Part 12

The offering a thing to Sale and no Bidders, is a certain never-failing prospect of a lowring the Price; from this Method therefore the value of all the Banks, Companies, Societies and Stocks in the Country fell to be little or nothing worth; and that was to be bought for 40 or 45 Lunarians that was formerly sold at 150, and so in proportion of all the rest.

All this while the Crolians employ'd their Emissaries to buy up privately all the Interest or Shares in these Things that any of the Solunarian Party would sell.

This Plot took readily, for these Gentlemen exposing the weakness of these Societies, and running down the value of their Stocks, and at the same time warily buying at the lowest Prices, not only in time got Possession of the whole Trade, with their Grants, Privileges and Stocks, but got into them at a prodigiously low and despicable Price.

They had no sooner thus worm'd them out of the Trade, and got the greatest part of the Effects in their own Hands, and consequently the whole Management, but they run up the Price of the Funds again as high as ever, and laught at the folly of those that sold out.

Nor could the other People make any Reflections upon the honesty of the practice, for it was no Original, but had its birth among the Solunarians themselves, of whom 3 or 4 had frequently made a Trade of raising and lowring the Funds of the Societies by all the Clandestine Contrivances in the World, and had ruin'd abundance of Families to raise their own Fortunes and Estates.

One of the greatest Merchants in the Moon rais'd himself by this Method to such a heighth of Wealth, that he left all his Children married to Grandees, Dukes, and Great Folks; and from a Mechanick Original, they are now rankt among the Lunarian Nobility, while multitudes of ruin'd Families helpt to build his Fortune, by sinking under the Knavery of his Contrivance.

His Brother in the same Iniquity, being at this time a Man of the Feather, has carry'd on the same intrieguing Trade with all the Face and Front imaginable; it has been nothing with him to persuade his most intimate Friends to Sell, or Buy, just as he had occasion for his own Interest to have it rise, or fall, and so to make his own Market of their Misfortune. Thus he has twice rais'd his Fortunes, for the House of Feathers demolisht him once, and yet he has by the same clandestine Management work'd himself up again.

This civil way of Robbing Houses, for I can esteem it no better, was carry'd on by a middle sort of People, call'd in the Moon BLOUTEGONDEGOURS, which which signifies Men with two Tongues, or in English, Stock-Jobbing Brokers.

These had formerly such an unlimited Power and were so numerous, that indeed they govern'd the whole Trade of the Country; no Man knew when he Bought or Sold, for tho' they pretended to Buy and Sell, and Manage for other Men whose Stocks they had very much at Command, yet nothing was more frequent than when they bought a thing cheap, to buy it for themselves; if dear, for their Employer; if they were to Sell, if the Price rise, it was Sold, if it Fell, it was Unsold; and by this Art no body got any Mony but themselves, that at last, excepting the two capital Men we spoke of before, these govern'd the Prizes of all things, and nothing could be Bought or Sold to Advantage but thro' their hands; and as the Profit was prodigious, their number encreas'd accordingly, so that Business seem'd engross'd by these Men, and they govern'd the main Articles of Trade.

This Success, and the Imprudence of their Conduct, brought great Complaints against them to the Government, and a Law was made to restrain them, both in Practice and Number.

This Law has in some measure had its Effect, the number is not only lessen'd, but by chance some honester Men than usual are got in among them, but they are so very, very, very Few, hardly enough to save a Man's Credit that shall vouch for them.

Nay, some People that pretend to understand their Business better than I do, having been of their Number, have affirm'd, it is impossible to be honest in the employment.

I confess when I began to search into the Conduct of these Men, at least of some of them, I found there were abundance of black Stories to be told of them, a great deal known, and a great deal more unknown; for they were from the beginning continually Encroaching into all sorts of People and Societies, and in Conjunction with some that were not qualify'd by Law, but meerly Voluntarily, call'd in the Moon by a hard long Word, in English signifying PROJECTORS these erected Stocks in Shadows, Societies in Nubibus, and Bought and Sold meer Vapour, Wind, Emptiness and Bluster for Mony, till they drew People in to lay out their Cash, and then laught at them.

