A LETTER FROM A Country Gentleman to a Member of the House of Commons.  
SIR,  
AS you are an Honourable Member of the House of Commons, so I could wish, that all in your Station took the same Care and Pains which you do; which is freely and fairly to Debate Matters with your Neighbours, Friends, Visitants, and Others, that so from your Countrymen you may come to a true understanding of the State of your Country, and consequently, be in a better Capacity to Do, or at least to Move something for the benefit of it at the Sitting of the House: And, I too well remember, that at our last Meeting, we did not so properly Discourse, as Bewail the Misery and dangerous Condition of our Native Country, the preparation for your speedy going up to Parliament, putting things in such a Hurry, that we had not leisure to enter into a just Reasoning of those Matters, which you seemed then to take with some Regret, and upon that account, desired me to send my Thoughts after you; which if I do Plainly and Impartially, I do not think I shall be blamed by you, whatever I may by others.  
And in the First place, I think it absolutely necessary (and I assure you, I am not alone in those Thoughts) That you begin with the Redress of Grievances, and see them actually Redressed, before you effectually proceed to any thing else. This is expected from you, not only because they are now greater than ever, (as I shall make evident to you in the Close of this Letter) but also because if they are not Redressed in the first place, it will most certainly not be done at all; for the Signing the Money Bill, will presently put an end to the Sessions of Parliament and leave all to be Laughed at, who after that complain of Grievances: And there are so many Obnoxious, not only at Court, but in all other public Employments, that they dread nothing so much as the Sitting of a Parliament; and if they can once get their own turn served, they will quickly discharge themselves of you and your Complaints, as their Terror: So that if this Work be not first done, we must be content still to buy our own Sorrows and Sufferings, the greatest part of the Blame and Shame of which, will avoidable be shared among you, as being our Market-men.  
There is no doubt, but Money will fall under Consideration in the Second place, if it cannot get the first. And here, though I was never an Enemy to any the most plentiful Supplies, which the Necessity or even Conveniencies of the Nation might seem to require; yet, as Matters now stand (with humble Submission to better Judgement) I think your first Debate ought to be not How much, but whether you ought to give any thing at all, till the State of the Nation be first known; for if we have not forgot that we are Christians, we ought to take it for wise Advice which is given by our Saviour, Matt. 28.29, 30. Which of you intending to build a Tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the Costs, whether he have sufficient to Finish it, etc. I have some Months since seen an Account, by which it is plain, That not less than betwixt five and six Million of Money already given, is unaccountable for and Missing, and the Charges undefrayed, for which it was appointed; if this be in the Exchequer, it is well; then some of the Work is done. But I fear it is not so well, because so much Money hath been Borrowed since; and yet that also aught to be made good. But beside Borrowed Money, the Load of which grows daily greater, and eats further on with Excessive Use. There must also fall under your Consideration, the Arrears both of the Soldiers and Seamen, I mean our Country Men, who Clamour loudly, and not without cause; as also a pretty Sum of Money owing to Men of Civil Employments, and for Commodities and Materials Bought. The Stores for the Navy must not be forgotten, which certainly must be very Low, when Complaint is made even by Proclamation, of their Embezelment; and then there must be all sorts of Arms and Ammunition for the Soldiers, with which I fear, we are not very plenteously Stocked, because with such Diligence we have been lately Firbushing up the Old cast by Arms in the Tower. Now though this looks already like a frightful Sum, yet there is this in it worse, that all this is for eaten Bread, and if it were done and Paid, it would not set us one step Forward; for still the whole Charge of the War, both by Sea and Land remains entirely to be provided for with all its App●rtenances. What all this may arise to, I will not pretend to guests, and a Covetous Man would be afraid to think: But if you cannot give sufficient for all these Purposes, and (which perhaps is as hard a Matter) to secure it to be applied only to these Purposes, you will either give to no Purpose, or to very ill Purpose; for than it will be but Money cast away, and make our Condition so much the worse: And if that be the Case, some think it would be no great Prudence to be free to our own Harm; for my own part where I did judge Matters to stand thus, I should rather choose to imitate the Unfortunate Gamester, and rise with my Stock, than the mad resolute Fellow, who to gratify his Rage, flings the Helve after the Hatchet, and loseth all.  — Furor est post omnia perdere naulum. 
