first yet the present Conservators of our Liberâ—y have transmitted to after Ages a president for Parliameâ—taâ—ily taking away that Liberty whensoever the caprice of a fearful or foolâ—sh Minister seâ—s up pretences of State for doing it Certainly Paâ—liaments â— begin to â—orget the design of their first Instituâ—â—on begin to forget they wâ—re to assist us against Arbitrary Ministers to secure our Rights and not to sacrifice them I believe had the old Custom oâ— instructing tâ—em been revived few Flectors would have given a power to their Râ—presentativesâ—â—o Imprison their peaceable Neighbours without proof for nothing â— no' â—t can admit of no good excuse yet something more like one might have â—een offered if that Act had been suspended only whilst they could examine the cause of their pannick fear but to repeat it to reiterate such a prostitution of what wiâ—h all due Reverence to that Assembâ—y â—e it spoken tâ—ey have so liâ—tle to do withal unless to secure it by more express Laws is of â—â—â—amous example and I would almost as soon have been oâ—e of the Regicides of King Charles the first as such a murderer such a staâ—er oâ— our â—uâ—dâ—menâ—al Rights Was any of the men that were by vertue I mean by the Villany of that Suspentiâ—n committed ever tryed to this day Nâ—y did the Gâ—vernmeâ—t eâ—er pretend to try any one man for Crimes committed before oâ— during that Suspâ—ntion The Nation remembers how many the Mâ—ssâ—â—gers then locked up how many were then Imprisoned in lâ—athsome Goals how many were sent to the expensive Tower 〈◊〉 a Member of that Parlâ—amâ—nâ— I would not think a private Repentance would obliterate my â—aâ—lt I would print my Recantation of so destructive a Vote I call it dâ—stâ—ucâ—iâ—e because it has given an Inlet to Prerogative that our Forefathers never knew that no King ever once imagined that a Parliament of England would countenance tho' it were but for the least point of time But let us come to the Articles of Limerick does not King William plainly act by that devouring Monster as Doctor Welwood calls it the Dispensing Pâ—â—eâ— Does he not grant them Indulgence for their Religion allow them Arms and a freedom from Oaths and Securiâ—y against prosecutions for â—â—eir Plundering and does not he do all this by his own single authoriâ—y tho' it was contrary to the Laws of the Land the Rights and Privileâ—gâ—s and the very Safety too of the Protestant Subjects of Ireland Did ouâ— Parliament take any notice of the Illegality of this Act nay did they not ratifie it I suppose the Parliament of Ireland was not so cram'd with men in Places nor had the Members of it been so much softned by Pentions as the Members of our House of Commons are for when an Act for confirming those Articles was proposed to them they could find that the first Article of that Treaty if confirmed would make an Established Religion and the sixth would deprive all Protestants of their Actions against the Papists by wâ—om they were plâ—ndered even whilst they lived in Peace with them This you may find in a little Pamphlet called an Account of the Sessions of Parliament in Ireland 1692. Which Pamphlet was put forth by some Members of that Parliament who are very fond of this Government tho' they are willing that the Settlement in Ireland may be Religiously observed and that the Proâ—estant and Brittâ—sh Interest there may be secured as the Prince of Orange worded it and promised in the last paragraph of his own Declaration Did we pay so many men to make War in Ireland and make at last such Conditions Could the Prince of Orange to Reduce one Town when hâ— had all the rest of these three Kingdoms assisting him to Reduce it promisâ— to enervate the Act of Settlement and yet must King Iames when he waâ— in the hands of the Irish when very few others of his Subjects appeared foâ— him when the greatest part of the Protestants in Ireland were actually in Arms against him or combining with his Enemies forever stand confounded because he was prevailed upon contrary to his own Inclinations and by a sort of fatal necessity to Repeal that Act of Settlement I believe if the Doctor will read Great Brittain's Iust Complaint and the Answer to Doctor King's Book he will not have Forehead enough to assert any more as he does page the 36 th that the King was Master and without controul when he passed that Act of Repeal and the King promises to consent to every thing that an English Parliament shall think necessary to reâ—establish that Act now he is really and properâ—y Master of his own Actions and tho' the King has good reason and is obliged in honour to recommend to the Parliament of England those Irish that have followed him to the last yet the rascally Irish as this mannerly Pupill of Titus Oates Doctor Welwâ—od calls them do not appear dearer to King Iames then to the Prince of Orange for King Iames will leave the method of recompensing those that have been Loyal to him to an English Parliament But King William falls out with the Parliament of Ireland because they are not willing those Irish Papists who plundered even while they lived in Peace with them should go unpunished which in plain English shews that King VVilliam to endear himself to the Natiâ—e Irish is willing to give an Instance that he thinks Robbery is no Crime but