REMARKS UPON THE Present Confederary AND Late Revolution IN ENGLAND c. LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCIII REMARKS UPON THE Present Confederacy c. THE most formidable Enterprise no doubt that ever was levell'd against the growing Grandeur of France during the long and successful Reign of Lewis le Grande was this late Confederacy form'd by the most powerful Princes in all Europe An Undertaking of so dangerous consequence to that Prince that if their Carier had not been stopt by a surprising Providence and diverted by the wonderful Vigilance and Activity of that truly greatest Prince in all these parts of the World that Monarchy by this time had laid expiring As the Confederates had resolutely and with prodigious Prospects of Advantage to themselves agreed upon this Design so to facilitate it had sagaciously enough foreseen what Remoraes might lie in their way and as resolutely determin'd to remove them right or wrong England which had for some years past skreen'd them from those violent and otherwise irresistible shocks they were exposed to from France was most feared at this time would stand in their way and to speak the Truth from the Experience we have had of the French Power and Policy during this War the least Assistance from her or a meer Neutrality had left them to the Mercy and entire Disposal of their Enemy This I say was politickly enough foreseen and by most wicked and unjust means for some time at least prevented though by comparing the Successes on both sides hitherto cannot in all humane probability be long protracted But more of this afterwards To accomplish this Grand Design of theirs King James must be deposed to make way for the Ambition and Pride of another the most likely to carry on the War against France if we either consider that heighth of Malice which he had long ago conceived against that Monarch chiefly from his being so frequently baffled in Holland and Flanders by the Bravery of his Generals there or that Natural Malignity in his very Constitution derived from his Ancestors who had never been famous for their Loyalty to their own Princes or Affection for Crowned Heads This they concluded feasible enough not being ignorant of the ambitious Designs the Prince of Orange had been carrying on for several years in England of mounting that Throne by having a hand in all the Plots against King Charles the Second but especially his Father in-law to exclude him and what not and the Dispositions he had laid in order to that End by his corrupting the greatest Ministers of State under that unfortunate Prince to take advantage from his Religion to which the English are naturally averse to put him upon some Acts which would in all likelihood alienate his Subjects Affections from him and make the P. or O's Access the more easie All this being well known to many of the Confederate Princes they had no more to doe but to sound his Inclination somewhat nearer and proffer him their Assistance for the obtaining of what he so eagerly desired and by all indirect means pursued To this end having engaged themselves and him in the strict bonds of a Confederacy they immediately lent him such Assistance as was requisite to land him in England where all things were ready to his hand and there most wickedly deposed King James II. I confess some are apt to alledge that the Prince of Orange exceeded his Commission and acted directly contrary to the Determination of the Confederacy their sole Aim being onely by this Invasion to draw King James in to their Designs But if we consider those notable Hints in the foreign Papers upon this occasion particularly The General History of Europe published in French at the Hague by the Authority of the States of Holland and West Friesland we may be easily inclined to believe the contrary out of which I shall present the Reader with some remarkable Passages and leave it to him to judge whether what I have laid down for my Principle does not look highly probable Historical Account for the Month of November in the Article of Advice from England 1688. The King's Fleet that is King James's is about forty three Men of War ten Fireships but though commanded by the Earl of Dartmouth who is entirely for the King's Interest 't is thought the Seamen and many of the Officers will not perform that Duty which the King expects from them Reflexions upon the Advice from Holland the same Month. The Expence that has been bestowed upon the Fleet and Army set forth from Holland is a sign they are morally assured of the Success of the Enterprise which I am apt to believe has been a long time ago in Agitation though it was carried on with that Prudence and Secrecy as not to be discovered till it could not be longer concealed Advice from Germany Decemb. 1688. The Confederates are arrived in Franconia where they stay till General Dunewald comes up to join them with the Emperour's Forces to the end they may march together c. Nevertheless when they are joined there is great probability they will do nothing till they hear what the Prince of Orange does in England for he is at present the primum Mobile of all things Reflexions upon the Advice from France Decemb. 1688. 