such a Conquest is palpably opposite to the Interest of all the Princes and States of Europe And lastly That to attempt a French Conquest of England either for Himself or King James is not the Interest of the King of France himself I omit shewing a French Conquest is against the Interest of King James for I don't think it worth my while to prove that it is against a Man's Interest to have his Estate taken from him and his Posterity destroy'd King James has a Child that He believes and you believe too notwithstanding all the pains you take to be thought to believe that useful Flam of your pretended Imposture which was at first taken up and industriously promoted like that of the Irish cutting the Throats of all the People of England and Scotland to help forward this Revolution to be a True PRINCE OF WALES and at least this innocent Child has not disoblig'd the King and this is enough to make him take pity of the Nation however Rebellious and Ungrateful we have been to him But besides he has several times since his Exile expressed himself in so pathetick and extenuating a Style concerning those Subjects that have used him so ill that it would be almost incredible if related And tho' the Prince of Wales was dead he retains even for the Princess of Orange such a Fatherly Affection as plainly supersedes Royal Resentment and I have heard one that was by say That upon a Gentleman 's mentioning even upon occasion of Business the Fault of the Princess of Orange and that with all the Modesty imaginable and he must touch very tenderly upon that String who will make his Court to the King tho' such virulent Pamphlets are Licensed here against Him the King reply'd That the Princess of Orange had Natural Foundations of Good ness that Dr. Burnet and the Bishop of London can never destroy And further they who have been at Sâ— Geâ—mans kâ—ow with what Indignation the King treats althoughts of Restoring him by any other Method than by a great Concurrence of his own People The King knows how obstinately the People of Britain nay many that are now his own Friends would resist any other Method and he knows that the Riches of a Country are the People of it He would be Himself and he would have his Son the King of Great Britain and he does not think it worth his while to be King of Trees of Beasts and a desolated Land or to leave such a ruin'd Kingdom to his Son When I weigh the good Inclinations of the King and the barbarous Persecution and Misrepresentation he has met with I am shook with a double Agony I compassionate His Wrongs and am astonished at our Ingratitude and that we would not once try whether the Things we complain'd of proceeded from His own Nature or from those about him whom the Prince of Orange had corrupted The Scene of His and our Miseries is abundantly and admirably laid open in an excellent Book printed last Summer called Great Britain's Just Complaint and if I would entertain the World upon that Subject I must either transcribe what may be found in that Book or relate the History of the same Matter of Fact without doing the same Justice to the Cause of the King That Great and Judicious Author has discover'd the whole Mystery of Iniquity How such Snares were laid for the King as an honest-minded Man could scarce escape How willing the King was to redress our Grievances when he found he had been in Mistakes and this before he went away How he continued in the same Mind when he was addressed to by some of his Subjects of Scotland who had appeared most vigorously to resent those Mistakes and this when he was under no Pressure in his Affairs I will add no more to justifie the Inclinations of the King but beseech every body who reads this to read Great Britain's Just Complaint which puts the Nation upon the best Method for us to know the Inclinations of our King He advises page 48. to resume that Treaty we so foolishly broke off and refused and thereby to secure Religion and Property by those Concessions which our Sovereign is still ready to grant us He goes on Let us put it home to him and lay it at his own Door Let him have it in his choice to return by his People if he pleases Convince him that his Protestant Subjects upon securing their Religion and Liberties will repair their former Errors by contributing heartily towards his Restauration And as that Author says if he declines to return upon a Protestant and English Foot there is an end of the Controversie and of all Disputes amongst Protestants for Religion and Liberty will never be sacrificed by true English-men And I will add to what he says If no true English-man joyn with him whatever Forces they can transport upon us neither can King James come home nor can the French conquer us But God be praised a great many true English men will joyn to bring home the King tho' I know not one so bad an English man as would join in a French Conquest But I come in the second place to shew That it is not the Interest of any of the Princes or States of Europe that the French