of it than what was don by the Canon We shall also not speak of the successes of that Warr over which the King of England so highly vaunts on his side but concerning that we shall onely say that we should have matter enough to give thanks to God Almighty for if the conclusion of the present Warr should not be unhappyer for us then was the end of that in the time aforesaid Proceeding then to the examination of the substance of the Declaration itself if there can be any substance in sensible untruths evil-minded surmisings and gross impertinencies we shall briefly run over all the points over which the King of Great Britain shows or at least feigns his discontents and for the satisfaction not onely of our inhabitants and all unbyassed persons but of those of his own nation also we shall demonstrate that the foresaid pretended reasons have not been the moving cause of this Warr but onely pretexts and ill cemented covers of an intention which is older than the invention of the pretended motives which are no causes but contraryly are effects and products of the design of making warr upon us First the King complains to wit feignedly as we have formerly said that the States Generall by force of one of the Articles of the Breda's treaty as he holds it forth being obliged to send Commissioners to London there to regulate the trading in East-India should so farr have failed therein that they could not by a three years urgency of his Ambassadour be prevailed upon to acquit themselves of their word and promise given on that behalf and further to give the King satisfaction for the injurie which those of his nation in East-India should have suffered from ours Whereunto we shall not otherwise answer than shortly thus That we most exceedingly wonder that the pennner of the manifesto who doubtless is no small perswader of the Warr should set forth a Declaration which must come under the eyes of all the World having not once beforehand taken the pains to look over the treaty in which there is not found one article that obligeth the States General to send Commissioners to London for the end aforesaid but an article indeed there is viz the third of the appendix of the said treaty mentioning the commerce and navigation whereby it is set down that the King of England and the States General should with all speed by Commissioners on both sides form an expedient for regulating the navigation and Commerce and that mean while and by provision they should be ruled by that which was agreed on by the King of France and the States General on that behalf the Maritin treaty between the King of England and this State being principally since that concluded in the Year 1669. Hence now can the World see haw farr the desire of Warr an affection of all other the most irregular the most inhuman the most accursed darkeneth and destroyeth the understanding but praised be God Almighty who through his All-wise direction confoundeth and ashameth the wickedness and clearly discovers that the Authors of this Warr are inspired and blown up by the Spirit of him who is a Liar and a Murtherer of mankind from the beginning That which is said of the wrong that the English nation should have suffered by ours in the East-Indies is of the same nature that is untrue and Calumnious and should there also be made a specifical and particular expression of the said unjust things as they call them 't would make the dictatour of the manifesto ashamed who makes his complaint in General terms to deceiv the World which the English Courtiers I speak of those who are councellours of the Warr judge to be as sottish as themselvs are both sottish and wicked Touching the work of Syrinam Which is the second pretended grievance in the foresaid declaration 't is in the first place very remarkable on that behalf that the said work concerns the King wholly not at all but is onely taken up by him to stretch out a matter of quarrell which that the Reader may so much the aptlier apprehend be pleased this to know that the foresaid Colonie of Syrinam having been in March in the Year 1667. overmasterd by one Abraham Crijnsen of Zeeland with the Weapons of the State and in this manner by a certain capitulation brought under the subjection of the same was by the English in the month of May next following retaken but that it was by vertue of the 6th article of the treaty of Breda requiring that all Lands Cities strong holds and Colonies taken by one of the contesting parties from another during the Warr and retaken after the 10 20 of May 1667. should be restored to the first taker again put into the power of the State After the said restitution complaint was made by the King of England that the effect of the capitulation made with the forenamed Crijnsen was not made good to the inhabitants of Syrinam for that the in-dwellers of the said Colonie as they gave it out were denyed permission to depart with their persons and transportable effects otherwhere Now what right was the King of England ever born to to capacitate him with any reason to further the accomplishment of the capitulation made with the inhabitants of the said Colonie