your majefty to a want of money, of troops, and of arms. For at this day your majefty cannot reckon 600,000 reals in your treasury, nor 25,000 men in your army, nor 14 fhips of war in your fleet. And inftead of giving the rule, your majefty is fhamefully reduced to the mean neceffity of obeying it. So notoriously have pofts of honour been put up to public sale, that nothing but the auctioneer's voice was wanting to proclaim it. The fpirits of the people are finking under oppreffion, and the regiments are unrecruited without any means for levying men, In short, Sire, he has brought our arms into disrepute; he has left the Spaniards without order, and the kingdom in fuch a state of defperation, that its recovery must be a work of time. Self-intereft always engroffed his thoughts, amaffing wealth with infatiable avarice; and now, with the many millions that he has purloined, he may boaft of being worth more money than all his ancestors ever poffef fed. Not fatisfied with this, he has procured himself, by infidious arts, the management of the Indies, under a pretence of its being a branch of his department as Miniftro de Hazienda. And as no man durft venture to oppofe his career, no, not till he had left Spain at its laft gafp, he formed the profect of ruining the Indies, the execution of which he began with fo much violence, that one of his firft efforts occafioned an infurrection at Quito, a confiderable province in America; and that bad example has had fuch an effect on the other pro vinces, that they also are not a little difpofed to renounce their alle giance to your majesty. Such has been the adminiftration of the marquis Squillacci, your majefty's darling minister! What can the infurgents fuppofe, but that your majefty has been ignorant of all thefe evils! For had a hint of them reached your majesty's ears, without doubt you would have divefted yourself of partiality, you would have turned your love to hatred, and have ftripped of his power that tyrant minifter, whofe object was the ruin of your majefty, of Spain, and of the Indies. Had the northern potentates, who are enemies to the crown of Spain, impofed upon your majefty a prime minifter, with a view to weaken your majefty's power, to waste your treasures, to annihilate your troops, and to deftroy your fhips of war in the Mediterranean, could they, for thefe purposes, have found a man fo proper as the marquis Squillacci? It appears they could not, for they fee all their wishes accomplished in him. In this fituation your majesty finds yourself and your kingdom. Your fubjects, though oppreffed, know not how to deliver themselves from a minifter who tyrannises over Spain, and over your majefty too. For notwithstanding the many admonitions they have given, none have had the defired effect. The infurgents, therefore, feeing their country at the last extremity, determined, though with fome appearance of irregularity, to aim at the man who had trampled on your majesty's crown, and treated your fubjects with contempt. About fifteen thousand pounds fterling. And now the question is, whether this rage fhall be faid to proceed from difloyalty, or from hearts full of loyalty? Does it fpring from hatred, or from love? Shall it be deemed difobedience to rifque our lives for the fake of feeing our king reinftated in his wonted fplendor? Or will our faithful zeal, our anxiety for your majefty's being refpected and formidable, be pronounced criminal, or praifeworthy Shall the ftudying means of relief for a bleeding people, that they may increase and multiply, for the defence of your majefty's perfon and government, that they may flourish in opulence, be called a finifter defign, or the duty of a good fubject? Let. any man, be he who he will, refolve these queftions. Perhaps the edict published against cloaks, and flapped hats, may be efteemed the caufe of this alarm. This indeed was made ufe of, after paving the way to the great end which was propofed: but the inftruments (incapable of diving into the state of the nation and the means of its re-establishment) were instigated only by their own feelings they confidered themselves only as deprived of a convenience by the prohibition of that drefs, and on such an occafion they are the neceffary tools. But the truth is, your majesty's principal fubjects had a nobler object in view; witnefs the regularity of their proceedings: fo that in a populous city, to outward appearance in riot and confufion, as much good order was obferved as in time of quiet and tranquillity. Let any honest man fay, that he uffered the least injury on this oc cafion; and fcarcely was the expulfion of the marquis Squillacci confirmed, when the city of Madrid, beyond expectation, was fo fuddenly restored to calmness and ferenity, that all who faw it were ftruck with admiration. Nay, the multitude of boys, to the number of 2000, who had been employed in giving the watch-word to the mob, ceafed their noify outcries, as if ftruck dumb in a moment. We all know and confefs, that no nation can have a prince more kind, affable, and beneficient, or a greater lover of justice. To fuch a king what can be more deplorable, what more unfortunate, than the being involved in fuch a cloud of ignorance, with regard to his minifter, as to believe that he has the honour of the king and the good of the people at heart, at the very time when he is acting in direct oppofition to both? Therefore, Sire, it would be beft to hear much, and believe but little, and to compare advice with information; and, to prevent fuch bad confequences as often refult from too great credulity in the cabinet, the counfel of foch men, of low birth, as may be endowed with more than ordinary talents, ought not to be difdained. Confider their opinions, and follow the advice that feems beft. Wisdom is not derived from birth, but from reason. Understanding cannot be inherited, though titles of nobility may, What can add fuch dignity to the crown, as the refpect of the fubjects? What can give it fuch fplendor, as their homage and their love? Loyalty is the first fruits of their homage; but your majesty must fhew an affection for them before you 1 can gain their love. In other words, the fidelity with which your majefty's fubjects abound, will always make you refpected by them; but acts of beneficence are neceffary to win their hearts. It being notorions, Sire, that foreigners have engroffed your favours, how can you expect your peoples love? The attachment of a foreigner cannot but be venal. His efteem is only in proportion to what he can get. What kind of attachment then can this be? or what fecurity can be had for it? With what confiftency can he leave his proper fovereign, and pretend to be faithful to another? This is unnatural; and it is equally fo to find a foreigner feizing the emoluments due to your fubjects, who labour with the fweatof their brows for the fupport of your throne; your own people fowing the ground, and strangers reaping the harvest. The real fpring by which thehearts of the infurgents were put in motion is now eafy to be difcovered: and should they be fo happy as to find that your majefty fees it in its true light, they will then, with the most humble obeifance, proftrate themfelves at your majefty's feet, offering their lives and fortunes as a facrifice to the love they bear your majefty, and the ardent zeal which they have for the tranquillity and happiness of your majesty's kingdom. Total amount of British ships and feamen employed in the trade between Great Britain and her colonies on the continent of America-of the value of goods exported from Great Britain to thefe colonies-and of their produce exported to Great Britain and elsewhere. Abstract of the account of the charge of his majesty's civil government for one year, from January 5, 1765, to January 5, 1766. i Penfions and annuities, payable at the exchequer Jewels, or prefents in lieu thereof, to foreign minifters |