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'first, Weft about 13 Leagues, and then North. or North and by Eaft about 30 Leagues more, except they run the Hazard of going within 'the land of Ufhant which is not practifed, ' and therefore may be fuppofed Impracticable.

In the laft Place, our Charge in defending 'our felves from fuch Annoyance as we formerly had from Dunkirk, will decrease in Pro'portion to the removal of the Danger.

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Such is the Importance of the Demolition ' of Dunkirk, with regard to the Trade of Eng'land only; and in the prefent Conjuncture, I 'think we ought to have fomething more than 'the Mercy of his Moft Chriftian Majefty, to ' render the forbearing fuch Demolition lefs Hazardous to our Religion and Liberty.

All that is of Confequence to us is, that Dunkirk fhould be no longer a Receptacle for Ships, and the Demolition of it as a Garrison is of much lefs Confideration, if not wholly infignificant to us.

Our Treaty of Peace provided for this, and demanded it to be done in the first Place, and his moft Chriftian Majefty confented it fhould be fo.. Mr. Steele, with his Name to what he faid,. fpoke of it as an English Subject, and your Eminence was highly offended with him for doing fo; you urged that it was in the Queen's Hands, and therefore it was undutiful to raise any Jealoufies about it. This I thought had fome Force in it, and I had Reason to be confirmed in it, when you made Mr. Tuggbe in his Letter to R. S. fay the Harbour is deftroyed.

But now, Sir, I am quite of another Mind, and find that the Man had too much Reason for his Apprehenfions; for let me tell you, Sir, I

have

have certain Intelligence that it now is not in the Queen's Hands, and that, if we take ne Notice of the French Proceedings, it will be before the Winter as good, if not a better Harbour than it was before they began to make an Appearance of demolishing it. I have been fo curious as to fettle a Correfpondence in that Place, and I have had from thence the enclosed Map of that Place and Neighbourhood, as well as of the New Projected Entrance to its Harbour for the future. For, may it please your Eminence, there is nothing more intended, nor is there any Difpofition made for any thing more than forming a New way for Ships to come into it. And his moft Chriftian Majefty has only put himfelf to a little prefent Coft and Charges, out of refpect to the English Nation, to carry on a feeming Demolition, and improve his Har

bour.

If your Eminence has leifure to caft your Eye on the Map, you will obferve the most Frank and undiffembled Fraud, that ever was put upon any People, by any but those who are Guilty of this. If you please to mark a Semi-circle in Scratchwork (which is the Character that reprefents Demolition) you will Tee at the End of that Semi-circle the Scratchwork continued to the Sea, which was the way by which Ships formerly came into Dunkirk; when you have done that, please to obferve the Explanation of the Map, and you will eafily perceive, that proper Channels are cut to make the fame inland Rivers, which fell into that Harbour, ferviceable to that which is now forming, and this is

The Map to be inferted between Page 88 and 89.

all

all we are like to have for our Satisfaction in this Particular.

If your Eminence had been let into the Secret of this Defign, I am confident your Eminence would not have faid what you have, against those who were fufpicious on this Occafion; for according to all the Rules of Honour and Justice, this is a moft insufferable Violation, and pays no more Respect to our Underftanding than it does to our Power; but the lefs we have exerted either of them, out of Confidence in our intended Ally, the more intolerable is his Offence against us.

If this Plan makes Dunkirk the Receptacle of as large Ships, as it could receive before the Demolition, confequently Dunkirk is the fame Terror to England, which it was before.

This it is with Refpect to us, in Cafe we and the French fhould ever become Enemies.

Dunkirk as it remains a Port, is our Rival in Time of Peace, by preferving the Stuff Manufactures at Lille, Valenciennes and Doway. The light Stuffs from thofe Towns are put on Board Ship at Dunkirk, and carry'd to the West Indies, without which their Trade would be Loft, as effectually as the Traffick of Antwerp and Southampton is Tranfported to other Places.

Thus we have hinted how this Fraud may affect us in Peace and War; let us think a little what use may be made of it, in cafe of a fudden Refolution in the French King, to start out of one into t'other; or, in plain English, to break the Peace without Declaration of War, and furprize us at once. This very business (if there were no Examples of this Kind in Hiftory) gives room for fuch a Sufpicion. There

are

are now thirty Battallions at Work in that Place, and these are to be reinforced to forty.

The Proclamation of the other Day, giving a Price for the Pretender, represents that her Majefty's Inftances for removing that Gentleman, who once already has invaded us, have been ineffectual. Thefe Battalions may lie ready to receive him, and I know no better Reafon, that the French King is pleased to pay for his Board at Bar le Duc.

I beg your Eminence's leave to say this is a dreadful Circumftance to which we lie expofed.

I profefs fincerely to your Eminence, this is a very ungrateful Subject to me, and if I did not think this Remonftrance abfolutely Neceffary, I would not talk of a thing which cannot but reflect fome Difhonour upon our felves, in being thus fhamefully Deluded, or rather Infulted.

I do not remember to have read any where any thing like this Artifice (which is as pitiful as can be imagined) except in a little Treatife in French, called, The History of Falfe Promifes fince the Peace of the Pyrenees. The Author tells us, that the French in a Treaty with Spain, obtained an Article, that what foever fhould be found within the Dominions of either State, at the time of the Ratification, shall belong to the refpective Sovereign. The French Pillaged a Wood, and carried the Timber cut of the bordering Territories of Spain into thofe of France, in order to Profit, as they did, by this Arti, cle,

This was a kind of Petty-Larceny in Politicks, but there is nothing too mean for Ambi

tion.

When Extent of Territory and Abfolute Command are made the Objects of a Prince's Defire, Perfidiousness and a Degeneracy from every thing that is truly Good and Great, will be looked upon as things not to be imputed; but this is no more Greatness or Power, than Dropfie and Impoftumation is Vigour and Strength.

Truth and Honefty are the Foundation of folid Greatnefs, and that which would be an ill thing in a Private Man, is much more fo in a Nation or a Prince. Here are two Merchants, one lives at Blackwall, the other at Deptford; he at Blackwall, for valuable Confiderations, Covenants with him of Deptford to deftroy the Dock which brings in Ships to his own Door, and enables him to underfell him that Dwells over-against him. Deptford figns an Article, the Principal intention of which is, that Blackwall shall hereafter be upon an equal Foot with Deptford, in that Point of lading and unlading Goods. After thefe Articles are figned, the Man of Deptford finds a Creek between Greenwich and Deptford, by which he can bring home his Goods, as well and as Cheaply as before, and that he can, with half the Cash he had from Blackwall, difappoint the Bargain he had lately made with it.

1 appeal to your Eminence, whether he would not be a Cheat and a Knave for attempting it, and whether the Man who had paid him his Mony, not to take any Advantage of his Situa

tion

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