ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Production Note Project Unica Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign 2015LETTERS O F M-— B------, Weaver. Letter Second ■. .....-, Efq; CONCERNING DEBTS and TAXES. Printed in the Year 1751. X lÜ&aDM£7 A SECOND LETTER Concerning DEBTS and TAXES, Imoft fincerely congratulate you on your late Succefs, you have been unanimoufly elected Reprefentative of a con-fiderable Corporation, and have now attained that Honour and thofe Priviledges for which your Education has fitted you, and which were, muft have been, the Obje£t of your earlieil Ambition ; I make no Doubt but you will anfwer the Expectations of the World, and that every Tye of Birth, Fortune and Alliance, by which you are bound, will be accompanied by your moil fincere Inclination to ferve your Country; you will, no Doubt, confider yourfelf, not only as Reprefentative for one particular Corporation, but as one of the Three Hundred Truftees of the Rights, Privi!ed°es and Fortune, of the whole People of Ireland.--------And°will be ready on any Occafion, if ever fuch an Occafion ihould offer, to facrifice, not only your private Inclination, but alfo the miftaken Tnterefts and Prejudices of the People you reprefent, to the Good of the Nation over whom you are now placed as one of its Legifiators. It may poifibly appear to you, that you have, at firft Setting out, an opportunity of exerting a moil fevere Self denial, and O F SIR A 2 thathat you muft immediately facrifice that laudable Defire you have convinced the World you ardently feel for Di ft i notion and Reputation, but which, happily for your Country, cannot be attained, in the Place you are in, either by Talents or by Virtue fitted for; for how can a Man be faid to diftinguiih him-felf for Oratory in an Aflembly of Orators ? Or for publiclc Spirit in an Aflembly of Patriots ? Or for Loyalty in an Af-fembly compol'ed of Men of true Revolution Principles, and fo much attached to his Majefty’s Perfon, His Deputies and Government, that it is a Doubt whether his Majefty’s more immediate Servants, or the Country Gentlemen are the moil forward to exprefs their Loyalty in their AddrefTes, moil forward in granting the Supplies, levying Arms, or doing what is properly called the King’s Buftnefs ? and on the other Hand, who are they who are the moil bufy in prepairing Bills for the Security of the Subjedt, for promoting our Tradeand Manufactures ? Thefe are generally recommended fromthe Throne; and it is become the Buiinefs of thofe, who willmake their Court, to appear the moil forward in bringing a-bout thefe good Ends. I muft fay it, and I am certain no Body who has confidered • of the Matter will deny, that we are in Ireland, the moil happy People that now exift, or did ever before exift upon the Face of the Earth,----our Taxes are moderate, and yet we have a Redundancy of one third at leaft of one Year’s Taxes in the Treafury, our Trade flourifhes, the Poor are employed, Peace is within our Walls and Plenty in our Streets,-----but what ftill enhances, and at the fame Time fecures us our Prosperity is that never to be too much admired Union which fublifts amongft us, a Union fo very remarkable that I may defy any one to ihew the leaft Appearance of Faction or Party amongft us; our Legiflaturc acts as if there was but one Head and one Heart amongft us; no Diftindlion of Wig and Tory, Low or High Church----------no Divifions or Parties pur- fuing the fame good End by different Methods, but as they have hut one End, the Good of the Publick, are as united in the Means to accompliih it.----Oh Ireland! my beloved Na- tive Country, with how much more Juftice mayeft thou be now ftiled the file of Patriots than thou formerly was diftin-guiihedby the Name of the Ifle of Saints ! YouYou muft then, and ’tis the only mortification you can pof-fibly feel, be contented to remain undiftinguiihed among thofe who are almoft all equal in Talents and V irtue; or if the Define of Diftintftion be yet prevalent, you muft be contented with being the firft Mover for any good Refolution which you will know the Houfe is going to take, and this you may attain to, if you early make yourfelf known to thofe who are now in pofleifion of that Prerogative. When you fhew them that you have the fame Virtue, they will be fond of introducing you to the Obfervation of the World ; they will lira re with you fome Part of that Reputation which they have fo long enjoyed, and with which they may poffibly be furfeit-ed,----and this Reputation is no Trifle, for the People with- out Doors, who are pleafed with aNew Law do always attribute it to the Perfon who brings in the Bill,---to the Chair- man of the Committee, whole influence and Abilities are fuppofed to be the principal Inftruments by which it is carried---whereas, in Truth, he has often no other Share in its Succefs than the young Lawyer who firft opens the Caul« in an intricate Suit of Law. There has not been thefe many Years paft a Seifion from which the People have formed greater Hopes and Expectation than from the prefent; the Affairs before vou relate not only to the Provifions you are to make for two Years to come, but in its Confequences to all Pofterity. i do not know whether I have a Right to fpeak or write of thefe Matters; the Cuftom of fending Inftrucfions to our Reprefentatives, tho univerfal in England has not yet been introduced here, and we have not, in as full a Latitude as they, the Liberty of Publiihing our Thoughts ;-----but as this is but a Letter, which may either be publiihed or fupprefled as you in your W ifdom fha.il think proper, as I am certain my Deftgn is innocent, and that whoever, will attack me cannot do it but by a Breach of Privilege, ftnee if it goes into the World, it is you, not I who will be tire Publifher.---1 {hall venture to lay before you what I think will be the Bufinefs of this Seflion. I pafs over the Committee of Accounts which mnft without Difficulty be piffled, as they have already been examined and gone[ 6 ] \ fone through fo many Offices, that it is unheard that ever a liftake has been found in them,---and are in fo clear and obvious a Method, that the moftunacquainted with Number may, by the Icaft Application, make himfelf perfedtly mailer of them----but it is to be confidcred what mull be done with that monftroiis Redundancy in the Treafury ?— I know it is recommended from the Throne, that you fhould pay off the Publick Debt with it.---But it were worth confiderin^ .whether, by proper Application to His G----you might not pre- vail that this be not infilled on, for I very much fear this is the very woril Application you could poffibly make of it, and my Reafons for Thinking fo are, Firjly Becaufe the Taxes raifed to pay the Intereft of our Debt are the lefs burthenfome to the Country of any other. Secondly, Becaufe the lefs Taxes we raife the lefs Occafion wih there be of calling Parliaments in Ireland-and although that might not be of any great and vifible Detriment in our prefent Circumilanccs, and during His Majelly’s Life, yet it might be attended with fome Inconveniencies during a Minority, fiom which Heaven fhield us; or, in Cafe, which Cod forbid, fome one ot His Majelly’s Pollerity fhould, in a future Age, prove as retrograde to every Degree of Patriotic as were fornc of his Majelly’s Predeceffors.“ Lajlly, Becaufe it is not very certain that the fame Prof-Pc,rt} with which we arc now blefied, will continue for ever, and if we fhould be obliged to borrow that Money again, we irngat poffibly be at a Lofs to find People who would lend it; or ti.c Readinefs of thePurchafers to buy Debentures proceed-, moiil7 irom a Reliance on Parliamentary Faith, and that they were not to be dicharged but out of the Produce of the i unds appropriated to that Purpofe, which could not be done or io.no Years to come, and to avoid the like Incoriveni-ency wuich the Publick Creditors will meet with now, moneyed Men may infill, on an another Occafion, that the Money may be borrowed for a certain Time, or alt eall this igument may hereafter be made Ule of, for railing Funds the Payment oi the Lpan, for a certain fixed Time. I wouldC 7 1 I would not intimate that it would be any Thing like a Breach of Faith with the Creditors to pay them oft, lam, on the contrary, perfuaded, there can be no Engagement in the A