Abdication and our late Measures I come next to examine how exactly the Prince hath fulfilled and made good unto us the pretended Ends and Designs of his Declaration how well he hath kept the Original Contract we made with him and what benefit we may expect to reap for the future by this Revolution I shall take his Conduct in both Kingdoms joyntly under Consideration since he hath not only united them in the same Declaration but likewise issu'd out a Declaration apart for Scotland intimating thereby That the Oppressions in that Kingdom were more weighty and numerous than here and that the Arbitrary Designs of our Prince did always first commence there to make a Precedent for this Kingdom and that the Conduct and Posture of Affairs there did always certainly Prognosticate to the curious Observer what was designed to be Copied and Executed here I do not pretend to give a particular detail of the present Administration in that Kingdom but there are some considerable Errors have been acted there which have made a Noise and rais'd such publick Complaints there as hath convey'd the Knowledge of them here to us The assuming a Power of Dispensing with the due Execution of Laws enacted by King and Parliament for Security of Religion Liberty and Happiness of the Subject is much urged against King James as a great Motive to the Prince's undertaking A Dispensing Power assumed by any Prince doth fatally threaten the Liberties of a People where it is practised and makes them Tenants at Will for those Privileges which the Laws of the Land hath given them a Freehold in This is really such an important Point and of such Consequence for the Subject to have been cleared that it was indispensably the Duty of a Reforming Prince Convention of Estates and Parliament to have decided this Controversie and placed such Marks and Boundaries for the future so plain and obvious both to Prince and People that each might have known their particular Rights and governed themselves for the future accordingly But our Parliaments have thought fit to leave it where they found it dark and undecided to this day and the Prince hath discovered he was well enough pleased with this Omission by taking as large and broad Steps that way as any can be charged upon King James The Irish Treaty furnisheth us with a convincing Proof of this where such Indulgences were granâ—ed unto them solely and siâ—gâ—y by his own Authority with relation to the exercise of their Religion proâ— of their Arms dispensation from Oaths and security against â—rsuits for their Plunderings as were directly contrary to the Laws of the Land the Safety Rights and Privileges of the Protestant Subjects of that Kingdom This Treaty I do acknowledge was afterwards ratified by Parliament but though in some Cases the Authority of Parliament may give a legal Being for the future yet that new Life commenceth only from the date of their Sanction and doth not justifie preceeding Errors and the many Difficulties which arose in both Houses about the Ratification was a clear Innuendo how dangerous and illegal they judg'd the Treaty to be How strangely are we altered King James's exercise of this Dispensing Power could neither be forgotten nor attoned for but King William's stretch that way shall obtain a Parliamentary Approbation such is the Justice and unbyassed Integrity of these Times But we need not look so far as Ireland for Instances We have our personal Liberties secured to us by positive and express Statutes and Methods appointed by our Law whereby to recover our Liberties when lost with such severe Animadversions against those who obstruct the due course of Law in obtaining of our Freedom with such great and considerable Damages appointed in that case as plainly enough Points out unto us the Value and Worth of this true English Privilege It is the choisest piece of our Magna Charta and Original Contract and for my part I should much rather allow a Prince to dispence with Penal Statutes and issue out a Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience than to sport himself at Pleasure with my personal Freedom without which there can be no relish in any other Enjoyment and yet there never was a Reign wherein our Birth-right in this hath been more abused spoiled and broken in upon The English Subjects have been put into Proclamations and clapt into Prisons for High Treason and refused the benefit of their Habeas Corpus though there was no Information upon Oath against them according as the Law appoints to warrant such a Procedure Nay so grosly frequently and impudently have our publick Ministers affronted the Laws upon this Head that they have found themselves obliged to apply to Parliament for Pardon For we have found out a new Trick in this Government and reforming Age first to act all imaginable Violences against the best and choisest of our Laws and than to obtain either a Ratification or Pardon in Parliament whereby they have struck our English Constitution and the Liberty of the Subject Dead at one Blow by Debauching our Parliaments into a Confederacy against in place of Protecting the Liberties of the People and so making the Nation as it were Felo de se No period of History doth furnish us with such wholesale Merchants for our best and most valuable Rights neither do we know when this Trade shall be at an end or when our Rulers will be weary of Tricking us out of our Liberties We have a fresh Instance of late of the Knowledge and Learning of our Judges When the Earls of Huntington Midleton and others moved at the Barr for their Habeas Corpus there was no Information upon Oath against them to warrant a refusal otherways to be sure we should have heard of it But Aaron Smith must make Affidavit that they had Evidence for the High Treason charged against them which could not be got ready and so by his Liberty and Freedom of Conscience save in some measure the Credit of the Court By this fine new Knack they were all remitted back to Prison again Such Judges may at last come to be fit enough for the Bench even under a Conquest but in the mean time all such Expedients which are not warranted from the Statutes do rather prove the Injustice of the Court than fulfil the Law and however it may be Gilded we cannot but see and feel the bitter Pill we must swallow Was not the Habeas Corpus Act suspended for many Months It 's true this was done by Parliament but so much the worse if our own Delegates in whose Hands we trust the care but not the intire surrender of our Liberties make a Complement of that which is not in their Power to the Ambition or Necessities of any Prince Parliaments can no more justly over-turn Foundations than the Prince can Such Privileges as are derived from King and Parliament upon the account of the Subjects Temporary Conveniences are trusted to the review of the same Court
