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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A66805 A letter from Holland touching liberty of conscience Witt, Cornelis de, 1623-1672. 1688 (1688) Wing W3223; ESTC R34096 6,636 4

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to a place of shelter where they may freely enjoy those Priviledges which they are denyed at home and for sake thereof prefer Wildernesses and Boggs before the most fertile Soils or pleasantest Climates Hence these Provinces thô little befriended by Nature are so full of People that they are Calculated to have at least six Souls for every Acre of Land. 2. The People thus kept at home or invited from abroad by publick permission of Liberty of Conscience are not idle Drones or Spend-Thrifts but generally the most Sober and Industrious of any Countrey None being more diligent in their Calling or careful to husband their Time and Parts for publick Benefit and Improvement than such as make Conscience of their Duty towards God as knowing that Sloth Gluttony Drunkenness Debauchery Vain-pastimes or Trifling Divertisements are no less inconsistent with their Profession than prejudicial to the Interest of any Nation 3. Hence 't is observed That the most part of those Refugies consist of Merchants Artifficers or Laborious Tradesmen that like Bees wherever they come bring in Honey to the common Hive by Teaching New or improving Old Manufactures amongst those where they reside How often has the grand staple of Trade been Transplanted from one place to another meerly on this occasion The French and English Persecutions about 130 years ago carried it to Antwerp the Fury of the Duke of Alva forced it into these parts whereby Amsterdam from a poor Fishing Dorp is raised to one of the Richest Cities in the Universe the severity of some of your Clergy about half a Century past adding not a little thereunto Nor want there Instances of a fresher Date 't is not above four of five years since several Families from the West and other parts of England harrassed and wearied out with Excommunications and Forfeitures of 20 l. per Month for Nonconformity c. came and planted themselves amongst us at Lewarden in Friezland and others went higher unto Lunenburgh offering to set up the English Manufactory for Cloth Stuffs Sarges c. At both places they were entertained with all the Kindness imaginable having Houses allotted them Gratis and great Priviledges granted for their Encouragement And more of their Countrymen after Monmouths Rebellion a main ground of which as we heard here was pretended to be for Liberty of Conscience flying over and joyning with them they became considerable forty Looms at least being daily kept going at Lewarden and a Fund of 20 or 30 thousand Pounds proposed to be advanc'd for carrying on the work whereby we promised our selves no small advantages for what with Wool privately Stoln from England and what with another sort of some of our Upland Neighbours and the plenty of Spanish Wool which we have here They had got a knack of mixing it to as great advantage as yours which skill our People would soon have been Masters of and that could not fail of giving a fatal Blow to your Clothing Trade and your Hamburgh Company began to sear if not to feel the Consequences especially from Lunenburgh by reason of its Commodious Scituation to Intercept their Markets But the Truth is the King of Great Brittain was no sooner advertised hereof but he dispatch'd necessary Orders to his Ambassadour then at the Hague by whose Directions one Everart or some such Name was imployed to Treat with the Principal Vndertakers and by assuring them of an intire Liberty of Conscience at home and Free Pardon to such as wanted it prevailed with them to withdraw their Stocks And so the Design at both Places fell to the ground which though we may in Interest resent yet none can but in-Justice applaude His Majesty's Conduct therein as a Testimony of his Prudent Watchful Care for the Welfare of his Kingdoms and People who otherwise might have felt the Ruinating Effects of this Accident to after Generations On the other side whereas till of late we bought vast Quantities of Druggets Gawzes and other lesser Manufactures and Knick-knacks from France since such Numbers of Protestants have been forced into these Provinces from thence We have made them here so plentifully as to furnish the Markets where there is Occasion Nor is it probable that France will ever recover that Trade again whereby it got perhaps more than a Million per Annum 4. A Fourth Advantage of this Religious Liberty is That it incourages the Inhabitants of any Countrey to be more Industrious and more freely to venture their Stocks in Trade being freed from Vexatious Prosecutions Imprisonments c. And as I have heard that most of your Corporations in England did not a little decline from their flourishing Condition some years since when many of the sobrest and most Publick-spirited Inhabitants were by the Imposition of Oaths and T●sts debarred from all share in the Government and by severe Prosecutions forced to give over Trading So the Influence thereof we Apprehended would have quickly affected the whole Nation had not His Majesty's Wisdom interposed his late Declaration for Liberty of which whatever Sentiments our Ministers of State may have of it I doubt not but you do already feel the Happy Effects and would to a far greater Degree if the same were once Establish'd by Law and the Fears Jealousies and Distractions of Peoples Minds fully Cured For which That seems to be the Soveraign Remedy and only means to make your King the Great Arbitrer of Europe For 5. Granting Liberty of Conscience secures the Government and renders it easy takes away all Colour for Faction or Rebellion Nothing binds more firmly than Interest and no Interest is more strongly obliging or more beloved than this Freedom and therefore ties all the Inhabitants where they have it into a strict Fidelity to that Power which grants it and brings every part to an intire Dependance thereon whereas when only One Perswasion is Caressed and others altogether as good and useful Subjects Exposed to Losses and Punishments for their Religion such a Government is seldom Quiet and never Safe Nor does it less appease Feuds and Animosities between the different Sects amongst themselves no man having Cause to be offended at another Man's Liberty because he enjoys the same himself The Happiness of these Province● in this Respect I have seen Elegantly Express'd by an Eminent Statesman of yours formerly Ambassadour here In this Common-Wealth says he no Man having Reason to complain of Oppression in Conscience nor any Hopes by advancing his Religion to form a Party or break into the State The Differences in Opinions make none in Affections and little in Conversation where it serves but for Entertainment and Variety They argue without Interest or Anger They differ without Enmity or Scorn and they agree without Confederacy Men live together like Citizens of the World associated by the common Tyes of Humanity and Bonds of Peace under the Impartial Protection of indifferent Laws with equal Encouragement of all Art and Endustry and equal Freedom of Speculation and Inquiry The