from the government than their reputed brethren can arrive to the lowest in ours. I observe this with all possible submission to the wisdom of their policy, which however will not, I believe, dispute the praise of vigilance with ours. WHIG Account. To persons promoted to bishoprics or removed to more beneficial ones, computed per annum......... To civil employments..... To military commands. TORY Account. 111 0 0 To Tories.......... Balance......... £27,405 0 0 I shall conclude with the observation that as I think the Tories have sufficient reason to be fully satisfied with the share of trust, power, and employment which they possess under the lenity of the present government; so I do not find how his excellency can be justly censured for favoring none but high-church, high-fliers, termagants, laudists, Sacheverellians, tiptopgallantmen, jacobites, tantivies, antihanoverians, friends to popery and the pretender and to arbitrary power, disobligers of England, breakers of DEPENDENCY, inflamers of quarrels between the two nations, public incendiaries, enemies to the king and kingdoms, haters of TRUE protestants, laurelmen, annists, complainers of the nation's poverty, ormondians, iconoclasts, antiglorious-memorists, antirevolutioners, white rosalists, tenth-a-junians, and the like; when, by a fair state of the account, the balance, I conceive, seems to lie on the other side. AN ANSWER TO THE CRAFTSMAN OF DECEMBER 12, 1730, ON A VERY INTE RESTING SUBJECT RELATIVE TO IRELAND. No. 232. To which is prefixed the Craftsman itself. THE CRAFTSMAN. Saturday, Dec. 12, 1730. THE following article, which has lately appeared in the newspapers, deserves our immediate consideration, viz: "They write from Dublin that an officer from every regiment in the French service is arrived there in order to raise recruits for their respective corps; which is not to be done in a clandestine manner as formerly (when several persons suffered death for it), but publicly. These gentlemen are to disperse themselves into the several counties where they have the best interest, and a field-officer is ready to reside constantly at Dublin to hear all complaints which may be made by any of the recruits against their officers; and also to prepare for sending them off. Count Broglio has been soliciting an order to this purpose these two years." When I first read this account in the public prints I looked upon it as a common piece of false intelligence, and was in full expectation of seeing it contradicted in the next day's papers according to frequent custom, but having since heard it confidently affirmed to be true (although I can hardly yet believe it, especially as to every part) the duty which I owe my country and my zeal for the present establishment, oblige me to take some notice of an affair which I apprehend to be of very great importance to both. It will be necessary in the first place to give the reader a short account of the nature of these troops as they are now established in France. They consist, as we have been informed, of one regiment of horse and five regiments of foot, all doubly or trebly officered; so that they are of themselves a very considerable body of men. But their number is the least point to be considered in this affair. There are other circumstances which render these troops infinitely more formidable to Great Britain. They are not only all Roman catholics, but the most dangerous of that communion with respect to us, I mean Roman catholic subjects of our dominions; many of whom have been obliged to fly their native country on account of rebellions and conspiracies in which they have been engaged; and all of them devoted by inclination, by interest, by conscience, by every motive human and divine, to the service of the pretender in opposition to the protestant succession in his majesty's royal family. To this we may add that they are generally esteemed the best forces in the French service; that they have always behaved themselves as such in the late wars; and are commanded by officers of approved courage as well as skill and experience in military affairs. It is said likewise that the serjeants, corporals, and private men, are so well seasoned to danger and expert in their duty, that by a gradual promotion they could furnish officers for a very formidable army in case of any sudden invasion or insurrection. In the next place it will not be improper to examine this affair with regard to our laws. It is made felony by act of parliament in Ireland for any subject of that kingdom to enlist himself or to enlist others in the service of any foreign state; and it is well known that multitudes of poor wretches have suffered death upon that account. We know it may be said that a power is reserved to his majesty by a clause in that act to dispense with it by granting any foreign. prince a license to raise forces in his dominions, and indemnifying his subjects from the penalties of the law. Although it is far from my intention to dispute any of his majesty's legal prerogatives, or to call the wisdom of the legislature in question, yet I must take the liberty to observe that such powers have been sometimes granted out of complaisance to the crown, that the prince's hands may not be absolutely tied up, and in full confidence that they will never be exerted but for the benefit of this nation, or possibly of some protestant ally, upon great emergencies of state. The exercise of the prerogative in these cases is therefore merely a prudential part, which is left to the discretion of the prince and his ministers, who ought always to be supposed the best judges of these affairs; and therefore how ridiculous would it be to send to the attorney-general for his