A Letter from a Nobleman in London to his Friend in the Country Written some Months ago Now Published for the Common Good I Assure you Sir whatever you have heard to the contrary my having been in and out in the present as well as the two former Reigns proceeds not from any incompatibility or uncertainty of humour but from a true English Temper and Spirit that cannot endure Slavery in it self and abhors to be the Instrument of it in otherss I ever exclaimed against the Court Maxime Live and let others Live and watch'd my fellow Ministers actions as I desired they would mine that our Master might not be defrauded nor his Subjects oppressed and believing nothing could make England unhappy but a change of our King 's limited legal Authority into an unbounded Arbitrary Power I always advised my Prince to a steddy conformity to the Laws to place his security on the affections of his Subjects which this would gain him and not on Guards or Army These principles were not like to make me thrive in any Court The apprehension I had that the late King's Religion would carry him to that extreme made me not only weary of his Service but uneasie under his Government and desirous to change it for a better which my first heat of fancy suggested I could not miss in a Protestant but my cooler thoughts what I have already seen acted and my Knowledge of what is further design'd convince me of my own and the Nations folly The reports of Char. II's Murder the Earl of Essex's Death and a supposititious Prince of Wales all Men of common sense knew to be false and malicious but I confess I looked upon the noise of a League with France to be real yet without the ridiculous and spiteful addition of cutting the Protestants throats because the King's circumstances especially the proceedings in Ireland made it absolutely necessary for his own preservation Yet now 't is plain this also was a pure invention and that the Dutch dull as they are have out-witted the English and by a trick drawn us into a War to defend them against France Nor is it less evident that Monsieur d' Avaux's Memorial of the 9th of September 88 to the States impudently pretended by the Scribler of the Desertion to have been the cause of the long before intended Invasion was though a Gentiler as meer a Stratagem The King his Master not more ascertained of the Confederacy against himself than of the Hollander's Preparations against K. I. hop'd by this flight of Generosity to have wrought into his Interests Him who before had rejected his repeated offers of succour 'T is no wonder each Party should labour to get England on their side the ballance of Europe put into either scale must of necessity have made that out-weigh the other But now too late we find our King was too good a Christian to believe his Son and Nephew could gratifie his Ambition at so barbarous a rate and too much an English Man to engage with France against his Subjects Interests which certainly was to ingross the Trade of the World and safely look on while the French and Dutch destroy'd each other But alas our want of wit and others cunning would not suffer us to be thus happy fear of Slavery artificially spred among the Gentry and of Popery among the Commonalty did not only make way for our ruine but bewitched our selves to be the Instruments of it We dreaded and roar'd against a standing Army of English of Protestants so zealous that they would loose their reputation rather than fight for their Popish King Yet now we can kiss the rod that scourges us tamely suffer an Army of Forreigners of Popish or of no Religion who will execute with joy the Commands of our new K. their General whose will and whose interest it is to enslave us You have long known my Opinion about Religion and the force of it among Men of refined Understandings I laugh at all sorts of bigotry and prefer our own Religion to Popery not as more agreable to Truth but as established by Law Disputes of this Nature ought in my Mind to be banished the Common-Wealth at least confin'd to the Schools nor should I trouble my Head nor would any Man that wanted not Brains what Religion a lawful Parliament put down or set up provided we could but be secured against Slavery and the loss of Abby Lands Nor need I tell you who have as sensibly felt it that Slavery is not a more natural consequence of Popery than of Presbitery or any other Sect. If from what I write you cannot gather why I make not the same Figure in the State I lately did read the inclosed advice to our new K. and communicate it but one by one to our Friends the Earls of K. and of E. the Bp. of and the rest of our knot 't is Word for Word taken from the Original and it is what cleared my Eyes and gave me a full prospect into the bottom of the design which after I had for some time laboured in vain to cross I made a Leg and withdrew concluding it base and ignoble for an English Peer to joyn in Council or act in Concert with a Dutch a French Hugonot and a Scotch Presbyterian under a King without Title whose Religion is Policy