THE PRIVATE LEAGUE Betwixt the LATE KING JAMES II. And The FRENCH KING LICENS'D May 2. 1689. J. Fraser AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRIVATE LEAGUE BETWIXT The Late King JAMES the Second AND THE FRENCH KING In a LETTER from a Gentleman in London To a Gentleman in the Countrey LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX AN ACCOUNT OF THE Private League BETWIXT THE Late King JAMES the Second and the French King. In a Letter from a Gentleman in London to a Gentleman in the Country SIR I Am surpriz'd at the unbelief which your Letter informs me has seiz'd some of your Neighbours who after a publication in Print that in the Year 1670 there was a League concluded between Lewis the Fourteenth and Charles the Second for the Introducing of Popery into England Scotland and Ireland by overturning the Fundamental Laws of the Land have the face still to demand where the so much talk'd of League is between Lewis the Fourteenth and James the Second They complain say you that those who had given them hopes of seeing the Original Treaty have not been as good as their words To speak the truth Sir I find something in this their unreasonable proceeding that at once surprizes and confounds me I never knew that our Nation had the ill repute in the world of being senseless and stupid Our behaviour in a case that concern'd our Religion and Liberty has made it conspicuous to all Europe that we know the importance of the one and the other and that we are not insensible when such dear Interests lye at stake But in the mean time what will all Europe think when they hear that some English men do still doubt of a matter so evident and are resolved to continue so till they see the Original of that League produc'd and have liberty to peruse it King James say they has flatly denied that he had made any such League with France First By the Marquis d' Albyville at the Hague 5. Octob. 1688. in the Memorial he presented to the Deputies of the States General Secondly since the Prince of Orange's Declaration had renewed this Suspicion against him the Earl of Sunderland hath lately writ from Holland that he knew nothing of any such League These forsooth are the two convincing proofs they relye upon who will needs doubt of this matter of fact and who by these doubts against all sense and reason endeavour to make this truth pass for suspected Well suppose for once that my Lord of Sunderland knew nothing of it and if that which he pretends of his continual opposing himself against the Popish party be true 't is no strange thing if they were loath to commit their Secrets to him But can his ignorance in a case which without imprudence was not to be communicated to him because of his great zeal for the Protestant Religion and the interest of the State be a sufficient ground for us to call the matter in question King James the II. positively denies it in the Memorial presented to the States by the Marquis d' Albyville and after that in the Answer which a Popish Lord has writ in his name to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And one would think all this might pass for a palpable proof and incontestable conviction of the falseness of this pretended League Will you give me leave Sir plainly to tell you what my thoughts are of those upon whom this Declaration of King James makes such an Impression in spite of the Evidence they may have to the contrary They seem plainly to me to renounce the use of their Reason and to be willing that the rest of Mankind should in complaisance to them do so likewise They cannot be ignorant that King James II. has for many years been of the Jesuits Fraternity or at least that he has been continually under the conduct of their Councils I can't believe their Memory is so short to forget how at the time of his Shipwrack in going for Scotland he suffered many Persons of great Quality to perish that he might save some of his Fraternity of the Jesuits Order disguis'd one of them in the Habit of a Valet de chambre and the other in that of a Cook. They know that after he had made himself the Head of their Conspiracy against this Kingdom whilst he was yet only Duke of York the effect of this his being guided by the Jesuits proved no less than the total overthrow of all the Laws which he had Sworn to maintain at his coming to the Crown as soon as he had got an opportunity to Execute those Projects with Authority which the Love of his own Quiet and fear of hazarding all had made King Charles his Brother to Suspend And yet after all this they can by no means induce themselves to believe that James II should dare to deny by his Minister that he was engaged in any League with France Pray let us take a view of what he did and therefore durst do in contempt of the Laws of the Land which he had Sworn to observe he sends his Ambassador to Rome to testifie his Obedience to the Pope He gives way to a Nuncio from thence to reside at his Court in order to advance the Interest of the Church of Rome which he could not do without being Perjur'd and Cruel he makes a Jesuit one of his Privy Council in the Face of all England yea of all the World that is a Person guilty of High Treason for having set his foot on English ground and a Member of that Bloody Society who became liable to the Punishment inflicted on Traitors because of their Equivocations Perjuries and Conspiracies which are the distinguishing Character of that Fraternity And yet in spite of all this we will believe James II. so scrupulous as not daring to hide or disguise a Truth in a case which the Interest of the Roman Church and the designs he had Formed for that End with his Jesuits did oblige him to keep most secret Well if it were so indeed we must suppose it was a very difficult thing for that Prince to obtain a particular dispensation of the Pope for this concealing of the Truth if the general one he had already obtain'd of him for breaking his Coronation Oath as made to Hereticks would not serve the turn But pray Sir is not this a willful hoodwinking of our selves to lay any stress upon this Negation of James II. whilest we have a certain knowledg that there always was a strict League between the Duke of York and the French King and to assure us that this League has continued since the Duke of York has been advanced to the Crown of England We have an Authentick Declaration of the French Ambassadour at the Hague very express to that purpose I say we cannot in the least doubt but that there always was a strict League between the Duke of York and the French
