A LETTER TO A MEMBER of PARLIAMENT, occasioned by the VOTES OF THE House of Commons Against their Late SPEAKER, and Others.  
LONDON: Printed in the Year MDCXCV.   

A LETTER TO A MEMBER of PARLIAMENT, &c.  
SIR,  
THE Inquiry your Honourable House has made of late into the Corruption of some of its Members, and the Marks of Infamy you have put upon them, does give a general Satisfaction here in the Country. The hopes which your late Votes have raised in all Good men, to see at last a stop put to the crying Oppression of some in Places of Trust and Profit, do in some little measure make amends for the dismal Prospect the Death of our Incomparable Queen had occasioned. If once the Bloodsuckers of the Nation be searched for, in order to condign Punishment, there is nothing in their Power that the People of England will not cheerfully do to support His Majesties Government, and carry on the present War: And it's chiefly from their Representatives in Parliament that they expect such a Search and Inquiry.  
You have already vindicated the Honour of your Illustrious Body, in sending one of your Members to the Tower for taking a Bribe, and in finding another of them, for taking a Gratuity, guilty of a high Crime and Misdemeanour, and then afterwards expelling him for so doing. By these Votes you have confert'd an Immortality upon two Gentlemen, that might have been otherwise lost in History. And while the Archives of this Parliament continue in being, their Names will be perpetuated to after-Ages.  
It's true, it will look but with an ill Grace beyond Sea, to hear of one of the Members of the English Parliament sent to the Tower for Bribery: So great a Name for the most incorrupted Body of Men in all Christendom has the House of Commons of England ever born. But when they come to know what a Post this Man was in, and what yearly Incomes belonged honestly to his Place, even more than what some that take Rank among Princes are possessed of in other Countries; Nothing but the highest Resentments of that Honourable House against him can atone for the Reproach he has brought upon the Nation by so mean, and dirty a Crime.  
Ne vel Marcus became a Proverb among the Romans in the Declension of that Empire; intimating, that the Corruptions, the Vices, and Divisions of the subsequent Ages were come to that height, that even the Reign of a Marcus Antoninus would not be capable to reform or restore debauched and sinking Rome. That Excellent Person, who gave rise to the Proverb, was reputed the best of Philosophers, the best of Princes, and the best of Men. By his admirable Conduct and Example, he put a stop for a while both to the Vices of the Age, and to the Inundation of Misery that then threatened, and afterwards overwhelmed the Roman State. Yet all his virtue, and all his skill in the Arts of War and politics, could do no more but prop up, during his own time, a shattered fabric, and a tottering Empire. Rome was rotten at the heart, and there was not Virtue enough left to carry through the Glorious Reformation, and noble Designs which had been so happily begun by Antoninus. The preceding Reigns had utterly depraved the Roman Genius. And so far were they from imitating those Actions of their Ancestors that had filled three Parts of the Globe with their famed, that they were then become willing to forget quiter that they had been once Masters of the World.  
Antoninus did all that Man could do, both in the Arts of Peace and War. He not only delivered Rome from foreign Invasions that threatened the very Center of the Empire; but carried his Arms in Person beyond its usual Boundaries, both on the East and West, and brought under his Dominion several Nations that had never before submitted their Necks to the Roman Yoke. At home he restored the Roman Senate( or Parliament) to its Ancient Rights, which had been invaded by some of his Predecessors: And by his own Example did all that was possible to bring Virtue into request. But alas! All his Efforts were in vain. Rome was become the Sink of 'vice and Corruption; and even Antoninus was not sufficient to Reform the Age! Yet Heaven was pleased by his Means, and for a Reward to his Virtue, to put a stop for a considerable time to the Fate of his Country: But not long after he was gone, the Divine Vengeance refused to be atoned, and that proud City that had given Law to Mankind for a great many Ages, fell at last a Prey to Barbarous Nations, whose Religion, Language, and Customs they did not understand, and some of whose Names they had never heard of.  
