I remember, upon the transmission of that bill with the test clause
inserted, the Dissenters and their partisans, among other topics, spoke
much of the good effects produced by the lenity of the government, that
the Presbyterians were grown very inconsiderable in their number and
quality, and would daily come into the church, if we did not fright them
from it by new severities. When the act was passed, they presently
changed their style, and raised a clamour, through both kingdoms, of the
great numbers of considerable gentry who were laid aside, and could no
longer serve their queen and country; which hyperbolical way of
reckoning, when it came to be melted down into truth, amounted to about
fifteen country justices, most of them of the lowest size, for estate,
quality, or understanding. However, this puts me in mind of a passage
told me by a great man, though I know not whether it be anywhere
recorded. That a complaint was made to the king and council in Sweden,
of a prodigious swarm of Scots, who, under the condition of pedlars,
infested that kingdom to such a degree, as, if not suddenly prevented,
might in time prove dangerous to the state, by joining with any
discontented party. Meanwhile the Scots, by their agents, placed a good
sum of money to engage the offices of the prime minister in their
behalf; who, in order to their defence, told the council, he was assured
they were but a few inconsiderable people, that lived honestly and
poorly, and were not of any consequence. Their enemies offered to prove
the contrary, whereupon an order was made to take their number, which
was found to amount, as I remember, to about thirty thousand. The affair
was again brought before the council, and great reproaches made the
first minister, for his ill computation; who, presently took the other
handle, said, he had reason to believe the number yet greater than what
was returned; and then gravely offered to the king's consideration,
whether it were safe to render desperate so great a body of able men,
who had little to lose, and whom any hard treatment would only serve to
unite into a power capable of disturbing, if not destroying the peace of
the kingdom. And so they were suffered to continue.
A PROPOSAL
FOR THE
UNIVERSAL USE OF IRISH MANUFACTURE.
NOTE.
This pamphlet constitutes the opening of a campaign against his
political enemies in England on whom Swift had, it must be
presumed, determined to take revenge. When the fall of Harley's
administration was complete and irrevocable, Swift returned to
Ireland and, for six years, he lived the simple life of the Dean of
St. Patrick's, unheard of except by a few of his more intimate
friends in England. Accustomed by years of intimacy with the
ministers of Anne's court, and by his own temperament, to act the
part of leader and adviser, Swift's compulsory silence must have
chafed and irritated him to a degree. His opportunities for
advancement had passed with the passing of Harley and Bolingbroke
from power, and he had given too ardent and enthusiastic a support
to these friends of his for Walpole to look to him for a like
service. Moreover, however strong may have been these personal
motives, Swift's detestation of Walpole's Irish policy must have
been deep and bitter, even before he began to express himself on
the matter. His sincerity cannot be doubted, even if we make an
ample allowance for a private grudge against the great English
minister. The condition of Ireland, at this time, was such as to
arouse the warmest indignation from the most indifferent and
unprejudiced--and it was a condition for which English misrule was
mainly responsible. It cannot therefore be wondered at that Swift
should be among the strenuous and persistent opponents of a policy
which spelled ruin to his country, and his patriotism must be
recognized even if we accept the existence of a personal motive.
The crass stupidity which characterized England's dealings with
Ireland at this time would be hardly credible, were it not on
record in the acts passed in the reigns of Charles II. and William
III., and embodied in the resolutions of the English parliament
during Walpole's term of power. An impartial historian is forced to
the conclusion that England had determined to ruin the sister
nation. Already its social life was disreputable; the people taxed
in various ways far beyond their means; the agriculture at the
lowest state by the neglect and indifference of the landed
proprietors; and the manufactures crippled by a series of
pernicious restrictions imposed by a selfish rival.
Swift, in writing this "Proposal," did not take advantage of any
special occasion, as he did later in the matter of Wood's
halfpence. His occasion must be found in the condition of the
country, in the injustice to which she was subjected, and in the
fact that the time had come when it would be wise and safe for him
to come out once more into the open.
He began in his characteristic way. All the evils that the laws
against the manufactures and agriculture of Ireland brought into
existence are summarized in this "Proposal." His business is not to
attack the laws directly, but to attempt a method by which these
shall be nullified. Since the manufactures of Ireland might not be
exported for sale, let the people of Ireland wear them themselves,
and let them resolve and determine to wear them in preference to
those imported from England. If England had the right to prevent
the importation to it of Irish woollen goods, it was surely only
just that the Irish should exercise then right to wear their own
home-made clothes! The tract was a reasonable and mild statement.
Yet, such was the temper of the governing officials, that a cry was
raised against it and the writer accused of attempting to disunite
the two kingdoms. With consistent foolishness, the printer was
brought to trial, and although the jury acquitted him, yet the Lord
Chief Justice Whitshed, zealous for his employer more than for his
office, refused to accept the verdict and attempted to force the
jury to a conviction. In his letter to Pope, dated January 10th,
1720-21, Swift gives an account of this matter:
"I have written in this kingdom, a discourse, to persuade the
wretched people to wear their own manufactures, instead of those
from England. This treatise soon spread very fast, being agreeable
to the sentiments of the whole nation, except those gentlemen who
had employments, or were expectants. Upon which a person in great
office here immediately took the alarm; he sent in haste for the
chief-justice, and informed him of a seditious, factious, and
virulent pamphlet, lately published, with a design of setting the
two kingdoms at variance; directing, at the same time, that the
printer should be prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the law. The
chief-justice has so quick an understanding, that he resolved, if
possible, to outdo his orders. The grand juries of the county and
city were effectually practised with, to represent the said
pamphlet with all aggravating epithets, for which they had thanks
sent them from England, and their presentments published, for
several weeks, in all the newspapers. The printer was seized, and
forced to give great bail. After his trial, the jury brought him in
not guilty, although they had been culled with the utmost industry.
