WORTHY GENTLEMEN,
I heartily recommend to your very Worshipful Society, the Reverend Mr.
William Dunkin,[199] for the living of Colrane, vacant by the death of
Dr. Squire. Mr. Dunkin is a gentleman of great learning and wit, true
religion, and excellent morals. It is only for these qualifications that
I recommend him to your patronage; and I am confident that you will
never repent the choice of such a man, who will be ready at any time to
obey your commands. You have my best wishes, and all my endeavours for
your prosperity: and I shall, during my life, continue to be, with the
truest respect and highest esteem,
Worthy Sirs,
Your most obedient, and most humble servant,
JON. SWIFT.
CERTIFICATE TO A DISCARDED SERVANT.
Deanery-house,
Jan. 9, 1739-40
Whereas the bearer served me the space of one year, during which time he
was an idler and a drunkard, I then discharged him as such; but how far
his having been five years at sea may have mended his manners, I leave
to the penetration of those who may hereafter choose to employ him.
JON. SWIFT.
AN EXHORTATION ADDRESSED TO THE
SUB-DEAN AND CHAPTER OF ST.
PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN.
January 28, 1741.
Whereas my infirmities of age and ill-health have prevented me to
preside in the chapters held for the good order and government of my
cathedral church of St. Patrick, Dublin, in person: I have, by a legal
commission, made and appointed the very reverend Doctor John Wynne,
præcentor of the said cathedral, to be sub-dean in my stead and absence.
I do hereby ratify and confirm all the powers delegated to the said Dr.
Wynne in the said Commission.
And I do hereby require and request the very reverend sub-dean not to
permit any of the vicars-choral, choristers, or organists, to attend or
assist at any public musical performances, without my consent, or his
consent, with the consent of the chapter first obtained.
And whereas it hath been reported, that I gave a licence to certain
vicars to assist at a club of fiddlers in Fishamble Street, I do hereby
declare that I remember no such licence to have been ever signed or
sealed by me; and that if ever such pretended licence should be
produced, I do hereby annul and vacate the said licence. Intreating my
said sub-dean and chapter to punish such vicars as shall ever appear
there, as songsters, fiddlers, pipers, trumpeters, drummers,
drum-majors, or in any sonal quality, according to the flagitious
aggravations of their respective disobedience, rebellion, perfidy, and
ingratitude.
I require my said sub-dean to proceed to the extremity of expulsion, if
the said vicars should be found ungovernable, impenitent, or
self-sufficient, especially Taberner, Phipps, and Church, who, as I am
informed, have, in violation of my sub-dean's and chapter's order in
December last, at the instance of some obscure persons unknown, presumed
to sing and fiddle at the club above mentioned.
My resolution is to preserve the dignity of my station, and the honour
of my chapter; and, gentlemen, it is incumbent upon you to aid me, and
to show who and what the Dean and Chapter of Saint Patrick's are.
Signed by me,
JONATHAN SWIFT
Dean of St. Patrick's.
Witnesses present,
JAMES KING,
FRANCIS WILSON.
To the very Reverend Doctor John Wynne, sub-dean of the Cathedral church
of Saint Patrick, Dublin, and to the reverend dignitaries and
prebendaries of the same.
APPENDIX.
A LETTER TO THE WRITER OF THE OCCASIONAL PAPER.
NOTE.
In April, 1727, Swift paid his last visit to England. The visit
paid by him to Walpole, already referred to, resulted in nothing,
though it cannot, on that account, be argued that Swift's open
friendship for, and even support of, Pulteney and Bolingbroke was
owing to his failure with Walpole. Swift pleaded with Walpole for
Ireland and Ireland only, as his letter to Peterborough amply
testifies. It had nothing to do with the political situation in
England. The explanation for this sympathy is most likely found in
Sir Henry Craik's suggestion that Swift humoured the pretences of
his friends that they were of the party that maintained the
national virtues, resisted corruption, and defended liberty against
arbitrary power. To Pulteney Swift always wrote reminding him that
the country looked to him as its saviour, and he wrote in a similar
vein to Bolingbroke and Pope. The "Craftsman" had been founded by
Pulteney and Bolingbroke (a curious companionship when one
remembers the past lives of these two men) for the express purpose
of bringing low Walpole's political power. It began by exposing the
tricks of "Robin" and continued to lay bare the cunning and wiles
of the "Craftsman" at the head of the government of the country.
