The family of Burnett of Leys, with collateral - Electric Scotland

318
THE FAMILY OF BURNETT OF LEYS.
which he has refused, so they are still Capitulating with him. Mr. Rubeau had
better not be too obstinate, otherwise he may lose both the Substance and
Shadow, for there are many Instances that Castor is neither a Slave to his Word
nor over scrupulous in strictly adhering to his Engagements, when he finds it
much his Interest to break them, as is certainly the case at present. If the
Prussian Subjects obtain this Farm, Castor will be a very great Gainer, for I
know from Authority that may be depended on, that from the Article of Tobacco
he did not draw more than one hundred and eighty Thousand Rix dollars per
Annum, so that this is at once an Augmentation of the yearly Revenue of near
one Million of Dollars.
I send here inclosed a Copy of the exclusion Grant of the Levant Trade
during the space of twenty years, which Castor has given to Philip Clement and
Company, in order that you may be fully informed of the nature of this Affair.
Our Friend Knyphausen, who had frequent Opportunities of seeing and conversing
with that Dutchman during his Stay here, tells me he is a very sensible man, and
perfectly acquainted with the Levant Trade. What vast advantages the Country
might acquire from the Establishment of this Company, he said he could not
tell, but that it was evident that he, Clement, reaped from it a very great one,
Vizt, the furnishing by his house at Smyrna (which by all accounts is one of the
first there), all the Commodities the Prussian Countries wanted from the Levant,
so that he has made a very good Bargain.
The Differences and Disputes between this Court and that of Warsaw still
subsisting, the high Prussian Duty, to which they gave Rix that has been laid on
at Marienverder, on all Goods going and coming upon the Vistula betwixt
Dantzick and Poland, has not yet been taken off. This Duty, I am credibly
informed, has already brought in to Castor six hundred Thousand German
Crowns, and it is reckoned by the nearest Calculation that, taking one year with
another, it will produce one Million of Rix Dollars. You can now best judge
from the Knowledge you have of the man's Temper whether he will easily be
prevailed upon to forego, at least without an Equivalent,
the Increase of one
Million of Rix dollars to his yearly Revenue.
As you desired me to write you fully what I may have discovered concerning
the Character and Disposition of The Prince of Prussia, I shall now give you the
Substance of several Conversations I have had on that Head with Sulzer, who, as
he has had frequent occasions of seeing and conversing with that Prince, I
thought one of the fittest persons I could apply to for information.
He says that, as far as he could discover, The Prince of Prussia has naturally
a strong fund of Probity, Honesty, and Integrity : in short, of all the good
Qualities that compose the downright honest and Virtuous Man. One Thing he