I pray God, Sir, there may be no ground for a Parallel betwixt Rome at that time, and England now. I would fain hope that it may be in the Power of a Prince that possesses all the good Qualities of Antoninus, to retrieve England from the Fate it deserves. And yet you'll agree with me, That in most kinds of 'vice we exceed Rome itself, even in its most degenerated Times.  
I confess there are some Vices, that instead of bringing Ruin to a country, may help sometimes, by Accident, to raise it to a higher Pitch of Glory. Such are Ambition, Emulation, and Thirst after Dominion. These were the Darling Vices of the Ancient Romans, and the Illustrious Crimes by which, from a Beggarly Village, they rose to the Universal Monarchy. There are others that naturally tend to the Destruction of a State, such as Covetousness, Corruption, and preferring Private Interests to that of the public. These last were seldom or never heard of in the first and best Ages of the Roman Empire. The Genius of Rome moved in a higher Orb: Glory and Renown were the Deities they adored; nor could the Roman Eagle stoop to so low a Quarry as that of Gold.  
Time was, My Friend, when Cincinnatus was brought from the Plow, to take upon him the Supreme Command; and when he had saved his country, he return'd to his Plow again. His whole Estate, when he came to be dictatory, was but Seven Acres of Ground; and so far was he from purchasing more, that he sold Three of them to pay what he had fallen short of in his public Accounts. There was a time, when a Paulus Emilius in his Triumph over Perseus, carried up with him to the Capitol the Inestimable Spoils of the Kingdom of Macedon, which the Kings of that country had been heaping up for some Hundreds of Years. Of all that vast Amass of Treasure the Noble Conqueror kept nothing to himself; and when he came to die, all he left behind him was not sufficient to make a tolerable Maintenance for his Wife. A Glorious Poverty, and a renowned Want!  
That Inimitable pattern of Magnanimity and Love to his country, Attilus Regulus, after he had destroyed the Riches of Carthage by the Success of many Battels, being in afric he came to understand that the Senate had continued his Command for a Year longer: Whereupon he writes a very earnest and submissive Letter to the Consuls, telling them, That the Bailiff of his little Farm in the country was dead, and that one he had hired since, was run away with the Utensils of his Husbandry; and therefore desires Leave to come home, lest his Land lying untilled, his Wife and Children should want Bread.  
What need I to instance more of this kind? The Greek and Roman Story are full of them. But perhaps you may say, These men had no opportunities to be Rich, and therefore it was against their will they died so Poor. No, Sir, but on the contrary, all these I have named wanted no opportunities to enrich themselves if they had pleased: Not only vast Sums of the public Money past through their hands, but immense Riches of conquered Provinces. These Men fought for their country, for Liberty, for Glory, and scorned to stoop to any other recompense, but the Praise and Satisfaction of their having done well.  
But perhaps you may yet tell me, They were Fools in all this. Be it so, as the world goes now: But let me tell you, It was by such Follies as these, that Rome not only conquered Countries, but Hearts too; and together with their Arms did propagate Morality, Civility, Arts and Sciences, among the Numberless People they subdued.  
If you ask me, How came it to pass then, that notwithstanding all these Sublime Virtues of the Ancient Romans, Rome became at length a Prey, first to its Fellow-Citizens, and afterwards to Foreign Nations? I answer, It was Corruption that occasioned this Wonderful and Dismal Change. When Virtue and Merit entitled Men to Employments in the Commonwealth, Rome was Great and Happy; but after that Money came into the Scale, such men came into Places as became both the Bane and the shane of the Roman State. What was it that brought the graecian Governments, so much celebrated in Ancient History, to ruin? Was it not Corruption? Philip of Macedon made his Advantage of it: He Bought more Cities than he conquered; and bragged that there was none so strong, but an Ass laden with Gold might enter into it. What was it that made Carthage, the once Rival of Rome, to become a Heap of Rubbish? Was it not Corruption? The Brave Hannibal found it a harder Task to struggle with the Corrupted Faction of Hanno at Home, than to wage War against the Romans Abroad; and the once flourishing carthaginian Commonwealth became first a Prey to the Avarice of its own Citizens, before she was forced to submit her self to the Conquering Sword of Scipio.  
