A French Conquest NEITHER DESIRABLE NOR PRACTICABLE DEDICATED TO THE KING of ENGLAND London Printed by His MAJESTY's Servants MDCXCIII TO THE KING SIR NOtwithstanding You have been traduced by Your Enemies for having ill Designs upon the Nation and that these Enemies have had too fatal a Success in spreading such improbable Suggestions too fatal for their Native Country as well as for You who are the Monarch of it yet I am so assur'd that Your Majesty jealously watches over the Glory and Aims at the True Interest of Your Kingdoms that I am confident a Discourse that proves a French Conquest of this Island to be neither the Intention of Your Friends nor Your Own nor Practicable in it self will not be an unacceptable Present CONQUEST is a harsh Word and it frightens weak Minds And that YOU Your Self should Conquer can be only wish'd for by such as intend their own Interest more than Yours in Your Restauration who intend to live upon Prey and would destroy half the Nation that They might have the better share of the Confiscations But if that should be yet the most remote surviving Relations of those that are Killed or Executed when that horrid Trial of Skill shall be over will have a mind to the Estates of their Ancestors And the Banished Out-Laws will be ready to stir up any enterprizing Prince abroad or such as are discontented at home to give future Disturbances So that these Kingdoms will be still continued under Convulsive Agonies And after all I beg leave to say That no Prince by Conquering or to speak more properly Reducing his Rebellious Subjects can have any Title to take away the Laws and Liberties of those that remained Faithful I must confess I am one of those that can never as well for His as Our sake assist any King that has the Glorious Title of SUCCESSION to debase it into the mean hated and precarious one of Conquest But I think our own Hereditary and Equal Monarchy to be so much the most happy sort of Government both for Prince and People that I can very willingly run any hazard to settle things upon that Foundation Come Home Great Sir to Restore our Trade to Repair our Naval Reputation and Strength to make Us the Umpires of Europe to Deliver Us from Dutch Delusions to Preserve Our Church as Established by Law from being Debauched by Comprehension to Settle Liberty of Conscience in a duly Elected PARLIAMENT and to Establish all the Liberties of the English Subject It is because I am confident these are Your Royal Resolutions that I Wrote this short Discourse and now Dedicate it to Your Majesty The Subject is of that Importance to Your Affairs that it deserved to have been better handled and I desired some other Pens to have undertaken it but Their Thoughts were otherwise employed Yet though I am sensible I have not done it all the Justice They would I think I may without Vanity say I have made it plain beyond the Cavils or at least reasonable Objections of Your Adversaries and I hope it may have some effect upon them That God would Restore Your Majesty to Your Throne and to the Hearts of all Your Subjects is the unfeigned Prayer of May it please Your Majesty Your Majesty 's most Obedient Loyal Subject N. N. A French Conquest NEITHER Desirable nor Practicable SINCE our Enemies in some of their Pamphlets and many of their Discourses amongst several other things wherewith they falsly charge those whose sole Design is to restore the Ancient and Hereditary Monarchy together with all those Securities we ever had or are necessary for the Preservation of the English Liberties and Protestant Religion I say Since our Enemies amongst other things unjustly charge us with designing or at least unwarily helping forward a French Conquest I have determined to shew that such a Conquest is neither Desirable nor Practicable that we are neither such Fools nor Knaves as to think of such fatal Projects against our Native Country I shall endeavour to make out both the One and the Other plainly but not elaborately since Brevity and Perspicuity is more proper to disabuse the honest and plain-hearted for whose Information I particularly write and who are most misled by these Insinuations than long and artificial Harrangues wherein the Authors refine too much or interlard too much Learning I begin with the first Head of my Discourse viz. That a French Conquest is not desirable There is no sort of Men desire it I know no body that would subject our Fortunes our Liberties and Lives to the Power of France They that urge it don't believe we would We lament the Taxes the Imprisonments the Plunderings and the Pillaging of England the Torturing against Law and the Glenco-Massacre in Scotland together with all the other Miseries that infest this Island We would not bring more upon it we would not depopulate it we would not make it a Golgetha And that the World may be convinced that none of the Jacobites desire a French Conquest I shall shew it contrary to the Interests and Inclinations of every Denomination of them to let the French have any footing here It is almost a Jest to go about to prove the Whiggish Jacchites would not find their Account in a French Conquest Can it be imagined that Men who have been always struggling with their own Kings for more Liberty and to have their Properties better guarded who have been hitherto so jealous of the lowest Imitations of French Monarchy should expect greater Securities under a Provincial French Government or desire to become Subjects to a King whos 's own Natural Subjects they think are very hardly dealt with As to the Jacobites of the Church of England nothing can lie more cross to their Notions and Interest than a French Conquest Can it be believed that those who venture All to preserve every Gradation of the Royal Line would convey over the Tenure of the Crown to one that has no Pretence of Right to it Did they not oppose