The chief-justice sent them back nine times, and kept them eleven
hours, until, being perfectly tired out, they were forced to leave
the matter to the mercy of the judge, by what they call a _special
verdict_. During the trial, the chief-justice, among other
singularities, laid his hand on his breast, and protested solemnly
that the author's design was to bring in the Pretender, although
there was not a single syllable of party in the whole treatise; and
although it was known that the most eminent of those who professed
his own principles, publicly disallowed his proceedings. But the
cause being so very odious and unpopular, the trial of the verdict
was deferred from one term to another, until, upon the Duke of
Grafton's, the lord lieutenant's arrival, his grace, after mature
advice, and permission from England, was pleased to grant a _noli
prosequi_."
This Chief Justice Whitshed was the same who acted as judge on
Harding's trial for printing the fourth Drapier letter. Swift never
forgot him, and took several occasions to satirize him bitterly.
* * * * *
The text of the present edition is based on the Dublin edition of
1720 and collated with the texts of Faulkner, 1735, and
Miscellanies of same date.
[T. S.]
A
PROPOSAL
For the universal Use
Of _Irish_ Manufacture,
IN
Cloaths and Furniture of Houses, &c.
UTTERLY
_Rejecting_ and _Renouncing_
Every Thing wearable that comes from
ENGLAND.
* * * * *
_Dublin_: Printed and Sold by _E. Waters_, in _Essex-street_, at the
Corner of _Sycamore-Alley_, 1720.
A PROPOSAL FOR THE UNIVERSAL USE OF IRISH MANUFACTURE, IN CLOTHES
AND FURNITURE OF HOUSES, &c.
UTTERLY REJECTING AND RENOUNCING EVERY THING WEARABLE THAT COMES FROM
ENGLAND.
It is the peculiar felicity and prudence of the people in this kingdom,
that whatever commodities or productions lie under the greatest
discouragements from England, those are what we are sure to be most
industrious in cultivating and spreading. Agriculture, which hath been
the principal care of all wise nations, and for the encouragement
whereof there are so many statute laws in England, we countenance so
well, that the landlords are everywhere by penal clauses absolutely
prohibiting their tenants from ploughing; not satisfied to confine them
within certain limitations, as it is the practice of the English; one
effect of which is already seen in the prodigious dearness of corn, and
the importation of it from London, as the cheaper market:[6] And because
people are the riches of a country, and that our neighbours have done,
and are doing all that in them lie, to make our wool a drug to us, and a
monopoly to them; therefore the politic gentlemen of Ireland have
depopulated vast tracts of the best land, for the feeding of sheep.[7]
I could fill a volume as large as the history of the Wise Men of Gotham
with a catalogue only of some wonderful laws and customs we have
observed within thirty years past.[8] 'Tis true indeed, our beneficial
traffic of wool with France, hath been our only support for several
years past, furnishing us all the little money we have to pay our rents
and go to market. But our merchants assure me, "This trade hath received
a great damp by the present fluctuating condition of the coin in France;
and that most of their wine is paid for in specie, without carrying
thither any commodity from hence."
However, since we are so universally bent upon enlarging our flocks, it
may be worth enquiring what we shall do with our wool, in case
Barnstaple[9] should be overstocked, and our French commerce should
fail?
I could wish the Parliament had thought fit to have suspended their
regulation of church matters, and enlargements of the prerogative till a
more convenient time, because they did not appear very pressing (at
least to the persons principally concerned) and instead of these great
refinements in politics and divinity, had amused themselves and their
committees a little with the state of the nation. For example: What if
the House of Commons had thought fit to make a resolution _nemine
contradicente_ against wearing any cloth or stuff in their families,
which were not of the growth and manufacture of this kingdom? What if
they had extended it so far as utterly to exclude all silks, velvets,
calicoes, and the whole lexicon of female fopperies; and declared, that
whoever acted otherwise, should be deemed and reputed an enemy to the
nation?[10] What if they had sent up such a resolution to be agreed to
by the House of Lords, and by their own practice and encouragement
spread the execution of it in their several countries? What if we should
agree to make burying in woollen a fashion, as our neighbours have made
it a law? What if the ladies would be content with Irish stuffs for the
furniture of their houses, for gowns and petticoats to themselves and
their daughters? Upon the whole, and to crown all the rest: Let a firm
resolution be taken by male and female, never to appear with one single
shred that comes from England; "And let all the people say,
AMEN."
