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Page 14
I have never, _answer'd he_, read, that any of your Species was seen
in this Kingdom before you; but it is certain you must have copy'd
your Policy from us. But, said he, are all these Representatives
publick-spirited, zealous for the common Welfare, Proof against
Preferments, Titles, and private Advantages? Have they always the
Good of the Nation at Heart so far, as to prefer it to that of their
Families? Do they sollicite the People to chuse them, or are they
their free Choice? If the latter, what Amends do the People make to
these Representatives, who neglect their private Affairs, to apply
themselves to those of the Publick?
I told his Excellency, that I did not doubt their being such Men as he
spoke them; that I was very young when I left my Country, and beside I
was not born in a Rank which, had I been of riper Years, permitted me to
meddle with State Affairs: However, I had heard from my Elders, that
none were elected, till the King sent his Mandates to the several
Provinces, ordering them to chuse the wisest among them to assist his
Majesty with their Advice: And as the Interest of each Province in
particular, and of the whole Nation in general, turn'd upon the Probity
and Judgment of the Representatives, to whom an unlimited Power was
delegated, it did not stand to Reason, that they would make Choice of
any, whose Love for his Country, whose Sagacity and Honour they had not
made Proof of; or at least, whose Life did not give them Hopes, that he
would prove a real Patriot.
That they were the free Choice of the People, was plain, by the
Backwardness shewn by those elected to undertake so weighty a Charge,
which had no other Recompence than the Applause of the Publick, for the
faithful Execution of their Trust. Another Reason which induced me to
believe the Choice such, was, that the _English_, (of which Nation I
own'd my self) were any one rich enough to bribe the Majority of a
Province, and are too wise a People to entrust their Liberty to such a
Person; for it's natural to believe, whoever would buy their Votes,
would sell his own: But, that the Majority of a Province was to be
brib'd, or that a free People would, on any account, risque their
Liberty, by giving their Representatives a Power to enslave 'em, either
by making the Prince absolute, and furnishing him with Standing Armies,
to maintain a despotick Power or else by selling them to Foreigners,
could never enter into the Thoughts of a reasonable Creature.
_Has_, said he, (who smiled all the while I held this Discourse) _your
Nation any near Neighbours?_ I answer'd, That, by the means of our
Shipping, we might be said near Neighbours to every Nation; but that our
Island was separated but Seven Leagues from the Continent, inhabited by
a warlike and powerful People. _Have you any Commerce with the Nations
on the Continent?_ We are, said I, the greatest Dealers in _Europe_.
_Have you any Religion among you?_ We have, in the main, I replied, but
one, tho' it is branch'd out into a great many Sects, differing only in
some trifling Ceremonies, in Essentials we all agree.
Religion, _answer'd my Lord_, is absolutely necessary in a
well-govern'd State; but do your great Men make any Profession of
Religion? or, to ask a more proper Question, do they do more than
profess it?
My Lord, said I, our great Men are the brightest Examples of Piety.
Their Veracity is such, that they would not for an Empire falsify
their Word once given. Their Justice won't suffer a Creditor to go from
their Gate unsatisfied: Their Chastity makes them look on Adultery and
Furnication the most abominable Crimes; and even the naming of them
will make their Bloods run cold. They exhaust their Revenues in Acts
of Charity, and every great Man among us is a Husband and Father to
the Widow and Orphan. They esteem themselves Stewards to the Poor, and
that in a future State they are accountable for every Doit lavish'd in
Equipage or superfluous Dishes. Their Tables are not nicely, but
plentifully served, and always open to the honest Needy. At Court, as
I have learn'd, there is neither Envy nor Detraction, no one undermines
another, nor intercepts the Prince's Bounty or Favour by slandrous
Reports; and neither Interest, Riches, nor Quality, but Merit only
recommends the Candidate to a Post: A Bribe was never heard of there;
which, together with the exact Justice practised, is the Reason that a
Minister, after Twelve or Fourteen Years, shall die not a Doit richer
than he was at the Entrance upon his Office: Nay, I've been told, that
a Paymaster General of the Army, after he had past his Accounts before
the Grand Council of the Nation, with a general Applause, found his
Patrimony so impoverish'd by his Charity to Soldiers Widows, he was
oblig'd to turn Merchant for his Support; but being unfortunate, he
petition'd for a small Government.
_As you say you have divers Sects of Religion, you must have Priests
among you, pray what sort of Men are they?_ I answer'd, their Lives and
Doctrine were of a-piece, their Example differing nothing from their
Precepts: That Hypocrisy, Avarice, Ambition, litigious Suits, Lying,
Revenge, and Obscenity, were Vices known to 'em by Name only: That they
were a mortify'd Set of Men, who look'd upon nothing transitory worth
their Concern; and having their Thoughts always employ'd on Meditations
of a future Happiness, neglected every thing on Earth but their Duty;
and for this Reason, they often became a Prey to Knaves, who slipp'd no
Opportunity of spoiling them, knowing their Lenity such, that, if
detected, they should not be prosecuted. I have been assured, that a
Priest being told, such a Farmer had stole away a great many Tithe
Sheafs, the good Divine answer'd, _If he's poor, it's no Theft; what I
have belongs to the Needy, and he takes but his own_. The Day after he
sent him all the Corn he was Master of, and by this Act of Charity,
wou'd have starved before next Harvest, if a Minister of State, in love
with his Virtue, had not provided for him. And I myself knew one,
who hearing black Puddings were a Preservative against pestilential
Infections, and that the Plague was within Two Thousand Leagues of our
Island, laid out his whole Patrimony in Puddings, and sent 'em to every
Sea-port in the Kingdom.
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