'T is thought that Monsieur Seignalay's Journey to visit the Coasts was particularly occasioned by the turn of Affairs in England c. But now all those Journeys will signifie little for if Heaven continues Prosperity to the Prince of Orange of necessity the most Christian King must quit the Ocean Reflexions upon the Advice from England the same Month. So soon as the Enterprize of the Prince of Orange was discoursed of all Men imagined that he was sure of the greatest part of the Nobility of England Some put the question whether he will dethrone his Father in Law or whether c. he 'll be contented with the Honour of having saved the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the English Nation For my part I believe an Accommodation will be a difficult thing I make no question but the next Parliament King James will be declared to have forfeited his Crown Reflexions on the Advice from Germany February 1689. I am apt to believe they are not to be called by the name of Politicians who imagine that the Emperour caused the Marquess of Lucignan to be seised that he might have an opportunity to enter into a Negotiation Then again What was befaln the Emperour since unknown to us that should enforce him to alter his Conduct If it had been that the Affairs in England went ill on the P. of O's side that had been a Reason indeed but all the World knows there is no such thing the Prince of Orange has been crowned c. To all which I shall add a remarkable Passage out of the French King's Declaration of War against Spain Amongst other Motives he declares That he is informed what share the Governour
of the Spanish Low Countries had in the Prince of Orange's Enterprize against England but not believing what he did was done by his Master's Command his Majesty was in good hopes to have persuaded his most Catholick Majesty to have joined with him for the Restoration of the lawful King of England c. To which purpose he made several Proposals that were all received whilst the Success of the Prince of Orange continued doubtfull but when 't was known at Madrid that the King of England had left his Kingdom then nothing was thought of but War with France That his Majesty was also farther informed that the Spanish Ambassadour in England visited the Prince of Orange every day and importuned him to declare War against France c. But finding that his most Catholick Majesty was resolved c. Gen. Hist of Europe Vol. 1. Month Apr. 89. As to this last passage I am sensible many prejudiced persons will be ready to object the little Reputation the French King and his Ministers have had for their Veracity these many Years but if we reflect on the vast Charge he is constantly at for Intelligence in all places where he is concerned and how much it imported him to find out the Mystery of the Confederacy it ought in some measure at least to incline us to credit him especially when it 's notoriously known he had intimated to King James some considerable time before he could give credit to it the Design of the Prince of Orange and the States General against him and proffered him such Assistance that if he had complied with it would have effectually prevented this late Revolution in Great Britain and consequently this bloody and desperate War which has been the sad Effect of it And there are some persons now living of unquestionable Integrity and sufficient Interest to know the truth of it who assert that Don Ronquillo the late Spanish Ambassadour plainly told King James that if we would not be induced to join in the Confederacy with the Empire and Spain against France he would run the hazard of losing his Crown so certain it is that the Revolution here was an immediate Effect of the Consultations and Resolutions of the Confederacy though not publickly enough hitherto understood to the great injury of the King and perversion of his Subjects These Passages out of a publick Account of the Affairs of Europe allowed to be published and as we are obliged to suppose approved by the States General for the present till something more material be offered by more capable and intelligent Persons may seem to any reasonable man a sufficient Proof of my Assertion that what the Pr. of Orange has lately transacted there was not managed by him alone against the Intentions of the rest of the Confederacy If so why did not they remonstrate against his Proceedings by their Ambassadours to King James and the Prince of Orange too and as in Honour bound contribute their Assistence when especially requested to it towards his Restoration Nay why did they on the contrary by their respective Ambassadours and Envoys congratulate the Prince and Princess of Orange's Accession to the Throne and by this means virtually declare to all the World that King James was justly deposed and that the Prince and Princess of Orange were become the lawfull and rightfull King and Queen of England So that the more nicely we examine the methods of the Prince of Orange's Proceedings the greater reason we have to conclude this Objection to be a meer Sham and Excuse His charging his Father in law with Male-administration Violating the Fundamental Laws of the Realm with setting up the Roman Catholick Religion imposing a Supposititious Heir upon the Three Kingdoms in order to put by the Succession of his own Children meerly on the account of Religion c. What was all this to the business of France and the Confederates The only thing in the Prince of Orange's Daclaration that makes for the business pretended is the Private League Offensive and Defensive between King James and France which notwithstanding could never be produced and exposed to the view of the World and if it had been so could never be any just pretence for their assisting to invade him unless it had been contrary to former Alliances between him and them none of which appearing it is altogether as frivolous as many other Shams in that Master-piece of Villany the forementioned Declaration Upon these Suppositions then 't is apparent that that which was to give Life unto the Confederacy and bring it into Act was the pulling down King James and setting up the Prince of Orange so that before all this was accomplish'd the Confederacy was but an Embrio and no better than a Conditional Stipulation and upon the unsuccessfulness of the Prince of Orange would have been stisled and vanish'd into nothing There was no War declared before this Gentleman was most Traiterously Proclaimed King but by the Duke of Bavaria Nov. 10. as you may see in the London Gazette The Emperour