perhaps he remembred what the Pyrate said to Alexander may think that 〈◊〉 an Irish Popish Rapparee has no more natural conviction of the hainiousness of such a transgression then his Protestant Dutch Highness has shewn to his own Actions I am past Wondering at any thing King William does but Posterity will be astonished that a Parliament of England could ratifie such Articles To proceed to another Head it is notoriously known that several men were Executed by Martial Law before it was Enacted When an Army is no better paid then ours has been either in England Ireland or Flanders to empower a Commander to Shoot a man to Death because he demands the Money he has earned for himself and his Family with his Sweat and with his Blood is a Law that requires great subtilty and argumentation to prove it equal or just but to give this power to imperious and cholerick Officers without examining how many men had been before the settling of it murdered in their rage and to gratifie their own violence I say to enact this Law without such a retrospection and without guarding 〈◊〉 against a too vigorous execution of it for the future is what little becomes an English House of Commons who ought to have a tender regard to the Life of the meanest Subject Let us come to consider of the numerous Parliamentary Pardons bestowed upon Ministers who have falen foul upon our Laws have not the Subjects even the Peers of England been hunted by Proclamations clapt into Prisons for High Treason and refused the
Tryers who must be satisfied of their Gifts and I suppose too according to the usual form of Tryers they must be satisfied they have not too good a Benefice for an Episcopal Clergy-man But I beg pardon for this Note of my own and will go on to tell you that all that have Benefices not submiting to these Conditions are to be deprived and that all others who have none are to be banished if they exercise tho' in private Houses their Ministry so that now there are no remains of Toleration in Scotland The Idolatrous Church of England is so little admitted there that all remains of an Episcopal Party will be rooted out if Iohnston's Ministry and this Government can stand Let us procâ—ed to another Head Because you are a Stranger give me leave to inform you Doctor that so much does not signifie only in our Language and then give me leave to consider part of the eighth and ninth Pages Good Doctor did not the Prince of Orange charge the King with a suppoâ—uious Prince of Wales and his partizans with a French League the Murther of his Brother and the Earl of Essex Did these things contribute towards the King's misfortunes Are they true Or were they false I believe you must allow that nothing contributed so much to the King's Misfortunes and our Miseries as these malitious Calumnies Were they his Friends or his Enemies that set them about I will not name Saint Iones's Grad-Irons nor the Irish Massacree and all the other Stories wherewith the Mobâ— were carried headlong to Perdition Besides this a man without aggravation might say that when the Prince of Orange had Bribed some to put the King upon illâ—m asures he Briâ—ed others even to give a worse turn to them abroad than they as bad as they were deserved and to six Intentions to them which the King never so much as dreamt of You can't but be sensible an ill tâ—ing may be aggravated by Billinsgate flights because Doctor your own Talent lies that way Page the fourteâ—nth you charge King Iames with endeavouring both before and after his Accession to the Crown to advance the exorbitant greatness of France and you say that this is a truth so generally known in Europe that even the Popish Princes lay it at his door with the heaviest Execrations These are heavy Charges but you are pleased to let the proving of them alone and I protest Doctor you are the only man in the world upon whose bare Word I would have believed things of this importance However from these discoveries of yours you infer that the present War is for the defence of our Country our Religion and our Liberties The Protestant Religion and English Liberty are so dear to me that I must consider them first I did never hear that our Religion and our Country were attacked by France I thought we declared War first against France Well! but you will tell us that our Religion and Liberty are concerned in the defence of Flanders as well as in that of our own Country because if Pâ—pish Flanders is lost it is impossible for either our Religion or Liberty to subsist I answer First that Flanders was not attacked until after this Revolution and so the danger of Flanders did not draw us into this War And then Secondly with submission if we had kept out of this War and from the expence of a Land Army in Flanders our Trade would have flourished and our Navy with the fifth part of that Expence we have been at might have been so increased as would have secured our Religion and Liberty from all the Power of France and of the whole World too But farther supposing I should grant that we must be yet more watchful over Flanders are we nevertheless bound to ruin our selves for its defence Is not this to submit at present to a mischief the avoiding of which for the future is the only reasonable and National motive why we should take any care at all of those Provinces But