[iv] The Auditor old Bickerstaff revives Good his defign, and honeftly he strives To yield his readers rational delight. May they his modeft industry require! The young Spectator too, with ftudious care, Weekly provides, and dishes out his fare: Tales, humour, morals, modes, intrigues, and wit, To fuit all tempers, and both fexes fit. Here might I far the catalogue purf. e; And give the Weekly Regifter its due, The Corn-cutter, andWhat d'ye call it, names To cripple verfe, and quench a poet's flames: But by thy choice their merit will appear: Perhaps they fill a column in a year. Now we behold how fenators debate; And from their freedom learn our happy itate. If country Wits in narrow districts shine, Their labours charm the world, transfus'd in thine. Nor can the prints monopolize thy page, The correfpondent mufe exerts her rage: Beauties original augment thy store; And copied thence fhall honour thee the more : Thefe thy materials,Urban,and with these Thy furnish'd MAGAZINE fhall ever please; Their choiceft thoughts in comely drefs array'd, By thoufands read, to other realms convey'd, (The richeft merchandize for foreign climes) And fafely handed down to future times, Wherever learning fpreads fhall yield de light; And grateful Worlds in thy jut praise unite AB. On feeing the following Caveat written by an Irib Father Inquifitor on the first Leaf of fome Volumes of Mr Addifon's Guardians and the Gentleman's Magazine, which had been feized among the Books of an English Merchant, and detained fix Months in the Spanifb Inquifition. N. B. This whole work is to be cautiously read, being written (in the latter compiled) by a condemned author. Princes and prices, by enfave mankind: and by int'reft join'd, This once in Britain was the fcene; But Britain now rejects the chains; And reafon here fecurely reigns. "Twixt truth and falfehood taught the odds No more we worship mortal Gods. "Tis ours, religion to divide From bugbear schemes, and pricitly pride; Who thus condemns this free-born page; How feeble seems the Jefuit's rage, There live, unworthy of thy clime! Thy country's fcandal and her crime! Nor ever taste that freedom more, Which gilds Hibernia's happy fhore! O never feel, thou loft to thought! What godlike Addifon has taught. Exil'd, enflav'd, defpis'd, afham'd, Live long a priest, then die unnam'd? URBAN, thy labours shall proceed, Till fervile Spaniards dare to read. To grov'lling minds fhalt thou difpenfe True patriot warmth, and manly fenfe. On bigot realms fhall reafon fmile; And fouls unfetter'd bless this isle : E'en diftant climes fhall, with delight, Behold how Britons think and write. We are too fenfible of imperfections, to affume to ourselves what is fo largely advanced in the above pieces to our praife, but as we could not leave out thofe poetical heightenings, which otherwife we ought not in modefty to have let pafs, without spoiling the lines; (o we can most truely affirm, that our endeavours have been received in such a favourable as to produce a great many letters of acknowledgment, in which our good-natur'd +s have express'd them felves in a manner little fort of the real meaning of thefe may add, that they have also inform'd us of certain practices made use of which they condemn with the utmost indignation. THE Gentleman's Magazine: JANUARY, 1733. A View of the Weekly DISPUTES and ESSAYS in this Month. London Journal, Dec. 30. No. 705. [Omitted in our laft] An Answer to a Pamphlet call'd, No Time proper to repeal the Teft A, continued from p. 1115. HE Author of this Pamphlet proceeds to object against the Repeal of the Teft, that it would divide the King's Friends, fince feveral of the WhigChurchmen are against it. If there be any fuch Churchmen, they must be weak indeed, not to know, that the King's Intereft and the Interest of Liberty confift in a firm Union of all the Whigs in the Kingdom. The Whig Intereft brought the Royal Family to the Throne, and preferved them in it, against all the Efforts of the Jacobites and Tories ; and if united, will preferve them till Time fhall be no more. Shall we then enrage fome, and cool others, of the King's Friends? Or, fhall we repeal this Act, and heal all Wounds on Account of Religion and Politicks? Do this and live. Repeal A ing this Act will strengthen the Whig Intereft, as it will render Thousands capable of ferving their King and Country, who now, thro' religious Scruples, are abfolutely incapable. The Church will be the fafer by this Repeal; for, the Diffenters being put in all Civil Affairs, upon an equal Foot with Churchmen, will have nothing