Country to King James's faithful Allie the French King had not a hair hurt except by the fright their own guilt occasioned and these Revolutioners must either be very sober or loving in their drink or these Jacobites had never scap'd being Dewitted by a sufficiently provoked People who had the Power but more grace than to use it False Assertions without proof are sufficiently answered by denying them This northern forehead answers himself for the Libeller says the people cry'd out that they disowned all Government and in the next line tells you they proclaimed Capt. Leisler their Commander But I suppose he gives this contradiction as a proof of the Peoples being drunk to be against all manner of Government and choose a Governour in the same breath 'T is likewise notoriously false that no other Commission'd Officer was amongst them for most of the Officers of the Militia of the City joyned therein But had it been true then Capt. Leisler as the only Commission Officer ought to Command them and they were just and sober in their choice as well as prudent in their Trust of so good and faithful a Person But the fact of this was false for Capt. Leisler though instrumental in shaking off the Tyrannical Government did not believe he had a Title to govern longer than the Peoples Resolutions were known and therefore circular Letters were carryed by Coll. Depeyster and Capt. De Brayn to the several Counties whose Freeholders chose their Representatives who being met appointed Capt. Leisler Commander in Chief under their Hands and Seals and appointed several to be of his Council under the name of a Committee of Safety to preserve the Publick Peace of the Province Who did it so effectuall that those divested of the Governing power had no other harm done to their persons and the late Lieutenant Governour was permitted to withdraw himself whither he pleased And here I must remark that he fared much better than Sir Edmund Andross at Boston who was made close Priosoner and sent home to England and yet no man was Executed or attainted there for that act of Loyal Violence Boston having proclaimed King WILLIAM and Queen MART and New York Fort and Government possess'd by Loyal Leisler and â—is party and the Lieutenant Governour withdrawn out of the Province then the â—ibeller saith That the late Council and their Convention oâ— Justices of the Peace Officers had great mind to proclaim the King Queen whom they never had declared for and we must take his word for it but he owns the Loyalists did proclame them but saith it was very disorderly I observe what ever made for the Revolution or against the late King James is very displeasing to the Scribler For when the People took the Government out of their Arbitrary betrayers hands he saith they were drunk or mad now the proclaiming of the King Queen was very disorderly in neither of which he gives one instance Pag. 7. But thank God they were proclaimed their goodness will pardon small disorders which were the effects of Loyal Zeal Although the Jacobites will never forgive them for it Some of which Council and Magistrates went to Coll. Bayards house and drank and rejoyced that Leisler had done what they never could have the heart to do nor made one step towards And we may know what kidney these drinkers were of by whose Wine they drank For Coll. Bayard having been a complying tool all King James's Arbitrary Reign you shall judge of the rest by his opinion of the happy Revolution in his letter to Mr. West of the 14th of January 1689 90. Wherein he calls them Philistines calls Leisler and his Loyal party the Arch Rebel and his hellish crew wishes he had a sufficient number to suppress the Rebels calls them usurpers of the Government and calls Sir Edmund Andross his Excellency and calls his friends Loyal and the whole tenour of the Letter is to keep up King James's title to admit his Commissions of Government to be of force to brand all that declared for the Prince of Orange with the black name of Rebels by which he owned King James was still in his heart and had he power equal to his will would have kept him still on the Throne and therefore we may judge of his and his Companies joy on this occasion and whose Health they drank which eight years after they tell us was King WILLIAM'S and Queen MARYS His Majesties Proclamation to confirm Sheriffs Collectors c. in their Offices being Published the Convention removed Matthew Plowman a Papist from being Collector but this is now when Capt. Leisler had rescued the Government was possess'd of the Fort and had proclaimed King WILLIAM and Queen MARY Then the Conventiâ—n who had done none of these things and were angry at those who did they removed a Papist from his Office about the middle of June who was permitted by them to act above two Moneths from the time that the Lieutenant Governour and Council resolved to remove Papists from Offices which as the Libeller in the first page of his Letter saith was the beginning of April they kept him in as long as they could and now to mend the matter they put others in his place of the same principles