Yet, Sir, give me leave to do both the Romans, Greeks, and Carthagenians, the Justice, as to acquit them of one kind of Corruption that's to be found in the Age we now live in; I cannot call to mind, that ever they enriched themselves with the Money that was destined for the Safety of their country; nor can you give any Instance of one of them that filled his own Coffers with what was given by the People for Maintenance of their Armies in Times of Imminent hazard of their State. Even in the most degenerated Ages of the World, it was accounted sacrilege to divert to any private use the Money that was set apart for so great an End. Among all Nations, such Money was held equally Sacred with that appointed for the Service of their Gods; and to purloin the least Farthing from either the one or the other was ever branded with the blackest mark of Infamy.  
If ever there was a time when a Crime of this Nature admitted of the highest Aggravations, now is the time. It's now, that England has its All at Stake, and upon the Success of this War depends not only its own, but the Fate of Christendom. We fight not now for Glory, Dominion, or a point of Honour, but for Liberty, for Religion, for our Laws, our Properties, and in a word, for all we can wish for to make us Easy and Happy. Our Fleets and Armies carry with them the Fortunes of Three Kingdoms, and the meanest Soldier and Seaman in the King's Service has entrusted to him some share of this mighty Stock. The Money raised at this time by Act of Parliament, is the Money of the Nation. Every one bears a share in it, and every one expects too, that it should be applied for the public Safety, since it's so nobly given for defraying the Charge of the most necessary, and the most important War this Nation was ever hitherto engaged in.  
It's for such a War as this, that all Nations, whether Pagan or Christian have thought it no Sin to make use of the Utensels of their Churches and Temples, and of the Sacred Treasures they or their Ancestors had dedicated to the Service of the gods they adored. Must it not then be a sacrilege of the deepest die, to rob these our Armies or Fleets of any part( tho never so small) of the Money appointed for them; when to borrow from the Altar to pay them, would be none? It's true, and thanks to Heaven for it, we are under no such hardship at present, and there is ground enough to hope we may bring this War to a happy period, without being put to any such necessitous Shifts to defray the Charge of it. But still these Blood-suckers of the Nation that defraud our Soldiers or Seamen of never so little of their Due, are as guilty as if we were actualy reduced to such an Extremity as I have now mentioned.  
Shall they every day for our Sakes expose their Lives to a thousand dangers, and look Death in the Face in a thousand various Shapes, while in the mean time we enjoy a perfect Ease and Quiet at Home? And yet shall there be found amongst us, any one that at one single Bribe dare filch as much of their Money, as would maintain at full Pay near three hundred Soldiers for a Month? In which case it's hard for a Man that loves his Country, not to wish an Anathema to the Giver, and much more one to the Receiver.  
My Neighbours here in the Country plague me with a thousand Questions about Mr. G—. Sometimes they ask me, What great things this Gentleman hath done for his Country, that he deserves so profitable a place? They expect I should acquaint them with some signal Opposition he had made to the violent Courses of the last Reigns, or of some great Losses he sustained by them: They will needs be enquiring about his Behaviour, with relation to the late Revolution, and what wonderful achievements he has done for the support of the present Government? But, I, not having the honour to be known to the Gentleman, am not able to answer to all these Questions, and therefore I must entreat you, who possibly know him, to resolve them for me.  
