A LETTER From FATHER La CHAISE Confessor to the French King To FATHER PETERS Confessor to the King of England In which is Contained the project and designe of that faction to Introduce the Prince of Wales with some observations on his Conception and birth to which is added a Letter from Will Penn to Father la Chaise about the affaires of that babe and the Ensueing progress of the Popish designe Printed in the City of Philadelphia in the Land of promise by order of Father Penn and are to be sold by Stephen Lob at the signe of Apostacy in priest-craft lane next door to the Alamode Religion A LETTER From FATHER La CHAISE Confessor to the French King To FATHER PETERS Confessor to the King of England Honored Father WIth unexpressible Joy I received yours of June the 22 by which I understand the good effect of our Endeavors which we have so Long been Labouring in and am glad to hear the work is so well managed and done you following the advise we gave as well by divers Letters as word of mouth from our Ambassador Barillon now at whitehall And as soon as I had received the news I went to the King my Master and acquainted him that there was one of the Holy babes of your owne getting brought to the queen and that both the King and she did owne it for their owne son and Prince of Wales and under that notion it was shewd and published to the whole Nation then I acquainted the Fathers of our Society who had with sacred Instruments for the purpose Calculated the whole project Long before and shewed their Constant zeal in this weighty affair they also were Extreamly Joyful when they heard it and it is impossible To express the mirth and Jollyty of all our friends in this Country who have heard of this weighty Concern for now it seems as if heaven it self did Contribute to our give the Holy Church greater Dominion and render our Enemies the longer the weaker For in our Country the Hereticks are very near quite destroyed in Piemont and Savby they are Reduced to a small weak number in Himgary they shall no Longer Continue then till the Emperor and the Turk have made peace for it is the opinion of our Society that the Emperor doth not stand in need of the Assistance of the Protestant Electors nor need he fear them when that War is Ended Then shall we perswade him not only to destroy them in all his Territorys but also to make war upon the Netherlands so root out all the Hereticks from the face of the Earth and indeed the Hereticks in Holland are not far from their Ruine as for the Palatinate it will be Easily done there because we have got a Popish Elector Chosen and for the King of Denmark we doubt not but to make him in his Country follow the Example of the great Monark in ours either to make them turn or Run and tho the freindship between that Crowne and ours seems weake yet it is not so much decayed as some people wish and pretend And if I please I can quickly make him zealous and a perfect servant to our King and that he shall assist in the Romish Cause as faithfully as the best Catholik as euer was born for in his Country the sheep yeild him but a small fleece and let our King but send him a good present of Pistols and he shall do all that we desire him tho it were to subscribe to the Alchoran and turn Mahometan England Holland and Switzerland are indeed the onely bulworks and places of Refuge that the Hereticks have left and it hath Cost us many a nights study and divers meetings to Consult how we may bring them under and now we have an Excellent opportunity to which purpose our King hath resolved to bring the Switsers under his Dominion and Convert those Hereticks by his Dragoons and also to in Holland which resolution I will Constantly put him in mind off as often as I give him absolution When I Consider of these things it rejoyceth me to think how zealous his Majesty of England is to perfect his designes which are to us of great Cencerns to which purpose he hath the assistance of our troupes And Cardinal Furstenberg when he shall be made Elector of Collen Can bring Holland under his obedience haveing first made himself master of his owne people and brought them in subjection to his absolute power I say when I Consider and think of these things they do so rejoyce me that I am almost overwhelmd there with nay it is so great that I am not able to write it and indeed it is the greatest pleasure I have in this world and I must say that since the last Letter I received from you things have been so forwarded that I must now necessaryly Conclude we are not far from the highest step and nothing can be said to be perfect now till I can demonstrably see such signes that will testify the work is compleat And as Concerning that Letter of yours which gave us that Incomparable satisfaction and joy the principle things therein are these following first you did very wisely not to follow the Litteral direction that we had laid downe but to use such endeavors and devices as the then accidents and present affaires did require and indeed they were such as did much conduce to the perfection of our bussines namely the sending the Bishops to the Tower the Prince and Princess of Denmark to the Bath and divers Heretick