Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A50977
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A view of the court of St. Germain from the year 1690, to 95 with an account of the entertainment Protestants meet with there : directed to the malecontents Protestants of England.
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Macky, John, d. 1726.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing M221; ESTC R11112
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11,198
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31
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A View of the COURT OF St. GERMAIN From the Year 1690 to 95 With an Account of the Entertainment PROTESTANTS meet with there Directed to the MALECONTENTS PROTESTANTS OF ENGLAND LONDON Printed for R. Baldwin near Oxford-Arms-Inn in Warwick-lane MDCXCVI The PREFACE THE Ages to come will hardly believe that in England their should be found one single Protestant Jacobite at this time of Day And the Reform'd Nations abroad are at a loss what to make of that unaccountable Species of Men. When most of the Roman Catholick Princes have heartily embrac'd the late Revolution in Britain as the last Effort for the Common Liberty of Europe and have enter'd into the strictest Alliance with those of an opposite Religion to Support it It looks like a Dream to meet with any English Protestant in an Interest contradiâ—…ory to not only the Publick Liberty of their Country but to the Religion they profess It was indeed no great wonder that the late King made all the Steps possible towards the Change of the Religion in his Opinion Heretical at a time when he was upon the Throne and back'd with all the promising Supports of Regal Power yet even then he thought himself obliged to keep some Measures with his Protestant Subjects and in stead of a total Rupture with them endeavour'd to lull them asleep under the Specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience till all his Engines were ready to give the fatal Blow But now that he has fallen under Circumstances which one would think should much more then ever oblige him to assume anew at least keep on the old Mask Vpon the quite contrary since he went to France he has taken all pains imaginable to let the World know his inveterate aversion to all those of the Reform'd Religion tho' never so much his Friends and at the same time has given us the most Authentick Demonstration of his firm design never to allow any there of his Favour nor owe his Restoration to any but Roman Catholicks All which will appear by the following account of his Carriage towards those few Protestants that have followed his sinking Fortunes the length of St. Germains A View of the COURT OF St. Germain Directed to the Malecontents Protestants of ENGLAND THERE being already so many Volumes to shew the Lawfulness of the late Revolution it is Superfluous it seems to make any further attempt on the same Subject for if you have shut your Eyes against the strong Arguments and convincing Proofs made use of in those Books who can flatter himself to cure you of that wilful Blindness However I hope this plain account I make bold to direct to you will not prove altogether useless for when I consider your Party I think I may reasonably believe that it is made up of some good and Honest Men tho' misguided by a tender Conscience and of some self-interested Persons who being not able to obtain the Preferments they expected have turned Jacobites in hopes to advance their Fortune by a Second Revolution But give me leave to tell you further that after an impartial enquiry into the Life and Conversation of your Party I have all the reasons in the World to conclude that the number of the Consciencious Jacobites I have spoken of must be very little and that the greatest number among you are hurried away by the imaginary hopes I have hinted at therefore if I can convince you that you have no reason to flatter your selves to obtain any reward or preferments under King James no not when he should be restored by your means I hope some of you will open their Eyes to their own Interest and forsake a Prince from whom you cannot expect any grateful Return I won't recal to your Minds his Behaviour while he was on the Throne of England I suppose no body has forgot that no Protestants were welcome to him but such as would promise to betray the Liberties of their Country to Popery and Arbitrary Power neither shall I mention how severely he used the Protestants of Ireland in 1689 you would be apt to say that being in Popish hands he could not avoid it but I intend only to give you a short view of his Court at St. Germain and an account of the Entertainment the Protestants of your Party have met there For if a Prince in his Circumstances whose interest it ought to be to court Protestants cannot conceal for a time the Hatred he has for them what treatment can you expect from him when he is re-inthroned and Supported by the Power of France King James retiring into France after his defeat at the Boyn left the Administration of his Affairs in Ireland to my Lord Tyrconnel and in Scotland to the Colonels Buchan and Cannon and the French King having appointed St. Germain in Laye for his reception he there began to form a Court in the Year 1690 and his House-hold was constituted as follows The Duke of Powis Lord Chamberlain Colonel Porter Vice-Chamberlain Colonel Skelton Comptroller The Earls of Dumbarton and Abercome Lords of the Bed-Chamber Captains Macdonald Beadles Stafford and Trevanian Groom of the Bed-Chamber The two Sheldons Esquires Fergus Graham Privy Purse Sir John Sparrow Board of Green Cloth and Mr. Strickland Vice Chamberlain to the Queen The Officers of State were as follows Mr. Brown Brother to my Lord Montague Brown and sometime Commissioner of the Custom Secretary of State for England Father Jnnes President of the Scots College at Paris Secretary of State for Scotland Sir Richard Neagle Secretary of State for Ireland To these were added as a Juncto Mr. Carril the Queens Secretary and Mr. Stafford formerly Envoy at the Court of Spain whom the King called together as a Privy Council to advise with upon all Emergencies The Earl of Melford Prime Minister of State being sent to Rome sometime before partly to Negociate King James's Affairs at the Pope's Court and partly to remove him from the Jealousies of the Irish who at that time wholly Monopolized this Prince's Ear and Favour Thus things continued for a while but Ireland being reduced sometime after and the Scotish Highlanders Submitting the Court of St. Germain was every day thronged with Gentlemen from those Kingdoms as well as from England and then a Protestant Party began to distinguish themselves and endeavour to make an appearance at that Court. The first considerable step they made was to desire a Chappel from King James for the exercise of their Worship according to the Church of England and propos'd Dr. Granvile Brother to the Earl of Bath formerly Dean of Durham as a fit Person to be their Chaplain they urged the great Incouragement such a Toleration would give to his Adherents in England and what satisfaction it would be to such Protestants as followed him but tho' common Policy and his Circumstances made every Body believe that this Request would be easily granted yet it was positively denied and Dr. Granvile obliged not only to retire from