Tho this be no laughing matter, yet I cannot omit to tell you a pretty ridiculous Passage that fell out here t'other day. Mr. G. and Sir J. T. being the Subject of the Discourse, as they seldom fail to be of late, an honest Neighbour of mine, but none of the greatest Politicians, you may easily guess, would needs out of pure good Nature extenuate Mr. G's fault, by saying, That perhaps he had a numerous Family, and might be tempted to take 200 Guineas to put off some Daughter, who it may be lay upon his hands for want of a Portion. After a mighty Debate among our Country Statesmen, it was resolved by a Vote of the Board, that no other Circumstance but this mentioned by my Neighbour could in any way extenuate the Bribery.  
I hapn'd to come in at the end of this wise Debate, and found that skipping from one thing to another, the Company came at last to run down their Comrade, for imagining that 200 Guineas was a competent Portion for a Daughter of Mr. G's. To bring off my Friend, tho at the expense of a piece of History, I was forced to tell them, That even in the time of the height of the Roman Empire, such a Sum of Money would have been esteemed a very considerable Portion for the Noblest and Greatest Senators of Rome to give with a Daughter: And that the Daughter of the Immortal Scipio africanus( a Man not much inferior to Mr. G.) was said to have had a considerable Portion given her by the Senate( for her Father had nothing to give her, tho Master of the Spoils of Carthage) when it amounted but to Two thousand pieces of Brass Money) which comes far short of Two hundred Guineas of ours.  
But to leaves this ridiculous Digression; if your Illustrious Body has done themselves Justice in their Vote against Mr. G. they had done much more so in those against the late Speaker: And nothing can gain them greater Reputation abroad, than to hear of one in so high a Post, not only expelled the Chair, but the House, for taking a Gratuity after the passing an Act of Parliament. If it had been voted a Bribe, every body would have expected to have seen him expelled; but to run up his punishment so high for a Gratuity only, and for a Gratuity given after the Act was past, is only worthy of that nice Honour that has been ever so conspicuous in an English House of Commons. By this noble and just Procedure of yours, it will be made known to future Ages, that that which Custom may render allowable in other Men, and in other Stations, is yet a high Crime and misdemeanour in any one that shall have the Honour to sit within these Walls.  
We are  told by the rabbis, That none were admitted into the Great Council of the Jewish Nation, who had the least slain upon his Reputation or Honour; nor were they allowed even to ask a just Debt of a Man while his svit depended before them, lest it should be thought he paid it out of fear. As the Room where they sat was open above, to put them in mind of that All-seeing Being that looked down upon them from his Emperean Throne in so solemn an Occasion; so they were not so much as to touch Money upon any account whatsoever that Morning they met, and were to wash their Hands at the Door as they entered. And all this to intimate that Superlative Purity, which became the Members of so Sacred an Assembly.  
If you had voted your late Speaker's Fault to have been Bribery, and upon that had expelled him, you had not done yourselves so transcendent a piece of Justice, nor given Mankind so clear and illustrious an Idea of your untainted Probity, and that impartial Concern you have for the Country you represent. But in inflicting such a public Mark of your Displeasure upon him for a Fault of a softer Name, you have raised to yourselves lasting Monuments in the Hearts and Affections of all Good men, and have left to Posterity the exact Standard of what sort of Man, a Member of the English Sanhedrim ought to be.  
But when all is done, what a just Indignation must it raise in every one that loves his Country, to see it possible for Corruption so far to enter into that Chair, as to take Money for an Act of Parliament. This is a monstrous Production in Nature, unknown to the Ages past, and only to be found in this. To take a Gratuity for an Act of Parliament is ill enough, but to take one for an Act in favour of Poor Orphans, for an Act in which, not only the Honour of the Nation, but the subsistence of some hundreds of People of good Fashion and Quality, that wanted Bread and must have starved without it; to take a Gratuity for such an Act, is a thing scarce to be paralleled. This was to Rob the Poor with a witness. A Crime which we see every day, the Wretches that Pad upon the High-way disdain to commit.  