Both Pulteney and Bolingbroke wrote regularly, and the former
displayed a journalistic power quite extraordinary.
The letter which follows was written by Swift when in London on the
occasion of his last visit; but a note in Craik's "Life of Swift"
(vol. ii., pp. 166-167) is very interesting as showing that Swift
did certainly give hints for some of the subjects for discussion. I
take the liberty to transcribe this note in full. Sir Henry Craik
thinks it more than likely that Swift may have suggested, during
his last visit to London, some of the lines on which Bolingbroke
and Pulteney worked. In the note he adds:
"This finds some confirmation, from the following heads of a Tract,
which I have found in a memorandum in Swift's handwriting. The
memorandum belongs to Mr. Frederick Locker [now dead], who kindly
permitted me to use his papers, the same which came from Theophilus
Swift into Scott's possession. But the interest of this memorandum
escaped Scott's notice."
"PROPOSAL FOR VIRTUE."
"Every little fellow who has a vote now corrupted.
"An arithmetical computation, how much spent in election of
Commons, and pensions and foreign courts: how then can our debts be
paid?
"No fear that gentlemen will not stand and serve without Pensions,
and that they will let the Kingdom be invaded for want of fleets
and armies, or bring in Pretender, etc.
"How K(ing) will ensure his own interest as well as the Publick: he
is now forced to keep himself bare, etc., at least, late King was.
"Perpetual expedients, stop-gaps, etc., at long run must terminate
in something fatal, as it does in private estates.
"There may be probably 10,000 landed men in England fit for
Parliament. This would reduce Parliament to consist of real landed
men, which is full as necessary for Senates as for Juries. What do
the other 9,000 do for want of pensions?
" ... In private life, virtue may be difficult, by passions,
infirmities, temptations, want of pence, strong opposition, etc.
But not in public administration: there it makes all things easy.
"Form the Scheme. Suppose a King of England would resolve to give
no pension for party, etc., and call a Parliament, perfectly free,
as he could.
"What can a K. reasonably ask that a Parliament will refuse? When
they are resty, it is by corrupt ministers, who have designs
dangerous to the State, and must therefore support themselves by
bribing, etc.
"Open, fair dealing the best.
"A contemptuous character of Court art. How different from true
politics. For, comparing the talents of two professions that are
very different, I cannot but think, that in the present sense of
the word Politician, a common sharper or pickpocket, has every
quality that can be required in the other, and accordingly I have
personally known more than half a dozen in their hour esteemed
equally to excell in both."
* * * * *
The present text is based on that given in the eighth volume of the
quarto issue of Swift's Works published in 1765.
[T. S.]
A LETTER TO THE WRITER OF
THE OCCASIONAL PAPER.[200]
[VIDE THE CRAFTSMAN, 1727.]
SIR,
Although, in one of your papers, you declare an intention of turning
them, during the dead season of the year, into accounts of domestic and
foreign intelligence; yet I think we, your correspondents, should not
understand your meaning so literally, as if you intended to reject
inserting any other paper, which might probably be useful for the
public. Neither, indeed, am I fully convinced that this new course you
resolve to take will render you more secure than your former laudable
practice, of inserting such speculations as were sent you by several
well-wishers to the good of the kingdom; however grating such notices
might be to some, who wanted neither power nor inclination to resent
them at your cost. For, since there is a direct law against spreading
false news, if you should venture to tell us in one of the Craftsmen
that the Dey of Algiers had got the toothache, or the King of Bantam had
taken a purge, and the facts should be contradicted in succeeding
packets; I do not see what plea you could offer to avoid the utmost
penalty of the law, because you are not supposed to be very gracious
among those who are most able to hurt you.