and Dutch did not till March 89. and in all probability it had not been done afterward on the Confederates side if this Praeludium to all the rest had miscarried To this effect we may remember that the Dutch Ambassadour when charged by King James in the behalf of his Masters the States General with assisting the Prince of Orange with Men Money Arms c. for his Expedition against the express Articles of Peace and Alliance made between King Charles the Second of blessed Memory and the States of the Vnited Netherlands 1667. particularly the 11th Article wherein it was agreed That the said King of Great Britain and the said States General remain Friends Confederates united and allied for the Defence and Preservation of the Rights Liberties and Immunities of either Allie and their Subjects against all who shall endeavor to disturb the Peace of either by Sea or Land And Artie 13. That neither the said King nor the said Common-wealth nor any of the Subjects of either inhabiting or residing within their Jurisdiction shall cherish and assist the Rebels of either party with any Succour Counsel or Favour whatsoever but shall expose and effectually hinder all persons abiding residing or dwelling in either of their Dominions from supplying or furnishing any of those foresaid Rebels by Sea or Land with Arms Succour or Assistance either in Men Ships Arms or Warlike Furniture c. And Article 14. That the King of Great Britain and the said States General shall Mutually Sincerely and Faithfully as there is occasion assist each other against the Rebels of either by Sea or Land with Men Ships c. Article 15. That neither the said King nor the said Commonwealth nor the Subjects of either shall in any of their Jurisdictions Countries c. receive any Rebel or Rebels Fugitive or Fugitives declared or to be declared c. pretended to know nothing of it which is a plain Indication they would have insisted
upon that denial and urged it in their own Vindication if that Project had not succeeded to prevent a Storm from King James and the K. of France and it would have equally served the rest of the Confederates too But as soon as they heard his Enterprize had its desired effect the next thing we heard of was the States Manifesto owning the whole business justifying themselves and applauding the Heroick Attempt of the Prince of Orange From what has been hitherto said I shall beg leave to infer That this Revolution was the Contrivance of the Confederates in general and not the Prince of Orange's separately from them but in Conjunction with them That all his Motives of what nature soever were meerly introductory to it and that the most principal of them that seemed the most justifiable of his Proceedings were calculated only to serve the Malicious and Disaffected part of the Nation and to wheedle and amuse the rest into a Compliance with him That if those had not been subtilly thought on others would not have been wanting That he had no design to secure Religion vindicate Justice to assert the Liberties or secure the Properties of the People but to execute the Designs of the Confederates in general and to serve his own Ambition and unsatisfied Thirst after Empire in particular That therefore the Grand Presumptions as he terms it of the Supposititiousness of the Prince of Wales of the Private League between K. James and the K. of France the introducing of Arbitrary Power Popery c. were meer Cant and nothing to the purpose he having not performed any thing promised in that Declaration but acted quite contrary and for corroborating my main Position I shall proceed to shew what peculiar Advantages the rest of the Confederates proposed to themselves by such a Revolution in England which may induce all impartial Readers to subscribe to the Truth of what I have hitherto said The principal Advantage the Confederates in general exclusive of the P. of Orange proposed to themselves by this Revolution was to have the Kingdom of Great Britain one of the Strongest and most Flourishing Monarchies in Europe at their entire Devotion to draw off Men and Money at their pleasure so long as they could keep this new set-up King in the Throne an advantage so considerable that whilst they can do this and any Wealth remains in England they are sure to make the cheapest Experiment they could possibly devise and withall the most powerful effort imaginable towards the reducing the growing Power of France and retrieving their former losses And however the infatuated and easily deluded Populace of England may seem to despise the Confederates in their Discourse yet it 's evident enough that so long as this Confederacy holds and no longer shall they keep their new King it being sufficiently apparent to any one of common Sense that if the whole and entire Confederacy have had hitherto enough to do to oppose France even in the lowest degree it is more than demonstration that she alone will be able to do it least for I must take it as granted that if England breaks from the Confederacy the Confederates must of necessity knock quite off and make their best terms at any rate and consequently unite with France against England which we are well assured that King will oblige them to in order to the compleating that most Glorious Resolution which he has so often made and will eternize his Memory of the Restoring that Unfortunate Prince and Martyr for his sake the true and lawfull King of England This supposition I hope will without much difficulty be granted me if we consider the great losses of the Confederates on all sides their apparent Poverty and Inability to carry on the War at their sole Charge that England is their principal support and has been all this War that without the continuation of Assistance from hence they must break and England compelled to submit to her Lawfull and most Injured Sovereign again which all these Allies know