A good or bad Title enhances or debases the Purchase of any Commodity, is well known to any Man that ever bought a Foot of Land upon a controverted or disputed Right.

If the Hazard bear a proportion to the Gain, 'tis a Just and Righteous Bar­gain; I am sure it appear'd so to the Wisdom of The Honourable House of Com­mons, when for Ten Pounds they allow'd a Chance of Thousand Pounds per Annum, as in The Million Lottery, &c.

That this is the Case of those Persons that have bought Arrears, may appear from hence:

They were esteem'd both by the Buyer and Seller to be unsettl'd and preca­rious Things, not likely to be paid of a long time, especially if the War had lasted, or broke out a-new, carried no Interest, by the Sale of them, there was no Right vested in, or transfer'd to the Purchaser, as in Salt-Tallies, &c.

Many of the Officers that sold their Arrears bought Places with the Purchase Money, without which they would probably have Starved before they could have been Reliev'd by a Parliamentary Provision; and all those Gentlemen that sold their Pay, hired Brokers and Sollicitors to find them Chapmen.

Many of those that bought Soldiers Arrears, Malt-Tickets, &c. took their Money out of the Bank and other Funds in order to make a better Purchase, and consequently, will be the greater loosers if this Clause be admitted.

What Provision would the Honourable House have made to Re-imburse the Purchasers, in Case the Arrears had never been paid?

Where Officers sold their Pay two or three times over, what Provision shall be made for the second or third Purchaser? Caveat Emptor is the common An­swer, then let him have a better Bargain for the great Risque he runs, &c.

When Salt Tallies have been sold sometimes at Cent per Cent loss, Bank Bills, Chequer Notes, Malt Tickets, at a very great Discount, tho' they had establish'd Funds, and a growing Interest on them, why are not those Bargains rescinded, and all other unequal Contracts, and where will the House Begin or End?

If it be a Crime to take more than common Interest upon some occasions, or to Buy a great Bargain, why has The Honourable House encouraged it all the last War, and since; witness the great Premiums and the large Interests allow'd upon the safest Funds, witness a Clause in a certain Act made last Sessions, whereby the Commissioners of the Victualling, were empower'd to pay away Malt Tickets, and Coal Tallies which carried Eight per Cent Interest at a consider­able discount both of Interest and Principle.

It is humbly proposed that this Matter ought to be decided in Westminster-Hall, if there be any Law that makes such Contracts Criminal, if there be no Law, there is no Transgression.

It is humbly submitted to the Consideration of the House, that not one of [...] Officers that sold his Arrears, was a Minor or a Non Compos, nor one [...]

Many of the Officers that sold their Arrears bought Places with the Purchase Money, without which they would probably have Starved before they could have been Reliev'd by a Parliamentary Provision; and all those Gentlemen that sold their Pay, hired Brokers and Sollicitors to find them Chapmen.

Many of those that bought Soldiers Arrears, Malt-Tickets, &c. took their Money out of the Bank and other Funds in order to make a better Purchase, and consequently, will be the greater loosers if this Clause be admitted.

What Provision would the Honourable House have made to Re-imburse the Purchasers, in Case the Arrears had never been paid?

Where Officers sold their Pay two or three times over, what Provision shall be made for the second or third Purchaser? Caveat Emptor is the common An­swer, then let him have a better Bargain for the great Risque he runs, &c.

When Salt Tallies have been sold sometimes at Cent per Cent loss, Bank Bills, Chequer Notes, Malt Tickets, at a very great Discount, tho' they had establish'd Funds, and a growing Interest on them, why are not those Bargains rescinded, and all other unequal Contracts, and where will the House Begin or End?

If it be a Crime to take more than common Interest upon some occasions, or to Buy a great Bargain, why has The Honourable House encouraged it all the last War, and since; witness the great Premiums and the large Interests allow'd upon the safest Funds, witness a Clause in a certain Act made last Sessions, whereby the Commissioners of the Victualling, were empower'd to pay away Malt Tickets, and Coal Tallies which carried Eight per Cent Interest at a consider­able discount both of Interest and Principle.

It is humbly proposed that this Matter ought to be decided in Westminster-Hall, if there be any Law that makes such Contracts Criminal, if there be no Law, there is no Transgression.

It is humbly submitted to the Consideration of the House, that not one of the Officers that sold his Arrears, was a Minor or a Non Compos, nor one of the Buyers extorted such a Sale, or reduced the Seller to any streights or necessities in order to make an advantage thereby.

Where the value of any Commodity rises or falls by a bear Rumor, as Tallies and Stocks have done by the report of the King of Spain's Death; such Com­modities can never be worth so much as others of lasting unchangeable value.

If notwithstanding what has been objected against in this Clause The Ho­nourable House I shall incline to rescind these Bargins, it is humbly hoped that they will fix a short Day whereby those Officers who have sold upon payment of the Money in Specie by them received, &c. and interest for the same at the rate of — per Cent may have the benefit of the Act, otherwise to be for ever foreclosed.

Lastly, If all legal Contracts and Bargins be not preserved sacred and inviolable, it is humbly submitted to the Wisdom of The Honourable House, whither upon any great Exigence it would be possible to raise again those mighty Sums, with­out which the Nation could never have carried on, nor so gloriously have en­ded the late War with France. Many Officers who sold their Arrears were Fo­reigners, and parted with them to raise Money to pay the Fees for their Na­turalization, which if they had not done, they could neither have continued in the Service or been intituled to half Pay.