NEWS From the Fens, OR, AN ANSWER TO A PAMPHLET entitled, Navigation prejudiced by the Fen-Drainers.( Published lately in defence of the Petition of Lin, delivered to the Committee for Petitions)  
WHEREIN IS SET FORTH The vanity and falsehood of that Discourse, and it is Proved, That Navigation is Meliorated by the Fen-Drainers.  
Written in a Letter to the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of BEDFORD: By A weather to his Lordship, and to the noble Work of Draining.  Concordiâ parvae res crescunt, discordiâ magnae dilabuntur. 
LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1654.   

MY MOST HONOURED LORD,  
YOur Lordship having done me the honour to desire my opinion concerning a late Printed Argument, entitled Navigation prejudiced by the Fen-drainers, which was published in the defence of the Lin Petition, lately delivered to the Committee for Petitions; I shall first tell your Lordship what reputation that Petition hath here in the Country amongst indifferent and sober men, who do not stick to say; That it was a senseless Petition, presented in the name of the Town, whereas the chief Merchants and Traders there disclaim it, and have signified their dislike thereof to the late Parliament under their Hands; That it was exploded by the Commissioners of Sewers lately sitting at Lin; One of which( they say) understands more of that Outfall, and is more concerned in the preservation thereof, then all the Petitioners put together. They say, with much truth likewise, that the Towns of Denner, Helgey, and Littleport have counterpetitioned the Parliament, alleging that they ought not to be destroyed( as they must be, if this petition take place) upon the vain fears of the Petitioners, unless they brought more reason for what they say.  
But that which is most wondered at here is, that so little conscience should be used in the framing of that Petition; as first, to set forth the Town of Lin in her former flourishing condition in the time of peace, what number of Ships she had, what Trade they driven, what Countrys she enriched, what Seamen she employed, what revenue was raised to the Commonwealth, &c. and then to bring her upon the stage( like a desolate widow) lamenting her lost glory, and imputing all this misery( forsooth) to a Dam made by the Adventurers, about one year and an half since, near a place called Salters Load, and about sixteen miles from the Town of Lin: when all men know, that the change( if any such be) it is the effect of the late disturbances at Sea; and that is the common Fate of all the Port Towns of England. And they say confidently, that it would have been much worse with them at Lin, if the fens had not been undertaken, whereby so much money and Trade hath been brought thither.  
But it is supposed, that this Artifice was used, only to accompany and aggravate the Clamours, which were stirred up in other places by Sir John Mainard and his Agents, upon design doubtless to overthrow the whole work, by the forcible impression which that noise might make upon the sudden with persons, that were not well acquainted with the present and former condition of this Country. And it is thought, that many complaints came in, that would not have appeared, but that Sir John gave them assurance by his Letters( that were publicly red in some places in the Level) that they should not doubt to have their Land again; for there were but sixscore of the Parliament; and that he was sure of fourscore of them on his side.  
My Lord, this being the common talk and opinion here of this Petition, I can assure your Lordship, that it will receive no increase of reputation or credit, by any thing that is alleged in this printed Argument; which may as well conclude, That Tenterden Steeple is the cause of Goodwin Sands, as that the Dam at Salters Load is the cause of the filling of Lin Haven. But now to begin.  
The Petitioners are sorry, he saith, to see so much tergiversation used, &c. What is meant by tergiversation or unwillingness to give or receive satisfaction I know not. To the Scandalous Petition of Sir John Mainard the Adventurers gave in their Answer at large, and printed it. To the Petitions of Cambridge and Lin, because they contained matter of Fact already heard and determined before Legal Judges, they Petitioned to have the opinion of the Parliament whether they should Answer or no, and thereunto annexed their reasons, which are likewise in Print, and not Answered nor pretended to be by this Champion for the Lin Petition. A Conference with the Drainers was never desired, and if it be, it will( no doubt) be embraced, for they are apt enough to believe( as the Defender saith) that no good work hath its perfection at first, and if they can be convinced of any defects or omissions in their works, they will no doubt be willing to amend it. But for the levity and blasphemy which the Defender is pleased to note in the expression of not Draining the Seas nor the Skies, he is too sharp and censorious; it was an Ironical speech, which that Ingenious Gentleman, who wrote those short Answers and published them upon his own account, is very well able to defend.  
And now we are come to the Dam at Saltars Load, alleged to be the Principal cause of these mischiefs and fears.  
The Condition of the Draining without prejudice to Navigation is admitted: and we shall not differ about the word Prejudice; call it damage or Injury, which you will, and he need not trouble the Great Charter of England, nor so many other cited Statutes, to prove that no prejudice ought to be done to Navigation. For that is not the question. The Adventurers deny, any prejudice to be done; and so it appeared at Ely, in March last, before the Commissioners; where the same Arguments were used, that are now, and six Witnesses examined on either side.  