they would not be easily or suddenly inclined to from the Sense of their horrid Guilt and dread of his just Resentment and therefore till meer Necessity and the utmost Extremity drives them to it they are sure to drain them at their pleasure Another advantage the Confederates propos'd to reap by the late Revolution here and by engaging these Nations into the Confederacy is this supposing their successfulness in Attacking France that whatever Cities or Territories should be recovered or won from the French should either revert to their old respective Owners or be acquired to some of the rest of the Confederates exclusive of the Prince of Orange as should be agreed by them This is natural and easie enough to be supposed for can any one imagine should the late pretended Design of the Prince of Orange to attempt the taking of Dunkirk Ipres or Namur have been effected that the King of Spain would have resigned his right in them to him and permitted them to be annext to the Crown of England since 't is evident beyond all contradiction that the ground of this Confederacy as is published by them to all the World was to make War upon France in order to recover what they urged was some time since so unjustly ravished from them by that Monarch and nothing of this nature could ever be pretended with truth by the Prince of Orange as King of England we have not lost one single Town to the French So that it is manifest all the Prodigious Expence we have been at to carry on the War in Flanders and Piedmont was not in order to recover any thing from France that we had any right to but only to assist the rest of the Confederates in regaining what was lately theirs and pray what advantage is this to us And let the War in the conclusion be as successful as can be wisht we shall only have the honour in assisting to debilitate France by weakening our selves and enriching the Confederates by impoverishing and reducing poor England But perhaps it may be alledged that what has been urged in reference to the retaking of such places as have been unjustly taken from the Confederates by France will be readily granted but what Acquists the English shall make in France it self will be their own As to this I answer By the late Project of Invading France we may be satisfied that there was no manner of appearance it would be so if it had been attempted and really succeeded For supposing they had landed at Bayonne marched into Provence and Dauphine it was with a design to joyn the Duke of Savoy's and the rest of the Confederate Forces to make Reprisals for what the French had acted in Savoy and Piedmont or in order to retake such places as formerly belonged to that Prince now in the Possession of the French This is so probable nay next to certain that it's non-sense to think otherwise no possible Acquists on
Indignation of all his neighbouring Princes for the perpetual Insults Ravages and Plunderings they are exposed to in quartering Foreigners upon his Account What Honour for that miserable infatuated Prince to be complemented by the Emperour and the King of Spain with the empty Title of Generalissimo and yet be over-ruled in all his Projects and Designs by their Generals as is evident from their refusing to attack Briancon and Queiras where he might have put in strong Garisons and from thence have summoned in the Countrey to bring in their Contributions and have ordered every thing to better Advantage and with more Reputation than he has done and all this perhaps with as little loss as the taking of Guillestre and Ambrun which he has been forct at last to quit shamefully What Honour was it to him that the Germans against his Consent and Remonstrances to the contrary should commit such horrid Barbarities by their burning and destroying for which he and his half ruined Country must be accountable to the utter Destruction of it or at least be forced to such an Accommodation unless the French King be superlatively generous as will in all probability leave onely the empty Title of Dukes of Savoy to him and his Posterity To conclude What Honour has it been to him by the Importunities of his perfidious and impotent Allies to persist in his Stubbornness and to refuse so many good Overtures as have been made him since the loss of all Savoy and the perpetual Disappointments of competent Succours articled for in the very Alliances between him the Emperor and Spain c. after his most pressing instances made for them at their respective Courts and as many empty Promises from them and opportunities of healing himself again in due time the French King having proffered him blanks to write his own Conditions and this since he was humanely speaking past all hopes of regaining any thing by the greatest Opposition he could make Since then 't is evident that this Prince has engaged himself against his Honor and Interest unless we will suppose him uncapable of the least degree of good Sense and irrecoverably desperate he will not after so many fruitless Attempts and the base Disappointments of all that Assistance promised him from the Empire Spain and England reject those Offers which are now made him of an Accommodation by the Fr. King and his Holiness All that he can expect from the Confederacy is onely a little Subsistence-money to act defensively since the French Forces daily augment upon him and all imaginable Care is taken to strengthen the Garisons on that side by new Works and to shut him out of Provence and Dauphine for the time to come And since the rest of the Confederates have been hitherto notwithstanding their utmost Endeavours to encrease their Forces inferiour to their Enemy and he grows stronger and they weaker and out of condition either to repair his Losses or prevent their own there 's no other Method left him but either to comply or fall dishonourably and unpitied There is no great difficulty to