The following SPEECH being spoken off hand upon the Debates in the House of Commons, you cannot expect in it the Exactness of Roman Eloquence; but you have the freedom, and bravery of the Old Roman, and true English Spirit, zealous for the good of their Country, and bold in all its Dangers. And if other Corporations and Shires would take the like Care as B— l, they might be as happy in the Choice of their Representatives; and then, and never till then, may we hope to see poor England become Old England again, Rich and Happy at home, Glorious and Renowned abroad. Towards which, this worthy Patriot has set a Noble Example; and that it may Inspire and encourage others, and prompt and enable the Country to distinguish such from Pensioners, and wretched Betrayers of their Country and Posterity, is the design of making this public, from a Copy which I procured from a Member of the House of Commons, who took it in Short Hand, as it was spoken.   

Mr. Speaker,  
I have heard of a Ship in a Violent Storm, in danger of Perishing every Moment;[ It was not such a shame Storm as we were lately entertained with in the Gazette, which deceives the People, that many Ships going for France, Laden with Corn, were Cast away, tho' those Ships and many more are since safely Arrived in France; But it was such a real Storm as on the 7th. of the last Month, Destroyed on the cost of Cornwall upwards of 70 Sail of our English Ships, most of which were Laden with Corn, and several sorts of Provisions, for the use of our Dutch Allies, to enable them to live Cheap, by making the same Dear at Home, perhaps some was for the Support of our half starved and Unpaid English Soldiers now in Flanders; when Perished likewise more than 700 Sailors, who have left Thousands of Widows, Children, and poor Relations to Curse our Conduct at Sea, the cause of this Calamity: In such a Dreadful Storm it was that the foresaid Ship was in] when the good Commander seeing the Danger, and apprehending Death, desired his Crew to Assist with Resolution, and Preserve themselves and the Ship, which the Sailors refusing to do, he retired to his cabin, humbled himself in Prayer, and Implored the Powers that alone can save in time of need, That tho' the Ship and the Company might be justly Swallowed up, for the Disobedience of the Sailors, yet that he and his cabin might suffer no Damage.  
Sir, I cannot, as that good Commander did, be so vain as to hope that either myself, or the place for which I serve, can be preserved from the General Inundation, which this Bill we are now debating lets in on the Liberties of my Native Country and Country Men; and therefore be unconcerned for the good of England, provided Bristol were safe: To hope for and expect Happiness in Life, when all Mankind but myself are Dead, would not be more deceiving, then to propose Comfort, and Security to myself and Corporation, when Strangers are Admitted to possess and Enjoy by a Law, all that's Valuable in this Kingdom; for this Bill doth Enfranchize all Strangers that will Swear and Protest against Popery) with the Liberties of every English Man, after the vast expense of Treasure and English Blood it hath Cost this Kingdom in all Times and Ages of our Fore-fathers, to secure them to themselves and their Posterity.  
Wherefore Mr. Speaker I must beg Pardon, if at this time I cannot sit silent, but express a Zealous concern, as well for the Kingdom in General, as for the Place I Represent in particular; and I am more moved thereunto, whilst I see so many Members sent here by their Country for the Conservation of the English Mans Liberties, so warm as to part with all to Strangers with one Vote.  
The Argument of the Honourable Person near me, to render all the Care of our Fore-fathers of no Esteem amongst us, who are, or ought to be the Representatives of the Kingdom, was to prove, that this Age and Generation are Wise( he did not say Honester) than the former.  
I remember a West Country Man many Years past, undertook to prove the same to me, and my Company beyond Sea, by declaring his Father was a Fool to him. I yielded him that Point by Concluding both to be such, and yet our Fore-fathers might be Wise Men; I shall not at this time question the Wisdom of those who promote the Bill or their Fathers. For myself I declare in behalf of the Wisdom and Honesty of our Predecessors, nor can I Assent to the yielding up of the Liberties and Laws they derived unto us, only because some Gentlemen think better of themselves( and perhaps mistakenly) than of their Parents.  
Sir, I was early Instructed in a Principle of deference to the Wisdom of our Ancestors, and at this time I tremble when I Reflect on the Correction given me by my Master, that I might not forget but Imitate and Defend in all times this Rule: Let them only be accounted Good, Just, and Wise Men, who Regard and Defend the Statutes, Laws, Ordinances and Liberties, which their Fore-Fathers Wisdom and Experience obtained for themselves and Posterity. Now it is my Opinion Mr. Speaker, that if those Gentlemen who approve of this Bill, had not only been taught that Rule, but as well Corrected as myself, they would be of my judgement, and I wish that they who depart from that Rule, and Sacrifice our English Liberties, to a Number of Mercenary foreigners, may not meet with a much more Rigorous and Exemplary Chastisement from their Enraged and Ruined country Men.  
The Arguments used for the Bill are in substance these: First, A want of Purchasers for our Lands. Second, Of Merchants. Third, Manufacturers, who can Work Cheaper than the English. Fourth, Husbandmen to Till the Ground.  