King. To be convinced of this we need only to cast an Eye upon the War of Holland in 1670. 'T is certainly known 't was a War of Religion undertaken meerly for the propagation of Popery The French Minister manifested plainly in his Speech to the Emperours Council which has been since Printed in French that the Hollanders being Hereticks who had forsaken their God all good Christians are bound to joyn and unite to extirpate them and to implore Gods Blessing upon so good a Work. But how cunningly did they proceed in the Dukes Cabal to dissemble the part they had in such a Design 1. They reformed the Cabinet Council and turn'd at once out of the Committee for Forreign Affairs Prince Rupert the Duke of Ormond the Lord Keeper Trevor the first Secretary of State that was ever kept out of a Commission of that nature 2. They advised His Majesty to Prorogue the Parliament according to the French Kings desire 3. They sought a Quarrel against the Dutch by sending a Yatch with order to Sail through the Dutch Fleet and require striking to His Majesties Flag Although the Dutch Fleet was then at Anchor not far from their own Coast 4. They fell upon the Dutch Fleet of Smyrna without any Declaration of War when the Dutch Ambassadours had offerred all possible satisfaction to the King upon this affected Quarrel 5. The English Fleet fought for the French so bravely and interprised themselves between the French and the Dutch with so good a success that when the English Fleet the Strength of our Nation which was to be lessen'd for the execution of their Designes was reduced into a sad condition the French Squadron came off as fresh and as entire as when they first Sailed out of their Ports 6. When they sent the Duke of Buckingham and my Lord Arlington into Holland they gave their instructions for the insisting in the behalf of the French altho' the second head of the French demands was upon a publick Exercise of the Roman Religion in the Vnited Provinces the Church to be divided and the Romish Priests to have a maintainance out of the Publick Revenue After this we shall do well to make some reflections upon Coleman's Letters to Sir W. Throgmorton the Duke of York's Agent at the Court of France See how he expresses himself in one of them dated February 1674 5. For you know well that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs the King of France will have reason to promise himself all things that he can desire For according to the mind of the Duke the Interest of the King of England the King of France and his own are so close bound up together that it is impossible to separate them the one from the other without ruine to all three but being joined they must notwithstanding all opposition become invincible Those who knew nothing of the League concluded between England and France in the Year 1670. were extreamly at a loss what to make of those words of Coleman words so express and precise as nothing could be said more But they who have seen the extract of that League published by the Abbot Primi easily conceive that they referred to the secret League of 1670. and that the reason why the English Court has been so industrious to maintain and cultivate the Union with France was only in order to preserve those hidden Interests they judged inseparable though the true Interest of the State was indeed diametrically opposite to the entertaining any Union with a Crown all whose designs were level'd at the ruine of England and the Protestant Religion We find much the same stile in a Letter of Father la Chaise Jesuit and Confessor to Lewis the XIV to Coleman He saith Page 110. That the French King considers his own Interest and the Interest of the Duke of York as one and the same thing and that if the Duke would undertake to Dissolve the Parliament the French King would assist him with his Power and Purse to procure such an one afterwards as might be favourable to their designs Now I should think that when one offers ones Power and Purse to a Prince that this supposes a Treaty with him and that Prudence would not permit a King to write to a Prince to employ his Interest for Dissolving a Parliament of England without knowing himself engaged in the greatest confidence with him Some it may be will imagine that this was only an ordinary Treaty But Coleman has exprest himself so clearly in the Case that he has not left us room to mistake him See what he writes to Father la Chaise We have here a mighty work upon our hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the subduing of a Pestilent Heresse which has domineer'd over a great part of the Northern World a long time There were never such hopes of Success since the Death of Queen Mary as now in our days when God has given us a Prince who is become may I say to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a work pag. 118. collect of Letters This was the grand design carried on in 1675 which makes it evident that the Treaty made by the Dutchess of Orleans was not forgot but that the