MONTHLY

I.

A

CATALOGUE

For NOVEMBER, 1756.

POLITICA L.

N Appeal to Reafon and Common Senfe: or a free and candid Difquifition of the Conduct of A B; fo far as relates to the Matter of Fact, and as fet forth in his Appeal to the People, and in a Letter to a Member of Parliament: And into the Conduct of the Miniftry, fo far as is relative to the Case of AB: With fome occafional Remarks upon a Pamphlet, called Impartial Reflections on the Cafe of Mr. Byng. By a Friend to Truth, and a Lover of his Country. 8vo. Is. Crowder and

Woodgate.

So much has already been faid, and cited, in this and the preceding Review, in regard to the cafe of this poor Admiral, and the controverfy it has occafioned, that we fhall contract, as much as poffible, what remains to be faid on that almost worn-out fubject. Thus, of the piece before us, all that needs be fpecified, is, that under pretence of doing honour to the plan laid down by the author of the Impartial Reflections, and of complimenting him for his ingenuity, accuracy, &c. the main fcope of it is, to explain away whatever that author has accrimoniously fuggested, to the difadvantage of thofe in power, and whatever he has conscientiously urged as a palliative in favour of the prifoner. That, tho' he refers, page 27, to his approaching trial, wherein Truth, and Truth only, will prevail, he takes upon himself to try him before-hand, nay even to direct his future trial, by faying, The truths I have now urged, will, upon a fair hearing, be probably difcuffed in their full force and efficacy and pronounces it evident, That had the Admiral engaged the whole squadron, with the fame ardour, with the fame British courage, and love of glory, that the Rear-Admiral engaged his part of it, Minorca had ftill been our own, the French fleet entirely defeated, a Marshal of France, with his whole army, prifoners in England, and the French King, probably, not able, by this time, to fend even a fishing-boat to fea. To all which let the Council of War, held on board the Ramailles, May 24, reply.

IL. An Addrefs to the Public, in Answer to two Pamphlets, (entitled, An Appeal to the People of England, and a Letter to a Member of Parliament, relative to the Cafe of A B-g.) In which is fully proved, that the feveral Parts of the Al's Letter, omitted in the Gazette, were rather of Ufe than Prejudice to him. With feveral other interesting Particulars,

L13

Particulars, never yet exhibited to the Public. By an Ante Italianite. 8vo. 6d. A Type.

This is another of thofe officious, fanguinary efforts, which, have, in fome fort, authorized Mr. Byng, and his Advocates, to fuggeft, That he has not been thus peculiarly fingled out, merely for the fake of public juftice. The Gentleman has fubmitted to a trial; the Nation is to be gratified with one, and are willing to wait the event. The subject matter of this very mean performance then, which is to confute every plea that could be drawn from the fuppreffed paffages of Mr. Byng's difpatch in his favour, would have been produced more properly by way of evidence, than thus, to embitter the minds of men against him before-hand. And if the Author's end was not fo much to blacken him, as to pay his court to the noble head of a certain board, he, furely, ought not to have difgraced his compliment by the illiberal ftroke of malice which glares fo ftrongly in his title-page. III. Confiderations on the Addreffes lately prefented to his Majefty, on occafion of the Lofs of Minorca. In a Letter to a Member of Parliament. 8vo. Is. Cooper.

Of all the oppofition-pieces lately published, this may be truly faid to deferve the preference; tho', perhaps, it has not attracted the greatest notice: as it is founded on unadulterated Whigish principles, as it avows as ftrong an attachment to the Proteftant Succeffion, and as high a regard for the honour and repose of his Majetty, as for the welfare of the subject, and the maintenance of the Contiitution. It is, befides, the refult of more knowlege, and better abilities, than are ufually employed in this fpecies of writing. The Author's premises are fairly ftated, and his reafonings upon them, are fuch as become a man of character. His file is liberal and manly; feldom on the ground, and never in the clouds.His manner is equally free from petulance, and malignity; and if the Minifters he arraigns, and their friends and followers, owe him no thanks for his endeavours to expofe their conduct; fo neither have they any caufe to complain of him, on account of that rage of abufe, for which others have been so justly condemn. ed and chaftifed.