To all these I shall return short Answers, but if I debate not on them with that Advantage and Reason, as our Land Admirals can( no doubt) with great Ingenuity on Sea politics, I hope the House will Pardon me, for my Observations never cost the Kingdom such expense of money at Home, and Losses at Sea, as hath the Experience of those Honourable Persons in Sea Affairs.  
First it s Argued by some, that we want Purchasers for the Lands; This is a Melancholy Consideration, I therefore desire those Gentlemen who approve of this Bill, to tell me what it is hath brought us to this Condition, That the Landed Men of England are reduced to so Low an Ebb, that they must Sell, and none left able to Buy, unless foreigners are naturalised, doth this prove our Fore-fathers wanted understanding; or doth it not rather conclude its occasioned by our want of theirs, and not following their Examples, who never Taxed their Country to the Ruin both of themselves and their Posterity, nor did they Expend the money of the Kingdom on such Allies as Ours: who as we have been informed by some of the Privy Council, are not in our interest, and will spare us none of their Men for our Pay, without great Pensions likewise for themselves. Can any Man hope to persuade me, that our Fore-fathers would have brought Foreign Soldiers into England and pay them, and naturalise them likewise, and at the same time sand the English Soldiers abroad to Fight in a strange Land, without their pay.  
Let us but abate our Taxes, and after the Wise President of our Fathers, pay our own Sea Men and Soldiers at Home, and sand the foreigners Back. Then the money will be found Circulating at Home, in such English Mens Hands, who may Buy the Lands that are to be Sold, without Naturalizing Strangers.  
Secondly, Its said we want more Merchants. Whom may we thank for bringing so many to Poverty, but I shall forbear grating, and desire the Liberty to Consider in short how the Trade of England hath hitherto been carried on. Gentlemen have placed their younger Children to Merchants, their Masters observing their Honesty and diligence when they have gained some experience in the necessary parts of Trade, Generally sand them abroad, to Turkey, all parts of the Levant, to Spain, Portugal, East and West Indies; and all parts where England holds any Considerable Commerce: there the young men are Employed by and Entrusted with the stocks and Estates of their Masters and Friends, whereby all parties both the principals at home, and the Factors abroad are advantaged, and England enriched( for there in the end all Centers) and at last when they are satiated with gain, they return to their Native soil their Friends and Relations for ease and Enjoyment, making room for a younger Generation to succeed in their profitable Employments. Thus hitherto this Kingdom hath advanced in Riches, whilst Foreigners could not with success plant their Factories on us, through the advantage we had by our Laws, Let us but turn the Tables and Consider the Consequence: Suppose we pass this bill, and the Dutch( who no doubt will take the Oaths as this Bill directs, and protest against Popery and Paganism, and on occasion Christianity too, as at Japan) sand their Servants and Factors hither, and we naturalise them, and let the Capital stock which gets an employ to these new made Englishmen belong to their Masters and friends, who never did or ever will live amongst us, will it not then follow that the profit will be theirs and not Englands, and will not the New made English( yet Dutchmen still) return to their Country and friends with their gain, as our People hitherto have done. We may observe by our Inland Trade, that it s seldom they who make the Manufactories gain Estates, but those who employ their stocks in buying and selling what others make, and itis the same with the Merchants, those that Export and Import are the gainers; the first maker very seldom, the Consumptioner never.  
The Conclusion then of this Experiment must be this. That what hath hitherto been gain to England by English Merchants and Factors, will be turned to a foreign Land, by the foreign Merchants naturalised, for their own good, not Englands.  
But this is not all, for at once the Art of Navigation will be rendered useless. Whence then will be a Nursery for Sea Men? for foreign Merchants will naturalise foreign Sea men; and when the Press-Masters find them, they will Dutchen spraken, ya min heer, and avoid the Service, but at the Custum-House, Exchange, and in all Corporations, they will be found as good Englishmen as any be of this House; from whence it followeth, that Trade will be only carried on by foreign Merchants and Sea-men, and the English Sea men Condemned to our Men of War, and perhaps live there, as hitherto without their Pay, till another Million be owing them for Wages, and in the interim have this only consolation and reward for service done, and to be done, that their Wives and Children may be subsisted with the alms of the parish, whilst foreign soldiers are maintained at home and abroad with their pay.  
A third Argument for admitting foreigners, is upon a supposed want we have of Manufacturers, especially such as will work cheaper than the English; In my Opinion this reasoning is extraordinary, and ought not to take air out of the House, least the Old English spirit should exert itself in defence of its Liberties, for at this time when all provisions are become excessive dear by the great quantities exported to Holland, which puts the poor English Manufacturers on starving in most parts of England, for want of a full Employ to Enable them to support their Families, by their honest and painful Labour and Industrey, shall an English Parliament let in strengers to under sell our Country, which they may easily do, whilst they live in Garrets, pay no Taxes, and are bound to no Duty; How shall we answer this to our Country, who sent us here? when by so doing, instead of making the Kingdom more populous, we provide only for the subsistence of foreigners, and put our Country men to the Choice of starving at home, or to turn soldiers, and be sent to Flanders, and starve there for want of their pay; for itis well known that at this time, more commodities are made in England then can be consumed abroad, or at home, which makes the poor Manufacturers so miserable. All Country Gentlemen within this House, have for several Sessions laboured what they could to raise the price of the Provisions which their Lands produce, and some think it not great enough yet, and they would despise that man, who should endeavour to lower the Rates, by proposing a free Importation of Irish Cattle and Corn, tho he had no other design, than that Charitable and necessary one of relieving the poor; and yet these very Gentlemen are for this Bill, because they would have the labour of the poor brought to a lower advantage: In my Opinion this is a very unequal way of reasoning, that whilst we raise the price of the product of the Land, for the Gentlemen to live in greater state, at the same time our Consults are how to make the half starved Manufacturers that live by their daily labour, more and more miserable. What Opinion will the Common people of England have of this House, and the Gentlemen of the Kingdom, whom nothing can please, but what is made by foreigners, or comes from abroad?  