shew this to be the State of that deluded Prince since all the World is convinc'd that he had the best prospect of disembarassing his Affairs this last Campaign that ever he could or can expect The P. of O. promised him to land an Army at Bayonne thence to march into Provence and Dauphine to join him as did likewise the K. of Spain England by that casual Advantage at Sea was entirely Mistress in that Element all the year at least for that purpose had a powerfull Navy wholly at lessure ever since to prosecute it there being no probability of any Opposition and 16000 Men with a vast Train of Artillery and Munitions of both sorts originally design'd for that Enterprize which if it had been put in Execution would in the opinion of all Mankind have exercised the Fineness and Politicks of France more than any thing that ever was or can be attempted for the future This I say was the onely nicking Opportunity for Savoy while the French were visibly weak at Sea and altogether unprovided to make any resistence at Land on that side but by what Fate I cannot tell all these Prospects utterly vanish'd to the astonishment of all Europe without leaving the least Effect but want of Policy and the indelible Character of a panick Fear downright Cowardice or Desperation and more than an Improbability of ever having the same opportunity again besides the sad Prognostick that all 's running down on the Confederates Side and Providence clearly on that of France As to what may be pretended that the same Designs may be prosecuted the next Campaign c. it is easy to urge that there 's no manner of likelihood it can be since 't is well known that France will be provided of as good or a much better Fleet than she ever had by that time and that since the World is now convinced that they can and will fight and dare attempt any thing and that 44 of their Men of War were able to make good their parts against 99 of their Enemies and with the Addition but of 20 more in all probability had worsted them that a Fleet of the French by 20 inferior to the others for the future will be match enough for them Nay if we may credit our foreign Advices they 'l have by the next Spring a Fleet every way equal to that of England and Holland let them both build and put out what they can make and then it 's a clear Case that the Design of landing an Army to join Savoy or any where else on the French Coasts will be impracticable But then again let us consider Is there any greater likelihood that the Confederates will be superiour to the French by Land the ensuing Campaign than this last They had made we all know their utmost Efforts in order to it before and yet the Pr. of O. told the States at his parting that the cause of all the miscarriages of this last must be imputed to the Inferiority of their Forces to those of France and we may modestly suppose that 30000 Men will hardly recruit the Confederates Loss by the Sword Sickness and Desertion and that their Augmentation will not be near half part so great as that of their Enemy so that they must be inferior yet in a double respect both in Men and Conduct and if so of doing less than ever For France has not lost a quarter part so many as they and it 's reasonable enough to suppose they have raised near as many since the Campaign was opened upon the Account of the Descent from England besides the standing regular Troops of Irish c. in Normandy and other Provinces that never came into any Service and his Augmentation besides Recruits our Monthly Account tells us will amount to above 40000 Men though I am inclined to think by comparing the foreign Accounts they cannot amount to much less
that side being answerable either to the Charge of taking or keeping by the English Neither can it be congruous to common Sense that it could be of any Interest to the Duke of Savoy to assist the others in Subjugating any part of France to the English whilst most of his own Countrey was already subdued and in the hands of the French Again granting that the other design of Beseiging Dunkirk with the Transport Forces from England had answered common expectation Dunkirk all the World knows was formerly the Spaniards the most important Garison and Port that belonged to Flanders and can any one so much as fancy that the King of Spain would ever have been contented it should be an Appendage to England when it was alone of greater consequence to that Monarch to recover than half of what he had hitherto lost in Flanders Or do we think the English Army alone was in a capacity to undertake the Seige of such a Garrison and carry it or if it were jointly performed with the rest of the Confederate Army that they would tamely let the Prince of Orange have the sole honour of winning and wearing it too This can never enter into the Head of the meanest Dotard and therefore the direct contrary must necessarily be admitted The next Advantage and that of no mean consequence neither that the Confederates have from our Revolution besides that of making these Experiments upon France at the vast expence of our Blood and Treasure is that if no possible hopes remain of attaining their Ends upon their common Enemy as they phrase it they have a fair opportunity of making their Peace whether England consent or not This must be acknowledged a prodigious one if duly considered for when the worst comes to the worst the leaving England which in reality has been the most powerfull as well as the most malicious Enemy to the just Resentments of France will almost amount to an Expiation for all the envious Designs they have all this while formed against her and by a timely Desertion of her or in conjuction with France against her will in some measure attone for those Injuries they have done to her lawfull Monarch and indeed to themselves and all the Crowned Heads in the World by so wicked a Precedent as they have given