by dwindling to a newsmonger, is because there is no suspension of arms
agreed on between you and your adversaries, who fight with a sort of
weapons which have two wonderful qualities, that they are never to be
worn out, and are best wielded by the weakest hands, and which the
poverty of our language forceth me to call by the trite appellations of
scurrility, slander, and Billingsgate. I am far from thinking that these
gentlemen, or rather their employers, (for the operators themselves are
too obscure to be guessed at) should be answered after their own way,
although it were possible to drag them out of their obscurity; but I
wish you would enquire what real use such a conduct is to the cause they
have been so largely paid to defend. The author of the three first
Occasional Letters, a person altogether unknown, hath been thought to
glance (for what reasons he best knows) at some public proceedings, as
if they were not agreeable to his private opinions. In answer to this,
the pamphleteers retained on the other side are instructed by their
superiors, to single out an adversary whose abilities they have most
reason to apprehend, and to load himself, his family, and friends, with
all the infamy that a perpetual conversation in Bridewell, Newgate, and
the stews could furnish them; but, at the same time, so very unluckily,
that the most distinguishing parts of their characters strike directly
in the face of their benefactor, whose idea presenting itself along with
his guineas perpetually to their imagination, occasioned this desperate
blunder.
But, allowing this heap of slander to be truth, and applied to the
proper person; what is to be the consequence? Are our public debts to be
the sooner paid; the corruptions that author complains of to be the
sooner cured; an honourable peace, or a glorious war the more likely to
ensue; trade to flourish; the Ostend Company to be demolished;
Gibraltar and Port Mahon left entire in our possession; the balance of
Europe to be preserved; the malignity of parties to be for ever at an
end; none but persons of merit, virtue, genius, and learning to be
encouraged? I ask whether any of these effects will follow upon the
publication of this author's libel, even supposing he could prove every
syllable of it to be true?
At the same time, I am well assured, that the only reason of ascribing
those papers to a particular person, is built upon the information of a
certain pragmatical spy of quality, well known to act in that capacity
by those into whose company he insinuates himself; a sort of persons
who, although without much love, esteem, or dread of people in present
power, yet have too much common prudence to speak their thoughts with
freedom before such an intruder; who, therefore, imposes grossly upon
his masters, if he makes them pay for anything but his own conjectures.
It is a grievous mistake in a great minister to neglect or despise, much
more to irritate men of genius and learning. I have heard one of the
wisest persons in my time observe, that an administration was to be
known and judged by the talents of those who appeared their advocates in
print. This I must never allow to be a general rule; yet I cannot but
think it prodigiously unfortunate, that, among the answerers, defenders,
repliers, and panegyrists, started up in defence of present persons and
proceedings, there hath not yet arisen one whose labours we can read
with patience, however we may applaud their loyalty and good will. And
all this with the advantages of constant ready pay, of natural and
acquired venom, and a grant of the whole fund of slander, to range over
and riot in as they please.[201]
On the other side, a turbulent writer of Occasional Letters, and other
vexatious papers, in conjunction perhaps with one or two friends as bad
as himself, is able to disconcert, tease, and sour us whenever he
thinks fit, merely by the strength of genius and truth; and after so
dexterous a manner, that, when we are vexed to the soul, and well know
the reasons why we are so, we are ashamed to own the first, and cannot
tell how to express the other. In a word, it seems to me that all the
writers are on one side, and all the railers on the other.
However, I do not pretend to assert, that it is impossible for an ill
minister to find men of wit who may be drawn, by a very valuable
consideration, to undertake his defence; but the misfortune is, that the
heads of such writers rebel against their hearts; their genius forsakes
them, when they would offer to prostitute it to the service of
injustice, corruption, party rage, and false representations of things
and persons.