Thus they erected Paper Societies, Linnen Societies, Sulphur Societies, Copper Societies, Glass Societies, Sham Banks, and a thousand mock Whimsies to hook unwary People in; at last sold themselves out, left the Bubble to float a little in the Air, and then vanish of it self.

The other sort of People go on after all this; and tho' these Projectors began to be out of Fashion, they always found one thing or other to amuse and deceive the Ignorant, and went Jobbing on into all manner of things, Publick as well as Private, whether the Revenue, the Publick Funds, Loans, Annuities, Bear-Skins, or any thing.

Nay they were once grown to that extravagant highth, that they began to Stock-Job the very Feathers of the Consolidator, and in time the King's employing those People might have had what Feathers they had occasion for, without concerning the Proprietors of the Lands much about them.

'Tis true this began to be notorious, and receiv'd some check in a former meeting of the Feathers; but even now, when I came away, the three Years expiring, and by Course a new Consolidator being to be built, they were as busie as ever. Bidding, Offering, Procuring, Buying, Selling, and Jobbing of Feathers to who bid most; and notwithstanding several late wholesome and strict Laws against all manner of Collusion, Bribery and clandestine Methods, in the Countries procuring these Feathers; never was the Moon in such an uproar about picking and culling the Feathers, such Bribery, such Drunkenness, such Caballing, especially among the High Solunarian Clergy and the Lazognians, such Feasting, Fighting and Distraction, as the like has never been known.

And that which is very Remarkable, all this not only before the Old Consolidator was broke up, but even while it was actually whole and in use.

Had this hurry been to send up good Feathers, there had been the less to say, but that which made it very strange to me was, that where the very worst of all the Feathers were to be found, there was the most of this wicked Work; and tho' it was bad enough every where, yet the greatest bustle and contrivance was in order to send up the worst Feathers they could get.

And indeed some Places such Sorry, Scoundrel, Empty, Husky, Wither'd, Decay'd Feathers were offer'd to the Proprietors, that I have sometimes wonder'd any one could have the Impudence to send up such ridiculous Feathers to make a Consolidator, which, as is before observ'd, is an Engine of such Beauty, Usefulness and Necessity.

And still in all my Observation, this Note came in my way, there was always the most bustle and disturbance about the worst Feathers.

It was really a melancholly Thing to consider, and had this Lunar World been my Native Country, I should ha' been full of concern to see that one thing, on which the welfare of the whole Nation so much depended, put in so ill a Method, and gotten into the management of such Men, who for Mony would certainly ha' set up such Feathers, that wherever the Consolidator should be form'd, it would certainly over-set the first Voyage; and if the whole Nation should happen to be Embarkt in it, on the dangerous Voyage to the Moon, the fall would certainly give them such a Shock, as would put them all into Confusion, and open the Door to the Gallunarian, or any Foreign Enemy to destroy them.

It was really strange that this should be the Case, after so many Laws, and so lately made, against it; but in this, those People are too like our People in England, who have the best Laws the worst executed of any Nation under Heaven.

For in the Moon this hurry about choosing of Feathers was grown to the greatest heighth imaginable, as if it encreast by the very Laws that were made to suppress it; for now at a certain publick Place where the Bloutegondegours us'd to meet every Day, any Body that had but Mony enough might buy a Feather at a reasonable Rate, and never go down into the Country to fetch it; nay, the Trade grew so hot, that of a sudden as if no other Business was in Hand, all people were upon it, and the whole Market was chang'd from Selling of Bear-Skins, to Buying of Feathers.

Some gave this for a Reason why all the Stocks of the Societies fell so fast, but there were other Reasons to be given for that, such as Clubs, Cabals, Stock-Jobbers, Knights, Merchants and Thie---s. I mean a private Sort, not such as are frequently Hang'd there, but of a worse Sort, by how much they merit that Punishment more, but are out of the reach of the Law, can Rob and pick Pockets in the Face of the Sun, and laugh at the Families they Ruin, bidding Defiance to all legal Resentment.