But I cannot allow that Inference that he would make; that because a private man may not set a Sasse, or make a Dam over a Navigable River; therefore neither Commissioners of Sewers, nor the Drainers( though they have an Act of Parliament, which particularly enables them to set sluices and Sasses) may do it. If that were so, why is it name in the Act? for every one knoweth that Sasses are only set upon Navigable Rivers. And it is well known, that Francis late Earl of Bedford, your Lordships Father, did erect a Sasse at Welcreake( which the Defender calls the River of Nean) by the power of Lin Law only, which was never presented as a Nuisance, but contrariwise the Watermen themselves have desired it might be repaired and upheld, and so it was accordingly.  
And for that the Defender saith, because they could not be heard, he means, prevail( for heard all men know they were,& with much patience) at Peterburgh, nor at Ely, they were forced to flee to the Parliament. So may any unjust or vexatious person say; Because I am overthrown at Law, I will try what the Legislative power will do for me.  
But the Defender hath plain and evident Demonstrations and Proofs. What his Proofs are, it doth not appear, being taken by the Committee of Petitions and not published; but this I shall say, that if the Deponents be Watermen or Commoners they are Parties; and if they depose to matter of opinion( towit) that these Dams and Sasses are the Causes of the pretended prejudice; they are no competent Witnesses, it being matter of Art, wherein they can have no knowledge.  
What his Demonstrations are comes now to be examined, and they consist he saith of two heads.  
1. That their Navigation hath received of late very real and considerable prejudice.  
2. That the Undertakers for Draining are the Authors of it.  
The six Rivers, there enumerated, did lie, saith he, all open, and the Tides from Sea did put into them more or less, &c.  
It is true, the Tides, at least the Spring-Tides, did put up into some of these Rivers; which was the occasion of drowning the Level. For when the Spring Tides meet with the Land Waters that came down those Rivers, they were driven over the surface of the Level; and the mouths of most of these Rivers were so silted up by the Tides, that they were deeper and broader above, then they were below: and at this time it is like that some of them might have been landed by this two years drought, if not prevented by the Sasse; even Ouse itself as high as Ely; and so Navigation lost, and the Level destroyed, and the Rivers left to find new Channels,( as that of Wisbich was, before the Draining) the Tides being stronger then the Fresh water, through the Drought, and therefore not able to scour out the silt. And he must note by the way, that much of this water which now falls out at Lin, had formerly its issue at Wisbich, which was then a very considerable Haven: and this appears by the large Channels of the West water,& of the old River of Welnea; which diversion, happening( as it is supposed) by the neglect of Commissioners of Sewers, was the decay of Wisbich Haven, and the making of Lin: by which it is evident, that it is the abundance of fresh that keeps these outfalls open, and not the Tides. For if it were possible to set a sluice or Sasse within half a mile of the Town of Lin, that should stop out the Tides from coming up the River; If the Sasse or Sasses could be made great enough, that Haven, by raising the water from within by the salt door; to let it go at low Water, might be, as well scoured and kept open, as it is now: and that is clear in the Harbour of Dover,( cited by the Defender) that a very small fresh kept up high by the help of a sluice, and let go in the time of the ebb, scowres that harbour and keeps it open. I do not speak this, that I am against the coming in of the Tides; Nor have the Adventurers fallen upon that way of draining. For it is well known that the Sea flows up from Lin, almost twenty miles in his old Channel; and where he is stopped from going the old way, he hath a new River, and a large Wash provided to receive him; which are of much larger receipt, then all the five Rivers put together. And whereas he saith that the Old Channel of the Ouse is deeper then the New: It is not generally true. In some places it is deeper, and in others it is not two foot deep, as at Ely, Stretham, Willingham, &c. when as the new River is eight and ten foot deep in some places, and in none less then six foot. And that was the reason, why that narrow Cut was made below Ely, at Rassel: because the Water there( which running in a broad Channel, they had not above 14. inches water many times, and the Liters were forced to stay for a Spring-Tide to help them over) being now contracted into a narrower Cut keeps constantly three and four foot water. But of this there will be occasion to speak hereafter.  