who by the right of the Warr are become subjects of the State What doth the foresaid Capitulation concern the King of England more than the King of Spain Do the inhabitants of Syrinam even after the conquest of the said place by vertue of the capitulation continue subjects of the King of England Hath any man ever heard that by a capitulation the jus imperii and the old right of the first Lord is continued over those who are conquered by Weapons onely because they capitulate and make conditions upon their giving over it is certainly notorious and beyond all controversie that conquering is a lawfull title which altereth the places and goods from the owner and the subjects from the Soveraign which right is especially established by the 3d. article of the Breda's Treaty whereby it is agreed that each party should with an absolute right of lordship propriety and possession continue to hold all the Lands Islands Cities Colonies and other places by them taken in and mastered during the Warr. 'T is indeed true that through the capitulation the right of the absolute disposition of the conquerour is circumscribed but no â—ound reason can be brought that the jurisdiction of the former â—ord should thereby be preserved over the capitulating subjects Is â—t ever com'd into the thoughts of the King of Spain that the inhabitants of Mastricht the Bosch and Breda who with their Cities by the right of Arms were renderd upon capitulation to the States General should by that capitulation continue to be his subjects Or pretends the King of England the right aforesaid in reference to those of English Colonies because of the nation and their birth as
not onely free himself from performing to us the limited succour which by the force of the defensive Alliance and the unlimited assistance which in pursuance of the aforesaid Triple league he is obliged to do but moreover with the help of a Prince mightyer than himself may overpower and tread us under foot We shall not measure out the injustice of these dealings according to their merits not onely for that we desire to contain our selvs within the bounds of moderation and modestie but also because we deem that evill-speaking is a wrong way of requiting evill-doing and a defence which will not secure us from the sword of our enemy This how ever the truth enforceth us to say that there can no example of a breach of trust be brought out of any histories that can parallel the example of the forementioned illustrious King in this case We have with him and by his persuasion and the King of Sweden made the abovesaid Triple Alliance whereby we have promised each other to help to bear off all the mischiefs which thereupon might fall upon us and making a difficulty of engageing ourselvs to Sweden in regard of the subsidies without an assured indemnitie on the side of Spain we yet upon the instances of the King of Great Brittain stepping over all scruples concluded the Triple league Now the King of England knows in his heart though he dissembleth and clokes that knowledge by his words that we are threatned for the Tâ—iple Alliance with a danger which he ought to help to defend us from And all the world knows that all that France pretends besides the foresaid league is but a disguise of the right cause of his anger which he hath by his Ministers clearly discover'd to all Courts No man that hath with due observation read the Contract between France and this State can be ignorant of this that we might as freely forbid the bringing in of French Wine and Brandewine as the King of France might surcharge and overburden our wares as the prohibitions of those are extended and stretched out and so indeed the said prohibitions are the same obliging our inhabitants as wel as the French so that the inaequality alone being forbidden by the foresaid contract the contractors in regard of the foresaid extension have preserved their naturall freedom And considering this every one can easyly apprehend that as the impositions and prohibitions of the foresaid extended things were not done against the forementioned contract so there do really cross it not onely the gratifications done by the King of France to the Northern Companie whereby with a subtilty and artifice the foresaid Contract in respect of the aequall burthening is eluded but also and especially the prohiâ—â—tion ordered by the King in reference to our inhabitants against the bringing in and carrying out of any wares in and out of his Kingdom And indeed the threatnings that France made against us before the conclusion of the foresaid Triple Alliance With no other design than to smother it in the birth suffer us not to be ignorant of the true subject of the indignation of the King of France And if it were so that the King of England should be unacquainted Which yet he is not with the right cause of the displeasure of the King of France he nevertheless knows that by vertue of the defensive Treaty made with this State in the Year 1668. he is bound when the States Generall shall be attacqued by any Prince or State upon whatsoever pretence it may be to furnish them with forty Ships of Warr six