And this is the best argument I can offer in defence of great men, who
have been of late so very unhappy in the choice of their
paper-champions; although I cannot much commend their good husbandry, in
those exorbitant payments of twenty and sixty guineas at a time for a
scurvy pamphlet; since the sort of work they require is what will all
come within the talents of any one who hath enjoyed the happiness of a
very bad education, hath kept the vilest company, is endowed with a
servile spirit, is master of an empty purse, and a heart full of malice.
But, to speak the truth in soberness; it should seem a little hard,
since the old Whiggish principle hath been recalled of standing up for
the liberty of the press, to a degree that no man, for several years
past, durst venture out a thought which did not square to a point with
the maxims and practices that then prevailed: I say, it is a little hard
that the vilest mercenaries should be countenanced, preferred, rewarded,
for discharging their brutalities against men of honour, only upon a
bare conjecture.
If it should happen that these profligates have attacked an innocent
person, I ask what satisfaction can their hirers give in return? Not all
the wealth raked together by the most corrupt rapacious ministers, in
the longest course of unlimited power, would be sufficient to atone for
the hundredth part of such an injury.
In the common way of thinking, it is a situation sufficient in all
conscience to satisfy a reasonable ambition, for a private person to
command the forces, the laws, the revenues of a great kingdom, to
reward and advance his followers and flatterers as he pleases, and to
keep his enemies (real or imaginary) in the dust. In such an exaltation,
why should he be at the trouble to make use of fools to sound his
praises, (because I always thought the lion was hard set, when he chose
the ass for his trumpeter) or knaves to revenge his quarrels, at the
expense of innocent men's reputations?
With all those advantages, I cannot see why persons, in the height of
power, should be under the least concern on account of their reputation,
for which they have no manner of use; or to ruin that of others, which
may perhaps be the only possession their enemies have left them.
Supposing times of corruption, which I am very far from doing, if a
writer displays them in their proper colours, does he do anything worse
than sending customers to the shop? "Here only, at the sign of the
Brazen Head, are to be sold places and pensions: beware of counterfeits,
and take care of mistaking the door."
For my own part, I think it very unnecessary to give the character of a
great minister in the fulness of his power, because it is a thing that
naturally does itself, and is obvious to the eyes of all mankind; for
his personal qualities are all derived into the most minute parts of his
administration. If this be just, prudent, regular, impartial, intent
upon the public good, prepared for present exigencies, and provident of
the future; such is the director himself in his private capacity: If it
be rapacious, insolent, partial, palliating long and deep diseases of
the public with empirical remedies, false, disguised, impudent,
malicious, revengeful; you shall infallibly find the private life of the
conductor to answer in every point; nay, what is more, every twinge of
the gout or gravel will be felt in their consequences by the community.
As the thief-catcher, upon viewing a house broke open, could immediately
distinguish, from the manner of the workmanship, by what hand it was
done.
It is hard to form a maxim against which an exception is not ready to
start up: So, in the present case, where the minister grows enormously
rich, the public is proportionably poor; as, in a private family, the
steward always thrives the fastest when his lord is running out.
* * * * *
* * * * *
AN ACCOUNT OF THE COURT AND EMPIRE OF JAPAN.[202]
Regoge[203] was the thirty-fourth emperor of Japan, and began his reign
in the year 341 of the Christian era, succeeding to Nena,[204] a
princess who governed with great felicity.
There had been a revolution in that empire about twenty-six years
before, which made some breaches in the hereditary line; and Regoge,
successor to Nena, although of the royal family, was a distant
relation. There were two violent parties in the empire, which began in
the time of the revolution above mentioned; and, at the death of the
Empress Nena, were in the highest degree of animosity, each charging the
other with a design of introducing new gods, and changing the civil
constitution. The names of these two parties were Husiges and
Yortes.[205] The latter were those whom Nena, the late empress, most
favoured towards the end of her reign, and by whose advice she governed.
