Refuges forthwith to deliver to the aforesaid Honourable Commissioners all the Catalogues of Ministers Gentlemen Burgesses and other Poor which are amongst the French Refuges to whom the said Fifteen Thousand Pounds have been or shall be distributed And to order at the same time all the said Poor amongst the Refuges who shall be or can be in this City or its Suburbs to appear in Person every one according to his Quality and Character before the Honourable Commissioners and all those of the same Refuges who shall be in the Country presently to write a Letter to the same Honourable Commissioners That by that means it may clearly appear whither the said Catalogues are exact or no. Again to order every one in particular of the said Poor amongst the Refuges to declare to the said Honourable Commissioners the number of the Persons of his Family his employments or the way he hath to maintain himself and his Family his Rents or his Wants his Age his Infirmities and those of his Family And to order that all in general should declare upon their Conscience and charitably what they know concerning the Summs of Money or Revenues what concerning the Poverty and Wants of others which are or should be more or less relieved That by that way it may clearly appear whether the said French Commissioners the most cunning men amongst the Refuges have wronged some of the Poor Refuges or no in some thing or other And moreover if the said French Commissioners are found guilty of any wrong to order that all of them appear before your Honours together with all those who had been wronged That the same French Commissioners may be convinced for ever before your Honours that they have acted unrighteously That you the Honourable House of Commons wonderfully will perceive by this seventeenth means whether upon this occasion the said French Commissioners have rather followed the maxims of the World than the Evangelical Rules and whether they have not acted according to the King's Will and your Honours intent or no. 18. That if it may please you the Honourable House of Commons to use all the foregoing means or some others like those or some others better than those and to second them with all your Honours power it will certainly come to pass that all the said Poor amongst the Refuges will be in a way of living contentedly all their life-time and by their Demands and Petitions will trouble no more the Supreme Powers of this Kingdom neither the Nation publickly nor privately So that the said John Chabbert hoping he may see in a short time the said Poor Refuges in a better condition and the said Supreme Powers the Church and the Kingdom of England will reap many advantages from the better condition wherein the said Poor amongst the Refuges will be God willing He shall make bold still to propose to your Honours these following Motives and humbly sheweth 1. That the Discovery of the aforesaid Fund concerns very much the King upon three several Accounts 1. Upon His Sacred Person 2. Upon His Revenues 3. Upon His Armies 1. Upon the King's Sacred Person who by the said Discovery of the said Fund happily and for ever will be deliver'd from a great many troublesome Petitions that oftentimes may be presented to His Majesty by the said French Commissioners under Colour of a great Poverty of a great many French Refuges as was done heretofore which Poverty without doubt the said French Commissioners very Maliciously Barbarously Covetously and Proudly occasioned and do still occasion And again the King 's Sacred Person by the said Discovery of the said Fund hereafter will be free from the Care that His Majesty hath taken so Tenderly and Piously to Relieve the Poor which were and still are amongst the French Refuges in their urgent necessities for which Poor the French Commissioners were continually a Begging But to whom after they received the said Relief from His Majesty and from this generous Nation publickly and privately the said French Commissioners have given but a very small matter in comparison of the aforesaid great Summs come to their Hands causing them to live in Poverty to have always a need to Begg for the said Poor amongst the Refuges and by that unlawful way increase the aforesaid Fund I do not know for what And all those shall be proved by the Discovery of the said Fund 2. Upon the Account of the King's Revenues some whereof bestowed upon the said Poor amongst the Refuges during the space of many Years will be hereafter spared for ever by means of the said Discovery of the said Fund fit to maintain all the said Poor all their Life time 3. Upon the Account of the King's Armies whereinto by the means of the said Discovery of the said Fund many French Gentlemen both young or at least Stout and not being past bearing Arms to whom without doubt the said French Commissioners have formerly allowed and do still allow very good yearly Pensions as clearly will be seen by means of the said Discovery of the said Fund will be foreced to chuse to go into the Armies if a good part of their said Pensions as it must be taken away from them which said part of the said Pensions in all appearance causeth the