should make us a Conquest The excellent Author of the abovenamed Great Britain's Just Complaint has proved that whether this Confederate War ends successfully or unsuccessfully in all likelihood and according to all the Rules of Policy the Restauration of King James must in a short time follow upon the Determination of it But it is my business to make it plain That tho' it may be and is the Interest of all Countries to have King James Restored at the conclusion of this War yet it is not the Interest of any of them that the French should conquer us have our Kings their Vassals or be Masters of our Ports Would the Spaniard have the Chanel shut up on both sides to Flanders Would the Dutch have the English and Irish Ports managed by such select Committees as the French would infallibly set up for Trade And how long would the Dutch resist Ours and the French Power united under one Absolute Monarch Would not the Northern Crowns and all the Princes of Germany soon feel the Weight of such a Confluence of Strength The Influence that such a Conquest would have upon all the States of Europe be they never so remote is at first sight so evident that there is not one of them who would be an idle Spectator of our Ruine Every body now knows the Danger their own House is in when their Neighbor's is on fire Every little Politician knows how much Greatness depends upon Naval Preparations and Trade therefore every body would be allarm'd every body in an Uproar when they saw such Maritime Kingdoms as ours like to be made an Accession to the numerous Land-Forces of France They are idle Brains that dream of
then all the wise and influencing Jacobites will interpose will keep him if he should be inclined to do otherwise from pursuing Revenge and will tell him that the end of Civil War must be attended with Moderation in the Conqueror or otherwise he that is one day Victor by the Sword may be vanquished the next by Jealousies If he should unmercifully devour even his Rebellious Subjects we our selves should stand affrighted at him as at a Polyphemus and conclude he would feast upon us at last Our Henry the Third had like to have lost himself by an intemperate use of his Victory over the Barons And Edward the Second did lose himself by using extream Rigours after his Victory at Burton upon Trent Other instances of this sort may be found in our own Histories and if we rightly consider the present State of Affairs the Defection was very general and upon the Account of Male Administration and therefore the Pardon ought to be without Exceptions and a Rectification of those Errors will restore the King to the Hearts of all his People as well as his Kingdoms without Effusion of Blood They are State-Quacks who only understand Phlebotomy A good Physician will sweeten and compose the Mass of Humors and by proper Lenitives quiet all our boyling Spirits and correct the Temperament of the State into Obedience without creating Faintnesses or destroying our Vitals This all the considerable Jacobites are now satisfied of this is their Opinion It is not the Title of the King that is the Dispute then indeed Wise Kings have after Victories been severe as our Henry VII was but the same Henry VII was as Merciful in Flammock's Rebellion tho' it was occasion'd by collecting Taxes that were granted by Parliament His Son also Henry VIII who was a Prince of a high mind when 30000 were in Arms in the Yorkshire Rebellion which was upon account of what they thought Male-administration pardoned every Man and after quieted their minds by sending down a Book amongst them to explain his Intentions It is by Mercy and letting us see clearly into his Royal Heart that our King King JAMES must establish his Throne and even they who believe Passive Obedience would not be active in the Destruction of their Country and tho' they think the Church of England supports the Monarchy yet now they are satisfied nothing less will secure their Church than what makes our Liberties safe You know there are others in his Interest who will claim their Rights in a bolder manner yet I bless God there are many of them some of whom never touched with this Government and others who have been so disappointed by its Ministers and Administration that they no longer expect a Cure from the Prince of Orange's hands you cannot think either the One or the Other of these desire to be a Conquered People nor do I know any one Man that desires it Indeed this Government has taken all Methods by Harrassing and Imprisonments and such Taxes as must undo us to make the Jacobites do some desperate thing and if any thing would such Usage would make us wish for a French Conquest or any other Change of Torments but nothing can make us wish for a French Conquest They have not yet made us Rise that they might have the Confiscation of our Fortunes and duâ— King William Conquerour without controul I hope we shall never Rise till we do it to the purpose till the Nation rises with us I hope we shall disappoint that Design