I hope and believe nothing could please His Majesty better than to hear
that his loyal subjects of both sexes in this kingdom celebrated his
birthday (now approaching) universally clad in their own manufacture. Is
there virtue enough left in this deluded people to save them from the
brink of ruin? If the men's opinions may be taken, the ladies will look
as handsome in stuffs as brocades; and since all will be equal, there
may be room enough to employ their wit and fancy in choosing and
matching of patterns and colours. I heard the late Archbishop of Tuam
mention a pleasant observation of somebody's; "that Ireland would never
be happy till a law were made for burning everything that came from
England, except their people and their coals." Nor am I even yet for
lessening the number of those exceptions.[11]
Non tanti mitra est, non tanti judicis ostrum.
But I should rejoice to see a staylace from England be thought
scandalous, and become a topic for censure at visits and tea-tables.
If the unthinking shopkeepers in this town had not been utterly
destitute of common sense, they would have made some proposal to the
Parliament, with a petition to the purpose I have mentioned; promising
to improve the "cloths and stuffs of the nation into all possible
degrees of fineness and colours, and engaging not to play the knave
according to their custom, by exacting and imposing upon the nobility
and gentry either as to the prices or the goodness." For I remember in
London upon a general mourning, the rascally mercers and
woollen-drapers, would in four-and-twenty hours raise their cloths and
silks to above a double price; and if the mourning continued long, then
come whining with petitions to the court, that they were ready to
starve, and their fineries lay upon their hands.
I could wish our shopkeepers would immediately think on this proposal,
addressing it to all persons of quality and others; but first be sure to
get somebody who can write sense, to put it into form.
I think it needless to exhort the clergy to follow this good example,
because in a little time, those among them who are so unfortunate to
have had their birth and education in this country, will think
themselves abundantly happy when they can afford Irish crape, and an
Athlone hat; and as to the others I shall not presume to direct them. I
have indeed seen the present Archbishop of Dublin clad from head to foot
in our own manufacture; and yet, under the rose be it spoken, his Grace
deserves as good a gown as any prelate in Christendom.[12]
I have not courage enough to offer one syllable on this subject to their
honours of the army: Neither have I sufficiently considered the great
importance of scarlet and gold lace.
The fable in Ovid of Arachne and Pallas, is to this purpose. The goddess
had heard of one Arachne a young virgin, very famous for spinning and
weaving. They both met upon a trial of skill; and Pallas finding herself
almost equalled in her own art, stung with rage and envy, knocked her
rival down, turned her into a spider, enjoining her to spin and weave
for ever, out of her own bowels, and in a very narrow compass. I
confess, that from a boy, I always pitied poor Arachne, and could never
heartily love the goddess on account of so cruel and unjust a sentence;
which however is fully executed upon us by England, with further
additions of rigour and severity. For the greatest part of our bowels
and vitals are extracted, without allowing us the liberty of spinning
and weaving them.
The Scripture tells us, that "oppression makes a wise man mad."
Therefore, consequently speaking, the reason why some men are not mad,
is because they are not wise: However, it were to be wished that
oppression would in time teach a little wisdom to fools.
I was much delighted with a person who hath a great estate in this
kingdom, upon his complaints to me, "how grievously poor England suffers
by impositions from Ireland. That we convey our own wool to France in
spite of all the harpies at the custom-house. That Mr. Shuttleworth, and
others on the Cheshire coasts are such fools to sell us their bark at a
good price for tanning our own hides into leather; with other enormities
of the like weight and kind." To which I will venture to add some more:
"That the mayoralty of this city is always executed by an inhabitant,
and often by a native, which might as well be done by a deputy, with a
moderate salary, whereby poor England lose at least one thousand pounds
a year upon the balance. That the governing of this kingdom costs the
lord lieutenant two thousand four hundred pounds a year,[13] so much
_net_ loss to poor England. That the people of Ireland presume to dig
for coals in their own grounds, and the farmers in the county of Wicklow
send their turf to the very market of Dublin, to the great
discouragement of the coal trade at Mostyn and Whitehaven. That the
revenues of the post-office here, so righteously belonging to the
English treasury, as arising chiefly from our own commerce with each
other, should be remitted to London, clogged with that grievous burthen
of exchange, and the pensions paid out of the Irish revenues to English
favourites, should lie under the same disadvantage, to the great loss of
the grantees. When a divine is sent over to a bishopric here, with the
hopes of five-and-twenty hundred pounds a year; upon his arrival, he
finds, alas! a dreadful discount of ten or twelve _per cent._ A judge or
a commissioner of the revenue has the same cause of complaint."--Lastly,
"The ballad upon Cotter is vehemently suspected to be Irish manufacture;
and yet is allowed to be sung in our open streets, under the very nose
of the government."[14] These are a few among the many hardships we put
upon that _poor_ kingdom of England; for which I am confident every
honest man wishes a remedy: And I hear there is a project on foot for
transporting our best wheaten straw by sea and land carriage to
Dunstable; and obliging us by a law to take off yearly so many ton of
straw hats for the use of our women, which will be a great encouragement
to the manufacture of that industrious town.
I should be glad to learn among the divines, whether a law to bind men
without their own consent, be obligatory _in foro conscientiae_; because
I find Scripture, Sanderson and Suarez are wholly silent in the matter.
The oracle of reason, the great law of nature, and general opinion of
civilians, wherever they treat of limited governments, are indeed
decisive enough.