and whose No-Title and Policy must be supported by a strong Army the subversion of the State and the Conquest of England The enclosed Paper was in the following Words SIR HItherto it is true your Affairs seem to have succeeded prosperously you have got a Crown and you have got it with ease but it cannot be preserv'd without difficulty Your Interest as P. of O. Statholder of Holland is very different from your Interest as K. of England but since you are the one and yet for some time must be the other your game is the harder and requires double the skill that when you landed was necessary The Prince of Orange as Head of the Protestant League which among our selves we must own this to be notwithstanding that the Spaniards natural aversion to the French and the growing Greatness of their Monarchy have drawn in to it the whole House of Austria and the other Popish Princes of Germany is engaged in an Alliance the K. of England ought in prudence to have avoided Charles V. and Philip II. have sufficiently proved the Universal Monarchy a fantastick Dream impracticable impossible besides the Nature and Scituation of the English Dominion sufficiently secure it against French Incroachments England therefore in this conjuncture should have stood Neuter and enjoyed the great advantages of Commerce whilst her Neighbors especially the Dutch her Rivals for this reason ever to be suspected and kept under were interrupted by War encreased her Naval strength by building new Ships repairing the old and filling her Magazines with all necessary Stores and erected Forts and Block-houses where wanting to secure her against Invasion The Treaty
of Nimeguen if it could at all affect the late K. could not have obliged him to act otherwise The War being on France's side purely defensive their being before-hand in declaring after they were convinced of the Confederacy makes no alteration 't is an effect of the nimbleness natural to that Nation to make the first pass when they see their Enemies ready to fall on But though Neutrality be the true Interest of England and must have been the late King 's supposing him a Stranger to the Invasion and sure of his Subjects yet can it not for the present be yours who have and must carry on an Interest directly contrary to the Peoples till you are better settled in the Throne and have forced the English to be indeed your Subjects This done you may as the Dutch did in the last Confederacy and as it is to be feared they will again when they perceive in your acceptance of the Crown the ill effect of their own Politicks prevent all others by a seperate Peace In the mean time you must mind your own and not the Nation 's Interest and proceed with your Confederates as Prince of Orange they will without doubt desire as the States have already done that you would as K of England renew and confiâ—m the Alliance and declare War against France you will for a while stand in need of their help and find though they think otherwise much greater advantage by their assistance than they can have by yours a Truth they cannot but discover if they reflect upon the three principal Causes of this stupendious Revolution First The temper of the English a beady 〈◊〉 inconsiderate inconstant People Secondly The incompatibility and natural aversion of Protestant Subjects to a Popish Prince the Church of England in vain endeavours to exempt it self from this Character their Publick Actions in the three last Reigns their Acts of Parliament Tests Bill of Exclusion and Rye house Conspiracy make them pâ—st of the same stamp with the rest and they cannot without insufferable impudence but confess that their pretence of peculiar contrary principles is an empty or else that the whole People of England are in Practice become Presbyterians irreconcileable Enemies to a Popish Monarch So gross an artifice must not betray you into a trust and confidence of their Loyalty as it did your Predecessor who seem'd at least to forget the voice of the Nation That the Duke of York had no fault but his being a Papist to make him unfit to Govern and Succeed unless you will be content to run his Fortune and Reputation The Third and chiefest was the King's want of an Army which he could not be properly said to have so long as they were Protestants the few Papists among them deserv'd not to be considered under a Name and taught it was against Conscience to draw in desence of a Popish K. the event has shewn that Religion had padlocked their Swords and bound up their Hands otherwise he could never have picked up and trained such a number of Men all resolved either to fight against him or run away from him These Sir are the Shelves on which he was shipwracked as you likewise must be unless you steer a contrary course Your new Subjects will be still the same and upon second thoughts cannot but repent what inconsideration made them Act hand over head your being a Protestant Will not secure you the odds between a Dutch Presbyterian and an English Papist are in the Church of England Men's Opinion