as to King James of which the famous Bayard aforementioned was the Ringleader And the Libeller brags that they were the first in the Province that took the Oaths to Their Majesties appointed by Act of Parliament It may be true but it is as true that they were the last and backwardest to assist in the Revolution or declare for the Prince of Orange which they never did but afterwards pursued to death those that had done it They were indeed most forward to take Oaths when they were to gain by them and to have the fingring of the Revenue For the carrying of the purse they will deny their old Master King James not out of hatred to him but love to Money being 〈◊〉 by solemn Oath to be true to their own interest which Oath binds them closer than any Oath of Allegiance These worthy Commissioners of the Revenue sate in the Custom-house but Capt. Leisler with the Inhabitants who had possession of the Government and Fort demanded of them by what Authority they preâ—ended to act who refusing to give Capt. Leisler any Account they offered to turn him out of the Custom-house by force on which tuâ—â—â— maâ—e by three Jacobites a guard of Inhabitants from the Fort came to defend their Captain And the People in the Streets were so enraged at Coll. Bayard who they knew was as inveterate as any Papist against the Revolution that they had certainly tore him to pieces had not the good temper of Capt. Leisler been his protector who was the only person capable of saving him in that extremity and favoured his escape and let him live to have afterwards a hand in the Murdering his deliverer So that the Violence of Armed men
LOYALTY VINDICATED Being an Answer to A late False Seditious Scandalous Pamphlet Entituled A Letter from a Gentleman of the City of New-York to another Concerning the Troubles which happen'd in That Province in the Time of the late Happy Revolution Published for the sake of Truth Justice By a Hearty Lover of KING William AND THE Protestant Religion BOSTON Printed by B. Green and J. Allen. 1698. LOYALTY Vindicated From the Reflections of a Virulent Pamphlet called A Letter from a Gentleman of New-York concerning the troubles which happened in that Province in the time of the late happy Revolution wherein the Libellous Author falslely scandalises those Loyal Gentlemen who couragiously threw off the absolute Slavery that Province then lay under and Declar'd for His present Majesty the Protestant Religion and the English Laws ALthough to name but the Authors of this Pamphlet to give account of the time manner and design of its Publication would sufficiently confute it and were it all Truth take away its Credit Yet I shall first by plain proof of Fact and Reason disabuse whom it may have imposed on and then expose the Seducers themselves whose corrupt minds gave birth to this Ignis fatuus I know the Authors have triumph'd that their Libel hath not hitherto been answered but they will have but little cause when they consider it required some time to recover the damp and stunn given to honest minds by the late corrupt Government of New-York that publisht it and some time will always be naturally taken up for the exults of joy that truth and honesty will now have their turn of being protected by Authority It was with great dread known that the late King James was bound in Conscience to indeavour to Damn the English Nation to Popery and Slavery and therefore no wonder since he made such large steps towards it in his Kingdom 's that he took a particular care of this Province of which he was Proprietor at one jump leapt over all the bounds Laws of English Right and Government and appointed a Governour of this Province of New-York who although he was a person of large indowments of mind yet gave active Obedience to his Prince without reserve and accepted of a Commission now on record in the Secretarys Office giving him power with consent of any Seven of â—is Council to make Laws and to raise Taxes as the French King doth without consent of the People for the Council are no body but whom he pleases to name and therefore could represent nothing but the Kings pleasure Hereby the will of the Prince became the Law and the estates of the Subjects became the Kings property And this Governour and Council were the tooâ— to inslave their Country who pursuant to their Commission did make Laws and Assessed Taxes accordingly without any Representatives of the People as appears by the Records of the Council book This French Government being thus by Commission introduced it was natural that Papists should be employed in the highest Trusts such 〈◊〉 the Council the Revenue and the Military Forces and since no Law was left alive to make them unqualifyed therefore this Obedient Governour admitted major Brockholse and major Baxter into the Council Matthew Plowman to be Collector of the Revenue and said Baxter and Russel to Command Military Forces all professed Papists to assist in making Arbitrary Placts and forcing Obedience to them from a Protestant free People This was the condition of New-York the Slavery and Popery that it lay under until