Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	french_a	great_a	king_n	16,597	5	4.3459	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96510	Supplement to His Majesties most gracious speech directed to the honourable House of Commons / by the commons of England.	Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712.	1693 (1693)	Wing W217; ESTC R42908	14,905	22

A Supplement to his Majesties most Gracious SPEECH Directed to the Honourable House of Commons by the Commons of England TO add to the Works of the greatest Men if the Nature of the Subject permits or requires it hath never yet been thought an immodest Undertaking nor prejudicial to the Honour of the first Author You are now most about the Ardua Regni and indeed more Arduous Matters never yet came before your Honourable Body It is not therefore to be conceived that Things of such a great and various Nature should be all summ'd up in a short Speech nor is there reason to expect that the King should charge his Memory by a long recital of Particulars how important soever they may be and necessary for your Inspection We therefore in all humility in the Name of all the Commons of England make bold to lay before you such Additional Matters which seem to us to be of the greatest Weight and absolutely require your Consideration and your grave Wisdoms to apply some speedy and effectual Remedy and which are either but slightly touch'd or wholly pretermitted by the King We confess indeed that the King has laid the Scene very large and wide when he reckons our Misfortunes and the Miscarriages that have been this last year according to this Division Such as have been upon Land and such as have been at Sea This Division is comprehensive extends to all the Calamities we groan under and if you please to examine what hath been acted or what hath been defective for want of acting on these Two Elements according to the full Latitude of these Expressions you will not fail to discharge the Trust reposed in you and to see the Cause and Occasion of all our Miseries But however the King hath been so large in the General we conceive he is not so express in Particulars which therefore we humbly crave leave to supply and lay before you by a just and impartial Representation of such Instances which nothing in the World can obscure palliate or excuse And out of Deference and Reverence to his Majesty we shall do it according to the same Division And we shall begin with the latter Such Miscarriages as have been at Sea These have been so terrible that they make all our Hearts ake the Merchant feels the immediate stroke but the influence extends all over the Kingdom The Loss of the Effects how great and considerable soever is the least of the Evils The whole Trade is in danger to be lost or mightily diminished The industrious Merchant is exhausted and discouraged many have not the Ability and many not the Will to venture any more their Interests under that unfortunate and impolitick Conduct they have already so often and so dreadfully miscarried The King calls this a Disgrace and indeed it is so but if that was all it was no great Matter the Merchants we suppose could bear the Shame well enough if they had but their Effects And if such prodigious Losses affect only the Modesty of the Nation we are pretty well yet we may blush or so and the harm is over If the Merchants interpret that which hath suckt out their very Hearts blood to be only some Disgrace to them we presume they are the modestest Men living However let the Disgrace be what it will that might be repaired again by an honourable Action But as the case stands this is irreparable our Honour and Interest are both sunk together The most beneficial Trade we have is almost if not altogether ruin'd and that apparently by ill Management The Winds and the Storms the Merchant bears patiently and his Losses redouble his Vigour and Industry But when he is ruin'd by his Guard when he is convoy'd into Destruction this admits of neither Remedy nor Hope and there is not so much as Chance or Contingency to encourage him And every Man will conclude 't is time to give over and to sit still rather than to fraight his Ships for the Benefit of Enemies and run the Risque of such desperate Adventures The King tells you That Trade is Essential to the Welfare of this Kingdom Then our Welfare is lost with our Trade as being Essential to it and the most flourishing Kingdom in Europe is reduced to Barrenness and Penury Our Money is gone abroad already and if our Trade which should supply us with more is gone after it too we have nothing left but to lament our Miseries and with that stinging Aggravation that they are irrecoverable The Commodiousness of our Ports the Skill of our Merchants the Expertness of our Sea-men all the Cost in the World will stand us in no stead but to make us more unhappy All the Advantages are poysoned in the Conduct and made the Instruments of our Misfortunes But here the King tells you That he hath Resented it extreamly and that he will take Care that those who have not done their Duty shall be Punished It may be so but here we crave leave to add this Supplement That we hope this will not hinder nor abate the Resentments nor take off the Care from bringing the Offenders to condign Punishment The King's Resentments and Cares ought to be a spur to yours and thereby by yours will do two great things at once both imitate the King and consult the Safety of the Nation and in order to this we humbly propose these following things as highly deserving your Enquiry 1. How it came to pass and by whose means that the Merchants after so many Petitions and Addresses were for some Months detained and no importunity could obtain either Convoy or Leave to prosecute their Voyage And they were reserved to that Critical Time when the French Fleet were just ready and prepared to receive them If the French themselves had had the Conduct of our Fleet they could never have timed it better they are no sooner got into the Streights but our Smirna Fleet is sent into their Mouths Put these together that the Merchants were ready many Months before and all the Application they could make could never procure Liberty but they must go then just then when nothing could hinder them from falling into the French hands And we shall leave it with any considering Man whether it be possible to believe but there was Treachery in the case at whose door soever it will lye And it is not for nothing that our Fleet was scarcely out of sight bur there was a general Report about the Town that it was in danger to be taken by the French Which evidently proves that the Contrivers of their going out were privy to te Secret and knew well enough what would become of them To this may be added 2. What was the Reason and who was in the Fault that our Grand Fleet which set out with them did not see them out of danger Was the Grand Fleet designed only to Complement Sir George Rook and the Merchant-men and to bring them so far on their way and