the Bill of Exclusion upon this Principle That it is not in the Power of King and Parliament too to alter the Succession Can they then give up the Interest of our English Monarchs all at once No their Consciences will bid them oppose a French Conquest with the hazard and expence of the last Drop of their Blood And their Interest will bid them do so too for a French Conquest cannot be maintained here without so many Outlandish Roman Catholicks as will be a very indifferent Guard to the Church of England and if the French King should be King of England he must in meer Policy set up his own Religion here if he did not think himself obliged in Conscience to do it I come in the last place to the Roman Catholicks of whom our Adversaries expect the World should believe any Figment tho' never so monstrous and absurd and I must say That those among them who by reason of their Estates
then all the wise and influencing Jacobites will interpose will keep him if he should be inclined to do otherwise from pursuing Revenge and will tell him that the end of Civil War must be attended with Moderation in the Conqueror or otherwise he that is one day Victor by the Sword may be vanquished the next by Jealousies If he should unmercifully devour even his Rebellious Subjects we our selves should stand affrighted at him as at a Polyphemus and conclude he would feast upon us at last Our Henry the Third had like to have lost himself by an intemperate use of his Victory over the Barons And Edward the Second did lose himself by using extream Rigours after his Victory at Burton upon Trent Other instances of this sort may be found in our own Histories and if we rightly consider the present State of Affairs the Defection was very general and upon the Account of Male Administration and therefore the Pardon ought to be without Exceptions and a Rectification of those Errors will restore the King to the Hearts of all his People as well as his Kingdoms without Effusion of Blood They are State-Quacks who only understand Phlebotomy A good Physician will sweeten and compose the Mass of Humors and by proper Lenitives quiet all our boyling Spirits and correct the Temperament of the State into Obedience without creating Faintnesses or destroying our Vitals This all the considerable Jacobites are now satisfied of this is their Opinion It is not the Title of the King that is the Dispute then indeed Wise Kings have after Victories been severe as our Henry VII was but the same Henry VII was as Merciful in Flammock's Rebellion tho' it was occasion'd by collecting Taxes that were granted by Parliament His Son also Henry VIII who was a Prince of a high mind when 30000 were in Arms in the Yorkshire Rebellion which was upon account of what they thought Male-administration pardoned every Man and after quieted their minds by sending down a Book amongst them to explain his Intentions It is by Mercy and letting us see clearly into his Royal Heart that our King King JAMES must establish his Throne and even they who believe Passive Obedience would not be active in the Destruction of their Country and tho' they think the Church of England supports the Monarchy yet now they are satisfied nothing less will secure their Church than what makes our Liberties safe You know there are others in his Interest who will claim their Rights in a bolder manner yet I bless God there are many of them some of whom never touched with this Government and others who have been so disappointed by its Ministers and Administration that they no longer expect a Cure from the Prince of Orange's hands you cannot think either the One or the Other of these desire to be a Conquered People nor do I know any one Man that desires it Indeed this Government has taken all Methods by Harrassing and Imprisonments and such Taxes as must undo us to make the Jacobites do some desperate thing and if any thing would such Usage would make us wish for a French Conquest or any other Change of Torments but nothing can make us wish for a French Conquest They have not yet made us Rise that they might have the Confiscation of our Fortunes and duâ— King William Conquerour without controul I hope we shall never Rise till we do it to the purpose till the Nation rises with us I hope we shall disappoint that Design of parcelling out our Inheritances amongst the sworn Vassals of the Prince of Orange as Ireland which could easily have been made to follow the Fortune of England at the beginning of this Revolution had not this Project been in their Head has been shared amongst them I hope we shall disappoint them here by a wise and temperate Conduct They care not what Slaughters what Distresses they bring upon the Nation but We would restore Peace and Plenty to it and whatever our Enemies say who have all along had a great Faculty of contriving Lies and forming Hobgoblins we love our Country our Native Country too well to let any Uneasiness make us have one Thought one Wish for a French Conquest The Prince of Orange in his Declaration says One of the Ends of his coming was to cover all Men from Persecution He has kept that as well as the other parts for he cannot but know that many of those who refuse the Oaths do it out of Conscience and how many against whom no other Crime has been proved but the refusal of those Oaths and therefore in the sight of the Law guilty of none else have had their Arms and Horses seized have been hindred from following their Lawful Business put to find unreasonable Bail been laid up in loathsom Prisons and been forced to pay most part if not all their Incomes If this is not Persecution I know not what is and I think he cannot but believe it is generally for Conscience-sake Is not that Venerable Old Man Archbishop Sancroft and several other Bishops and dignify'd Persons who have shewn a sufficient Concern for the Protestant Religion