The true state of Navigation here formerly was this. The Fens being under Water, as they were a great part of the year, the Watermen were much troubled to keep within the Rivers, and therefore they were at the charge every year to have them beakoned out. Their hailing Horses and their Boyes that driven them, were forced to go up to the middle in Water, and when they came to a Dike or Slow, that they were to pass,( which were very many in the Fens) they were fain to take in the Boy and Horses into the boat, and set them out again when they were past it, which was no small hindrance and loss of time, besides the death of so many Boyes and Horses with this unreasonable dealing. And when a Land-flood came down from St. Ives with a Westernly or Southernly Wind, the current was so strong, and the footing so bad for Horses, that they were forced to lie still a walk together. Their summer Navigation was this, when the Springs were very low they could come with their keels no higher then Modnie coal or Helgie House, being about twelve miles short of Ely, by reason of a Cravel there, that at a low Water was not above eighteen inches deep; but most commonly the keels came up to Lambs wear, four miles short of Ely, and there they stayed to empty their Lading into Liters, and those Liters when they came to the Gravel at Rassel, they were forced to stay for a Spring-Tide to help them over, the neaps not coming up so high, and if the Wind sat so as to keep back the Tides, they were fain to stay till another Spring. At Stretham, Twenty Pence and Willingham gravels they were in a worse condition; for the Tides not reaching up thither, they were forced to stay there sometime till a fresh came down, and sometimes to take their gangs of Liters asunder, and to hale them over one by one, still emptying and taking in again. Which Passage was so troublesone, and so far about, that after Bedford River was made, the Watermen presently forsook this Navigation round about by Ely, and carried all their Commodities up Bedford River, in a strait channel from Salters led to Erith, St. Jves, huntingdon, and the parts adjacent. Which was a plain confession, that the Drainers new Rivers are better for Navigation, then their Old ones. The use of which Bedford river the Country had for the space of fourteen or sixteen years without paying one farthing for that benefit and I am persuaded that if but two pence a Tun had been taken for that passage( as might in justice have been done) it would have raised almost money enough to have perfected this second draining. But these Watermen are a kind of people, my Lord, that for all the good you do them, you must expect nothing but railing; which is so customary amongst them, that they cannot forbear one another. But I wonder it should be fathered upon 〈◇〉 the Inhabitants of the Town of Lin, who cannot be ignorant that the improvement of the Fens will make their Port the third( if not the second) of England. But such is the perverse nature of some men, that when they have once embraced an error, they will employ all their wits to make it good.  
To which end this Defender of the Lin Petition, hath taken the pains to trace all the Rivers from one end to the other; and quarrels with your Lordship, because he cannot go the old way from Lin to Peterburgh, by March and Ramsey( which is above sixty miles) whereas now Wisbich river is opened by your Lordship and Participants, he may go that way above twenty miles nearer. These are the injuries he complains of.  
1. Concerning the River of Ouse, he saith, that it is now laid dry between Erith and Harrim●r. I confess there is not much water at present, and yet Boats do daily pass that way, through the Sasse at the Hermitage( as the Sasse-Keeper will be deposed.) And the reason why there hath been so little water there this Summer is; because the Watermen would not suffer that Sasse to stand open, in regard that it drew down the river so low upwards, that they wanted water to get up to St. Ives: But as the Springs rise again, and the Drainers become Masters of their own works( which hitherto they have not been) there will be a sufficient Navigation that way. But for a Boat of fifteen Tun to pass that way, if any such thing were( whereof I am very doubtful) I am sure it must be when the Fens were extremely drowned. And such a depth of water ought not to be expected again.  
2. At Harrimer, he saith, there was eight or nine foot water. There he equivocates again. For it is visible, there cannot be such a depth of water, unless it be when the Fens are very much drowned, for the mouth of that River, being gauged, is not four foot deep from the level soil; and the Watermen cannot deny, that the Grant there was so stopped up with mud and Ouse, that St. Ives water brought down, that no Boat could pass in and out that River: in so much that a Gentleman of this Country, willing to befriend them, made a short Cut through his own Several, through which they pass to this day( paying a small duty) and left the main Channel, it being unserviceable.  
3. For the narrow Cut at Rasshill below Ely, and the Dam there, or Overtoe, though somewhat hath been said already, yet thus much more I must tell him; That as soon as that stop was made, the water in the River at Ely was raised, from seventeen inches, to three foot and an half; and that accordingly this stop serves to raise the Water in Grant as high, and higher, then the Tides did formerly raise it. And for the narrowness of the said Cut,( so much complained of by this Defender) it is near 20. foot wide, and being about one mile in length, there are four Triangles( or broad spaces) made on purpose for boats to pass by one another; and since the Sass is set at the end of it, Boats go up with much ease, that is to say, a Gang of Liters is haled up with one or two Horses at the most.  
That these Rivers are scanted with water because the Tides are kept out, is a mistake. For the fresh water doors of the Sass at Salters Load do hold up the fresh to supply the want of the Tides; So that this Sass( which he so much quarrels at) hath not only preserved that part of the River that lieth behind it from being silted up this Summer, as high as Ely, being about twenty miles off; but likewise hath kept such a plump water all this dry season in that and the other rivers, sometimes even Level with the soil, that no Waterman( that hath any honesty) but must confess and aclowledge the advantage they have had by it.  