own our selves beholding to him if he does not carve liberally for himself though it be upon our Bones and Carcases And if you please to consider the Posture of Foreigners amongst us you will find not only that most of our Troops are composed of our old Task-masters the Danes and of the Dutch and the French Refugees But which extreamly sharpens this Consideration that there are also a great Party of Foreigners in the heart of the Nation who may soon be if they are not already prepared to second any Attempt if not to act in conjunction with them This Inference is so natural that nothing but the utmost Forgetfulness of our selves can make us careless on that hand But if there be violent Presumptions nay apparent Evidences that some great Matter is brewing among them 't is no less than desperate Infatuation to lye secure and negligent under such treatning Dangers in our own Bowels It is not unkown to you how great a Number there are of French Refugees in and about this City who are in full Union with their Brethren in the Army nor what Military Authority and Power the Duke of Lemster their Countryman hath in this Kingdom nor can it be doubted but he hath great Authority and Influence over them and manages them according to such Methods and Councils as may best answer the Ends which are driven at That accordingly most of the French Refugees who are able to bear Arms are actually Arm'd and Listed under distinct Officers and of whom the said Duke is Chief That there have been several Sums of Money distributed to them and some in particular by the said Duke in all probability to supply themselves with Weapons to use upon such Occasions as they shall be call'd to when Opportunity serves That in pursuance of this several thousands of Arms have been made and bought up by them and that in particular one Gunsmith in the Minories contracted with some of the French Refugees for 500 Case of Pistols of a size shorter than Holster Pistols and which he accordingly made and half of the Money was paid him before hand and the rest at the delivery of the Pistols And that other Gunsmiths in the Minories had full Imployment from the same hands in the same Work and 't is said they have not bought up less than 8000 of these Cases of Pistols It is here matter of your serious Consideration what use these kind of Pistols are to be put to It is certain they are not for Imployment in the Field And it is as certain they are sitted for the Work they drive at and we shall leave it with you whether it does not portend some sudden and secret Execution of a barbarous Nature That accordingly several threatning Speeches have been given out That some Persons at a certain time should have their Throats Cut and some of them are grown to that Confidence as to make particular Threatnings which shews they are almost sure of their Design A French Minister sent several Letters to a very considerable Clergy-man threatning him That he was a dead Man That he was to buy a Halter for himself That there was a Gallows prepared for him which he must first ascend and mount Further yet That there have been not long since 700 Tickets of mysterious Figures and Characters scatter'd about St. Anns Parish among the Habitations of the French Refugees and thrown into several Houses which plainly import some secret and mysterious Design And to close up all there are almost every Week great Numbers of French Refugees and other Foreigners brought over hither from beyond the Seas on pretence to go and inhabit in Ireland who notwithstanding are kept in England and no doubt to augmet their Forces and strengthen the Consederacy And now Gentlemen you that are the Trustees and Representatives of your Countrey we intreat you impartially to reflect what these things mean Is it not apparent that a Design is hatching and a great Storm gathering which when it breaks may overwhelm you and your Posterities if not prevented Is it possible for you to believe your Lives Liberties and Estates safe in such Circumstances Did ever a wise Nation suffer Foreigners to become formidable in their own Countrey Look into the Records of Time and see if there be one single Instance in the whole World where Strangers had gain'd Power and Force enough they did not make use of it to advance themselves and ruin the Natives Was there no visible ground of Jealousy the very Nature of the thing would alarm your uttermost Caution And you have besides that the Experience of all Ages to quicken your Councils in this Case But when Men of seperate Councils Measures and Interests from yours when they are arm'd with Power and Number too when there is apparently a bold Design actually sorm'd and run through the whole Party in such a Case the Danger is brought home to your own Doors and 't is high time to awake out of Sleep and to apply your utmost Wisdoms to the providing a speedy and effectual Remedy 5. We have but one thing more to trouble you with though it may not seem Grievous in the Nature of it yet in the Consequence it may be a more dreadful Miscarriage than any of the rest and if you do not Remedy this you can Remedy none of the other and that is The Post-poning the Redress of Grievances to the giving Supplies This is lodg'd in your own House and you have hitherto fatally laboured under it you your selves know by the Experience of your former Sessions and all the Kingdom knows that so soon as you have given our Money the Court hath done with you and our Grievances remain the same or grow greater and you rise re infecta you have done the Business of the Court indeed but not that of the Countrey and so your great Trust is but half executed and the least half too The Question therefore here is not concerning the Nature of Things or the Preference of one before the other though yet we believe the Redressing our Grievances is every way as necessary to our Welfare as if not preferable to the giving Supplies but concerning the Order of Time We pray you let that be done first which otherwise will not be done at all We are sure the Court will permit you to sit to give Money And we are as sure you will not sit to Redress our Evils if you give that first Money will be welcome first or last but our Grievances must be remedy'd first or never Let your Time therefore be suted to the Occasions First examine the State of the Nation consider the Miscarriages at Sea and Land and apply effectual remedies to the respective Miseries we groan under and then we shall more chearfully part with our Money And thus we have presumed to lay before you some part of those manifold Miscarriages our unhappy Nation hath lately felt and still feels the smart of and which we humbly conceive highly require your Consideration We hope this humble Address will not be unacceptable to you And we are sure we have herein done our duty to God to your Selves and to our Country However if our humble Supplication will not deserve the Thanks of the House we perswade our selves the subject Matter of it will deserve your Care which is the utmost Aim of Your humble Petitioners THE COMMONS of ENGLAND FINIS