Doctor how does it appear that King Iames has labour'd for the Granduer of France If you know any thing of a French League produce it My Lord Sunderland's Letter Liâ—ens'd in 89. denys his knowledge of it and I think his Evidence may be taken upon this Head The Duke oâ— York's labouring to obtain those Peaces of Aixe La Chapell and Nimegheâ— which were so advantagious for the Confâ—derates are no very good proofs of your assertion King Iames's threatning the King of France when his Army was hovering about the Mase and his sending the French King word when he offered to fall down upon Holland to divert is In asion that brought about this Revolution that if he Invaded Holland he would send his Quota for thâ—ir deâ—ence according to the Treaty of Nâ—meghen is a strong contradiction to what you say and upon the whole I am so far from beiâ—g of your mind that I believe the majority of the Consederates will ascribe the present Granduer of France rather to the Prince of Oâ—anâ—e's want of conduct Government and Oeconomie in their common Affairs tâ—an to any endeavours of King Iames either before or since his accession to the Crown If a man had nothing else to do one might since you insist upon the Security of our Religion by this War make pretty work with that Article of the Confederacy whereby the Prince of Orange engages himself to maintain the Vsurpaâ—ion of the â—opâ— against the Franchises of the Gaâ—can Church and with the â—eclâ—raâ—ion Monsiâ—ur Sâ—hombâ—rg put forth in Dauphin this time twelve Mâ—nth And in answer to what you say of the King 's laying his Crown at the Feet of the Pope which you your self Doctor can't but know it a maliâ—ious anâ— groundless Calumny a man might expose your Master for having so often â—aâ—pered with the Court of Rome for having had so great Friendships with many Popes for being in a direct Confederacy with one nay for having as it were fought under his Banner when he came to be our Deliverer With these things a man might divert the Reader but I don't love to take all advantages of rallying nor to aggravate upon all occasions and I know Correspondencies may be held with a Pope as a secular Prince If you will consider this short Paragraph it may help you to an answer to many Excursions that you make Page the 23 d. you are pleased to 〈◊〉 King Iames for want of gratitude I believe few Princes ever shewed a greater disposition to it He lost his Crowns because he would not shift his Hands after he had put out his Liberty of Conscience neither could he be perswaded to suspect those who had formerly shewed themselves hiâ— Friends tho' in many of them appeared a peevish opposition to Liberty of Conscience it self I never pretended to like the Methods that were then taken to introduce Liberty of Conscience but the thing it self was both wise and Christian and many of those with
benefit of their Habeas Corpus and this when there was no Information upon Oath as the Law appoints to justifie such a proceedure And have not the Ministers had all this pardon'd by a Parliament Doctor Welwood does make so many Repetitions himself that I hope he will not redicule me if I now and then repeat the same thoughts and set down here that Parliaments heretofore thought fit to punish and not to skreen such Arbitrary Ministers to make the reparation of the Subject more easie more certain but now they take part with the Ministers to oppress the Subject Another Parliamentary Errour under this Government is that our Legislators don't at the beginning of every Sessions read the Prince of Orange's own Declaration for there are in it some things that deserve their Reflections These are the Words of one Paragraph And we for our part will concur in every thing that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine Since we have nothing before our Eyes in this our undertaking but the preservation of the Protestant Religion the covering of all men from Persecution for their Consciences and the Securing to the whole Nation the FREE ENJOYMENT of all their Laws Rights and Liberties under a Iust and Legal Government I don't know whether the present Gentlemen that meet at VVestminster take themselves to be a free Parliament but if they do here is a very fair Invitation which is also in other places expressed by declaring that the design of his coming should be to rescue the English Government from the Violencies and Disorders which had overturned the whole Constitution Really if this was true our Civil Fabrick wants a great deal of Reparation and if he was in earnest you are to blame that you don't propose solid Securities against Arbitrary Government and to prevent the possibility of Slavery for the future as the Declaration has it in another place But in troth after all I know not whether the Prince of Orange takes the present for a free Parliament because that I can name his Highness some Bills that they have determined very unanimously to be for the happiness of the Nation to which nevertheless King VVilliam has not thought fit to give his assent no he did not think fit to concur tho' some men absolutely attached to his Interest have honestly according to their Principles told him that a Prince who comes in for the sake and upon the Foot of Reformation can never stand long unless he really perform the business and