But now let us suppose that all this can be done, (and if a Man should tell me that a Parliament can work Miracles, I would not Oppose him, whatever I thought) yet I know you would be willing that it should be done, to the greatest Ease and Satisfaction of your Country that possibly can be, and consequently to that end and purpose, the best and most convenient ways and Methods of raising so vast a Sum, must be deliberately thought on, Discussed and Examined. There have been already more Polls than in any Reign; besides, they pinch the Mob, and may be in danger to make them Mutinous: Nor can thence any considerable Sum be raised answerable to the present Necessity. Some other little Shifts have been made use of, but Land Taxes have hitherto born the Burden and Heat of the Day, and doubtless, by many they will still be thought the surest Supply: But then I think it may be worth the Consideration of those who are the Representatives, and have ever been esteemed as the Patriots of their Country, That these have come so very hard and heavy already, that many are forced to new ways and Methods of Living: And as for those who either were in Debt, or had not the skill to refrain from the free English way of Living, it hath so dipped their Estates, that if Land Taxes contive at the same rate, many thousand Families in a short time will be Ruined, who before lived Genteely and in good Reputation: So that whatever Land may bear, I fear it cannot bear the same Proportions as formerly, without great Murmur, if not further Danger and Mischief.  
Sir, Give me leave in this Critical Juncture of Affairs, to use the same Freedom which you have ever hitherto allowed me: I confess I have heard, that even some of your own Members, are now less favourable to these prodigious Land Taxes, as being not only to Heavy, but Unequal, in that they fall upon particular Men, and those such as make the most considerable Party of the Nation both for Interest and Strength, and therefore ought not to be too much Oppressed, whilst others are spared: But for a Remedy (I wish it prove not worse than the Disease) They (as I am told) propose a General Excise, which they say, is a thing of the greatest Equality; because then all sorts of Men whatsoever shall bear their even Proportion according to their Expenses, Employments, conditions of Life, and ways of Living. Now, I do not deny, but that in this there may be a greater Equality; but then they who talk of the Equality, should consider of the Burden, and whether by this means it do not become a greater; and it is a small Comfort that all Equally bare, whilst all certainly bear more: And if this should prove such a Burden, as we are neither able to bear, nor yet to shake off, I think you aught to consider well before you lay it on.  
You cannot be ignorant how averse the Genius of our People is to a General Excise, if it should be granted, they would think all their Rights, Liberties, and Properties to be Sold, and that they must be the most miserable of Slaves, if they bear it. I do remember that something very like it (an Excise on Meat) did once pass, but when it was demanded, it made such bloody Work in some Places, and such Unquietness every where, that though there was a much better Army in England then, than now, yet the Government could never gather it, and in a very short time was glad to desist, and quit all claim to it. And to deal plainly with you, Sir, I would not for half your Estate be a Member of the House, when that Tax is granted; for you must never more return into your Country; For when ever the enraged Mob in a mad fit get together, they will certainly endeavour to Revenge themselves upon those, whom they judge the cause of their Grievances, and then (if you be there) you may expect to be torn in pieces, to have your House pulled down, your good carried away, your Grounds driven, and all the Mischief done that an implacable Multitude can devise and act.  
But there is one Consideration, which (as it seems to me) ought to make the Members of the House of Commons more irreconsileable Enemies to a General Excise, than any Men in the Kingdom whatsoever, for their great Prerogative or Privilege, (without which all the rest would be mere cyphers) is, that they carry the Purse of the Nation, but if they once settle a General Excise; They give away the Purse and Purse-Strings too, and there will be little need of them for the future; they may indeed be called after once or twice for Fashion, or State, and to be decently laid aside, but when they shall be found to be a useless piece of Pageantry; no Body will be long fond of the gaudy Trifle: Nor is it to any purpose to say, that Laws cannot be made without them, for though perhaps we have too many already, yet if need be, a more compendious and less chargeable way will be found, and they themselves, when they have given away their Interest, will grow ashamed of their Employment, and comply with and agree to any new Invention or Expedient to discharge themselves, and avoid being Exposed, and this in a short time a General Excise shall turn them out of Doors, overturn the Constitution of the Kingdom, and set up Arbitrary Power, by the very means we pretend to keep it out.  
