I dare promise you the thanks of half the kingdom, if you will please to perform the promise you have made of suffering the Craftsman and company, or whatever other "infamous wretches and execrable villains" you mean, to take their vengeance only on your own sacred ministerial person, without bringing any of your brethren, much less the most remote branch of the Royal Family, into the debate. This generous offer I suspected from the first; because there were never heard of so many, so unnecessary, and so severe prosecutions as you have promoted during your ministry, in a kingdom where the liberty of the press is so much pretended to be allowed. But in reading a page or two, I found you thought it proper to explain away your grant; for there you tell us, that "these miscreants" (meaning the writers against you) "are to remember that the laws have abundantly less generous, less mild and merciful sentiments" than yourself, and into their secular hands the poor authors must be delivered to fines, prisons, pillories, whippings, and the gallows. Thus your promise of impunity, which began somewhat jesuitically, concludes with the mercy of a Spanish inquisitor.
If it should so happen that I am neither "abettor, patron, protector," nor "supporter" of these imaginary invectives "against the King, her Majesty, or any of the Royal Family," I desire to know what satisfaction I am to get from you, or the creature you employed in writing the libel which I am now answering? It will be no excuse to say, that I differ from you in every particular of your political reason and practise; because that will be to load the best, the soundest, and most numerous part of the kingdom with the denominations you are pleased to bestow upon me, that they are "Jacobites, wicked miscreants, infamous wretches, execrable villains, and defamers of the King, Queen, and all the Royal Family," and "guilty of high treason." You cannot know my style; but I can easily know your works, which are performed in the sight of the sun. Your good inclinations are visible; but I begin to doubt the strength of your credit, even at court, that you have not power to make his Majesty believe me the person which you represent in your libel: as most infallibly you have often attempted, and in vain, because I must otherwise have found it by the marks of his royal displeasure. However, to be angry with you to whom I am indebted for the greatest obligation I could possibly receive, would be the highest ingratitude. It is to you I owe that reputation I have acquired for some years past of being a lover of my country and its constitution: to you I owe the libels and scurrilities conferred upon me by the worst of men, and consequently some degree of esteem and friendship from the best. From you I learned the skill of distinguishing between a patriot and a plunderer of his country: and from you I hope in time to acquire the knowledge of being a loyal, faithful, and useful servant to the best of princes, King George the Second; and therefore I can conclude, by your example, but with greater truth, that I am not only with humble submission and respect, but with infinite gratitude, Sir, your most obedient and most obliged servant,
INDEX
Acheson, Sir Arthur, [246].
Alberoni's expedition, [207].
Allen, Joshua, Lord, his attack on Swift, [168], [169], [175], [176], [236], [237];
account of, [175].
America, emigration from Ireland to, [120].
Arachne, fable of, [21].
Ballaquer, Carteret's secretary, [242].
Bank, proposal for a national, in Ireland, [27], [31], [38], [42], [43];
subscribers to the, [49-51].
Barbou, Dr Nicholas, [69].
Barnstaple, the chief market for Irish wool, [18].
Beggars in Ireland, [70];
Proposal for giving Badges to, [323-335];
reason for the number of, [341].
Birch, Colonel John, [6].
Bishops, Swift's proposal to sell the lands of the, [252] et seq.
Bladon, Colonel, [23].
Bolingbroke, Lord, his contributions to the "Craftsman," [219], [375], [377].
Boulter, Archbishop, his scheme for lowering the gold coinage, [353];
opposed by Swift, [353], [354].
Browne, Sir John, his "Scheme of the money matters of Ireland," [66];
Swift's answer to his "Memorial," [109-116].
Burnet, William, [121].
Carteret, John, Lord, [227];
Swift's Vindication of, [229-249].
Coinage, McCulla's proposal about, [179-190];
Swift's counter-proposal, [183].
Coining, forbidden in Ireland, [88], [134].
Compton, Sir Spencer, [387].
Corn, imported into Ireland from England, [17].
"Cossing," explained, [271].
Cotter, ballad upon, [23].
"Craftsman," the, [219], [375], [397], [399].
