Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	king_n	kingdom_n	4,596	5	5.5955	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46502	A letter from N.J. to E.T. Esq., his representative in Parliament	N. J.; E. T.	1690 (1690)	Wing J23; ESTC R15519	7,314	8

Foreign than Domestick growth And since it is the happiness of this Island that all those Wares which are imported from abroad conduce only for our Ease not our Support and all our Domestick Commodities are necessary to our Being or well being It follows that the two Rules laid down before do in this Nation fall into one and carry only a double reason with them for one and the same Action Money being undoubtedly the measure of Wealth it is therefore clear there is nothing can immediately improve the Riches of the Nation but what encreases the Coin of it Now our Iron Tin Corn Wool Leather and other the intrinsick Commodities of this Nation add so much to our Riches as the outward Trade over-ballances the inward and no more and the cheaper the Exports of this Nation can be sold the Vent is the quicker and the Trade more certain This is so plain a Proposition that it may be proved by a thousand obvious Instances which need not be mentioned since the truth of it depends on this Axiome That a Trading Nation that sells more than it buys is a Gainer and that buys more than it sells is a Loser Now can there be a greater stupidity in any Nation than to lay a Tax on the Manufactures of our own Product and in a time when we have need of the greatest support to Seeth the Kid in its Mother's Milk and Prey upon our Subsistance Most of our Ancient wholesome Laws were made for the improvement of Domestick Manufactures many Corporations that Now retain nothing of their former Wealth and Grandeur but their Mace and Gowns the Signs or rather Shadows of their Ancient Riches were erected for that End and flourished by it And if in the late Reigns the neglect or dis-encouragement of Home-Trade exposed it to decay there is nothing wanting but this last fatal Blow to subject it to ruin If Sir there was no other Reason against a Home-Excise this would be a strong one with me That it defeats all the great and signal Blessings which this Most Happy Reign has brought upon us for Liberty is an excellent thing when joyn'd with Property but is a sound only and a very Metaphysical and a Speculative Happiness without it The outmost Nations of the North have always been the freest People in the World as those which could not allure or support a Tyrant and therefore constantly enjoyed a Liberty of acting and starving as they pleased Liberty is that which secures our Property and the one is no more worth after the loss of the other than the preservation of the Case after the Shipwrack of the Jewel and we may easily bid adieu to the Prosperity of the Nation when a Tax is once establish'd upon that which at first created its Wealth and at present supports it and however Legal the Proceedings and however Mild the Methods in it may be it is certainly the same thing when the Vitals are endangered whether they are violently devoured or gently consumed whether the Radical Moisture be at once exhausted or gradually suck'd out Much more Sir might be said against the Home-Excise if I did not hasten to answer what is pleaded for it and that is Necessity a Word that has no Law and silences all Reason And it is to be observed That the same Word was guilty of Ship-money in Charles the First 's Reign and a Dispensing Power in King James the Second's Time which is brought to introduce a Home-Excise in the most prosperous and most glorious Reign of his present most gracious Majesty I must confess therefore I have no great respect for Necessity as that which has occasioned very hard things when true and real and many ill things when false and pretended But since this is a violent Storm of the Consequences of which we judge better at a distance let us a little examine the Necessity in the late Times by which we may the better judge of it for the future Was it of Necessity that English-men should be disgraced and turned out of their Employments and Foreigners French Irish and others put in their Places Was not this accounted a plain Demonstration That the English should not be trusted And where there is no Confidence there is the less Obligation Was it of Necessity That a mean-born haughty parasitical designing Black-coat the then Famed Father Petre's I mean should manage Affairs of State over-rule our Ancient Nobility oppress the Famous Universities and Favour all those that acted against them patronize all the Schismaticks and Sectaries bring our worthy and venerable Prelates to ruine for adhering to the Law of the Land and the Dictates of their Conscience and seize upon their Revenues himself contrary to the known Law of the Kingdom enjoying those of the Arch-Bishoprick of York and persuade the King That he could reconcile his Subjects to him who was himself the greatest Cause of Grievance and the very Nusance of the Kingdom Was it of Necessity That the Hereditary Revenues of our Nation should be exhausted in Pensions to flattering Minions and Men generally of no Sence but always of no Principle Was it of Necessity That Parliament-Men should be bribed to betray their Countrey and securely lay a Tax upon our Nation in which their Poverty exempts them from being Sharers Was it of Necessity That the Ancient Church of England which had as good a Right to its Revenues as the King to his Crown should be subjected to Men of no Mercy Honour or Truth who never did nor will do a good Act unless in betraying their unjust Benefactors If this was Necessity I have another Quarrel to it as that which takes different Shapes and Appearances and is at the same time as evident at Court as an Earthquake or Inundation but as invisible in the Countrey as Money after a Tax Now a Publick Necessity unseen is the same thing as an unperceivable Whirldwind as Thunder that cannot be heard and a Tempest that cannot be felt It was nicely distinguish'd by a Judge in the Case of Ship money That there is a Necessity of preventing a Necessity and by the same Rule there is a Necessity of preventing that Necessity that may bring on Necessity But if the Matter should prove that there is little Necessity of giving and a greter Necessity of keeping the little we have and the greatest of all of not giving what we have not then I suppose that one Necessity may ballance another and so Necessity may be wholly out of the Case Now to bring the Matter home to our present Circumstances there is a Necessity of keeping a Navy for without it we export nothing of our own Growth and bring in no Money in lieu of it and get nothing as our Neighbours do by being Carriers to Europe and therefore the Wealth of the Nation cannot increase and consequently must necessarily decay There is likewise a Necessity of maintaining Men of War because generally Privateers observe no Rules of Property