It is wonderful to observe the bias among our people in favour of
things, persons, and wares of all kinds that come from England. The
printer tells his hawkers that he has got "an excellent new song just
brought from London." I have somewhat of a tendency that way myself; and
upon hearing a coxcomb from thence displaying himself with great
volubility upon the park, the playhouse, the opera, the gaming
ordinaries, it was apt to beget in me a kind of veneration for his parts
and accomplishments. 'Tis not many years, since I remember a person who
by his style and literature seems to have been corrector of a
hedge-press in some blind alley about Little Britain, proceed gradually
to be an author, at least a translator of a lower rate, though somewhat
of a larger bulk, than any that now flourishes in Grub Street; and upon
the strength of this foundation, come over here, erect himself up into
an orator and politician, and lead a kingdom after him.[15] This, I am
told, was the very motive that prevailed on the author of a play, called
"Love in a hollow Tree," to do us the honour of a visit; presuming with
very good reason, that he was a writer of a superior class.[16] I know
another, who for thirty years past, hath been the common standard of
stupidity in England, where he was never heard a minute in any assembly,
or by any party with common Christian treatment; yet upon his arrival
hither, could put on a face of importance and authority, talked more
than six, without either gracefulness, propriety, or meaning; and at the
same time be admired and followed as the pattern of eloquence and
wisdom.
Nothing hath humbled me so much, or shewn a greater disposition to a
contemptuous treatment of Ireland in some chief governors,[17] than that
high style of several speeches from the throne, delivered, as usual,
after the royal assent, in some periods of the two last reigns. Such
high exaggerations of the prodigious condescensions in the prince, to
pass those good laws, would have but an odd sound at Westminster:
Neither do I apprehend how any good law can pass, wherein the king's
interest is not as much concerned as that of the people. I remember
after a speech on the like occasion, delivered by my Lord Wharton, (I
think it was his last) he desired Mr. Addison to ask my opinion of it:
My answer was, "That his Excellency had very honestly forfeited his head
on account of one paragraph; wherein he asserted by plain consequence, a
dispensing power in the Queen." His Lordship owned it was true, but
swore the words were put into his mouth by direct orders from Court.
From whence it is clear, that some ministers in those times, were apt,
from their high elevation, to look down upon this kingdom as if it had
been one of their colonies of outcasts in America. And I observed a
little of the same turn of spirit in some great men, from whom I
expected better; although to do them justice, it proved no point of
difficulty to make them correct their idea, whereof the whole nation
quickly found the benefit?--But that is forgotten. How the style hath
since run, I am wholly a stranger, having never seen a speech since the
last of the Queen.
I would now expostulate a little with our country landlords, who by
unmeasurable screwing and racking their tenants all over the kingdom,
have already reduced the miserable people to a worse condition than the
peasants in France, or the vassals in Germany and Poland; so that the
whole species of what we call substantial farmers, will in a very few
years be utterly at an end.[18] It was pleasant to observe these
gentlemen labouring with all their might for preventing the bishops from
letting their revenues at a moderate half value, (whereby the whole
order would in an age have been reduced to manifest beggary) at the very
instant when they were everywhere canting their own lands upon short
leases, and sacrificing their oldest tenants for a penny an acre
advance.[19] I know not how it comes to pass, (and yet perhaps I know
well enough) that slaves have a natural disposition to be tyrants; and
that when my betters give me a kick, I am apt to revenge it with six
upon my footman; although perhaps he may be an honest and diligent
fellow. I have heard great divines affirm, that "nothing is so likely to
call down an universal judgment from Heaven upon a nation as universal
oppression;" and whether this be not already verified in part, their
worships the landlords are now at full leisure to consider. Whoever
travels this country, and observes the face of nature, or the faces, and
habits, and dwellings of the natives, will hardly think himself in a
land where either law, religion, or common humanity is professed.[20]
I cannot forbear saying one word upon a thing they call a bank, which I
hear is projecting in this town.[21] I never saw the proposals, nor
understand any one particular of their scheme: What I wish for at
present, is only a sufficient provision of hemp, and caps, and bells,
to distribute according to the several degrees of honesty and prudence
in some persons. I hear only of a monstrous sum already named; and if
others, do not soon hear of it too, and hear of it with a vengeance,
then am I a gentleman of less sagacity, than myself and very few
besides, take me to be. And the jest will be still the better, if it be
true, as judicious persons have assured me, that one half of this money
will be real, and the other half only Gasconnade.[22] The matter will be
likewise much mended, if the merchants continue to carry off our gold,
and our goldsmiths to melt down our heavy silver.
AN ESSAY
ON
ENGLISH BUBBLES.
BY THOMAS HOPE, ESQ.
NOTE.
The excitement and even fury which were prevalent in England and
France during the years 1719 and 1720 over Law's South Sea schemes
afforded Swift an opportunity for the play of his satire by way of
criticism on projects which appeared to him to be of the same
character. News from France on the Mississippi Scheme which, in
1719, was at the height of its stock-jobbing success, gave glorious
accounts of fortunes made in a night, and of thousands who had
become rich and were living in unheard of luxury. Schemes were
floated on every possible kind of ventures, and so plentiful was
the "paper money" that nothing was too absurd for speculators. All
these schemes, which soon came to nought, went, later, by the name
of "Bubbles," and this essay of Swift's touches the matter with his
usual satire.
