to break alone with that Monarch which had tired out all Christendom with a tedious expensive War when they were united against him And therefore the best Expedient that could then have fallen into the Heads of the Commons had been to have shewn him and all the Confederates that we were resolved to have stood by our King with our Lives and Fortunes which would have heartned them on to a stout resistance in case of his further encroachments upon them and in likelihood have kept him in some aw whereas the course that was taken had a quite contrary effect and tended more a thousand times to the discouragement of the Confederates than the fruitless attempt he hints at made by the Earl of Danby who was then in the Tower for it So that I believe all Europe will bear me Witness that all the great things the French King hath since done were in a great measure owing to the disorders of our English Parliaments and their declared resolution of giving the King no Supplies upon reasonable terms which rendered the Alliance and Enmity of our King abroad inconsiderable Amongst the great things the French King hath done since the Peace my Author tells us this His Pensioners at our Court have grown insolent upon it and presumed that now He the French King may be at leisure to assist them the Pensioners in ruining England and the Protestant Religion together And they have shaken off all dread of Parliaments and have prevailed with his Majesty to use them with as little respect and to disperse them with as great contempt as if they had been a Conventicle and not the great Representative of the Nation whose Power and Wisdom only could save him and us in our present Exigencies Surely the man that talks thus contemptuously of his Majesty and all the Ministers durst have told us if he could who were these French Pentioners but it was not his design to point out the men but to cast out general Accusations against the King the Ministers and the whole Government thereby to incense the People and to make them ungovernable that so his Majesty might be the sooner necessitated to submit himself to that Power and Wisdom that could only save him and us but might also easily ruine both if things were once put into such a state as his Majesty were no longer Master of that Power As to the Accusation or rather Calumny that the English Ministers are Pensioners to the French King it will easily appear false to any man that doth but reflect on Colemans Letters in 1674 when the King was in a much better condition to oppose and ruine the French designs and enterprizes and the French King had all the Confederates United and in an Actual War with him and there was nothing to fear or hope for but in England yet he then refused three hundred thousand Pounds tho it was pretended it would have assured the Dissolution of that long Loyal Parliament which France feared more than threescore such as have followed it and when at last Coleman descended to 200000 l. and at one time begged shamefully but for 20000 l. He was denied it Monsieur Rouvigni the French Embassadour usually telling him That if he could be sure of succeeding in that design his Master would give a much larger Sum but that he was not in a condition to throw away money upon uncertainties Nor doth it appear that ever Coleman got one farthing at that time And after the discovery of the Plot and the dissolution of the long Loyal Parliament the general Peace having delivered the French King from all Apprehensions of good or hurt from England His Majesty having such ill success in the first short Westminster Parliament and the Divisions of England appearing more fully in the Election of the Second and the year that passed betwixt that and its sitting all which were as well known in Paris as in London it is not to be doubted but he very well understood that there was then less reason to maintain Pensioners in England than before So that we may conclude from that time there hath come but little French Money over into England for Pensions to any Party England being thought in France so inconsiderable by reason of her Domestick Feuds Fears and incurable Jealousies that there is nothing to be feared or hoped from it whereas Pensions are to be imployed in Potent and United States I do not design by this to prove that no French Pensioners are now maintained in England but that they are few and gain but little by it and therefore it is ridiculous to conceive that all our Ministers of State are such and that they should be such fools as to conspire with France to ruine England for nothing or that which is next to it And it is as silly a supposition that the Privy Council and the rest of the Ministers of State who are not Pensioners should not discover those that are as soon as this discontented Gentleman There is a lewd and impossible conceit spread underhand about the Nation that the King himself is a Pensioner to France and all that is pretended to justifie it is only his being able to subsist so long without Parliamentary Supplies Now this I believe is not credited by any men of understanding but yet there are many such who for ill ends speak it in some companies and will shake their heads and shrug their shoulders and look gravely in other companies that they may seem to fear what they durst not speak Now if what I have said before be applied to this instance it will appear more ridiculous for that Pension that may tempt a hungry Courtier who is to raise a Family would be rejected with scorn if it were tendered to a meaner Prince