Besides, as I take your intentions to be sincerely meant for the public
service, so your original method of entertaining and instructing us will
be more general and more useful in this season of the year, when people
are retired to amusements more cool, more innocent, and much more
reasonable than those they have left; when their passions are subsided
or suspended; when they have no occasions of inflaming themselves, or
each other; where they will have opportunities of hearing common sense,
every day in the week, from their tenants or neighbouring farmers, and
thereby be qualified, in hours of rain or leisure, to read and consider
the advice or information you shall send them.
Another weighty reason why you should not alter your manner of writing,
by dwindling to a newsmonger, is because there is no suspension of arms
agreed on between you and your adversaries, who fight with a sort of
weapons which have two wonderful qualities, that they are never to be
worn out, and are best wielded by the weakest hands, and which the
poverty of our language forceth me to call by the trite appellations of
scurrility, slander, and Billingsgate. I am far from thinking that these
gentlemen, or rather their employers, (for the operators themselves are
too obscure to be guessed at) should be answered after their own way,
although it were possible to drag them out of their obscurity; but I
wish you would enquire what real use such a conduct is to the cause they
have been so largely paid to defend. The author of the three first
Occasional Letters, a person altogether unknown, hath been thought to
glance (for what reasons he best knows) at some public proceedings, as
if they were not agreeable to his private opinions. In answer to this,
the pamphleteers retained on the other side are instructed by their
superiors, to single out an adversary whose abilities they have most
reason to apprehend, and to load himself, his family, and friends, with
all the infamy that a perpetual conversation in Bridewell, Newgate, and
the stews could furnish them; but, at the same time, so very unluckily,
that the most distinguishing parts of their characters strike directly
in the face of their benefactor, whose idea presenting itself along with
his guineas perpetually to their imagination, occasioned this desperate
blunder.
But, allowing this heap of slander to be truth, and applied to the
proper person; what is to be the consequence? Are our public debts to be
the sooner paid; the corruptions that author complains of to be the
sooner cured; an honourable peace, or a glorious war the more likely to
ensue; trade to flourish; the Ostend Company to be demolished;
Gibraltar and Port Mahon left entire in our possession; the balance of
Europe to be preserved; the malignity of parties to be for ever at an
end; none but persons of merit, virtue, genius, and learning to be
encouraged? I ask whether any of these effects will follow upon the
publication of this author's libel, even supposing he could prove every
syllable of it to be true?
At the same time, I am well assured, that the only reason of ascribing
those papers to a particular person, is built upon the information of a
certain pragmatical spy of quality, well known to act in that capacity
by those into whose company he insinuates himself; a sort of persons
who, although without much love, esteem, or dread of people in present
power, yet have too much common prudence to speak their thoughts with
freedom before such an intruder; who, therefore, imposes grossly upon
his masters, if he makes them pay for anything but his own conjectures.
It is a grievous mistake in a great minister to neglect or despise, much
more to irritate men of genius and learning. I have heard one of the
wisest persons in my time observe, that an administration was to be
known and judged by the talents of those who appeared their advocates in
print. This I must never allow to be a general rule; yet I cannot but
think it prodigiously unfortunate, that, among the answerers, defenders,
repliers, and panegyrists, started up in defence of present persons and
proceedings, there hath not yet arisen one whose labours we can read
with patience, however we may applaud their loyalty and good will. And
all this with the advantages of constant ready pay, of natural and
acquired venom, and a grant of the whole fund of slander, to range over
and riot in as they please.[201]
On the other side, a turbulent writer of Occasional Letters, and other
vexatious papers, in conjunction perhaps with one or two friends as bad
as himself, is able to disconcert, tease, and sour us whenever he
thinks fit, merely by the strength of genius and truth; and after so
dexterous a manner, that, when we are vexed to the soul, and well know
the reasons why we are so, we are ashamed to own the first, and cannot
tell how to express the other. In a word, it seems to me that all the
writers are on one side, and all the railers on the other.
However, I do not pretend to assert, that it is impossible for an ill
minister to find men of wit who may be drawn, by a very valuable
consideration, to undertake his defence; but the misfortune is, that the
heads of such writers rebel against their hearts; their genius forsakes
them, when they would offer to prostitute it to the service of
injustice, corruption, party rage, and false representations of things
and persons.
