Page:The Wentworth Papers 1715-1739.djvu/414

 398 THE WENTWORTH PAPERS.

I left off. They call for Lord Bullingbrook's letter to be read dated in February, wherein he tell the company that the Queen expects that the Persons she shall name shall stand upon the same foot with her, and to have all the benefit as she herself was to have had before she conveyed her right to them, and if they did not agree to this proposal within three or four days the Queen wou'd give it to others that were ready to accept of it on her terms.

There was more letters of Lord Bullingbrook's read, but this and that were, he answeres, a representation of the lords of the Admiralty against the Queen's being at the whole charge of fiting out the four men of war. Sometimes in reading the letters the clerk would mistake and begin with some of Lord Oxford's but the managers soon stopt them and there was nothing call'd for but Lord Bullingbrook's. The inferences they wou'd draw from the reading all these papers and the Examination of several persons was, that for the sake of some few Particular persons the whole trade of the Nation was put to a stop, and that these perticulars valued their private interest more then the publick, and the argu- ments run to show that the company was in the right and had desired nothing but what was reasonable ; they were ready to comply with every reasonable proposal, but the offence was they were still pressing to know who the Queen's assignees was, and that they might be upon the same foot with them, and not to come in for the benefit of the trade and bear none of the burden. The first people they called in was the commissionars of trade, their secretary and clerks, they examined them only as to a letter that was said to be dropt from Gilligan offering Author Moor a sallery from the King of Spain, and the Grant from him of some Duties to the Queen. They were ask't by Lord Chancelar if they had seen such a letter, one by one ; Mr. Monckton was ask't first, and he said he had never seen it, but he had heard that there was a letter dropt by Gilligan, but he return'd immediately and 'twas given him again. He was ask't if he had never heard the contence, he said yes, but he cou'd not remember it ; from whom did he hear of this letter ? he thought he had

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