To this height things were come under the growing Evil of this sort of People.

And yet in the very Moon where, as I have noted, the People are so exceeding clear Sighted, and have such vast helps to their perceptive Faculties, such Mists are sometimes cast before the publick Understanding, that they cannot see the general Interest.

This was manifest, in that just as I came away from that Country, the great Council of their Wise Men, the Men of the Feather, were a going to repeal the old Law of Restraining the Number of these People; and tho' as it was, there was not Employment for half of them, there being 100 in all, and not above 5 honest ones; yet when I came away they were going to encrease their Number. I have nothing to say to this here, only that all Wise Men that understand Trade were very much concern'd at it, and lookt upon it as a most destructive Thing to the Publick, and forboding the same mischiefs that Trade suffer'd before.

It was the particular Misfortune to these Lunar People that this Country had a better Stock of Governors in all Articles of their Well-fare, than in their Trade; their Law Affairs had good Judges, their Church good Patriarchs, except, as might be excepted; their State good Ministers, their Army good Generals, and their Consolidator good Feathers; but in Matters relating to Trade, they had this particular Misfortune, that those Cases always came before People that did not understand them.

Even the Judges themselves were often found at a Loss to determine Causes of Negoce, such as Protests, Charter-Parties, Avarages, Baratry, Demorage of Ships, Right of detaining Vessels on Demorage, and the like; nay, the very Laws themselves are fain to be silent and yield in many things a Superiority to the Custom of Merchants.

And here I began to Congratulate my Native Country, where the Prudence of the Government has provided for these things, by Establishing in a Commission of Trade some of the most experienc'd Gentlemen in the Nation, to Regulate, Settle, Improve, and revive Trade in General, by their unwearyed Labours, and most consummate Understanding; and this made me pity these Countries, and think it would be an Action worthy of this Nation, and be spoken of for Ages to come to their Glory, if in meer Charity they would appoint or depute these Gentlemen to go a Voyage to those Countries of the Moon, and bless those Regions with the Schemes of their sublime Undertakings, and discoveries in Trade.

But when I was expressing my self thus, my Philosopher interrupted me, and told me I should see they were already furnisht for that purpose, when I came to examine the publick Libraries, of which by it self.

But I was farther confirm'd in my Observation of the weakness of the publick Heads of that Country, as to Trade, when I saw another most preposterous Law going forward among them, the Title of which was specious, and contain'd something relating to employing the Poor, but the substance of it absolutely destructive to the very Nature of their Trade, tending to Transposing, Confounding and Destroying their Manufactures, and to the Ruin of all their Home-Commerce; never was Nation so blind to their own Interest as these Lunarian Law Makers, and the People who were the Contrivers of this Law were so vainly Conceited, so fond of the guilded Title, and so positively Dogmatick, that they would not hear the frequent Applications of Persons better acquainted with those things than themselves, but pusht it on meerly by the strength of their Party, for the Vanity of being Authors of such a Contrivance.

But to return to the new Model of the Crolians. The advice of the Lunarian Philosopher run now thro' all their Affairs, UNITE was the Word thro' all the Nation, in Trade, in Cash, in Stocks, as I noted before.

If a Solunarian Ship was bound to any Out Port, no Crolian would load any Goods aboard; if any Ship came to seek Freight abroad, none of the Crolians Correspondents would Ship any thing unless they knew the Owners were Crolians; the Crolian Merchants turn'd out all their Solunarian Masters, Sailors and Captains from their Ships; and thus, as the Solunarians would have them be separated in respect of the Government, Profits, Honours and Offices, they resolv'd to separate in every thing else too, and to stand by themselves.

At last, upon some publick Occasion, the publick Treasurers of the Land sent to the capital City, to borrow 500000 Lunarians upon very good Security of establisht Funds; truly no Body would lend any Mony, or at least they could not raise above a 5th part of that Sum, enquiring at the Bank, at their general Societies Cash, and other Places, all was languid and dull, and no Mony to be had; but being inform'd that the Crolians had erected a Bank of their own, they sent thither, and were answered readily, that whatever Sum the Government wanted, was at their Service, only it was to be lent not by particular Persons, but such a Grandee being one of the prime Nobility, and who the Crolians now call'd their Protector, was to be Treated with about it.