The time chosen for the proposal for the establishment of a
National Bank in Ireland was not a happy one. It was made in 1720
when the "Bubbles" had burst and found thousands ruined and
pauperized. Swift, always an enemy to schemes of any kind, classed
that of the bank with the rest of the "Bubbles," and, although the
plan itself was a real effort to relieve Ireland, and might have
effected its purpose, the terror of the "Bubbles" was sufficient to
wreck it.
It required very little from Swift to insure its rejection, and
rejected it was by the Irish legislature, before whose
consideration it was brought.
* * * * *
Some doubt seems to obtain as to the authenticity of this "Essay on
English Bubbles," which, in the words of Sir Walter Scott, may "be
considered as introductory to the other" tracts on the Bank
Project. This essay, however, appears in the edition of 1720 of
"The Swearer's Bank," and, although it is not included in the
"Miscellanies" of 1722, it is accepted by Faulkner in his collected
edition of Swift's works. The present text is based on that
prefixed to the edition of "The Swearer's Bank," 1720.
[T. S.]
AN ESSAY ON ENGLISH BUBBLES.
BY THOMAS HOPE, ESQ.
To the Right Reverend, Right Honourable, and Right Worshipful, and
to the Reverend, Honourable, and Worshipful, &c. Company of
Stockjobbers; whether Honest or Dishonest, Pious or Impious, Wise
or Otherwise, Male or Female, Young or Old, One with another, who
have suffered Depredation by the late Bubbles: _Greeting_.
Having received the following scheme from Dublin, I give you the
earliest notice, how you may retrieve the DECUS ET TUTAMEN,[23]
which you have sacrificed by permits in bubbles. This project is founded
on a Parliamentary security, besides, the devil is in it, if it can
fail, since a dignitary of the Church[24] is at the head on't. Therefore
you, who have subscribed to the stocking insurance, and are out at the
heels, may soon appear tight about the legs. You, who encouraged the
hemp manufacture, may leave the halter to rogues, and prevent the odium
of _felo de se_. Medicinal virtues are here to be had without the
expense and hazard of a dispensary: You may sleep without dreaming of
bottles at your tail, and a looking-glass shall not affright you; and
since the glass bubble proved as brittle as its ware, and broke together
with itself the hopes of its proprietors, they may make themselves whole
by subscribing to our new fund.
Here indeed may be made three very grave objections, by incredulous
interested priests, ambitious citizens, and scrupulous statesmen. The
stocking manufactory gentlemen don't know how swearing can bring 'em to
any probability of covering their legs anew, unless it be by the means
of a pair of stocks: That the hemp-snared men apprehend, that such an
encouragement for oaths can tend to no other advancement, promotion, and
exaltation of their persons, than that of the gallows: The late old
ordinary, Paul,[25] having grown grey in the habit of making this
accurate observation in every month's Session-Paper, "That swearing had
as great a hand in the suspension of every living soul under his cure,
as Sabbath-breaking itself;" and that the glass-bubble-men cannot, for
their lives, with the best pair of spectacles, that is the only thing
left neat and whole, out of all their wares, see how they shall make
anything out of this his oath-project, supposing he should even confirm
by one its goodness: An oath being, as they say, as brittle as glass,
and only made to be broken.
But those incredulous priests shall not go without an answer, that will,
I am sure, induce them to place a great confidence in the benefit
arising from Christians, who damn themselves every hour of the day. For
while they speak of the vainness and fickleness of oaths, as an
objection against our project, they little consider that this fickleness
and vainness is the common practice among all the people of this
sublunary world; and that consequently, instead of being an objection
against the project, is a concluding argument of the constancy and
solidity of their sure gain by it; a never-failing argument, as he tells
us, among the brethren of his cloth.
The ambitious citizens, who from being plunged deep in the wealthy
whirlpool of the South-Sea, are in hopes of rising to such seats of
fortune and dignity, as would best suit with their mounting and aspiring
hopes, may imagine that this new fund, in the sister nation, may prove a
rival to theirs; and, by drawing off a multitude of subscribers, will,
if it makes a flood in Ireland, cause an ebb in England. But it may be
answered, that, though our author avers, that this fund will vie with
the South-Sea, yet it will not clash with it. On the contrary, the
subscribers to this must wish the increase of the South-Sea, (so far
from being its rival); because the multitude of people raised by it, who
were plain-speakers, as they were plain-dealers before, must learn to
swear, in order to become their clothes, and to be gentlemen _Г la
mode_; while those that are ruined, I mean Job'd by it, will dismiss the
patience of their old pattern, swear at their condition, and curse their
Maker in their distress; and so the increase of that English fund will
be demonstratively an ample augmentation of the Irish one: So far will
it be from being rivalled by it, so that each of them may subscribe to a
fund they have their own security for augmenting.