and whose Loyalty was not so stupid to use Dr. Sherlock's Epithete but that they stood up for the Laws Are not many of these Excellent Persons reduc'd to great Straights and Poverty because they have not supple time-serving-Providential Consciences How many of the Inferiour Clergy are sent to beg their Bread who made it a point of Conscience to oppose the Irregularities of King James's Ministers who tho' they would have been and are now willing to consent to Liberty of Conscience Parliamentarily settled were not flexible to the Tricks set on foot by those designing Ministers There has been already I think a sufficient Persecution of the Jacobites but the Judges are commanded to set a greater forward still however that shall not provoke us to a rash Attempt neither to hurt our selves nor our Country neither to make King William's Hotch-potch Title a Conquest nor to think of a French Conquest We cannot swear away our Allegiance which we owe to King James as his Birth right and which most of us have sworn to him but if it had been thought fit to contrive an Oath which should have expressed our Love of England and our Abhorrence of a French Conquest whatever Mulct had been laid upon the Refusal of it whoever had refused it would have been by us unpity'd tho' you had exacted the Mulct never so severely for we are all satisfied a French Conquest is not desirable That a French Conquest is contrary to the Inclinations and Interests of the several sorts of Jacobites is a good Argument that it is not practicable But now I fall upon my second Head I presume I shall directly and irrefragably make out I hat a French Conquest is not Practicable and that by shewing I. That a French Conquest is as little King James ' s Inclination as his Interest II. That
such a Conquest is palpably opposite to the Interest of all the Princes and States of Europe And lastly That to attempt a French Conquest of England either for Himself or King James is not the Interest of the King of France himself I omit shewing a French Conquest is against the Interest of King James for I don't think it worth my while to prove that it is against a Man's Interest to have his Estate taken from him and his Posterity destroy'd King James has a Child that He believes and you believe too notwithstanding all the pains you take to be thought to believe that useful Flam of your pretended Imposture which was at first taken up and industriously promoted like that of the Irish cutting the Throats of all the People of England and Scotland to help forward this Revolution to be a True PRINCE OF WALES and at least this innocent Child has not disoblig'd the King and this is enough to make him take pity of the Nation however Rebellious and Ungrateful we have been to him But besides he has several times since his Exile expressed himself in so pathetick and extenuating a Style concerning those Subjects that have used him so ill that it would be almost incredible if related And tho' the Prince of Wales was dead he retains even for the Princess of Orange such a Fatherly Affection as plainly supersedes Royal Resentment and I have heard one that was by say That upon a Gentleman 's mentioning even upon occasion of Business the Fault of the Princess of Orange and that with all the Modesty imaginable and he must touch very tenderly upon that String who will make his Court to the King tho' such virulent Pamphlets are Licensed here against Him the King reply'd That the Princess of Orange had Natural Foundations of Good ness that Dr. Burnet and the Bishop of London can never destroy And further they who have been at Sâ— Geâ—mans kâ—ow with what Indignation the King treats althoughts of Restoring him by any other Method than by a great Concurrence of his own People The King knows how obstinately the People of Britain nay many that are now his own Friends would resist any other Method and he knows that the Riches of a Country are the People of it He would be Himself and he would have his Son the King of Great Britain and he does not think it worth his while to be King of Trees of Beasts and a desolated Land or to leave such a ruin'd Kingdom to his Son When I weigh the good Inclinations of the King and the barbarous Persecution and Misrepresentation he has met with I am shook with a double Agony I compassionate His Wrongs and am astonished at our Ingratitude and that we would not once try whether the Things we complain'd of proceeded from His own Nature or from those about him whom the Prince of Orange had corrupted The Scene of His and our Miseries is abundantly and admirably laid open in an excellent Book printed last Summer called Great Britain's Just Complaint and if I would entertain the World upon that Subject I must either transcribe what may be found in that Book or relate the History of the same Matter of Fact without doing the same Justice to the Cause of the King That Great and Judicious Author has discover'd the whole Mystery of Iniquity How such Snares were laid for the King as an honest-minded Man could scarce escape How willing the King was to redress our Grievances when he found he had been in Mistakes and this before he went away How he continued in the same Mind when he was addressed to by some of his Subjects of Scotland who had appeared most vigorously to resent those Mistakes and this when he was under no Pressure in his Affairs I will add no more to justifie the Inclinations of the King but beseech every body who reads this to read Great Britain's Just Complaint which puts the Nation upon the best Method for us to know the Inclinations of our King He advises page 48. to resume that Treaty we so foolishly broke off and refused and thereby to secure Religion and Property by those Concessions which our Sovereign is still ready to grant us He goes on Let us put it home to him and lay it at his own Door Let him