said young and stout French Gentlemen Refuges to forbear taking up Arms by that means the young and stout French Gentlemen Refuges not only do not serve the King nor the State at all But even are burdensome to both Again the said young and stout French Gentlemen Refuges unhappily to spend their time either in Idleness or in Divertisement in Playing sometimes in Slandering and Evil-speaking or in some kind of Riot and Debauchery Moreover to which said Armies many of the French Refuges of whatever Degree will also be easily induc'd to chuse to go if some part of the product of the said Fund when it shall be discovered be bestowed to maintain well all their Life time the Officers and Souldiers who have been or hereafter shall be maimed in the King's Service in the said Armies 2. That the said Discovery of the aforesaid Fund very much concerns this State of England in general and particular 1. In general because the said State in general by the said Discovery of the said Fund every Year not only may save a considerable Summ of Money Charitably and Piously granted to the said Poor amongst the Refuges by your Honours But also may imploy the said Summ in paying some of the Taxes laid upon the People and granted to the King for the maintainance of his Armies by Sea and Land and by this or other means ease all the People 2. In particular because many Persons Members of the said State of England having been very often Sollicited either by the troublesome Demands of the said French Commissioners or by the earnest Requests of the said Poor themselves to spare something for them and the said Persons thereby moved to spare something for
THE Most Humble Remonstrances PRESENTED To the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the HOUSE of COMMONS in Parliament Assembled 1. COncerning the Proofs whereby the French Gentlemen Commissioners appointed for the Distribution of the Charity bestowed upon the Poor French Protestants that are come for Refuge into England may be convinced that in their Hands there are still remaining great Summs of Money arising from the said Charity and a Revenue more than sufficient for all the Poor Refuges Maintenance 2. Concerning the Means whereby all the aforesaid great Summs of Money may be discovered and the aforesaid French Gentlemen Commissioners compelled to give an exact account of them which compelling if it please God shall be as a triumphing Sword Cutting with one Blow the Gordian Knot of the said French Commissioners 3. Concerning the Motives that may induce the aforesaid Honourable House of Commons to use the aforesaid means which Motives are the Concerns of the King and State in general and in particular of all the Poor amongst the said Refuges By John Chabbert Minister and Refuge You the Honourable House of Commons are intreated by the aforesaid John Chabbert to approve that he may now declare to your Honours the love he hath and ever had for Justice and Truth and on the contrary how he abhorreth Injustice Cheating Tricks and Lies But in a particular manner how much he longs for the advantage and prosperity of the King State and Church of England not only for the Publick's but also for the Private's sake as he longs also for the satisfaction of the English Poor as well as of them which are amongst the Refuges and that in making bold humbly to shew by particulars all the Contents of the three Heads contained in the Title of his Undertaking To keep the order set in the said Title the aforesaid John Chabbert beginning with the aforesaid Proofs humbly sheweth 1. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received great Summs of Money upon three several Letters Patrents heretofore granted by Royal Authority for the aforesaid Poor Refuges sake especially upon the first and second Letters Pattents the first granted in the Year 1686. and the second granted in the Year 1688. That after that the said two Letters Pattents were effectually published and the Tenor of the same declared unto the Nation in all and every Church and Chappel in the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales c. The whole Nation was touched with so deep a sense and tender Commiseration of the Calamities and woful Sufferings of the said Poor Refuges in the cause of their Religion and of the urgent necessity which so many of them were lying under that not only all the Nobility Gentry and every Rich Man of whatever Degree and Character soever he was But even the greatest part of all the Tradesmen and Servants as every body knows did so generously and chearfully contribute by their extraordinary and large Charities to the subsistance of the said 〈◊〉 amongst the Refuges and that from those generous free and large Charitable Contributions which have been made for the relief of the said poor Refuges it must needs be inferred that great Sums of Money were then Collected 2. That the aforesaid French Commissioners and the Ministers and Church-wardens or Elders as they call them of the French Church in the Savoy or of the Waloon Church in the City of London have received great Summs of Money from the large Charities of particular Collections