And this is the best argument I can offer in defence of great men, who
have been of late so very unhappy in the choice of their
paper-champions; although I cannot much commend their good husbandry, in
those exorbitant payments of twenty and sixty guineas at a time for a
scurvy pamphlet; since the sort of work they require is what will all
come within the talents of any one who hath enjoyed the happiness of a
very bad education, hath kept the vilest company, is endowed with a
servile spirit, is master of an empty purse, and a heart full of malice.
But, to speak the truth in soberness; it should seem a little hard,
since the old Whiggish principle hath been recalled of standing up for
the liberty of the press, to a degree that no man, for several years
past, durst venture out a thought which did not square to a point with
the maxims and practices that then prevailed: I say, it is a little hard
that the vilest mercenaries should be countenanced, preferred, rewarded,
for discharging their brutalities against men of honour, only upon a
bare conjecture.
If it should happen that these profligates have attacked an innocent
person, I ask what satisfaction can their hirers give in return? Not all
the wealth raked together by the most corrupt rapacious ministers, in
the longest course of unlimited power, would be sufficient to atone for
the hundredth part of such an injury.
In the common way of thinking, it is a situation sufficient in all
conscience to satisfy a reasonable ambition, for a private person to
command the forces, the laws, the revenues of a great kingdom, to
reward and advance his followers and flatterers as he pleases, and to
keep his enemies (real or imaginary) in the dust. In such an exaltation,
why should he be at the trouble to make use of fools to sound his
praises, (because I always thought the lion was hard set, when he chose
the ass for his trumpeter) or knaves to revenge his quarrels, at the
expense of innocent men's reputations?
With all those advantages, I cannot see why persons, in the height of
power, should be under the least concern on account of their reputation,
for which they have no manner of use; or to ruin that of others, which
may perhaps be the only possession their enemies have left them.
Supposing times of corruption, which I am very far from doing, if a
writer displays them in their proper colours, does he do anything worse
than sending customers to the shop? "Here only, at the sign of the
Brazen Head, are to be sold places and pensions: beware of counterfeits,
and take care of mistaking the door."
For my own part, I think it very unnecessary to give the character of a
great minister in the fulness of his power, because it is a thing that
naturally does itself, and is obvious to the eyes of all mankind; for
his personal qualities are all derived into the most minute parts of his
administration. If this be just, prudent, regular, impartial, intent
upon the public good, prepared for present exigencies, and provident of
the future; such is the director himself in his private capacity: If it
be rapacious, insolent, partial, palliating long and deep diseases of
the public with empirical remedies, false, disguised, impudent,
malicious, revengeful; you shall infallibly find the private life of the
conductor to answer in every point; nay, what is more, every twinge of
the gout or gravel will be felt in their consequences by the community.
As the thief-catcher, upon viewing a house broke open, could immediately
distinguish, from the manner of the workmanship, by what hand it was
done.
It is hard to form a maxim against which an exception is not ready to
start up: So, in the present case, where the minister grows enormously
rich, the public is proportionably poor; as, in a private family, the
steward always thrives the fastest when his lord is running out.
* * * * *
* * * * *
AN ACCOUNT OF THE COURT AND EMPIRE OF JAPAN.[202]
Regoge[203] was the thirty-fourth emperor of Japan, and began his reign
in the year 341 of the Christian era, succeeding to Nena,[204] a
princess who governed with great felicity.
There had been a revolution in that empire about twenty-six years
before, which made some breaches in the hereditary line; and Regoge,
successor to Nena, although of the royal family, was a distant
relation. There were two violent parties in the empire, which began in
the time of the revolution above mentioned; and, at the death of the
Empress Nena, were in the highest degree of animosity, each charging the
other with a design of introducing new gods, and changing the civil
constitution. The names of these two parties were Husiges and
Yortes.[205] The latter were those whom Nena, the late empress, most
favoured towards the end of her reign, and by whose advice she governed.