have it in his choice to return by his People if he pleases Convince him that his Protestant Subjects upon securing their Religion and Liberties will repair their former Errors by contributing heartily towards his Restauration And as that Author says if he declines to return upon a Protestant and English Foot there is an end of the Controversie and of all Disputes amongst Protestants for Religion and Liberty will never be sacrificed by true English-men And I will add to what he says If no true English-man joyn with him whatever Forces they can transport upon us neither can King James come home nor can the French conquer us But God be praised a great many true English men will joyn to bring home the King tho' I know not one so bad an English man as would join in a French Conquest But I come in the second place to shew That it is not the Interest of any of the Princes or States of Europe that the French should make us a Conquest The excellent Author of the abovenamed Great Britain's Just Complaint has proved that whether this Confederate War ends successfully or unsuccessfully in all likelihood and according to all the Rules of Policy the Restauration of King James must in a short time follow upon the Determination of it But it is my business to make it plain That tho' it may be and is the Interest of all Countries to have King James Restored at the conclusion of this War yet it is not the Interest of any of them that the French should conquer us have our Kings their Vassals or be Masters of our Ports Would the Spaniard have the Chanel shut up on both sides to Flanders Would the Dutch have the English and Irish Ports managed by such select Committees as the French would infallibly set up for Trade And how long would the Dutch resist Ours and the French Power united under one Absolute Monarch Would not the Northern Crowns and all the Princes of Germany soon feel the Weight of such a Confluence of Strength The Influence that such a Conquest would have upon all the States of Europe be they never so remote is at first sight so evident that there is not one of them who would be an idle Spectator of our Ruine Every body now knows the Danger their own House is in when their Neighbor's is on fire Every little Politician knows how much Greatness depends upon Naval Preparations and Trade therefore every body would be allarm'd every body in an Uproar when they saw such Maritime Kingdoms as ours like to be made an Accession to the numerous Land-Forces of France They are idle Brains that dream of
rot But Mr. Pepys has prov'd the contrary with a witness and appeals to the Books and Men that are now in the Admiralty and Navy Offices By this you may guess at the Sincerity of Dr. King in other particulars King JAMES without Taxes repair'd and added to our Navy and augmented its Stores but the Vote which declares the Sense of the House of Commons to be That the Commission of the Admiralty should not be filled with Men experienc'd in Sea-Affairs tho' it look like a Jest was well enough calculated for the Humour of this Prince who is willing to put the Nation under an absolute Necessity of maintaining a vast standing Army though a Pamphlet written and dispers'd at the beginning of the last Sessions by the wiser Williamites themselves called The Interest or State of Parties had so evidently made it out That the Natural and only Defence of England depended upon its Wooden Walls and spake broadly of the Insufficiency of the present Lords of the Admiralty I suppose too that they who occasion'd our not making use last Summer of our Victory at Sea which even those who would fright us with the French Power say was gain'd by a part only of our Fleet inferior in Number and Quality to the French who attack'd them and since have got Russel discharg'd from being Admiral instead of being rewarded with an Earldom and Garter for that Victory which did indeed destroy many of the French Ships tho' it was not the greatest Victory that ever the Sun saw as Dr. Tillotson phrased it and yet it is the only time that we have not by reason of our preposterous Management come off with loss and shame I say These Men know how much better King William is pleased with Land-Forces than Tarpawlins but how little Care soever has been taken of our Ships whatever Dangers the Prince of Orange would expose us to hereafter that he may rule us more arbitrarily during his own Time yet the Nation will find out his Designs feel their own Strength know whereon their own Safety depends time enough to hinder his or a French Conquest tho' they will at the same time perceive it necessary to call home that Prince whose Claim is indisputed and whose coming home upon such Concessions as we want and He is ready to grant will swallow up all Fâ—ctions They will e'er long percâ—ive it necessary to call him home â—pon such Securities even to secure their own Interests All Remains of 〈◊〉 pâ—â—tâ— Governments are at an 〈◊〉 and since Printing has been in the World the French and all Nations so well know how vindicative of their Liberties the English have always been that they will have but little mind to make us a Province I have already intimated how unsafe it would be for the Absolute Power of France at home to let their Soldiers hear from the surviving Britains what were our Freedoms and it would be yet much more unsafe for the French Lieutenants to agree to the Observation of our Laws But I will hasten to the Norman Conquest Before any body takes it for granted that William the First was a Conqueror I wish they would read the First Part of the Historical Discourse of the Vniformity of the Government of England written by Mr. Nathanael Bacon and the latter-end of the third Part of Mr. Will. Prynne's Historical Vindication of the Fundamental Liberties of English Freemen together with all those Authors these two Writers