The Poet had reason to exclaim against the Sacred Hunger of Gold in the times he lived in; but had he lived in ours, he had had much more reason to do so. There are some Men now a days that behave themselves in this Government, as if they thought themselves in an Enemies Country. Their manner of taking Money looks like the Sacking of a conquered Town; for whatever comes in their way is with them fair Plunder. If a Stranger were to come in amongst us, and observe those People's Actions, he should take the Nation to be upon the point of breaking, and some Men for Bankrupts, ready to carry off what they can of the Publick-Stock.  
The Impostor Warbeck either was, or feigned to be more tender of his Native Country, than these Gentlemen are. When with the Assistance of a Neighbouring King, he came into England to vindicate his pretended Right to the Crown, he expressed with Tears in his Eyes, the concern he had for the havoc his Army made in the Northern Counties, and wished he had rather never been born, than to be the occasion of so much Spoil, tho in a just Cause. If he was not sincere in his Grief, it was true Policy in him to appear so. And the wisest of Kings took a right way to find out the true Mother of the Child, by putting her natural Affection upon the severest Trial.  
I would ask you a Question, Whether you think these Men that take Money with both hands from their own Country-men, might not be tempted to take the same from the Enemies of it? For my part, if I were to follow that Trade, I should rather deal with a French, than with an English Customer: And it seems to me more generous in itself, and less hurtful to my Country, to ease the French Monarch of some of his superfluous Cash, than to rob my Neighbours here at home of any part of theirs.  
But perhaps you'll tell me, these Gentlemen are true to the present Government, and can never be tempted into another Interest. No thanks to them for the first, for they gain by it: And as to the second, I can scarce believe but its rather for want of being able to better their Condition, than for any Principle or hearty Affection to ours. For it is natural enough to conclude, That he who can be bought with Money, will yield himself to him that bids most.  
If these Men instead of pilfering at Home, could find a way to take Money from our Enemies, in the manner, and with the design, that it's said, a late Minister of France took that of a Neighbouring State, I should hearty forgive them. The Story goes thus, Monsieur Colbert acquainted his Master with an offer had been made him of a considerable Pension from a Foreign Minister, if he would engage to give him notice from time to time, of the French Designs. The King not only allowed, but commanded him to accept of it, laying down at the same time a Scheme how the Intelligence to be given, should keep up Colbert's Credit with that Foreign Minister, but withal should be of Advantage to the French King. Thus the one had his Pension, and the other was egregiously cheated both out of his Money and Intelligence. A nice kind of Counter-plot, and to be entrusted with none but those, whose Fidelity a Prince has as much reason to be assured of, as the French King of Monsieur Colbert's.  
But alas! my Friend, when once the love of Money gets the Ascendant, all other Passions and Interests must stoop to its Sway: And Gold with a Man of that Temper-will prove too heavy, tho his Country and his Religion were laid together in the Scale. It was a severe Exclamation of Jugurtha, when being sold and betrayed to Scilla, he was brought within view of Rome. O! urbem venalem( says he) & quandoque perituram si haberet emptorem. O Mercenary Town! that one time or another must needs perish, if ever it chance to meet with a Buyer. A saying that will be true to the end of the World of all Nations where Corruption and Bribery get once footing.  
Your late Speaker was certainly a Gentleman, whose great Parts and Abilities, fitly qualified him for the Chair. If I had been worthy to sit in that House, I know not but from a mistaken Zeal for its Honour, I might have erred upon the other side, and determined my Vote by a remarkable President in Roman History, which possibly I might be fool enough to apply to his Case. A Pro-consul of Asia, being accused before the Senate, for taking from the People of his Province a Present of fine Horses, rich tapestry Hangings, and other household Furniture of great Value: His Plea was, That they were given him unasked. His Accusers insisted upon the great Danger there was, of his being induced by these Gifts to pervert Justice in favour of the Givers. Upon a full hearing he was acquitted, and the reason which the Senate gave for it, was, That it was not to be so much as supposed, that a Present could possibly corrupt a Proconsul of Rome. But the World, you'll say, is mch changed since that time, and we are not Romans.  