This is a plain Case and must be owned a singular Advantage on their side All will agree 't is no way feasible for England resolving to maintain the P. of O. in the possession of the Crown he has basely usurpt ever to come to any sort of an Accommodation with France exclusive of them and that they if necessitated can and will without him it being impossible for us to wage War against France and them to when we with all the united Forces of the Allies were not able to make the least impression against the former The Objection that may be made to this Advantage of the Confederates exclusive of England is this viz. That by the Articles of the Confederacy it 's stipulated that no one of them shall make a separate Peace To this it may be replied That this Provision or Caution at first sight may seem to be of some force to keep such of them who are the weakest and the most contiguous within the bounds of it for fear of being outraged and treated as Enemies by the rest but as for the more potent or remote it can be of little moment especially after the sad Experience of their declining Condition and the sensible and irresistible Growth of the hitherto so much envied Power of France The utmost Fury of the Allies has been already spent and their utmost Efforts by Sea and Land and all to their own loss and the Interest of their Enemy That brave Army under the Command of the Duke of Lorrain a great part of which consisted of those veterane Troops that for several years had signalised themselves against the Turks were broken and shattered in pieces the very first Campaign by which means the Emperour has been extremely weakened both in Hungary and Germany and the Enemy left at liberty to doe what he pleases on the Rhine and the Mosell ever since the strongest part of Flanders lost the Duke of Savoy upon the brink of Ruine all Savoy gone Piedmont in a sinking Condition the Commerce in all these Princes Countries destroyed So that what they took to be one of the surest Methods of reducing France has faln most heavy upon themselves nothing but Misery and an universal Discontent with an utter despair of ever succeeding in their Enterprizes against their Enemy multiplying among them and England which has been their best Support hitherto growing less able and willing to go on with the War and more disappointed perhaps than any of the rest These Considerations laid together and seriously weighed will more than evince my Assertion and confute the Objection since what has been for the most part practised in the like Cases may be now That it has been no unusual thing for some of a Confederacy when altogether worsted and ready to be over-run by their Adversaries to make their best Advantage of a separate Peace when they could not bring down the haughty and stubborn Spirits of the rest to their Sentiments and Resolutions especially when convinced by wofull Experience that it would be their onely Honour and Interest so to doe whereas at first they were really trickt into it against both That this may be the Case of some of these united Princes will be no hard task to demonstrate as for instance What Honour was it for the Duke of Savoy to enter into the Confederacy against his Uncle the best and most potent Friend he had whose annual Pension to him for some years amounted to a greater Summ than the Revenues of his Principality What Honour to his Religion to entertain a hodgpodg of all Opinions contrary to the Principles of his own to permit them to preach up their filthy Cant where ever they go and to gratifie their Gothish and brutish Zeal in the profaning all that is sacred and looks like good by their irreligious and unchristian Behaviour and such Villanies as are not fit to be named among Christians What Honour was it for him to let out his own native Countrey for a Cockpit to the rest of the Confederates and in particular to the K of Spain and the Dutch for I must reckon the P of O. among them who had violated all their former Leagues with two Crowned Heads to try tricks whether they could by that means divert the War from their own doors to the Devastation of his Territories and Ruine of himself and poor Subjects beyond any Recompence all of them together can ever make him when he had such Advantages at the same time offered him by France of encreasing his own and Subjects Wealth and Prosperity beyond any of his Ancestors What Honour is it for him to bring upon himself the just Hatred and
Inconvenience and to maintain an Army abroad at the same time The only way is to take him at his Word recall our Forces break off the Confederacy and to stand upon our own Legs maintain a good Army here at Home pay them well and augment our Navy But yet this Method has its Difficulties too so hard a thing it is to ensure any the least degree of Mundane Felicity For should we leave the Confederacy in the Lurch which his present Circumstances seem to encline or necessitate him to consent to if the Parliament think fit then the vast Arrears owing to the Allies which they could never expect to get from him would oblige them to unite with France declare the P. of O the common Enemy and England the Seat of War That he is indebted to the Confederates seems highly probable to me by the Elector of Brandenburg's pressing the States and the King of Spain so hard for the Subsidies or Pensions due to him the last Spring representing to them that without them he should not be in a condition to maintain the Forces he had on foot which the Elector of Saxony did likewise the same time and 't is not unlikely that was one pricipal reason of Hanouer's slow Proceedings the last Campaign And if I be not much mistaken in my Conjecture the P. of O. must come in for a Snack in that Affair as well as the States and Spain especially if he be the Primum Mobile of the Confederacy as the Monthly Account and one of the late Slips