refer to But I resolved at first to wave examining whether we have ever in a proper and strict sense been conquered or no and therefore must fall directly upon comparing those and our Times and the Pretences of the Duke of Normandy and what the French can have upon us I can find but one thing that has any shew of likeness with our present Circumstances and that is Harold was an Vsurper and had broke the Protestation he had formerly made to Duke William as much as the P. of Orange has his Declaration to the People of England and truly if any thing can facilitate a French Conquest and if the Times did not exceedingly differ in other respects the Breaches we have made upon the Lineal Succession and the Impotencies Irregularities and Exactions of the present Government might make way for it But those things that made a Conquest feasible then and are not in our present Case are very many The Normans came from Norway and Denmark which Places were surchaged with People and there was no Project so improbable in which their Leaders could not easily engage them The Religion of the Normans and the Inhabitants of Britain was the same The Conqueror had many Pretences of Title Edward the Confessor's Will the Donation of the Pope who also gave him a Consecrated Banner an Agnus of Gold and one of the Hairs of St. Peter Besides his Titles here were several Normans within this Land who helped him he had been here himself to view our Land and make a Party as his own Speech intimates the then King of France helped him in his Acquest So did the Emperour Henry the Fourth he likewise came and lived among us and stipulated at his own Coronation to defend the Holy Church of God and the Rectors of the same to govern the universal People subject to him justly to establish equal Laws and see them duly executed Nor did be as the Judicious Samuel Daniel well observes ever claim any Power by Conquest but as a regular Prince submitted himself to the Orders of the Kingdom desirous rather to have his Testamentary Title however weak to make good his Succession than his Sword and tho' the Stile of Conqueror by the flattery of the Times was after given him he shewed by all the Course of his Government he assumed it not introducing none of those Alterations which followed by Violence but by a mild gathering upon the disposition of the State and the Occasions offer'd and that by way of Reformation These are the words of Daniel page 36. Now I come to compare I must once more repeat That France has no occasion to send forth Droves of People and the Religion of France will make the People of England resist a French Conquest to all Extremity And if King James would sell his Kingdoms as some ridiculously have suggested the People of England would hardly be brought to make good the Bargain and the Pope's Gift would as little influence our Minds tho' he should send with the Arms of France all the Reliques of Rome We have indeed many French amongst us but I think no one Man fears they will assist their own King in such an Adventure They are so far from that that they have not been which I am sorry to say GRATEFUL to King James who gave them Protection and Relief when they came hither in Distress And I have already proved That it is not the Interest of any Prince abroad to joyn our Three Kingdoms to the French Territories And
I believe if the King of France should promise to protect the Protestant Church of God and the Rectors of the same to govern the universal People subject to him justly to establish equal Laws and to see them duly executed we should not take his Word nor would his own Subjects be well pleased It is King William only that is allowed to have a Religion for his several Dominions that may be a Synod-of-Dort-Presbyterian in Holland an Episcopalian in England of the Kirk in Scotland and a downright Favourer of Popery in Ireland as is apparent by the Limerick Treaty and the Pamphlet put out by the Irish Gentlemen concerning the Proceedings of their late Parliament and the Depositiâ—â—â— that are before the House of Lords I have told over our former Conquests somewhat tediously and will add very little about them however I desire the Reader will reflect That the Neighboring Princes because they did not animadvert how much Greatness consisted in Naval Preparations and Trade and because we had not begun to make a Figure in either never thought themselves so much concerned as all the Potentates of Europe will now what becomes of us None of our Neighbors ever help'd Us formerly some of 'em did our Invaders Let the Reader farther reflect that it was not necessary for any of our former Invaders to make such a total Subversion of all our Laws as it will now be for the French King and consequently Composition and Treaties more easily succeeded Battles The former Alterations rather meliorated than overthrew our Constitution They bundled up and refin'd our By-Laws into National Statutes and introduced Forms where the Methods of Justice seemed less articulate And lastly Let it be considered though there are great Divisions amongst us some few for keeping the Prince of Orange others for restoring the King and several for something that they have not yet licked into Form yet all Persons that make the respective Parties of these Divisions will all of 'em joyn together to obstruct a French Conquest There will be such Divisions whenever Men will commit Violence upon the natural and ancient Constitution and I must confess these Divisions are the most fatal Symtom that attends our distemper'd State and may and will certainly subject us though not to a French Conquest to great Calamities and Devastations unless we restore the King I suppose I have sufficiently prov'd a French Conquest to be neither Desirable nor Practicable yet God knows what infinite Mischiefs we may have brought upon our selves by