design of his exaltation He has been so far from concurring that it has been observed that every Session he has taken all our Money but followed none of the Advice either of a Parliament or of such whose avowed Principles make them capable to go in heartily with his Government nay he has rejected one Bill that the whole House of Commons passed Nemine Contradicente Mr. Finch excepted â—nd which was not opposed by any body but my Lord Nottingham in th e â—ouse of Lords He hath been pleased to refuse some â—ther Bills that were notwithstanding all the pains â—e and my Lord Portland took to hinder them Voted â—y a great majority of both Houses Methinks the preâ—ent Parliament should enquire what are his thoughts concerning them since 〈◊〉 seems it is not to them that he refers the accomplishments of the ends of â—is Declaration I believe there are some that sit now in Saint Stephen's Chappel that have thought no King of England no Hereditary King of Engâ—and ought to have a Negative Voice and I wonder that no Person of â—hat perswasion disputes the Title that their Elective King has to it but inâ—tead of this now these men are in Places they can as well as other throw â—ut the Judges Bill as soon as the Prince of Orange lets them know his Will â—nd Pleasure They let him carry Absolute Monarchy to a higher pitch then â—hat in which the imagination of Xenophon placed his Cyrus for Cyrus had â—bout him many great men whom he consulted who were called his Eyes â—nd Ears and who were in a sort the Representatives of his Subjects but â—ur present House of Commons are content that our All-sufficient Monarch should â—o every thing by the advice only of that Stranger that Gaveston his Monâ—â—eur Bentinck who has the reputation of too good a Courtier to expostulate â—is Masters Will. Will you give me leave Dr. to repeat another Paragraph of the Prince â—f Orange's Declaration But to Crown all there are Great and Violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those evil Counsellours in order to the carrying on of their ill designs and the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son tho' there have appeared both during the Queen's PRETENDED Bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of suspition that not only WE OUR SELVES but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their doubts Doctor Welwood you must forgive me if I think that it has been at least a great oversight in our Legislators that they have not charged this Crowning Male-administration home upon King Iames. This was a Male-administraâ—ion that was not only to confirm at present but to Crown and perpetuate â—ll the Male-administrations of King Iames's Reign The proof of it would â—ave effectually silenced almost all mankind in the behalf of that King It â—s such an unnatural Male-administration that I should have thought him worse then an Iâ—fidel that had so destroyed the Provisions our Law 〈◊〉 made for his Family for his Daughters I would not only have alloweâ— him insane but a Monster if this had been proved upon him The not proâ—ving this upon King Iames has laid a Foundation for Lancastrian 〈◊〉 on s and for eternal Standing Armies which must remain for a Guard tâ— our Elective Crown Had the Prince of Orange intended to have requiteâ— that most particular Affection and esteem which he says we had formerly testified to him and his dearest Consort the Princess he should not have been willing we should have been left in the dark in this matter Had the Parliament tooâ— any care for our future Security they would have cleared this point Thâ— Prince of Orange was very particularly concerned to clâ—ar it since it was thâ— most Justifiable part of hiâ— Errand hither the Parliament can never have 〈◊〉 better opportunity to be satisfied of the truth of this matter since now they and
submitted to the scrutiny of the Books and challenge the men that are now in the Navy and Admiralâ—y Offices as to the truth of every thing he asserts that King Iames proceeded â—uiâ—aâ—ly to it No Prince was ever more careful to encrease and encourage Trade which he understands better than any Prince in Euâ—ope None more diligent to appoint Convoys or the Security of it and none ever took juster measures in order to those â—nds None ever was more indefatigable in the encreasing of the Navy Royal None ever more industrious in filling the Magazines with Naval and Mâ—litary Stores But above all by his project of Liberty of Conscience our Trade Wealâ—h and People and consequently our Shipping would have been encreased to the envy and terrour of all our Neighbours It was an early discâ—very of those designs and measures of his which would have pâ—oved so fatal to their Common-Wealth that induced the Dâ—tch to forward the Prince's undertaking and did I think the Prince of Oâ—ange had any reâ—ard to any thing besides his own unmeaning Will could I believe he was touched with any love of his Native Soil I should believe that love upon thesâ— Considerations made him also the rather attempt the Revolution he effected I can more easily believe he did it upon that account then upon any of those Motives which were plausibly expressed in some parts of his Declaration Upon the whole those Hopes of King Iames might have been accomplished if â—hey had not been frustrated by the