Gentlemen to Windsor where they Expected the Queen should lye in in which inventions you shewed your admirable skill and Judgment for they without doubt would have been present and you say the Laws of England do so require it Therefore it was your wisdom to advise the King to impose some not in honor do and so find occasion to send them to the Tower and there keep them till the great worke was done Neither was the other part of your Invention les to be admired when you perswaded the Prince and Princess of Denmark that it was a month or six weeks before the Queen could be delivered and they might easily return sooner and therefore if you had not taken this course they would have waited and have been prying into the bussines and the other is also as praise worthy as any for you could not have trickt those Heretick fops better then to send them like fools to windsor with a Commission to set up a bed provide a Cradle and a Nurs and divers other things necessary for her lying in and also to wait there till she came which you never intended she should and likewise it was a good project of yours to give out that the Queen altered her mind often about the place she would be delivered at for when you had given out seven or eight several times it was resolved to be windsor Hampton court Richmond St. James's c. they did not at last
for that purpose whereupon the King was much discomposed and I fear he will by this News comeing to him have his Ague againe and indeed I am my self not a little concerned at this News for Prince William of Furstenburg would immediately have entered into a league with our King to subdue Holland and then should we have had a brave opportunity to carry on our designes in England and to make his Majesty of great Brittaine absolute over his subjects but I must here conclude P. la. Chaise Here Curteous Reader thou hast word by word the Letter of la Chaise to Father Peters being the two principal Traytors in this part of the world and the most unsatisfied suckers of Christian blood here thou feest a proof of their unheard of Cheating and Cruelty and if what you have already read in this Letter is not sufficient to convince you of that abominable cheat in the court of England to bring in and impose a Popish Bastard upon the people for the Kings Son Prince of Wales and heir to the Crowne I will presently better inform you and if you please but to make use of your Judgment and reason you will not have the least ground to doubt it That the King of England hath had a distemper in all his Limoes and members for more then twenty years which hath rendred him unfit to beget vitall Children Especially in the last fourteen or Sixteen years for it happened some years after he came to England as he was lyeing at Anchor in Rotter-dam bay near Ninnyport in Bog-land by an accident let slip his cable and so fell foul of a Scotch sire ship and in the heat of the broile before they could get their tackling clear they both unhappyly took fire and yet were miraculously preserved to the great comfort of the whole nation however by the misfortune of this adventure his lower Tier was so damnified that he remains more fit for shew then service but to lay by all dubious and dark Expressions take the story in plane terms which was thus There was a Scotch noble man whose name was Carnegie but his title South Eâ—k who died the 19 day of February last with this Gentlemans lady the King who was then Duke of York had an Indecent conversation the Earl parceiveing it was very much discontented and said to his Father who was then alive that he would chalenge the Duke of York to give him satisfaction but his father knowing on the one side It was against the law to Chalenge a Prince of the blood and on the other that his son was more a Gentleman them to put up such a wrong gave his son advice to pox his wise and by so doeing he would pox the Duke also The Earl his son approved of the Council and so went to a Bawdy house and desired the old Matron to help him to the pockyest whore that was to be found which she immediately provided and haveing well warmed his codpeice he went home and bestowed it on his wife Now so soon as he saw the work was done he retired and put himself under the hands of a Doctor who restored him in a short time to his pristine health the King then Duke perceiveing the Earl was from home made the best improvement he could of the opportunity and away he went with all hast to his pickled Mistris to cool his Reins not dreaming of a snake in the Grass A while after this was done the Duke began to besick so was his dutchess and the Countéss of South Esk and no body knew what was the matter with them not one of the three haveing the least suspicion of the pox The Countess was the first that was discovered to have that disease which the Duke hearing began to beleeve himself and Dutchess peppered with the same spice which then grew publick and sent for the most shillfull pocky Doctors to advise with about it how they were cured you may guess and it is sufficiently knowne and the King can to his sorrow if he pleaseth testify it that ever since he hath carried a half pik and to this very day he Carrys so