further to ask; and looking on the Church as their faft Friends, they B will infenfibly abate of their Prejudices and grow into a Liking of them. There were Ten Diffenters 40 Years ago, to one now, who punted Communion with the Church finful: And if this A&t be repealed, there may not be sne 20 Years hence; unless a Quaker; for Good Senfe, the Daughter of Liberty, will leffen them every Day. C D The Whig-Churchmen and Diffenters are grown wifer; they fee that thefe Differences about Rites and Ceremonies, are Trifles, and beneath the Confideration of a Man of Senfe; But if Churchmen will revive the old monftrous Doctrines of No Bijbop, no King, and that the Church is the State, the Confequence is, a Man may be made B a State a State Criminal for Reafoning against any Doctrine contain'd in establish'd Articles or Creeds; which is the very Effence of Popery, and we fall be Slaves by Law establish'd. But we will not be brought again under the Yoke. A They will remember, that in the lat ter End of Q. Anne's Reign there was a Defign to deprive them of their Right of voting, as well as a Law made to deprive them of their Right of edueating their Children. The Quakers were actually tried to give up their Right of Voting: For when they applied to Parliament to have their f firmation A&t lengthened, the Ottoler B Club at the Bell Tavern in Westminfter, fent for fome of their Leaders, and told them, they would pass their Affirmation Act, on Condition they would confent to have a Claufe in it, to take away their Right of Voting for Members of Parliament; which they rejected with Indignation, refign'd themfelves to Providence, end waited a more convenient Season, which happen'd at the Acceffion of the prefent Royal Family. Another Argument against the Repeal, is, The States of Holland employ no Perfons in Civil Trufts but thofe of the Etablish'd Church] What then? The States of Holland are against Trials by Juries, and the Liberty of the People in chufing Magiftrates. But the Fact is not fairly ftated; there never was a Law in Holland to incapacitate the Arminians, or any Proteftant Diffenters, for Civil Trufts. 'Tis true, indeed, C the Arminians have not been employ'd fince they were in the Barnevelt Faction against the Houfe of Orange. So that they are laid by, not on a Religious, but Civil Account, as the Papists are both here and in Holland. It is faid by the Friends of the Mi-D ,niftry, that tho' it may be reasonable in itself to repeal the Test At, yet a Government is not always in a Condition to do what is reafonable; that Minifters are not to confult what is beft for one particular Man or Body of Men, but the whole Community; that all Parties ought to be confider'd, and the best Ballance poffible fettled amongst them; that as the Prejudices of the Diffenters fhould be regarded, fo fhould thofe of Churchmen, who would be alarm'd by this Bill, and roar out the Danger of the Church; and that all good Subjects will fubrait to Neceffity, and wait proper Junctures. I wish from my Soul, the Whigs in the Houfe would confider, and not force Gentlemen into Meatures in their own Defence against their Princeples, and the true Interest of their Country. SOCRATES. Free Biton, Jan. 4. No, 162. E F The beft Advice to the Diffenters is, if the Teft At should not be repeal'd, not to refent it fo far as to join G with the Tories, and fo break the Wig Intereft, render themselves odious among the Whigs, contemptible amongst the Tories, obnoxious at Court, and terribly affect themselves as well as the Interests of Liberty. Let them conf- H der, that if the Whigs don't do them all the Good they defire, the Tories will do them all the Ill they are able. bam, is to oblerve the Miftakes of the Craftsman. He treats the two Papers which I publifh'd on the Subject of the Army (fee p. 645, 651. Vol. II.) as drawn from what was spoken in the Houfe of Commons by the Hon. Gentleman in the Administration; but I affure the Publick I had not the Honour of fo great an Authority. The Difpofition of Forces, which the Craft/man remarks on (fee p.1120 C) were draw n from the Obfervation of a noble martial Duke in the other Houle. But to prevent any future Miftakes, the genuine Speech which the Chancellor of the Exchequer poke in the Committee on the Debate of the Army, is as follows: "I have obferved that Gentlemen, through the whole Courfe of this Debate, have weil exerciled their Parts, and declaimed very jofly A against the Wickedness and Danger of Standing Armies. It is a very large Field of Debate, it is one of the greateft Arguments, that ever was