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A51085
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A Modest answer to a printed pamphlet, entituled, A speech latley made by a noble peer of the realm
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1681
(1681)
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Wing M2355; ESTC R16431
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2,897
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4
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A Modest ANSWER To a Printed Pamphlet Entituled A SPEECH Lately made by a NOBLE PEER OF THE REALM JUst and Worthy with all Commendations to be Recorded to Posterity are the endeavours of the Honourable Houses of Parliament and many other true Patriots to deliver this and succeeding Ages from that unsupportable Yoke of Slavery which that State-policy call'd Popery imposes on all its Devoto's I do not at all question but this was the main Design of a Speech lately made by a Noble Peer of the Realm Yet if I endeavour to shew that the means which he adviseth are ineffectual to obtain this end I hope I shall not be accounted a Papist in Masquerade or guilty of Scandalum magnatum since the Noble Peer hath been pleased to make this Challenge If any can answer or oppose Reason to what I say I beg they would do it Wherefore to gratifie this Noble Peer's desire I in all humility offer to some of his Propositions a few modest Answers Truly I think the Noble Peer is very unfortunate in the President of Hen. the 4th whom he is pleased to stile a Wise and Magnanimous Prince and yet in this Reign it was that Fire and Faggot were first used against Dissenters in Religion But however the Chronicles we of the meanest Rank use do not afford this President Baker indeed tells us That he connived at the Impeachment of the Dukes of Aâ—marle and Exeter The one was accused for speaking against his Title to the Crown the other for murthering his Father And he adds the Reason Because he had professed Enemies enough and had no mind to make such of them who at the least pretended to be his Friends But to grant what the Noble Peer desireth Was there ever any Prince since the Conquest that hath oftner changed his Ministers of State than our present Gracious King and this some men knew to their sorrow who when they were at the Helm thought it very unreasonable that every Month should produce new Statesmen For by this method before any one could understand the Areana Imperii and able to give Counsel he shall be sent discontented into the Country and the ill consequences of discontented Statesmen who is ignorant of After our Noble Peer hath past a very witty and smart Reflection on the Ladies at Court he passes to the next Paragraph where we have these words We must neither have Popish Wife nor any new Convert What is meant by the first I cannot guess unless with our New-State-Officers we are to have a new Model of Religion If by new Converts be understood such who abominating the Superstition of the Church of Rome are come over to our Church I much wonder this Noble Peer who is esteemed a great Patron of the Protestant Religion should forget what great Influence Reputation Honour and Rewards in this Life have upon the minds of men and how hard a thing it is to perswade a man to forsake these though it was to embrace a true Religion where by one party he is disesteemed disrespected by his Prince by the other party be loaded though fally with the Ignominies of an Apostate Schismatick and what not Is this the way to gain Converts to the true Protestant Catholick Religion That is the Religion of the Church of England as at present it is Established by Law As to the Example of the Duke of Savoy forbidding Embassadors staying but some few Weeks in his Country it seems altogether impracticable by a Trading Nation as ours is For if it cannot be supposed but our Embassadors shall be used as we use others then I desire to know how we shall understand what Designs of foreign Princes are and how they stand in relation to our selves which is the main end of maintaining Ministers abroad And it 's likewise worthy our Consideration how prejudicial this advice is to the Merchants For if any injustice be done to them by Officers in Foreign Ports who shall represent their Case to the Prince or his Council If they themselves How much Time how much Money must be spent before they get any opportunity to be heard And at last 't is more than probable they shall be forced to sit down by the wrong Whereas a publick Minister has more Opportunities more Friends and can speak more boldly and the Court shall be more fearful of offending him than of doing Justice to any private single Person How the Premises of the next paragraph but one infer the conclusion that is drawn from them I do not understand and therefore I shall pass on to the next which I shall consider together with the Five after it In these two the King is Accused of Neglect of his own Sacred Person and of Carelesness or Slowness which you will of Searching to the bottom of the PLOT What would this Noble Peer have His Majesty do Would he have him be kept up in his Chamber There he is not Safe for his own Family will have access to him and they we are told must be turned off because not fit to be trusted Must he be Armed Capapee But who must be trusted to put them on Really I cannot imagine what His Majesty can do more either as to the one or the other than he hath already Graciously done Hath he not issued out His Royal Proclamations for the apprehending of all that were accused as parties in the Horrid and Damnable Popish Plot Has he not caused such as could be apprehended to be legally Tryed Has he Reprieved any one that was Condemned Has he refused any thing for the extirpating of Popery to which he is advised by his Parliament Has he not taken into his Protection Granted Pardons for all manner of Misdemeanours and given large Rewards to all those worthy Persons who by their Discoveries have as much as in them lay delivered us from the Danger of Popish Cruelty So that we may truly say No Story affords a Parallel of him Next we are told the Transactions between him and his Brother are Incomprehensible and so t' will be but lost labour and folly to search into them quickly after we have a smart observation viz All Preferments were bestowed by the Duke Not a Bishop made without him But sure they will allow two or three to be made without his consent But these things I shall pass by being wholly Ignorant of any ones promotion as well as of the causes of Prorogations Dissolutions or Assembling of Parliaments Now let us consider whether or no the Disinabling the Duke of York from Inheriting the Crown of England and Ireland be a sufficient Remedy to Unite these Distracted Nations These Considerations move many to conclude in the Negative viz. When our Parliament have used their best endeavours and the King Signed the Bill yet in all provability the Duke if he out-lives the King will be Crowned King of Scotland And if so can we Imagine an Heroick and Waâ—â—â—ke Prince Strongly Fortified with Alliances abroad And if we believe this Speech one that has the Garrisons the Arms the â—mmunitions the Seas and Souldiers all in his Friends hands can we believe I say that such a Prince as this will be a quiet Neighbour to that Nation which he is made to believe have deprived of his Birth-right The Noble Peer having done with the Duke takes the Money business into consideration and here we are told that make what Laws you will they will be but blank Paper before Easter if the Court have Money to set up for Popery and Arbitrary Government So that in short 't is the best way to give none But is this the way to satisfie the King that if he trusts the People he shall have any thing Yes if we are satisfied with the terms on which we part with our Money How can this be When you are assured by the Noble Peer that make what terms you will they will be void before Easber There is a passage in the next Paragraph which I dare not Transcribe and therefore shall conclude by protesting that I mean well and that if it be not Reason which I here offer to the Noble Peers Speech I can at the worst be accounted but an Impertinent Fool. FINIS