The New Hampshire Gazette

LONDON, Sept. 9.

EXTRACT from Considerations on the approaching Peace.

[The sensible Author (whoever he be) of this little Piece reasons with great Candour and Knowledge; he pretends himself to be Master of the Subject, and treats it with a becoming Decency.]

We have been fighting France (says he, pag. 3.) these seven Years, and have met with little else but hard Blows; and now, when there is some Prospect of obtaining a Recompence for the Heroism and Toils of our Warriors, must their Hands be tied up? Must a Peace be signed just when they are entering upon their Harvest? and shall they be disbanded as a Reward for all their Services?

He then ludicrously treats the Parade of the Hermione's Treasure through the City: makes some Remarks on Admiral Hawke's Return; Speaks of our Supposed Judging for a Peace with France; and, in order to shew how injurious to this Nation a Peace will be at this Time, he subjoins the Motives of an old French Officer for making a Peace with England, as they were lately laid before the French Ministry: The Conclusion of which is in these Words:]

"The general Weakness and unsteadiness that for ever attends immoderate Wealth and Luxury, hides from the English the Knowledge of their own Strength, real Power, and true Interest. Suffer them not to relapse into Virtue and Understanding. Plunge them not too deep into Difficulties, and they will never emerge from Folly into real Wisdom.

"Give them Peace: and they will soon return to their Amusements of Elections, Party, and Factions.

Give them Peace: and their Navy will once more be laid up to rot, and their Seamen and Artificers once more be turned over to us.

"Give them Peace; and we shall not fear the Defection of Allies which will ruin our present System.

"Give them Peace; and they will never think of schemes for encreasing their People, or for making every Part of their Dominions of real Use to every other.

"Pursue steadily this Plan for 15 or 20 Years, constantly directing the Riches of the Kingdom to raising a Navy equal, or superior to England; and then, and not till then, shall we be able to strike the Blow we have, for above a Century, meditated."

Hence it is evident (says the Writer of the Considerations) that a Peace with France, before her Riches and Strength are exhausted, is the same Thing as bribing an Executioner to cut off our own Heads: And by the present System, France will never be exhausted until Spain is cut off from all her Resources in America; therefore Spain, as well as France, ought to be vigorously attacked in every Quarter of the Globe, before any Terms of Accommodation are ever thought of: For "this is the Time: let us crush the Whole House of Bourbon." [Mr. Pitt's Words in the Council, when he strongly urged the Necessity of a War with Spain....... Words that ought to be engraved in Letters of Gold.] Our Fleets and Armies are in the highest Spirit, and wish for nothing so ardently as to gratify their Resentment, by conquering their Islands and Settlements, and seizing their Treasures.

It is a noble Thirst, which nothing but the very Objects themselves ought to quench: and must be completely done, in order to secure us from future Danger, or in a few Years we shall have another War.

As there is more of Distrust than Sincerity to be expected from our Enemies, have we not Reason to suspect that there is some View for setting on Foot this Negociation? that it is done with a Design to accomplish a Cessation of Arms for a limited Time? or, at least, to make us relax in our Measures? to call home our Fleet, in order to furnish an Opportunity for the Spanish Register Ships and French St. Domingo Men, to get safe into their Ports? by which the Coffers of their respective Courts will be replenished: and as soon as that is done, the Negociation is to break off, and the recruiting Enemies to reward us by the most vigorous Efforts for our Folly and Credulity? That this Scheme is not unlikely to be their principal Aim, every candid Englishman will allow: then let us think about Means for defeating it: At least let us think it is so, and be provided for the worst. Let a Spirit of Patriotism and Emulation awake the People with a true Sense of the supposed approaching Danger, and let them present dutiful and becoming Addresses to the Throne, on the Importance of our Conquests, and the great Necessity of keeping them; solicit the Parliament's being convened: and like a Free People, who value their Privileges and Properties, instruct their Representatives on these invaluable Concerns.

He then presents us with Instructions from the County of Merioneth, to William Vaughan, Esq; their Representative, as worthy of present Imitation; to which, after some shrewd Observations, he adds:]

If there be a Want of Money for carrying on the War, let us make a Free Gift: shew our Steadiness to our own Interests, our Loyalty and Attachments to his Majesty's Crown and Dignity, and an unshaken Resolution to support him against all his Enemies.-- These are Measures which will terrify the Enemy, and invigorate all our Commanders to act with a true English Spirit. Let the Grumblers who begrudge paying the Land-Tax, whose Fortunes are immense, and whose Avarice is unbounded, be regarded as the Enemies of their Country, who, for the Sake of saving a few Pounds annually, are for precipitately concluding a Peace with the Enemy on any Terms, that will in a short Time bring on another War, and impoverish perhaps ourselves and our Posterity.

Let us not listen to the Sound of Peace, till our Enemies conjointly make such Proposals, as we may with Honour accept: Rather let us see his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland treating all foreign Agents as they justly deserve, both here and elsewhere; put himself once more at the Head of the British Army, and render himself as terrible to the French and Spaniards as he was to the Rebels: and to the Disgrace of such as make War a Trade, procure a safe, honorable, and lasting Peace.

[Next he gives the Preliminary Articles of the approaching Peace; on every one of which he makes several excellent and candid Observations, tending as well to shew the Importance of the Places, as the Light in which they were considered and fixed by former Treaties; particularly with respect to Newfoundland and Guadaloupe, one of which is supported by an Extract from the Treaty of Utrecht, and the Importance of the other explained in such a Manner as to leave an Impression on the Mind of the Reader.]