thousand footmen and four hundred horsmen upon promise of refusing to accept any thing of charges for performing the said assistance three years after the ending of the Warr. The King of England now well knowing that he should in case of an hostile onset be summoned by the States General to perform the said Treaty and accordingly the promised relief hath in a wonderfull manner undertaken to free himself from the band of the foresaid Alliance so ordering the matter that when France should fall upon us He should not stand in a state of confoederation and alliance with us which is by the foresaid Treaty praesupposed but in a state of Warr which for that very reason he hath advanced and hastened imagining with himself that he thereby had found out two great things to wit to dissolv the Sinews of the foresaid obligation and withall by conjunction with the redoubted and terrible might of France utterly to rout us out Honest and honourable designs indeed of a Christian Prince of a defender of the Faith of a man who having been disciplined by the correcting hand of God Almighty might have been taught not to wrong a man as himself nor to trouble the world to break his Alliance before the time of performing it be come and of a confoederate to make himself an enemy that he might not be bound as a friend to take hold of an occasion to ruin his former allies upon the rubbish-heap of their ruin to sett up the structure of an unbounded Dominion to offer up the bloud of his subjects upon ambitious designs and to stirr up tumults in the world he that can reconcile all this with the duty of a Christian and Evangelicall Prince must have another Gospel than that of meekness and Peace And that our inhabitants and the unbyassed World may clearly see that the Warr which the King of Great Britain at present maketh upon us ariseth from no other cause but the above-mentioned inclination it may be serviceable that we discover the mind of the King out of his own Manifesto which consists of nothing else but an unto ward dissembling of a wicked design We shall for some reasons dispense with our thoughts about the introduction to the said manifesto not spending many words upon that which contains nothing but the Kings boasting of his peace-loving mind and scrupulous conscience of which because he calls the world to witness we shall leav the judgement thereof to the impartiall world beleeving that there shall not be one found among that innumerable number of unbyassed witnesses who having knowledge of the affairs of the world shall not acknowledge that the King of England is one of those peaceable men who calls that Peace when they lay all wast and so desire the World that they may have no body to contend with but to live in outward Peace without any enemy if they could but otherwise live in Peace who have their own conscience for their Enemy so that the little World that is themselvs becomes too straight for them Neither shall we at this time rip up what passed before the Warr of the Year 1665 and who gave the occasion of and begun the same for that it is sufficiently known to all the World that the subject of that Warr was on the King of Englands side as unrighteous as it 's beginning was in a way of piracy without any other denunciation
Sea have constrained the weaker to the tendering of that honour and that also somtimes the necessity and the form thereof is constituted by a contract So is it then concerning that also agreed between the King of England and this State by the 19th article of the Breda's Treaty in conformitie with former Contracts made both with the present King and with the Protector Cromwel that the Ships and Seafaring vessells of the Vnited Provinces so well those of Warr and such as are raised for defence against the might of the Enemy as others which shall come to meet any Ship of Warr of the King of Great Britain in the British Sea shall strike the Flagge on the top of the mast and let fall the Mars-sail in the same manner as hath at any time formerly been usual That the right sense of this Article may be well apprehended the Reader may please to observe that the same originally proceeded from the Treaty made between this State and the Protector Cromwel in the Year 1654. and that the same was not at that time concluded in such terms but upon a heavy debate upon some words * Sintve singula sive in classibus whetâ—er they be single Ships or ranked in a Fleet. which the Protector Cromwel would have to be there with joined not onely thereby to oblige single Ships but the whole Fleets of the State unto the foresaid salutation in case of meeting any Ship of warr of England which words afterwards upon the earnest instances of the Ministers of this State were left out of the foresaid article and so must the 19th article be taken out of the 10th article of the Treaty of the Year 1662. which 10th article was granted on the Kings side from the 13th article of the Year 1654. not to be so understood that a whole Fleet of the State should by vertue of the foresaid Treaty be bound to give that salute for one Ship of England but the article aforesaid must be taken