But for all this, No People punished Bribery more severely than they did, of which I shall give you but one remarkable Instance. Julius Syllanus, the Praetor, was accused for Bribery, and the Senate appointed a day to hear the Complaint. His Father, the Famous Manlius begged of the Senate, that the Cause might be referred to him, which was granted. Upon hearing both Parties, he found his Son guilty, and condemned him to lose his Head. Not only so, but he refused to assist at his Funeral, and the day of his Execution, he gave Access at home to every body that had Business with him. So just a Horror, and so noble an Indignation had Manlius for his Son's Crime, that paternal Affection, the softest of Passions, took no place, where he thought the Honour and Justice of his Country was concerned.  
It's a true Remark of the Duke of Rohans, That the Repute of Justice and Integrity does oftentimes contribute more to the Support of a State in difficult times, than either their Arms or Military Skill can. It was that which buoyed up that little Government of Sparta, against all its Neighbours much more powerful than themselves, during the Succession of some hundreds of Years. But when once they came to degenerate from their Ancient Virtue, all the Spartan Valour so much famed in History, was not able to save them from Ruin; tho as thucydides observes, They were as good Soldiers then as at any time before.  
It's in vain then for our King to have raised the Reputation of England in point of War to a greater height than it has been since the beginning of this Century; or to have acquired to Us a large Room in the Affairs and Counsels of our Neighbouring Kingdoms and States, which we either never had, or utterly lost. It's in vain for him to expose his Person in battle for our Sakes, or for Us to have the Glory to see a King of England at the Head of a Mighty Army on the Continent, which has not happened in any of the Seven Reigns before him. In vain are we now Masters not only of the Ocean, but of a Sea we never pretended to: Or that by the Example and Conduct of a Warlike Prince, the English Courage has regained its Ancient Reputation both at Sea and Land. It's in vain we are restored to our Laws and Liberties, or that we feel none of these Miseries that other Nations lye under. It's in vain( I say) all this, as long as Virtue, Probity, and Love to our Country are wanting, and we by our Corruption and like inglorious Practices, weaken the Foundations of our Happiness. The King will reap Immortal Praise for all his Toil: But of Us it shall be said by way of Reproach to after Ages, That such a Nation might have been Happy, but they would not.  
The World was once blessed with an Epaminondas, that by his Military Virtue raised a People far short of Us in extent of Dominion or Riches, to a high pitch of Glory: But this Glory of theirs was of a short continuance. While that Illustrious General governed the Theban State, Thebes was both the envy and terror of Greece; Victory attended their Arms, and Success their Counsels. No sooner was he gone, but all their Laurels withered, and they became a Prey to their Neighbours: Nor was he able with all his Virtue to entail Happiness upon a degenerated People any longer than his own Life. The Thebans were Thebans still, and the bright Example that Epaminondas had set them, and the glorious Actions he had done, served only to render their subsequent fall the more conspicuous, and the less pitied.  
When Corruption comes once to over-run a Nation, Virtue its self becomes a Crime, and he that's guiltiest, is sure to fare best. It's a known Story to this purpose of the Spaniard writing to his Friend, a Vice-Roy of Mexico. You are here accused( says he) of cheating the King of some Millions of Money in your Government. All I can say, is, if it be true, you are safe; if otherwise, you are undone. It was said of Cato, He was too good for the Age he lived in. And Solomon wisely foresaw the danger that attends a Rigid Virtue in degenerated times: Be not over-righteous( says he); for why shouldst thou die before thy time? In a vicious and corrupted Age, it were happy for a virtuous Man to be lost in the crowd. If he comes to be known, he runs the hazard of being undone. His Innocence is to other Men a tacit Reproach of their Crimes, and tho in spite of themselves they cannot restrain from paying in their thoughts a secret Homage to his Virtue, yet at the same time they must needs hate him in their Hearts. A hard Fate, you'll say, for being good! But hard tho it be, let you and I endeavour to deserve it.  