Our senates for a long time have been so nice, that nothing but a French Cook could please, nor could we persuade ourselves that our clothing was good unless from Head to Foot we were Alanlode de France; The Gentleman was not well served without a Frenchman, and the Lady's Commede could not sit right, if her fine French Woman did not put it on: Now on a sudden, the Change is as Violent in favour of the Dutch, who are great Courtiers, and the only taking people, and our English are a sort of Clumsy fisted people if compared with the Modish Dutch Hans and Fro, and in short the Englishmen are fit for nothing, but to be sent to Flanders, and there, either to fight, steal, or starve for want of pay. There is one thing M. Speaker which comes into my mind, with which I shall close this Consideration. What reason was there for blaming the Mayors, Aldermen, Common Councils, and other Governours of Corporations, for surrendering the Charters, tho they still retain the Rights for Englishmen only to come into new Charters, and at the same time hope to justify our proceedings, tho we throw up the Great Charter of our English Liberties to admit Strangers.  
A fourth Pretence for this Bill is, a want of Husbandmen to Till the Ground, I shall say little on this Head, but request the Honourable Person below me, to tell me of the Forty Thousand French, which he confesseth are come into England; How many does he know, that at this time follow the Plow tail? for itis my firm Opinion, that not only the French, but any other Nation this Bill shall let in upon us, will never transplant themselves for the benefit of going to Plow; they will contentedly leave the English the sole monopoly of that slavery.  
Upon the whole Sir, itis my judgement, that should this Bill pass, it will bring as great Afflictions on this Nation, as over fell upon the Egyptians, and one of their Plagues we have at this time very severe upon us; I mean that of their Land bringing forth Frogs in abundance, even in the Chambers of their Kings: For there is no entering the Courts of St. James and Whitehall, the palaces of our Hereditary Kings, for the great Noise and croaking of the Frog-Landers.  
Mr. Speaker, This Nation is a Religious, Just, and Zealous Nation, who, in some of their Fits and Zeal, have not only quarreled and Fought for the same, but have murdered and Deposed Kings, Nobles, Bishops, and Priests, for the sake of their Religion and Liberties, which they pretended to prove from the Bible, we are the Religious Representatives of this Religious People, Let us therefore learn Instruction in this Case before us, from that good Book; where we may be informed, that Saint Paul, by being born Free of Heathen Rome, escaped a Whipping, and valued, and pleaded that privilege, and the Chief Captain of the Romans prides himself, that he, with a great Sum, had obtained that Freedom, and feared greatly when he had violated St. Paul's Liberty, only by binding of him, and, Shall we set at nought the Freedoms of the English Nation, who are a Religious Christian Kingdom, and part with the same to strangers, for nothing, unless the undoing of our own Country men, who sent Us here; but not on this Errand, Certainly we should follow the Example of the Roman Captain, and fear and tremble when we consider the Just Provocation we shall give to the Kingdom, who will expect that We Preserve, and not Destroy every English Man's Birth-right.  
Sir, We may farther learn, from that Book, the Fate of the Egyptians, who experimented on the score of Charity, what it is a people may expect from admitting strangers into their Country and councils; Joseph was a stranger sold a slave into Egypt, yet being taken into Pharaoh's Council, he, by Taxes, and other fine projects, brought the seven years plenty, God had blessed the Egyptians with, into the Granaries of Pharaoh; but when Dearth came on the Land, and the people cried to their King for Relief, they were sent to the stranger Joseph, who getteth from them, for that which was once their own, all their Money, their Cattle, their Lands, and last of all, their Persons into slavery; tho', at the same time, he did far otherwise by his own Country men, for he placed them in the best of the Land; the Land of Goshen, and nourished them from the King's store. This Example should teach us to be wise in time, seeing all this was done by the Advice of one foreigner in the Privy Council; and what may that Country expect, where the Head, and many of the Council are foreigners?  
Sir, I perceive some Gentlemen are uneasy, perhaps I have offended them, in supposing they are Religious Representatives; or concluding that their Religion is to be proved from the Bible: If that be it which displeaseth, I beg their pardon, and promise not to offend again on th●… score; and will Conclude all with this Motion, That the Serja●… be commanded to open the Doors, and let us first Kick the Bill out of the House, and then foreigners out of the Kingdom.  
FINIS.