and Quality in October 1690. and which was delivered into many of the Members Hands besides the times and circumstances of Affairs were the most â—â—â—sonable for such an Enquiry It was not to be supposed that the Witnesses could either then be bribed or overawed into a partial Testimony and there was all imaginable incouragement for freedom of Questions for confronting the Deponents and producing Counter Evidences if there were any such so that the whole Matter might have been laid open and cleared to the satisfaction of all Persons concerned The vindicating the Honor and Justice of the Nation the quieting of so many Peoples Consciences who think themselves bound by their Oaths of Allegiance to the King 's next and immediate Heirs the regard due to an innocent Child if the Imposture be not cleared the satisfaction of the Christian World and the securing these Kingdoms from those great Dangers and Confusions which are certain and infallible upon Competitions in point of the Royal Succession were great and unanswerable Motives for an Enquiry nay amounted to the Weight of a Duty due from them to their Constituents themselves and Posterity What can any thinking Man conclude from such a Neglect and Omission but that the Evidence for the reality of the Prince of Wales his Birth was clear and convincing and the Counter Evidence which was pretended against it false and forged that the Prince of Orange in his Declaration had rather Studied to amuse the World with great and specious Pretences than to satisfie them as to the realty and truth of his Grounds and that the Convention and Parliament have followed the Dictates of Passion and Prejudice more than the Rules of Prudence and Justice It cannot be supposed they forbore to trace this Imposture from any tenderness to the King's Reputation which would have been so deeply Wounded by a discovery of the Cheat. So much time and pains spent unsuccessfully in laying open the Earl of Essex's pretended Murther shews evidently how glad they would have been of any occasion or probable pretence whereby to blacken King James So that the Nation must even rest satisfi'd without any further Evidence of this Imposture than some pretended Suspicions which were both groundless and raised industriously by those publick Agitators for this Revolution As for Instance The Princess of Denmark being forced out of the way to the Bath at the time of the Queen's Delivery whereas it is very well known and can be made appear by Persons of undoubted Honor and Integrity that the King was against it that her Physitians in Ordinary were against it and that pains was taken to search about for Physitians who would advise her going as expedient for her Health so early were they contriving Pretences for this Calumny But the Prince and Princess of Orange were all along Suspicious that the Queen was with Child and yet no care was taken to satisfie them about it Did they ever acquaint the King with their Suspicions and desire some Method might be taken to remove them And were they refused it This was the proper and usual way in such Cases And since it was not taken there is no ground for Complaint The King could not dive into Suspicions which in my Conscience I am persuaded they never entertain'd And lastly it is alleged no care was taken to satisfie the Nation who were full of doubts about the reality of his Birth But why did they doubt Were any Methods neglected which used to be observed Or any Persons secluded who ought to have been present Did they give any intimation of their Suspicions by humble Petition or Remonstrance and desire to be satisfied about ' em The Queen had formerly brought forth Children without any pretended Jealousies Who could foresee that such a black and hellish Calumny would be then invented Yet the Wisdom of God Almighty knowing how far the Wickedness of this Age would extend and as an earnest I hope of his good and kind Intentions to this Nation hath Providentially furnished us with a better and more numerous Evidence of the Birth of this Prince than can be brought for the realty of the Birth of any Prince or private Person in Europe and hath yet fortified and confirmed it by another Conception and Pregnancy of the Queens to the Birth of which Child many Persons of all Qualities have been called and invited in an extraordinary manner so willing is the King to satisfie even our malitious groundless Complaints But it seems our Rulers have no doubts upon that Head in which they desire to be satisfied or find it not for their interest to have them cleared From what hath been said it is evident that there is a real Prince of Wales who must be considered as such so long as the pretended Imposture is not cleared to us and who hath Injustice done him by the Convention of Estates for though the Abdicating Vote were well founded against the Father it was only personal to Him and cannot reach the Son In which Case the Princess of Orange's Right being only from the Guift and by the Election of the People is a manifest Breach of the Royal Line and hath quite altered the Nature and Frame of our Hereditary Monarchy As to the Title given to the Prince during Life at her Request the Princess of Denmark by the Rules of Succession in an Hereditary Monarchy is unquestionably â—ex Heir to her Sister the Princess of Orange if she dye without Children By the Survivancy of Royalty lodged in the Prince after the Princess's Death there is another manifest Injury done to the Princess of Denmark and her Children there is another unquestionable Breach made upon the Royal Line and the antient Constitution of our Monarchy and there is a second Election of a Monarch by the Convention to the Prejudice of the next undoubted Heir lest the first Instance had not made a stro g enough President for an Elective Monarchy for the future And whereas it is pretended That the Prince had his Title at the request of the Princess who was the next Heir and willing to give him Place where is this request and Concession of the Princess to be seen When was it presented to the Convention or where is it recorded But thô it were real what is that to the Princess of Denmark and her Heirs Can a Compliment intended by the Princess of Orange from her self to her Husband cut off their Rights Again is it not evident That by such a request it 's confessed the present Settlement of the Crown is by the Election and from the Gift of the People and plainly acknowledged that there is a Right in them to alter the Succession and make a Breach of the Royal Line at their Pleasure But it is alledged We have the practise of our Predecessors to warrant our present Measures who have made much greater Breaches in the Lineal Succession deposed Kings and given the Crown to Persons remoter from the Royal Blood than
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
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
