December 21. 1688. Licensed Fourteen Papers VIZ. I. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel II. A Letter from a Freeholder to the rest of the Freeholders of England and all Others who have Votes in the Choice of Parliament-Men III. An Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by Sa. Oxon. IV. Reflections on a Late Pamphlet Entituled Parliamentum Pacificum Licensed by the Earl of Sunderland and Printed at London in March 1688. V. A Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of His Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence VI. The Anatomy of an Equivalent VII A Letter from a Clergy-man in the City to his Friend in the Country Containing his Reasons for not Reading the Declaration VIII An Answer to the City Minister's Letter from his Country Friend IX A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the Hague concerning the Penal Laws and the Test shewing that the Popular Plea for Liberty of Conscience is not concerned in that Question X. A Plain Account of the Persecution said to the Charge of the Church of England XI Abby and other Church-Lands not yet assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion XII The King's Power in Ecclesiastical Matters truly stated XIII A Letter of several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the Account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the Kings Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. XIV Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of Orange's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin ' near the BlackBull in the Old-Bailey 1689. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friend in London upon occasion of a Pamphlet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel SIR AS soon as the Letter Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of Ireland c. came to my hands I set upon Answering it with the same expedition and plainness of Style as uses to accompany naked Truth which needs not the cloathing of sophistical Arguments or florid Expressions to recommend it to the unprejudic'd part of Mankind And indeed upon the very first reading of every Paragraph of it the slightness of the Arguing or the notorious Falshood of the Matter of Fact did so evidently appear that a man of ordinary capacity needs not put his Natural Talent on the Rack to resute them The very first Position of the Paper viz. That Ireland is in a better Way of Thriving under the Government of a Native than an Englishman by which I suppose you mean one not barely so by Birth but by Inclination Interest Education Religion c. is so false that it contradicts the Experience and Reason of Mankind and disgusts one so much in the front of the Letter that I was tempted to fling it away unread judging it not worth the loss of so much time if the rest should prove of the same kind as indeed I found it upon perusal but having ventured through it I looked upon myself obliged to say something by way of Answer since in the opinion of some sort of Men the not Answering though even the most trifling Pamphlet is given out to be the Inability of the Party to reply to the weight of such Arguments as are contained in it I will not insist much upon the constant Practice of all the Predecessours of our English Kings and their Counsellors ever since the Conquest of Ireland who made it an establisht Maxim in relation to that Kingdom That none but an Englishman should be Chief Governour insomuch that till within these two Years that Practice gave occasion to the common erronious opinion That a man born in Ireland however otherwise qualified was thereby incapacitated from being Lord Deputy It is certain that long before the Reformation when Matters of Religion made no distinction between the Natives of each Country this was the setled and unalter'd Rule Have we any reason then to alter it now that Religion is put into the Scale and become the additional weight which never fails giving the advantage to the side it espouses and adheres to or rashly to condemn the wise Proceedings of the Ancestours of our Kings and contrary to the Opinion of the World judge our Author's Irish Understanding better than all the English ones that have been heretofore Our Author will certainly allow Ireland to be a conquer'd Country and consequently that the Conquerours have right to establish Laws with such restrictions and limitations as shall seem fitting and convenient towards the keeping it in their hands and the welfare of the Inhabitants which are of two sorts the British Planters and the Natives I shall prove that it has been and still is the Advantage of both these that Ireland should be Govern'd by an Englishman By the way I would have it understood that I do not pretend to put these two Interests into any ballance I know the British Interest does so far outweigh the other that it were a wrong done it to bring them into any competition more than two parts of three of the Lands of Ireland being by the several Rebellions of the Irish in British hands and for the Quality Temper Industry c. there is no comparison besides that if one of two Parties is to be pleased tho' by the detriment of the other 't is but just that the Conquerours who have right to give Law should be indulg'd how much more when it is consistent with the welfare of the Irish themselves if they understood their own good I am convinc'd that whatever has been done in favour of the Natives is pure Grace and cannot be claimed as a just Debt any otherwise than since it has been confirmed by Our Laws and Acts of Parliament He that reflects on 1641 will readily assent to this which makes me admire at the pertness of our Author in Capitulating as if we stood upon even ground with them but 't is plain he considers the Interest but of one Party in that Kingdom and tho' he names Ireland often he means the Native Irish Papist only But I proceed To prove that it is the Interest of the British that Ireland should be Governed by an Englishman I need say no more than that they all ardently desire it and People are the best Judge of their own Necessities The common Maxim That Interest will not lye Holds good here to some purpose The ill effects the contrary method has had on their Persons and Estates is but too visible Whoever had seen Ireland four Years ago and