The Husige faction, enraged at their loss of power, made private
applications to Regoge during the life of the empress; which prevailed
so far, that, upon her death, the new emperor wholly disgraced the
Yortes, and employed only the Husiges in all his affairs. The Japanese
author highly blames his Imperial Majesty's proceeding in this affair;
because, it was allowed on all hands, that he had then a happy
opportunity of reconciling parties for ever by a moderating scheme. But
he, on the contrary, began his reign by openly disgracing the principal
and most popular Yortes, some of which had been chiefly instrumental in
raising him to the throne. By this mistaken step he occasioned a
rebellion; which, although it were soon quelled by some very surprising
turns of fortune, yet the fear, whether real or pretended, of new
attempts, engaged him in such immense charges, that, instead of clearing
any part of that prodigious debt left on his kingdom by the former war,
which might have been done by any tolerable management, in twelve years
of the most profound peace; he left his empire loaden with a vast
addition to the old encumbrance.
This prince, before he succeeded to the empire of Japan, was king of
Tedsu,[206] a dominion seated on the continent, to the west side of
Japan. Tedsu was the place of his birth, and more beloved by him than
his new empire; for there he spent some months almost every year, and
thither was supposed to have conveyed great sums of money, saved out of
his Imperial revenues.
There were two maritime towns of great importance bordering upon
Tedsu:[207] Of these he purchased a litigated title; and, to support it,
was forced not only to entrench deeply on his Japanese revenues, but to
engage in alliances very dangerous to the Japanese empire.[208]
Japan was at that time a limited monarchy, which some authors are of
opinion was introduced there by a detachment from the numerous army of
Brennus, who ravaged a great part of Asia; and, those of them who fixed
in Japan, left behind them that kind of military institution, which the
northern people, in ensuing ages, carried through most parts of Europe;
the generals becoming kings, the great officers a senate of nobles, with
a representative from every centenary of private soldiers; and, in the
assent of the majority in these two bodies, confirmed by the general,
the legislature consisted.
I need not farther explain a matter so universally known; but return to
my subject.
The Husige faction, by a gross piece of negligence in the Yortes, had so
far insinuated themselves and their opinions into the favour of Regoge
before he came to the empire, that this prince firmly believed them to
be his only true friends, and the others his mortal enemies.[209] By
this opinion he governed all the actions of his reign.
The emperor died suddenly, in his journey to Tedsu; where, according to
his usual custom, he was going to pass the summer.
This prince, during his whole reign, continued an absolute stranger to
the language, the manners, the laws, and the religion of Japan; and
passing his whole time among old mistresses, or a few privadoes, left
the whole management of the empire in the hands of a minister, upon the
condition of being made easy in his personal revenues, and the
management of parties in the senate. His last minister,[210] who
governed in the most arbitrary manner for several years, he was thought
to hate more than he did any other person in Japan, except his only
son, the heir to the empire. The dislike he bore to the former was,
because the minister, under pretence that he could not govern the senate
without disposing of employments among them, would not suffer his master
to oblige one single person, but disposed of all to his own relations
and dependants. But, as to that continued and virulent hatred he bore to
the prince his son, from the beginning of his reign to his death, the
historian hath not accounted for it, further than by various
conjectures, which do not deserve to be related.
The minister above mentioned was of a family not contemptible, had been
early a senator, and from his youth a mortal enemy to the Yortes. He had
been formerly disgraced in the senate, for some frauds in the management
of a public trust.[211] He was perfectly skilled, by long practice, in
the senatorial forms; and dexterous in the purchasing of votes, from
those who could find their accounts better in complying with his
measures, than they could probably lose by any tax that might be charged
on the kingdom. He seemed to fail, in point of policy, by not concealing
his gettings, never scrupling openly to lay out vast sums of money in
paintings, buildings, and purchasing estates; when it was known, that,
upon his first coming into business, upon the death of the Empress Nena,
his fortune was but inconsiderable. He had the most boldness, and the
least magnanimity that ever any mortal was endowed with. By enriching
his relations, friends, and dependants, in a most exorbitant manner, he
was weak enough to imagine that he had provided a support against an
evil day. He had the best among all false appearances of courage, which
was a most unlimited assurance, whereby he would swagger the boldest men
into a dread of his power, but had not the smallest portion of
magnanimity, growing jealous, and disgracing every man, who was known to
bear the least civility to those he disliked. He had some small
smattering in books, but no manner of politeness; nor, in his whole
life, was ever known to advance any one person, upon the score of wit,
learning, or abilities for business. The whole system of his ministry
was corruption; and he never gave bribe or pension, without frankly
telling the receivers what he expected from them, and threatening them
to put an end to his bounty, if they failed to comply in every
circumstance.