The scrupulous statesmen (for we know that statesmen are usually very
scrupulous) may object against having this project secured by votes in
Parliament; by reason, as they may deem it, in their great wisdom, an
impious project; and that therefore so illustrious an assembly, as the
Irish parliament, ought, by no means, according to the opinion of a
Christian statesman, to be concerned in supporting an impious thing in
the world. The way that some may take to prove it impious, is, because
it will tend highly to the interest of swearing.--But this I take to be
plain downright sophistry, and playing upon words: If this be called the
Swearing project, or the Oath-act, the increase of swearing will be very
much for the benefit and interest of swearing, (_i.e._) to the
subscribers in the fund to be raised by this fruitful Swearing-act, if
it should be so called; but not to the swearers themselves, who are to
pay for it: So that it will be, according to this distinction, piously
indeed an act for a benefit to mankind, _from_ swearing, not
_impiously_, a benefit _in swearing_: So that I think that argument
entirely answered and defeated. Far be it from the Dean to have entered
into so unchristian a project, as this had been, so considered. But then
these politicians (being generally, as the world knows, mighty tender of
conscience) may raise these new doubts, fears, and scruples, _viz._ that
it will however cause the subscribers to wish, in their minds, for many
oaths to fly about, which is a heinous crime, and to lay stratagems to
try the patience of men of all sorts, to put them upon the swearing
strain, in order to bring grist to their own mill, which is a crime
still more enormous; and that therefore, for fear of these evil
consequences, the passing of such an act is not consistent with the
really extraordinary and tender conscience of a true modern politician.
But in answer to this, I think I can plead the strongest plea in nature,
and that is called precedent, I think; which I take thus from the
South-Sea: One man, by the very nature of that subscription, must
naturally pray for the temporal damnation of another man in his fortune,
in order for gaining his own salvation in it; yea, even though he knows
the other man's temporal damnation would be the cause of his eternal, by
his swearing and despairing. Neither do I think this in casuistry and
sin, because the swearing, undone man is a free agent, and can choose
whether he will swear or no, anybody's wishes whatsoever to the contrary
notwithstanding: And in politics I am sure it is even a Machiavellian
holy maxim, "That some men should be ruined for the good of others."
Thus I think I have answered all the objections that can be brought
against this project's coming to perfection, and proved it to be
convenient for the state, of interest to the Protestant church, and
consonant with Christianity, nay, with the very scruples of modern,
squeamish statesmen.
To conclude: The laudable author of this project squares the measures of
it so much according to the scripture rule, it may reasonably be
presumed, that all good Christians in England will come as fast into the
subscriptions for his encouragement, as they have already done
throughout the kingdom of Ireland. For what greater proof could this
author give of his Christianity, than, for bringing about this
Swearing-act, charitably to part with his coat, and sit starving in a
very thin waistcoat in his garret, to do the corporal virtues of feeding
and clothing the poor, and raising them from the cottage to the palace,
by punishing the vices of the rich. What more could have been done even
in the primitive times!
THOMAS HOPE.
From my House in St. Faith's Parish,
London, August 10, 1720.
P.S.--For the benefit of the author, application may be made to me at
the Tilt-Yard Coffee-house, Whitehall.
THE SWEARER'S BANK.
NOTE.
The plan for the establishment of a National Bank in Dublin was
first put forward in 1720 in the form of a petition presented to
the King by the Earl of Abercorn, Viscount Boyne, Sir Ralph Gore,
and others. It was proposed to raise a fund of ВЈ500,000 for the
purpose of loaning money to merchants at a comparatively low rate
of interest. The King approved of the petition, and directed that a
charter of incorporation for such a bank should pass the Great Seal
of Ireland. When the matter came up for discussion in the Irish
Houses of Legislature, both the Lords and Commons rejected the
proposal on the ground that no safe foundation for such an
establishment could be found. (See note _post_.)
During and after the discussion on this project in the legislature
a pamphlet controversy arose in which two able writers
distinguished themselves--Mr. Henry Maxwell and Mr. Hercules
Rowley. The former was in favour of the bank while Mr. Rowley was
against it.
Mr. Maxwell argued soundly from the ground on which all banking
institutions were founded. Mr. Rowley, however, pointed out that
the condition of Ireland, dependent as that country was on
England's whims, and interfered with as she always had been, by
English selfishness, in her commercial and industrial enterprises,
would not be bettered were the bank to prove even a great success.
For, should the bank be found in any way to touch the trade of
England, it might be taken for granted that its charter would be
repealed, and Ireland find itself in a worse state than it was
before.
The pamphlets written by these gentlemen bear the following titles:
(1) Reasons offer'd for erecting a Bank in Ireland; in a letter to
Hercules Rowley, Esq., by Henry Maxwell, Esq. Dublin, 1721.
(2) An Answer to a Book, intitled Reasons offered for erecting a
Bank in Ireland. In a Letter to Henry Maxwell, Esq. By Hercules
Rowley, Esq. Dublin, 1721.
(3) Mr. Maxwell's Second Letter to Mr. Rowley, wherein the
objections against the Bank are answered. Dublin, 1721.
(4) An answer to Mr. Maxwell's Second Letter to Mr. Rowley,
concerning the Bank. By Hercules Rowley, Esq. Dublin, 1721.
* * * * *
Sir Walter Scott, in his edition of Swift's works, reprints these
pamphlets. The text of the present edition of "The Swearer's Bank"
is based on that published in London in 1720.
[T. S.]
THE
_Swearer's_-Bank:
OR,
Parliamentary Security
FOR
Establishing a new BANK
IN
_IRELAND_.
WHEREIN
The Medicinal Use of OATHS is considered.
