any
Advance in _South-Sea_ Stock above what it was before; so that
_Foreigners_ concern'd may not receive a _greater Principal_ than a
Hundred Pound, and Five _per Cent._ as they did before this unhappy
_Ingraftment_: For the Stock, by the said _Ingraftment_, will be of such
a Magnitude, that a Hundred _per Cent._ Advance will, in all
Probability, give the Strangers such a Capital, as will amount to more
than the whole _Cash_ of the Kingdom.

The _Foreigners_ have taken an Alarm since our late _unhappy
Mismanagement_; and are only waiting for some _New Project_, to sell
out, and strip us entirely: So that if we will consider our own
_Preservation_, we must rather _depretiate_ our Stocks, than seek Means
to _augment_ them.

It is a receiv'd Maxim, _Salus Populi Suprema Lex esto_: This I take to
be meant of the _whole Body_, not of some Parts of the _People_. And
tho' _Thousands_ may suffer, yet it is a receiv'd Rule, That the
_Whole_ is first to be consider'd, when it comes in Competition with any
_Parts_.

Therefore, in our present Case, the _Whole_ is to be consider'd; and the
_Preservation_ of that, is to weigh down against all the Hardships that
may happen to _Particulars_.

Now, if this Maxim stands good, it is the Obligation of every true Lover
of his _Country_, to have that in View; and not, from a Regard to
_Particulars_, run the Hazard of sacrificing the _Whole_. Their
_Misfortunes_ ought to have no Weight, nor any _Contrivance_ to ease
them, prevail, in Balance with our _Country_.

Our late _Project_, if it could have been held up, would have created
such a _Luxury_, that that very Thing alone would have undone the
_Nation_, and would have sunk us; tho' not with such a _Rapidity_, as
the Way which we have now in some measure escap'd.

* * * * *

The _Matter_ standing in this Light, the only View is the _Benefit_ of
our _Country_.

The _Body Politick_ is very weak, and requires an honest and able
_Physician_; and where to find him, is the only Thing in Question.

Let us consider, whether this design'd _Ingraftment_ of _Nine Millions_
into the _Bank_, and _Nine Millions_ into the _East-India_ Company, will
prove any real Benefit to the _Nation_ as a _Nation_? No surely, that
cannot be pretended; but only, that they making greater Dividends, may
be of Service to _Individuals_; and yet that is much to be doubted.

For as to the _Bank_, the Capital was too big before to r