MS86.10: Francis Nichsolson Papers
Anonymous agent to Nicholson, ca.1722/3
You have heard no doubt of the Disappointm.t
of His Majty's Enemies by the discovering of the late Conspiracy
Their last Effort was made upon the Election of Sheriffs
of London & Midd.lx for the ensuing Year. You know of
what Consequence those Officers are, who having in their
Power the returning of Juries by whom are tryed most
of the Offenders against the Governmt, if the Sheriffs
are disaffected, they may by returning Packt Juries,
disappoint in a great Measure the prosecutions that
are carried on for the security of His Majty's Governmt
and of the publick peace. This induced the disaffected
to imploy all their Interest & Credit in the City; which
of late through the Indolence of Our Friends has—
been but too prevalent to gett Sheriffs chosen of their
Party. The Election was very Tumultuous, the present
Sheriffs who are of the
same Complexion, did every thing
that was unfair & by their
behaviour lost the Affections
of many sober Citizens that were
inclined to their party.
They declared the Majority to be for
their Friends, but
refused to give the numbers of the poll, and
as the
management of the Election was according to the
Laws & Customs of the City, under their Care, and the
Poll Books, in
their possession, the Lord Mayor & Court
of Aldermen informed
themsleves by Examinations
upon Oath of some who had inspected &
cast up the
Poll Books what the Numbers were, & finding the
Majority to be for Sr Richd Hopkins & Mr Feast, who
were set up by the Friends of the Governmt, declared
them duly Elected, and made them give Security as usual
to take the Office upon them, and will accordingly admit
them at Michaelmas; We shall then see whether the
present Sheriffs will Submit & quietly give up the Goals &
other appurtenances of their Office to Sr Rich'd. Hopkins &
Mr Feast, or whether they will contend it at Law: very
probably this business may become the Subject of a
Parliamentary enquiry. The Duke of Wharton who has
of late Acted the part of a Jacobite and a Madman was
very busy in the Election & the foremost among the
Riotous Mob, he takes all imaginable pains to provoke
the Governmt to seize him & comit him to the Tower, whe
he pays frequent Visits to the Conspirator Kelly, and tells
the Officers he shall be their next Guest. He publishe
a Paper twice a Week Intituled the True Briton, full of
Treason & Invectives against the King, the Ministry, the
Parliament & the Whiggs in general, of which he avows
himself to be the Author, thô others are concerned particularly
Oldsworth who you may remember was a favourite of my Lord
Bolingbroke in the latter end of the late Queen's Reign,
and had a great Share in Writing the paper called the
Examiner, which he handed to the press. These Papers
(the True Briton) are some of them written with smartness
enough: The Governmt have taken the part to Slight
the Hotheaded Duke, who is become so much the less
considerable in that he has spent most of his Fortune,
having put the Money concerns into the hands of Pious
Col Chartes to whom he has Morgaged what he has not
yet sold of His Estate. I have frequently taken up
one Pain who is printer & Publisher, but I would not
suffer him to tell me his Author, affecting to treat
such an Information with great contempt, & telling him
that ye Governmt would deal with Him for printing &
Publishing and there are Coals of Fire heaving upon his
Head against the next Term. Bating these little Squibs
which give more amusemt than they do Mischief—
We are now in a state of perfect Tranquiity Our—
Stocks rise and publick Credit flourishes.
As to Foreign Occurrences We have been
allarmed this Summer by the Czars putting to Sea with his
Fleet in the Baltick, but whether as he gave out himself,
he only went to try out the goodness of his Ships and the
ability of his Seamen; or whether he really had any
designs upon Sweden, where the Governmt has met
with a very untoward Diet, and that he found those
designs impracticable he proceeded no farther than
Revel, near which place he began to make a port at Rogerwick
and then leaving others to finish it he returned home. That
allarm was no sooner over, but a real Misfortune befell
us by the death of Cardinal DuBois first Minister at the
Court of France, a Person intirely well disposed to preserve
the peace of Europe and the good understanding between
us and that Crown, which he had been a great means
of Establishing, the young King of France being now
at Age according to their Laws, and having Authority
to appoint his own Ministers, there was a hazard of
putting himself into ill hands, but the Duke of Orleans
took Care to prevent it, got himself appointed chief
Minister of State, but which all others are shut out
from applying directly to the King, and got the Departm
of Foreign Affairs for Count Morville a Gentl brought
into Business by the late Cardinal & intirely of the same
sentiments and principles, and the Duke has given the
strongest assurances that matters shall go on upon the
same Foot as they were in the Cardinals life time, and
that His Royal Highness will continue the same attention
to cultivate the Union between the Two Crowns & to preserve
the publick Tranquility. All that imbroils us now is that the
Emperor has Erected an East India Company at Ostend—
against which both we and the Dutch are making strong
Representations as being contrary to Treaties; and
the Dutch East India Company do not stick to say that
their Countrymen in the East Indies who are more
numerous & powerful than those in Europe, will oppose
by Force any Settlement or Trade that shall be attempted
by this New Company and make prize of their Ships
I must not conclude without telling you that
as the Bishopricks of Winchester and Ely are both Vacant
the Bishop of Salisbury is appointed by his Majty to have that of
Winchester, the Bishop of Hereford that of Salisbury, the Bishop of
Norwich to be Translated to Ely, and the Bishopricks of
Norwich and Hereford to be given, andthe last to Dr Egerton
Brother to the Duke of Bridgwater & the other to Dr Lenge