reviving a sort of Quarrel which by the Mercy of God has been so long extinguished A Dispute for Title which has in the days of our Forefathers had so fatal an Effect which has so dismally wounded our State and is left bleeding in the Histories of so many Reigns Because you shall not think I aggravate the Calamities that were occasioned by the Contention of the Two Roses I will only transribe some Passages out of Trussel who is a chast and cautelous Writer and it cannot be supposed his History was written to serve a Jacobite-Turn Page 257. he says There were in the Quarrel of the Two Roses Fourscore Princes of the Blood destroyed and twice as many Natives slain as were lost in the Two Conquests of France Pag. 260. he says In the Battle of Townton there were killed Thirty five thousand ninety and one English-men and of Strangers One thousand seven hundred forty five beside Two hundred and thirty slain the Day before at Ferry-bridge In his last Page his Words are these The total of private Soldiers that perished in these Civil Wars and suffered Punishment of immature Death for taking part of the one side or the other was Fourscore thousand nine hundred ninety and eight Persons besides Kings 2. Prince 1. Dukes 10. Marquesses 2. Earls 21. Viscounts 2. Lords 27. Lord Prior 1. Judge 1. Knights 139. Esquires 441. The Number of the Gentry is uncertainly reported and therefore Trussel omits them but says That for the most part they are included in the Number of private Soldiers set down to be slain to which he says you must add the Number of Six hundred and thirty and eight the total of all the Persons not therein accounted and then there appeareth in all to be slain Fourscore five thousand six hundred twenty eight Christians and most of this Nation not to be repeated says the Historian without grief nor remembred without Deprecation that the like may never happen more He concludes his History with this Saying Pan una Triumphis innumeris potior The whole History of that Quarrel sets before us such apposite Lessons for our Times that I wish all who love England would seriously read and ponder it It is time to draw to a Conclusion I am not willing to prophecy the Destruction of my Countrey and I beseech God Almighty to incline our Hearts to the Things that belong unto our Peace to our Peace in this World and to our everlasting Peace in the World to come I beseech God to incline the Prince of Orange not to forfeit an eternal weight of Glory for a momentary Crown which has nothing of good in it if it is not got by the Acts of Goodness God grant that he may consider it as a more valuable Character to be a Virtuous and a Christian Prince than a Romantick Heroe and God grant that he may be so Wise that his Days may not end in Tragedy I wish he would review his own Declaration and the Memorial of the States and that he would pursue those excellent Ends for which he came for which the States said they lent their Ships and which King James would have comply'd with and is ready to comply with still The King is willing to secure the Liberties of England and the Protestant Religion and had not the Confederates made their Quarrel â—â—â—ult by giving way to an unnatural Ambition in the Prince of Orange and dispossessing King James whilst they pretended they formed this Confederacy to repair the Injuries done to them by the French K. JAMES the injured King JAMES would have checked the Growth of France and kept Namur and Mons. He was far from a French League and would have perform'd the part of a true Guarrantee for either the King would have prevented France coming before them by reminding their King of the Treaty of Nâ—miguen or our Arms would have had doubtless success when we had Justice on our side and the Wishes and Prayers of all English-men joyned with the undertaking of our rightful indisputed King How far he was from a French League how unwilling to think ill of the Pr. of Orange and how unwilling to be too much beholding to France his disbelief of all the Advices of d'Avaux and of many of his Friends his Answer to Bonrepos and his refusal to the last of any French Assistance sufficiently witness and as much as he has been beholding to France during his Troubles I am satisfied that
many years thought it necessary to add to the Glory of his Name some Attempt upon Countries beyond the end of the World for so was Britain in those days thought at Rome that so his dazling Achievements might make his long intended purpose more easie I mean his Design of raising himself from a Servant to be Master of his Country As to the Romans themselves when they came first amongst us their Power was united entire and so much too big for all our Neighboring Countries that they had given Law to every one of them before they had attempted Us and we were divided into several petty Governments who would not joyn in a common Defence Give me leave now to set down That the King of France is already at the Head of a Government and needs not risque what he has to make him Superior to those amongst whom he dwells We are united under one Monarchy There are many Princes confederate against France that are very Powerful and Neutral Princes enough to turn at any time the Scale Nor is there as I said amongst all the Jacobites that I know one Man who so little loves his own King and his own Country as that he would not hazard his Life against the French if they designed any thing in prejudice of our Rightful Monarch or his Posterity or our Constitution it self Can any Man think we have less sense of Liberty than the Irish who yet had not a different Religion to caution them as the Protestant Jacobites have here Indeed some of us are like them sometimes wheedl'd into too early and undue Suspicions of the French even by the Emissaries of the Prince of Orange and if any body talks of governing England by