His plan, at first fight, feems to comprehend no more than a bare defence of the Addreffes; with respect to which, he specifies the whole ftring of objections to be gleaned up, either in print or converfation: but, as he proceeds, it becomes more and more obvious, that thefe ferve him only as a vehicle for a general Comment on the prefent State of Things; and of the conduct which, he prefumes, has rendered our fituation fuch as it is. The amount of thefe objections he gives in the following fummary, viz. That the faid Addreffes were unconflitutional, indecent, and unneceffary; but he makes it his business to prove, that none of these charges will lie against them. To fhew they were not unconstitutional, waving all precedents, he poftulates, that we are governed for the fake of ourselves, not for the fake of those who

who govern us that the prefent government refts on this bafis. That the people are in poffeffion of all the rights, they have not by exprefs compact parted with, and, confequently, are entitled to the ufual truft; that they have not alienated, or transferred, their fenfe of feeling, nor the important right of expreffing what they feel; that tho' the Parliament alone can act for them, they have not an exclufive right to fpeak for them; that the Parlia ment does not always Ipeak as the people would prompt them; that in the cafe of the Jew bill, the fenfe of the Legiflature was that tho influenced and changed by the fenfe of the Nation; thefe Addreffes are not univerfal, they are, nevertheless, general enough, and rendered confiderable enough by the leading voice of the city of London, (fupported, too, by the private opinion of all ranks of men, in all parts of the kingdom) to be reputed and received as the voice of the nation, &c. &c. Concluding, That if the faid Addreffes fpeak the fenfe of the nation, upon a nati onal point, and at a time, when this was the only way in which the nation could apply to the throne, they ftand juftified with refpect to the conftitution.

Coming then to the charge of indecency, in approaching the throne with complaints, which muft have affected his Majefty more than any of his fubjects, in calling for vengeance on thote who have neglected their duty, and in fuggefting, by the mention of a Militia, that the nation is not fatished with the manner in which it is defended at home,--he argues, That if his Majesty faw things in a more melancholy light than they could, the declaring fuch a conformity to the royal fentiments, as was within their capacities and fituations to entertain, could in no fenfe be deemed difrefpectful, and indecent. That the reviving the calamity in his Majefty's mind, was no more than was done by every Addrefs of condolence: and the import of them as a call for vengeance, is difavowed. Then as to the mention of a Militia, he will not allow it to be either indecent, or impertinent; but, on the contrary, he maintains, That weakened as we were by the lofs of Minorca, and defenceless as we appeared by calling in foreign fuccours, it was but natural for the nation to demand an exertion of its natural ftrength; and it was a proof of affection to his Majefty's perfon and government, to fuggeft to him, a more honourable and effectual, and, at the fame time, a lefs burthenfome, method of fecuring his throne and kingdom. He then maintains, That even in point of language, thefe Addreffes were not only unexceptionable, but abfolutely meritorious containing fuch profeffions of duty and loyalty, as no difaffected perfon could ign, and neither injurious, opprobrious, or perfonal, even to the Minifters themfelves. Great refentment, fays he, is expreffed, that this defign (againft Minorca) fhould be unprevented, tho' it was not unexpected: and is it indecent to ⚫lay our fears and wonder before the throne, the refuge of diftreffed intimidated fubjects? not intimidated by the enemy,

but by the power of thofe, who might have prevented this evil, who left the island defenceless, and the Mediterranean without a British fleet.'

He then proceeds to fhew, That neither were they inflammatory; for nothing was exaggerated; and many points, full as inflammatory as the lofs of Minorca, were paffed over in filence, to avoid even the appearance of exaggeration. Having thus ditpatched his fecond argument, he brings forward his third, viz.

