It is, true there is a Council consisting of a great Number of Persons, in whose Name all great Affairs relating to the Civil Government are transacted, the Members of which Council are call’d Bable-Cypherians; but it is no Secret, that the first Minister causes whom he pleases to sit in this Council, as well as turns out any Person he dislikes; and while I was amongst them, there happen’d some Instances of what I maintain; and he contrived to have several whom he suspected of being Enemies to his Family, or to his Administration, to be disgraced from the said Council, and others appointed in their Places:  Nay, I have often seen several worthless Birds paying their Court to the first Minister, and solliciting him to be admitted into the Great Council, in the same manner that they begg’d for an Employment; yet at the same time, if you were to talk to a Cacklogallinian, he wou’d pretend to persuade you, that no Fowl of any Rank or Quality whatsoever can ever sit in the said Council, but by the Majority of free Voices of Persons who are his Equals.  But as I oserv’d before, they are so possess’d with a Spirit of boasting, that when they talk of themselves, there is no Regard to be had to any thing they say.

What is most remarkable is, that Hens as well as Cocks frequently stand Candidates to be Members of the said Council, and especially those who are distinguish’d by the Name of Squabbaws; and tho’ the important Affairs of managing their Amours takes up so much of their Time, that they have but little Leisure to attend such publick Affairs, yet they very much influence what passes there, especially the Court Squabbaws, whom I have frequently seen to receive Presents from Persons who had Matters to lay before the said Council.  When this happened, it was their Custom to send for my Friend the first Minister, and instruct him how they would have the thing done; upon which Occasions they designedly absented themselves from the said Council, that by their not appearing to favour or oppose such things, the Bribery might not be suspected; and it generally pass’d as well without them, for my good Patron who carried it so loftily to the rest of the World, was nevertheless extreamly their Slave.

As to their Laws, which they pretend to be the best and wisest of any in the World, they are, in Effect, a Source of continual Plague and Vexation to the Subject, which is owing to many Causes, but principally to this, that when a new Law is agreed to pass, the great Council generally appoint such amongst them as are Lawyers by Profession, to word it, or (as we say) to draw it up, who always, in Order to promote the Business of their own Profession, contrive it in ambiguous Terms; so that there is a double Meaning runs thro’ every Sentence.  This furnishes eternal Matter of Dispute betwixt Party and Party, and at the same time gives the Caja (for so they call a Judge) a Power of putting what Construction he pleases upon