for a Regulation according to which the single ships and sea-faring vessels of the State must deport themselvs in regard of the salutings towards the English Ships of Warr. Now for to apply the foresaid article according to it's true meaning to the insisted on case of the Lord van Gent this is First remarkable that the Yacht of the King of England being supposed that in respect of its mounted guns it might pass for a Ship of Warr which we will not dispute not having met one single Ship or sea-faring vessel of the State but being sailed into a fleet then lying at anker doubtless with an evill design for to seek matter of quarrel the King can have no foundation whereon to maintain that the Lord van Gent was bound to strike by vertue of the foresaid article The second thing is aequally considerable that the foresaid article speaking of a meeting is not applicable to the making of a quarrel upon a formed design by the requiring civility and respect upon the uncivillest manner in the world And lastly it is sufficiently ly known that the foresaid occasion passed in the North Sea not farr from our coast being aequally evident that the North Sea is not the British Sea not onely for that the same is in all Sea-charts or maps even those of the English themselvs distinguished from the other but also and that especially which is in this case an invincible argument for that they are in the 17th article of the foresaid Breda's Treaty distinguished from each other where 't is expressly said that the Ships and Merchandizes which within the time of Twelv days after the Peace are taken in the British Sea and in the North Sea shall abide in the propriety of the conquerour whence then certainly it clearly appears that according to the King of England his own sense the North Sea is truly not the British Sea and vice versa so reciprocally but that the North-Sea is made the British-Sea and consequently distinct cases are confounded when men are enclined to embroil and trouble the world And although hereby the States Generall had right to abide by the 19th article of the foresaid treaty according to the foresaid genuine interpretation yet have they over and above declared to the King of Great Britain that upon the foundation of a solid friendship and being assured of the reall and upright performance of the fifth article of the Triple alliance in case th' excessive armature of France should come to fall upon this State they would willingly cause even their whole Fleet as they come to meet any Ship or Ships of Warr carrying the Standart or the Pavilion of his Majesty to strike the Flagge and let the Top-sail fall for an exuberant proof of the respect and honour which they upon all occasions will openly show to so trusty a friend and so great a Monarch saving that from thence no occasion may be taken now nor hereafter neither thereby any the least introduction may be given for hindering or in any part incommodating the inhabitants and subjects of these Vnited Netherlands Provinces in the free use of the Sea Which declaration the King of England takes ill because that by the same he should be bound to the upright performance of the Triple Alliance that is to take heed to his honour and word together with the assurance of doing no prejudice in regard of the free use of the Sea being an infallible argument that the King of England is as little enclined to let us have the free use of the Sea as to perform his word Here have you worthy Countreymen a short confutation of a Declaration which refutes and shames itself and by the Bell-mans noise as that of Drums and Trumpets not onely upon the open places and streets of London before the ears of the Nation but before all the World cryeth out a design of Warr which will be as dreadfull in it's execution as it is unrighteous in its undertaking and hath without doubt in it's contrivance no other end than the limits of a boundless ambition of an endeless coveting and of an unappeasable wrath We see the fire of Warr kindled about our coasts and borders a fire whose flame will consume the Christian World if God disappoint not the undertaking of our enemies and extinguish not the flame in its rising up All Lands and people except haply the Barbarians of Africa may well shake and tremble and from henceforth with terrour behold devastion coming upon their Lands and Cities if the troublers of the World be as prosperous in their proceedings as they are wicked in their design Let every one look himself in the glass of our example and well think that if we be unhappy his turn shall be to be unhappy also And you subjects of the King of England to whom we are bound by the bond of Christian Love and a higher than an earthly interest pour out your tears over the distress that threatens us and the misery