4. To the delay and danger of passing the Sasse at Salters Load. I have my Lord, enquired, and I find, that there is a free passage granted at all times, even to a small Boat that comes alone with a load of Turf, or the like; which is more, then is fitt to be done with a Sasse of the consequence this is; and that there is no danger before or behind( if Watermen will not be careless) not half so much as passing through London Bridge; and of above 30000. Boats at least that have gone through, I cannot hear of above one that was overturned, which was at the stoping of the Ouse and making of the Dam, the flood being then let in through the Sass, first of all,& all Watermen stayed till Level water, except one of them who would venture to have the reputation of the first going through the Sass, so that it was the Watermans fault, who would not be ruled by the Sasse keeper; but no goods or men lost. Indeed Order was given, that Boats should not pass in the night time, or on the Lords Day( and it is fitt it should be observed) but as it was said before, the Drainers are not Masters of their own works; nor can expect to be, as long as the Watermen are encouraged by the like Petitions.  
Now he comes to speak again of the silting of Lin haven. It will be necessary to say somewhat of the nature of that Haven. It is about ten miles from Lin haven to the Deeps; all that way the Tide comes over a quick or movable sand, where the Channel alters very often: in so much that the Town is at the charge of one hundred marks per an. to have it marked and beakoned out. And the ships that are inward bound, if they cannot reach the Port with the Tide of flood, they are necessitated to fall back again into the Deeps, for fear of the Sands. And it is no wonder that this Haven is apt to silt, when the wind& Tides raise the Sands and lodge them there; but for him to conclude; That all these Prejudices and ●nc●nveniences are to be imputed to the taking away of the fresh water of Nean, and to the Dam made at Salters Load, I see not the least probable consequence.  
For that part of Nean, which came down at Welcrick, was not considerable, but in times of Land Floods, when the Fens were drowned; and the Town of Wisbich( to whom that river doth rightly belong, to maintain their Outfals) cannot be without it. For seeing the river of Welland is appropriated to Spalding( by the late Act of Parliament for draining, &c.) and that the Westwater, and the old river of Welnea are carried to Lin( which went formerly to Wisbich) it were great injustice to deprive them of one drop of the Nean; unless he will say, that no consideration is to be had of any Town, but Lin.  
And now the Defender is at the Dam again, and that must be the principal Cause, because he saith so; for having followed him in and out( as the river of Ouse did formerly run) where he is sometimes at fourthly, then secondly, then thirdly, then secondly again, then thirdly, then first, then fourthly, then fifthly, then sixthly, then fourthly, then lastly, then secondly, and then thirdly, I do not find, in all this labyrinth of clauses, any thing like a Demonstration, or indeed like a probable Argument: but( by his leave) I will give him a Demonstration to the contrary, that will trouble him to Answer.  
The Outfall of Lin hath five rivers, and about an hundred Land brooks, which discharging themselves into these rivers, run all out at Lin Haven; besides all the Downfall of the Middle, and South Levels, of Marshland, Needham, Coldham, south of Wisbich, Churchfield, Playfield, &c. the Lands on the North side of Downham, amounting to above 300000. acres besides the river which comes from Pentney, and the flux and reflux of the Sea 30. miles into the Land.  
The three Outfalls of Wisbich, Spalding, and Boston, are kept open by four small rivers only, which do not all of them bring down so much water as comes down to Lin.  
And therefore the Outfall of Lin must necessary be kept open, and by consequence the Haven and Navigation maintained.  
And whereas he saith, that the Outfall may be maintained as to Draining, and yet the Navigation lost by reason that the Channel may grow too narrow; Thats a mere fancy of his own, for the narrower the deeper; and it can never be so narrow, but that there will be room for ships to pass.  
Now to give him the true reason of the present decay, and silting of Lin Haven and river. I say, first it is so all over England: let him inquire of the Thames, the Severn, the Trent,( the noblest rivers of this iceland) or, which are nearer, Nean, Welland, Glin, Withen; and he will find, they are all this year extremely silted, and the water carriage much risen; for this cause alone, that the fresh hath been so weak and low these two last years that it hath not been able to carry away the silt which the Tides put up. And when Providence will, that the Springs rise, and the Brooks run again, all this silt and sand will be scoured out and carried away.  
And this shall be confirmed by the reason, he urgeth from Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, and which is taken as granted by himself, where he saith, that the height and swift running of the fresh is that, which grindeth and keeps open a Channel. Now pray, my Lord, let me ask him this question. When Bedford water comes down contracted and lifted up, between the North and the South Banks, from Erith to Salters Load, whether doth he not think that it will be a higher water, then ever yet was upon the Fens; and( by consequence) come swifter, and with a greater force towards Lin, then when it came twenty miles about by Ely, and spread itself over the whole Level, where it was carried up and down with every wind, and there lay socking into the Fens, till a great part of it was dried up by the Sun, which shall hereafter( by reason of those banks) come down in a swift current, whole, and without any diminution?  