Bustle Noise Blood Treasure and Pretence for publick Good and Liberty we have been destroying what we have built up grasping unsuccessfully at that amidst the dangers Cruelties and Expences of a War and with the Breach of so many sacred Tyes and Engagements which we might have Insured to our selves and Posterity with much ease and innocence and wreathing a Yoke about our Nâ—cks which will gaul and pinch us more severely than what we endeavoured to throw off The Male-Administrations charged upon King James by those Pamphletteers are shortly summ'd up by them in the Western Severities the High Commission the turning out of Office all good Protestants the attempting to reverse all the Penal Laws the putting unqualified Men into Places of Trust Profit and Power the exercise of the Dispensing Power the excluding the Fellows of Magdalen Colledge and putting in Papists with the Imprisonment and Tryal of the Bishops It seems these Authors are of opinion that any Reason how weak and unconclusive soever it be should pass as good Coin upon us since they come from such Magisterial and Florid Pens But if they designed that their Authority alone should pass for Reason amongst us they ought to have subjoyned their Names to add thereby some Value and Weight to Arguments and Grounds by far too weak in themselves to support so lofty a Building as is founded upon them Some of the Misgovernments here enumerated which I have exactly Copied from p. 6. l. 8. and downwards of The Pretences of the French Invasion examined are false others maliciously aggravated and the rest the King was forced upon by the Importunity of Ministers who were gained by the Prince and offered such Advices only with a design to render him odious to the People and thereby to dispose them for this happy Revolution which hath since fallen out But to examine them severally As to the Western Severities I believe it will not be deny'd even by this Government that the Duke of Monmouth his Invasion was a Rebellion and that the Lives and Fortunes of all ingaged in it were by the Laws of the Land forfeited to Justice I am heartily sorry that so much Blood was shed by the Hands of the common Executioner but it is very well known to many Persons of Honour and Quality that those great Severities were only to be ascribed to the insolent and cruel Temper of Jâ—ssâ—ries Pâ—llexsen and Kirk that the King himself was extreamly offended at it and immediately put a stop to their Proceedings so soon as he was acquainted with them And it is strange enough how this comes to be charged so â—ome upon King James by the Champions of th s Government since King William by his a â—â—arcing and employing of Kirk and Pâ—llâ—xsen 〈◊〉 plainly discovered to the World That either he did not look upon â—hose Sâ—verities to be unseasonable or 〈◊〉 or also that he loved them the 〈◊〉 for th ir 〈◊〉 and bloody Disâ—â—â—â—tioâ— as 〈◊〉 for his Service and Designs otherwiâ—e such Butchers would not have 〈◊〉 countenanced by a Reforming 〈◊〉 The High Commission Court I will 〈…〉 But we know very well Who â—dvised it and we see one of the most active Members of it in a fair Way of Preferment now and certainly our present King would not honour such a Man or trust his Affairs into his hands if he lookt upon that Commission to have been a good ground for Abâ—iâ—atiâ—n The turning out of Office all good Protestants and the putting of unqualified Men into all Places of Trust Profit and Povver is a large Strain of Eloquence which though like the usual Flights of the supposed Author is too light and false for so grave and weighty a Subject For many Places of Profit Trust and Povver were kept filled with good and zealous Protestants and vve knovv to whose Councils and Advice and at whose door we must charge the filling of so many Places of Trust vvith unqualified Persons If an E. of Sunderland and Lord Churchil had not been Ministers of State and Favourites then perhaps the Leo had not yet been exchanged for Kensington It is to their faithful Counsels and Influence we owe the Advancement of Father Peters to the Council Board the new modelling of the Irish Army and Government the Magdalen College Reformation the Regulation of Corporations the Closâ—tâ—ing and the Imprisonment and Tryal of the Bishops And if so there is a certain Prince who is really more guilty of those Miscarriag s than the Abdicated Monarch sinc he was the main Engine who set those noble Lords to work and I am afraid his Conduct since vvhen examined will in a great measure make good the Charge It 's natural enough for a Prince to carry some little savour to those of his own Religion and easier for a treachâ—rous Minister to trapan him into more Indulgence for them than the Laws câ—n wâ—ll allow and those two Lords being intirely Devoted to the Advancement of the Prince's Designs did imploy their utmost Interest with the King to bring him into all those Measures which did so much favour and precipitate this Revolution There were some faithful Servants who quickly discovered the Roguery of this and stoutly made head against it but a blind zeal having betray'd the new Converts into those Measures and the