if for that they did remain his Subjects after their being conquered Who will say that the birth and language can produce such effects contradicting the received and by all people acknowledged effects of the Warr whereby the conquered is subjected to the conquerour without consideration of birth or language Are then the inhabitants of Syrinam notwithstanding the foresaid capitulation become subjects of the State and hath the King of England by the right of the Warr lost his imperium dominion over them so that after the conquering of them they remain no more his subjects and his people as he terms them in the foresaid Declaration whence hath he the right of complaining that we have not permitted the inhabitants of Syrinam as his subjects to obtain the effect of the forenamed capitulation Is it not beyond dispute and all imagination that the foresaid inhabitants should thereupon have addressed themselvs to this State and not to the King of England as to their lawfull Soveraign that not meriting any consideration on the contrary which hath formerly by or on the behalf of the King of England been objected against the substance of what hath been before produced in the case of Syrinam and is again not obscurely stirred up in the foresaid Manifesto to wit that the words in such sort as they had possessed the same on the 10 20 of May standing in the end of the 3d. article of the Treaty at Breda should limit the power of the States General in favour of the King and for the preservation of his old dominion over the inhabitants of Syrinam observing the connexion and the true sense of the forementioned article 't is easy to apprehend that the foresaid words in such sort do not limit the dominion over that which is taken but onely the further extending of the possession so that the meaning was not by those words to express that each party should continue to hold what they possessed no otherwise than with such a limitation of dominion as they had got it by capitulation but onely that the right of the conquerour should not be extended wider that is over no more Land than was in his occupation the 10 20 of May besides that if yet from those words there should be any reflection upon the limitation of the dominion and that upon the foresaid capitulation of Which we say absolutely no it cannot at the highest be otherwise construed then that the thing by which the imperium ruledom of the conquerour should be snubbed must be left in his keeping and that for those who should have acquired any right by the said limitation that is for the inhabitants who made the capitulation and in no wise for their old Lord. Though this defence Was indeed of that force that the King of England might thereby be taken off yet have the States Generall further out of a singular esteem of his said Majesty in whose friendship they always accounted themselvs highly interessed debated with the Lord Ambassadour Temple upon the execution of the 15 and 19 Articles of the foresaid capitulation touching the point of the departure of the inhabitants of the said Colonie with their goods and in consequence thereof by an expresse missive enjoined the Commander of the forementioned Colonie fully to execute that which was agreed upon without ever having countermanded that command as in the foresaid Declaration is calumniously said by any secret orders which also hath never hitherto been don in the case of Pouleron We could here in particulars shew the faithfullness performed by the Commander in the effectuall execution of the said charge in Syrinam and withall the perverseness of the Commissioners of the King of England about those cases but we shall that we may not be too long in this short discourse with the Readers permission dispense therewith and delay the giving satisfaction in the curiosity thereof till the contra-manifesto of the State shall come abroad which undoutedly will contain a circumstantiall declaration of this case with documents and demonstrations adjoined The King proceeds from complaining of the work of Syrinam to a complaint touching pretended affronts and small things which he gives out to have suffered from the State both in making and showing as he saith of Pictures Medalls and pillars and also in refusing to strike the Flagge declaring that the first alone to wit the making and showing of some Pictures and Medalls were a sufficient cause of his displeasure and of the resentment of all his subjects that is in a word of the Warr. God preserve the World from such Christian Princes who for a Picture and a Medall will not stick to bring Christendom into uproars and to shed so much innocent bloud and I pray for what Pictures and What sort of medalls for a Picture made for the honour of a Burgermaster or Alderman of a City Who out of a generous mind hazarding himself for his Countrey acquired the honour of an heroicall and vertuous exploit and for a Medall wherein the Warr is pourtrayed with the annexion of a Pious Wish that that Beast viz the Warr might be farr from all Kingdoms Is it then so offensove in the time of Peace to make a token of remembrance of a successfull action in a foregoing Warr which was therefore the happyer because it was crowned with peace Are there not in all Lands and Cities pourtraitures of victories and painted Tables of triumphant atchievments Are there not in our land many memorials of renowned conquests Of prosperous field-battels and very successfull beleaguerings Are not all such badges of