The proof whereof is apparent, by the wash that runs from Peterburgh to Guyhern; when( in the year 1650. and 1651.) the water came down in six hours, from Peterburgh to Wisbich, which was formerly a week, or a forthnight in coming; and was, at the lower end of that wash, five or six foot above the level soil; which sent such a stream through Withich Town, that the like was never seen before; Boats could hardly steer through the Bridge; and it did grinned the channel( below the Horshoe) nine or ten foot deeper, then it was; which is almost an incredible thing to be done with one flood; it checked the Tide( which usually flows up to Eldernel) and turned it back to Sea, at the Horshoe; which I can very well affirm; for I saw it myself, and I doubt not, but I may see the like on the other side of the Country.  
To that he saith( my Lord) that the water is a free Element and ought not to be restrained, all that is but childish rhetoric. For all men know, that Fire and Water are good Servants, but ill Masters; and that it ought to be restrained, when otherwise it would drown a whole Country, as this did. And for the discourse, de Mari libero,& Mari Clauso, I confess they are much better handled, then his Argument; and yet he may observe thus much by the way; That the Hollanders( who pled so much for mere liberum) are the greatest Imprisoners and restrainers of waters in the world.  
For the Sasses and sluices in their Country are innumerable; by which they have the benefit of water carriage to and from every Town: and quiter contrary here in England, men have set Mills, and erected wears over most of the Navigable rivers, to the great obstruction of Navigation; But if a Sasse be set up for the advantage of it( as this clearly is) The great Clarter of England must be called upon to beat down a supposed Prejudice; which could not in those times be thought of; That ingenious Invention being some hundreds of years younger, then that Statue. Whereas the Navigation from London to Reading and so Westward, could not be maintained, but by the Locks and Sasses upon the River, and so likewise upon many other Navigable Rivers of England.  
As for his milky way; if he city that, in commendation of the river of Ouse; I must tell him, that it was one of the worst Navigable Rivers of England and( before the Drainers removed them) the fullest of wears, Shallows, and Gravels. For it was usual here in the Fens( to save the charges of making Bridges) to fill the rivers with gravel, which( as it wore away) they supplied every year by common dayes work: and I must do the Fen-men that right, that in this particular they were very industrious.  
Now the Defender is at his rhetoric again, and( having fancied to himself the loss of the Port of Lin) he declames upon the Consequence and impertance, that Sea Ports are to this Nation, which is confessed; but it is  told him again, that the decay of Trade and shipping is caused by the disturbance at sea, as aforesaid, whereas he saith, that they had eighty sail of ships formerly. I can tell him, that the Port of Dover( by him here mentioned) had before the late war, above a hundred fail of better ships; and I could wish, that they had twenty left; Their customs came to above fifty thousand pounds per an. and do not now rise to four thousand pound per an. which is a greater fall, then that he speaks of; and yet no Drainers came near them.  
But supposing with him, that the Trade should return again.( I perceive by this, that he hath some hope left) there will not be keels and Boats enough( he fears) to carry up all their Commodities. What keels and Boats do belong to all the rivers, that run through the great Level, is more then any man living can tell; and it would require more time and charge to bring in a true particular of them, then the knowledge is worth; so that for a man to affirm, that there are not vessels enough to carry up eight voyages in a year,( not knowing what Vessels there are belonging to the said Rivers) is an Assertion at Random; and no credit ought to be given to any conclusion, drawn from so uncertain premises. If they have not keels or Lighters enough, who hinders from building more? for if their Gangs of Lighters did reach from Lambs wear to Cambridge( which is above thirty miles) what hinders but that they may all pass, one after another, and move all together. For they never had but one haling side, and( by consequence) came one after another, which they may still do with much more ease and convenience; for they come up now with their keels to Lambs wear, and sometimes to the sluice or Sasse at Rassel, as they did formerly; there they unload into Liters, as they did formerly: and I would fain know why they should be above ten or twelve hours getting up to Cambridge, being less then thirty miles; considering, that they stop for no gravel, as before; and having a constant Water; and that they have dry Land for their haling Horses and Boyes, which they had not before; and that they can hale in the night time, which before they could not, the fens being drowned. From Lin to the great Sasse they come in four hours, from thence to Lambs wear four hours, from thence to Cambridge twelve houres( in all twenty houres) the Navigation from Lin to Cambridge is performed. So that his Multiplex Prejudicium, is indeed Multiplex Beneficium; and he might have spared his expression of Halfing out the Navigation, and that half the mariners must either beg or starve, and answer to this question. What would have become of half their Watermen, these two last years, when their foreign Trade failed them, if they had not taken four or five thousand pound of the Drainers money, for carrying of Cole-seed, Wheat, and other Commodities, which grew in the Fens by occasion of this Draining?  