much of it about him that he is perfectly unable to get a sound Child and it appears plainly since the year 1669 or 1670 when he was almost dead with it all his Children have dyed of that diseass in a miserable Condition and it is Judged by all knowing men that it is Impossible for him to get a Child that shall live long after t is born Ergo. 2. It is a thing unheard of among Physicians that a woman should be let blood with in a few days of her delivery as the Queen was and what is more that a woman should flood to Excess but a month before her delivery and yet bring a lusty Child Into the world as they say she did Ergo. 3. That it is an Impossible thing for a new born Child to have an Issue as they say the young Prince hath and yet supposed to be but two days old such a peece of non sense that any fool may discover the cheat of it for before we can beleeve this they must make us beleeve that popish Kings successors are of another kind of substance then other new born Children are for the body of a Child of four six or eight days old is not fit for a Chyrurgions Instrument neither is there yet blood or other matter to flow from thence as is in that case Expected tho the body were full of Issues Ergo. 4. That it is a thing unpracticable in England to have the Queen delivered without the Cheifest of the Nobility the Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Mayor of London English Gentlemen of note and the forreigne Ministers being there by as it was now which is sufficient to make all people mistrust t is a peece of Roguery and hath given Just cause to any Ingenious man to Judge the contrivers of this project to be fools in folio if there was no cheat in it and that this small Creature was Son of the King and Queen and lawful Heir to the Crowne of England nay what is more from the very first hour that they reported the Queen to be with Child the English and Scotch Nations and almost the whole world besides that heard of it Concluded it was a cheat Now what way was there to convince them of the truth of it and to stop the Months of Gain sayers but to take care to have it done Regular and publick according to the antient Custom in that case that all man kind might be satisfied it was true and Just but Alas here was the popes finger in it and the French Kings to Ergo. 5. The subtilty they have used to have the Queen delivered in the eight month and that with so much suddennes as if she had not time to call any or give notice to those who ought to have been there they Judging that the world will think from hence
beleeve when you Resolved in earnest by which means you catcht the fools neatly all which were neatly Laid and contrived for which we thank you wishing all succes to your designes and Endeavors toward the perfecting this mighty work Secondly That you keep both their Majestys to their former Resolution in declareing this child to be really theire owne and also by publick proclamation for a day of Thanks giveing to tell the whole Nation he was their son and Heir to the Crowne in spight of all the prateing Inquisitive Hereticks in Holland and England who have got some kind of sent of the work and designe now in hand but I can tell them they think they know more then really they do how ever they have Endeavored by dispersing of various papers to render his Majesty suspected and I assure that your King would have fell of and departed from his pious Resolution for we well know that he is but a weak man and you know such kind of people are easyly led away when they have nothing to depend upon but what lyeth in other mens heads Thirdly That there is such great care taken for the young Prince and also in case of the Kings death to declare his consort Queen Regent and to appoint your self the Lord Chancelor with some other good men to govern while the Prince is under age And by the same manner we defended our King his reputed Father haveing appointed Cardinal Mazarine for his Tutor and Governer till by force of Arms he was able to make his way to the Crowne and if any are so Inquisitive as to ask if this Prince shall be brought to the Crowne by the same manner let such know that it may be easily done for our King hath declared that if there is occasion he will stand by him with his whole fore and power Fourthly That which administers great Joy to me and all the Fathers of our Society is that the King of great Brittain is resolved and hath also promised you that in case this Child should dye there shall be another ready to put into the cradle in his place but if that should prove difficult and that there should not be a Child readily found to carry on the show with some reputation you must take the same course as before and send the King to St. Winifreds well to wash that little he hath let the Queen wear a Cushion upon her belly for nine months and that will certainly produce another Prince of Wals. Fifthly That his Majesty hath given orders to all the priests to write to the forreigne Colledges and desire them to in treat the English Scotch and Irish and all other outlandish Catholicks that are well inclind to advance and further the Kings pious designes and to encourage every one that