That they were neceffary; for these reafons; To profess to the King, the difcontent of the nation, and to obviate mifreprefentati⚫ons, that it was, on the contrary, perfectly fatisfied, or, if diffatisfied, diffatisfied with Mr. Byng only; (which was far from being the cafe, B. not being the fole or the principal caufe of our public difgrace)-to fufpend the progrefs of public rage, directed by the faction in power, against the accufed Admiral, (a firatagem which fucceeded fo well, that he narrowly escaped an execution without a trial) and thereby preferve the public peace; to revive a fpirit of liberty in the nation, and prevent an advantage which might have been taken to interpret a paffive filence into pofitive app obation; which no way could have been effected with more decency, and propriety, than by addreffing the throne, with humble complaints; and to make use of a season fo favourable, for re-kindling the love of our country: whereas in waiting for a parliamentary procefs, that favourable feafon would probably have been loft, and time allowed to thofe concerned, to efface the ufeful impreffions made by the public calamities.

He then digreffes to enumerate the means commonly employed for that purpofe, fuch as extenuations, and diminutions of all forts, difguifing, if not denying the truth; which last, tho' a common artifice, he maintains would, in this cafe, have been impoffible; feeing it could not be denied, That Fort St. Philip was not fuficiently manned; that if it had, the fiege muft have been raised; that there was no British fleet in the Mediterranean when the enemy landed in Minorca; and that if there had, under a proper command, the enemy could not have been landed, and might have been deftroyed.'

After which, to wind up his bottom, on the end of neceffity, he fuper-adds, the complaint in the London Address; the mifmanagement and delays in the defence of America; the general wellgrounded defire of a Militia; and the variety of cogent reafons on which that defire was founded. Having then ftated it as a comfortable confideration, That the difappointments we have hitherto met with, in the courfe of a juft and neceffary war, are not owing to a defect of naval power, but of misconduct in the managers of it, (to whofe negligence he moreover imputes its origin) he proposes it as the firft, moft obvious, and most popular meafure, to accomplish the difgrace of all thofe, who had fo perfectly fatisfied the nation, they were equally unfit to preferve peace, or conduct war: and he declares, if this meafure fhould not

be

be taken, or fhould fail of fuccefs, our ruin would then become visible.

A brief view of our present ftate, both abroad and at home, with an eye both to profpects and retrofpects, is the bufinefs of his next fection ;-and the great inference deduced from all, is, the expedience of a Parliamentary Enquiry, for which, he pronounces, there is fufficient foundation.

IV. A Dutiful Address to the Throne, upon the present State of Great Britain. 8vo. 6d. Scott,

A thing which ought to have been called, A Leon to the Throne: for tho' the Dictator of it is but in the Horn-book even of modern politics, he has had the temerity, or fimplicity, or both, to take greater liberties in it, with his royal Pupil, than any of the Grand-Juries or Corporations, not excepting the city of London, or county of York, have prefumed to do: which, in one fenfe, is the leaft that can be faid, and, in another, is the moft that needs be faid, of fuch a performance.

V. An Addrefs to the Electors of England, Cooper.

2

8vo. Is.

The Electors of Scotland, it seems, were not worthy the confideration of fo great a man as the Addreffer.-And how great a man he is, we may collect, not only from the fanction he beflows on the Fourth Letter to the People of England, in which he tells us, all our prefent miferies and mifcarriages are exhibited with all the power of thought and language; but from what he afterwards writes of himfelf, page 37, as follows. I doubt not, Gentlemen, but many of you, as well as myfelf, have read every thing that either ancient or modern Authors have written upon Government.' And again, p. 41, I do affure you, upon the word of a Gentleman (and tho' I do not fet my name to this pamphlet, it may, notwithstanding all the precautions I can take, be known that I am the Author of it; in which cafe, if the affurance I now give you, is not true, I fhall be looked upon as the worst of men) I do affure you then, that I never have received, nor ever expect to receive, any favour from any, Miniftry. Now the fubject which has thus employed the mafterly pen of this very important Egotift, is a recommendation of two points to the public, (for the thing cannot be called a difcuffion of either of them) as all that is neceffary to our political Regeneration- Thefe two laws, I am perfuaded,' fays he, would flrike the Court of Verfailles with greater terror, than millions granted every feffions of parliament; and all the royal Navy of Great Britain commanded by parliamentary Admirals and Captains.'-Change then your Petitions for Enquiries; which, as things are now circumftanced, will end in nothing, into petitions for a general Militia-Bill, and for annual Parliaments.'

This exactly refembles the language of other Quacks. The manufacturers