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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70113	Their highness the Prince & Princess of Orange's opinion about a general liberty of conscience, &c. being a collection of four select papers.; Correspondence. Selections	Fagel, Gaspar, 1634-1688.; Stewart, James, Sir, 1635-1713. Correspondence. Selections.; Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1689 (1689)	Wing F93; Wing B5930; ESTC R3295	28,089	40

deal of noise yet I have not hitherto concerned my self in all those discourses or in all that has been writ and printed upon it but have let all people reason or write concerning it as they pleased But I have lately seen an English Book entitled Parliamentum Pacificum printed in London in this present year by vertue of a Licence signed by the Earl of Sunderland in which that Letter writ by me is not only called a Pretended Piece but it is said that which I had set forth in my Letter concerning the Prince and Princesses Thoughts relating to the repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws was advanced by me without the knowledge of their Highnesses at least of her Royal Highness and by this the Reader may be perhaps wrought on to believe either that my Letter was a Pretended Piece and Forgery or that I writ it without Order from their Highnesses since it may indeed seem scarce probable that the Author could have obtained a License for the printing of a paper that contains such falshoods in it which the Court and in particular the Earl of Sunderland could not but know to be such for they know well both that the Letter was writ by me and that I was ordered to write it by their Highnesses therefore I could not delay any longer to undeceive the World. Thus I am obliged to publish this account of the matter I have still in my possession those Letters by which I was earnestly pressed to write the fore-mentioned Letter in which it is expresly said that they were writ by His Majesties Knowledge and Allowance I have also that Letter in which notice is given that my Letter had come to hand and that it was shewed not only to the Earls of Melf●rt and Sunderland but to his Majesty himself so that they know well that it is no Pretended Piece I have also by me the Letter by which His Highneses desired me to send ●●●●●ter to Mr. Stewart together with the English Translation of it all which I will print if I find it necessary So that it is a gross abuse put on the World to say that my Letter is a forgery since as it was truly writ by me so it has been avowed by me ever since it first appeared And it is a base Calumny and Slander to say that I writ that account of their Highnesses thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws without their knowledge which appears so much the more evident since it cannot be imagined that their Highnesses would not have expressed their just resentments at so high and extravagant a presumption as I should have committed if I had written any account of their thoughts without their knowledg All this has obliged me for my own Vindication to write the following Letter to the Marquess of Albeville His Majesties Envoy to the States because I have had much discourse with him concerning the writing of that Letter long before this book called Parliamentum Pacificum was published but I will not engage my self any further to examine the reasonings of the Author of that Phmphlet for I know well that in those matters the world is divided into very different sentiments and that men are apt to approve or censure such things according to their preconceived Opinions Of all this I thought it necessary to advertise my Reader and to order this account of my Letter to be printed by a known Printer from a Copy signed by my hand At the Hague the 10th of April 1688. GASPAR FAGEL A Copy of the Letter Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel to the Marquis of Albeville bearing date the 9th of April 1688. SIR THere has appeared here an English book Printed at London this year entitled Parliamentum Pacificum with an Im●rimatur before it signed by the Earl of Sunderland ●f which I cannot but complain to you how averse soever I am 〈◊〉 things of that kind It is affirmed in that book that the Letter which I writ to Mr. Stewart the 4th of November last year concerning the Test and the Penal Laws is a Pretended Piece or at least that I writ it without order and without the consent of their Highnesses and more particularly of her Royal Highness the PRINCESS of ORANGE I will not engage my self to examin and refute the particulars that are in that Book for that were as unsuteable to the Character I bear as it is to my own Inclinations which do both concur in making it unfit for me to enter upon a publick dispute in things of this nature But you cannot think it strange if I desire you to call to mind that it was not of my own head that I was engaged to write that Letter which is now called in question it was far from that I was pressed by earnest and often repeated Instances for the space of four months that were made to me in His Majesties name to write upon that subject which at last prevailed with me yet I went about it with all the caution that a matter of such Importance required and I took care not to write one single period in that whole Letter that I apprehended might give His Majesty the least offence yet after all I see this Letter is treated as an Imposture in a Book published by Authority tho both his Majesty and the whole Court know the truth of this matter which Sir I have in particular owned to your self as being the Kings Minister here as I have also owned it to all that have spoke to me upon the Subject But that which troubles more is that I am accused for having made use of their Highnesses name and in particular of her Royal Highnesses without their Order as if I were capable of so Infamous a Forgery and of an Imposture so unworthy of any man of honour and that chiefly in a matter of so great Consequence Sir you must not think it strange if in this I appeal to your self to that which you know and which you have often owned to me your self that their Highnesses and particularly Her Royal Highness have often expre●sed to you their thoughts concerning the Test and the Penal Laws conform to that which I writ in their names which you owned to me that you had writ to the Court of England long before I writ that Letter and that therefore you could not imagin upon what reason the Court could press me so much as they did to write to Mr. Stewart I do assure you I find my self very little concerned in what is said in this late Book or in any other of that kind I foresaw well enough from the beginning that I should be attackt upon the account of my Letter in which it was Indifferent to me what any man thought of it But this Book being published by the authoaity of a Licence granted by the Earl of Sunderland President of His Majesties Privy Council and Secretary of State I find my honour is so touched in it that