the Hand of Heaven sent the glorious King WILLIAM to break those chains which would otherwise have fetter'd all Europe And these were the reasons that moved the Gentlemen concerned in the Revolution of New York to be early in shaking off their Tyrants and declaring for their Deliverer These things premised do make way for the answer to the bold Assertions of the Libeller who had the Author Printed the Letter ten years before viz. the time of the Revolution he would have come under the penalty of spreading false News which he in particular knows in Scotland is call'd Leesing and deserves the death call'd the Maiden Pag. 3. In the third page which is the first of the Letter he declares that Jacob Leisler and his accomplices committed great disorders in the Revolution And was ever Revolution made without them What must the noxious humours of the body natural be loosned and put a float and very often with pangs and gripes before the Medicament can officiate the discharge must not the body politick suffer a Convulsion to pluck up Spiritual and Temporal Tyranny that was taking root in it But I pray explain your self was not the Revolution it self the greatest disorder that could be given to you and the Jacobite party and therefore you need not admire nor wonder that all those that have a good opinion of the Revolution have so likewise of Jacob Leisler and other early Instruments of it in this Province Nor is it a wonder that it should be credited that the persons then in Commission in New-York were Jacobites and persons ill affected to the Revolution which now the Libeller dare not say otherwise than call happy for their very Commissions from King James were expresly contrary to Law and their persons unqualified to serve in any Capacity in any English Government and so that as Jacobites i. e. obeyers of King James's Arbitrary Government and as Papists they must naturally be ill affected to the happy Revolution in England and implacable Enemies to the well wishers thereof in New-York The proof of this appears by the Printed account of the State of the Government of New-York attested by the Records of Sir Edmund Andross Coll Nicholson Matthew Plowman major Baxter and Bartholomew Russel's Commissions which are Evidence undeniable and point blanck contrary to the Testimony of the Libeller who calls himself a personal witness But the Author was safe at the time of Publishing the Letter for it was when the Province lay under the calamity more then in any other age of Licensing this Letter which gives Authority for the palliating of Vice with false glosses and of criminating the Actions of the most Just and Virtuous and pious persons and when Truth and Innocency were strip'd of all defence against the malice falshood and calumny of Col. Fletcher and his complying Council We are told the Lieutenant Governour and Council were Protestants and perhaps they were and so were Friend Perkins Jefferys Herbert Bishop of Chester and Brian Haynes the player therefore that is no infallible Test that they were well affected to the Revolution if they had no other But they resolved Thereupon to suspend all Roman Catholicks from Command and places of trust in the Government Well resolved though they did not perform it as the Libeller afterwards owns But what means the word Thereupon i. e. King James was fled into France the Prince of Orange was Arrived with considerable Forces
in England and by consent and voice of the Nation declared their Deliverer and King and since King James could not stand by them and the Arbitrary Commissions he had given them and Old England would be sure to Command New York Thereupon they c. No thanks to them for their Thereupon Besides if I am not mistaken the execution of their Illegal Commissions which they held as long as they could and their fear of exasperations they had justly given to the People by being Voluntary slaves to King James his Will and Authorised to make all under them to be likewise so as the Devils would have all men Damnâ—d with themselves For these reasons these faint resolves were made and ill executed But we do not find that Thereupon they declared â—or the Prince of Orange or the Protestant Religion No these Gentlemen had submitted so intirely to such a blind Obedience to their Prince as notwithstanding their Profession was never practiâ—d by any Christians but the Papists and think to hide their nakedness by the fig leaf of turning a single Papist out of the Council just as their Master King James did when the Prince of Orange was landing the Nations hearts alienated from him and his standing Army likely to run over to the Prince Thereupon he restored the Charters of Corporations and Magdalen Colledge of Oxford and declared to call a free Parliament Just with the â—ame good will as these New-York Thereupon-men Pag. 4. But it is notoriously false and known to be so by the Inhabitants of New-York that Thereupon these disbanded Papists forthwith left the Province For Baxter stayd here several Moneths not knowing whether it was a real Revolution or no and Russel stay'd and dyed in