Davenport, Colonel, [280].
Delany, Dr. Patrick, [244].
Dublin, thieves and roughs in, [56];
Examination of certain Abuses, etc, in, [263-282];
Advice to the Freemen of, in the Choice of a Member of Parliament, [311-316];
Considerations in the Choice of a Recorder of, [319], [320].
Dunkin, Rev. William, Swift's efforts in behalf of, [364], [368].
Dutton-Colt, Sir Harry, [280].
Elliston, Ebenezer, Last Speech of, [56] et seq.
Esquire, the title of, [49].
Footmen, Petition of the, [307].
French, Humphry, Lord Mayor of Dublin, [310], [311].
French army, recruited in Ireland, [218], [220].
Frogs, propagation of, in Ireland, [340].
Galway, Earl of, [235].
Grafton, Duke of, [194].
Grimston, Lord, his "Lawyer's Fortune, or Love in a Hollow Tree," [24].
Gwythers, Dr., introduces frogs into Ireland, [340].
Hanmer, Sir Thomas, [387].
Hospital for Incurables, Scheme for a, [283-303].
Hutcheson, Hartley, [234].
Injured Lady, Story of the, [97-103];
Answer to the, [107-109].
Ireland, the Test Act in, [2], [5] et seq.;
exportation of wool from, forbidden, [17], [18], [110], [111], [157], [158];
absentee landlords, [25], [69], [71], [101], [162];
Sheridan's account of the state of, [26-30];
proposal for establishing a National Bank in, [31], [38], [42], [43];
maxims controlled in, [65];
poverty of, [25], [66], [87], [89], [90], [122];
increase of rents in, [67], [163];
begging and thieving in, [70];
Short view of the State of, [83-91];
importation of cattle into England prohibited, [86], [100], [110], [221];
encouragement of the linen manufactures in, [102], [158];
luxury and extravagance among the women in, [124], [139], [198], [199], [219];
condition of the roads in, [130];
bad management of the bogs in, [131];
dishonesty of tradesmen in, [142], [147];
the National Debt of, [196];
famine in, [203];
population of, [208];
persecution of Roman Catholics in, [263].
Irish brogue, the, [346].
Irish eloquence, [361].
Irish language, proposal to abolish the, [133].
Irish peers, titles of, [349].
Japan, Account of the Court and Empire of, [382-391].
King, Archbishop, [21], [119], [136], [244], [326].
Lindsay, Robert, [259].
Linen trade in Ireland, the, [88], [102], [158].
Littleton, Sir Thomas, [7].
Lorrain, Paul, ordinary of Newgate, [34].
Macarrell, John, [310], [311].
McCulla's Project about halfpence, [179-190].
Manufactures, Irish, Proposal for the Universal use of, [17-30];
Proposal that all Ladies should appear constantly in, [193-199].
See also "Woollen Manufactures."
Mar, Earl of, [164].
Maxwell, Henry, his pamphlets in favour of a bank in Ireland, [38].
Mist, Nathaniel, [194].
National Debt, Proposal to pay off the, [251-258].
Navigation Act, the effect of, in Ireland, [66], [86].
Norton, Richard, [301].
"Orange, the squeezing of the," [275].
Penn, William, [120].
Perron, Cardinal, anecdote of, [238].
Peterborough, Lord, letter of Swift to, April 28, 1726, [154-156].
Phipps, Sir Constantine, [244].
"Pistorides" (Richard Tighe), [233], [235].
Poor, Considerations about maintaining the, [339-342].
Poyning's Law, [103], [105].
Psalmanazar, George, his Description of the Island of Formosa, [211].
Pulteney, William, the "Craftsman" founded by, [219], [375];
"Answer of, to Robert Walpole," [392-400].
Quilca, life at, [74], [75-77].
Rents, raising of, in Ireland, [163].
Roads, in Ireland, condition of the, [130].
Roman Catholics, legislation against, [5];
petty persecution of, in Ireland, [263].
Rowley, Hercules, his pamphlets against the establishment of a bank in Ireland, [38].