can with all speed to come over into England with promise that they shall all be advanced according to their several quallifications which will be of great use for the carrying on this blessed work defending the young Prince against his Conspireing Enemies and to root out all the Hereticks In which work I do promise not to be negligent but ro send over as many as I can possibly perswade And now as these things are truely Joyous in themselves so have they in me and all the Fathers of our Society created an un expressible Joy. If I should tell you how I was affected when I heard this news I could say no more but this that my soul was separated from my body and transported with Joy and gladnes into the paradis of the most high which no man can conceive as St. Paul writes of himself when he was taken up into the third heaven Now Concerning the question you have put to me that is what is the best cours to be taken to root out all the Hereticks to which I answer there are divers ways to do that but-we must consider which is the best to make use off in England I am sure you are not Ignorant how many thousand Hereticks we have in france by the power of our Dragons converted in the space of one year and by the Doctrin of those booted Apostles turnd more in one Month then Christ and his Apostles by their preaching could in ten year this is a most Excellent method and far excells those of the great preachers and teachers that have lived since Christ his time But I have spoke with divers Fathers of our Society who do think that your King is not strong enof to accomplish his designe by such kind of force So that we cannot expect to have our work done in that manner for the Hereticks are to strong in the three Kingdoms and therefore we must seek to convert them by fair means before we fall upon them with Fire Sword halters Jailes and other such like punish better advice but to begin with Soft easy means weedle them in by promises of profit and offices of Honor till you have made them dip themselves in treasonable actions against the Laws Established and then they are bound to serve for fear When they have done thus turn them out and serve others so by putting them in their places and by this way gaine as many as you can and for the Hereticks that are in places of profit or Honor turn out or suspend them on pretence of Misbehaviour by which their places are forfeit and they subject to what Judgment you please to give upon them then you must form a Camp that must consist of none but Catholikes this will make the Hereticks heartles and Conclude all means of releife or recovery is gone And lastly take the short and the best way which is to surprise the Hereticks on a sudden and to Incourage the Zealous Catholikes let them Sacrifice them all and wash their hands in their blood which will be an acceptable offering to god and this was the method I took in France which hath well you see succeeded but it cost me many threatnings and Promises before I could bring it thus far our King being a long time very un willing But at last I got him on the hip for he had Lay with his daughter in Law for which I would by no means give him absolution till he had given me an Instrument under his owne hand and Seal to Sacrifice all the Hereticks in one day Now as soon as I had my desired Commission I appointed the day when this should be done and in the mean time made ready some thousands of Letters to be sent into all parts of France in one post night I was never better pleased then at that time but the King was a affected with some Compassion for the Hugonets because they had been a means to bring him to his Crowne and Throne and the longer he was under it the more sorrowful he was often complaining and desireing me to give him his Commission do adviseing him to repent of that hanious sinne and also telling him that the trouble and
that she was catched at unawares But alas this is so far from takeing off the suspicion that it doth much Increase it for from thence all men must Judge that they made Choice of this opportunity to do it in a private corner in the Dark it being not fit for the light for such works and workers hate that and you need not doubt but they were affraid that some persons of quallity Bishops and others would have come had they knowne of it that they could not have hindred and tho it was the custom yet they did not desire their Company on that occasion Secondly we must necessaryly conclude it is a cheat because all men know that a Child born in the eighth month can not be so perfect lusty and vigorous as one of nine months is and all that have seen this Child say it is biger and lustyer then even this Queen had any when she went full nine months and indeed biger then any new born Child usually is Thirdly we have great reason to conclude it is a cheat because all Physicians and Phylosophers do affirm that it is impossible for a Child born in the eighth month to live but we need not go to those for Common Experience tels us it is true Therefore the Jesuites who have undertaken to cheat the whole world should have laid this designe better and have let the Queen been delivered in the seventh month because a