That the Nation is in eminent danger upon many Accounts, and from several quarters, is the Opinion of many Wise Men; what may be the Remedies, I will not presume to prescribe, but you, who are our Physicians, I hope, will consult our Disease; and not, like Empyricks, try Tricks with us; for a small matter now will pick your Patient over the Perch. Take heed therefore what you do, and I hearty wish your Counsels may be such, as may tend to relief of your distrested and endangered Country; but to deal plainly with you, I hear Men generally say, that they can entertain little hopes of you, so long as you tamely suffer our Grievances to increase, instead of redressing them; and because I have mentioned the Redress of Grievances as proper for the first Work, give me leave to mention some, which not I, but all Men every where complain of.  
And first they say, that none of the least Grievances is among yourselves, and that in one sense the Parliament was never more like the Duke of Buckingham's Mother's Pump, than now; For though it often will yield no Water, unless some be first put into it, yet there having been plentifully poured in, it now yields so freely, that it is in danger to draw the Well dry. In short, they say, that there are indeed many honest, worthy, wise Gentlemen among you, (amongst whom I hear none more kindly spoken of than yourself) but as they are to be commended, so are they to be pitied, as being overborne by such a number of Pensioners, Officers, and other Bigots, that they can do no good; by which means most of those, who were entrusted for their Country's Good, plainly sell it for their private Gain.  
There is also a fearful Complaint of an Issue of Blood which makes the Nation Heartsick already, if not timely stopped, will be her Death; Our Money is continually carried away in Specie in vast Sums never to return again; or if any of it do, it is to our double, triple, quadruple Loss and more; for Instance, an Hundred Pound was lately weighed; it was indeed picked, but passable, as Money now goes, and by weight it amounted to Forty Nine Pound and some odd Shillings; which comes to pass thus; our Milned Money the Dutch melt down, and our broad Money they both clip and wash, and then send it back to us by Tale, and when any of it is returned to them, they will not take it but by Weight; and presently return it to us by Tale, and so toties quoties to to the end of the Chapter: Thus they get Fifty Per Cent by every Return, and make the Lord knows how many of them in the Year, and all with our own Mony.  
Another general Complaint is of such Mismanagement of Affairs, (as beside other great Damages) makes us to bear the Charge of the War on both sides; For whilst our Money goes to pay the Confederates, the French take our Ships in such numbers, and to such value, as is a shame to be spoken, and under such Circumstances we cannot hold long.  
If you should take the pains to Discourse some of our Wise and Sober Merchants, I doubt you will hear of another sad Complaint, That the very Fountain of our Trade is in danger to be stopped; which is a thing inconsistent not only with the Welfare, but even the Safety of an Island; The Dutch under Colour of Friendship (which they could never do in War) having crept in a manner into all Places of our Trade, and engrossed to themselves, and in this they not only countenanced but encouraged, though it is not only a Loss to the present, but to Future Ages, and all our Posterity, as well as ourselves, and such as our Poverty and Contempt will make us daily feel more and more.  
Add to this a lamentable Complaint, That the Laws have not their due Course, for by our Constitutions no Man whatsoever ought to suffer in his Person or Estate, but by due and equal Course of Law, whereas now Men's very Lives are taken away to gratify some Persons Malice or Design, not for any offence against Law proved upon them; and others are heavily Fined, Punished, and Imprisoned, either for Trifles, or such matters as the Law takes no Cognizance of; others are not suffered to recover their Just Debts and Rights, but if they be in the least scandalised to be disaffected, though their be never so Just, and as plain as the Highway, yet they shall infallibly be Cast. This is not to make Laws for a Kingdom, but a Party, and to use them not to do Justice, but Wrong; which is the greatest Dishonour that can be to any Nation, and will alone in Time bring certain Ruin upon it, if not corrected.  
There are Manifold other Grievances, against which strong Complaints are made, but I will trouble you no farther; because I believe you cannot but be sensible of them, and I know you to be of a Composition made up of Wisdom and Courage, with a due mixture of Pity; And I hearty wish, that you and your Fellow-Members of the like Qualifications may be so happy, as by their Examples and Arguments to turn the Hearts of others to Compassionate their Bleeding Country in time, and to use their best Consultations and Endeavours to restore it to some Comfortable, or at least Hopeful State, for we are upon the brink of Destruction, and in all probability without some speedy Remedy must perish. Be pleased to Pardon this plain and honest Freedom at this time, and for the Future I shall be less troublesome to you, though I shall ever acknowledge myself to be,  
SIR, Your most obliged and humble Servant, T. T.