honour pricks and spurrs to generous actions What noble-minded Prince can attract to himself an occasion of Warr from that which every one so easyly passeth by We can well permit that the King cause such a Picture to be made of the burning of our unarmed merchant-Ships in the Flie and of the Houses of the poor Fishers on the Schelling for the renown of those who projected that illustrious design and an everlasting honour of them who effected it That which is said of columns and pillars is either falsy feigned by the inditer of the Manifesto or at least lightly taken up for that such pillars are nowhere save in the forging of his brains or in the gazets of the English court In reference to the right of the Flagge in the first place it is to be observed that out of the foresaid Declaration it appears and that not obscurely that the King by the same understands the dominion over the Sea For that speaking of the ancientness of the foresaid right he therewith adds that it is an unthankfull insolency that we will contend with him about the Dominium lordship of the Sea Whence it is clearly evident that the right of the Flagge and the dominion of the Sea are indeed words of a different sound but according to the Kings meaning of one and the same signification So that it is from thence now easy to apprehend that the
difference between the King of England and this State about the abovesaid pretended right of the Flagge which by those of that Nation is made a concernment of the most important ground of quarrel in which the glory of the people should be interessed is not a controversie about the salutation and striking of the Flagge and therefore no quaestion touching the right understanding of the 19th article of the Breda's treaty but onely a contest about the dominion of the Sea which the State attributes onely to God Almighty and the King to himself though haply per Dei gratiam by the Grace of God by which also the most absolute Princes govern their Lands and Kingdoms And in conformitie to the foresaid meaning hath the Ambassadour Dowing by a memorial delivered over in the name of the King desired of the State a round and clear acknowledgement of the foresaid pretended dominion of the Sea Now may every one of our inhabitants and the impartial World certainly see that 't is not the denying to strike the Flagge in pursuance of the forementioned Treaty which is by the State done to the full as will be shown in what follows but onely a refusing of the foresaid acknowledgement that is the subject of the complaints of the King of England and it may also easyly be apprehended that the same acknowledgement is urged upon the State in this time not out of a conviction of the right of the pretended business buâ— onely out of a formed design to make warr upon us which design could not be brought to execution otherwise than by the demanding impossible satisfaction for which cause also the Ambassadour Downing propounded to the State nothing else but onely the fore-mentioned acknowledgement fearing that if he had proposed other cases he might touching them have obtained satisfaction for his King who he well knew would not be satisfied Well do all the subjects of this State whose onely subsistence is commerce and consequently the freedom of the Sea know of what importance the foresaid so much urged acknowledgement is I beleev not that thâ—re shall be found one single Fisher in our Countrey let him be as simple as one can imagine but he will apprehend the interest of his very being to be herein included and cannot but understand that those people would fetch the forementioned acknowledgment out of the throat and thereupon cause the effects of the pretended dominion to follow or bind up their throats which is one and the same case really that there is no other difference between both than is the difference between a hasty and a lingring but indeed a certain death for that upon the foresaid acknowledgement there were at the highest no other to be expected of the favour of the King of England than the wish and choice of a speedy end or of a consuming sickness which is worse than a hasty death And although the King of Englands pretended jurisdiction extends not further than over the British Sea yet is it notorious that the limits of the said Sea are by the King so wide stretched out that there would not be left to us the least part for a passage out of our Land which should not be subjected to the King in respect of his praetended Lordship according to his own sentiment it being observable that the King of England doth not onely hold the Channell for the British Sea but also the North Sea and a very great part of the Ocean So that we should not be able to use the Sea without our Land otherwise than upon the mercy of the King of England of which we could less assure ourselvs than we can now be secured upon his Faith and word We shall not at present enter upon the confutation of the foresaid pretence of the dominium maris dominion of the Sea not onely because that would be too long for a short treatise but also and especially for that it cannot be accounted needfull to refute