of parcelling out our Inheritances amongst the sworn Vassals of the Prince of Orange as Ireland which could easily have been made to follow the Fortune of England at the beginning of this Revolution had not this Project been in their Head has been shared amongst them I hope we shall disappoint them here by a wise and temperate Conduct They care not what Slaughters what Distresses they bring upon the Nation but We would restore Peace and Plenty to it and whatever our Enemies say who have all along had a great Faculty of contriving Lies and forming Hobgoblins we love our Country our Native Country too well to let any Uneasiness make us have one Thought one Wish for a French Conquest The Prince of Orange in his Declaration says One of the Ends of his coming was to cover all Men from Persecution He has kept that as well as the other parts for he cannot but know that many of those who refuse the Oaths do it out of Conscience and how many against whom no other Crime has been proved but the refusal of those Oaths and therefore in the sight of the Law guilty of none else have had their Arms and Horses seized have been hindred from following their Lawful Business put to find unreasonable Bail been laid up in loathsom Prisons and been forced to pay most part if not all their Incomes If this is not Persecution I know not what is and I think he cannot but believe it is generally for Conscience-sake Is not that Venerable Old Man Archbishop Sancroft and several other Bishops and dignify'd Persons who have shewn a sufficient Concern for the Protestant Religion and whose Loyalty was not so stupid to use Dr. Sherlock's Epithete but that they stood up for the Laws Are not many of these Excellent Persons reduc'd to great Straights and Poverty because they have not supple time-serving-Providential Consciences How many of the Inferiour Clergy are sent to beg their Bread who made it a point of Conscience to oppose the Irregularities of King James's Ministers who tho' they would have been and are now willing to consent to Liberty of Conscience Parliamentarily settled were not flexible to the Tricks set on foot by those designing Ministers There has been already I think a sufficient Persecution of the Jacobites but the Judges are commanded to set a greater forward still however that shall not provoke us to a rash Attempt neither to hurt our selves nor our Country neither to make King William's Hotch-potch Title a Conquest nor to think of a French Conquest We cannot swear away our Allegiance which we owe to King James as his Birth right and which most of us have sworn to him but if it had been thought fit to contrive an Oath which should have expressed our Love of England and our Abhorrence of a French Conquest whatever Mulct had been laid upon the Refusal of it whoever had refused it would have been by us unpity'd tho' you had exacted the Mulct never so severely for we are all satisfied a French Conquest is not desirable That a French Conquest is contrary to the Inclinations and Interests of the several sorts of Jacobites is a good Argument that it is not practicable But now I fall upon my second Head I presume I shall directly and irrefragably make out I hat a French Conquest is not Practicable and that by shewing I. That a French Conquest is as little King James ' s Inclination as his Interest II. That
rot But Mr. Pepys has prov'd the contrary with a witness and appeals to the Books and Men that are now in the Admiralty and Navy Offices By this you may guess at the Sincerity of Dr. King in other particulars King JAMES without Taxes repair'd and added to our Navy and augmented its Stores but the Vote which declares the Sense of the House of Commons to be That the Commission of the Admiralty should not be filled with Men experienc'd in Sea-Affairs tho' it look like a Jest was well enough calculated for the Humour of this Prince who is willing to put the Nation under an absolute Necessity of maintaining a vast standing Army though a Pamphlet written and dispers'd at the beginning of the last Sessions by the wiser Williamites themselves called The Interest or State of Parties had so evidently made it out That the Natural and only Defence of England depended upon its Wooden Walls and spake broadly of the Insufficiency of the present Lords of the Admiralty I suppose too that they who occasion'd our not making use last Summer of our Victory at Sea which even those who would fright us with the French Power say was gain'd by a part only of our Fleet inferior in Number and Quality to the French who attack'd them and since have got Russel discharg'd from being Admiral instead of being rewarded with an Earldom and Garter for that Victory which did indeed destroy many of the French Ships tho' it was not the greatest Victory that ever the Sun saw as Dr. Tillotson phrased it and yet it is the only time that we have not by reason of our preposterous Management come off with loss and shame I say These Men know how much better King William is pleased