than ours is And it is not to be thought that the French King who is observed to be as sparing of his Wealth as prodigal of his Souldiers would ever be at such an Expence as to maintain our Court and his own for fear the King should unite with a Parliament that would be an Enemy to France no all knowing men understand how little he cares for England if it were quiet at home but as now things stand he scorns it as beneath his Consideration Well but if neither the Ministers nor his Majesty are to be suspected who are I will tell you that in the words of a more knowing man than I dare pretend to be Those that roar most against French Councils and Measures Vnder-hand-bargains and Agreements between both the Kings know they belye their own Consciences and that the French have us in the last degree of Contempt This the Earl of Danby Printed in his own vindication perhaps not ignorant that some of their Ministers did in the year 1677 and 78. before the breaking forth of the Plot declare That Monsieur L. had greater interest and more Friends in England than the Duke of York that
the King had need be on his guard for he was in great danger of running the same risque with his Father when it was likewise inquired what interest amongst the People two great Peers had who have since the Plot been great Pillars of the Protestant Religion tho neither was ever reputed to have any were Ministers and Advisers in 1670 and 71. very good Friends to France and Popery Enemies to the Triple Alliance and to Holland c. It was also said That 300000 l. a year bestowed in Scotland and England among the Factious and Discontented would better serve the Interest of France than any Bargain they could drive with the Ministers Thus far that noble Pen hath discovered who are the French Pensioners and Reason speaks the same thing For if it be the Interest of France to divide England it is their Interest too to do it as cheap as they can and there is no doubt to be made of it but 10000 l. a year divided amongst the London Holders-forth and the Walling fordians on no other condition but that they should declaim stoutly against the King the Court the Ministers France and Popery things which no money could make them forbear speaking against would more effectually engage them to go on in that course than all the treasures of France would the King and Ministers to procure the Ruine of England and the settlement of Popery things which Nature and Education have taught them to abhor And by this means England as they might easily foresee would be so divided that if a Civil War did not follow yet at least there would be no fear of its being in a condition to look abroad and succour its Neighbours To these men is owing all that Contempt that hath fallen upon our English Parliaments both at home and beyond the Seas who by putting the House of Commons upon those things that would disgust the King and all the Gentry in the Nation have done as much as they could to make them first feared and then hated by almost one half of the Subjects and tends as directly to the ruine of that ancient and excellent Constitution as the disorders of the Tribunes of the People did to the ruine of the Liberty of the Romans But alas if we look into the Speech made at the opening of the Parliament we shall find no mention of any new Ally except the Spaniard whose Affairs at that time through the defects of their own Government and the Treachery of our Ministers were reduced to so desperate a state that he might well be a burthen to us but there was little to be hoped from a Friendship with him unless by the name of a League to recommend our Ministers to a New Parliament and cozen Country Gentlemen of their Money Before I can answer this I ought to Transcribe so much of his Majesties Speech as concerns this business which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen The several Prorogations I have made have been very advantageous to our Neighbours and very useful to me for I have employed that time in making and perfecting an Alliance with the Crown of Spain suitable to that which I had before with the States of the United Provinces and they also had with Spain consisting of mutual obligations of Succour and Defence I have all the reason in the world to believe that what was so much desired by former Parliaments must needs be very grateful to you now For tho some perhaps may wish these Measures had been taken sooner yet no man can with reason think it is now too late for they who desire to make these Alliances and they who desire to break them shew themselves of another opinion And as these are the best Measures that could be taken for the safety of England and repose of Christendom so they cannot fail to attain their End and to spread and improve themselves further if our Divisions at home do not render our Friendship less considerable abroad Now all the Gentlemans Craft lay in the word New there is no mention of any New Ally No but there is mention of an old one double Confederated both with Spain and England to the same purpose and these three States being thus United as his Majesty truly tells them would in a little time draw in more if our Divisions did not prevent it Our Divisions had that effect and made the King a true Prophet against his will and now all the blame is to be thrown upon the Ministers that is in reality upon the King Nay our Ministers poor unfortunate men must bear the reproach of Ruining not only England but Spain too by their Treachery but yet our kind Author doth not lay