The Government saw no harm in all this; here was no Law broken, here was nothing but Oppression answered with Policy, and Mischief fenc'd against with Reason.

The Government therefore took no Notice of it, nor made any Scruple when they wanted any Mony to Treat with this Nobleman, and borrow any Sum of the Crolians, as Crolians; on the contrary in the Name of the Crolians; their Head or Protector presented their Addresses and Petitions, procur'd Favours on one Hand, and Assistance on the other; and thus by degrees and insensibly the Crolians became a Politick Body, settled and establish'd by Orders and Rules among themselves; and while a Spirit of Unanimity thus run thro' all their Proceedings, their Enemies could never hurt them, their Princes always saw it was their Interest to keep Measures with them, and they were sure to have Justice upon any Complaint whatsoever.

When I saw this, it forc'd me to reflect upon Affairs in our own Country; Well, said I, 'tis happy for England that our Dissenters have not this Spirit of Union and Largeness of Heart among them; for if they were not a Narrow, mean-Spirited, short-Sighted, self-Preserving, friend-Betraying, poor-Neglecting People, they might ha' been every way as Safe, as Considerable, as Regarded and as Numerous as the Crolians in the Moon; but it is not in their Souls to do themselves Good, nor to Espouse, or Stand by those that would do it for them; and 'tis well for the Church-Men that it is so, for many Attempts have been made to save them, but their own narrowness of Soul, and dividedness in Interest has always prevented its being effectual, and discourag'd all the Instruments that ever attempted to serve them.

'Tis confest the Case was thus at first among the Crolians, they were full of Divisions among themselves, as I have noted already of the Solunarians, and the unhappy Feuds among them, had always not only expos'd them to the Censure, Reproach and Banter of their Solunarian Enemies, but it had serv'd to keep them under, prevent their being valued in the Government, and given the other Party vast Advantages against.

But the Solunarians driving thus furiously at their Destruction and entire Ruin, open'd their Eyes to the following Measures for their preservation: And here again the high Solunarians may see, and doubtless whenever they made use of the Lunar-Glasses they must see it, that nothing could ha' driven the Crolians to make use of such Methods for their Defence, but the rash Proceedings of their own warm Men, in order to suppressing the whole Crolian Interest. And this might inform our Country-men of the Church of England, that it cannot but be their Interest to Treat their Brethren with Moderation and Temper, least their Extravagances should one time or other drive the other as it were by Force into their Senses, and open their Eyes to do only all those Things which by Law they may do, and which they are laught at by all the World for not doing.

This was the very Case in the Moon: The Philosopher, or pretended-such as before, had often publish'd, that it was their Interest to UNITE; but their Eyes not being open to the true Causes and Necessity of it, their Ears were shut against the Council, till Oppression and Necessities drove them to it.

Accordingly they entred into a serious Debate, of the State of their own Affairs, and finding the Advice given, very reasonable; they set about it, and the Author gave them a Model, Entitl'd An enquiry into what the Crolians may lawfully do, to prevent the certain Ruin of their Interest, and bring their Enemies to Peace.

I will not pretend to examine the Contents of this sublime Tract; but from this very Day, we found the Crolians in the Moon, acting quite on a different Foot from all their former Conduct, putting on a new Temper, and a new Face, as you have hear'd.

All this while the hot Solunarians cried out Plots, Associations, Confederacies, and Rebellions, when indeed here was nothing done but what the Laws justify'd, what Reason directed, and what had the Crolians but made use of the Cogitator, they would ha' done 40 Year before.