And whereas he saith, that though the Constomes be raised to one thousand three hundred pound this year at Lin by the Fen-commodities, yet there is as much more lost in the revenue of coals and salt. Every one knoweth, that there was never any custom paid for coals, and Salt, that were brought from Newcastle to Lin.  
Now he goes on. These the Petitioners proofs of prejudice, &c. He must not make me believe, that he hath proved any thing as yet; nor hath been in the way to do it, the question not being rightly stated. And that which follows, concerning Nean, Harrimer, and the cut of Rasshill( being but repetitions, and already answered) I pass by; and meet him( the third time) assaulting the Dam at Salters Load; meaning to blow it up with an Argument of( him that made it) Sir Cornelius Vernyden, wherein( though enough hath been said already, to satisfy any indifferent man, yet) because I hope this will be his last Assault, I shall edeavour to defend it.  
It is a Principle, saith he, not denied by the undertakers, that no Inland Harbour can possibly be preserved without a sufficient backwater to scour it out. This is confessed: but if he mean by his backwater, that it must necessary be the Tides; that is not generally true. For all the Havens in the Mediterranean, and in the Arches, and the Black Sea, are preserved by the fresh only; there being( as all men know) no flux or reflux in those seas. But to answer him again: supposing that the five Rivers, Brooks, and Downfall( as aforesaid) be not sufficient( which certainly they are) to keep open Lin Haven; yet they have the Tides flowing up thirty miles into the Country; and a large Receptacle to boot, which will hold much more water, then all the other Rivers. Will nothing serve his turn, but that they must flow in, just the same way they did before? That the Haven of Lin, and the Channel to Sea are sufficiently Preservd, this will confute all hath been said to the contrary. About ten dayes since, there was a Ship of four hundred Tun, laden with Wheat( of the growth of the Fens) set sail from that Port bound for Spain, as I take it; and though she did not take in her full lading, till she came to the Deeps; yet she could not draw less then sixteen foot water, when she fell down. I do believe( my Lord) that a Ship of that burden hath not formerly been seen there; and indeed the Defender( when he speaks of the Shipping belonging to Lin) saith, that they had eighty sail, from two hundred Tun downward. Let this be well weighed; and then let him tell me, whether there were any just cause for this great outcry to the late Parliament, which( I hear) hath cost them two hundred pound in bringing up their witnesses, and other charges.  
What the operation of a Receptacle( or Indraught) is, I will give him one pregnant instance; and that is in Newenden level, in Kent, where Sir Thomas Culpeper( a most experienced, and ingenious Commissioner of Sewers) by making a small Indraught, hath gained such a Channel, that a Ship of two hundred Tun may ride at a low water, where a small boat could hardly come before: and the reason is clear. For that the Tides standing in a Receptacle( which ebbs dry) the filt setteth to the bottom, and the Water returns clearer and thinner, then it came in; and so hath the same operation in scouring out the channel, as if it were a fresh: which is not so when it flowes up into the five Rivers( as he would have it) by reason that( being always in motion) it hath not time to settle so much; nor can it( that way) ever ebb dry; Which is enough to prove, that the new way( the Tides now flow) is much better for the keeping open of the channel and Outfall, then the Old.  
I desire to know of the Defender, why the Haven and Channel at Lin is ever better in Winter then in Summer; and why, in the year 1648. the Outfall became deeper then it had been in many years before or since? was it not the great fresh that came down that year? All the Sluce-keepers on Marshland side can tell him this; and that in Summer time the Tides gain upon the fresh, silting the channel in some places four, six, and ten foot high; and that in Winter the fresh gains upon the Tides, and carries all that sand out again, which the Summer had brought in.  
As for the Argument he takes from Sir Cornelius: nothing can make more against him( as was said before.) For if the higher and contracted Water do the execution, it must be that which comes down between the new banks.  
What Fall there is between Ely and Lin, is not material, for the same fall remains still for the four lesser Rivers: but the Adventurers have mended the fall of the Ouse; which by new Bedford River, hath the same fall in twenty one miles running, that it had before in forty. But where he saith, That the keels came up within twelve miles of Cambridge, he must be arrested for that fallacy; and  told, that( if ever any such thing was) the Fens were then very much drowned: otherwise I do affirm( upon view taken) that it is impossible. And truly in this particular he must be looked to, when he speaks of eight or nine foot water at Harrimer; of ten foot above the low water mark at Salters Load; and of keels coming up to Willingham, or Erith; it must be when the Fens are deep covered with water. For when there is eight foot water at Harrimer, the Fens are drowned then five foot deep, gauged by W. P. And then( for ought I know) a keel might have gone any where cross the Fens; But I hope he doth not expect this from the Drainers, who must keep the water rather two foot below the soil, then two foot above it.  