all that burthen upon their shoulders but confesseth that their ill Governing had a part in it but however it came to pass Spain was in so desperate a state then that it might be a burthen to England but no ways beneficial And yet before the end of this very Paragraph he is in a dreadful fear that Spain should joyn with his Majesties Successor and for the introduction of Popery make a War upon the People with all his Forces by Sea and Land At this rambling rate does our Gentleman talk It cannot be denied but that the Affairs of Spain were very ill managed at that time but then that was owing to the Minority of their King the Factions in their Court the Contests betwixt Don John and the Queen-Mother their Regent and their two Parties and it is not improbable the French King might have some few Pensioners in Spain as well as England but yet that once most potent Kingdom was not sunk to so low an Ebb of Fortune as to be only a burthen to its Allies tho it had need of them and ought by all the rules of Policy to have been so much the more carefully secured and supported by them especially by England And therefore our Country Gentlemen who were too wise to be cozened of their money by the crafty Ministers will I hope not lay it to their charge too that the Affairs of Spain have ever since visibly declined and the French King hath taken near as much from his Neighbours during the Peace upon pretence of Dependencies by Process as he got in all the War by his Sword and potent Armies For this seems in great part at least not so much owing to the Treachery of our Ministers as to the Tenacity and thriftiness of these Country Gentlemen that were so shie of being cozened of their Money But upon the perusal of the League it appears by the 3 4 and 5. Articles that it was like to create us troubles enough for it engages us indefinitely to enter into all the quarrels of the Spaniards tho they hapned in the West Indies or the Philippine Islands or were drawn upon himself by his own injustice or causeless provocations Whether my Author have been any more faithful in his account of this League than
regard to the Laws established This the Author could not deny nor defend and therefore he changeth the terms into a power of Repealing Laws with which the Commons were never charged Now a power of Suspending and a power of Recpealing are vastly different Every Pardon is a suspension of the Execution of the Law in relation to the Party pardoned and so is every Dispensation and when the King put forth the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience there was no design of repealing but only of suspending the Execution of the Penal Laws pro tempore so that if the Commons designed this Vote or Declaration of theirs should have any other effect than to shew their good will to the Dissenters it must extend tho not to a Repeal yet to a suspension of the Execution of the Penal Laws against them which is all the Declaration charged the Commons with and so the Dissenters understood it and have since pleaded this Vote in Bar to the Execution of those Laws against them tho they acknowledge they are not Repealed thereby Every impartial man will own that the Commons had reason for this opinion of theirs Suppose they had reason for it this will not give them a legal Power The King hath good reason to do many things which yet if he should offer at they would clamour against him as an Usurper of an Arbtrary Power for reason gives no man any Author to act except he hath a lawful power to back his reason with There may be great reason to repeat an Act of Parliament and yet in all the Judges in Westminster should thereupon declare it to be either suspended or repealed I know what we should hear of it quickly Well but let us hear their Reasons They had with great anxiety observed that the present design of the Papists was not against any one sort of Pretestants but Vniversal and 〈◊〉 extirpating the Reformed Religion That this might be the ultimate design of the Plot is not much to be doubted but it was immediately bent only against the Religion established and accodingly therwere Successors appointed to all the Bishops and 〈◊〉 Clergy but none to Mr. Baxter Dr. Owen and the rest of that Fry that ever I heard of So that this reason concludes not in favour of the Dissenters but of the Regular Clergy who as they were in most danger ought to have been most taken care of But this Vote left them in the same danger it found them of being destroyed by the Papists and let loose the Dissenters upon them too to encrease that danger 2. They saw what advantages these Enemies made of our Divisions and how cunningly they diverted us from persecuting them by fomenting our Jealousies of one another Did they not Sir observe too how the Dissenters took the occasion of the Plot and of the general hatred against Popery to ruine the Loyal and Conformable Clergy How they presently engrossed the Title of Protestant and endeavoured to make the Rabble believe that all but the Bobtail Holders forth and their Followers were Papists in Masquerade Tories Tantivimen c. If they did not observe these things others did And also that all of a sudden all the Jesuits assumed the shapes of Nonconformists and railed stoutly against Bishops Ceremonies Humane Impositions and Arbitrary Government They knew there was no Possibility of escaping the vengeance of the Church of England men but by setting the Dissenters upon them and they needed no Spur. So this was a good Argument to have taught the Dissenters more