restiness of some the giddiness of others and the artful Treachery of too many with whom he trusted his most inward thoughts They might have been accomplished if the implacable aversion of some men to his Person of others to the Family of the Stuarts joyned with the Flatteries first of the pretended Church of England men and then of Fanaticks had not made him uncertain which way to turn and so given an easier oppertunity to his corrupted Ministers to betray him into such Councils as brought forth this Revolution Which Revolution has fatally diverted the application of our Councils Strength and Treasure into a Channel which will never turn to anaccount and into a sort of War wherein our Trade and Shipping are neglected whereby certain and inevitable Ruin is overtaking us unless we suddainly come to an end of it And notwithstanding Doctor what you say page 13 th time will inform all true English men and lovers of their Country that they ought for the sake oâ— it to set their Hands and Hearts to the Accomplishing the King's Restoration as the only means to secure to us lasting Peace and Happiâ—ess our Religion and our Liberties nor will all the bantering Stuff wherewith you declaim page 19 th and 20 th frighten us from 〈◊〉 Restoring him I have dwelt a little too long upon this Head but before I conclude I must go as far back as Page the third wherein you challenge all the Kinâ—'s Declaratiâ—n-makers to give but one single Instance from History that ever a People who nom a just and recent sence of an invasion made by a limitâ—d Monarch upon their Laws and Funâ—amental Constitution had thereupon withdrawn their Allegiance from him and conterr'd it upon another did ever afterwards willingly and tamely submâ—t to his Government again By this bold Challenge Doctor I find you have not read much History for such instances so frequently occur in the Records of all Countries that I will undertake that if you will be at the pains to search you may find for one instance where a Monarch was excluded for ever six instances where a limited Monarch dethroned by his People for Male-administrations has by the same People either himself been called back if alive or his Children if he was dead neither does the last any thing alter the case for since all these viâ—lent Hurricanes of State occasioned by popular Reformations require it may be sometime to wear oâ—â— the present Fit in that interval the expellâ—d Prince maâ— dye but if the People come again so far to themselves aâ— to restore the Children by the same Revolution of their Inclinations they would unquestionably have done the same thing to the Father if he had been alive But to produce some Instances I shall omit many that might be given from the Emperouâ—s and Princes of Germany the Antient Kings of Macedon and the several Kingdoms of Greece all which were limited Soveraignties I will not menâ—ion Feâ—dinand of Naples Charles the fourth Leuis the fourth and Charles the seventh of France nor will I speak of Sueno and Christopher the second of Denmark or Alphonso the third of Castile I will not insist upon Lasius King of Poland any more then upon those Revolutions that were not long since in Flanders Brabant c. where those People transfâ—rr'd their Allegiance to the Duke of Alanson and being so many distinct and limited Principalities make so many several Instances I say I will noâ— must upon any of these Examples tho' they are all pretty apposite and are still upon the Records of Time as you phrase it unlâ—ss you Doctor have lately razed them But to come to your own Country were not Reuther Donald Bâ—nâ— and Atherick Kings of Scotland expâ—lled by their People for their Irregularities Did not their People transfer their Allegiance to others And were not they afterwards restored by the same People the two first in their own Persons and the last in his Posterity Will you look over what we have done in England Does not Iohn Milion in his History of it tell you that Ethelred when he was expelled and the Allegiance of his People transfered was sent to by his People who declared they preferred none before their own lawful Soveraign if he would promise to Goâ—ern better than he had done I set down the Words of the Historian and if you will look into him you will find his People repâ—ssessed Ethelred upon promise to do so In the same Historian you may find no lâ—ss than two others of the same Name that were expelled and râ—called in Person by their People I will conclude this Head with the Restoration of King Charles the Second was not King Câ—aâ—les the First not only deposed but put to Death by his Subjects and that upon the Allegation of more numerous Crimes and some of them more hainous too than those charged upon King Iames Was not his Son Charles the Second after his Father's Death expelled the Kingdom and the Allegiance of the People of England transferred first to many and then to a single Person under the Name of Pâ—otector tho' in effect a King And yeâ— was not the very same despised calumniated and abjuâ—ed Charles Stuart as they then called him afterwards peaceably and willingly called home by the uniâ—ed desires of the People of England Had the Father King Charles the First been then aâ—ive would not he as cerâ—ainâ—y have been calleâ— home since the revulse of the People was