New-York but Plowman continued fix'd in the greatest Trust of Collector of the Revenue being intrusted by the Protestant Lieutenant Governour and Council with the sinews of War in his management who would be sure as a strict Papist to employ it in the service of a Protestant Revolution from the same good affection with themselves To proceed this Libeller names three Dutch Gentlemen of their Council and tells you that but two of them were moct affectionate to the Royal house of Orange although Mr. Phillips I believe had the same affection with the rest but the Libeller never tells you that any of them were pleased that the Prince of Orange had rescued from ruine our English Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion and was become a Royal English King which was but a small reward to Him for the Blessing it gave us he only tells us that as Dutchmen they loved the Royal house of Orange So I presume the late King James doth being tyed by blood thereto although he wishes him far enough from England I suppose those Dutch Gentlemen will give the Libeller 〈◊〉 thanks for his remark on them He â—dds 〈◊〉 the said Lieutenant Governour and Council Convened to their Assistance all the Justices of the Peacâ— and Civil Magistrates and Military Officers But they had quite forgot the English Constitution of calling the Representatives of the People and whereas several of this Convention were the Persons that were pitched upon and thought fit by the then Arbitrary Government to have Commission Office and Power to enslave the Subject No wonder the People did not think themselves safe in their hands to be managed by the major Vote of such a Convention Neither was the first thing they ordered viz. Fortifying the City of New-York and wise satisfactory since it was most proper that those persons who gave occasion for a Revolution were most probable to make themselves strong to oppose it And therefore Coll. Bayard made Coll. of the Militia by King James was most liable to obey and execute King James's order and an unsure Security for the Fort Especially having so often declared in Words and Letters under his own hand to Mr. West c. That those who were in Arms for the Prince of Orange were Rebels But it is absolutely false that Coll. Bayards industry fortifyed the Fort for Capt. Leisler opened the Well which was closed up he it was ordered the Batteries that were made about the Town he mended the Breast works of the Fort as likewise the Platforms and Powder Room all which were in a miserable Condition and these great works took up near Twelve Moneths time with Vigorous application and industry of the Inhabitants after Bayard was out of the Power of betraying the Fort which could never have been deâ—ended in the posture he kept it with no Well open nor any covering for it defence or security for their Ammunition Besides when the Miâ—itia Forces were on guard in the Fort the Lieutenant Governour in Passion altered their Orders given by their Officers and told them if they gave him any farther trouble he would set the City on fire This prooved by the Depositions of Albert Bosch Henry Coyler Pag. 5. And for their own sakes they appointed and continued the Revenue as being very useful for men of any design which makes nothing for their cause It matters not what Letters were sent home by the Lieutenant Governour for it is plain neither Governour nor Council would declare for the Prince of Orange pretending they wanted Orders No they wanted good wil for without Orders this Libeller pretends they turned out Baâ—ter and Russel out of Commission I wonder how they dared to go so far and no farther But no body but themselves know or care whither they Wrote or no for it signifyed nothing except to excuse themselves from declaring till an answer came and they knew who was uppermost I suppose they had a mind to stay to see who got the better in Ireland before they would declare Pag. 6. A lying building must have a lying foundation therefore the Libeller says That Capt. Leisler unwilling to pay the Duty of his 〈◊〉 stirred up the People to Rebellion The case was thus the Popish Collector Plowman was then continued in Office and Capt. Leisler did even with him make Entry in the Custom house for his Wines and ingaged to pay the Customs to such as should be legally qualified to receive them which the Papist Plowman was not And now the People being exasperated by the delay of the Governour and Council to declare for the Prince the greater body of the Militia with their Officers did Seize on the Fort and did send and demand the Keyes from the Lieutenant Governour and since they had taken the Government on them they did Seize what Publick Moneys they could find and took the Seven hundred Seventy three Pounds from Coll. Nicholson which with great prudence they did Expend for the safety and defence of the Revolution nor were the People Drunk or Mad for no Man Woman or Child was hurt by them even in the very Convulsion of changing the Government nay the very Papists then in Office and others who were justly suspected of designs of betraying the