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Forts, citadels, and standing armies will be your continual plagues. Nobility and gentry must down, and betake themselves to the plough, to make room for the insolent monsieur.

A dog's life (hunger and ease) will be much better than yours; for you must be very industrious, though the fruits of your labour must wholly result into the king's coffers; you shall sow wheat, but shall not eat one bit of the bread thereof, throughout the whole year.

You shall be continually subject to as great a burthen of taxes, as your backs can bear, or your slavish industry pay. To prevent extravagancy, you shall be constrained to wear the meanest cloaths, and, for good husbandry, you shall trot about in wooden shoes, alamode de France.

These are the blessings, which a French despotical power brings along with it. But this is not all that a protestant country is to en. dure under the monsieur's tyranny, for he will make your souls suffer, as well as your bodies; and, therefore, I shall give you a short account of the compendious means, he will make use of, to pervert protestants to the idolatrous popish religion. He will send his infallible apostolick dragoons amongst you; and this is their way of discipline, in case you do not readily comply with them. The first compliment they use, is to quarter themselves, by violence, in your houses, and take especial care you do not make your escapes, or hide any of your goods or effects; then they will proceed to con sume all the provisions you have in your houses, and seize upon all money, rings, plate, jewels, &c. and, in short, whatever they can lay hands on, and, afterwards, will expose your goods to publick sale, to the neighbouring towns and villages.

Having thus disposed of your goods, in the next place, they fall upon your persons, and there is no wickedness, or horror, which they will not put in practice, to force you to change your religion. They will hang men and women, by the hair or feet, on the roofs of the chambers, or chimney-hooks, and smoak them with wisps of wet hay, till they will be no more able to bear it; and, when they have taken them down, if they will not sign to what shall be proposed to them, they will hang them up immediately.

Another way they make use of, is, to throw people on great fires, kindled for that purpose, and forcibly keep them there, till they are half roasted. They also tie a rope under their arms, and plunge them to and fro into wells, till they promise to quit their religion and con. science; and, in this posture, with a funnel filled with wine, they pour it down their throats, till the fumes of it deprive their reason, and then they obtain their consents to be catholicks, as they call them.

Others they strip stark naked, and, after having offered them a thousand infamous indignities, they stick them with pins from head to toe.

Some they cut, in several places, with pen-knives; and sometimes, with red-hot pincers, they take them by the nose, and, after that, drag them about the room, till they promise to comply.

Others they beat with staves, and drag them, all bruised, to the

churches, where their forced presence will be accounted for an abjuration.

Some they keep from sleep, for seven or eight days together, re lieving one another, to watch them night and day, to keep them awake continually.

They use to throw buckets of water, and torment them a hundred ways besides, holding, over their heads, kettles turned downwards, and drum upon them continually, till the poor creatures have lost their senses.

If they find any sick (either men or women) that keep their beds, distempered with fevers, or other diseases, their way is, to bring about twelve drums, beating an alarm, at the bed-side, for whole weeks together, without intermission.

It is their usual practice, upon these occasions, to tie fathers and husbands to the bed-posts, and ravish their wives and daughters be fore their faces. They pluck off the nails of the hands and toes of others; they blow up some with bellows, even till they are ready to burst.

These, and ten-thousand other villainous ways, the jesuitical spirit hath found out, to make new converts. Whoever hath the curiosity to see them, let him but peruse the history of the persecution of the protestants in France, and he will find, that the ten primitive perse. cutions were but mercies, in comparison of those monstrous tor ments, lately invented, and put in practice upon those miserable Creatures, by the order of the christian Turk, Lewis the Four teenth.

If you fall into French hands, you see what is like to become of you; your bodies will be condemned to irretrievable slavery; and your souls (as far as it lies in their power) shall be consigned to the devil. If you are not so wise, as to regard either body or soul, I have done with you, and so farewel.

REASONS FOR

SETTLING ADMIRALTY-JURISDICTION,

AND

GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT TO

MERCHANTS, OWNERS, COMMANDERS, MASTERS OF SHIPS, MATERIAL MEN, AND MARINERS.

Humbly offered to the Consideration of his Majesty, and the two Houses of Parliament.

Printed in the year 1690. Quarto, containing twenty-two pages.

THERE is nothing can conduce more to the peopling and inrich

ing a kingdom, or commonwealth, than a free and open trade; and, as that by sea is the principal source of such happiness, it may very

VOL. IX.

Hh

our royal leader hath hazarded more than ever any of our kings did before him.

And therefore, since a ready way of raising a sufficient number of seamen to man the fleet is of the greatest concern in this affair, and the encouraging of them voluntarily to enter into their majesties service is of no less importance, it is humbly proposed, whether this may not be done most effectually by improving the ancient methods of pressing seamen, with a bill in parliament, to this purpose,

viz.

1. That such seamen, as shall voluntarily enroll themselves in the admiralties, or vice-admiralties, may be exempt from petty offices, in the parishes where they live, and also, from the payment of parish duties, taxes, and the like, during their lives, or so long as they shall continue enrolled.

2. That all prizes be divided into three parts, one third to the captor, and his ship's crew; another to go to the chest at Chatham, to. wards a provision for sick and wounded mariners, and the widows and children of such as are slain; the remaining third, to pay the charge of prize officers.

3. That the act of parliament, 43 Elis. 3. concerning the relief of soldiers and mariners, be amended, and the money collected, by vertue thereof, transmitted to the Chatham chest, for the uses aforesaid, That money amounts to about fourteen-thousand pounds per annum, and may with care be made as much more, if it shall be found requi site, and, as it is now ordered, is of little or no use to the govern ment.

