An explanatory dialogue of a late treatise, intituled, A discourse on the late funds of the Million-act, Lottery-act, and Bank of England with proposals for supplying Their Majesties with money on easy terms, exempting the nobility, gentry, &c. from taxes, enlarging their yearly estates, and enriching all the subjects in humbly offered to the consideration of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled by J. Briscoe.

The Freeholder's Speech.

Mr. Speaker, and you the Gentlemen of this Honourable House;

IT is not unknown to you who are our Representatives, how chearful∣ly we have paid all those Taxes out of our Estates, which you have thought fit to lay upon us for the Service of their Majesties; which we have never yet desired to be eased from, wholly confiding in your great Wisdom, that you would not have imposed those Taxes upon us, had there not been an absolute Necessity for your so doing: And tho there are (as it is well known) not a few Gentlemen in the Nation who have large and noble Estates, without the least Incumberance upon them, yet you are not ignorant that many of our Estates descended to us from our Ancestors, charged with no small Sums for Portions for younger Bro∣thers and Sisters. Others among us have been forc'd to mortgage our Estates our selves, to settle our Sons in the World, or to dispose of our Daughters in Marriage: So that what with the Interest of Money which we pay, and the Taxes raised upon us, very many of us (though of con∣siderable

Estates) are reduced to the last Extremity: And to consummate our Miseries, our Creditors (to whom our Estates are engaged) will not be satisfied, nor stay any longer for their Money, telling us, they can make a greater Advantage of it by lending it to the Government. Some of us, to satisfy their Anger and allay their Fury, are forc'd to make them Presents of a considerable Value, instead of a greater Inte∣rest, which formerly they were ashamed to ask, nor did they dare to take: But now if we do not comply with their unjust Demands, they knowing there is no Money to be borrowed, and that therefore we cannot pay off our Mortgages, and clear our Estates, a great part of the Money in the Kingdom being advanced upon the late Funds, we are forc'd (such of us who are under these Circumstances) to part with that little Re∣mainder which we had left us to buy Bread for our Wives and Chil∣dren, to satisfy those devouring Harpies, without which we should not have enjoyed our Liberties, but must have been imprisoned and outed of our Estates. Others of us again who have nothing left us but Preces & Lachrimae to the Great God of Heaven, are served with Leases of Ejectment and Subpoena's in Chancery, in order to foreclose us of the Equity of Redemption: And as if we (who are the Gentry of the Kingdom) were made for Beasts of Burden, several of us whose Estates are mortgaged, and pay 60 or 70 l. per annum Interest, out of every 100 l. per annum we have, are notwithstanding forc'd to pay 20 l. per annum more, out of the small Pittance that is left us, for Taxes to their Majesties, while the Persons who have our Estates in their Clutches, and receive of us probably two Thirds or more of our yearly Incomes, pay not one Penny towards the Taxes. And that which pierces like a Dart to the Heart of any generous Soul, we who are descended from Noble Ancestors and Antient Families, must be forc'd to bear the Insults of our Creditors, and to hear our selves upbraided with the Ti∣tle of Beggars: We have done all we can to sell our Estates, but every one we ask tells us, they had rather sell than purchase Land, upon which there are so many Taxes; and that there are a new sort of Purchases lately come in fashion, whereby a Man may have above 8 l. per cent. per annum perpetual Interest, clear of all Charges; besides his Part in ma∣ny other Advantages, which may in all probability, in time, amount to as much more; upon which he may raise whatsoever Money he wants,

and pay it in whensoever he pleases, for 5 or 6 l. per cent. per annum Interest; and that without long Delays, and the Charge of examining Titles, Procuration, Continuation, Mortgage-Deeds, &c. That if they sell their Lands for 12 Years Purchase, and buy an Interest in the Bank, it will bring them in as much as their Lands will in time of Peace, and a fifth Part more during the War, if they have no more nor other Ad∣vantages than the bare 8 l. per cent. per annum. And further they tell us, that the very Bank-Bills are better than our Land, carrying 3 l. per cent. per annum along with them, and are ready Money at an Hour's warning. We have indeed examin'd into the Nature of these Funds, and find they are generally settled upon the Excise of Beer and Ale, &c. which is made of the Product of our Lands: And it is a Rid∣dle to us, that what our Lands produce every Year, should be esteemed a better Fund or Security than our Lands themselves.

I have (under the protection of a worthy Member of this Honoura∣ble House) been present, and have heard what hath been urged by the monied Men; and if he who was born Dumb, cried out, when he saw the Knife at his Father's Throat, can we be silent when we see our Liber∣ties, Estates, &c. in so apparent Danger? His Majesty (to his Eter∣nal Honour) is fighting our Battels abroad; of whom we may truly say, Quod omnem metum at{que} inexorabile fatum subjecit Pedibus: and shall we enslave our selves to our fellow Subjects, under the Notion of raising Money to defend our Liberties? Have they not told you (what I fear you will find too true, if more Money should be raised by the late Methods) that they have all the Money, and consequently the Power of Peace and War in their Hands; and that your Acts for raising Mo∣ney are insignificant, unless they please to open their Purses? And be as∣sured, they will never part with their Money unless for more than ordi∣nary Advantage. And as to these Foreigners of several Nations, who come to offer their Money, pretendedly for their Majesties Service, do not they tell you, it is the great Interest invited them to make a Tender of it? And then the Prolocutor of the Bank, he tells you, that the Di∣rectors of the Bank will furnish you with what Bills you please, raise as many Millions as you will, upon your settling a Fund to pay them 8 l. per cent. per annum, perpetual Interest: Whereas, Gentlemen, I en∣treat you to peruse these Tables in my Hand, wherein you may see how

