Gentleman but knew not what he knew And when he had once abandon'd the Kingdom all forlorn without either Head or Conduct without Council or any Countenance of Authority then according to the Judgment of the Common-wealth of Venice in reference to the Succession of Henry the 4 th it belong'd to the Nobility and chief Persons of the Land as they are the chief Defence of the Royal Authority to take care of the Publick Safety whether by usual or unusual Methods of proceeding it matters not and they have both the Authority of Law and Necessity to justify their Proceedings As for his being invited back upon Honourable Terms 't is well known how he return'd back and went through the City on the Sunday Night attended by his own Guards and lodg'd in White-Hall and this most certainly in order to an Accommodation Only because the Prince was coming to Town he was sent to and for the avoiding any Disturbance that might be prejudicial to his Person was humbly desir'd to retire to Ham-House with Liberty to make choice of what Persons he thought fit to attend him Which he promised to do but recollecting himself and desiring to know whether he might not return back to Rochester word was sent him the next Morning that he might do as he pleas'd All this while here was no Constraint put upon him so that he could not be said to be driven out of his Dominions but that it was his own Choice to forsake it Notwithstanding all this The Discusser will undertake to prove That the King before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger and therefore it could not be call'd an Abdication But through the whole Pursuit of his Argument the Discusser most wretchedly mistakes the Point quite mistaking the Effects for the Causes For says he Had not the King great Reason to retire to secure his Person and his Honour when he had met with so many unfortunate Disappointments with so many surprising and unparallel'd Accidents When part of the Army was revolted and the Remainder too apparently unserviceable When the People had such fatal and unremoveable Prejudices against his Service When there were such terrible Disorders in the Kingdom and all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire What should a Prince do when he had scarce any thing left him to lose but himself but consult his Safety and give way to the irresistable Evil These are very great Disappointments and evil Accidents indeed to befal a Prince But the Discusser forgets to tell ye That the Prince brought all these Inconveniencies upon himself The Discusser tells ye that part of the Army revolted but he omits to tell ye that it was out of a Generous Principle for that being Protestants they would not embrue their Hands in the Blood of their Fellow Protestants and Countreymen nor be Instruments to enslave the Nation He tells ye of terrible Disorders in the Kingdom but does not tell ye it was time for the People to be in Disorder when they saw such Incroachments upon their Ancient Franchises such Inundations of Popery flowing in upon their Consciences and such a rapid Violence of French Thraldom tumbling in upon their Necks He complains that all Places were either flaming or ready to take Fire but forgets to tell you who were the Incendiaries These therefore with several others of the same Nature being the true Causes that drew the foresaid Inconveniencies upon the King it follows that tho the Secondary Constraint of his withdrawing might be occasion'd by the Effects yet the Primary Cause of his withdrawing proceeded from the First Causes which produced the Effects Consequently such a Retiring was voluntary and not forc'd because he may be justly said to fly from something of dreaded Punishment rather then pursuing Danger from which he was always at a distance far enough off but dubious what would become of him as to the Former The Discusser makes many other grievous Complaints to justify the King's First withdrawing for hitherto he is altogether upon that but when he comes to sum up all In short says he when the Forts and Revenue were thus disposed of when the Papists were to be disbanded and the Protestants not to be trusted when the Nation was under such general and violent Dissatisfactions when the King in case of a Rupture had nothing upon the matter but his single Person to oppose against the Princes Arms and those of his Subjects when his Mortal Enemies were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity if no father when Affairs were in this tempestuous Condition to say that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might be chosen with the Relation to the King 's Right as well as the People's and that the King had no just visible Cause to apprehend himself in Danger is to out-face the Sun and trample upon the Understandings and almost upon the Senses of the whole Nation As for the Fortified Towns it was but Reason that his then Highness the Prince of Orange who came over to rescue the Nation from Arbitrary Violence and Oppression should demand them to be put into his Power well Knowing them to be then in