4. If it may consist with their majesties affairs, that the wages of captains, officers, and seamen be a little advanced, they being not so good, considering the present value of money, as they were for. merly.

5. That such mariners, as shall not voluntarily enroll themselves, or appear upon the vice-admiral's summons, or stand out till they are pressed, shall not have the benefit of the aforesaid privileges and ex. emptions.

6. That no captains, commanders, or seamen remain in foreign service in time of war, without licence, and that they return upon their majesties proclamation, under such a penalty as shall be thought fit.

If such a re-establishment of the admiralties and vice-admiralties were made, besides the benefit of easily supplying the fleet with mariners, these further advantages would accrue to their majesties, and such of their subjects and allies, as should be concerned in sea-affairs, which will tend very much to the advancement of trade and naviga. tion.

1. In time of war, the officers of the several vice-admiralties might take the care and charge of all prizes brought into their respective districts, which would make the business much more easy, and also save a great part of the charge to their majesties; for it may be easily demonstrated, whenever it shall be required, that this business may

be managed for one third part of the proceed of prizes, and the other two thirds may be applied to the chest at Chatham, and given to the captor and his crew, as is before hinted.

2. Their majesties and the lord admiral's rights and perquisites, in time of peace, as well as war, would be preserved; whereas, at present, no manner of care is taken thereof, notwithstanding that they are many times of a considerable value.

3. The customs of goods shipwrecked, as well as the lord admi ral's due, will be better preserved, and their majesties will not be so easily defrauded thereof, by people that steal such goods, or by inferior officers conniving at, or combining with them; not only be cause the vice-admirals, who have the care thereof, are usually noblemen, or gentlemen of the best qualities and estates, and so have great authority and power, in their several countries; but also, because the vice-admiral or his officer, and the customer, will each of them be obliged to set a lock on the salved goods, and one will be a check upon the other.

4. Where merchants are in distress at sea, near the shore, or run a-ground, the officers of the vice-admirals would be ready to assist, knowing, that they shall be recompensed according to their pains, and punished, if they refuse: Whereas, at present, the country people make a prey of those miserable merchants, and will afford no manner of assistance, but rather contrive all they can, that the ship may be cast away; nay, many times, are so barbarous to kill or drown people making escape to land, that thereby they might have a pretence to a wreck.

5. When ships or goods are cast away, and any part thereof driven on shore, the vice-admirals would take care to keep off the rabble, and secure all for their true proprietors, upon moderate salvage, whereas, at present, every one taketh away what he can get, and no remedy.

6. If the vice-admirals, or their officers, happened not to be present at the time, when any ship was cast away, or goods driven on shore, they would, as they did usually in that case heretofore, issue out commissions of enquiry, or procure such commissions from the high court of admiralty, and summon what persons they pleased be. fore them, and so examine by maritime evidence, and make immediate restitution of all that was saved to the owners, upon such salvage as was meet, and punish all the offenders that stole away, or embezzled the said goods; whereas, that jurisdiction being now interrupted, there is no relief for the sufferers, but by way of trover, trespass, or other actions at common law, which must be brought separately against the several parties offending. The multiplicity of such suits will, in the end, but add to their affliction, in spending their time and money; for many times, at the last, when they have staid half a year or more for the assizes, and those things are brought on to a trial, it so happens, that the witnesses (whose whole livelihood consists in trade, and being on board ships) are gone to sea; and so evidence cannot be brought, viva voce, to prove the interest in the goods, as those ways of action require.

our royal leader hath hazarded more than ever any of our kings did before him.

And therefore, since a ready way of raising a sufficient number of seamen to man the fleet is of the greatest concern in this affair, and the encouraging of them voluntarily to enter into their majesties service is of no less importance, it is humbly proposed, whether this may not be done most effectually by improving the ancient methods of pressing seamen, with a bill in parliament, to this purpose,

viz.

1. That such seamen, as shall voluntarily enroll themselves in the admiralties, or vice-admiralties, may be exempt from petty offices, in the parishes where they live, and also, from the payment of parish duties, taxes, and the like, during their lives, or so long as they shall continue enrolled.

2. That all prizes be divided into three parts, one third to the cap. tor, and his ship's crew; another to go to the chest at Chatham, to. wards a provision for sick and wounded mariners, and the widows and children of such as are slain; the remaining third, to pay the charge of prize officers.

3. That the act of parliament, 43 Elis. 3. concerning the relief of soldiers and mariners, be amended, and the money collected, by ver. tue thereof, transmitted to the Chatham chest, for the uses aforesaid, That money amounts to about fourteen-thousand pounds per annum, and may with care be made as much more, if it shall be found requi. site, and, as it is now ordered, is of little or no use to the govern.

ment.

4. If it may consist with their majesties affairs, that the wages of captains, officers, and seamen be a little advanced, they being not so good, considering the present value of money, as they were for. merly.

5. That such mariners, as shall not voluntarily enroll themselves, or appear upon the vice-admiral's summons, or stand out till they are pressed, shall not have the benefit of the aforesaid privileges and ex. emptions.

6. That no captains, commanders, or seamen remain in foreign service in time of war, without licence, and that they return upon their majesties proclamation, under such a penalty as shall be thought fit.

If such a re-establishment of the admiralties and vice-admiralties were made, besides the benefit of easily supplying the fleet with mariners, these further advantages would accrue to their majesties, and such of their subjects and allies, as should be concerned in sea-affairs, which will tend very much to the advancement of trade and naviga tion.

1. In time of war, the officers of the several vice-admiralties might take the care and charge of all prizes brought into their respective districts, which would make the business much more easy, and also save a great part of the charge to their majesties; for it may be easily demonstrated, whenever it shall be required, that this business may

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