The Husige faction, enraged at their loss of power, made private
applications to Regoge during the life of the empress; which prevailed
so far, that, upon her death, the new emperor wholly disgraced the
Yortes, and employed only the Husiges in all his affairs. The Japanese
author highly blames his Imperial Majesty's proceeding in this affair;
because, it was allowed on all hands, that he had then a happy
opportunity of reconciling parties for ever by a moderating scheme. But
he, on the contrary, began his reign by openly disgracing the principal
and most popular Yortes, some of which had been chiefly instrumental in
raising him to the throne. By this mistaken step he occasioned a
rebellion; which, although it were soon quelled by some very surprising
turns of fortune, yet the fear, whether real or pretended, of new
attempts, engaged him in such immense charges, that, instead of clearing
any part of that prodigious debt left on his kingdom by the former war,
which might have been done by any tolerable management, in twelve years
of the most profound peace; he left his empire loaden with a vast
addition to the old encumbrance.
This prince, before he succeeded to the empire of Japan, was king of
Tedsu,[206] a dominion seated on the continent, to the west side of
Japan. Tedsu was the place of his birth, and more beloved by him than
his new empire; for there he spent some months almost every year, and
thither was supposed to have conveyed great sums of money, saved out of
his Imperial revenues.
There were two maritime towns of great importance bordering upon
Tedsu:[207] Of these he purchased a litigated title; and, to support it,
was forced not only to entrench deeply on his Japanese revenues, but to
engage in alliances very dangerous to the Japanese empire.[208]
Japan was at that time a limited monarchy, which some authors are of
opinion was introduced there by a detachment from the numerous army of
Brennus, who ravaged a great part of Asia; and, those of them who fixed
in Japan, left behind them that kind of military institution, which the
northern people, in ensuing ages, carried through most parts of Europe;
the generals becoming kings, the great officers a senate of nobles, with
a representative from every centenary of private soldiers; and, in the
assent of the majority in these two bodies, confirmed by the general,
the legislature consisted.
I need not farther explain a matter so universally known; but return to
my subject.
The Husige faction, by a gross piece of negligence in the Yortes, had so
far insinuated themselves and their opinions into the favour of Regoge
before he came to the empire, that this prince firmly believed them to
be his only true friends, and the others his mortal enemies.[209] By
this opinion he governed all the actions of his reign.
The emperor died suddenly, in his journey to Tedsu; where, according to
his usual custom, he was going to pass the summer.
This prince, during his whole reign, continued an absolute stranger to
the language, the manners, the laws, and the religion of Japan; and
passing his whole time among old mistresses, or a few privadoes, left
the whole management of the empire in the hands of a minister, upon the
condition of being made easy in his personal revenues, and the
management of parties in the senate. His last minister,[210] who
governed in the most arbitrary manner for several years, he was thought
to hate more than he did any other person in Japan, except his only
son, the heir to the empire. The dislike he bore to the former was,
because the minister, under pretence that he could not govern the senate
without disposing of employments among them, would not suffer his master
to oblige one single person, but disposed of all to his own relations
and dependants. But, as to that continued and virulent hatred he bore to
the prince his son, from the beginning of his reign to his death, the
historian hath not accounted for it, further than by various
conjectures, which do not deserve to be related.
The minister above mentioned was of a family not contemptible, had been
early a senator, and from his youth a mortal enemy to the Yortes. He had
been formerly disgraced in the senate, for some frauds in the management
of a public trust.[211] He was perfectly skilled, by long practice, in
the senatorial forms; and dexterous in the purchasing of votes, from
those who could find their accounts better in complying with his
measures, than they could probably lose by any tax that might be charged
on the kingdom. He seemed to fail, in point of policy, by not concealing
his gettings, never scrupling openly to lay out vast sums of money in
paintings, buildings, and purchasing estates; when it was known, that,
upon his first coming into business, upon the death of the Empress Nena,
his fortune was but inconsiderable. He had the most boldness, and the
least magnanimity that ever any mortal was endowed with. By enriching
his relations, friends, and dependants, in a most exorbitant manner, he
was weak enough to imagine that he had provided a support against an
evil day. He had the best among all false appearances of courage, which
was a most unlimited assurance, whereby he would swagger the boldest men
into a dread of his power, but had not the smallest portion of
magnanimity, growing jealous, and disgracing every man, who was known to
bear the least civility to those he disliked. He had some small
smattering in books, but no manner of politeness; nor, in his whole
life, was ever known to advance any one person, upon the score of wit,
learning, or abilities for business. The whole system of his ministry
was corruption; and he never gave bribe or pension, without frankly
telling the receivers what he expected from them, and threatening them
to put an end to his bounty, if they failed to comply in every
circumstance.