The Truth is, the other People had no Remedy, but to cry Murther, and make a Noise; for the Crolians went on with their Affairs, and Establisht themselves so, that when I came away, they were become a most Solid, and well United Body, made a considerable Figure in the Nation, and yet the Government was easy; for the Solunarians found when they had attain'd the utmost end of their Wishes, her Solunarian Majesty was as safe as before, and the Crolians Property being secur'd, they were as Loyal Subjects as the Solunarians, as consistent with Monarchy, as useful to it, and as pleas'd with it.

I cannot but Remark here, that this Union of the Crolians among themselves had another Consequence, which made it appear it was not only to their own Advantage, but to the general Good of all the Natien.

For, by little, and little, the Feuds of the Parties cool'd, and the Solunarians began to be better reconcil'd to them; the Government was easy and safe, and the private Quarrels, as I have been told since, begin to be quite forgot.

What Blindness, said I to my self, has possest the Dissenters in our unhappy Country of England, where by eternal Discords, Feuds, Distrusts and Disgusts among themselves, they always fill their Enemies with Hopes, that by pushing at them, they may one time or other compleat their Ruin; which Expectation has always serv'd as a means to keep open the Quarrel; whereas had the Dissenters been United in Interest, Affection and Mannagement among themselves, all this Heat had long ago been over, and the Nation, tho' there had been two Opinions had retain'd but one Interest, been joyn'd in Affection, and Peace at Home been rais'd up to that Degree that all Wise Men wish, as it is now among the Inhabitants of the World in the Moon.

Tis true, in all the Observations I made in this Lunar Country, the vast deference paid to the Persons of Princes began to lessen, and whatever Respect they had for the Office, they found it necessary frequently to tell the World that on occasion, they could Treat them with less Respect than they pretended to owe them.

For about this time, the Divine Right of Kings, and the Inheritances of Princes in the Moon, met with a terrible Shock, and that by the Solunarian Party themselves; and insomuch that even my Philosopher, and he was none of the Jure Divino Men, neither declar'd, against it.

They made Crowns perfect Foot-balls, set up what Kings they would, and pull'd down such as they did not like, Ratitione Voluntas, right or wrong, as they thought best, of which some Examples shall be given by and by.

After I had thus enquir'd into the Historical Affairs of this Lunar Nation, which for its Similitude to my Native Country, I could not but be inquisitive in; I wav'd a great many material Things, which at least I cannot enter upon the Relation of here, and began to enquire into their Affairs abroad.

I think I took notice in the beginning of my Account of these parts, that I found them engag'd in a tedious and bloody War, with one of the most mighty Monarchs of all the Moon.

I must therefore hint, that among the multitude of things, which for brevity sake I omit, the Reader may observe these were some.

1. That this was the same Monarch who harbour'd and entertain'd the Abrogratzian Prince, who was fled as before, and who we are to call the King of Gallunaria.

2. I have omitted the Account of a long and bloody War, which lasted a great many Years, and which the present Queens Predecessor, mannag'd with a great deal of Bravery and Conduct, and finisht very much to his own Glory, and the Nations Advantage.

3. I have too much omitted to Note, how Barbarously the High Solunarian Church Men treated him for all his Services, upbraided him with the Expence of the War; and tho' he sav'd them all from Ruin and Abrogratzianism, yet had not one good Word for him, and indeed 'tis with some difficulty that I pass this over, because it might be necessary to observe, besides what is said before, that Ingratitude is a Vice in Nature, and practis'd every where, as well as in England. So that we need not upbraid the Party among us with their ill Treatment of the late King, for these People us'd their good King every Jot as bad, till their unkindness perfectly broke his Heart.

Here also I am oblig'd to omit the Historical Part of the War, and of the Peace that follow'd; only I must observe that this Peace was very Precarious, Short and Unhappy, and in a few Months the War broke out again, with as much Fury as ever.

In this War happen'd one of the strangest, unaccountable and most preposterous Actions, that ever a People in their National Capacity could be guilty of.

Certainly if our People in England, who pretend that Kingship is Jure Divino, did but know the Story of which I speak, they would be quite of another Mind; wherefore I crave leave to relate part of the History, or Original of this last War, as a necessary Introduction to the proper Observations I shall make upon it.