HAving some time since resolv'd to do my self the Honour of writing to You, I at length thro' great difficulty, retired an hour from Noise and Clamour, the smoak of Coffee-houses, and the suffocating Stench of Court-flattery, (a wonderful Engine in this Pedantick age,) whereby Men of small fortune and smaller merit, easily climb to a considerable pitch of Honour and Greatness; and Preferments are confer'd on none but such as will comply and conform to another's Passion. And without passing the fulsom Compliments of Incomparable, and Extensive Blessing, I shall hint to you some Transactions of Moment, in this part of the Globe, since the last printed News from our Island, and [...]— [...] commencing Jail-bird.

[Page 2]The DISTRESSED STATE of our Island, is I confess a Theme as melancholly as 'tis common. And if we take but a general Survey of our present Diffi­culties in their various unhappy Circumstances, we shall find too much reason to conclude them the begin­ning of Sorrows, and the dreadful prologue of more Complicated Miseries.

The Extream want of that, the love whereof is the root of all Evil, is the universal Complaint among us: So that there is hot talk that our Salary-Men, who (particularly the Ecclesiasticks) have hitherto had an Honourable Support and suitable to their Character, must lower their Top-sails, and be Content to take their pay in the produce of the Island. The blood and vital Spirits of the Body-politick, (I mean the Medium of Exchange) is so near exhausted as portends a Certain, & Speedy dissolution.

The greatest part of the paper Credit, which is yet out-standing, is fallen into the hands of a few wretched Misers, (whose desires are Enlarged as Hell,) who li [...] Pharaoh's fat beasts, stand gaping to devour their Indigent but honest Neighbours, and with hearts more unrelenting by far than his, make their Necessi­tous Circumstances their cursed opportunity to Enrich themselves: and having wrested their Estates from them for half the Value, they boast (like those Sin­ners Solomon Cautions to beware of,) that they have found precious Substance, and filled their houses with spoil.

In what prodigious Shoals do Men flock to Use­rers to hire! and perhaps when they have waited at their Gates as long as King John did at the Pope's Legat's, they may obtain admittance; and those who possess Estates in Lands worth 500l. may pawn them for 94 for the Interest must be paid before they receive the Principal; and besides that, there must be a gratuity proportionable to the urgency of their wants, before they can come off so well.

Among the innumerable exorbitant Mischiefs which [Page 3] arise from the want of of some proper Medium of Ex­change, these are not the least: The Trade, by which our Island chiefly subsists, is wofully embarass'd; and many a noble Project (and profitable to the Publick) sadly retarded; a Multiplicity of Law-Suits, to the enriching a few luxuriant Cut-throats, and reducing many honest, frugal, industrious Familys to Beggary, and many more to the very precipice of Ruin, unless speedy Relief intervene. Are not Oppression, Injustice aud Cruelty (like an Innundation) making a rapid Pro­gress among us? And have we not great reason to fear a more tragic Scene will open before we are aware? But on whom must we Father all this Ca­talogue of Mischiefs (to which a multitude more might be added) when the black Master-roll comes to be made up? Is it not an Argument, that those who reject, and hiss at all proposals (even the most fair and promising) which are made by others, and propose nothing at all themselves, would have nothing at all DONE that might conduce to our Relief & advantage?

Our Expectations of Redress the last Session (the Expence and Damage whereof has not been much less than that of broken Conventions, with which we were threatned, if the former were not managed according to some men's minds) have been greatly raised, and the Representative Body of the Island carried on things with great Prudence, as far as possible; and I need not tell you where their Conclusions met with a resolute Repulse.

The Opposition which the Emission of more Paper Credit has met with, has afforded various matter of Speculation among us; and many have been the Con­jectures about it, it being something unnaccountable what Men should be driving at, who (like Water-men) look one way, while at the same time they now the contrary; insomuch that many (who are willing to think the best) are apt to fix them with the Carcass of Mahomet, between Heaven and Earth; or with Bellarmine, the Atlas of the Papal Cause, to whom [Page 4] the Catholicks (because he wrote so much like a Heretick) assign a ^* place, between Heaven and Hell.