great hopes of our Grumblers seeing the most part of them have not had Courage enough to follow that Prince and have for ought we see no other Qualifications to recommend them but their bare Jacobitism However if the Examples I have already exposed to your view are not sufficient to convince you that as long as you are Protestants and English Men you are to expect no share in King James's Favour I 'll produce some others which I am sure will open your Eyes unless you are bound by an Oath to continue always Blind and I 'll begin with Sir James Mountgomerie This Gentleman left no Stone unturn'd to re-establish King James in Scotland by the same Parliament that declared him to have Forfeited his Right He was afterward for several Years his most Active Minister in England Penn'd and Publish'd Declarations for him at the time of his designed Descent from La Hogue and after the Miscarriage of that wrote his Britain's just Complaints Was his weekly News sender and Project Drawer yet this very Sir James Mountgomerie who had done such great things and run such hazards for him being obliged to fly to France after making his escape from the Messengers House could not obtain by reason of his being a Protestant any share into that Prince's Favour was brow-beaten from the Court by Priests daily upbraided with having been once in the Prince of Orange's Interest and at last Obliged to retire to Paris where he dyed with the Melancholy Reflections of the miserable State he brought himself into The Earl of Lauderdale tho a Papist met with no better Fate than Sir James His Lady being a Protestant and he an enemy to the violent Measures of the Court was judged to be a sufficient Reason to exclude him from any share in the Government so natural it is for all Bigots to hate every body that will not go to their height of Violence This Gentleman heartily advised King James to put his Affairs into Protestants Hands and recommended the Earl of Cl n and the Nonjuring Bishops in England and the Lord Home Southerk and Sinclair in Scotland as the fittest Persons to serve him but his Advice was so ill taken that he had his Lady sent to England not to return any more was himself forbid the Court and reduced to a Pension of one Hundred Pistols per Annum He retired to Paris and seeing no Probability of his Masters changing his Measures died of Grief One would have thought that his Brother Mr. Alexander Maitland who on several Occasions had behaved himself very bravely in that Prince's Service should have been Preferred by him yet he met with such an Entertainment that wanting Bread there he was very glad to come to England and make his Peace with the Government whose Service he had Deserted having once had a Command in the Scots Guards under King William Sir Andrew Forrester is another great Instance of King James's aversion to Protestants This Gentleman served with all imaginable Zeal that Prince's Interests when a Subject and was the devoted Creature of his most Arbitrary Commands when a King he suffered Imprisonment in the Tower for him at the time of his designed Descent and yet notwithstanding all this and the great Experience he had in Scotish Affairs he could never obtain any share in that Prince's Confidence When he came to St. Germain all his Merits Sufferings and the good Character he had in both Kingdoms were not enough to Counter-ballance the Objection of being a Protestant and therefore by no means to be Intrusted so that after some times Attendance as a Cypher he was rewarded with a Pass to return to England for they had there no occasion for him Sir Theophilus Oglethorp who by his Capacity as well as Services was incouraged to go over and offer his Assistance met with Sir Andrew Forrester's Fate upon account of his Religion and was so unkindly used that he was very glad to get home to Old England again where 't is expected he will Plot no more Mr. Fergus Graham was the only Protestant Gentleman in King James's Family but as soon as they saw that my Lord Preston and Colonel Graham his Brothers who ventured so much for that Prince could do them no more Service in England he was discharged for no other Reason but that they thought a Protestant a Blemish in their House-hold Nor was Sir William Sharp better used altho he pretended to come over upon the Act of Parliament in Scotland to save his Estate for the Entertainment he had at St. Germain before he came away is very well known The Pension he had whilst King James's Army in Scotland kept up was taken from him and he fell under distrusts with Melford and Jnnes and contempt at Court which will appear to all Reasonable Men a Sufficient motive for his coming away But the usage of Dr. Cockburn a Scotish Divine is beyond any thing that can be imagined This Gentleman was Banished Scotland for his Practices against the Government and afterwards being obliged to leave England for writing of Pamphlets thought himself secure of a Sanctuary at St. Germain if not of a Reward for his Services but instead of that he met with the daily importunities of Priests to make him abandon his Religion and their endeavours proving vain they then represented him as a dangerous Person and got him sent from France He lives now an Exile in Holland both from Britain and France Mrs. Ashton Widow to Mr. Ashton who was Executed for his being concerned in my Lord Preston's Affairs went to the Court of St. Germain after her Husband's Death as thinking that she had some Merit to plead for a kind Reception but she was as much deceived as any of those I have already mentioned Few days after her arrival Priests were sent to tell her that nothing but being a Roman Catholick could recommend a Woman to the Queen's Service which the Poor Gentlewoman declining to comply with was neglected and dying soon after was refus'd Burial till her Father Mr. Rigby of Covent-Garden as a mighty Favour and at great Charges obtained leave from the Court of St. Germain to have her body brought over into England and Buried her in Covent-Garden Church If these Examples are not sufficient to convince our Jacobites or if they question the Truth of them for really I must own that they are almost incredible I desire them to consult the Young Lord Henmore Mr. Louthian Captains Murray Dalyel Macgil Maclean Fielding Mr. Charles Kinnaird and several hundreds more now in and about London who are lately come from St. Germain and they will tell you that the only Reason why they left that Court was because they could not have Bread except they would change their Religion and therefore did choose rather to run the hazard of Imprisonment by returning to England than stay and Starve in France Many Instances more might be given to shew King James's hatred to every thing that bears