same was inviolably observ'd and stuck to Had we the other Letters of Coleman and Father la Chaise as well as of the rest of the Agents of the English Court which Coleman declar'd were still in White-Hall when he was examin'd where the rest of these Letters were it would be easie to judge that matters have been still carried on in the same strain between the Duke of York and the French King. There are Men enough that know that the choice was made of the Letters that were to be published they eclips'd and suppress'd those wherein the Court and Duke of York were more particularly concern'd But without putting our selves to the trouble of guessing we have but too many Evidences to leave us the least Shadow of a Doubt Can we in England forget the things that past at the time when the Popish Plot was discovered by Oates Bedlow Prince Everard Smith c Can we forget the indefatigable Pains the Duke of York took to turn the Conspiracy in which he was so deeply concerned upon the Presbyterians as appears from Dangerfield's Discovery published Anno Domini 1678. Can we forego the remembrance of those remarkable Events which happened soon after the Assassination of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey the Sham put upon Mr. Roderick Mansell the Depositions of William Lewis and Laurence Moubray The Oaths of Secrecy and the Litany of the Papists publish'd by Robert Bolron Can we forget the Conspiracy of the Papists in Ireland to subject that Kingdom to the French King as long as we have before our Eyes the Narrative of Thomas Sampson Printed 1680. and the Depositions of Mac-namara Fitzgerald and Nash besides the Papers about the
represent to your Lordships that although His Majesty had believed that what he had already declared to your Embassador in England and the Orders he had given to his said Envoy Extraordinary upon the same Subject might have satisfied your Lordships that there is no other Treaty between His Majesty and the Most Christian King than those that are Publick and in Print Yet since a great deal of Artifice and Industry has been made use of to make the world believe that the King his Master is entred into other Treaties and Alliances with the Most Christian King His Majesty to shew the great regard he has to the Friendship and Alliances which are between him and your Lordships and his desire to continue the same has commanded the said Envoy Extraordinary in his Name to assure your Lordships that there is no other Treaty between His Majesty and the Most Christian King than those that are Publick and in Print And farther that as His Majesty extreamly desires the preservation of the Peace and Repose of Christendom so he shall also be glad to take such measures with your Lordships as may be most convenient for maintaining the Peace of Nimeguen and the Truce of Twenty years concluded in 1684. Given at the Hague the Fifth of October 1688. This Memorial pleasured the World with a fit of Laughter to see it so contrary to the Memorial of the French Embassador notwithstanding he was very well acquainted with the Contents of the Memorial presented before by the Count de Avaux But for all that both the Marquiss de Albyville and those who had dictated the French Memorials spake nothing but the Truth The Marquiss maintains in the Name of the King that there was no Treaty between England and France but those that are in Point the Count de Avaux Asserts that Lewis the Fourteenth is engaged in an Alliance with James the Second and both of them speak true The Count de Avaux speaks with respect to the Treaty of 1670. betwixt Charles the Second and Lewis the Fourteenth and supposes as indeed it cannot be doubted that the said Treaty has continued ever since with design to destroy England and the Protesant Religion which at first gave birth to the said League He builds upon this Principle That the D. of York who was the great Promoter of it and who whilst he was in that Station acted in Conformity with the said secret Treaty had sufficiently ratified the same since his coming to the Crown which Promotion of his was therefore so Passionately desired to the end he might more vigorously execute the said Treaty which Charles II. did not for fear of troubling his own Repose The Marquiss de Albyville knowing that this Treaty had been Printed at Paris 1682. in the History of the War of Holland by the Abbot Primi but soon after supprest at the Instances of my Lord Preston supposed he might say with a good Conscience with respect to the self-same Treaty That his Master had no Treaty with France but what was in Print So that the seeming Contradiction vanisheth as soon as we consider the Persons that speak The one is the Minister of Lewis XIV who is not at all careful to husband the Interests of his Allies and who thinks he may speak whatsoever pleases him as he thinks he can compass whatsoever he wills and accordingly declares the Truth with a great deal of Frankness and Liberty The other is the Minister of James II. whom the Society of the Jesuits and their Maxims have model'd for disguising the Truth and therefore dares not expose it but under covert of an Equivocation by which means if he owns that which is true he reserves himself always the means and the right of denying it when the owning of it might prove a prejudice to him But not to make any further Enlargement here upon the Jesuitical Character of which the Marquess d' Albyville had a competent share without which Qualification he would scarcely have been made choice of for an Extraordinary Envoy For my part I cannot see how any thing could more evidently confirm the Truth than the foresaid Memorial of the Count d' Avaux wherein he positively declares that there was an Alliance between Lewis XIV and James II. And I cannot see