The Great D [...]n of the County of E—x, (who shakes his Rod terribly over the whole County, and makes his Minions cringe at his Feet) was seiz'd with Belshazzar's fit of trembling (tho' doubtless from an Infernal Impression) lest the Bill should pass the B—d, and his Deify'd Mammon cease to bring in such a gri­ping Usury as is calculated to the Meridian of his Con­science.

There were also terrible Alarms among the whole C—s Clan in this great Crisis, for fear the result should not please their Masters; but since good Pro­jections have been crush'd in the Birth, they begin to hecter and bullie with abundance of Confidence, as if they had gained the Point to all Intents and Purposes; tho' several of them want Cash as much as their Neighbours.

However, some of the most Judicious and Intelli­gent among us, have ventured to Query, whether the following things be not the Spring and Source of the forementioned Opposition.

1. Covetousness: Which consists in an eager and insatiable Thirst after Riches, which hurries Men on in the Acquisition of Worldly Goods, tho' in the most unjust, injurious and clandestine ways. 'Tis a Gan­grene in the Soul, that with a pay so [...] Heat, consumes the Natural Affections, to supply their room with the most virulent Humours. This furious Desire precipi­tates Men on to Oppression, Violence and Deceit; so that they will not stick to betray and sell their Country, if thereby they can enrich themselves, and promote their private Interests; for when this caused Lust has once gain'd the Ascendant in the Soul, is it any won­der if men prostitute the Gifts of Nature and Provi­dence, to the most base and servile Ends? Nature, in the production of Gold (as one ingeniously observes) seems to have presaged the Misery of her Lovers, by making the place where it grows barren of Herbs, [Page 5] Plants, &c. intimating thereby that in the Minds where the Desire of this Metal shall take Birth, no Sparks of Honour or Vertue shall remain.

2. Envy: Which is a Diabolical Passion, that renders those in whom it is predominant Emphatically the Chil­dren of the Devil. It stirs up in Men a pining at the good of others, and gnaws their Hearts with continual Torment. How do some vex and frett themselves, at the prosperity and good of Others? And how would they (if they could) Ahab-like, hook in their fair Estates? that they may join House to House, & lay Field to Field, &c. tho' there is a terrible W O denounc'd against them, Isai. 5. 8.

3. Pride. Pride and Envy are Sisters of the same Complexion and Shape, and equally pernicious in their Effects. Ambition is a ravishing Passion, that easily glides into the Soul, but makes an unwilling Retreat. 'Tis a furious Desire, that knows no bounds, but abso­lute Lordship and Empire for it's self, and Beggary and Slavery for all others; which Age doth not mature, nor lesser Dignities satisfy. 'Tis a Gulf without Bottom or Shore; the Vacuum in Nature, which Philosophers have not found out, nor ever will.

4. Hypocrisy. And of all the foregoing evils, this is not to be esteem'd the least. For hereby (as a most Reverend Divine observes) Religion is made a Stalking-Horse whereby some Men serve the most vile and un­worthy Ends; cloaking their Designs of Covetousness, Ambition, or Revenge, with pretence of Conscience and Zeal; and under the specious Umbrage hereof, the most execrable Villanies have been acted. This lurking Evil has slain it's Ten Thousands, and done more mischief in he World than open Impiety and Infidelity.

These are suppos'd to be the four main Springs, from whence the Opposition to more Bills, (tho' emitted on never so good a Foundation) proceeds. And is it any wonder, that a few Muck-worms, who have monopoliz'd vast Hoards of Bills should oppose it; seeing they have so fair a prospect (as they think) of raising their Estates, [Page 6] and building up their Names on the Ruins of their Country? Tho' hereby their Memory will be a Stench in the Nostrils of Posterity. For what else can we suppose them so furiously driving at (unless we are bound to believe their Words, against the Course and Tenor of their Actions) but to engross all the Estates in the Island; and themselves being Lords, the rest by Consequence their Slaves?