with Land-Forces than Tarpawlins but how little Care soever has been taken of our Ships whatever Dangers the Prince of Orange would expose us to hereafter that he may rule us more arbitrarily during his own Time yet the Nation will find out his Designs feel their own Strength know whereon their own Safety depends time enough to hinder his or a French Conquest tho' they will at the same time perceive it necessary to call home that Prince whose Claim is indisputed and whose coming home upon such Concessions as we want and He is ready to grant will swallow up all Fâ—ctions They will e'er long percâ—ive it necessary to call him home â—pon such Securities even to secure their own Interests All Remains of 〈◊〉 pâ—â—tâ— Governments are at an 〈◊〉 and since Printing has been in the World the French and all Nations so well know how vindicative of their Liberties the English have always been that they will have but little mind to make us a Province I have already intimated how unsafe it would be for the Absolute Power of France at home to let their Soldiers hear from the surviving Britains what were our Freedoms and it would be yet much more unsafe for the French Lieutenants to agree to the Observation of our Laws But I will hasten to the Norman Conquest Before any body takes it for granted that William the First was a Conqueror I wish they would read the First Part of the Historical Discourse of the Vniformity of the Government of England written by Mr. Nathanael Bacon and the latter-end of the third Part of Mr. Will. Prynne's Historical Vindication of the Fundamental Liberties of English Freemen together with all those Authors these two Writers refer to But I resolved at first to wave examining whether we have ever in a proper and strict sense been conquered or no and therefore must fall directly upon comparing those and our Times and the Pretences of the Duke of Normandy and what the French can have upon us I can find but one thing that has any shew of likeness with our present Circumstances and that is Harold was an Vsurper and had broke the Protestation he had formerly made to Duke William as much as the P. of Orange has his Declaration to the People of England and truly if any thing can facilitate a French Conquest and if the Times did not exceedingly differ in other respects the Breaches we have made upon the Lineal Succession and the Impotencies Irregularities and Exactions of the present Government might make way for it But those things that made a Conquest feasible then and are not in our present Case are very many The Normans came from Norway and Denmark which Places were surchaged with People and there was no Project so improbable in which their Leaders could not easily engage them The Religion of the Normans and the Inhabitants of Britain was the same The Conqueror had many Pretences of Title Edward the Confessor's Will the Donation of the Pope who also gave him a Consecrated Banner an Agnus of Gold and one of the Hairs of St. Peter Besides his Titles here were several Normans within this Land who helped him he had been here himself to view our Land and make a Party as his own Speech intimates the then King of France helped him in his Acquest So did the Emperour Henry the Fourth he likewise came and lived among us and stipulated at his own Coronation to defend the Holy Church of God and the Rectors of the same to govern the universal People subject to him justly to establish equal Laws and see them duly executed Nor did be as the Judicious Samuel Daniel well observes ever claim any Power by Conquest but as a regular Prince submitted himself to the Orders of the Kingdom desirous rather to have his Testamentary Title however weak to make good his Succession than his Sword and tho' the Stile of Conqueror by the flattery of the Times was after given him he shewed by all the Course of his Government he assumed it not introducing none of those Alterations which followed by Violence but by a mild gathering upon the disposition of the State and the Occasions offer'd and that by way of Reformation These are the words of Daniel page 36. Now I come to compare I must once more repeat That France has no occasion to send forth Droves of People and the Religion of France will make the People of England resist a French Conquest to all Extremity And if King James would sell his Kingdoms as some ridiculously have suggested the People of England would hardly be brought to make good the Bargain and the Pope's Gift would as little influence our Minds tho' he should send with the Arms of France all the Reliques of Rome We have indeed many French amongst us but I think no one Man fears they will assist their own King in such an Adventure They are so far from that that they have not been which I am sorry to say GRATEFUL to King James who gave them Protection and Relief when they came hither in Distress And I have already proved That it is not the Interest of any Prince abroad to joyn our Three Kingdoms to the French Territories And