many Millions you give them for one, and how in a few Years they will have all the Money in the Nation in their Hands; and then they may truly say, that nothing can be done without their Fiat. And for my part, Gentlemen, I no less wonder at your Patience in hearing, than at his Con∣fidence in making so unreasonable a Proposal: But that which did not a little damp my Spirits, insomuch that I can hardly yet recover my self, is, how genteely the Prolocutor offers to ease us of our Estates: And I must confess there seems a tendency thereunto; for when they have once made us Poor, by their 8 l. per cent. per annum Interest, I know not what should hinder them from having our Estates. And I find the Purchase of our Estates is quickly cast up, for 1200000 l. in Money paid for 100000 l. per annum, is just 12 Years Purchase; and so much we may expect for our Freeholds. And tho I doubt not in the least these Gentle∣mens Civility, in giving us a quick Dispatch, and sending us out of Town with their Bank-Bills, in exchange for our Terra Firma, yet I very much question, whether their Goodness will extend so far as to give more Years Purchase for our Lands, than they give to the Govern∣ment for the Funds: And to give the Gentlemen of the Bank their Due, they have a very good Plea why they ought not to give so many Years Purchase for Land, because there is 4 s. in the Pound paid yearly during the War for Taxes out of our Land; whereas the Funds are ex∣cused from all Taxes by Act of Parliament. So soon as I heard the Prolocutor mention the purchasing our Lands with their Bank-Bills, it put me in mind of Pharaoh's seven lean ill-favoured Kine, who did eat up the seven fat and well-favour'd Kine; or rather the seven thin Ears of Barley, when made into Malt, devouring the seven full Ears of Barley, with the Land upon which it grew. However my Thoughts were quickly interrupted, when I heard him say, that as soon as they had got our Estates, they should have a Fund of good Freehold-Land for the se∣curity of their Bank-Bills: That suted exactly with my Notion, and I thought with my self, why may not our Estates be as good a Fund or Security in our Hands as in theirs? Which, Gentlemen, leads me to the Point which I have in Command to lay before this Honourable House, which is, to acquaint you, that by reason of high Interest occasioned by those late Funds, we the Freeholders of England are in a fair way to be ruin'd, the Nation impoverish'd, and what indeed I ought to have

mention'd in the first place, their Majesties and our Parliaments will be at last forc'd to truckle to the Monied Men, among whom are very many Foreigners as well as Subjects of our own Nation.

Pardon me therefore, Right Horourable, Honourable, and thrice worthy Patriots, if I make it my most humble Request to you, in the Name of all the Freeholders of England, That you would be pleased to take the Premisses into your serious Consideration. I presume to say, that a more weighty Affair in respect of their Majesties or the Kingdom, can∣not come before you; be pleased to peruse this Book, examine the Tables, consider the several Arguments and Objections, with the several Answers, read over the Proposals, and sedately ponder them; and if you find any thing therein that is not consentaneous or agreeable to your Judgments, be pleased to hear what Reasons may be given by the Proposer for such his Proposal, before you totally cast it aside as impracticable. The Proposer doth not pretend to lay a compleat and perfect Scheme before your Honours, but only to bring you the Treasure in the Mass, Rudis indigesta{que} Moles, well knowing, that if you shall be pleased with the Matter, that there are not wanting among you Persons of great Wisdom and profound Judgments, who are able to form and methodize it far beyond what the Proposer can or will pretend.

The Design is to settle our Lands, upon which may be issued out Bills of Credit, not only for the Service of their Majesties, but of all the Sub∣jects in the Kingdom; and we cannot but hope that your Honours will think it as reasonable for us to issue out Bills of Credit upon the Security of our Freehold Estates in Land, as you have been pleased to give Leave to the Gentlemen of the Bank to issue out Bills upon Security of the 100000 l. per annum, payable out of the Excise: whereby their Ma∣jesties will be enabled to carry on the War with a yet greater Vigor than ever, and we the Freeholders of England will have an opportunity to clear our Estates from all Incumbrances, and raise Portions for our Chil∣dren; and such of us who are now unable to help our selves, and are in a starving Condition, will be put into a Capacity to lend their Majesties our Bills of Credit for 3 l. per cent. per annum, who now pay above 8 l. per cent. per annum perpetual Interest. But I fear I have tres∣pass'd too much upon your Patience, and therefore what might be said in respect of Trade, I refer it to this Gentleman, who is a considerable Mer∣chant

in the City, and understands the Method of Trade far better than I can pretend to. Begging therefore the Divine Benediction upon all your Debates and Consultations, I leave with your Honours the true, tho de∣plorable, Estate and Condition of the Freeholders of this Nation, hoping you will be pleased to take it into your serious Consideration, to give them some Ease under the great and sore Pressures that very many of them are under: That as their Majesties (under God) may be said to be the Re∣storers of our Liberties, so it may be as truly said of you, to the eter∣nizing your Names to future Generations, That such a Parliament, Anno sexto Willielmi & Mariae, set all the Freeholders in England at Liberty from their worse than Egyptian Task-Masters.

The Gentleman having thus finish'd his Discourse, one of the Merchants attending being ordered to acquaint the House with what he had to say in reference to the Trade of the Nation, de∣livered himself in the following manner.