But will our Islanders, who have ever injoyed the Sweets of Liberty and Freedom, be easily drove to Sla­very by some whose Fathers many of them would have disdained to sit with the Dogs of their Flock? Certain­ly no. And it is greatly to be hop'd, that on the 31 st of May next, when the Convention comes together, they will be inspir'd with a Spirit of true discerning to distinguish between them who are Lovers of their Country and them who are not. Wisdom 2. 12. They are not for our turn, but are quite Contrary to us.

There has been a great Bustle and Whispering of late about our Constitution; & rais'd Expectations among many, (whose Endeavours have not been wanting) that those glorious Days for Lawyers and Gentlemen, which were prophesied of and wish'd for, January 12. 1703, 4, were making a near approach to us. But as hitherto the united attempts of Earth and Hell which have been formed against it have proved unsuccessful; so we hope that He who rules in the Kingdom of Providence, will deride their secret Counsels, defeat their Designs (tho' laid as deep as Hell) and cloath them with Shame and Confusion.

Sir, It is no News to you (I presume) that the great DON-DAGO, the Primate-wou'd-be of our Island, (like the famous Dr. S—l has long ago burst his Orb, and become Eccentrick. And as for the Old Itch of Scribling, (tho' plung'd in the profound Atlantic) it is not yet extinguish'd.

Some time since we saw the Meteor call'd Aurora-Borealis; which is a forerunner of News from the North, and not long after we heard of a venomous Epistle, that [Page 7] has been sent to your Parts, (with which the World may be favoured, if it can find a place among Tom Brown's Letters, the next Impression) wherein the Wri­ter (as he has formerly convinc'd the World of his ex­quisite Knack at daubing with untempered Mortar) has given us to understand, that he is Master of the Art of enviously detracting from the worth of good Men, ( Gentlemen of known Integrity) by throwing dirt, to sully their Reputation, and blacken their Character. Moreover, he has represented a loyal and peaceable Peo­ple, as Factious, Turbulent, and worse than the Savage Monsters of Africa.

Some of our Ecclesiasticks of late, (for want of Discretion, without which Learning is Pedantry, and Wit, Impertinence,) have been guilty of too officious a meddling with State Affairs. The great substantial Duties of Faith, Repentance, and a good Life, are what they may and ought, with utmost Warmth and Energy to Inculcate; but whatever is not compris'd in these, is beside the Text, foreign to their Province, and another Gospel.

To see a Clergy-man ( Commedian-like) stand bela­bouring his Cushion and intermixing his Harrangue with THUNDER-BOLTS, while he is entertaining his peaceable Congregation with things whereof he is almost as Ignorant, as I am of the Saddle Balaam rode on when his Ass spoke, and exhorting them to beware of a mutinons, mobbish Spirit, of siding with this or that Party and Interest; How ridiculous is the Sight and the Sound? How nauceous, and like a Parable in the Mouth of Fools? An empty noise, like sounding Brass, or a tinkling Cymbal.

How do such Degrade their Sacred Function, and expose themselves to Contempt and Mimickry, and to be Burlisqu'd by every Pamphleteer? And how high­ly meritorous is this of a Staff and Pair of Shoes.

But, is not the Crime exceedingly aggravated, when any of that Order side with Parties, and foment Diffe­rences THEMSELVES? When in their private Visits [Page 8] and at Gentlemens Tables, they take the Licence to revile, backbite and slander, endeavouring to widen the Differences between Men of high Station and Character, whose Influence is likely to affect the whole Island? Does not this render them vile, and minister just Occasion to ungodly Men to despise their Offerings? Does not this tend to harden Men in Atheism, Impiety and Infidelity, and to deem all Religion as a piece of Priest-Craft and State-Policy, to keep the World in Awe? And is it not the most certain and expediti­ous way to effect their own Ruin?

But I must not be further tedious to you, because I hope in a short time to send you a more particular Account of things: In the mean time, recommending you and yours to the Care of the Divine Providence,