difcuffed. I am fenfible of the Danger of Standing Armies, and the great Mischiefs which they have always brought upon the Countries where they were established, and I fhall always oppose them with as much Zeal as any Gentleman whatever: But this is not now the Question; the Question is, Whe ther for the Service of the prefent Year 17,000 Soldiers fhould be maintained, or 12,000? This is the Point, and I could heartily with, that B Gentlemen would confine themselves to it, and weigh impartially the Arguments on both Sides. Gentlemen talk much in generals, and throw many Reflections. I have not only on this Account, but on many others, borne much Reproach, and I hope I fhall always bear it with Patience, without making use of the fame Weapons. Gentlemen call the Thing in debate what it is not, in order to oppofe C what it really is; whereas, if they called it what it is, they would want Arguments to obje&t against it. I with Gentlemen would confider, that the Queftion is not about Standing Armies, but only for allowing his Majesty 17000 Forces for this Year, and for this Year only. Gentlemen talk as if what they granted now was to be perpetual, and their Vote D this Seffion must bind them in the next; but this cannot be the Cafe; furely, Sir, every Body will be as much at Liberty to vote against them next Year, as they are now. It will never be faid to any Gentleman, Sir, you voted for them laft Year, therefore you must this: No, Sir, every Gentleman knows he shall be as much at Liberty to vote according to his Opinion and Confcience then as he is now. Let us then confider what is now asked of us; it is 17000 Men, and these for one Year; they are the Soldiers of the People, kept for their Safety only, for the Support of the Nation against foreign Invafions; What is it then that Gentleman are afraid of? Do they think thefe Soldiers are defigned to be made ufe of F against our Liberties? Do they think their Arms are to be turned against their Country? I will not make ufe of the Name of the KING, I think it ought to have no Awe on our Debates, not will I ever attempt it. I am in that Way of thinking, and do hold the Maxim juft, that the KING can do no Wrong, neither by Law nor FORCE, and his Minifters are responsible for every Thing; therefore I will with all my Soul put the Fate of the Question, and the whole Debate upon this Iffue. I defire every Gentleman to look into his own Breaft, and to appeal to his own Confcience: Let him ask himfelf, if he does feriously think that the Miniftry, who ask thefe Forces, have H any Intention to employ them against our Liberties, to turn them against our Rights? And let every Gentleman speak as his Confcience dictates in this Affair; I fhall very gladly fubmit the Question to this Decifion, and do fincerely make this Appeal to the Heart of every Gendeman. G But Gentlemen fay, in Oppofition to the prefent Motion, where is the Advantage of this honourable Peace, this profound Tranquillity that is fo much boafted of? His Majefty, they fay, has told us in his Speech, that it was obtained upon fuch Terms as can give no juft Reafon of Provocation to any of the Powers of Europe, and that it hath taken nothing from any Power; Where then is the Danger now? Whom have we to fear? And what are the Motives from whence thefe Troops are asked? If we are to keep up the fame Force in Peace, where is the Benent of it ? Gentlemen, who talk in this Strain now, were of another Opinion the first Day of the Seffion; they could not then fee that we had an advantageous Peace, that we had this profound Tranquillity; 'twas then only a Wound skinned over, that had Gangrenes and Mortifications underneath it, which would foon break out again; 'twas then only a popular Covering to perfuade the Parliament into good Humour on the first Day of the Selfion. Have thefe Gentlemen then really changed their Opinion? Did they think it a bad Peace on the firft Day of the Seffion, and do they now think it a lafting honourable one? Or do they only use thefe Expreffions for a prefent Purpole? And will their good Opinion of the publick Tranquillity laft longer than a few Hours? As I believe this is really the Cafe with thefe Gentlemen, I think they can upon no Pretence, with no Colour of Argument, oppofe the Maintenance of thefe Soldiers; for if Affairs be as they appre hend, if the Wound is only skinned over, if we are in as much Danger as before, we ought by no Means to disband our Forces: They, Sir, furely can never recommend his Majefty to leave his Kingdom naked and defencelets in fuch a Situation; and therefore