modesty but since they had not that it was a strong Argument to have suppress'd them vigorously as the only Auxiliaries of the Papists against the Church and the great hinderers of the prosecution of the Plot. 3. They saw the strength and nearness of the King of France and judged of his inclinations by his usage of his own Protestant Subjects 4. They considered the number and the bloudy Principles of the Irish And 5. That Scotland was already delivered into the hands of a Prince the known head of the Papists in these Kingdoms and the occasion of their Plots and Insolencies as more than one Parliament had declared It should have been worded thus as they had declared in more than one Parliament for these were the same men in several Parliaments who made these several Declarations Now I cannot conceive wherein the force of these three Arguments lies the French King was powerful and hated Protestants therefore the Church of England must be prepared for ruine by giving as many as pleased a free liberty to separate from her and procure her destruction The Irish Papists had ill designs just ripe for execution therefore the English Nonconformists were to be tolerated that they might get strength and be able to rise at the same time to ascertain the destruction of the Church But the fifth Reason is much better Scotland was in the hands of the Duke How came he by it What did he invade it by force and violence against his Majesties Will If he did then let us make a mighty Combination against him But if it were delivered to him by the proper Owner who may govern it by whom he please what occasion is there for the Dissenters service here 6. They could not but take notice into what hands the most considerable Trusts both Civil and Military were put 7. And that notwithstanding all Addresses and all Proclamations for a strict execution of the Penal Laws against Papists yet their Faction so far prevailed that they were eluded and only the Dissenting Protestants smarted under the rage of them That they took very good notice who were imployed in Civil and Military Trusts appears by the Address of December 21. 1680. not many days before this Vote where they tell the King That several Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace fitly qualified for those imployments have been of late displaced and others put in their room who are men of Arbitrary Principles and Countenancers of Papists and Popery These they would have had turned out and others put in who are men of Integrity and known affection to the Protestant Religion and may be moreover men of Ability of Estates and Interest in their Country His Majesty knew what they meant but did not think fit to change his choice and the truth is they gave him no great encouragement by their own carriage to have any more to do with these able wealthy popular men And therefore it seems this was one reason that moved them to Vote the Protestant Dissenters free from Penal Laws either to keep them out of the hands of these evil Trustees both Civil and Military or else to make a Party out of them not only against the Duke of York but also against these Countenancers of Papists and Popery that is against his Majesties Officers both Civil and Military As if because the French King notwithstanding his great Power and Aversion to the Protestant Religion could not hurt the Church of England therefore
of the French Interest It is not strange at all that the Parliament at Oxford should anger the Court more than that at Westminster for the Court did never yet dissolve a Parliament abruptly and in heat but they found the next Parliament more averse and to insist upon the same things with greater eagerness than the former English Spirits resent no affronts so highly as those that are done to their Representatives and the Court will be sure to find the effects of that resentment in the next Election The truth of this as matter of History is very apparent for so it came to pass in the Reign of his Majesties Father upon every Dissolution the Commons made choice of the same or worse Members till in 1640. they had fitted themselves with a Parliament to their hearts desire who resented not the Affronts done to themselves as the Peoples Representatives but the several Stops and Rubs that had been laid in their way so highly that the Court i e. the King soon felt the effects of it But did the Nation escape No but Bloud and Violence Anarchy and Consusion took possession of them to that height that the pious Martyr called it A Hell of Misery and Chaos of Confusion The Author in the next line acquaints us That a Parliament does ever participate of the present temper of the People Never were Parliaments of more different Complexions than that of 1640. and that of 1661. yet they both exactly answered the humours which were predominant in the Nation when they were respectively chosen It doth not become me to say whether that of 1680. were liker that of 1640. or 1661. but I must needs say I wonder my Author could reflect so sensibly on the difference and yet at the same time heighten the Popular Heats with inculcating the fears of France and Popery and not rather endeavour to allay them by telling his Country-men that twenty years Misery followed the 1640 Parliament and twenty years Peace the latter which I cannot but esteem a more Loyal and a more Prudent reflection than that he hath made and much more necessary both for the Representatives and Electors Let them however now consider seriously of it and the next time send up men