the Hands of Irish Papists and Cut-Throats of whom the People stood in Perpetual Fear and who were rather a Consternation then Security to the Kingdom And the same reason holds in Relation to the Revenue For all the World knows what Vast Sums had been Squander'd away by the late King when Duke to keep off the sitting of Parliaments and to buy off the Members when they Sate and when that Money was spent so much to the Detriment of the Realm what Sollicitations were made to the French King for more to carry on the Popish Cause and Interest It was as well known how the Revenue had of late Years been Embezl'd to keep up a standing Army of Irish Ragamuffins as if England were now in its Turn to have been conquer'd by Ireland as formerly Ireland had been conquer'd by England From which fears when his present Majesty had delivered the Nation it was but reason that his Army should be pay'd out of the Publick Stock for their happy Toyl and labour For the Publick Revenue of all Kingdoms and States was ever Originally intended for the Preservation and not the Destruction of the People Upon the Disbanding of the Papists the Discusser makes a special Observation That no Test-Acts nor any Others could barr the King from Listing them as Common Souldiers This perhaps may be true that is to say that a Protestant Prince may list Papists and a Popish Prince Protestants to follow him in a lawful War. But when a Popish Prince in a Protestant Nation had made his chiefest Levies of Popish Common Souldiers to over-aw his Protestant Subjects and put his sole Confidence in them for his known and open Designs and manifest Endeavors to introduce Popery into a Protestant Kingdom contrary to the Law 't was time then to think of
disbanding such Vermin and ridding them out of the Land. And the reason why the Protestants could not be trusted was as certain For if the King would not trust his Protestants nay disarm'd them when Papists were both arm'd and Employ'd what reason had the Protestants to trust the King. And this was that which among other Things created and foster'd those General and Violent Dissatisfactions in the Nation For Men have naturally a general and violent Antipathy against having their Throats Cut if they can help it And therefore since the Kingdom by a Miraculous Providence had obtain'd its Redemption 't is to be wonder'd the Discusser should imagine 't was ever intended that the late K. should be in a Condition again to oppose either his own or the persons of any others against the Arms of the Prince or those of his own Subjects And whereas he says that the King 's Mortal Enemies were to be the Judges of his Crown and Dignity the Discusser should have done well before he had made his Reflection upon so many Eminent Patriots to have consulted Grotius l. 1. c. 4. Par. 8. and the Example of Pausamias King of Lacedamon there cited Certainly there was no such Impossibility but that a Free and Indifferent Parliament might have been chosen to deal equally between the King and the People For tho the King perhaps might be conscious that he could not so well rely upon the Kindness of those to whom he had always had such an inveterate Antipathy yet he might have rely'd upon the Justice of so many Great and Worthy Personages So that it is the Discusser himself who out-faces the Sun and tramples upon the Understandings and Senses of the whole Nation who makes these little Rhetorical Flourishes to palliate and obscure the Truth and to insinuate among the People as if Wrong and Injustice had been done where nothing was acted but what was a due debt to Self-Preservation And with the same Brazening the Discusser out-faces the Sun and tramples upon the Senses of the Nation to assert that a Desertion of the Government after such Proposals which were rather Assurances of his Safety was no Desertion He had been safer in the Affection of the People when all his evil Counsellers had been remov'd from about him he had been safer from the Importunities of his Priests and Jesuites He had been more secure from running himself into farther danger and safer in the Enjoyment of his Royal Dignity But he who had so Solemnly sworn to Establish Popery in England or die in the Attempt thought himself no where safe perhapps but where he might be procuring his future Bliss by the Performance of his Vow The Discusser now advances to the King 's second withdrawing and puts the Question what the King had done to incar a forfeiture by his first Retirement Indeed what had he not done If the Discusser forgot in his Discussing Heat the Declaration presented to their Present Majesties would have rubb'd up his Memory Among the rest there was one That he had endeavoured to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom by raising and keeping a Standing Army in the Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and quartering Souldiers contrary to Law and by causing several of his good Subjects to be Disarm'd at the same time when Papists were bâ—th Arm'd and Employ'd Now to what purpose was all this but to Subject the