And now, my Lord, being almost quiter tired with following this wanderer, through his perplexed method, and vain repetitions, ( in pursuit of the Demonstration he promised long ago) I do find, that he hath proved nothing: but that he is put upon a Subject, which he doth not understand. And I am at length arrived at his Answers to the Drainers Objections, as he calls them; though indeed very few of them belong to the Drainers, but to the Gentlemen( mentioned before) who wrote the short and full Answers; but to such as are material( and not answered in the precedent discourse) I shall give short Replies.  
He saith, That the bottom of the old river is deeper then the new. In some places it is,& in some places it is not, as aforesaid. That the Tides are half spent, before they run up into the new Rivers. They may be half spent at Lin; but if he say, that they are half spent at Salters Load, it is apparently otherwise. For at this present they flow between three and four hours there, as they did formerly. And for his exception to that expression, That the Tides do flow as high into the Country as formerly; the meaning is plain. The Tides have raised the water at the Hermitage; and they did no more at Harrimer; and that Harrimer is no further from Salters Load( in a strait line) then the Hermitage.  
2. To his Answer to the second Objection. It is true, that at Ely some of the Country did object, that it was not the Undertakers but the dry Season had drained the Fens, and so desired respite of judgement, and to hold the possession of their Lands till further trial of the works. But doth any man think, that this was a reasonable motion? you contract with me for five hundred pound to build you an house; and when 'tis finished, I demand my money. No, you will have a years trial, to see if the house will stand or no, and after another year,& so in infinitum. This is the Drainers Case. They were tied by the Act to imbank the rivers, so as they should not overflow the Level; this was proved to be done sufficiently and according to the Act. What could the Lords and other Commissioners at Ely,( or any just man say) but that they must have their Land after the performance of their undertaking, according to their contract?  
And yet their Lordships, and the rest of the Commissioners did so far incline to the Country, as that an offer was made by them,( with the consent of the undertakers) that the Country,( giving security for the rent of the Lands, to be paid only in case they were not drowned) should have the experience of another year; but the Country, after consideration had, returned a Negative.  
But he saith, That they made use of a dry season to gain a judgement, and of the same drought to excuse the prejudices done to Navigation. I do wonder with what forehead this can be affirmed, for it is well known, that the Drainers did not go about to excuse any Prejudices done to Navigation; but they stood upon it then( as they do still) that no Prejudice at all was, or is done; And they did prove it, both by Watermen, Merchants, and others of skill, who came then from sounding the channel; and did depose precisely, to the several depths, both below, and on this side Lin; which did so clearly evince, what the Watermen had alleged; that the Court was fully satisfied. And the said Commissioners upon examination drew this Confession from one of their chief Watermen of Lin;( whom they brought as a Witnesses, Ellis, by name) that if the fresh Water doors of the Sasse at Salters Load be kept shut, the Navigation was as good as ever.  
3. That Navigation was never so bad formerly in the greatest droughts. I make some Question of that. For it will be proved, that in a dry Season formerly, an empty Boat could hardly get up to Cambridge; And that the keels could not get higher then Stow Bridge: whereas this Summer the keels have come up constantly to Lambs wear, and sometimes to the Sasse at Rasshill; and the Liters have daily( without any impediment) gone from thence to Cambridge.  
4. To his very pertinent Instance of making a Dam over the Thames at Greenwich, or at London Bridge, it is worth no better answer then this.  
That if such a Dam would save the City of London from being drowned( as the Dam at Salters Load doth all the South Level) and that a better River were made to uphold the Navigation; and all this authorized by an Act of Parliament; I see not where the crime would lie. And I should be very sorry, that the Sasse at Salters Load should bring half that danger and impediment to the Watermen here, as doth the passing through London Bridge to those there: And yet for the common benefit, the Watermen there are contented to dispense with their own Interest. And yet I know not, whether that Bridge was set by Authority of an Act of Parliament, as the said Sasse undoubtedly was.  
The Adventurers do not say, That more cannot be done by man: but they say, That what is already done hath been sufficient to improve the Navigation. And here the Defender begins to confess, That the Navigation may be the better above the Sasses, by keeping up the water; but what avails that, if the channel be lost below? Let him take no care for that; for if there were any danger of that, the Drainers would be as sensible thereof as he, or the Town of Lin can be.  
5. That the Commissioners sitting at Ely in March Last, did not view the Navigation at Lin. It was enough, that they did see the Navigation within the Level; and for that of Lin, they were sufficiently informed by good witnesses upon oath, as aforesaid.  
6. He wonders, with what confidence the undertakers could affirm, that it was proved, at the Adjudication, that full as much( if not more) fresh water did run out at Lin Haven, as formerly.  
