they know off There is no doubt but the aforesaid Discovery of the aforesaid great Fund will be made very speedily by this ninth means 10. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to order all the Bankers and Merchants both English and French which are in the City of London or in the Suburbs thereof and in all other Trading Towns of this Kingdom to reveal before the aforesaid Honourable Commissioners all the Summs of Money given to them or others that they know off by the said French Commissioners or by the said Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches or by their Agents This tenth means certainly will produce a wonderful good Effect in Relation to the aforesaid Discovery of the aforesaid Fund 11. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to publish that every Person or Persons who will Discover and Reveal any Summs either great or small of the aforesaid Fund arising from the aforesaid Charities and Legacies bestowed upon the aforesaid Poor amongst the Refuges and put into the said French Commissioners Hands c. shall Receive such a Summ of Money as your Honours shall please to allot to such a Person or Persons for his or for their Discovery and Revealing of such a Summ of the aforesaid Fund This eleventh means will be one of the most Effectual ones whereby the said great Fund will be found out 12. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to Reward every Person or Persons who through his or their great Care and strict search shall have discovered and evidently proved that that said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches have upon the said great Fund settled in the aforesaid City of London or in some other Towns of this Kingdom any Manufactures or given some part of the said Fund to any Shop-keepers to make the best of it or made any other use of it This twelfth means also seems a very fit expedient to make appear that the said French Commissioners and the said Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches have still the said great Fund in their own Hands or in the Hands of other Men. 13. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to Force the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches presently to give to the aforesaid Honourable Commissioners an exact Catalogue of all the French Refuges who have received something of the said Charities which said Refuges went from England or are Dead or imployed in the said England precisely telling when the said Poor Refuges went from England or when they Dyed or where imployed in the said Kingdom or at least telling how long it is since the said Poor Refuges were not Relieved at all You the Honourable House of Commons by this thirteenth means will be sure that the said French Commissioners c. have not always well discharged their Duty nor their Commission And besides they have in their Hands a considerable Fund coming from the aforesaid Charities bestowed upon the Poor French Refuges 14. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to Order some French Refuges that came from several parts of France of whatever Degree and Character they may be presently to appear before the aforesaid Honourable Commissioners and candidly Declare that they Know or do not Know all the aforesaid French Refuges to whom the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches say they have given something of the aforesaid Charities To Order again all the said French Refuges that came from several parts of France of whatever Degree and Character freely to Declare they Know or do not Know the said Poor Refuges to whom the said French Commissioners pretend to be sure they have given some Relief are gone out of England or are Dead or have been imployed in the said Kingdom at the same time told by the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches And to Order moreover that the said French Refuges who came from several parts of France of whatever Degree and character they may be to make with all speed a more strict inquiry about the said Poor Refuges departed out of England or Dead or imployed in the said Kingdom and about what time when they departed from England and when they Dyed or where imployed in the said Kingdom And to make also a strict inquiry about the said Fund and all things that concerns it And to Order them to make a true Relation of all those premises to the aforesaid Honourable Commissioners This fourteenth means will be a Touch-Stone to try Truth or Untruth that hath been or shall be told by the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens in their Answer and will shew as all other means before-mentioned may do a great Fund come from the aforesaid Charities into the Hands of the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches 15. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to let the Publick understand it is a very material Thing that every Person or Persons of what Degree or Character soever he or they may be who bestowed any private Charities and payed any Legacies to the said French Commissioners or to the said Ministers and Church-wardens of the said two Churches should declare some ways or other what Summs of Money their said private Charities and Legacies did amount to when and to whom the same were bestowed and payed That this fifteenth means wonderfully will Force the said French Commissioners Ministers c. to give an account of a good part of the aforesaid great Summs And to convince even the same French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens c. to have in their Hands a greater Fund than is necessary for the aforesaid Poor Refuges Maintainance 16. That if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to know who are the Tellers of all the Summs gathered upon the aforesaid three Briefs and received by the aforesaid French Commissioners and to command the said Tellers of the said Summs of Money to declare and shew by all necessary circumstances how many Summs they have told and when and to whom of the said French Commissioners they have told the said Summs Again if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to understand more particularly all the Summs of Money gathered upon the said three Briefs and call the chief Receivers to an account for the same That this sixteenth means will wonderfully serve for the discovery of the aforesaid Fund and will sorce the said French Commissioners to give a more strict account of it 17. That if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to order all the aforesaid French Commissioners to give up an exact account of the Fifteen Thousand Pounds lately granted by your Honours to the aforesaid Poor which are amongst the