Kingdom to the Tyranny of the Pope In such a case Barelay cited by Grotious l. 1. c. 4. per. 10. gives this for his Opinion Si Rex regnum alinet aut alij Subjiciat amitti ab eo Regnum To which Grotius himself adds Si Rex reipsa tradere regnum aut Subjicere molliatur quin ei resisti in hoc posse non dubite Alind est enim Imperium aliud habendi modus qui no mutetur obstare potest Populus After all this it cannot be imagin'd that the King returned the second time with an intention to govern unless he might govern at his own will and Pleasure as he did before But that would not be suffer'd him for they who had now avoided the Yoke so near putting about their Necks would never endure it should come so near their shoulders again Therefore all the Probality in the World is on this side That the King perceiving that by taking the Goverment upon him again he should not be able to attain those Ends which he had made the Business of his whole Reign resolv'd to relinquish it altogether At which time being at liberty to go or stay his Departure must of necessity be accounted Voluntary and consequently an Absolute Abdication Lastly it is impossible that the King could be frighted out of his Dominions by the making of two or three Addresses to his then Royal Highness the Prince of Orange for it was no more than rationally he could expect would be done more especially from the City to the Person who next under God had deliver'd them from their Continual fears of Fire and Sword. Nor by the denying him a little Gold to Heal with which looks like an improbable Story of the Discusser's own framing These are Motions so inconsiderable for a King to forsake his Dominions that the Discusser seems to have Conjur'd them up meerly to degrade the Courage of the Absenting Monarch and to mortify his own Discussion But after all the Question may be fairly put whether Withdrawing in the Construction of our Law does not rather imply a Guilt than an Apprehension of Danger unless it be that of being call'd to an Account since the Query always propounded to the Jury is Did he fly for 't Which indeed ought to be the Legal Determination of this Dispute However the Discusser goes on and tells us We are to observe that to abdicate an Office always supposes the Consent of him who quits And this he affirms to be the meaning of the Word out of Salust Tully Livy and Grotius But both the Supposal and the Asseveration are false For Consent implies that the Question must be put Whether the Person will Abdicate or no Which never was put to any Abdicator in this World. Upon a forc'd Resignation it has But a forc'd Resignation is no Abdication Certain it is that Abdicare signifies to renounce forgoe or abandon And the Motives to this Abdication are various and generally prevailing upon the Reason of the Person that Abdicates himself according to the Condition of Affairs and the Circumstances he is under And therefore tho a Magistrate may abdicate with the consent of others yet he rarely does it out of a natural Inclination Thus it cannot be imagined that Lentulus one of the Conspirators with Catiline abdicated the Pretorship with the Consent of his own Will for he was one of the most aspiring Men in the Universe but because he found himself so obnoxious that he could hold it no longer Thus Sylla abdicated the
Preservation of the publick Peace and Liberties of the People To what hath been said let me add ex abundanti the late King 's retiring into France if it amount not to an Abdication it comes near unto a Forfeiture and no Prince or State can have less Reason to indeavour to restore him to his Crown and Dignity than that Monarch Whence hath he his Claim but from Hugh Capet and he from the Election of the great Men of the Kingdom and why did they pretend to lay aside Charles Duke of Lorrain whose Right it was by Succession but meerly upon this ground He had joyned himself to the Enemies of the Kingdom and so they transfer the Crown unto another Family that of the Capets And does not all Christendom in general and the English Nation in particular look upon that great Man of France as a Common Enemy shall not that which may hinder Succession justify in part a translating of it unto another But blessed be God all these are cleared in an Abdication and that asserted by the Representative Body of the whole Nation And now good Sir be perswaded to lay aside all Prejudice submit your Sentiments to the Judgment of your Superiors yield your Obedience and Fealty in taking the Oaths this you see is your Duty and not only so but your Interest It is not long since we were apprehensive of Popery and the Church-of England-Men did set themselves in direct Opposition against it and all the Accesses toward it for which the Generations to come shall call them blessed But whence come these Apprensions to be lessened can we expect a perfect Freedom from these Fears should he be re-admitted to his Authority It is not possible a Popish Soveraign should keep Promise with his Heretical Subjects as they stile us their words and Oaths if Roman Catholicks