term him But to return the latter would be insignificant for Reasons formerly mentioned so that our Case looks desperate But if we should break up the Confederacy by consent these Arrears must be paid which no doubt will arise to a large Sum which would be hard for us to part with in these Circumstances and to support the Charge of a War besides But Oh the Descent This must be carried on yet None can desire more than I that a Descent should be made into France and therefore notwithstanding the Disappointment of that Design the last Summer I intend to attempt it the next Year with a much more considerable Force c. What a parcel of Stuff and Contradiction huddled together as if the Noise of the Cannon from Mons and Namur was not out of his Head yet To talk of a Descent so publickly so long before-hand enough to frustrate the best laid Project in the World If it were impracticable the last Year much more the next There are the same Difficulties at least this Year if not ten times greater but nothing will serve our Turns or be worth our Noble Attempts but Impossibilities By the next Year there will be a potent Fleet to obstruct us if not powerful enough to defeat and ruine us more powerful Diversion by Land early notice of this Design all possible means found out to prevent us by Sea and Land and it may be a Descent to anticipate ours and what then Ay but I intend to attempt it with a more considerable Force Is not this a palpable Contradiction to his modest Request he had made before of a Force at least as great by Sea and Land as we had the last Year i. e. If we may be permitted to understand him he desires if it can't be otherwise but the same assistance of Men and Money he had the last Year and he will attempt it and if they enable him with a much more considerable Force he 'll attempt it if notwithstanding all the forementioned greater opposition he 's like to meet with the next Year than the last he intends yet to attempt it though with equal Forces to those he had before Why was it not attempted then when there were far less Will he engage to be wiser next Year than the last or that the French shall be more Fools or that they shall be less able to oppose him with a more powerful Navy and a greater number of Land Forces the next than they had the last Campaign and he be stronger and abler to attack them with the same Forces he had before And suppose he be enabled with a more considerable Force can he assure us that their Diligence in repairing their Losses at Sea and the considerable Augmentation of their Land Forces will not exceed his more numerous Forces and render his good Intention as impracticable as ever This is just such a passionate desire as he had to fight LVXEMBVRGH Hand over Head without the least shadow of Hope to get any Advantage but meerly to keep up the Opinion amongst Fools of his being a Fighting Spark and scorning to pass a whole Campaign with doing nothing so he is resolved to attempt something by Sea though he is sure to get nothing but hard Blows and expose some thousands of his English to be knock'd on the Head or to die like Fools to their immortal Honour And this is all he seems to promise in his Speech to attempt a landing in France which was ever laugh'd at by sensible Men before and ought to be hiss'd at now Well! but here are grand Motives to stir us up to support him with all the speed imaginable We are exposed to the Attempts of France while the French King is in a condition to make them and therefore the great Advantage we have at this very nick of Time of being joined with the most of the Princes and States of Europe against so dangerous an Enemy ought not to be slipt especially our Countrey and Religion lying at stake c. and we have the same Religion to defend c. What Advantage have we now that we had not before Are we but just now entered into the Confederacy or have we or they been asleep or drunk all this while Why an Advantage now Are they stronger now or more politick or resolute than before Or if we have had little or no Advantage in being joined with them all this while what assurance have we of any from henceforward I am sure some wise Statesmen who have transmitted to us the Experience of former Ages do assure us if a Confederacy does not make some notable Impression upon the common Enemy the first or second Campaign they are never like to do it afterwards but grow weaker and weaker till they sink into nothing and as to these Confederates notwithstanding they have served almost an Apprenticeship under one of the wisest Masters of his Craft in the whole World have added so little to their Skill and approved themselves such notorious Dunces that we have no hopes of ever seeing a Masterpiece from them to their grand Disparagement and our infinite Loss And after all this Pother are we exposed to the Attempts of France and is France a dangerons Enemy and the Power of France excessive Who may we thank for all this Was it not the P. of O's being joined with most of the Princes and States of Europe that brought us into