time serving Courtier being joyned with the Pack Roguery became too hard for true Honesty and yet it was with great difficulty and matchless Importunities the King was wrought upon to do several of those Things which were the only important Errors It is well known that it was with no small trouble he was prevailed upon to admit Peters to the Council-board And as to the Regulating of Corporations the King gave his Opinion against it to the very last and I dare appeal to the Earl of Bathe whose Testimony is not to be suspected by this Government if in his access to the King about the Regulations in those Countries were he was Lieutenant he did not discover the Truth of what I here assert from the King 's own Complaints to his Lordship How greatly he was importuned to give way to those Measures from which in his own Judgment he was so averse We might have continued Ignorant in a great measure of the particulars of all this fine Christian Policy if upon the Revolution these honest Agents in so good a work had not by boasting of their several Merits Diligence and Activity in betraying an honest hearted Prince and so the more Credulous to his own ruin discovered all the Steps of this Intreigue but in the Opinion of some every thing is lawful for the obtaining of a Crown If it be alleged that most certainly the Prince never dreamt of the Crown of Britain until it was presented to him as a reward from a grateful People for their Deliverance his promises of Places at Court and Governments of Forts before he came from Holland which were only in the disposal of the King of Great Britain
his imprisonment of the E. of Feversham who was a publick Messenger and Peer of England and under the Cognizance of none but the King his imprisoning and banishing King James from his own Pallace though acknowleged as the just Monarch by his own Declaration his banishing the French Embassador out of England as soon as he came to London and before the Administration was put into his Hands by which these Kingdoms were ingaged without their own Consent in a War with France without so much as any pretence of Entertainment given to their Abdicated Monarch being a considerable time before K. James's retreat thither were direct possitive and most Solemn Acts of Sovereignty before ever the Crown was confer'd upon him and are so many plain and evident Indications of that early Ambition I have charged upon him And in farther Evidence that all his Designs from the very first were aimed at the Crown and the Crown Vested too with the most towring Prerogatives When the Convention was Deliberating upon some future Provisions against Arbitrary Power the Prince sent my Lord Wharton to several Lords and Mr. Coulin to Sir Edward Seymor and Mr. Hambden and other Commoners to let them known That if the House insisted so much upon Limitations that he would return again and leave them in the lurch to the Mercy of King James So generously Tender was this great Deliverer of our Religion and Liberty As to the Dispencing Power assumed by King James I do not pretend to justifie it I am heartily sorry that so bad a Measure was taken to carry on and establish so desirable and necessary a Good and Birth right of Mankind as Liberty of Conscience which carries its own native Beauty and Usefulness so visibly stampt upon it as could never have failed to obtain an Establishment from the Reason and Judgement of an English Parliament But this would have so much united the Hearts and Affections of English Subjects with their King and laid such an invincible rub in the Way of the Prince's ambitious Designs that it became one of the nicest and most sicklish Points to manage the hardest to ward off and the most dextrous and artful part of their Game there was no downright opposing of so general and desirable a Good 〈◊〉 was easier to poyson and divert 〈◊〉 The King was first put upon Establishing this Liberty by a Proclamation that so the Parliament might be prejudiced against a Thing which otherwise they would have granted upon the account of the first Measure taken about it but finding that the general Good and Benefit which was to be reaped from this Liberty would have digested and sweetned this Pill from a pretence of saving the King's Honor from a Foyl and making all sure though really with a design to ruin Him and baffle the Thing they put him upon the Regulating and Closetting Projects and upon obliging the Clergy to read his Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience from their Pulpits This did alarm the Bishops as was designed and obliged them to think upon Petitioning against it upon which those Beautefeux being afraid lest the KING should call in his Proclamation having always found it hard enough to bring Him to such Methods they ordered the business so that the Bishops were so long in presenting of their Petition to the King that though their Reasons had convinced and satisfied Him there was not time enough to countermand his former Orders though never so willing Upon which they took occasion to incense the King against them as if they had delay'd their Petition so long with design to embroyl Him with his People and so they run the Bishops into the Tower and from thence to the Barr. This is the true History of the Dispencing Power and of the Bishops Persecution which was so warmly and bitterly urged against the King as undeniable Proofs that his Inclination to Catholicks was too strong for the Laws But to speak plain English I hope those Stretches in favour of Catholicks which were Criminal in King James are not become more Legal and Meritorious in King William the exercise of the Dispencing Power in their favours I hope is as much a fault now as ever The Charge will be denied but I shall make it good when I come to discourse upon the Third Motive to the King's Restauration Are not Catholicks employ'd now in the Army thô not qualified by Law It will be alleg'd they are Foreigners so much the worse for an English Catholick will still have