that which all the World holds to be irregular except the King of England who will so little be convinced with arguments as he Will be satisfied with reasonable praesentation we shall onely say that it is untrue and can never be made evident that we have ever fished in the Sea with a Licence or Permission from the Father of the King of England and that as is said in the foresaid Manifesto upon a tribute We do well acknowledge that in the Year 1636. some Ships of Warr of the King of England fell upon our defenceless Hering-boats and that by meer violence they forced some money from them to which they gave the name of imposition-money but we disoâ—n that from thence any right can be drawn not onely because force can make no right no not by the continuance of it but also for that the foresaid violent exaction was not continued sith that upon complaint made in England of the foresaid exorbitance the same hath not been any more committed since that time We shall then with permission of the benevolent Reader passing over to the business of the Flagge so as it is regulated by the 19th article of the Breda's treaty which article must be decisive in this controversie briefly show that there was nothing done by the Lord van Gent in the so much talked of encounter against the foresaid treaty and moreover that what hath been by the State without and beyond the obligation of the same treaty presented to the King of England is a yielding so abundantly convincing that we should not fear to abide the judgement of the English Nation itself thereupon as promising ourselvs so much from the discretion of the said Nation that they seeing that the State hath in point of their honour given abundant satisfaction will with us detest and abominate the demand of the acknowledgement of the dominium maris dominion of the sea proceeding out of a desire of warr It is well known and beyond dispute among all sorts of Nations that the salutation which is given on the Sea whether by the Canon the striking of the Flagge or letting down a certain sail must not be accepted for a mark of subjection but onely for an outward token of respect civility and courtesie which is thereupon answered with a contra-salutation of the like civility And for so much as relates to the salute or first greeting of which onely we shall here speak it is generally so received that sith commonly they who give the first salutation acknowledge themselvs in rank and worthynes to be inferiour to those whom they meet though they be not subjected to them the ships of Common-wealths meeting upon the Sea the Ships of Warr of crowned Heads must give the first salute with one or other token of outward respect Which respect like as all other courtesie although it should come from a free-willingness and an unconstrained will of those who show it yet have we often seen it come to pass that the stronger on the
which draws nigh to you We wage no Warr with the Nation but with your King and his Courtiers who have valued your bloud at six Millions a sorry price of the bloud for which our and your Saviour hath shed his dearest Bloud We sigh over our common miserys and from henceforward dread when we consider what may be the success of an enterprise which goes further than to the destruction of our temporall welfare Your King a defender of the Christian Faith hath made peace with the Turk that he may make warr upon Christians and to have his hands free against those who hold the Prince of Peace for their Saviour and Messias Pour out your Prayers to God that his Goodness would either change the Heart of your King or disappoint his undertaking and let us jointly pray for the prosperity of our common cause which we judge to be the cause of God We doubt not but God will graciously hear our Prayers and by his Divine power show that he is our common Father unto which hope we are born up by the fore-tokens of his Divine goodness who hath not been pleased that the Ships which were commanded home from the coasts of Barbary after a scandalous Peace with the unchristian for the plaguing of the Christians should have their share in the last robberie of our Merchant-men who could not imagine that they should meet the rovers of Tunis and Algiers in the Channel And although the World might not be apt to be moved as indeed the greatest part is not either through a fearfull affrightedness or through a deep sleep yet must not we for all that be insensible in this troublesom time We dwell in a Land a little but a blessed part of the World a Land full of plenty overpoured with the fulâ—ness of God Love a true Canaan and a Land of Promise And in this so worthy a Countrey we enjoy above the abundance for our body so much for our Soul the immortall part as we could desire of God to wit the food of his word whereby we refed to a never-failing life of which we may here in our Countrey enjoy the fore-tast with so much ground of contentment as a Man can desire who seeks not a Heaven here upon the earth The freedom that unvaluable good the reward of the labour of an Age the recompence of much Bloud-shed do we enjoy under our free government an Enemy