how the most resolved Prejudice can object ought against this Proof besides these Three Things which are equally ridiculous The First is That King James II. is not bound to make good the Words of a French Ambassador spoke at random Secondly That the Reason why the English Ambassador did not more punctually contradict the French Memorial proves only at the most That he was willing enough to see the Hollanders affrighted with the Apprehension of this Secret Alliance between both those Kings though he did not think fitting to confirm the Belief of that League by the Memorial he presented to the States General the 5th of October whence it follows That it may be there was no such League at all notwithstanding the French Ambassador thought necessary to advance such a thing contrary to Truth The Third is That if the Marquiss d' Albyville were Guilty of some Fault on this occasion that it is not just to lay the blame of it upon his Master and the rather because he was never look'd upon as a very able and refin'd Minister But in answer to these First The World knows That the Memorial of the French Ambassador was contrived at Paris with the Concurrence of Mr. Skelton the Ambassador of James II. So that we cannot pretend that this Declaration was made by the French King without knowledge of the K. of England And tho Mr. Skelton upon his return from France was committed to the Tower for having had a hand in that Memorial yet we know this was only a Pretext being set at Liberty a few days after and made Colonel of a Regiment and not long after returning thither not as a Prisoner but to be the Governour of it All which makes it as clear as the Sun that this was only a feigned Imprisonment and not the Punishment of an unfaithful discharge of a Trust 2dly I can no way conceive how any can imagine that the French K. should take the Liberty peremptorily to assert an Alliance when there was nothing at all of it only because he thought it was his Interest so to do and that at the same time it was not permitted to James II. to dissemble in a Case where such a Dissimulation was of use to him But I go further and say That for to discover the Mystery of the affected Dissimulation of the English Ambassador about the League with France we need only to examine the Behaviour of James II. after that Declaration of the French Ambassador to the States General If the French Ambassador or the King his Master had advanced an Untruth in declaring that there was an Alliance between Lewis XIV and James II. which could not be without an Infraction of
the Treaty of Nimeguen of which the King of England was declared Guarantee was it not of absolute necessity for K. James to disavow that Untruth as soon as he was inform'd what had past at the Hague Ought he not to have made Reparation of the Fault the Marquess d' Albyville had committed by ordering him to explain himself fully about the false Supposal of the French Ambassador Was it not visible that his Honour was extreamly concern'd in the Declaration of France and that it was contrary to his Word given to the States General after his arrival to the Crown and which he had so often since renewed to their Ambassador in Ordinary Was it not natural for him to express himself plainly instead of suppressing the Fact as it was done in the English Gazette published by the Authority of the Court and reviewed by his Ministers where we find indeed the Memorial of the Marquess d' Albyville given into the States the 5th of October but not a word of the Memorial of the Count d' Avaux presented before Who sees not that this his Silence after the Declaration of the French Ambassador is an evident and solid Conviction of the Truth of the League between him and France For any one to answer the Objection by saying that K. James II. did disavow the thing openly in his Answer to the Prince of Orange's Declaration is to say nothing that may satisfy a Man of Reason Every Thing hath its Time a Man that holds his peace when he ought to speak in his own Justification is presum'd to be convict of the Thing laid to his Charge 'T is a Maxim of the Civil Law that to evident Presumption Proofs must be oppos'd Wherefore in the Case he was indispensibly obliged to deny the Fact whereof he was accused and to refute it at that Time and in those Circumstances for that Opportunity being once let slip his denying cannot be look'd upon otherwise than as the Effect of Fears and extream Necessity which often obliges Men to disguise and deny the Truth And surely if we only please to cast an Eye upon the Design he had of delivering Portsmouth to the French and suffering several of their Regiments to take possession of it which Affair took up much of the Time of the Secret Council in October and November 1687. we cannot with any Reason doubt of the Truth of this Secret League between Lewis XIV and James II. The Thing was not so secretly carried but that the different Advices given thereupon came to the knowledg of some as well as the Names of the Authors of them and the Reason which hindred the King from following them in that Circumstance The Hopes which he had of getting a Parliament to his mind that is such an one as might overthrow the Laws of the Government that was opposite to Popery and Tyranny was the chief Reason as is well known to many Persons of Quality that hindred him from taking a Resolution to make us feel the Effects of that League before it was declared in Publick Let us also cast an Eye upon all the Proceedings of James II. till his retiring to France as well as upon those of Lewis XIV in favour of him and we shall find them all but so many Effects and Consequences of the Secret League Lewis XIV always influenc'd the Court of England in the Time of Charles II during whose Reign England