A few months before the emperor's death, there was a design concerted
between some eminent persons of both parties, whom the desperate state
of the empire had united, to accuse the minister at the first meeting of
a new chosen senate, which was then to assemble according to the laws of
that empire. And it was believed, that the vast expense he must be at in
choosing an assembly proper for his purpose, added to the low state of
the treasury, the increasing number of pensioners, the great discontent
of the people, and the personal hatred of the emperor; would, if well
laid open in the senate, be of weight enough to sink the minister, when
it should appear to his very pensioners and creatures that he could not
supply them much longer.
While this scheme was in agitation, an account came of the emperor's
death, and the prince his son,[212] with universal joy, mounted the
throne of Japan.
The new emperor had always lived a private life, during the reign of his
father; who, in his annual absence, never trusted him more than once
with the reins of government, which he held so evenly that he became too
popular to be confided in any more. He was thought not unfavourable to
the Yortes, at least not altogether to approve the virulence wherewith
his father proceeded against them; and therefore, immediately upon his
succession, the principal persons of that denomination came, in several
bodies, to kiss the hem of his garment, whom he received with great
courtesy, and some of them with particular marks of distinction.
The prince, during the reign of his father, having not been trusted with
any public charge, employed his leisure in learning the language, the
religion, the customs, and disposition of the Japanese; wherein he
received great information, among others, from Nomptoc[213], master of
his finances, and president of the senate, who secretly hated Lelop-Aw,
the minister; and likewise from Ramneh[214], a most eminent senator;
who, despairing to do any good with the father, had, with great
industry, skill, and decency, used his endeavour to instil good
principles into the young prince.
Upon the news of the former emperor's death, a grand council was
summoned of course, where little passed besides directing the ceremony
of proclaiming the successor. But, in some days after, the new emperor
having consulted with those persons in whom he could chiefly confide,
and maturely considered in his own mind the present state of his
affairs, as well as the disposition of his people, convoked another
assembly of his council; wherein, after some time spent in general
business, suitable to the present emergency, he directed Lelop-Aw to
give him, in as short terms as he conveniently could, an account of the
nation's debts, of his management in the senate, and his negotiations
with foreign courts: Which that minister having delivered, according to
his usual manner, with much assurance and little satisfaction, the
emperor desired to be fully satisfied in the following particulars.
Whether the vast expense of choosing such members into the senate, as
would be content to do the public business, were absolutely necessary?
Whether those members, thus chosen in, would cross and impede the
necessary course of affairs, unless they were supplied with great sums
of money, and continued pensions?
Whether the same corruption and perverseness were to be expected from
the nobles?
Whether the empire of Japan were in so low a condition, that the
imperial envoys, at foreign courts, must be forced to purchase
alliances, or prevent a war, by immense bribes, given to the ministers
of all the neighbouring princes?
Why the debts of the empire were so prodigiously advanced, in a peace of
twelve years at home and abroad?
Whether the Yortes were universally enemies to the religion and laws of
the empire, and to the imperial family now reigning?
Whether those persons, whose revenues consist in lands, do not give
surer pledges of fidelity to the public, and are more interested in the
welfare of the empire, than others whose fortunes consist only in money?
And because Lelop-Aw, for several years past, had engrossed the whole
administration, the emperor signified, that from him alone he expected
an answer.
This minister, who had sagacity enough to cultivate an interest in the
young prince's family, during the late emperor's life, received early
intelligence from one of his emissaries of what was intended at the
council, and had sufficient time to frame as plausible an answer as his
cause and conduct would allow. However, having desired a few minutes to
put his thoughts in order, he delivered them in the following manner.