I am obliged to undeceive the world of the false accusation with which I am charged in it And I thought Sir that I could not do this better than by writing to you that are His Majestys Minister and who know perfectly the truth of the matter that is now called in question and therefore I desire you will write concerning it to the Earl of Sunderland I believe he has not seen or at least that he has not considered the passages of that Book that do concern me For I am sure if he had done that he would never have Licensed it for my Lord Sunderland knows as well as any man alive does that my Letter to Mr. Stewart is no Pretended Piece he himself saw the Letter or at least the English Translation of it that I sent along with it And he could not but know likewise both by your Letters and by what you told by word of mouth that their Highnesses and in particular Her Royal Highness have often owned to you their sense of the Test and the Penal Laws conform to that which I writ in their name to Mr. Stewart So I do persuade my self that My Lord Sunderland will have the Justice and Goodness to recall this Licence which has been obtained of him by a surprise and that the Author of so manifest and so Injurious a Calumny shall be punished as he deserveth I will not likewise conceal from you the design I have of publishing an account of all that has passed in this matter as well as of this Letter which I take the liberty now to write to you in which my design is not to enter into any dispute concerning the matter it self much less to offend any person whatsoever but only to cover my Honour which is struck at by this attrocious Calumny I am Sir your most humble and most obedient Servant GASPAR FAGEL To all which this Attestation of the Printer is added I the under subscribing James Scheltus Printer in Ordinary to the Great and Mighty Lords the States of Holland and Westfriesland dwelling in the Hague do declare and attest by these presents that the Writing here published together with the Copy of the Letter writ in French to the Marquis of Albeville Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty of Great Brittain to the States were delivered into my hands in order to their being Printed by Mijn Heer Gasper Fagel Pesioner to the above named Lords and States of Holland and Westfriesland and that I have printed them by his express Order At the Hague the 10th of April 1688. J. SCHELTUS Some Extracts out of Mr. James Stewart's Letters which were communicated to Mijn Heer Fagel the States Pensionary of the Province of Holland Together with some References to Mr. Stewart's Printed Letter MR. Stewart staid about seven Months after he had received the Pensionary's Letter before he thought fit to write any Answer to it and then instead of sending one in writing to the Pensioner or in a Language understood by him he has thought fit by a Civility peculiar to himself to Print an Answer in English and to send it abroad into the World before the Pensioner had so much as seen it The many and great Affairs that press had upon that Eminent Minister together with a sad want of Health by which he has been long afflicted have made that he had not the leisure to procure Mr. Stewart's Letter to be translated to him and to compare the Matters of Fact related to in it with the Letters that were writ the last year by Mr. Stwatr which are in his Possession nor did he think it necessary to make too much haste And therefore if he has let as many Weeks pass without ordering an Answer to be prepared as the other had done Months he thought that even this Slowness might look like one that despised this indecent Attempt upon his Honour that Mr. Stewart has made in giving so unjust a Representation of the matter of Fact. He hopes he is too well known to the World to apprehend that any Persons would entertain the hard Thoughts of him which Mr. Stewart's late Print may have offered to them and therefore he has proceeded in this matter with the Slowness that he thought became his Integrity since a greater Haste might have look'd like one that was uneasy because he knew himself to be in Fault As for the reasoning part of Mr. Stewart's Paper he has already expressed himself in his Letter to Mr. d' Albeville that he will not enter into any Arguing upon those Points but will leave the Matter to the Judgement of every Reader therefore he has given order only to examine those Matters of Fact that are set forth in the beginning of Mr. Stewart's Letters that that so the World may have a true Account of the Motives that induced him to write his Letter to Mr. Stewart from the words of Mr. Stewart's own Letters And then he will leave it to the Judgment of every Reader whether Mr. Stewart has given the Matter of Fact fairly or not It is true the Pensioner has not thought fit to print all Mr. Stewart's Letters at their full length there are many Particulars in them for which he is not willing to expose him And in this he has shewed a greater Regard to Mr. Stewart than the Usage that he has met with from him deserves If Mr. Stewart has kept Copies of his own Letters he must see that the Pensioners Reservedness is rather grounded on what he thought became himself than on what Mr. Stewart has deserved of him But if Mr. Stewart or any in his name will take Advantages from this that the Letters themselves are not published and that here there are only Extracts of them offered to the World then the Pensioner will be excused if he Prints them all to a Tittle The Truth is it is scarce conceivable how Mr. Stewart could assume the Confidence that appears in his printed Letter if he have kept Copies of the Letters that he writ last-Year And if he engaged himself in Affairs of such Importance without keeping Copies of what he writ it was somewhat extraordinary And yet this Censure is that which falls the softest on him But I will avoid every thing that looks like a sharpness of Expression for the Pensioner expects that he who is to give this Account to the English Nation should rather consider the Dignity of the Post in which he is than the Advantages that Mr. Stewart may have given for replying sharply on him And in this whole matter the Pensioner's chief Concern is to offer to the World such a Relation of the Occasions that drew his Letter to Mr. Stewart from him as may justify him against the false Insinuations that are given He owed this likewise as an Expression of his Respect and Duty to their Highnesses in whose Name he wrote his Letter and at whom all those false Representations are levelled though they fall first and immediately upon