That King Philip the Second Authorized the Duke of Alva to seize upon all their Priviledges their resistieg him and maintaining their Priviledges was without all dispute a justisiable Action and was so esteemed by all the States of Europe and in particular here in England as appears by the preambles of several Acts of Subsidy that were given to the Queen in order to the Assisting the States And as for their not dealing fairly with Princes when our Author can find such an instance in their History as our Attempt on their Smyrna Fleet was he may employ his Eloquence in setting it out and if notwithstanding all the failures they have felt from others they have still maintained the Publick Faith our Author's Rhetorick will hardly blemish there The Peace of Nimeguen and the abandoning of Luxemburgh are perhaps the single instances in their History that need to be a little excused But as the vast Expence of the last War brought them into a Necessily that either knows no Law or at least will hearken to none so we who forced them to both and first sold the Triple Alliance and then let go Luxembuogh do with very ill grace reproach the Dutch for these unhappy steps to which our Conduct drove them VIII If a strain of pert boldness runs through the whole Pamphlet it appears no where more eminently than in the Reflections the Author makes on Mr. Fagel's Letter he calls it p. 62. a pretended piece and a presumption not to be soon pardoned in prefixing to a surreptitious and unauthorized Pamphlet the reverend Name of the Princess of Orange which in another place p. 72. he had reason to imagine was but a counterfeit Coyn and that those Venerable Characters were but politically feigned and a sacred Title given to it without their Authority All this coming out with so solemn a License has made me take some pains to be rightly informed in this matter Those whom consulted tell me they have discoursed the Pensioner himself on this Subject who will very shortly take a sure method to clear himself of those imputations and to do that Right to the Prince and Princess as to shew the World That in this matter he acted only by their â—… For as Mr. Steward's Letter drew the Pensioner's Answer from him so this Paper Licensed as it is will now draw from him a particular recital of the whole progress of the matter Mr. Alloville knows that the Princess explained her self so sully to him in the Month of May and June 1687. upon the Repeal of the Test that he himself has Acknowleged to several Persons That though both the Prince and Princess were very stiff in that matter yet of the two â—… found the Princess more inflexible Afterwards when Mr. Steward by many repeated Letters pressed his Friend to renew his importunities to the Pensioner for an Answer he having also said in his Letters that he writ by the King's Order and Direction Upon this the Pensioner having consulted the Prince and Princess drew his Letter first in Dutch and communicated it to them and it being approved by them he turned it into Latin but because it was to be shewed to the King he thought it was fit to get it put into English that so their Highnesses might see the Translation of that Letter which was to be offered to his Majesty and they having approved of it sent it with his own in Latin and it was delivered to the King. This Account was given me by my Friend who added That it would appear ere long in a more Authentical manner And by this I suppose the impudence of those men does sufficiently appear who have the Brow to publish â—… stuff of the Falshood of which they themselves are well assured and therefore I may well conclude that my Lord President 's License was Granted by him with that Carelesness with which most Books are Read and Licensed Our Author pretends that he cannot Believe that his Letter could flow from a Princess of so sweet a temper pag. 62. and yet others find so much of the sweetness of her temper in it â—… for that very reason they believe it the more easily to have come from her No Passion nor indiscreet Zeal appears in it and it expresses such an extended Charity and Nobleness of Temper that those Characters shew it comes from one that has neither a narrowness of Soul for a sowerness of Spirit In short She proposes nothing in it but to preserve that Religion â—… Believes the true one and that being â—… she is willing that all others Enjoy all the Liberties of Subjects and the Freedom of Christians Here is Sweetness of Temper and Christian Charity in their fullest Extent The other Reason is so mysteriously expressed that I will not wrong our Author by putting it in any other words but his own pag. 62. She is â—… as little pleas'd to promote any thing to the disturbance of a State to which she still seems so â—… related She seems still are two significant â—… and not set here for nothing She â—… in his Opinion only related to the â—… that is she is not really so But â—… is something that these Gentlemen have in reserve to blow up the seeming Relation and she seems still imports that though this seeming relation is suffered to pass at present yet it must have its period for this Seems still can have no other meaning But in what does she promote the disturbance of the State or Patronize the Opposers of her Parents as he says afterwards ibid. Did she ossiciously interpose in this matter Or was not her Sense asked And when it was Asked must she not give it according to her Conscience She is too perfect a Pattern in all other things Not to know well how great a Respect and Submission she ows her Father But she is too good a Christian not to know that her Duty to God must go first And therefore in matter of Religion when her mind was asked she could not avoid the giving it according to her Conscience And all the invidious Expressions which he fastens on this Letter and which he makes so many Arguments to shew that it could not flow from her are all the Malicious and soon discovered Artifices of one that knew That she had ordered the Letter and that thought himself safe in this Disguise in the discharging of his Malice against her So ingratefully is she required by a party for whom she had expressed so much Compassion and Charity This Author page 53. thinks it an indiscreet forecast to be always Erecting such Horoscopes for the next Heir both in Discourse and Writing as seem almost to Calculate the Nativity of the present and he would almost make this High-Treason But if it is so there were many Traytors in England a few Years ago in which the Next Heir though but a Brother was so much considered That the King himself lookt as one out of countenance and