THE Most Humble Remonstrances PRESENTED To the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the HOUSE of COMMONS in Parliament Assembled 1. COncerning the Proofs whereby the French Gentlemen Commissioners appointed for the Distribution of the Charity bestowed upon the Poor French Protestants that are come for Refuge into England may be convinced that in their Hands there are still remaining great Summs of Money arising from the said Charity and a Revenue more than sufficient for all the Poor Refuges Maintenance 2. Concerning the Means whereby all the aforesaid great Summs of Money may be discovered and the aforesaid French Gentlemen Commissioners compelled to give an exact account of them which compelling if it please God shall be as a triumphing Sword Cutting with one Blow the Gordian Knot of the said French Commissioners 3. Concerning the Motives that may induce the aforesaid Honourable House of Commons to use the aforesaid means which Motives are the Concerns of the King and State in general and in particular of all the Poor amongst the said Refuges By John Chabbert Minister and Refuge You the Honourable House of Commons are intreated by the aforesaid John Chabbert to approve that he may now declare to your Honours the love he hath and ever had for Justice and Truth and on the contrary how he abhorreth Injustice Cheating Tricks and Lies But in a particular manner how much he longs for the advantage and prosperity of the King State and Church of England not only for the Publick's but also for the Private's sake as he longs also for the satisfaction of the English Poor as well as of them which are amongst the Refuges and that in making bold humbly to shew by particulars all the Contents of the three Heads contained in the Title of his Undertaking To keep the order set in the said Title the aforesaid John Chabbert beginning with the aforesaid Proofs humbly sheweth 1. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received great Summs of Money upon three several Letters Patrents heretofore granted by Royal Authority for the aforesaid Poor Refuges sake especially upon the first and second Letters Pattents the first granted in the Year 1686. and the second granted in the Year 1688. That after that the said two Letters Pattents were effectually published and the Tenor of the same declared unto the Nation in all and every Church and Chappel in the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales c. The whole Nation was touched with so deep a sense and tender Commiseration of the Calamities and woful Sufferings of the said Poor Refuges in the cause of their Religion and of the urgent necessity which so many of them were lying under that not only all the Nobility Gentry and every Rich Man of whatever Degree and Character soever he was But even the greatest part of all the Tradesmen and Servants as every body knows did so generously and chearfully contribute by their extraordinary and large Charities to the subsistance of the said 〈◊〉 amongst the Refuges and that from those generous free and large Charitable Contributions which have been made for the relief of the said poor Refuges it must needs be inferred that great Sums of Money were then Collected 2. That the aforesaid French Commissioners and the Ministers and Church-wardens or Elders as they call them of the French Church in the Savoy or of the Waloon Church in the City of London have received great Summs of Money from the large Charities of particular Collections often bestowed by a great many Charitable Persons upon the aforesaid Poor Refuges behalf from the beginning of the Year 1685. to this very day of the Year 1696. Since that time a great number of Poor Refuges have been seen in England 3. That the aforesaid French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the aforesaid two Churches very often and at least during the space of Ten Years have received great Summs of Money arising from a great many Legacies the most part of them made by some English pious Persons and some of them by some French to be distributed in a very short time after their Decease to the said Poor Refuges But that it is to be feared the said French Commissioners have distributed nothing of the most part of the said Legacies or at least but the use or interest of some of them to the said Poor Refuges so that when this third Proof as well as the second before is duly reflected upon it plainly appears by the said two Proofs that they must needs have in their own or others Hands a great Fund of Money for the 〈◊〉 support of the poor Refuges 4. That the aforesaid French Commissioners by their own Confession and as every body knows have received during the space of many Years 〈◊〉 Twelve Thousand Pounds per annum bestowed liberally chearfully and charitably by His excellent Majesty our gracious King William upon the said Poor Refuges to relieve them in their urgent necessities and comfort them in their troubles That it is most certain that upon the said Royal Bounty the said French Commissioners during the space of the many Years aforesaid were able to supply all the wants of the said Poor Refuges if they had very well managed the said Twelve Thousand Pounds per Annum or if they had not kept back some of them or put them into Bankers Hands or imployed some of them in Trading and Traffick 5. That the aforesaid French Commissioners were publickly Accused by some of the said French Refuges Poor Gentlemen Ministers and others for having embezzelled or mis-imployed a considerable Summ of the aforesaid Twelve Thousand Pounds Per Annum And that the said French Commissioners have done their utmost endeavours to secure themselves from the said Accusation or rather that their Accusers should be silent and desist from their Accusation And for all that the said French Commissioners have let neither the Publick nor their Accusers know their Innocence in all its Circumstances and in keeping the Formalities of Justice although they were bound so to do for the securing of their own Reputation 6. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received some considerable Summs of Money by the way of many Subscriptions and private Collections made in the City of London and its Suburbs for the aforesaid French Refuges Poor yet for all that it doth not appear that at least the greatest part of the aforesaid French Refuges Poor was the more relieved by the said French Commissioners than they were before the said Subscriptions and private Collections 7. That the aforesaid French Commissioners doubtless have received and do still receive a great many private Charities of particular Persons for the maintenance of many Charity-houses which Charity-houses imperceptibly and cunningly have been set up by the same Commissioners in the Suburbs of the aforesaid City of London many Years ago upon four accounts 1. To procure as many Charities as could be possible and to move all the charitable Persons who live in