often bestowed by a great many Charitable Persons upon the aforesaid Poor Refuges behalf from the beginning of the Year 1685. to this very day of the Year 1696. Since that time a great number of Poor Refuges have been seen in England 3. That the aforesaid French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the aforesaid two Churches very often and at least during the space of Ten Years have received great Summs of Money arising from a great many Legacies the most part of them made by some English pious Persons and some of them by some French to be distributed in a very short time after their Decease to the said Poor Refuges But that it is to be feared the said French Commissioners have distributed nothing of the most part of the said Legacies or at least but the use or interest of some of them to the said Poor Refuges so that when this third Proof as well as the second before is duly reflected upon it plainly appears by the said two Proofs that they must needs have in their own or others Hands a great Fund of Money for the 〈◊〉 support of the poor Refuges 4. That the aforesaid French Commissioners by their own Confession and as every body knows have received during the space of many Years 〈◊〉 Twelve Thousand Pounds per annum bestowed liberally chearfully and charitably by His excellent Majesty our gracious King William upon the said Poor Refuges to relieve them in their urgent necessities and comfort them in their troubles That it is most certain that upon the said Royal Bounty the said French Commissioners during the space of the many Years aforesaid were able to supply all the wants of the said Poor Refuges if they had very well managed the said Twelve Thousand Pounds per Annum or if they had not kept back some of them or put them into Bankers Hands or imployed some of them in Trading and Traffick 5. That the aforesaid French Commissioners were publickly Accused by some of the said French Refuges Poor Gentlemen Ministers and others for having embezzelled or mis-imployed a considerable Summ of the aforesaid Twelve Thousand Pounds Per Annum And that the said French Commissioners have done their utmost endeavours to secure themselves from the said Accusation or rather that their Accusers should be silent and desist from their Accusation And for all that the said French Commissioners have let neither the Publick nor their Accusers know their Innocence in all its Circumstances and in keeping the Formalities of Justice although they were bound so to do for the securing of their own Reputation 6. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received some considerable Summs of Money by the way of many Subscriptions and private Collections made in the City of London and its Suburbs for the aforesaid French Refuges Poor yet for all that it doth not appear that at least the greatest part of the aforesaid French Refuges Poor was the more relieved by the said French Commissioners than they were before the said Subscriptions and private Collections 7. That the aforesaid French Commissioners doubtless have received and do still receive a great many private Charities of particular Persons for the maintenance of many Charity-houses which Charity-houses imperceptibly and cunningly have been set up by the same Commissioners in the Suburbs of the aforesaid City of London many Years ago upon four accounts 1. To procure as many Charities as could be possible and to move all the charitable Persons who live in
the said City of London and other Cities and Towns of this Kingdom to put into their hands all the Charities they had designed for all the Poor amongst the Refuges which are ashamed to beg and which were never partakers of the said Charities bestowed upon the said Charity-houses although they may be in great want 2. To have a Lawful Cause at least in appearance to beg either themselves or move their Friends and Creatures so to do every where and of every Person whosoever they believed to be the most favourable to their Charity-houses 3. To have a pretence continually to declare openly as they have done already that they had received but very few private Charities for the support of their Charity-houses and that they were obliged sometimes to turn out many of the said Poor Refuges from the said Charity-houses and to deprive many more of the Soup or Broth distributed therein or to maintain them both with a Fund designed for paying of the Pensions to the French Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Persons of what Age soever and of both Sexes the Pensions of some of which said Persons the said French Commissioners lessened upon several occasions although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that before they had lessened the said Pensions of the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges the said Pensions were not sufficient for their maintenance And besides although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges cannot live by any other means 4. To cast a mist before the whole English Nation 's Eyes and to hide from the Publick the said most considerable Fund they have in their Hands arising from the aforesaid very large Charities they have received for the said French Refuges Poor's support and for no other use whatsoever 8. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have saved very much of the aforesaid large Charities they have received by the aforesaid several ways And that the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-Wardens of the French Church in the Savoy and Walloon-Church in the City of London have saved very much of the aforesaid great Summs of Money by six ways well known to the greatest part of the French Refuges 1. In keeping some of the said French Refuges lying then under a great necessity from the least Relief which the tender hearted and generous English Nation had afforded to them as well as to the rest of the Refuges who were then or are still relieved by which means some of the said French Commissioners as themselves together with all the Refuges know very well were very near receiving an affront from some of those said necessitous Refuges yet kept notwithstanding from the said Relief Moreover by this means a great many of the same Refuges Poor and Helpless Creatures were dispersed all over England and went a Begging up and down the said Kingdom 2. In giving once for all to some others of the said Refuges a little Money nay and to some of the same more than to others not according to every one's Desert or Necessities but according to their own Will and Pleasure against all Equity and Reason 3. In giving to the smallest Number of the said Poor Refuges a little Pension and that sometimes only for a little while to those who have no Friends amongst them or a powerful Protector who hath the Right to Command them As for example a Yearly Pension of Seven Pounds allowed to the Ministers then under Fifty years of Age during the space at least of one Year and a half is an evident Proof of the said little Pension as well 56 l. 18 s. that every one of the said Ministers have received of the Royal Charity for their own and their Families Subsistance during the space of Nine years as may be seen in a printed Paper delivered unto the King's Majesty the last 〈◊〉 January by all the poor Ministers Refuges 4. In paying the Pension as usually they have payed it to the aforesaid Poor Refuges sometimes Five sometimes Six Seven Eight Nine nay and sometimes even Ten Months after the Time appointed for the Payment of the said Pention instead of paying it Quarterly and even before hand as it was in their Power so to do having ever had since their Commission a sufficient Fund for that purpose whatever Asseverations they have made to make the Publick and the said Poor Refuges believe the contrary And the said French Commissioners in paying Quarterly the said Pension would have saved the said Refuges from being so Poor and a great many Troubles and Tears 5. In utterly debarring the said Poor Refuges from their own Pension during the space of about Two Years unjustly pretending they had no Fund at all to pay it them wherefore many of the said helpless Refuges have contracted many Debts that they cannot pay off without an Extraordinary Relief 6. By the Decease of a great many of the said Poor Refuges of all Ages whatsoever of both Sexes and of all Characters That by these Six Ways and Means the said French Commissioners undoubtedly have saved very much of the said very large Charitys they have received for the said French Refuges Support But nevertheless the said first Five Ways are Unlawful and against the Rules of the Holy Gospel seeing by the said Five Ways a great many Poor Refuges have been brought to Poverty to Hunger and to Divers Temptations and many of them have sunk under them as may easily be proved by a great many Eye-Witnesses and that the said French Commissioners themselves every where have Published and often Declared to the Supreme Powers that the said Refugees have lain under great Poverty and Sufferings the said French Commissioners making a show of being troubled at the said Poor Refuges Calamities 9. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have very much increased the said Summs arising from the very large Charitys aforementioned and they have increased the said Summs either by all their following ways or by others such as these are 1. Either in putting a good part of the said Summs into a Bankers Hands since the beginning of their Commission till this time 2. Or in imploying another part of the said Summs in Trading making the best of it by Sea and Land either in this or in Foreign Country's 3. Or in erecting some Manufactures to help off with another part of the said Summs coming from the aforesaid very large Charity 's bestowed upon the said Poor Refuges or in imploying it in some sort of Commodities that are the most a la mode and do take the best 10. That Mr. Daillon a French Minister Refuge now one of the best Friends that the said French Commissioners may have cannot deny but that formerly he undertook to oblige the same Gentlemen French Commissioners to give an Account of all the Summs of Money or a part of them arising from the Large General and Particular Charity 's upon all the Poor amongst the Refuges