some regard for the Laws and Liberties of his Countrymen whereas a mercenary Foreigner is absolutely at the disposal of his Master Are not the Catholicks as much Countenanced and in the exercise of as much Liberty for their Religion as ever The necessity of humouring a Confederacy which must support us the great Strength of which are Catholicks may be urged as a very good Reason for this but if we examine it to the bottom this threatens our Religion more than any Indulgence was granted them by King James When the Catholicks of England hold their Liberty merely from the favour of the Protestants of England they must be thankful for it and humble under it but when they come to derive their Favours Immunities and Liberty from the necessity of our Circumstances and humble Regard and Deference we must pay to Catholick Princes without whose Assistance and Friendship we cannot Subsist their Spirits Hopes and Haughtiness will be enlarged by it They must make grateful acknowlegements to those Catholick Princes by whose kind Influences they injoy their Liberty This begets a Correspondence with and Dependance upon Foreign Princes and we do not know how far by the Instigation of Catholicks here those Princes may be prevailed upon to improve the necessity we have of their Allyance to the advantage of those of their own Religion amongst us The House of Austria within our remembrance was the most zealous Champions for the Roman Religion and the dependance of the Catholicks of England upon that House hath been always terrible and troublesom to this State And though their Losses and the growth of France hath humbled and levelled all the towring Thoughts and Ambition of that Family which did so much exercise both the Councils and Forces of their Neighbours yet since by our Assistance that House is to recover its Losses and France to be reduced within its ancient bounds with their lost Provinces the House of Austria may resume their old Designs They were but covered up not extinguished concealed through Weakness to be discovered upon a greater Encrease of Strength and Vigour in which case we may come to be whipt for our present Politicks May the great God avert those dangers and difficulties which inviron us and visibly threaten the Religious and Civil Concerns of these Kingdoms We have been pulling Destruction with both our hands upon our selves and desperately risking our Religion and Civil Rights without any necessity and unless we repent and repair
Disertion will best appear from a true Narrative of Matter of fact which I shall give the Reader And though it may contain several things which are not generally known and yet contribute exceedingly to the clearing of this point I shall deliver nothing but Truths which can be made evident either by Letters or Evidence above all exception No sooner was the Prince of Orange landed but it quickly appeared to the World how strangely successful his Agents had been in their Negotiations The Poyson was universally spread and the Pretences of his Declaration greedily swallowed down without Examination though I shall make it appear before I have done That it was partly forged and nothing of it ever intended to be performed There was nothing sound or untainted in the whole Kingdom His Children run away from him the Clergy juggle with him his domestick and menial Servants betray him his Subjects flock in to the P. of Orange his Army disert and the very Creatures which he had raised from the Dust form Designs to deliver up his Person Was not this a Scene the most wonderful and astonishing that was ever presented upon the Stage of human Affairs What ground had the King to think that his Person could be with any manner of Safety amongst a People who had thrown off all Tyes and Duties which could rationally be depended upon in the like case When that natural Affection which was due from Children to their Parents was quite forgotten when the Love Respect Service and Gratitude which is due from Servants to their Master and Benefactor was entirely thrown off and unheard of Treachery cherished in their places When that Allegiance which is due from Subjects to their Prince was debauched and running into another Channel When that Fidelity which was due from Soldiers both as Subjects and Men who make a particular Profession of Honour to their Prince General and Nursing Father was so generally corrupted that he was advertised by his General Officers That the Army was quite poisoned and would not fight When his own Ministers and Counsellors were in Pay and Correspondence with the Invader and pushing him into Councils and Measures which might encrease the present Ferment and facilitate the Prince's Designs What hopes of Accommodation or Assurance of Safety could remain without renouncing all Reason Sense and Discretion especially if we consider that as soon as the account came that Oxford's and St. Alban's Regiment of Horse commanded by Langston and Cornbury and Heyfort with their Dragoons were deserted and gone into the Prince he called his General Officers and Colonels together at London amongst which were Churchil Kirk Trelauny Grafton and others and acquainted them he had called a free Parliament that he was resolved to secure Religion Liberty and Property at their Sitting He obtested these Officers to let him know if there was any thing farther which they desired for the Security of their Religion and Liberties and he would most willingly grant it and withal desired That if there was any amongst them who could not be satisfied to let him know it and he would frankly grant them Passes for themselves and Equipage to go in to the Prince Upon which they all answer'd chearfully and unanimously That they were fully satisfied and would hazard their Blood to the last drop in his Service And yet how basely and ungratefully some of them afterwards dealt by him is too well known and was enough to give that Prince just Jealousies of his own Safety amongst Men so lost as to all sense of Honour