(WITH
The _Best in Christendom_. A TALE.)
* * * * *
_Written by Dean_ SWIFT.
* * * * *
_Si Populus vult decipi decipiatur._
* * * * *
To which is prefixed,
An ESSAY upon _English_ BUBBLES.
_By_ THOMAS HOPE, _Esq_;
* * * * *
_DUBLIN_:
Printed by THOMAS HUME, next Door to the _Walsh's-Head_ in
_Smock-Alley_. 1720. Reprinted at _London_ by J. ROBERTS in
_Warwick-Lane_.
THE SWEARER'S BANK.
"To believe everything that is said by a certain set of men, and to
doubt of nothing they relate, though ever so improbable," is a maxim
that has contributed as much for the time, to the support of Irish
banks, as it ever did to the Popish religion; and they are not only
beholden to the latter for their foundation, but they have the happiness
to have the same patron saint: For Ignorance, the reputed mother of the
devotion of the one, seems to bear the same affectionate relation to the
credit of the other.
To subscribe to banks, without knowing the scheme or design of them, is
not unlike to some gentlemen's signing addresses without knowing the
contents of them: To engage in a bank that has neither act of
parliament, charter, nor lands to support it, is like sending a ship to
sea without bottom; to expect a coach and six by the former, would be as
ridiculous as to hope a return by the latter.
It was well known some time ago, that our banks would be included in the
bubble-bill; and it was believed those chimeras would necessarily vanish
with the first easterly wind that should inform the town of the royal
assent.
It was very mortifying to several gentlemen, who dreamed of nothing but
easy chariots, on the arrival of the fatal packet, to slip out of them
into their walking shoes. But should those banks, as it is vainly
imagined, be so fortunate as to obtain a charter, and purchase lands;
yet on any run on them in a time of invasion, there would be so many
starving proprietors, reviving their old pretensions to land, and a
bellyful, that the subscribers would be unwilling, upon any call, to
part with their money, not knowing what might happen: So that in a
rebellion, where the success was doubtful, the bank would infallibly
break.[26]
Since so many gentlemen of this town have had the courage, without any
security, to appear in the same paper with a million or two; it is
hoped, when they are made sensible of their safety, that they will be
prevailed to trust themselves in a neat skin of parchment with a single
one.
To encourage them, the undertaker proposes the erecting a bank on
parliamentary security, and such security as no revolution or change of
times can affect.
To take away all jealousy of any private view of the undertaker, he
assures the world, that he is now in a garret, in a very thin waistcoat,
studying the public good, having given an undeniable pledge of his love
to his country, by pawning his coat, in order to defray the expense of
the press.
It is very well known, that by an act of parliament to prevent profane
swearing, the person so offending, on oath made before a magistrate,
forfeits a shilling, which may be levied with little difficulty.
It is almost unnecessary to mention, that this is become a pet-vice
among us; and though age renders us unfit for other vices, yet this,
where it takes hold, never leaves us but with our speech.
So vast a revenue might be raised by the execution of this act, that I
have often wondered, in such a scarcity of funds, that methods have not
been taken to make it serviceable to the public.
I dare venture to say, if this act was well executed in England, the
revenue of it applied to the navy, would make the English fleet a terror
to all Europe.
It is computed by geographers, that there are two millions in this
kingdom, (of Ireland) of which number there may be said to be a million
of swearing souls.
It is thought there may be five thousand gentlemen; every gentleman,
taking one with another, may afford to swear an oath every day, which
will yearly produce one million, eight hundred, twenty-five thousand
oaths, which number of shillings makes the yearly sum of ninety-one
thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds.
The farmers of this kingdom, who are computed to be ten thousand, are
able to spend yearly five hundred thousand oaths, which gives
twenty-five thousand pounds; and it is conjectured, that from the bulk
of the people twenty, or five-and-twenty thousand pounds may be yearly
collected.
These computations are very modest, since it is evident that there is a
much greater consumption of oaths in this kingdom, and consequently a
much greater sum might be yearly raised.
That it may be collected with ease and regularity, it is proposed to
settle informers in great towns in proportion to the number of
inhabitants, and to have riding-officers in the country; and since
nothing brings a greater contempt on any profession than poverty, it is
determined to settle very handsome salaries on the gentlemen that are
employed by the bank, that they may, by a generosity of living,
reconcile men to an office, that has lain under so much scandal of late,
as to be undertaken by none but curates, clerks of meeting-houses, and
broken tradesmen.
It is resolved, that none shall be preferred to those employments, but
persons that are notorious for being constant churchmen, and frequent
communicants; whose piety will be a sufficient security for their honest
and industrious execution of their office.
It is very probable, that twenty thousand pounds will be necessary to
defray all expenses of servants salaries, &c. However, there will be the
clear yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, which may very justly
claim a million subscription.
It is determined to lay out the remaining unapplied profits, which will
be very considerable, towards the erecting and maintaining charity
schools; a design so beneficial to the public, and especially to the
Protestant interest of this kingdom, has met with so much encouragement
from several great patriots in England, that they have engaged to
procure an act to secure the sole benefit of informing, on this swearing
act, to the agents and servants of this new bank. Several of my friends
pretend to demonstrate, that this bank will in time vie with the South
Sea Company: They insist, that the army dispend as many oaths yearly as
will produce one hundred thousand pounds _net_.