could not but be sensible of the Effects of the Secret Treaty of 1670 by the War against the Hollander by the frequent Dissolutions of her Parliaments and at length saw the whole Mystery laid open in the Conspiracy of Coleman Secretary to the Duke of York who acted nothing without express Order of his Master Since this it is become notorious to all that Charles II. who went under the Name of a Protestant and who notwithstanding his outward Profession did by Secret Treaties design the overthrow of the Protestant Religion within his three Kingdoms died a profest Papist And after all this cannot we perswade our selves to believe that James II. a declared Papist who had a Nuncio to prompt him and a Jesuit to counsel him did confirm or renew a Treaty with Lewis XIV for the Destruction of the Protestant Religion in the Kingdom especially when all his three Kindoms are Witness that for the advancing of Popery he has neither had any regard to the Laws of the Land nor to the Oaths he had taken to preserve them Thus much I assert boldly that since it cannot be deny'd but that there was a Secret Treaty betwixt Lewis XIV and James II we can less doubt but that the End and Aim of the Treaty was the Ruin of the Protestant Religion 1. We must needs conclude so from the Secret Treaty manag'd by the Dutchess of Orleans between Charles II. and Lewis XIV published by Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland with priviledg of the French King. This Treaty expresly tells us that the French King did promise Charles II. to subject his Parliament to him and to re-establish the Romish Religion in his Kingdoms We may easily guess whether these Things could be accomplish'd any other way than by Force of Arms that is by the Violence and Cruelty of his Dragoons 2. Who is so blind as not to see that K. Charles II. had ever since that Treaty cast about to furnish himself with Foreign Force to enslave his Subjects to his Arbitrary Power Those who find difficulty to believe this need only to consider the Secret Treaty he had made with Spain who was to furnish him with 8000 Men upon occasion and it was to assure himself of their good Service that Charles II. demanded Mony of his Parliament in 1680. 3. Can we be so wilful as not to trace the Current of the Design throughout all Coleman's Letters which contain nothing else but the Conspiracy of the Jesuits and Duke of York against the Government and the Protestant Religion 4. After that James II. came to the Crown notwithstanding the Just Oppositions of the Commons in the Westminster and Oxford Parliaments who easily foresaw all that is since come to pass did not he give undoubted Evidence that he still followed the same Measures when after the Defeat of Monmouth he declared to the Parliament that for Time to come he would make use of Popish Officers as well as keep an Army on foot contrary to the Laws 5. Have we not seen the whole bottom of his Designs unravell'd by the Care he took to fill that Army with Irish Papists at the same time that he disbanded all that Protestant Army and Souldiers that served him in Ireland that he might always have an Army at hand in that Kingdom for to invade England It appears beyond a possibility of doubting that all these Proceedings were only founded on the Continuation of a Design which could never be executed without a secret League with France and without a very express Assurance of being vigorously supported from thence when the nick of time should come I do not here set down only Supposals and Guesses in the Air when I assert that this League was to prove of most fatal Consequence to the Government and Protestant Religion For pray tell me what else can be supposed from a Union with Lewis XIV when we have seen him after having violated the Laws of his Kingdom and the Oaths he had taken exercising so outragious and barbarous a Cruelty against his own Protestant Subjects as well as against those of his Neighbours in Piedmont and the Principality of Orange Give me leave to make one other Reflection more viz. That it is altogether incredible if James II had not been strictly leagued with France by such a League as they were pleased to term Sacred but that he must have acted after another manner in favour of the Prince of Orange whose Subjects were opprest by the French King and his Principality ravaged in order to the rooting out of the Protestant Religion there His soft way of treating this matter with the Court of France was so publick a Testimony of the Intelligence he held with Lewis about destroying the Protestant Religion that we must of force conclude that James II. was conscious to a Treaty which was of greater Concern to him than all the Obligations of Blood or Alliance which ought otherwise to have made him the Protector of the Prince of Orange his Nephew and Son-in-Law and consequently the Husband of the Presumptive Heiress of the Kingdom I only touch at these Points and I pass over many others that evince the same Truth As for those affected doubts which you tell me do remain still in the Minds of some of your Friends they seem to me to be of the nature of those that troubled the Pharisees and of whom we say that seeing they see and do not perceive because they are resolved not to yield to the most clear and incontestable Truths I bewail their Condition who so wilfully blind and hoodwink themselves and I wish they may never be undeceived if nothing less will do it than by the French King 's sending over his booted Apostles with the Original of the League he has with James II into England as he has already done into Ireland of which I presume by this time neither Papist nor Protestant has the least doubt Sir I am Yours Memorandum about the Proposition made to the States by the English Ambassador 1672.