A few months before the emperor's death, there was a design concerted
between some eminent persons of both parties, whom the desperate state
of the empire had united, to accuse the minister at the first meeting of
a new chosen senate, which was then to assemble according to the laws of
that empire. And it was believed, that the vast expense he must be at in
choosing an assembly proper for his purpose, added to the low state of
the treasury, the increasing number of pensioners, the great discontent
of the people, and the personal hatred of the emperor; would, if well
laid open in the senate, be of weight enough to sink the minister, when
it should appear to his very pensioners and creatures that he could not
supply them much longer.
While this scheme was in agitation, an account came of the emperor's
death, and the prince his son,[212] with universal joy, mounted the
throne of Japan.
The new emperor had always lived a private life, during the reign of his
father; who, in his annual absence, never trusted him more than once
with the reins of government, which he held so evenly that he became too
popular to be confided in any more. He was thought not unfavourable to
the Yortes, at least not altogether to approve the virulence wherewith
his father proceeded against them; and therefore, immediately upon his
succession, the principal persons of that denomination came, in several
bodies, to kiss the hem of his garment, whom he received with great
courtesy, and some of them with particular marks of distinction.
The prince, during the reign of his father, having not been trusted with
any public charge, employed his leisure in learning the language, the
religion, the customs, and disposition of the Japanese; wherein he
received great information, among others, from Nomptoc[213], master of
his finances, and president of the senate, who secretly hated Lelop-Aw,
the minister; and likewise from Ramneh[214], a most eminent senator;
who, despairing to do any good with the father, had, with great
industry, skill, and decency, used his endeavour to instil good
principles into the young prince.
Upon the news of the former emperor's death, a grand council was
summoned of course, where little passed besides directing the ceremony
of proclaiming the successor. But, in some days after, the new emperor
having consulted with those persons in whom he could chiefly confide,
and maturely considered in his own mind the present state of his
affairs, as well as the disposition of his people, convoked another
assembly of his council; wherein, after some time spent in general
business, suitable to the present emergency, he directed Lelop-Aw to
give him, in as short terms as he conveniently could, an account of the
nation's debts, of his management in the senate, and his negotiations
with foreign courts: Which that minister having delivered, according to
his usual manner, with much assurance and little satisfaction, the
emperor desired to be fully satisfied in the following particulars.
Whether the vast expense of choosing such members into the senate, as
would be content to do the public business, were absolutely necessary?
Whether those members, thus chosen in, would cross and impede the
necessary course of affairs, unless they were supplied with great sums
of money, and continued pensions?
Whether the same corruption and perverseness were to be expected from
the nobles?
Whether the empire of Japan were in so low a condition, that the
imperial envoys, at foreign courts, must be forced to purchase
alliances, or prevent a war, by immense bribes, given to the ministers
of all the neighbouring princes?
Why the debts of the empire were so prodigiously advanced, in a peace of
twelve years at home and abroad?
Whether the Yortes were universally enemies to the religion and laws of
the empire, and to the imperial family now reigning?
Whether those persons, whose revenues consist in lands, do not give
surer pledges of fidelity to the public, and are more interested in the
welfare of the empire, than others whose fortunes consist only in money?