and Integrity And yet so loth was this Monarch to part from a People who had forsaken him first though surrounded with Fears and Distractions under which any other Person would have sunck that he made offers of a Treaty which the Prince accepted not that he designed to come to any Settlement upon it but because he durst not unmask himself so far as to refuse it and was in hopes to find some Pretext or other to break it off Upon this the Commissioners met on both sides but with so little Inclination on the Prince's side to come to an Accommodation which would have bereaved him of that sweet Morsel he had been so long labouring for nay he discovered so firm a Resolution to attain his ends without scrupling any thing how severe soever which could compass them that those noble Lords who were empower'd by the King to treat for him did acquaint his Majesty with the insuperable Difficulties they met with in their Negotiation and that they thought themselves bound in Duty to let him know that his Person was not in Safety under the Power of a Prince who by the haughty and rigid Conditions he proposed or rather imposed and his still marching on notwithstanding the Treaty did visibly enough discover some farther hidden Design This must certainly be thought Warning enough from Persons who were even then leaning to the strongest side and so would not have hazarded such advice unless forced to it by Truth and Horror of the Design or put upon it by the Prince himself to frighten the King away who was sensible his Stay did check his Designs and so was resolved to be rid of his Person some way or other Upon this the King thought fit to withdraw and afterwards sent the E. of Feversham from that place with such ample Concessions and such real discoveries of a sincere Intention to satisfie his People to the full that the Prince was extreamly alarmed upon it and did plainly see the miscarriage and ruin of all his Designs if Feversham's Message should be imparted to the English that were about him for though there were some who upon all occasions were forward enough to advise the utmost Severities against the King's Person yet by far the greatest part for Number Interest and Quality were at the bottom for an Accommodation with the K. which would have setled and bettered the Nation but at the same time would have quite dashed the Prince's Hopes and Expectations and therefore some bold Stroke must be given that so much Patience so great Labour and so many Crimes might not be lost the Publick Faith must be broken and Feversham must be secured without so much as acquainting the Persons of Quality of the English Nation who were about him with it though all a long he had pretended to act by their Advice But in so nice a Conjunction he was afraid to trust to their Affection as knowing very well they would have pâ—y'd more than was fitting for his Interest into the pretended Cause of the Earl's Confinement and his Message the Goodness of which would certainly have preserved the Publick Faith inviolable in the Earl's Person notwithstanding of the Crime alleg'd against him and continued in the Treaty whereas by this Method the Message was concealed the Treaty was quite broken off and the King would most certainly be frightned to steal away After such a series of Defection amongst all sorts of People
Safety And it is evident notwithstanding all those ineffectual Applications he was resolved upon every occasion to court his Subjects to return to their Duty Witness his Letters addressed to several Members of his Privy Council and also that Letter written from St. Germains and designed for the Convention of Estates which they would not so much as receive or read I would now gladly know after what manner and upon what account in what sense and for what reason the King can be said to have deserted Desertion according to common sense and acceptation is a voluntary Neglect and Withdrawing his Person Care and Influences from attending that Administration Protection and Exercise of the Government which is due from him to the People committed to his Charge when no Force compell'd him no Danger threatned him and the People were willing to râ—tain him Is this applicable to the King's Case May not the Invading his Dominions with foreign Troops and an armed Power the Imprisonment of his Person putting him under Guards of Foreigners and banishing him from his own Houses be properly enough called a Force May not those extraordinary Indignities done him by the Prince and those Advertisements given him by several Persons of Quality Knowl dge and Interest of his hard and difficult Circumstances be very well called Dangers according to the common Rules of Prudence and Discretion With what Sense can the universal Defection of his Children Servants Soldiers and Subjects the rejecting all Treaties whether personal or by Proxie the Refusal of all Applications made by him to the City Bishops and Convention of Estates be understood an unwillingness in his Subjects to part with him or a voluntary Withdrawing or Neglect on his side We must renounce common Sense and quite invert the Nature of things before a Withdrawing so circumstantiated will pass upon the sober part of Mankind for a Desertion Besides it is a Maxim laid down by the Author of the Pretences of the French Invasion examined p 4 l. 3. and downwards That where a King or Queen is submitted to and owned by Oaths and other Methods required in such Cases the King himself is not at Liberty to give up his own Power and consequently cannot Desert much less can the People wrest it from him A Man hath himself much more Right to lay down that Power which is legally vested in him than any other Person or Persons can have to take it from him I hope this learned Gentleman will allow us the Benefit of his own Maxims which we are willing to admit of It cannot be denied King James was submitted unto and owned by Oaths and all other Methods required in such Cases and so not at Liberty to give up his own