and oftentimes make no Conscience of taking other Men's Goods without any Colour of Right and therefore we should provide a little for a Defence and not a little for Reprizals It may not be improbable too that the Grand Lewis though he hath not so good a Title to the Place may have as much Mind to England as we had lately to France and therefore may be as maliciously enclined against the one as we are courageously bent against the other A Fleet then may be as necessary to an Island as Walls to a Town and the stronger the Bulwarks are in this Case the greater the Security and since our Brethren the Dutch have not always held the same good Correspondence with us in point of Trade as now and have all the Reason in Politicks to oppose and depress us It is not certain that their good Nature will always prevail above their Interest and that the Friendship will be eternal though cemented by Religion And therefore such a Fleet as could beat the French would do well but such as could defeat them and the Dutch jointly would do much better And this I profess is all the Necessity I am sensible of as that which comprehends all the immediate Dangers we can fall under and if obviated leave us secure of Safety at least if not of Glory For since Britain is like another World encompass'd and fortify'd by its Seas there is no possibility of our Ruine as long as our Sovereignty of the Ocean is maintained and there is no end of our Fears as long as that is precarious The French Naval Force is now much lessened and that undoubtedly for we are told from Lambeth our Victory was the greatest that ever was obtained since the Sun run its Course And as the French were defeated under Russel so the Dutch suffered not a little under Torrington and both those Accidents however different they seem in their Nature may equally contribute to the Advantage of England All that we can dread from the taking of Flanders is That it is a step to the Conquest of Holland and consequently a great Addition may thereby be made to the Maritime Power of France and till Men have Wings a very potent foreign Navy is the only just Cause of our Fear from any Invasion therefore certainly the lower the Naval Power of both these States are the less is our Apprehension from each of them severally or from both of them hereafter jointly And if the Two and twenty Millions already raised had as was proposed by a worthy Member and one of the most ancient and the best experienced of your House been spent in our Fleet and Seamen only I flatter my self that we need not fear the taking of Charleroy o● Brussels If the Nation indeed had plenty of Money and were at a loss how to expend it it is to be own'd That the Support of the Confederacy and the Relief of the poor King of Spain would be proper Objects of our Liberality But since all we can spare is only sufficient for our own Security there can be no scruple but it ought wholly to be laid out where the Safety of this Island naturally directs and requires the Employment of it especially since what is given to the Fleet by a quick Circulation returns into the Nation and what is laid out on the Confederates is not only spent but lost unless at last an Expedient can be contrived by Men of very deep Capacity to prevent the Exportation of our Bullion Seeing the Sea will exhaust our Treasure it is but Reason the Sea should supply it and though our Taxes at present lie heavy upon the Merchants yet the greater the Expences are upon Shipping and the more the Taxes arise in proportion to them the greater will be the Traders Security and consequently the Imposition more easie the Grievance will abate as the Subsidy encreases the Sum that will arise from taking off the Prohibition of French Commodities is incredible And if the Kingdom of France loses nothing by the Sale proportionable to what the Nation loses by the Customs and if much Wine be still brought into England and the Carriers of it gain as much as the Proprietor we cannot reasonably expect that the Kingdom of France will soon be broke by the loss or failure of our Commerce but we see that our Merchants suffer much and the Customs more by Discontinuance of that Trade Now Sir when Men are wealthy and securely liberal Accompts are but a troublesome thing and incompatible with Generosity but when our Estates are at a low Ebb we betake our selves naturally to Arithmetick and consider what part of the vast Bank we have expended may be retrieved and how the last stake may be best employed All Strictness in these Publick Acc … t s would be necessary to those who consider the generality of the last Items set down in those delivered into Parliament In which the Disbursements were so set down that no Enquiry into them could be made and a general Account where all search into Particulars is prohibited can only convince Men of mean Capacity That all is gone And though perhaps it ought not to be doubted but that all the Ministers of this Government can in their respective Stations answer any such Charge and acquit themselves yet still an Account is necessary as that which though it should give no Relief to the Bankrupt yet affords him Sati●faction Another thing Sir I would hint to you That Men who pay a Fine usually expect good Covenants and that large Taxes have more frequently been the Fountain of good Laws than bad Manners There is no Law that can countervail a Home-Excise because in a little time that which is left and secured will not be equal to what is spent and a Guard upon an empty House is no proportionable Reward for a full one Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forrest cost the Nation but One Fifteenth which how inconsiderable a Sum it then was all Antiquaries know and after a Gift of Two and Twenty Millions I am confident we never should have had a Negative given to the Treason-Bill if it had not been artfully lost by a double Adherence The Perjury of Fuller Young and Blackhead is such an horrid Villany that not only calls for Vengeance in the Persons but obliges us to Enquiry into the Forgers of that Contrivance For Subornation seldom wants Accomplices and we should search into the Priest who lay behind these speaking Engines and inspired the dull Curtain into false Oracles Sir I have said more than I design'd and yet not enough for the Matter What in general I leave with you is That you would consider what you have given and what you have left That withal you would think what you give more and to whom and why and that you would so give as to leave your self still in a Capacity of giving FINIS