bind no further then stands with the Interest of their Religion and we know who both can and will dispence with Oaths and Promises made to Hereticks Would you setter him by Laws these have been like Sampsons Cords easily broken Would you place him under Tutors and Governours He is no minor cannot submit aut Caesar aut Nullus Men are but Men at the best and Time and Preferment may alter their Judgments However these would make him a Prisoner and no King. Should we submit in hopes of another Opportunity Would he not settle a Correspondence with Male-contents at Home and Foreign Princes Abroad and if he prosper in the Design hath that Common plea That his Promises are Void because made by him when under Restraint And then What will become of all that is dear unto us Religion Lives Liberties and Estates This is prevented by an Abdication so that if he return it must be by Conquest and then he will rule by the Sword we shall all be in the same Condition lie under the charge of Hereticks Rebels and Traytors the Government chang'd from a regulated Monarchy into an absolute Tyranny our Religion abrogated we shall be sold as Slaves or burnt as Hereticks If Men love Bonds and Imprisonments Rapine and Sequestration Racks and Tortures Fire and Faggots let them continue this Humor and Aversation but if none of these be lovely as indeed they are not let us bless God who hath redeemed us from the Hand of our Enemies and the Hand of all that hate us Let us joyn issue with the Divine Providence which hath delivered us from all these Evils in submitting and yielding our Obedience to our Soveraign Lord and Lady by whose Conduct and Courage we are brought into a state of Freedom and Peace Be not affrighted out of this by the false Rumors and Reports spread abroad by evil-minded Men but let us unite in our Submission to our present Rulers that thereby we may strengthen their Hearts and Hands in our common Defence There remains one Prejudice but no Objection arising from the vain Fears of some Men that the Church begins to be shaken in her Authority whilst matters of Religion fall under a Dispute and no Convocation consulted with But this if fully considered would swell a private Letter into too great a Bulk Let me for the present desire you to consider there is nothing design'd in Doctrinals but meer Matters of Ceremony and a relaxation of some Laws not consistent with the greatest Interest of the Nation in this present Juncture the Union of Protestants And out of experience that the severity of those Laws never reclaim'd one Dissenter but rather did drive others out of the Pale of the Church it is not unworthy of but highly becoming the Wisdom of those worthy Patriots to find out a Method whereby all Protestants of every Form may be brought into an easy Condition This Subject if this Letter find a candid Reception may be more fully considered of by Your very Friend Servant and Brother R. B. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal And to the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in this present PARLIAMENT Assembled The Humble tition of TITUS OATES D. D. Most Humbly sheweth THat your Petitioner in the Year 1678 discovered a horrid Popish Conspiracy for the Destruction of the late King Charles the Second His Present Majesty and the Protestant Religion within these Kingdoms and prov'd it so fully that several Parliaments and Courts of Justice before whom he gave his Testimony declared their Belief of it by publick Votes and the Condemnation of several of the Conspirators For which Reason and because your Petitioner would not be terrified by their Threats nor seduced by their Promises of great Rewards with both which Temptations they often assulted him to desist in his Discovery the Jesuits and Papists pursued him with an implacable Malice and endeavoured to take away his Fame and Life by suborning Witnesses to accuse him of Capital Crimes but being defeated in that Villanous Attempt they first procured King Charles the Second to withdraw that Protection and Subsistence his Majesty had at the Request of several Parliaments allowed to your Petitioner and then instigated his Royal Highness the Duke of York to prosecute your Petitioner in an Action of Scandalum Magnatum for speaking this notorious Truth viz. That he the said Duke of York was reconciled to the Church of Rome and that It is High Treason to be so reconciled wherein a Verdict and Judgment for one Hundred Thousand Pounds Damages were obtained against your Petitioner and your Petitioner was committed to the King's Bench-Prison After this the same Popish Party obtained leave from King Charles the second to prefer two several Indictments against your Petitioner for two pretended Perjuries in his Evidence concerning the said Conspiracy which they brought on to Tryal in the Reign of King James the second and your Petitioner was upon the Evidence of those very Witnesses who had confronted him in three former Tryals and were disbelieved and through the Partial Behahaviour of the Chief Justice Jeffreys in brow-beating his