* * * * *
"SIR,
"Upon this short unexpected warning, to answer your Imperial Majesty's
queries I should be wholly at a loss, in your Majesty's august presence,
and that of this most noble assembly, if I were armed with a weaker
defence than my own loyalty and integrity, and the prosperous success of
my endeavours.
"It is well known that the death of the Empress Nena happened in a most
miraculous juncture; and that, if she had lived two months longer, your
illustrious family would have been deprived of your right, and we should
have seen an usurper upon your throne, who would have wholly changed the
constitution of this empire, both civil and sacred; and although that
empress died in a most opportune season, yet the peaceable entrance of
your Majesty's father was effected by a continual series of miracles.
The truth of this appears by that unnatural rebellion which the Yortes
raised, without the least provocation, in the first year of the late
emperor's reign, which may be sufficient to convince your Majesty, that
every soul of that denomination was, is, and will be for ever, a
favourer of the Pretender, a mortal enemy to your illustrious family,
and an introducer of new gods into the empire. Upon this foundation was
built the whole conduct of our affairs; and, since a great majority of
the kingdom was at that time reckoned to favour the Yortes faction, who,
in the regular course of elections, must certainly be chosen members of
the senate then to be convoked; it was necessary, by the force of money,
to influence elections in such a manner, that your Majesty's father
might have a sufficient number to weigh down the scale on his side, and
thereby carry on those measures which could only secure him and his
family in the possession of the empire. To support this original plan I
came into the service: But the members of the senate, knowing themselves
every day more necessary, upon the choosing of a new senate, I found the
charges to increase; and that, after they were chosen, they insisted
upon an increase of their pensions; because they well knew that the work
could not be carried on without them: And I was more general in my
donatives, because I thought it was more for the honour of the crown,
that every vote should pass without a division; and that, when a debate
was proposed, it should immediately be quashed, by putting the question.
"Sir, The date of the present senate is expired, and your Imperial
Majesty is now to convoke a new one; which, I confess, will be somewhat
more expensive than the last, because the Yortes, from your favourable
reception, have begun to reassume a spirit whereof the country had some
intelligence; and we know the majority of the people, without proper
management, would be still in that fatal interest. However, I dare
undertake, with the charge only of four hundred thousand sprangs,[215]
to return as great a majority of senators of the true stamp, as your
Majesty can desire. As to the sums of money paid in foreign courts, I
hope, in some years, to ease the nation of them, when we and our
neighbours come to a good understanding. However, I will be bold to say,
they are cheaper than a war, where your Majesty is to be a principal.
"The pensions, indeed, to senators and other persons, must needs
increase, from the restiveness of some, and scrupulous nature of others;
and the new members, who are unpractised, must have better
encouragement. However, I dare undertake to bring the eventual charge
within eight hundred thousand sprangs. But, to make this easy, there
shall be new funds raised, of which I have several schemes ready,
without taxing bread or flesh, which shall be referred to more pressing
occasions.
"Your Majesty knows it is the laudable custom of all Eastern princes, to
leave the whole management of affairs, both civil and military, to their
viziers. The appointments for your family, and private purse, shall
exceed those of your predecessors: You shall be at no trouble, further
than to appear sometimes in council, and leave the rest to me: You shall
hear no clamour or complaints: Your senate shall, upon occasions,
declare you the best of princes, the father of your country, the arbiter
of Asia, the defender of the oppressed, and the delight of mankind.
"Sir, Hear not those who would most falsely, impiously, and maliciously
insinuate, that your government can be carried on without that
wholesome, necessary expedient, of sharing the public revenue with your
faithful deserving senators. This, I know, my enemies are pleased to
call bribery and corruption. Be it so: But I insist, that without this
bribery and corruption, the wheels of government will not turn, or at
least will be apt to take fire, like other wheels, unless they be
greased at proper times. If an angel from heaven should descend, to
govern this empire upon any other scheme than what our enemies call
corruption, he must return from whence he came, and leave the work
undone.