This is undeniably true. But to understand it, the Defender must know, that the River of Nean( being passed Peterburgh Bridge) did Branch itself formerly into three streams; whereof one went towards Crowland, another towards Wisbich, by Mortons Leame; and the third came dowe to Wittlesea, and Ramsey Meare, and from thence( by Bevills Leame, and Lower by Plantwater) part went out by Wisbich; and the remainder of this third part of the Nean( which did not issue by Wisbich) fell down to Well Creake,( a narrow Channel) and so to Lin; which course it holds still. But if he say, That more water would come that way by Stanground Sasse, if it were not restrained; it will be made appear( as was hinted before) that a greater part of the Ouse went to Wisbich by the Westwater, and Welnea river( which is now carried wholly to Lin) then will countervail the stop that is made of that part of the Nean at Stanground Sasse, which Sasse was set about fourteen years since, and so the water Nean diverted from coming to Lin; and by the late works, the water of Ouse is prevented from going to Wisbich So that the diversion was before, and the addition of waters since; and yet before the benefit there was no complaint for Navigation.  
The seventh is answered formerly.  
8. That the raising of the princes of water carriages was a contrivance of the watermen. It was proved at Ely, that Allen the waterman went every week with his Boats from Cambridge to Lin, and back again; commonly with five Tun weight; and for the same rate he formerly took; which weekly passage he hath continued all this summer. It will rest upon the Defender to name any man before the draining, that made this voyage( being 120. miles) constantly, with such a lading in less then a weeks time: and this will trouble him more then his Demonstration.  
9. That there was never any constant and certain Navigation between Lin and Cambridge( in summer time) till since the draining. Which is a truth; and it stands upon this bottom. That in summer time the neap Tides were not high enough, to help their Liters over the gravel below Ely: which shall be proved( if he please) by an hundred witnesses.  
The conclusion of that Clause, to wit, Therefore the Petitioners were not to be relieved, even in Parliament, is not any where( that I know) asserted by the adventurers; but is his own inference. That which they said, was this( and they think they have reason on their side) That they did desire to know the opinion of the House, in this Particular, whether matter of Fact, already heard and determined before Legal Judges( not at all impeached as criminous or corrupt) should be reexamined before the Committee of Petitions; which was so sober a demand; that I do wonder any man of conscience( or indeed of Common sense) can interpret this, to the questioning of the power of Parliament; and much less, to the giving of Laws to the supreme Authority.  
And for that he speaketh of the want of power in the Commissioners after the Adjudication; and would make that the ground of their appeal to the House: It is clear by the Act for Draining, that( notwithstanding the judgement given) they are for three years after, a standing Judicature; and that they now are, and hereafter are to be, without limitation of time, Commissioners of Sewers within this Level. But for the inconsistency, which he hath discovered, between Navigation and Draining, There is no such thing. They do agree( for ought I know) like man and wife together; and may always do so, if busy and envious men do not raise jealousies, and foment quarrels between them purposely to ruin both: which hath been too much practised of late.  
To that he saith, That Prejudice is done to Navigation since the Adjudication, and would make that another ground for an appeal to the House. Though there can be no pretence for any such thing( the contrary being manifest) yet let me ask him this question: why he did not try the Commissioners here in the Country, or the Commissioners sitting at London, before he flew to the House? for if they had either shown want of will, or want of power to relieve him, he might have had some colour for his appeal. But I am apt to believe, that this Gentleman had heard of Sir John Maynards letters( before mentioned) and from thence grew confident that he should carry all before him.  
For I am certainly informed, that the Enemies( or rather the enviers) of this noble work; when they had long( in vain) laboured to prove the level not drained, then fell to allege that Draining did not meliorate; which mistake, or rather falsehood, being so irrational, that all men condemned it; they( as a last refuge) flew to the Navigation;( as knowing that if the same had not been preserved, it was the overthrow of the work, as indeed it is;) And( through the dryness of the season) they endeavoured by fallacies to overthrow the work; but the falsehood and subtlety of their allegations being easy to be discovered by knowing men upon the place, they leave the Judges, appointed to determine upon the place, and endeavoured to have their complaints heard by the Committee of Petitions, who they knew could not be spared to go to the place, and discover their fallacies.  
To that which follows, Answers have already been given; and every part of his Argument, either confessed and avoided, or fully refuted; though not always in the same Order they stand in his Discourse; lest I should have made this( confused enough already) as intricate and perplexed as his.  
And now, my Lord( after tiring your Lordship, and myself) I am quit, I hope, of this tedious wrangler, who hath forced me to draw out this Scroll beyond the ordinary length of a Letter; lest he might have thought that he had said something, that could not be Answered; And I doubt not, but your Lordship, and all Intelligent men are fully satisfied, that the Navigation is not prejudiced by the works of Draining; but contrariwise made more Constant, easy, and Certain, then it was before. So craving pardon for this long trouble, I humbly kiss your Lordships hand, and rest  
My Lord, Your Lordships most Humble SERVANT. Jan. 18. 1653  
FINIS.