Power thô never so willing And consequently this pretended Desertion must march off the Stage according to the Author 's own Rules But the Disbanding of the Army in the Sense of this Author and others was so illegal a Step that it must pass for his dissolving of the Government Why truly common Prudence advised the Discarding of an Army which had dealt so treacherously with their Prince and Benefactor And I would gladly know what Statute this Measure of the King 's trespassed upon I challenge the Author to point it out to us I have heard it alleged That the King could not raise and maintain an Army without the Consent of Parliament But his power of Disbanding was never yet questioned much less made a Crime If the first be justifiable the last must be much more so From what has been said I hope the Desertion is quite shut out of doors The Reasons adduced make unanswerably against it and the Pamphleteer's own Maxims knock it dead without Mercy by which the greatest part of the Author's Pamphlet and Reasonings falls to the ground since he goeth all along upon the Supposition that the People were still willing to have acknowleged his Rights and secured their own to have treated and come to an Accommodation with him as also that the Prince never proposed any thing but to have Grievances fairly redressed which was still insisted on by the Prince and People in the most humble and usual Methods But that the King wilfully deserted threw up the Government refused all Treaties and left them in a perfect Anarchy to shift for themselves The Falsity of all which is already plainly enough demonstrated and the Abâ—ication must halt having lost the better half of its Foundation I come next to examine the Male-Administration which makes up the other part of this Structure in prosecution of which I do not intend to play the Advocate to defend and justifie any Breaches made upon the Laws and Liberties of my Country I am as tender of those great Concerns as any Man can be I love them as well I value them as high and shall be always ready to hazard as far for their Establishment as a good Englishman who knows their Worth ought to do And perhaps I have given better Evidences of this than the Authors of these Pamphlets can bring for themselves notwithstanding their Fustian Words and high Pretences But Mistakes in Government will be slipping in under the best Reigns and it is not every Error can furnish a good Reason for such important Revolutions such general Defections such deviations from that Duty which is due to Princes from the Obligation of Oaths the Tyes of Nature and the Laws of the Land and for dethroning of Kings inverting the nature of the Monarchy and the interrupting the Royal Line and Succession Such Alterations have been accompanied in all Ages with such Confusions Convulsions Blood Ruine and Desolation that nothing but the necessary Rescue of the Government it self and of all the publick and private Rights which are wrapt up in it from a clear plain visible undeniable and otherwise unavoidable Ruine and Destruction with a Certainty and Conviction that the Remedy proposed will prove feasible and successful without running us into the same dangers and difficulties â—â—n furnish the least shadow or pretence for Experiments which are to be attended with such Dangers founded upon the Breach of so many sacred Tyes and Obligations and Supported with such Expence of Blood and Treasure We ought to be very sure That the Errors complained of would certainly have overturned all Foundations and entirely robbed us of our Rights That those Errors did certainly arise from the natural Disposition of the Prince himself obstinately and incorrigibly bent to pursue them to the utmost whatever the Consequence might be and not rather from the Impulse of corrupted Ministers from a Design to ruine him and make a Property of us in serving the ambitious but guilded Pretences of some other Person before we run headlong into such Measures But alas I am afraid we are not able to stand this Tryal which every cool and thinking Man must allow to be very reasonable and upon an exact and impartial Enquiry it will be found That with all this
it practicable And as to the miraculous and enterprizing Faith of Priests and new Converts the zeal folly and warmness of their Brains will always prevent any real Mischiefs nay K. James his Reign even upon the supposition that it were as bad as is alledged is an undeniable Proof that the Protestant Religion cannot be undermined nor the Popish Religion Established in these Kingdoms by the Address or Authority of any Prince I shall give it for granted that all imaginable Methods were taken for propagating the Popish Religion that they were indulged in the publick Exercises of it that Court Preferments were thrown upon them meerly upon the account of their Religion without any Vertue or Mâ—rit to Intitle them to it that Protestants were absolutely and upon all occasions discourag'd that it was endeavour'd to make the World â—eâ—â—â—ve that all Favours and Preserments were for the one and nothing but Disâ—races and Frowns for the other that there was the greatest Care Pains and Application in the World made use of to make the Army and Courts of Judicature I do belive by this supposition I have out-done all that the most malicious Enemies will urge against K. James and yet all the World knows what little Progress was made how few Converts were gained and how really weak their best and surest Precautions did appear when it came to the touch If so many of his Subjects Soldiers and Servants were prevailed upon by Fears and Jealousies which were maliciously and industriously heightened above what any reason which was given for them could well bear what must then have been the Consequence if by real publick and undoubted Discoveries the King's intentions to ruin the Established Religion had been made unquestionably plain and evident Nothing less than an universal Defection and his perpetual Banishment from