zealous to bring the real Incendiaries of the Nation to Justice and then it is not to be doubted but some that are Country Favourites will be found to promote the French and Popish Interest as well as the Republick And I dare then become their Sponsor if it might not look too presumptuously in so mean a person as I am that by Gods mercy we should enjoy another Score of Halsion years to the confusion of Popery and the extreme damage of France Both which do as certainly promote our present distempers as they did those in Charles the First his times as have been made so apparent that the Dissenters who were the Principals then as they are now would fain persuade the world that the Accessaries the French Emisaries and Jesuits did all that mischief that was then done But as this is ridiculous and impossible so if duly considered it might prevent a relapse into the same misery and confusion which is more to be desired by all good Christians than the most delightful revenge upon the Favorites But it is but reasonable to expect all that I can say will signifie but little to this sort of men if the modest Gentleman I am examining may be presumed better acquainted with their tempers than I am For surely saith he this DECLARATION what great things soever may be expected from it will make but very few Converts not only because it represents things as high Crimes which the whole Kingdom the contrary of which is now too apparent to be proved on one hand or denied on the other has been celebrating as meritorious Actions but because the People have been so often deceived by former Declarations that whatsoever carries that Name will have no credit with them for the Future This I confess is one good way to prevent the making too many Converts to Loyalty for if a People can once be effectually persuaded their Governours are faithless perfidious men that seek nothing but an opportunity to delude and abuse them by false pretences there will be no great danger they will pay them too much respect and obedience But surely the man that talks thus is some French Emisary or Jesuit such thoughts as these never arose from a Church of England Gentlemans heart for the worst enemy of England could not have breathed a worse insinuation into the hearts of his Majesties Subjects They have not yet forgot the Declaration from Breda tho others forgot it too soon and do not spare to say that if the same diligence the same earnest solicitations had been made use of in that affair which have been since exercised directly contrary to the design of it there is no doubt but every 〈◊〉 of it would have had its desired effect and all his Majestâ—â—â— Subjects would have enjoyed the fruits of it and 〈…〉 extolling a Prince so careful to keep his Sacred Promise◠〈…〉 People Before this unworthy Insinuation can be 〈…〉 â—â—swered I must transcribe so much of that Declaratio◠〈…〉 here supposed to have sailed of its 〈…〉 followeth And because the Passion and uncharitableness of the times have produced several opinions in Religion by which men are engaged in Parties and Animosities against each other which when they shall hereafter unite in a freedom of Conversation will be better understood we do declare a liberty to tender Consciences and that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of Opinion in matter of Religion which do not disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and that we shall be ready to consent to such an Act of Parliament as upon mature deliberation shall be offered to us for the full granting that Indulgence Here is his Majestie Royal Promise wherein ought to be observed that his Majesty promised nothing to any Party that should disturb the peace of the Kingdom Nor to them that did not further than that he would consent to such an Act of Parliament when it should be offered to him So that he was not obliged to procure such an Act nor yet to do it without an Act. And now let us see how they behaved themselves towards him Whilst says his Majesty we continued in this temper of mind and resolution and have so far complied with the persuasion of particular persons and the distemper of the times as to be contented with the exercise of our Religion in our own Chappel according to the constant practice and Laws established without enjoying that practice and the observation of those Laws in the Churches of the Kingdom in which we have undergone the Censure of many as if we were without that zeal for the Church which we ought to have and which by Gods Grace we shall always
the Dissenters were to be caressed and cherished that they in a small time might be in a capacity to do it And now if these were not good reasons for the Vote let any impartial man that is any but a Church of England man judge In the midst of such Circumstances was there not cause to think an Union of all Protestants necessary and could they have any just grounds to believe that the Dissenters whilst they lay under the pressures of severe Laws should with such Alacrity and Courage as was requisite undertake the defence of a Country where they were so ill treated Whether this question relates to the French King and the Papists or the Duke and the Civil and Military Officers may be a question and therefore it must be so answered As to the first there was all the reason in the world that they should joyn heartily with the Government against the Papists and French for they could not hope to mend their condition by falling into their hands who they knew would treat them with other manner of severities