Child of the seventh month may and often times doth live so that this would have been far more probable to have hid the villany seeing it lay in their power to let her be brought to bed when they pleased but they did not think upon it for their wisdom zeal and power hath cheated them and the mighty providence of god hath â—wakned the world to see the 〈◊〉 of the Cheat a Cheat Contrived and managed for no other onâ— but to give the Inheritance of the Crooke to a stranger to Cheat the heir and preserve the papists from the hand of justice to which they and their accomplices have forfeited their Necks for their endeavoring to alter the Religion their breaking the laws and for bringing in a Bastard to accomplish the work A Letter from Will. Penn to Father la Chaise Father and fellow Labourer in the Lord. IT is not the least part of my trouble that I cannot enjoy the happines of they sweet conversation viva voce in these so pernicious days whose Council and advice in things as well sacred as secular I value far above all the direction of Scripture and those who pretend to it and thanks be to the Father of lights we walk by a more entering spirit thou those who doat upon that dead Letter and make a noise about that man that was crucified at Jerusalem I need not tell thee how useles the dead Letter is especially where there is the light within and miracles without nor how foolish it is to beleeve three persons in the trinity not how ignorant them people are that depend on him they call Christ for their salvation thou knowest these thing well and therefore they are to thee the less useful and indeed since I have so much to say to thee about other more weighty affaires I must omit these Notwithstanding our various disappoinments which we dayly meet with on every side we keep as close to the Rule and method prescribed as any men in this great affair can do that must ingage with such opposition the great point at present is that of our young Prince which me thought would have done far better them of doth for the Noblemâ—â— that are Hereticks laugh at it the Gentry do not beleeve it and the Common sort speak such scandalous words of him that I am ashamed to name them By our last Letters from Holland we have Received account that on July the 9th the M. d'Albeville our Envoy at the Hague made a great Entertainment there for Joy of the young Prince's birth but it unluckily proved but a small one for he made provision for about three hundred persons and there did not appear above twenty and by the account I have I question whither there had been any there Except the French and Portugal Ambassadors had not some very honest Loyal Gentlemen been then in the Hague who were Intending for England Among these three hundred he Expected one hundred of them to be women but the number fell short and unhappily proved to be but seven or eight of which four of them were very honest women of their bodys haveing onely a whisk with their talles As for the people of quallity at that court there was none of them present at this Entertainment And should I but tell thee how Contemptibly they looked upon the whole matter and the Ambasador also for doeing it thou woulds Conclude that they had but a very Indifferent opinion of the young Prince and what is more the young Prince's health was not drunk at the publick table which shews either a great weakness in our Envoy or Els the guests were more in love with the wine then the cause and occasion of their Meeting and besides I hear he is forbid to be prayed for there in the number of the Royal family which makes me think they do mistrust or have heard something of the matter and therefore by the next I desive a word or two ofthy opinion and what is best to be done in the affair But that which is more considerable and abusive to the Child was at Amsterdam the thursday following being July the 12th O. S. where there was an honest fellow a Creature of ours that made an Entertainment with a supper wine and fire works which drew a great concourse of people to the place besides the Guests invited the people were grumbling all the Evening and said what must us have all this stir sor a Bastard and such Expressions but after supper they within the house offered some affront to the people the Mob or Jan Hagel as they there callem upon which the Mutiny began and the first attach was made by stones in at the windows swearing they would pull the house downe for Joy the bastard was born this put the Guests upon shifting for their lives some crept into the Empty bottles others got to the next houses and being night were taken for thieves the good Catholicks puld out theire beads the three Kings of collen c. and began to pray the women went through holes with their feet foremost and so slipt their skins as a snake doth at Midsummer to the great astonishment of the beholders and many of them were so ingenious that they crept through places where a cat could not go through but that which is most pleasant of all B. our old Consul who I am Informd began the Riot crept into a four Gallon Cask to save his life thus you see what reputation our young Prince hath in other Countrys bot the best on t is they