Epicurus, you know, placed Happiness in that Pleasure and Delight which arises from a constant course of virtuous Actions. All other Pleasures were unworthy of that Excellent Man, whatever has been since said to the contrary by a Sect of Wretches that would shelter themselves under so Great a Name. It was the Pleasure of the Mind, the noble and immortal part of Man, that the Philosopher meant: And he was much in the right on't. To grow Rich by Corruption, or to raise a Fortune by Bribery, is but at best a Repentance dear bought: But to serve our Country from a public and self-disinterested Principle, carries with it a noble kind of Pleasure, and the only sort of Pride that's allowable.  
When Honour was the Reward of Good and Great Actions, It was more courted then, than Gold itself is now: And a Triumph or a Statue was infinitely more valued at Rome, than all the Riches of the East. Among ourselves there has been found the like Spirit. At the time of the Spanish Invasion in 1588. most of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of England came cheerfully in to serve Queen Elizabeth, and their country, against the Common Enemy of both. A certain Gentleman came to the Camp of Tilbury with 300 men of his own Tenants and Retinue, and upon his own Charge. Taking leave of his Wife at home, He bid her be cheerful in his absence, For he hoped at his return to make her a Lady; meaning he should be Knighted for his Good Service. All he aimed at for the Reward of his Zeal and expense for his country, was the honour of Knighthood; a Mark of Favour in those days granted but to few.  
I have often regretted the hard fate of that great Restorer of Learning, the Lord Chancellor Bacon, who stands to all Ages an Illustrious Example of the Instability of Human Greatness, and withal an instance of the Justice of this Nation in the Case of Bribery. A great Man he was, and the Son of a great Father, and had attained to the highest Dignity in the State. All This Greatness, and all his Vast Accomplishments were not able to protect him from an Accusation of Bribery; and all that could be proved against him, was his allowing one of his Servans to accept a Present of a svit of beaten Silver Buttons. For this single Fault, was he thrown down from his Preferments to the lowest Ebb of Fortune, and died in Obscurity for want of the Necessaries of Life.  
Another great Man sunk under a like fate some Years after. Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, Lord High-Treasurer of England was arraigned for Corruption and Bribery. Neither the Treasurer's Staff, nor the many eminent Services he had done the Crown could secure him from a severe Sentence. He was declared in Parliament incapable of public Trust, to lose his Vote in the House of Peers, to be committed to the Tower during Pleasure, and fined in 20000 l. For payment of which Fine, he was necessitated to sell a considerable Estate at Chelsea. If it were needful, I might run up to Ancient Times, and show how severely our Ancestors were pleased to punish this Ignoble Crime. But being it's undeniable, that We and all other Nations have in all Ages of the World held it in the highest Detestation, I shall trouble you with no more.  
Perhaps you'll tell me, Those who gave your late Speaker the Gratuity mentioned in your Votes, were to blame. I think, No. If a man of that Sordid Principle will not do me Justice without Money, I know not why I may not give it him; rather than suffer by his Injustice. The Fault is none of mine: It's his, that would not do me reason without it. If one be unjustly possessed of a Thousand pounds of my Money, and I find that neither Honour, Conscience, nor Law, can prevail with him to restore it, I were wanting to myself if did not choose rather to part with a hundred Pounds of it, than lose it all. He is a Knave for keeping my Money from me, but I am not in the blame to treat him as I would do a Robber on the Highway, give him a part to save the rest.  
The Canonists are nice enough in determining the particular Cares wherein it's blamable or lawful to give a Bribe or Gratuity, call it what you will. They all agree, That to give one in order to obtain an unjust thing, is a Crime both in the Giver and Receiver: But when one has to do with a Person that denies him a Matter, not only just in its self, but which by his Place he is obliged to grant, he that takes a Gratuity for doing it, is highly guilty; but he that gives it, is not only blameless, but has a right in Law to demand Restitution of what he was necessitated to give.  