the Hearts and Affections of every English Man could have followed The Catholicks of Britain are not one of a hundred they have neither Heads Hearts nor Hands enough to force a National Conversion As the Protestants are the most Numerous so the Laws and Constitutions are upon their side their Civil Rights and Liberties are twisted together with their Religious and whosoever strikes at the last must infallibly wound the first It is not easie to overturn the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions whereby Religious and Civil Rights are secured to free born People we are in Possession by our Laws of our Religion and of that Liberty which distinguisheth our Happiness from that of other Subjects we love it and know it 's true worth we value and esteem our selves above other People upon the account of our native Freedoms and we will not easily part with 'em all Attempts and Designs upon them have been unsuccessful Ambitious Princes and Arbitrary Ministers may be forming Projects and Designs fortifying them the best way they can and making Parties for it but our Constitution together with the Protestant Religion which is now become part of it and our Laws will prove always too hard for them at last Nothing can expose or betray our Religion and Constitution to any danger but overmuch fondness in the People to a Prince who under some popular Mask and Pretence covers close and fatal Designs against either Let us but examine the present condition of our neighbouring States and we shall find that Raptures of Love in the people hath overturned more Constitutions and built up more Despotick Governments than the Force or Address of Princes could ever do It is commonly received for a Truth That Love is blind and credulous and certainly holds good with relation to a Political Affection There is a certain allowable Jealousie in the People which is very consistent with the Duty Affection and Respect due to the Prince and guards and protects their Laws and Constitution Without some Measures of this Jealousie the Constitution will be always in danger and this Antidote can never be wanting in the Protestant Subjects of Britain under a Popish King His Religion gives us such a lively and active Jealousie of him and his Designs makes us so watchful and puts us so much upon our guard that all the Efforts of such a Prince thô never so dextrous supported by so weak and inconsiderable a Party as the Catholicks of Britain can never endanger Religion and Liberty Rather his Circumstances and Inclinations to those of his own Religion their ease and quiet might have been improved into farther and more real Securities for Religion and Liberty by a wise and discreet Treaty orderly managed in Parliament To all this it may be alledged That though the Catholicks of Britain be not a Party sufficient to carry on and effectuate such Designs yet the Forces of the Hector of France were still at the Command and Service of his Dear and Faithful Ally for carrying on so good and meritorious a Work as that of Reducing again Great Britan into the Bosom of the Roman Church This is maliciously and artfully enough suggested but let us examin it a little How does it appear that King James was become so lost to all Reason Morality and Discretion as to resolve to call in a French Power to over-run a Countrey which was his own and destroy a People who were living peaceably under him by which from one of the most Considerable and Potent Monarchs of Europe he became the Least and most Contemptible His refusal of French Troops and Assistance when threatened with a Foreign Invasion seems to be no great Proof of this and his betaking himself at that time to the Love and Affection of his Subjects as it was a plain discovery he was not Conscious to himself of any real Design which could destroy that mutual Love and Confidence betwixt Prince and People which is a Debt due from the one to the other however his Measures might have been Traduced or maliciously Poysoned so it may let us see how improbable it is to imagine that a Prince could ever form Designs of destroying a People whose Affections he durst trust in such an Extremity Again What Reason is there to imagine that the French King vvould be so ready to furnish Troops and be at the Charge of such a Reformation He is generally allowed to be a Prince who studies his own Interest the most of any and fits all his Maxims his Conduct and Allyances exactly to it and never takes a step which upon the remotest view may seem to cross the Interest of his Crown and Monarchy And if it do appear as certainly it will to any judicious thinking Man that the Reducing Great Britain to the Bosom of the Roman Church may greatly endanger the Crown of France than all â—â—â—rs of a French Reformation will fall to the Ground The English Pretences to the most considerable Maritime Provinces nay upon the Crown of France it self are generally known and Histories can inform us how troublesome how dangerous and how successfully they were many times carried on against those Monarchs partly
Troops which were under Pay by their unheard of Plunderings Robberies and Oppressions committed upon the poor Protestants within their Lines gave such Examples of Insolence and loose Discipline that the Irish could be no longer restrained as formerly thô they never acted so extravagantly as the others And I dare appeal to all the Irish Protestants if the greatest part of the ruine of that miserable Country be not due to the Plunderings Abuses and want of Discipline in King William's Army which though Protestant and Reformers did far outdoe the wild Irish in desolating the Country without regard to Friend or Foe And I have heard many Irish Protestants affirm That their Preservation and Protection was due to K. James's own particular Care over them As to the Proceedings of the Irish Parliament he did so much wrestle against them was so little Master of himself and Actions and so much in the hands of Irish that he is rather to be