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XIII.

1724.

against his coinage, so far as to reduce it from CHAP, 108,000l. to 40,000l. value; and to propose that no more than 5 d. of it should be given at any one payment. This the Government accepted, and sent directions to Ireland that the halfpence might be allowed currency to the reduced amount.

Such fair concessions, and such unanswerable arguments, might probably have prevailed, had not the mighty mind of Swift arrayed itself against them. For ten years had that aspiring spirit pined in obscurity and oblivion: he now seized the opportunity to exert and display his powers. From the simple transaction before him, he drew a frightful picture of fraud, oppression, and impending misery. Public ruin was foretold, and public vengeance threatened in a hundred shapes. Songs, ballads, and lampoons, flew about the streets. A more serious attack was made in letters, which appeared from time to time under the assumed name of M. B. a Drapier of Dublin. Of these letters Mr. Hawkins Browne used to say, that they were the most perfect pieces of oratory composed since the days of Demosthenes t; and though far from assenting to such extravagant panegyric, we

* As for instance :

"The halfpence are coming, the nation's undoing;

"There's an end of your ploughing, and baking, and brewing; "In short, you must all go to rack and to ruin!"

Swift's Works, vol. x. p. 478. One poem proposes to scald Wood in his own melted copper; another prefers "the drop at "Kilmainham."

+ Sheridan's Life of Swift, p. 241. ed. 1784.

CHA P. can scarcely deny them a very high degree of adXIII. miration. They are written with so much art, as entirely to conceal the appearance of art. author speaks of himself as a

1724.

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poor ignorant shopkeeper utterly unskilled in law;" he appears throughout a quiet man station by the common danger,

startled from his

"as when," he

says, "a house is attempted to be robbed, it often happens the weakest in the family runs first to

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stop the door." The style is plain and simple; the deductions easy and suited to the understandings of all; and the strokes of satire with which it abounds are the more pungent, as seeming not to be designed. So far from leaving any handle to be called a party man, he always refers with much respect to the Ministers, and with no less loyalty to the King, "for we never had one more gra"cious." The stubborn facts against him are moulded with the highest skill; he attempts to prove, or (what is quite as effectual when a ferment is once raised) he assumes as proved, that the patent itself is iniquitous; that, moreover, its terms have been grossly violated by the patentee; that the halfpence are six parts out of seven base; that Wood will hereafter be able to buy all our "goods for eleven parts in twelve under the "value." Wood himself from a proprietor of iron works becomes a hardware-man and tinker! His copper is turned into brass! The people are told that they will soon have no meat to feed them, unless they can eat brass as ostriches do iron!

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1724.

"If Mr. Wood's project should take, it would ruin CHAP. " even our beggars! Do you think I will sell you "a yard of tenpenny stuff for twenty of Mr. "Wood's halfpence? No, not under two hundred, "at least; neither will I be at the trouble of counting, but weigh them in a lump.'

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Even so clear a proof as the public assay at the Mint is called impudent and insupportable." If I were to buy a hundred sheep, and the grazier "should bring me one single wether fat and well

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fleeced, by way of pattern, and expect the same 'price round for the whole hundred, even for those "that were lean, or shorn, or scabby, I would be 66 none of his customer. I have heard of a man who "had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried "a piece of brick in his pocket, which he showed "as a pattern, to encourage purchasers; and this "is directly the case in point with Mr. Wood's assay."*

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It is to be observed that the Government had not used any compulsion with respect to this coin; their orders were only to allow it currency with those who might be willing to receive it. Yet the Drapier takes care to drop an insinuation of force: "I hope the words voluntary and willing to re“ceive it will be understood and applied in their "true natural meaning, as commonly understood "by Protestants: for, if a fierce Captain comes

* Walpole to Townshend, October 26. 1723.

VOL. II.

H

XIII.

1724.

CHAP. "to my shop to buy six yards of scarlet cloth, "followed by a porter laden with a sack of Wood's "coin upon his shoulders; if we are agreed upon "the price, and my scarlet lies ready cut upon the "counter; if he then gives me the word of com"mand to receive my money in Wood's coin, and "calls me a disaffected Jacobite dog for refusing "it (though I am as loyal a subject as himself, " and without hire), and thereupon seizes my cloth, "leaving me the price in this odious copper, and "bids me take my remedy; in this case, I shall "hardly be brought to think that I am left to my “own will. . . . It is probable that the first willing "receivers will be those who must receive it, "whether they will or not, under the penalty of losing an office."

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This loyal subject is also full of apprehensions lest the King's ministers should "advise him to "take his revenues here, which are near 400,000l. 66 a year, in Wood's brass, which will reduce their "value to 50,000l." How it was possible that 400,000l. should be sent over in copper, which was only to be coined to the value of 40,000l., Swift does not explain, nor did his Irish readers inquire. All ranks caught the alarm ; all distinctions of party were hushed; and the nation became united as one man. The Drapier, whose real author was soon whispered, was hailed as the Public Deliverer; and, according to the advice contained in one of the Letters, a Declaration was published, signed by many persons of station and

property, denouncing Wood's coin, and warning CHAP. their tenants not to take it.

XIII.

It was in the midst of this storm that the new 1724. Viceroy, Lord Carteret, landed in October. He had instructions to use strong measures, if needful, to assert the authority of Government; and he wanted neither skill nor spirit to perform them. Perceiving that the Drapier's Letters were the main root of the evil, he issued a proclamation against the last; offered a reward of 300l. for discovering the author; and caused Harding, the printer, to be apprehended. But the grand jury who were required to find a bill against Harding, unanimously threw it out, and were discharged by Chief Justice Whitshed with much passion. A popular lampoon was immediately levelled at the Chief Justice from the same invisible and powerful hand.* The agitation increased; and the next grand jury, so far from finding a bill against Harding, made a presentment against all persons who should, by fraud or otherwise, impose Wood's half-pence upon the people—a presentment which, it appears, had been drawn up by Swift himself.

Such a spirit as now appeared in Ireland could neither be broken by force, nor melted by persuasion. After several attempts, and many consult

This lampoon turned upon his motto
"Libertas et natale solum.

"Fine words! I wonder where you stole'em!

"Would nothing but your chief reproach

"Serve as a motto on your coach ?" &c.

Swift's Works, vol. x. p. 467.

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