TO
THE LORD MAYOR AND SOME OF THE ALDERMEN,
WHEN HIS LORDSHIP CAME TO PRESENT THE SAID
DEAN WITH HIS FREEDOM IN A GOLD BOX.
NOTE.
It was only proper and fitting that the citizens and freemen of
the
City of Dublin should express their sense of the high
appreciation
in which they held the writer of the “Drapier's Letters,” and
the
man who had fought and was still fighting for an alleviation
of the
grievances under which their country suffered. The Dublin
Corporation, in 1729, presented Swift with the freedom of the
city,
an honour rarely bestowed, and only on men in high position
and
power. To Swift the honour was welcome. It was a public act of
justification of what he had done, and it came gratefully to
the
man who had at one time been abused and reviled by the people
of
the very city which was now honouring him. Furthermore, such a
confirmation of his acts set the seal of public authority
which was
desirable, even if not necessary, to a man of Swift's temper.
He
could save himself much trouble by merely pointing to the gold
box
which was presented to him with the freedom. Even in this last
moment, however, of public recognition, he was not allowed to
receive it without a snarl from one of the crowd of the many
slanderers who found it safer to backbite him. Lord Allen may
have
been wrong in his head, or ill-advised, or foolishly
over-zealous,
but his ill-tempered upbraiding of the Dublin Corporation for
what
he called their treasonable extravagance in thus honouring
Swift,
whom he deemed an enemy of the King, was the act of a fool.
Swift
was not the man to let the occasion slip by without advantage.
In
the substance of what he said to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
of
Dublin in accepting their gift, he replied to the charges made
by
Lord Allen, and also issued a special advertisement by way of
defence against what the lord had thought fit to say.
* * * * *
Both these pieces are here reprinted; the first from a
broadside in
the British Museum, and the second from a manuscript copy in
the
Forster Collection at South Kensington.
[T. S.]
THE SUBSTANCE OF WHAT WAS SAID BY THE DEAN OF ST. PATRICK'S
TO THE LORD MAYOR AND SOME OF THE ALDERMEN, WHEN HIS LORDSHIP CAME
TO PRESENT THE SAID DEAN WITH HIS FREEDOM IN A GOLD BOX.
When his Lordship had said a few words, and presented the
instrument, the Dean gently put it back, and desired first to be heard.
He said, “He was much obliged to his lordship and the city for the
honour they were going to do him, and which, as he was informed, they
had long intended him. That it was true, this honour was mingled with a
little mortification by the delay which attended it, but which,
however, he did not impute to his lordship or the city; and that the
mortification was the less, because he would willingly hope the delay
was founded on a mistake;—for which opinion he would tell his reason.”
He said, “It was well known, that, some time ago, a person with a
title[106] was pleased, in two great assemblies, to rattle bitterly
somebody without a name, under the injurious appellations of a Tory, a
Jacobite, an enemy to King George, and a libeller of the government;
which character,” the Dean said that, “many people thought was applied
to him. But he was unwilling to be of that opinion, because the person
who had delivered those abusive words, had, for several years,
caressed, and courted, and solicited his friendship more than any man
in either kingdom had ever done,—by inviting him to his house in town
and country,—by coming to the Deanery often, and calling or sending
almost every day when the Dean was sick,—with many other particulars
of the same nature, which continued even to a day or two of the time
when the said person made those invectives in the council and House of
Lords. Therefore, that the Dean would by no means think those
scurrilous words could be intended against him; because such a
proceeding would overthrow all the principles of honour, justice,
religion, truth, and even common humanity. Therefore the Dean will
endeavour to believe, that the said person had some other object in his
thoughts, and it was only the uncharitable custom of the world that
applied this character to him. However, that he would insist on this
argument no longer. But one thing he would affirm and declare, without
assigning any name, or making any exception, that whoever either did,
or does, or shall hereafter, at any time, charge him with the character
of a Jacobite, an enemy to King George, or a libeller of the
government, the said accusation was, is, and will be, false, malicious,
slanderous, and altogether groundless. And he would take the freedom to
tell his lordship, and the rest that stood by, that he had done more
service to the Hanover title, and more disservice to the Pretender's
cause, than forty thousand of those noisy, railing, malicious, empty
zealots, to whom nature hath denied any talent that could be of use to
God or their country, and left them only the gift of reviling, and
spitting their venom, against all who differ from them in their
destructive principles, both in church and state. That he confessed, it
was sometimes his misfortune to dislike some things in public
proceedings in both kingdoms, wherein he had often the honour to agree
with wise and good men; but this did by no means affect either his
loyalty to his prince, or love to his country. But, on the contrary, he
protested, that such dislikes never arose in him from any other
principles than the duty he owed to the king, and his affection to the
kingdom. That he had been acquainted with courts and ministers long
enough, and knew too well that the best ministers might mistake in
points of great importance; and that he had the honour to know many
more able, and at least full as honest, as any can be at present.”
The Dean further said, “That since he had been so falsely
represented, he thought it became him to give some account of himself
for about twenty years, if it were only to justify his lordship and the
city for the honour they were going to do him.” He related briefly,
how, “merely by his own personal credit, without other assistance, and
in two journeys at his own expense, he had procured a grant of the
first-fruits to the clergy, in the late Queen's time, for which he
thought he deserved some gentle treatment from his brethren.[107] That,
during all the administration of the said ministry, he had been a
constant advocate for those who are called the Whigs,—and kept many of
them in their employments both in England and here,—and some who were
afterwards the first to lift up their heels against him.” He reflected
a little upon the severe treatment he had met with upon his return to
Ireland after her Majesty's death, and for some years after. “That
being forced to live retired, he could think of no better way to do
public service, than by employing all the little money he could save,
and lending it, without interest, in small sums to poor industrious
tradesmen, without examining their party or their faith. And God had so
far pleased to bless his endeavours, that his managers tell him he hath
recovered above two hundred families in this city from ruin, and placed
most of them in a comfortable way of life.”
The Dean related, how much he had suffered in his purse, and with
what hazard to his liberty, by a most iniquitous judge[108]; who, to
gratify his ambition and rage of party, had condemned an innocent book,
written with no worse a design, than to persuade the people of this
kingdom to wear their own manufactures.[109] How the said judge had
endeavoured to get a jury to his mind; but they proved so honest, that
he was forced to keep them eleven hours, and send them back nine times;
until, at last, they were compelled to leave the printer[110] to the
mercy of the court, and the Dean was forced to procure a noli
prosequi from a noble person, then secretary of state, who had been
his old friend.
The Dean then freely confessed himself to be the author of those
books called “The Drapier's Letters;” spoke gently of the proclamation,
offering three hundred pounds to discover the writer.[111] He said,
“That although a certain person was pleased to mention those books in a
slight manner at a public assembly, yet he (the Dean) had learned to
believe, that there were ten thousand to one in the kingdom who
differed from that person; and the people of England, who had ever
heard of the matter, as well as in France, were all of the same
opinion.”
The Dean mentioned several other particulars, some of which those
from whom I had the account could not recollect; and others, although
of great consequence, perhaps his enemies would not allow him.
The Dean concluded, with acknowledging to have expressed his wishes,
that an inscription might have been graven on the box, shewing some
reason why the city thought fit to do him that honour, which was much
out of the common forms to a person in a private station;—those
distinctions being usually made only to chief governors, or persons in
very high employments.