of tyranny and tyrants in such perfect quietness and satisfaction of our Soul that we cannot without the movings of our affections think upon the greatness of our happiness Happy people if we rightly understand our welfare and seriously bethink how unhappy we should be if we were bereaved of all these advantages and benefits Our Countrey hath hitherto been a refuge and a Harbour for all banished and miserable ones and as God hath richly poured out the treasures of his goodness upon our inhabitants so have they of their abundance bountifully dealt out to those whose part and lot was unfortunate in the World but worthy Fellow-Citizens where would be our Harbour if we were banished Where should be our abode if we must forgoe our Countrey Where should we find our subsistence the freedom of our mind Dear God how unhappy should we be if we were unhappy The serious meditating on all this must double our zeal for the preservation of our welfare what say I double yea make it so great as our misery would be great by the overturning of our happy state Two things must help us Confidence and trusting upon God and Vigilance Vigilate Deo confidentes Watch trusting in God The confidence on God must be upheld by the amendment of our lives for that God hears not sinners And truly we must confesse that we have deserved the wrath of God because we have neglected his grace a mercy which he hath not shown in so high a measure of love to any nation that ever the Sun shone on We must all with sighs acknowledge that the luxury the pomp the grandour of the World and all what ever the abundance and plenty brings sliding in with it when the fear of God and the apprehension of the slipperyness of wordly prosperity bridle not the souls have provoked the indignation of God and the jealousie of our Neighbours In respect of our manners we are gone at least ten Ages from the first time of our ancestours if we go on accordingly then are we neer the end Let us turn betimes and reduce all again to our first beginnings to wit to the frugalitie and lowliness of our fore-fathers vertues which are the more acceptable to God when they proceed from the motions of a Christian Soul in the midst of abundance and plenty â—et not the wind of prosperity make our minds swell but let us always think of the uncertainty of outward happiness lighter and unsteadyer than the wind and with such thoughts arm our Souls against the overturning of the affairs of the World Let us further to our Confidence joyn Watchfullness and sith God works not here on Earth without means use the means which his goodness hath given for our defence with a certain expectation that he will help us if we trust in him and set all a work which may in reason be expected of those who have so much to lose Our money and goods which we ow to the Blessing of God and the Welfare of our Countrey must we plentifully bestow to the preservation of the same and for the present root out of our hearts the niggardlyness which is the weakness of our nation and a fault in our temperament let 's come forth to help the present necessity of our Land with these thoughts that what we give thereto is spent for securing of the rest which can in no part of the World be so secured as in this our Land where every one hath the peaceable and assured possession of his honest part The Rulers must go before the subjects in this case and give double out of a double obligation The Union must further bind our Souls to a joint-defence of our honest cause faction which unluckyly parts and divides affections must be banished Concordiâ res parvae crescunt Where Concord is things grow from small beginnings Union makes strength The subject of the division is out of our Land and at present we fee as the Head of our Army a descendant from that great William that great instrument of our precious liberty We expect from him all that we can in reason from one of the posterity of such an illustrious Man and we trust that he shall not onely fulfill our expectation but even exceed it and make account of no kinship with the Kings of France and England to the prejudice of the State the first proofs of his courage will double the affection towards his person and the evidence of his upright inclination for our State shall give to them who have otherwise judged and spoken a generous and honourable occasion of self-contradiction Here is matter of glory for him and an assured means for eternizing his name and for being known to posteâ—ity by the glorious Title of Preserver of our Liberty as his Great-Grand-Father deserv'd to have the name of the Founder of our welfare Against the Manifesto or the Declaration of the King of France which is com'd to my hand since these considerations were fully composed I shall say nothing else but that it is from thence visible that the Warr of the fore-mentioned Illustrious King proceeds not from any thing else save a formed design for to stretch out the bounds of his command so farr as is his ambition extended but that we hope that God Almighty by the same arm by which he hath hitherto preserved us will frustrate the undertaking of the King THE END