thefe Gen❤ tlemen fhould never be against the prefent Queftion. Nor can I think it proper to leffen our Forces at this Juncture, though the Peace be eftablished on the moft juft, moft folid Foundations. It is an Infant just born, a hopeful Child it is, and I hope it will grow up to Manhood: But fhall we defert it in its In fancy? Shall the first grateful Return, which we make to his Majefty, be Diftruft, and depriving him of his Forces ? All the Courts of Europe now look upon the Diffatisfaction among us, to arife from the Enemies of the Proteftant Succeffion. The Cafe of Difaffection is now reduced quite to Jacobitifm; I know that fome Gentlemen would gladly have this looked on only as a Bugbear; and they would rejoyce to fee the Time, when any Alarms, any Infinuations of Danger from that Quarter, fhould be received with Ridicule, and turned into Joke. I had like to have faid, that I was forry there was no Jacobite in this Houfe. No, Sir, I am heartily glad of it; but if I was in an AfSembly of Jacobites, I would ask them, If they had not very lately, in fome Corners, in fome private Meetings, in fome fecret Cabals, flat tered tered themfelves, and given one another great were then reduced. C I believe Gentlemen imagine, that the Reduction which they propofe of soco Men, will be a greater Saving to the Publick than it really will; for, of thefe 5000 to be difbanded, 2000 will be Invalids, that must return to Chelfea College; fo that the Saving from them will be but a Farthing a Day, which will make the whole not fo confiderable as may be apprehended. Gentlemen feem to me to have les flip out of their Memory, what was dropt in the Opening of the Debate; that if there fhould be any Power in D Europe, that can be induced to form any Defigns against us, this must be the favourable Jun&ture, when their Arms have no Call any other Way. While the Affairs of Europe, were unfettled, and Danger was threatned from every Quarter, and on every Hand, there was no Temptation to embroil themselves in new Difficulties; but now, Sir, there is Lei- E fure for Ambition to look round, I am the more convinced of the Hopes of the Enemies of the Proteftant Succeffion, and that it would give them great Pleasure to fee our Forces reduced, and our Kingdom defenceless, from an Accident that happened laft Night, which I will beg leave to relate to the House. I had the Honour to be preSent at a Committee of Council, where no lefs than five Bills were laid before us from Ireland, to prevent the Growth and Encouragement of Popery, which prevailed and fourthed fo much in that Kingdom, as was very alarming. There was a Council * who pleaded on their Behalf; a Gentleman of great F Fog's Journal, Jan. 6. No. 213. THIS Writer having already pub lifh'd two Journals cenfuring Mr Osborne's Letters in the London Fournal (fe p. 974, 1021) in this continues his Remarks to the fame Purpose. Uniformity, especially in a voluminous Writer, has ever been efteemed a great Perfection; and no-body can more juftly claim the Merit of it than Mr Osborne; for, whatever happens to be the Subject of Debate, he has continually Recourfe to his legerdemain abstract Principles of Right and Wrong. Learning, and who made the beft of a bad G In moral Science his Method is the fame; and if the Conclufiveness of any Part of his Argument be queftioned, he only changes the Pofition or Poflulatum, with which, in the firft Inftance, he fupported the Proof, for another, which he applies in the fame manner; and at last draws fo boisterous a Conclufion, that he ufually puts his Adversary to Flight. He has the Vanity to ftile himself a Politician, altho' he is not instructed even in the first Principles of Policy. The Queftion concerning Excijes is too abftrufe and knotty for him to have any Share in it, and therefore he prudently declines it; tho' fuft before it began, he gave us a general Teftimony, how well he flood difpofed towards the Scheme (fee p. 813.) By a peculiar Talent of Reafoning, Mr Osborne can prove a Treaty calculated for the wifeft Ends, or that all Treaties are ufelefs, ridiculous Ceremonies, and confequently, that there is no Wijdom in any Treaty. He would be efteemed a Judge of tho' he has no Acquaintance with any Hiftory, both antient and modern; albut his Mother Tongue, nor does he feem to understand one half of the Words in the English Language. He lately complimented Rapin as an Hiftorian, at the Expence of all the Greek and Latin Hiftorians Characters (fee P. 1023;) tho' about 12 Months ago, this Great Hiftorian was the Object of Mr Osborne's Contempt. Con |