the said City of London and other Cities and Towns of this Kingdom to put into their hands all the Charities they had designed for all the Poor amongst the Refuges which are ashamed to beg and which were never partakers of the said Charities bestowed upon the said Charity-houses although they may be in great want 2. To have a Lawful Cause at least in appearance to beg either themselves or move their Friends and Creatures so to do every where and of every Person whosoever they believed to be the most favourable to their Charity-houses 3. To have a pretence continually to declare openly as they have done already that they had received but very few private Charities for the support of their Charity-houses and that they were obliged sometimes to turn out many of the said Poor Refuges from the said Charity-houses and to deprive many more of the Soup or Broth distributed therein or to maintain them both with a Fund designed for paying of the Pensions to the French Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Persons of what Age soever and of both Sexes the Pensions of some of which said Persons the said French Commissioners lessened upon several occasions although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that before they had lessened the said Pensions of the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges the said Pensions were not sufficient for their maintenance And besides although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges cannot live by any other means 4. To cast a mist before the whole English Nation 's Eyes and to hide from the Publick the said most considerable Fund they have in their Hands arising from the aforesaid very large Charities they have received for the said French Refuges Poor's support and for no other use whatsoever 8. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have saved very much of the aforesaid large Charities they have received by the aforesaid several ways And that the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-Wardens of the French Church in the Savoy and Walloon-Church in the City of London have saved very much of the aforesaid great Summs of Money by six ways well known to the greatest part of the French Refuges 1. In keeping some of the said French Refuges lying then under a great necessity from the least Relief which the tender hearted and generous English Nation had afforded to them as well as to the rest of the Refuges who were then or are still relieved by which means some of the said French Commissioners as themselves together with all the Refuges know very well were very near receiving an affront from some of those said necessitous Refuges yet kept notwithstanding from the said Relief Moreover by this means a great many of the same Refuges Poor and Helpless Creatures were dispersed all over England and went a Begging up and down the said Kingdom 2. In giving once for all to some others of the said Refuges a little Money nay and to some of the same more than to others not according to every one's Desert or Necessities but according to their own Will and Pleasure against all Equity and Reason 3. In giving to the smallest Number of the said Poor Refuges a little Pension and that sometimes only for a little while to those who have no Friends amongst them or a powerful Protector who hath the Right to Command them As for example a Yearly Pension of Seven Pounds allowed to the Ministers then under Fifty years of Age during the space at least of one Year and a half is an evident Proof of the said little Pension as well 56 l. 18 s. that every one of the said Ministers have received of the Royal Charity for their own and their Families Subsistance during the space of Nine years as may be seen in a printed Paper delivered unto the King's Majesty the last 〈◊〉 January by all the poor Ministers Refuges 4. In paying the Pension as usually they have payed it to the aforesaid Poor Refuges sometimes Five sometimes Six Seven Eight Nine nay and sometimes even Ten Months after the Time appointed for the Payment of the said Pention instead of paying it Quarterly and even before hand as it was in their Power so to do having ever had since their Commission a sufficient Fund for that purpose whatever Asseverations they have made to make the Publick and the said Poor Refuges believe the contrary And the said French Commissioners in paying Quarterly the said Pension would have saved the said Refuges from being so Poor and a great many Troubles and Tears 5. In utterly debarring the said Poor Refuges from their own Pension during the space of about Two Years unjustly pretending they had no Fund at all to pay it them wherefore many of the said helpless Refuges have contracted many Debts that they cannot pay off without an Extraordinary Relief 6. By the Decease of a great many of the said Poor Refuges of all Ages whatsoever of both Sexes and of all Characters That by these Six Ways and Means the said French Commissioners undoubtedly have saved very much of the said very large Charitys they have received for the said French Refuges Support But nevertheless the said first Five Ways are Unlawful and against the Rules of the Holy Gospel seeing by the said Five Ways a great many Poor Refuges have been brought to Poverty to Hunger and to Divers Temptations and many of them have sunk under them as may easily be proved by a great many Eye-Witnesses and that the said French Commissioners themselves every where have Published and often Declared to the Supreme Powers that the said Refugees have lain under great Poverty and Sufferings the said French Commissioners making a show of being troubled at the said Poor Refuges Calamities 9. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have very much increased the said Summs arising from the very large Charitys aforementioned and they have increased the said Summs either by all their following ways or by others such as these are 1. Either in putting a good part of the said Summs into a Bankers Hands since the beginning of their Commission till this time 2. Or in imploying another part of the said Summs in Trading making the best of it by Sea and Land either in this or in Foreign Country's 3. Or in erecting some Manufactures to help off with another part of the said Summs coming from the aforesaid very large Charity 's bestowed upon the said Poor Refuges or in imploying it in some sort of Commodities that are the most a la mode and do take the best 10. That Mr. Daillon a French Minister Refuge now one of the best Friends that the said French Commissioners may have cannot deny but that formerly he undertook to oblige the same Gentlemen French Commissioners to give an Account of all the Summs of Money or a part of them arising from the Large General and Particular Charity 's upon all the Poor amongst the Refuges