"Sir, It is well known we are a trading nation, and consequently cannot
thrive in a bargain where nothing is to be gained. The poor electors,
who run from their shops, or the plough, for the service of their
country, are they not to be considered for their labour and their
loyalty? The candidates, who, with the hazard of their persons, the loss
of their characters, and the ruin of their fortunes, are preferred to
the senate, in a country where they are strangers, before the very lords
of the soil; are they not to be rewarded for their zeal to your
Majesty's service, and qualified to live in your metropolis as becomes
the lustre of their stations?
"Sir, If I have given great numbers of the most profitable employments
among my own relations and nearest allies, it was not out of any
partiality, but because I know them best, and can best depend upon them.
I have been at the pains to mould and cultivate their opinions. Abler
heads might probably have been found, but they would not be equally
under my direction. A huntsman, who hath the absolute command of his
dogs, will hunt more effectually than with a better pack, to whose
manner and cry he is a stranger.
"Sir, Upon the whole, I will appeal to all those who best knew your
royal father, whether that blessed monarch had ever one anxious thought
for the public, or disappointment, or uneasiness, or want of money for
all his occasions, during the time of my administration? And, how happy
the people confessed themselves to be under such a king, I leave to
their own numerous addresses; which all politicians will allow to be the
most infallible proof how any nation stands affected to their
sovereign."
* * * * *
Lelop-Aw, having ended his speech and struck his forehead thrice against
the table, as the custom is in Japan, sat down with great complacency of
mind, and much applause of his adherents, as might be observed by their
countenances and their whispers. But the Emperor's behaviour was
remarkable; for, during the whole harangue, he appeared equally
attentive and uneasy. After a short pause, His Majesty commanded that
some other counsellor should deliver his thoughts, either to confirm or
object against what had been spoken by Lelop-Aw.
THE ANSWER OF THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM PULTENEY, ESQ., TO THE
RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.[216]
Oct. 15, 1730.
SIR,
A pamphlet was lately sent me, entitled, "A Letter from the Right
Honourable Sir R. W. to the Right Honourable W. P. Esq; occasioned by the
late Invectives on the King, her Majesty, and all the Royal Family." By
these initial letters of our names, the world is to understand that you
and I must be meant. Although the letter seems to require an answer, yet
because it appears to be written rather in the style and manner used by
some of your pensioners, than your own, I shall allow you the liberty to
think the same of this answer, and leave the public to determine which
of the two actors can better personate their principals. That frigid and
fustian way of haranguing wherewith your representer begins, continues,
and ends his declamation, I shall leave to the critics in eloquence and
propriety to descant on; because it adds nothing to the weight of your
accusations, nor will my defence be one grain the better by exposing its
puerilities.
I shall therefore only remark upon this particular, that the frauds and
corruptions in most other arts and sciences, as law, physic (I shall
proceed no further) are usually much more plausibly defended than in
that of politics; whether it be, that by a kind of fatality the
vindication of a corrupt minister is always left to the management of
the meanest and most prostitute writers; or whether it be, that the
effects of a wicked or unskilful administration, are more public,
visible, pernicious and universal. Whereas the mistakes in other
sciences are often matters that affect only speculation; or at worst,
the bad consequences fall upon few and private persons. A nation is
quickly sensible of the miseries it feels, and little comforted by
knowing what account it turns to by the wealth, the power, the honours
conferred on those who sit at the helm, or the salaries paid to their
penmen; while the body of the people is sunk into poverty and despair. A
Frenchman in his wooden shoes may, from the vanity of his nation, and
the constitution of that government, conceive some imaginary pleasure in
boasting the grandeur of his monarch, in the midst of his own slavery;
but a free-born Englishman, with all his loyalty, can find little
satisfaction at a minister overgrown in wealth and power from the lowest
degree of want and contempt; when that power or wealth are drawn from
the bowels and blood of the nation, for which every fellow-subject is a
sufferer, except the great man himself, his family, and his pensioners.
I mean such a minister (if there hath ever been such a one) whose whole
management hath been a continued link of ignorance, blunders, and
mistakes in every article besides that of enriching and aggrandizing
himself.