pitied than blamed for them And 't is very hard and unreasonable that when a King is forced from a Throne by his Protestant Subjects and opposed by them in his Endeavours after the recovery of his Inheritance and so necessitated to betake himself to the Assistance Protection and Services of Catholicks unless he would Renounce his undoubted Rights which neither the Laws of God nor Man oblige him to that Acts of Grace which his Circumstances and the necessity of their Assistance forced from him should be charged upon him as Crimes Let us labour for his Restauration let us get him into our hands and deliver him from that cruel Necessity which carries him farther than his Inclinations would otherwise do and whenever he is at liberty to act as an Englishman he will convince us that he is such The Treatment that Charles I. met with is a sad Instance of the Vanity of all human Greatness and a lasting Reproach to our Nation but reacheth a more pertinent and apposite Reproof to K. William's Conduct than K. James's The most considerable and important points which occasioned those fatal Disputes betwixt that Prince and his People were illegal Imprisonments the undue refusal of Liberty to Prisoners upon Bail the free quarterings and Plunderings of Soldiers and the unwarrantable exacting of Money from the Subject without Consent of Parliament Are not all these illegal and arbitrary practices frequently repeated in this Government and without any Precedent from K. James's Reign The many Pages imploy'd by the Author of A Letter to a Friend concerning the French Invasion to prove That the Non-swearing Protestants as well as others can merit nothing by their endeavours for the King's Restauration but a bare Pardon at most discovers more Logick and Method in dividing of his Text than true solid and convincing Reason For since a few Scotish Gentlemen who had acted warmly and vigorously against him and could contribute but little to his Service were able to procure not only Pardon but those great and important Securities for their Religion and the Liberties of their Country which K. William had refused to the Desires and Addresses of a Parliament that had given him the Crown and pre engaged his Consent before the Gift Is it to be imagined That so many worthy Prelates Lords Gentlemen and inferiour Clergy who have testified so much Zeal Firmness and Fidelity by their Sufferings joyn'd with the early Repentance and vigorous Endeavors of others for his Service who have been hitherto blinded and misled will not prove of more Weight Importance and Consideration with him be as kindly treated and their Country for their sakes Or rather will not all Securities for Religion and Liberty be granted from a due regard to their Application as well as from his own Inclination Neither is it to be feared that any of their former Measures which unhappily and accidentally have contributed towards that Ferment which begot this Revolution will be remembred against them since the King is sensible how far he himself was imposed upon as well as his Subjects by the Cunning and Artifice of wicked and corrupted Ministers which were about him And whatever Jealousies this Author may labour to infuse into the minds of People of the firey and lax Principles of the Jacobites with Relation to the Protestant Religion Church of England and English Liberties there are Jacobites whose Principles are better more fixed and rational who have already and will upon all occasions never fail to give greater and more generous Testimonies of their zeal and affection for the Establishment and Security of those great Concerns than any can be brought by our present Ministers and topping Reformers and who will never be found with this Author in justifying a Conquest of their native Country The Caution which is given us against another Revolution lest the Monarchy receive more vigour from a Restauration than is convenient for the Liberties of the Subject which the Author fortifies from an Instance in the Return of Charles II. at which time betwixt zeal flattery and fear the King encreased in Power and the People lost their Liberties concludes very strongly against himself and for what I have been all along pressing If we do but consider the true reason of those Concessions made in favour of the Monarchy upon the Return of K. Charles the Nation was so wearied out exhausted and undone by the Tyrannies and Executions Taxes Imprisonments and other arbitrary Courses against their Liberties and Properties that were practiced during that Anarchy which intervened betwixt the Murther of the Father and Return of the Son that upon a Prospect of some Relief by the reestablishment of the antient Monarchy the People fell into such Raptures of Joy which never fails of making Subjects so liberal to Princes as many times occasions a hearty but late Repentance If K. William continue a little longer to oppress our Liberties and drein our Purses or if the Title of Conquest be advanced we shall be infallibly exposed to the like hazard again which cannot be prevented but by an early Return to our Duty whilst we have some Patience Wit and Money left to enable us to take care of our selves and our Posterity The hard and difficult Questions which this Author thinks he hath gravelled us with and the obligation of the Oaths of Allegiance to K. William comes next to be considered The first Question is Whether we think our selves bound in Conscience to fight for Popery against the Protestant Faith I Answer not nor doth this Answer make any thing for King William since in no Sense can the fighting for the Restauration of King James be called the fighting for Popery against the Protestant Religion for it is both K. James's Interest and his Inclination to return upon a Protestant Foot and by assisting him in it we vindicate the Honor of our Religion and rescue it from the Dangers which threatens it from this Reign The second Question is Whether we think our selves bound in Conscience to fight for