And because Lelop-Aw, for several years past, had engrossed the whole
administration, the emperor signified, that from him alone he expected
an answer.
This minister, who had sagacity enough to cultivate an interest in the
young prince's family, during the late emperor's life, received early
intelligence from one of his emissaries of what was intended at the
council, and had sufficient time to frame as plausible an answer as his
cause and conduct would allow. However, having desired a few minutes to
put his thoughts in order, he delivered them in the following manner.
* * * * *
"SIR,
"Upon this short unexpected warning, to answer your Imperial Majesty's
queries I should be wholly at a loss, in your Majesty's august presence,
and that of this most noble assembly, if I were armed with a weaker
defence than my own loyalty and integrity, and the prosperous success of
my endeavours.
"It is well known that the death of the Empress Nena happened in a most
miraculous juncture; and that, if she had lived two months longer, your
illustrious family would have been deprived of your right, and we should
have seen an usurper upon your throne, who would have wholly changed the
constitution of this empire, both civil and sacred; and although that
empress died in a most opportune season, yet the peaceable entrance of
your Majesty's father was effected by a continual series of miracles.
The truth of this appears by that unnatural rebellion which the Yortes
raised, without the least provocation, in the first year of the late
emperor's reign, which may be sufficient to convince your Majesty, that
every soul of that denomination was, is, and will be for ever, a
favourer of the Pretender, a mortal enemy to your illustrious family,
and an introducer of new gods into the empire. Upon this foundation was
built the whole conduct of our affairs; and, since a great majority of
the kingdom was at that time reckoned to favour the Yortes faction, who,
in the regular course of elections, must certainly be chosen members of
the senate then to be convoked; it was necessary, by the force of money,
to influence elections in such a manner, that your Majesty's father
might have a sufficient number to weigh down the scale on his side, and
thereby carry on those measures which could only secure him and his
family in the possession of the empire. To support this original plan I
came into the service: But the members of the senate, knowing themselves
every day more necessary, upon the choosing of a new senate, I found the
charges to increase; and that, after they were chosen, they insisted
upon an increase of their pensions; because they well knew that the work
could not be carried on without them: And I was more general in my
donatives, because I thought it was more for the honour of the crown,
that every vote should pass without a division; and that, when a debate
was proposed, it should immediately be quashed, by putting the question.
"Sir, The date of the present senate is expired, and your Imperial
Majesty is now to convoke a new one; which, I confess, will be somewhat
more expensive than the last, because the Yortes, from your favourable
reception, have begun to reassume a spirit whereof the country had some
intelligence; and we know the majority of the people, without proper
management, would be still in that fatal interest. However, I dare
undertake, with the charge only of four hundred thousand sprangs,[215]
to return as great a majority of senators of the true stamp, as your
Majesty can desire. As to the sums of money paid in foreign courts, I
hope, in some years, to ease the nation of them, when we and our
neighbours come to a good understanding. However, I will be bold to say,
they are cheaper than a war, where your Majesty is to be a principal.
"The pensions, indeed, to senators and other persons, must needs
increase, from the restiveness of some, and scrupulous nature of others;
and the new members, who are unpractised, must have better
encouragement. However, I dare undertake to bring the eventual charge
within eight hundred thousand sprangs. But, to make this easy, there
shall be new funds raised, of which I have several schemes ready,
without taxing bread or flesh, which shall be referred to more pressing
occasions.
"Your Majesty knows it is the laudable custom of all Eastern princes, to
leave the whole management of affairs, both civil and military, to their
viziers. The appointments for your family, and private purse, shall
exceed those of your predecessors: You shall be at no trouble, further
than to appear sometimes in council, and leave the rest to me: You shall
hear no clamour or complaints: Your senate shall, upon occasions,
declare you the best of princes, the father of your country, the arbiter
of Asia, the defender of the oppressed, and the delight of mankind.