There are computed to be one hundred pretty fellows in this town, that
swear fifty oaths a head daily; some of them would think it hard to be
stinted to an hundred: This very branch would produce a vast sum yearly.
The fairs of this kingdom will bring in a vast revenue; the oaths of a
little Connaught one, as well as they could be numbered by two persons,
amounted to three thousand. It is true, that it would be impossible to
turn all of them into ready money; for a shilling is so great a duty on
swearing, that if it was carefully exacted, the common people might as
well pretend to drink wine as to swear; and an oath would be as rare
among them as a clean shirt.
A servant that I employed to accompany the militia their last muster
day, had scored down in the compass of eight hours, three hundred oaths,
but as the putting the act in execution on those days, would only fill
the stocks with porters, and pawn-shops with muskets and swords: And as
it would be matter of great joy to Papists, and disaffected persons, to
see our militia swear themselves out of their guns and swords, it is
resolved, that no advantage shall be taken of any militiaman's swearing
while he is under arms; nor shall any advantage be taken of any man's
swearing in the Four Courts provided he is at hearing in the exchequer,
or has just paid off an attorney's bill.
The medicinal use of oaths is what the undertaker would by no means
discourage, especially where it is necessary to help the lungs to throw
off any distilling humour. On certificate of a course of swearing
prescribed by any physician, a permit will be given to the patient by
the proper officer of the bank, paying no more but sixpence. It is
expected, that a scheme of so much advantage to the public will meet
with more encouragement than their chimerical banks; and the undertaker
hopes, that as he has spent a considerable fortune in bringing this
scheme to bear, he may have the satisfaction to see it take place, for
the public good, though he should have the fate of most projectors, to
be undone.
It is resolved, that no compositions shall be made, nor licences granted
for swearing, under a notion of applying the money to pious uses; a
practice so scandalous as is fit only for the see of Rome, where the
money arising from whoring licences is applied _ad propagandam fidem_:
And to the shame of Smock-alley, and of all Protestant whores,
(especially those who live under the light of the Gospel-ministry) be it
spoken, a whore in Rome never lies down, but she hopes it will be the
means of converting some poor heathen, or heretic.
The swearing revenues of the town of Cork will be given for ever, by the
bank, to the support of poor clergymen's widows; and those of Ringsend
will be allowed to the maintenance of sailors' bastards.
The undertaker designs, in a few days, to appoint time and place for
taking subscriptions; the subscribers must come prepared to pay down one
fourth, on subscribing.
POSTSCRIPT.
The Jews of Rotterdam have offered to farm the revenues of Dublin at
twenty thousand pounds _per ann._ Several eminent Quakers are also
willing to take them at that rent; but the undertaker has rejected their
proposals, being resolved to deal with none but Christians.
Application may be made to him about them, any day at Pat's
coffee-house, where attendance will be given.
A LETTER
TO THE
KING AT ARMS.
[FROM A REPUTED ESQUIRE,[27] ONE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE BANK.]
_November 18, 1721._
SIR,
In a late printed paper,[28] containing some notes and queries upon that
list of the subscribers' names, which was published by order of the
commissioners for receiving of subscriptions, I find some hints and
innuendoes that would seem to insinuate, as if I and some others were
only _reputed_ esquires; and our case is referred to you, in your kingly
capacity. I desire you will please to let me know the lowest price of a
real esquire's coat of arms: And, if we can agree, I will give my bond
to pay you out of the first interest I receive for my subscription;
because things are a little low with me at present, by throwing my
whole fortune into the bank, having subscribed for five hundred pounds
sterling.
I hope you will not question my pretensions to this title, when I let
you know that my godfather was a justice of peace, and I myself have
been often a keeper of it. My father was a leader and commander of
horse, in which post he rode before the greatest lords of the land;[29]
and, in long marches, he alone presided over the baggage, advancing
directly before it. My mother kept open house in Dublin, where several
hundreds were supported with meat and drink, bought at her own charge,
or with her personal credit, until some envious brewers and butchers
forced her to retire.[30]
As to myself, I have been, for several years, a foot-officer; and it was
my charge to guard the carriages, behind which I was commanded to stick
close, that they might not be attacked in the rear. I have had the
honour to be a favourite of several fine ladies; who, each of them at
different times, gave me such coloured knots and public marks of
distinction, that every one knew which of them it was to whom I paid my
address. They would not go into their coach without me, nor willingly
drink unless I gave them the glass with my own hand. They allowed me to
call them my mistresses, and owned that title publicly. I have been
told, that the true ancient employment of a squire was to carry a
knight's shield, painted with his colours and coat of arms. This is what
I have witnesses to produce that I have often done; not indeed in a
shield, like my predecessors, but that which is full as good, I have
carried the colours of a knight upon my coat.[31] I have likewise borne
the king's arms in my hand, as a mark of authority;[32] and hung them
painted before my dwelling-house, as a mark of my calling:[33] So that I
may truly say, His Majesty's arms have been my supporters. I have been a
strict and constant follower of men of quality, I have diligently
pursued the steps of several squires, and am able to behave myself as
well as the best of them, whenever there shall be occasion.