Savoy, Duke of, [277].
Scotland, description of, [97], [98].
Scots in Sweden, [9].
Scottish colonists in Ulster, [104].
Sheridan, Dr. Thomas, [74];
his account of the state of Ireland, [26-30];
given a chaplaincy by Carteret, [232], [241];
anecdote of Carteret, related by, [232];
informed against by Tighe, [233], [242].
Stanley, Sir John, Commissioner of Customs, [197].
Stannard, Eaton, elected Recorder of Dublin, [319], [366].
Stopford, Dr. James, Bishop of Cloyne, [243].
Street cries explained, [268-270], [275-281].
Swan, Mr., [280].
Swandlingbar, origin of the name of, [347].
Swearer's Bank, the, [41].
Swift, Godwin, [347].
Swift, Jonathan, the freedom of the City of Dublin conferred on, [168];
his speech on the occasion, [169-172];
confesses the authorship of the "Drapier's Letters," [171];
born in Dublin, [267];
his opposition to Archbishop Boulter, [353], [354];
his speech on the lowering of the coin, [357];
his efforts in behalf of Mr. Dunkin, [364-368];
receives the freedom of the City of Cork, [367];
appoints Dr. Wynne Sub-dean of St. Patrick's, [370].
Temple, Sir William, his comparison of Holland and Ireland, [164].
Test Act, in Ireland, [2], [5] et seq.
Thompson, Edward, Commissioner of the Revenue in Ireland, [315].
Tickell, T., [242].
Tighe, Richard, informs against Sheridan, [74], [233], [242];
attacks Carteret, [228];
ridiculed as "Pistorides," [233], [235].
"Traulus" (Lord Allen), [176], [236].
Trees, planting of, in Ireland, [132].
Violante, Madam, [234].
Wallis, Dr., [280].
Walpole, Sir Robert, interview of Swift with, in 1726, [153];
his views on Ireland, [154];
satire on, [276];
his literary assistants, [379], [393] et seq.;
character of, [384] et seq.
Waters, Edward, Swift's printer, [171], [193].
Whitshed, Lord Chief Justice, [14], [86], [115], [129], [171], [193], [194].
Wine, proposed tax on, [196], [197].
Wool, Irish, exportation of, forbidden by law, [17], [18], [110], [111], [157], [158];
effect of the prohibition on England, [160].
Woollen manufactures, Irish people should use their own, [137] et seq.;
Observations on the case of the, [147-150].
Wynne, Rev. Dr. John, Sub-dean of St. Patrick's, [370].
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "Unpublished Letters of Swift," edited by Dr. Birkbeck Hill, 1899.
[2] Mr. Murray's MSS., quoted by Craik.
[3] It appeared almost impossible for Swift to see the injustice of this test clause. In reality, it had been the outcome of the legislation against the Irish Roman Catholics. In 1703 the Irish parliament had passed a bill by which it was enacted, "that all estates should be equally divided among the children of Roman Catholics, notwithstanding any settlements to the contrary, unless the persons to whom they were to descend, would qualify, by taking the oaths prescribed by government, and conform to the established church" (Crawford's "History of Ireland," 1783, vol. ii., p. 256). The bill was transmitted to England, for approval there, at a time when Anne was asking the Emperor for his indulgence towards the Protestants of his realms. This placed the Queen in an awkward position, since she could hardly expect indulgence from a Roman Catholic monarch towards Protestants when she, a Protestant monarch, was persecuting Roman Catholics. To obviate this dilemma, the Queen's ministers added a clause to the bill, "by which all persons in Ireland were rendered incapable of any employment under the crown, or, of being magistrates in any city, who, agreeably to the English test act, did not receive the sacrament as prescribed by the Church of England" (ibid.). Under this clause, of course, came all the Protestant Dissenters, including the Presbyterians "from the north." The bill so amended passed into law; but its iniquitous influence was a disgrace to the legislators of the day, and his advocacy of it, however much he was convinced of its expediency, proves Swift a shortsighted statesman wherever the enemies of the Church of England were concerned. [T. S.]