either none at all or so very inconsiderable that they cannot turn the Scales or give you any advantage You are sensible with what difficulty your Party in the two Houses got the better of those who were for calling back K. I. on terms and of those who were for setting up a Common-Wealth These two Parties will always be your Enemies you cannot hope to make them Converts nor that the third will be long either willing or able to support your Cause So that nothing but an Army can do your business an Army to the number of fifty or sixty thousand not of English but Outlandish men who will fight to make you great what a K. ought and what the K. of England needs most to be Master of his Subjects Ireland's standing out which seems a Cross is on the contrary a Blessing an opportunity that well managed and improved will establish your Dominion Till you haue gained this point you must not only keep fair but Court and Flatter the Parliament at least till you have engaged them in a War with France and the reduction of Ireland which you must so contrive that both may be the effect of their own advice Your seeming to share the Soveraignty they have long ambitioned is the most proper bait to catch your Fish it will persuade them to find Money for the expence and hereafter screen you from the Peoples murmurings You have already given orders for modelling the Fleet and Army and wisely resolved to imploy in neither nor in Civil Offices any English but such as are Men of no Fortune or irreconcileable Enemies to your Predecessor Endeavour to keep if possible all the Dutch Troops and to exchange for them as many English the Nimeguen Treaty in which if for no other reason you must pretend the Nation engaged will rid you of 8000 of 'em some you may dispatch towards Chester in order to the Irish Expedition and others you may march towards the borders to be called into Scotland in case Makay should find himself too weak to aw the Convention and reduce Edinburg Castle Scotland is too dangerous a back door to be left open you ought therefore to be well secured of it before you think of carrying your Arms further the Nobility and Presbytery govern there absolutely you have already a list of both with convenient remarks all sorts of Coin will pass among them and 't is very necessary you prevent by good store of Guineas the course of Luid ' or 's in a Kingdom long allied to France and heretosore useful in their Wars with England You cannot better dispose of the Irish in the Isle of Wight than by making them a present to the Emperor for his Wars against the Turk to prevent desertion if imployed neerer home When matters are thus settled you may safely turn your Face towards Ireland where though you could you ought not to make an end of the War in one Summer though of this caution there seems little need considering that the long Parliament was not able with an old Army of 36000. and a treasure of several Millions to Master it in less than four years from Iâ—ne 49 till September 53. when destitute of Forreign Assistance broken into Factions spent and impoverished by a seven years Rebellion and Civil War a condition very different from their present They have enjoyed the fruits of a long Peace are united as one Man thousands of 'em have learn'd the Art of
War abroad and were not reputed to want courage yet allowing them as great Cowards as they are now represented being driven to a Wall by such a concern as they have at stake their All Life Liberty Fortune and Religion they cannot but fight manfully especially when headed by their own Prince and supported by France K. Iames's oversights here will instruct him how to act there the Protestants he will disarm and imprison at least the Chief of them and seize all their Corn and Cattel Londonderry if he do not take he will starve before you can succour it and the Papists being reckoned twenty to one Protestant he cannot want men for several Armies nor Arms Ammunition nor Money while the French K. stands his Friend who thereby eludes the threatned Invasion from England distracts and weakens its Power and imploys the whole of it without the least service or advantage to the Confederates and who perhaps will further enable him to land some thousands in Scotland 't is a short cut to the Highlands where they will be joyned by greater Numbers of those wild People who long for an opportunity to enrich themselves by the spoils of England Whence it is plain that the reduction of Ireland is like to prove a Work of time and of much greater difficulty than the Protestants of that Kingdom would perswade you and you will find that a compleat Conquest of it will require vast numbers of Men divided into several Armies and your being Master not only at Sea but also your imploying constantly a second Fleet to transport hence Provisions for the subsistence of those Armies The fatigues of the first Campaign lying in the Field scarcity of Victuals and the Flux which the English never miss and therefore call it that Country Disease will discourage your