French Power I am sure they must be the Prince of Orange's Pensioners and tho' the Prince of Orange himself is not good at Much his Agents have the Art to foment Jealousies Besides all this there is a great disparity between the Times in which the Romans came hither and now by reason of our Skill in Military Affairs I suppose few English-men will allow the French so much superior to us in the Art of War as the Romans were to the naked Britains Our late Taxes have been very ill bestow'd if our Fleet does not hold the same Disproportion and yet in those days tho' the Romans were so long amongst us and tho' they govern'd us in great part by our own Laws and many of their Lieutenants rather taught us the exercise of than took away our Liberties nevertheless they never had if our best Historians may be credited the whole Land at any one time in Subjection and tho' such Multitudes of the Britains were slain the Tribute the Romans got here cost them in Massacres and Battels more Men than France will ever be able to spend upon the Project of Conquering these Kingdoms Most of what is recorded of the manner of the coming and being here of the Romans is handed down to us by their own Writers with a naked and sedate Narration but Cloyster'd Clergy-men who used themselves to write Hyperboles rather than precise Truths being those from whom we have most of our Accounts of the Saxon Times we must expect swelling and Legendary Reports but that wherein I shall consider to shew the disparity between them and the French and ours and those days lies in a small Compass and will be granted on all hands The Quarrels of the Roman Empire had carry'd into France under the Banners of Maximus one of the Competitors for it the Flower Strength of Britain and with the overthrow of Maximus by Theodosius they either all perished or seated themselves in Armorica There was likewise another great Transplantation of the British Youth under Constantine and at this time the Saxons were a very Warlike People and so over-charg'd with Numbers that they sent Multitudes abroad to fight for a Habitation The Frame of their Government agreed very well with the British and was very near what are at this day the Fundamentals of our Government They were invited in to preserve us from being over-run by the Scots and Picts who were our Fellow-Islanders and tho' I don't doubt the Saxons carried the Merit of their Successes against our Enemies further than became our Friends yet I cannot imagin but that there was a more equal Incorporation of the British Stock than we can discover at this distance of time and from such passionate Writers as are the Relators of what pass'd then And after all it was want of Ships and great Divisions amongst the Britains occasion'd their Overthrow for our Monarchy was not perfected and as Milton says very well Vortigern was rather Chief than sole King These were the Reasons why the Saxons so far mastered the Britains and yet the Saxons often ran a Risque of a final Extirpation From this Account of the Saxon Invasion the disparity is very obvious I heartily lament the Loss of so much English Blood as has been spilt unnecessarily and unlawfully too in these our deplorable Distractions into which we have brought our selves by inviting over a Foreigner to rescue those Liberties which he has as we might well suppose he would more trampled upon than all the Evil Councellors of King James We would invite a Foreign Prince to do our own proper Work instead of endeavouring Parliamentarily to redress our Grievances or rescuing our selves our Liberties by an English Insurrection such a one as those whereby our Ancestors obtained the Confirmations of their Charters and which often ended as all Insurrections ought to do without any real Prejudice to the Successive Monarchy and which let it be call'd now as Whiggish as they will and those that were formerly were Popish is more justifiable either to Prudence or Religion than the Nobility Gentlemen and * Tho' the Prince of Orange's Declaration mentions Lords Spiritual and some have raised a Scandal upon Archbishop Sancroft as if his hand was to the Invitation of him I am well assured that neither that Right Reverend Prelate nor his Fellow Sufferers ever engaged in that design of calling over the P. of Orange Clergy who call themselves of the Church of England their Invitation of a Foreign Prince which with all the Charity and Pity in the World for those who were inconsiderately misled and are not so obstinate as to think with Catiline That ill Deeds must be made safe with worse I beg leave to say was Unnatural and in despight of His Relative and their Civil Duty I say I heartily lament the Loss of so much English Blood as has been unwarrantably thrown away in Ireland at Sea and in Flanders and yet God be praised we have still left generous Youth enough to make us the Terrour of all Ambitious Princes if we would once again unite to take away all Disputes of Title by restoring our rightful and lawful King and betake our selves to negotiate in the Arbitration of Europe rather than over hastily engage