abandoned and could scarce find Company enough about him for his Entertainment either in his Bed-chamber or in his Walks when the whole dependance was on the Successor So if we by turns look a little on the Successor those who did thus in so scandalous a manner ought not to take it so very ill from us In a melancholly state of things it is hard to deny us the Consolation of hoping that we may see better Days But since our Author is so much concerned that this Letter should not be in any manner imputed to the Princess it seems a little strange that the Prince is so given up by him thaa he is at no pains to clear him of the imputation For the happy Union that is between them will readily make us to conclude That if the Prince Ordered it the Princess had likewise her share in it But I find but one glance at the Prince in the whole Book page 52. when the Author is pleasing himself with the hopes of protection from the Royal Heir out of a sense of Filial Duty He concludes Especially when so nearly Allied to the very Bosom of the Prince whose Way of Worship neither is the same with the National here and in whose Countreys all Religions have ever been alike Tolerated The phrase of so near an Alliance to the very Bosom of a Prince is somewhat extraordinary An Author that will be florid scorns so simple an Expression as Married he thought the other was â—… lofty but the matter of this period is more remarkable It intimates as if the Prince's way of Worship was so different from ours though we hear that he goes frequently with the Princess to her Chappel and expresses no aversion to any of our Forms though he thinks it decent to be more constantly in the Exercises of Devotion that are Authorised in Holland And as for that That all Religions have been equally alike Tolerated there it is another of our Author's slights I do not hear that there are either Bowzis or Bramans in Holland or that the Mahometans have their Mosques there and surely his Friends the Roman Catholicks will tell him that all Religions are not alike Tolerated there Thus I have followed more largely in this Article than in any other it being that of the greatest importance by which he had endeavonred to blast all the good Effects which the Pensioner's Letter has had amongst us IX I have now gone over that which I thought most important in this Paper and in which it seemed necessary to inform the publick aright without insisting on the particular slips of the Author of it or of the Advantages that he gives to any that would Answer more particularly I cannot think that any man in the Nation can be now so weak as not to see what must needs be the Effects of the Abolition of the TESTS After all that we see and hear 't is too great an Affront to mankind to offer to make it out That â—… man's Understanding may really mislead him so far as to make him change his Religion â—… remaining still an Honest man that betrays the Legal and now the only Visible Defences of that Religion which he prosesses The taking away the Tests for publick Employments is to set up an Office at F. Peters for all pretenders and perhaps a pretender will not be so much as received till he has first ahjur'd â—… so that every Vacancy will possibly make five or six Proselytes and those Protestants who are already in Employments will feel their ground quickly fail under them and upon the first Complaint they will see what must be done to restore them ro Favour And as for the Two Houses of Parliament as a great Creation will presently give them the Majority in the House of Lords so a new set of Charters and bold Returns will in a little time give them likewise the Majority in the House of Commons and if it is to be supposed that Protestants who have all the Security of the Law for their Religion can throw that up Who can so much as doubt that when they have brought themselves into so naked a Condition it will be no hard thing to overturn their whole Establishment and then perhaps we shall be told more plainly what is now but darkly insinuated by this Author That the next Heir seems still to be so nearly related to this State c. A LETTER to a Dissenter upon occasion of His Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence SIR SInce Addresses are in fashion give me leave to make one to you This is neither the Effect of Fear Interest or Resentment therefore you may be sure it is sincere and for that reason it may expect to be kindly received Whether it will have power enough to Conscience dependeth upon the Reasons of which you are to judge and upon your preparation of Mind to be perswaded by Truth whenever it appeareth to you It ought not to be â—… less welcome for coming from a friendly â—… one whose kindness to you is not â—… by difference of Opinion and who will not let his thoughts for the Publick be so tied â—… confined to this or that Sub-division of Protestants as to stifle the Charity which besides all other Arguments is at this time become necessary to preserve us I am neither surprized nor provoked to see that in the condition you were put into by the Laws and the ill circumstances you lay under by having the Exclusion and Rebellion laid to your Charge you were desirous to make your selves less uneasie and obnoxious to Authority Men who are sore run to the nearest Remedy with too much hast to consider all the consequences Grains of allowance are to be given where Nature giveth such strong Influences When to men under Sufferings it offereth Ease â—… present Pain will hardly allow time to examine the Remedies and the strongest Reason â—… hardly gain a fair Audience from our Mind whilst so possessed till the smart is a little alayed I do not know whether the Warmth that naturally belongeth to new Friendships may not make it a harder Task for me to perswade you It is like telling Lovers in the beginning of their Joys that they will in a little time have an â—… Such an unwelcome Style doth not easily find credit but I will suppose you are not so â—… gone in your new Passion but that you will â—…â—… and therefore I am under the less discouragement when I offer to your consideration two things The first is the Cause you have to suspect your new Friends The second the Duty incumbent upon you in Christianity and Prudence not to hazard the publick Safety neither by Desire of Ease nor of Revenge To the first Consider that notwithstanding the smooth Language which is now put on to engage you these new Friends did not make you their Choice but their Refuge They have ever made their first Courtships to the Church of England and when they were