opinion in such a case, who can be a competent judge of nothing but the legality of it, and whether the affair be actionable or not; but ministers ought to regulate their conduct in these respects according to the situation of affairs and the exigencies of government. I must therefore beg leave to consider the present subject of the Irish forces in this light. It will not be denied, I presume, that a license to recruit Roman catholic regiments of English subjects in foreign service, and in the interest of a pretender to the crown (which is death by the law without his majesty's permission), is a favor of a very extraordinary nature, and ought to be attended with some extraordinary circumstances. I confess that I can see no such extraordinary circumstances at present; unless it should be said that this favor was granted in order to engage our good allies in the demolition of Dunkirk; but I hope they have more generosity than to insist upon such hard terms for the effectual performance of that which they are obliged by treaty to do. I am sure such conditions seem unreasonable on our part after we have made them so many other concessions; particularly with relation to the flag and Santa Lucia; which I think are sufficient to make them comply with all our demands without expecting any further favors, and even supererogation of friendship. Perhaps my adversaries (if they have any conceit) may make an opportunity of ridiculing me for writing in this strain; but as it sometimes serves their turn to make me a great man and to argue against me as such, I will for once suppose myself so; and methinks, if I had the honor of being but half an hour in that station, I could reason against such an order for the good of my king and my coun try in the following manner : 1. These troops have always been made use of whenever there has been any attempt in favor of the pretender; and indeed they are upon many accounts the fittest for this purpose. They are our fellow-subjects; they speak our language; are acquainted with our manners; and do not raise that aversion in the people which they naturally conceive against other foreign troops who understand neither. I am afraid I may add that they are kept up for this purpose in entire regiments without suffering them to be mixed with the troops of any other nation. It is well known at least that they supplied the late king James with a nursery of soldiers who were always ready for his service whenever any opportunity offered itself for his restoration; and that at this time the pretender is always the bait made use of by their officers to raise recruits. They never mention the king of France or the king of Spain upon these occasions, but list the poor wretches under an assurance that they are entered into the service of him whom they call their natural and rightful king. I will not suspect the present fidelity of France and their cordiality to the protestant establishment, yet methinks we might easily excuse ourselves from furnishing them with instruments which they may employ against us whenever ambition or reasons of state shall dissolve their present engagements and induce them to espouse the cause of the pretender again. 2. It is very probable that his catholic majesty (who has likewise several regiments of this kind in his service) will expect the same favor of recruiting them in Ireland, and that he may in case of refusal make it a pretence at any time for quarrelling with us, interrupting our commerce, and disturbing us again in the possession of Gibraltar. And here it is proper just to take notice that these troops did his catholic majesty the most eminent service in the last siege of that important place. He may complain perhaps of our partiality to France, and allege that we do not treat Spain in the same manner we expect to be treated by them, as one of the most favored nations. 3. The kingdom of Ireland seems at this time in a very ill condition to admit of any such drafts out of her dominions. She has been already so much exhausted by the voluntary transportation of multitudes of her inhabitants (who have been prevailed upon, by the calamities of their own country, to seek their bread in other parts of the world), that the interposition of parliament was found necessary to put a stop to it: and shall we suffer any foreign power to drain her still further under such circumstances, especially in this manner and for this purpose? I do not hear that this license is confined to any particular number of men. It is confessed, I think, that they want above 2000 men to complete their corps, and who knows but they may design to raise a great many more than they care to own, or even to form some new regiments of these troops? But supposing they are confined to a certain number of recruits, and that Ireland were in a capacity to spare them, it is well known how easily such limitations are evaded and how difficult it is to know when people conform exactly to the terms of their commission. This was sufficiently explained in the late famous controversy concerning Mr. Wood's patent for supplying Ireland with a particular sum of copper halfpence; and the arguments upon that subject may be applied to this, with some allowances for the difference between the two cases. It may perhaps be said likewise that all the vigilance of the ministry has been hitherto found ineffectual to prevent the French from clandestinely recruiting these regiments with Irish catholics, and therefore that we may as well allow them to do it openly, nay, that it is our interest to let them purge Ireland of her popish inhabitants as much as they please; but I deny this for several reasons, which I shall mention presently; and if it were |