Prayers tend directly to nothing but the hardening and encouraging Men to persevere in the horrid Sins of Rebellion and Schism with their Concomitants and by consequence in the Eye of Reason give an inlet to all other Vices it being as justifiable for a Man to plead a necessity for Whoring Theft Murder c as to incur the guilt of Perjury and Rebellion for the preservation of Religion and the consequence is so visible and intelligible by all the Debauchees and Atheists of the Age that we to our great Sorrow perceive the visible growth of both dayly and one John Tillotson has contributed more to the spreading and rooting of Atheism than 50 Spinosa's Hobbs's or Vaninus's So that let him insist as long as he pleases upon that old stale Cant of Religion to cover all the rest of his profligate Designs we are certain he has the least reason to name it of any Person in the whole World one may as soon with his Arch-Heretick and Schismatick Don John find out a place for the Damn'd in the Mansions of Eternal Bliss after a certain period of suffering Hell Torments or that the Devils and the Damned sing Hallelujahs in Hell or that they shall at length merit a Release from those dreadful Torments by their supposed Blasphemies against or Execrations of God Almighty as the least spark of Religion in him if we reflect upon his Practises which are ever the Fruits of good or bad Principles or as soon demonstrate that the Emperour the King of Spain Dukes of Bavarin and Savoy entered into the Consederacy with him and the rest of the Protestant Princes out of no other Design but to preserve the Church of England against the Attempts of King James and the French King as prove it ever was the least part of his Intentions For 't is visible to any one that knows the difference between Schism and the Vnity of the Church that he has persecuted ever since he came hither the Members of the True established Church of England and the first effort that he made was to let loose all manner of Schisms and Heresies upon her to worry her to Death if possibly the preservation of which he most impudently makes one of the plausible Pretexts of his Invasion and if the Latitudinarian Gentlemen had not out of a great Zeal to preserve their Preferments more than their Religion swallowed the Oaths against their known Duty and Allegiante had put the Presbyterians and Independents into the actual Possession of all the Churches in the Kingdom as is constantly urged by them in private as the only Reason of their complyance and so turned R as they say to keep Rogues out And here I must not forget to give them their Due they prov'd apt Scholars and out-witted him Nay more than that by compelling them to Complyances against all that they formerly taught and professed to believe to be their indispensible Duty he has been the occasion of such new Lights and Discoveries to them in matters of the nearest Concernment to them that in effect he has given the sham to the so Glorious Deliverance it self and rendered himself for the future altogether useless How natural is it now for them to urge and indeed in some of their Writings they have already that though there might be some pretence in the late dark Age of their Immaturity and Childhood for his Heroick and Generous Undertaking there can be none now for his Continuance which by his Unsuccessfulness and the vast Expences he puts the Nation to without any colour of hope to accomplish the remainder of his Designs has already dimn'd the Lustre of his first Enterprize and sunk it almost into Oblivion 'T is not Change in Religion let it be what it will can affect them now they 've got a Clue that will readily extricate them out of all such Labyrinths with the new Arts of higher and lower Sense the Distinction between Submission and Allegiance as Circumstances shall determine it No Oaths can now enslave them and tye them up and no pretence of Religion impose upon them Christianity is not the same thing now that she was in her Swadling Cloaths one thing is to be done in propagating the Faith another when she has taken firm rooting The Self-denial and Passivity of the first Ages was really necessary for the propagation of the Faith but now it 's setled it's become an useless Topick especially since the State has added her Sanction and stampt it into Civil Property and Christianity as to the Agenda requires little more then what the pure sight of Nature clear'd up from Passion and Prejudice suggests of her self Self-Preservation is her prime Law and Dictate and all the Religion in the World cannot null it without committing the greatest violence upon Humanity it self Besides since Salvation is not confined to any Party or Sect of Christians but allowances must be made for Humane Frailty it must be diametrically opposite to the Great Law of Charity it self to be strait-lac'd in a point of such deep importance Therefore let the P. of O. talk what he will as to Religion Ours is as Comprehensive as his let it be what it will we want only the much desired Opportunity to reap the Blessings of our happy Change which if it cannot be obtained under him we are ready for the next propitious Providence and let it come from whence it will modo hic sit bene if we may but continue Vicars of Bray still we 'll call it and celebrate it as the Greatest Deliverance we ever had yet These short Reflections upon some Passages of his Speech I thought fit to subjoin to my Considerations on the last mentioned Disadvantage these Nations have by this Great Revolution viz. the unlikelyhood of ever enjoying Peace under the present Government I might if it were not to avoid being over tedious enlarge my self upon a Subject of satal Importance to these Islands the Daily Decay of Trade all that I shall say in reference unto it is only this that it 's impossible for us to retrieve it so long as the P. of O. continues here because we can never hope to be at Peace or Masters of the Seas so as to secure it and we must allow a Million and a half at least to be yearly lost during this War in Shipping and Goods and all the possible Product or Encrease of it in the way of Commerce near a third part to be deducted out of the Trade in general occasioned by excessive Taxes and scarcity of Money a considerable part whereof is near lost already for want of Seamen Convoys and Ships themselves by such vast numbers being taken for Transportation the frequent Embargoes and unhappy detaining of our Fleets to the loss of their Markets wasting their Provisions and raising Commodities to such high Rates that we had as good be without them particularly the Newfoundland and Bank Fishery suspended if not lost to the impoverishing of divers of