[WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION]

The Case of the Warrant Officers [caption title]

[London]: 1715. Broadsheet. [1]p., plus printed docket title on verso. Ornamental initial. Disbound. Small folio. Early folds and early stab holes in left margin. Some foxing.

A rare political leaflet petitioning Parliament for relief of warrant officers who had fought in the recent War of the Spanish Succession. In March 1715, the House of Commons ordered that a list of all the regimental and warrant officers be drawn up, but by the time of this document's printing, numerous warrant officers had not been entered into the list and rumors had begun to circulate that they would therefore not be receiving expected compensation for their service. "Besides, the Nature of several of the Warrant Officers Posts was such, as they could not be put on a Regimental List, viz. Directors of Hospitals, Commissaries, Officers who have lost their Limbs, and many other Officers, whose particular Hardships, Pretensions, and Disappointments are more at large set forth and specify'd in their several Warrants. So that their Condition is very deplorable." This is among the earliest examples of lobbying literature, which first began proliferating in the lobby of the House of Commons at the time of the accession of King George I and the British general election of 1715. ESTC lists only two copies, at Oxford and the University of Missouri.

Hanson 2212.

Item #21226

Price: $475.00