than those they met with from the Laws if they did not know this any of the French Protestants that fled over 〈◊〉 England might have informed them sufficiently Nâ—w of evils the least is to be chosen and tho their conâ—â—tion had not been equal to their desires yet it had been a madness to have made it worse by delivering up themselves and their Country into the hands of the French and Papists But if it relates to the Duke and the Civil and Military Officers then I hope he will excuse me if I do not think it fit to have another Union of Protestants of that sort again A long and sad Experience had shewed how vain the endeavours of former Parliaments had been to force us to be all of one Opinion and therefore the House of Commons resolved to take a sure way to make us all of one Affection This was the very reason of the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience But how unlike that course was to prevail the Nation had sufficient experience in a few years And Sir I can assure you it is above the power of a House of Commons to unite those men in Affection who differ not only in Opinion but Practice too in matters of Religion For these reasons my Author saith this Vote was made in order to a repeal of them by a Bill to be brought in and presently he grows Pettish and tells us None but a Frenchman could have the confidence to declaim against a proceeding so regular and Parliamentary as this Your humble Servant Sir I pray be a little pacified you may possibly be mistaken as well as another man but would I believe take it a little unkindly to be called Monsieur presently They very first Vote they made that day was this Resolved That whosoever advised his Majesty to Prorogue this Parliament to any other purpose than in order to the passing of a Bill for the Exclusion of James Duke of York is a betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom of England a promoter of the French interest and a Pensioner to France So they knew they were to be Prorogued that very day and as the Story goes made more than ordinary haste to pass these Votes Now it was impossible that a Bill should be brought in much less passed in that Session which was to end before night and therefore this was not nor could not be the cause of that Vote and all your little Queries founded upon this supposition are silly and impertinent There was not the least direction or signification to the judges which might give any occasion for the reflection which follows in the Declaration The due and impartial execution of the Laws is the unquestionable duty of the Judges and we hope they will always remember that duty so well as not to necessitate a House of Commons to do theirs by calling them to account for making private instructions the Rule of their judgments and acting as men who have more regard to their Places than their Oaths So the Dissenters may see they are mistaken when they think the Judges or Justices may forbear executing the Laws against them upon the score of this Vote But tho the Judges are sworn to execute all Laws yet there is no obligation upon any man to inform against another No Sir Is not every Grand-Jury man every Constable and Churchwarden sworn to Present the breakers of our Laws as well as the Judges are to punish them And as for the next Conundrams of yours the comparing a parcel of Laws made within twenty years to those Antiquated ones about Caps and Bows and Arrows and killing of Lambs and Calves and your business of Empson and Dudley they are such stuff as a man of half your understanding would have been ashamed to have mensioned in a good cause In the next place my Author acquaints us what are the causes usually of disusing Laws alterations of the Circumstances whereupon a Law was made or if it be against the genious of a People or have effects contrary to the intents of the Maker none of which can be said in this case Nor is that true which follows that the quiet safety or trade of our Nation hath been promoted by the not executing of these Laws as any man may know that can remember but ten years backward And therefore notwithstanding the Vote of the Commons the Judges may act wisely and honestly if they should encourage Informers or quicken Juries by strict and severe Charges For the due and impartial execution of the Laws is the unquestionable duty of the Judges according to my Author and therefore I will hope they shall not be accounted Knaves or Fools for doing their unquestionable duty But then my Author hath another quarrel with the Ministers and that was for numbring this Vote amongst the causes of the Dissolution of that Parliament when the Black Rod was at the door of the House to require them to attend his Majesty at the very time when it was made Well suppose we should grant that this was not one of those Votes that occasioned the Prerogation it not being then made when that was resolved on yet it might occasion their Dissolution which hapned some time after And was not this an excellent time to make Votes for the bringing in of Bills for the Repeal of Laws when the Black Rod was at the door to call the House to a Prorogation After a little anger against the Ministers for arraigning one of the Three Estates in the face of the World for usurping power over the Laws imprisoning their fellow Subjects Arbitrarily exposing the Kingdom to the greatest dangers and indeavouring to deprive the King of all possibility of supporting the Government the man hath forgot how often he hath arraigned the Long Loyal Parliament for a