To come to the Case in hand. The Orphans Bill was one of the noblest and justest that ever was brought within these Walls. So many delays, it seems, were found out from time to time, by the late Speaker, That the Managers for the City of London saw it was impossible to carry it through, without giving a Gratuity to that Gentleman for it. They were neither to be Losers nor Gainers themselves, whatever way it went. They were only Trustees for the City, and for the Orphans, that must have perished if it did not pass. In order to obtain then, an Act so Good and Charitable in its self, and so much both for the Honour of the City of London, and for the ease of poor Orphans, they chus'd rather to make the Present required, than by not doing it, lose a general Good.  
I remember a Story that meets this Case. A stoic Philosopher had solicited Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily, often and long for Justice in a certain business. He was delayed from time to time. At last the Philosopher bethought himself of the only way to move the Tyrant to grant his Request. He comes to him one day, and prostrating himself upon his Face before him, kisses his Feet, as his other Court-Flatterers used to do. The Tyrant was so pleasingly surprised with this unwonted Submission of the stoic, that he immediately granted the Boon he had so often refused before. The rest of the Philosophers of that Sect were out of Humour with their Friend for so base a condescension, and accused him of acting contrary to the Principles of their Philosophy. You have no reason( answered he) to be offended with my Carriage, when you consider the necessity of it. I hate the Tyrant and Tyranny as much as you do, but having a just Request to ask of him, I made my Application for several Years together in vain: Till finding that his Ears were in his Feet instead of his Head, I thought I could not be blamed for applying to that part of him where he only could hear me. The Philosopher was certainly in the right. And since there are some men now-a-days that will not hear a just Request, except one speak to their Fists; It's no fault to apply to them in their own way, all others being ineffectual.  
But what a hopeful Condition is a Nation in when it comes to this! Where Money without Merit will open the Door, Fools and Knaves will be sure to enter sooner than Honest Men: And he that pays his Money, will certainly take care to repay himself where he can, tho at the expense of his Country. They have the same Plea for cheating the public, that a counselor of the Chattlet at Paris pleaded in Francis the First's time. He was accused for Extortion, and exacting more than his Fees. His Defence was, That truly he had bought his Place so very dear, That unless he took the Methods he was charged with, it was not possible for him to make up the Price he had given for it. However, It seems this Plea had no great weight with his Judges; For they Decreed his Money should be refunded to him, and he to pay it into the Hospital for the use of the Poor, and both the Buyer and Seller to be incapable of all public Trust for the future.  
But when all is done, Sir, We have this to comfort ourselves with, amid all these dismal Reflections, That not only the Body of the Nation has a just abhorrence for those Corrupt Practices; but that in the Ministry, on the Bench, and in most Places of Trust, there are Men who by their Example do all they can to bring Justice and Honour into request. A Shrewsbury, a Pembroke, a summers, or a Holt, are not to be found in every Age; and the less esteem we have for men that abuse their Places, the more we ought to have for those, who instead of enriching themselves at all hands on the public Cost, make it their aim to serve their King, and It, to the best advantage of both.  
Shall the French Subjects in spite of all the horrid Invasions made by that Monarch upon their Liberties, and of the innumerable Hardships and Miseries his Ambition has brought upon them, continue yet to serve him and their Country with an inviolable Fidelity: And at the same time shall We fall short, either in our Duty to a Prince that has restored Us to our Liberties, or in our Love to a Country, that we can much more properly call Ours, than the French have reason to call France Theirs, being their King is absolute Master of all? Let us imitate our Enemies in what's noble and just; and while our King does what's possible to raise us to( at least) an equal Level with them in point of War, Let us not fall short of them in those virtues that are absolutely necessary to make a Peace when it comes, to be lasting and happy.  
I have done, when I have  told you, That this Letter is writ with the same freedom which you have always allowed me; And that I am, entirely,  
SIR, Yours.