Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A51105
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A modest vindication of the Earl of S---------y in a letter to a friend concerning his being elected King of Poland.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing M2375; ESTC R16384
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4,926
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4
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A modest Vindication of the Earl of S y In a Letter to a Friend concerning his being Elected King of Poland AT a time when the eyes of all Europe are directed towards the event of our present Affairs At such a time as this when the Ballance of our publick safety seems so equally pois'd that it is hard to guess in which Scale lies our Happiness or Ruin I think it my duty as an honest man a true Subject to the Government I live under and a Friend to Truth to give you since you so earnestly have requested it my just and impartial Sentiments of our present condition as it particularly relates to the Lord of S y now under Confinement in the Tower This Great Man I cannot but call him so this immediate first mover as some would have it of all the dreadful Revolutions that perhaps of late years have seem'd to threaten us will nevertheless appear to you by the following Relation which I am to give you of him a Man as very Extraordinary in his Abilities so no less wonderful for his Vertue Not to mention his unshaken Obedience to every Government he has been concerned in or lived under his steady adherence to every Religion that had but hopes to be established his unwearied endeavours for the Restauration of the publick Peace in the time of our late unhappy Troubles his admirable Counsils all along for the Improvement of the common Good of the Kingdom the Honour and Safety of the Monarchy the Success of our Arms and the Overthrow of our Enemies His Obedience to the Government is sufficiently evident insomuch that That never chang'd but He did His endeavours for publick Peace are eminently notorious For in the late Civil War in spight of all Obligations of Honour and Loyalty to the contrary he forsook the King and carry'd over his Regiment to the Parliament on purpose as much as in him lay to weaken the Royal Cause and by the ruin of that to bring that War to an end that no more Rebell Blood might be shed though the great Martyrs Veins were drein'd afterwards without Mercy So much he then acted for publick Peace but what he has advised for publick Good would fill a Volumn up who can enough commemorate the shutting up of the Exchequer to put the King out of Debt The breaking of the Triple League to prevent the growth of France the dividing of the Fleet that we might be sure to beat the Dutch though in the end it cost us a Victory yet certainly his meaning and foresight in it was to preserve the Shipping and the tender Lives of the Subject Then for the Honour and Safety of the Monarchy none so sincere so steady and so faithful as he has been for the Honour of the King witness his late Speech in Parliament afterwards printed and burnt by the Common-Hangman for the safety of the King witness the cause of his present Imprisonment But for the publick safety what Honours he has despised what promotions neglected will appear in the following relation which certainly the World will never question the truth of since the main of it has been taken from his own mouth that perfect Index of his Heart and Oracle of Truth In a late Paper printed for the Vindication of this matchless Patriot the Reader will find many and extraordinary Instances of Preferments and Honours which this Noble Peer has wav'd and refus'd rather than suffer himself to be brib'd from the Interest of the common Good But what he has meerly lost in tender pity and compassion this poor Kingdom of England and it 's true Protestant Religion ought to be remembred as long as there is a Scepter sway'd in Poland or the Turk unconverted I suppose there are very few in this Kingdom that do not very sensibly â—â—member the late Inter-regnum in Poland How many Illustrious Candidates stood fair for the Election Sobietski indeed had done great things for that People he had kept their Potent Enemy the Turk from entring any farther upon their Frontiers was great and popular in the esteem and love of the best Army that perhaps they ever had but that was by much too little to Entitle him to the Succession on the Throne it appearing absolutely the Interest of that Nation that the Great Turk was not only to be beaten he must in short too be converted and who so fit for such an Enterprize as he that next should be promoted to the Regal Authority One that from the high place he was to possess might not only Administer Justice to them but Salvation to the greatest part of Asia To find out such a Spirit one fit for so great and extraordinary an undertaking you may imagine the wise Diet omitted no diligence the Constitutions of all the Governments in Europe were lookt into as they stood Qualifi'd both in Church and State and whence was it so proper to expect a Law-giver such an Oracle as they then wanted but from the best modell'd Government and best Disciplin'd Church in the World Therefore upon strict enquiry France appearing too Despotick Spain too uncertain and irregular Holland absolutely Antimonarchical and few or no Cheese-mongers in it fit to make a Monarch of Germany too near 'em and that if once they ventur'd upon a King from thence The Emperour upon every like occasion might be imposing one thread-bare Prince or other upon them to ease his own People For you must note that in Germany Princes are Quartered upon Provinces as Regiments were in England upon Corporations in the time of Rebellion and are indeed the great Grievance of the Countrey Upon these Considerations you may imagine Quickly the eyes of the whole Diet were cast upon little England and there upon whom so soon as the little Lord of S y Polish Deputies were immediately sent Post incognito with the Imperial Crown and Scepter in a Cloak-bag to him Old Blood smelt it from Bishops-gate-street where they allighted to his Lodging and had it not been for an old Acquaintance and ancient Friendship between King Anthony the Elect for now I must call him so and himself I am credibly informed he had laid an Ambush for it at the Cock Alehouse by Temple-Bar where some thirty indigent Bullies were eating stuft Beef Helter Skelter at his charge on purpose to stand by and assist him in carrying off the Booty But Heaven which I hope has ordained that no Crown shall ever suffer damage for King Anthony's sake took care to preserve this For the sinister Designs of the old Irish Crown-monger being yet to be doubted this prudent Prince as I am told having try'd and fitted it to his Head carefully sent it back again by a trusty Messenger concealed in the hulk or shell of a Holland Cheese taken asunder meerly for that purpose and cemented together again by an Art fit for no man to know but a King Presumptive of Poland All things thus prepared his Election being carryed in the