even in his exil'd State he thinks himself as King of England so naturally the Arbiter of Europe that he will mediate as soon as his Affairs a little more recover his Figure a reasonable Peace for it But the KING needs not much solicite it for I am satisfy'd the King of France is willing to come into such a Peace upon Condition that the King's Restauration may be one of the Terms of it and that he will not be brought to make Peace upon any other Terms so that 〈◊〉 Restauration of King JAMES would give a happy Issue to the Troubles of Europe and our own which our Experience after all the Blood and Treasure spilt and spent to humble France may shew us will be the only Expedient to save us from the Power we have so much envy'd and this we may learn from King William's own Speeches to these two last Sessions of Parliament for he does not only make the obtaining an Honourable Peace from France to the Confederates instead of our Conquest of France the Bounds of his Hopes in this War but allows the Growth of France during this War so much as to increase his Stile from the Great Power of France which were the words of his Speech Michaelmas was Twelve-months to the Excessive Power of France in his Speech of the last Sessions This very Consideration should move us But farther Into what Shambles are all the Parts of Flanders the Rhine Catalonia and Piedmont turn'd What Slaughter-Houses may be erected in the unhappy Isle of Britain Unhappy because she will blind her self against her own true Interest and only Cure Our Taxes grow heavy but we have pay'd our Blood but we must pour it out yet more plentifully before this Reckoning is over if we will not return to our Wits and our Duty Civil Distractions will overtake us Foreigners both on the one and the other side will be poured in upon us and we shall become the Cock-Pit of the World and though all the Jacobites abhor a French Conquest and so does the King too yet if the Nation will not come to such a Temper as to restore him without their Help the KING's Friends cannot be blamed for being willing to admit of such a moderate Number of French or any other Forces as may be necessary to cover Them when they come to him till they get together and as may give them Opportunity to rise We had rather the Nation looked so directly towards Him as that there should be no occasion for One Man in Arms to come with Him We had rather He had much rather nay the King of France declares HE had rather his Restauration should be wholly owing to his own Subjects We will never agree that he should bring such a Force as may give any the least just Jealousie that either He or France design to Conquer and he is perfectly resolv'd to come in that manner that shall be agreed to by such Friends of his as the World must allow to be Men of Honour regardful of the British Rights and of the Protestant Religion With such Men he will adjust the Manner and Time of his coming They will see that his coming shall be safe to all those dear Concerns for which we have so often struggled and the Measures and Condescentions such as that they may answer to God and Men their engaging in his Quarrel Can any Man of Sense believe that the Earl of Middleton who could never during his whole Ministry be drawn into any one irregular step would go over upon any other Errand That Great Man is known to understand his Duty to his Countrey as well as his Prince and thinks he ought at the same time to be the Minister of both and his Affection and Firmness to Protestancy was never once suspected He will neither betray our Laws nor his own Religionâ— nor will he to do the King but Justice be tempted to either for all that we have mislik'd in the King's Measures abroad has proceeded from Misrâ—presentations from hence and my Lord Middleton is so fraughted with the genuine Interest as well as Sense of these Nations that the most inveterate of our Enemies will have hereafter no Opportunities to clamor and exasperate This is a Truth which in a short time will want no Vouchers The future Acts of State that come from that Court will prove he has discoursed many of the Leading Men and compromised the Grievances of all Parties And whereas some of the Prince of Orange's Ministers have declared what great Expectations they have from the Quarrels at St. Germains I can assure them they will be deceived in their Hopes for there is so good an Understanding between my Lord Middleton and those who had before entire Credit with the King that they don't only personally agree but concur in Sentiments relating to the British Affairs which is a â—ull Evidence that what we misliked there cannot be charged upon the Disposition of the King nor upon the depraved Tempers of those about him as even some of his Friends were apt to suspect but proceeded meerly from their want of a True State of these Nations and the knowledge of what would satisfie us till the Eart of Middleton went thither Every day will make this Truth plainer than other I cannot but wish that all Men would so avowedly own their Mistake would so willingly sit down under our Ancient Legal Limited and Hereditary Monarchy would so openly tell their Dâ—ssatisfactions and what they think Proportionate Securities so fairly state the Differences between the Crown and People so unanimously express their Willingness to Re-establish the Old and Natural Frame of our Government that it might be advisable that we might advise him wholly to depend upon his British Subjects I like neither French nor Dutch nor Irish upon our Island though I cannot be afraid of any such Numbers of either or all as will be much out-numbred by those of our Fellow-Subjects and Fellow Islanders who resolve to repair to the King as soon as he is landed Oh 〈◊〉 that we would recant our Mistakes that we would repent of our Folly that we would yet let our Moderation our Civil and Christian Moderation be known unto all Men Oh! that a nice Security for the Church of England as the National Church and best Church too as I think as nice a Security for our English Libeâ—ties and Liberty of Conscience were our only Aims that Party and Picque Faction and Friendshâ—pâ— Fears and Fancies did not predoâ—inate neither on the One nor the Other Party 〈◊〉 at the Ends and not the Forms of Things were what we 〈◊〉 â—ord that our Afflictions would make us Wise then the King would as little need as he wishes to bring any Foreign Force See you any end of your Troubles Is your Deliverer a fit Instrument for so great a Work Do his Measures hold any resemblance with his and your Pretences Are his ministers Gâ—â—r n. and Not m Tr r Roch