new Subjects consume their best Troops and make Men already effeminated by idleness and Luxury the usual Concomitants of Peace and Trade quite weary of the Service However the importance of Ireland to England the Trade Strength and Safety of this depending upon that Kingdom 's being continued a Member of its Dominion will necessitate the Parliament to beg your regaining it on any terms and consent for that purpose to your bringing in Danes Swedes Germans Dutch and Swissers who having done your work in Ireland will afterwards with ease perfect it here make you the most absolute Prince that ever sway'd the Sceptre of England But in the mean time you must not seem to affect any such thing but rather seem content with the Name of King and to leave the Power to the Parliament chiefly to the Commons who holding the Purse-strings of the Nation ought to have most of your compliance and condescentions As for the Lords 't is enough to engage in your Interests by charges of Honour rather than profit as many as you can of the rich and popular their Numbers as well as other accidents have made their House the less considerable of the two and it will be for your service to treat them accordingly After all you must presuppose the English will ere long grow weary of your Government and also that the Confederates may come to be so of the War before you are able to stand upon your own Legs the extraordinary charge must make the First uneasie and the others disappointed of your promised assistance may possibly give credit to what your Enemies will suggest that you have out-witted them and sollicited a League more to gratifie your own Ambition than for the Common Good to humble France The Parliament having once advised you to the War will be too far engaged to draw back or think of a change but to make your self sure on that side you must hasten your Army to hinder it in case they should To prevent the misfortune from abroad you must speedily possess your Allies by Envoys and Ministers that the Crown of England was freely offered and not sought by you that the disposal on 't was the People's Rights and that their assistance to confirm you in the Possession is necessary to hinder the Common Enemies being enabled as otherwise he certainly will by the late King 's united Power to swallow the Spanish Netherlands subdue Holland and give Law to the Empire and the rest of Europe Your Protestant Allies you must perswade by remonstrating the necessity of their firm adhesion on a double account Religion and Temporal Interest The States you must sweeten more particularly by repaying their 600000 l. and farther promising what advantages they please in the Trade of both the Indies Nor must you spare the Wealth of England to draw the Dane and Swede into a stricter Alliance the first may probably be won by the prospect of his Brother's Interest in the Succession and the latter prevailed upon by a considerable yearly Pension unless a foresight of his own future ruine from Denmark when strengthned by Prince George's Possession of the Crown of England should make him deaf to your Proposals It were to be wished the late King were not before-hand with you in sending abroad his Agents and filling all Courts of his own profession with his Manifesto's making a jest of the Parliament and its Pretences his own Abdication and your Election justifying all his Actions even the Dispensing Power as conformable to the Laws and essential to the nature of all Government acquitting himself from all things but his being a Papist representing the League to be all over Protestant and design'd at last for the total overthrow of the Popish Religion You know how much this Prince is the Jesuits Darling and what influence they have in the Emperor's and all other Courts of Europe and how probable it is that upon this Pope's Death which cannot be far off another may be chosen more zealous for the promotion of his Religion than for pulling down France its chief support which considerations cannot but quicken you in this point Now that you may begin your Reign as Princes in your circumstances used to do by some Acts of Popularity recommend to the Parliament the taking off the Chimney-Money which seems a burden on the poorer sort you need not fear but what they thus take away with one hand they must give back with another till they have put you into a condition to carve for your self and also a Bill of Union or Comprehension of all your Protestant Subjects and though it is possible neither may succeed especially the last to which the Church Party are not like to consent the Clergy in Possession having always been averse to any change in their Popish Common Prayer Book and much more to let others share their Titles and Benefices the Propositions nevertheless will be very advantageous to you in the love and esteem of the generality of the People As for Religion the common Cloak for Rebellion but never a security against one you ought to consider it and the several Sects into which it is divided no farther than as