these Errors the Punishments we deserve will certainly overtake us We have turned away our King whose Right and Title was certain and unquestioned nay we have chased him from us with unspeakable Indignities upon the Pretence of Errors in Government which he was put upon by the Artifice of his Enemies and which he was willing to have repair'd at our own Sight He courted us by repeated Applications to carve out our own Securities for our Religion and Civil Rights but we have obstinately refused any Treaty with him We have set our selves up for a Mark of Reproach to future Ages by our foolish and invincible Malice and matchless Impudence in Vacating a Throne by a pretended Abdication which imports a Voluntary Resignation and yet the Abdicated M narch never made any but asserts his â—itle to this day We have ground d this Abdication upon a wilful Desertion in our Prince when we forced him away for the Preservation of his Life and upon Mistakes in Government which he was trapan'd into and which he was willing to have repaired but we would not as if every Error in Government had been a Sin against the Holy Ghost which neither can be attoned for nor forgotten The Injury done to our Sovereign is very visible from what I have written and so Reparation ought to be speedily made notwithstanding all the Reasons given by these two Pamphleteers against it But before I enter upon answering their Objections I shall discourse upon the other three Motives assigned for the King's Restauration and make them equally plain with the first I have already handled which will in a great measure prevent or take off all Objections can be made The second Motive was the Setling the Government upon its old Basis which is visibly interrupted and quite unhinged by this Abdication We have turned our Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective We have cut the Royal Line interrupted the Succession and destroyed the just Rights of innocent Persons upon a pretended Abdication which thô well founded is but personal and cannot be extend d any farther To this it is answered by the Author of The Pretences of the French Invasion examined p 10. l. 1. and downwards That the Breach as to the Person of the Reigning King was made by himself having deserted That the Convention did not make but found the Throne vacant That in Regard there were so many clear Indications of the Imposture of the Prince of Wales the Conventiâ—n applied to the present Queen who was the next and undoubted Heir and at her Request a Title was given to her Husband and that 〈◊〉 for Life though he was much nearer in Blood than Henry IV. and Henry VII successively made Kings of England That much greater Breaches have been made since the Conquest in the Lineal Succession by deposing the Reigning King and setting up his Son or a remoter Person which he acknowlegeth an Injury to the King so deposed and that the saving the Succession to the Princess of Denmark and her Heirs shews how far the Convention was from any such thing as is alledged By such Reasonings the Author of this Pamphlet discovers but small Knowlege in History and the Affairs of his own Country little Judgment and Veracity joyned with a great deal of Disingenuity and Impudence How truly the Breach made in our Monarchy by the Abdicating Vote is to be laid at King James's door upon the Account of his Desertion may appear from what I have already said And though this Author doth very confidently assert That the Throne was void by Desertion it seems the Convention were not of that Opinion but found it necessary to declare it so by a Vote before there was Access to fill it again and the Eâ—rl of Nottingham was then quite another Man and of other Principles than we find him now as an Author or Licenser only A Regency was not in the least akin to a Vacancy But to humour the Author suppose there was a Vacancy either before or after the Vote which he pleaseth a Vacancy in a Monarchy is a certain infallible Mark of its being elective For in a Hereditary Monarchy such as this of England upon the Natural or Civil Death too if the Author pleaseth of the Regnant Monarch the Right of the next Successour doth immediately take place and the People whether by their Representatives in Parliament or otherwise do humbly submit to and acknowledge not declare and authorize his Native Title Our Law-books teach us That the Kings of England can never dye The meaning is That in an Hereditary Monarchy the Throne cannot be without a Possessor were it but for a Moment so that where either there is the least Vacancy or where the next Possessor wants a Sentence of the People to give him a Title that very Sentence however disguised is an Election and together with the preceeding Vacancy doth certainly and indispensably stamp the Monarchy Elective Is it not highly impudent in this Author to tell us that there are many clear Indications of the Prince of Wales being an Imposture and at the same time not to let us know what they are and upon what Grounds they are so clear and evident Can this Author be so vain as to think we must take his Word for a Thing upon which so much depends no less than the justice or injustice of a Sentence which must stand the Nation in so much Blood and Treasure so many Perjuries and repeated Acts of Violence and Oppression to support and maintain Or doth he therein follow the Example of the Prince of Orange in his Declaration Which tells us of many just and visible Grounds of Suspicion that the Prince of Wales was not Born of the Queen and refers the Inquiry of that Truth to a free Parliament King James also hath made the same reference in a Letter from St. Germains nay desired the last Parliament to look narrowly into that Affair and yet the Prince hath never to this day desired the Parliament to fall about this important Search nor acquainted us with any of those just and visible Grounds of Suspicion Is it not very strange That the only plausible Pretence in all the Declaration for his undertaking should be so much over-look'd whâ—n a clear and plain discovery of such an infamous Cheat and Imposture would have fully justified the Proceedings of the Convention of Estates the present Settlement of the Crown given us all peace of Conscience and Satisfaction under it and would really and truly have Abd cated King James for ever in the Hâ—arts and Affections of every honest Englishman The Prince in Honor was concerned to have press'd it and the suprâ—am Senate was oblig'd in 〈◊〉 and Ju tice to have made a fuâ—â— Discovery of the Truth or Fals hood oâ—â—t espâ—cially when they have 〈◊〉 so much press'd and challeng'd 〈◊〉 it were in the face of the World 〈…〉 about it by King James and 〈◊〉 Petitioned so to do by seveâ—â—â— rioâ—s of Honor
the Prince of Orange and that in the Cases of Hen. IV. and Hen. VII In this the Author discovers himself to be ignorant of the History and Affairs of his own Country in mistaking the Case of Hen IV. in giving us an Instance in Hen. VII of a Breach of the Lineal Succession to the Prejudice of the surviving King and next Heir since it is very well known that Richard the Usurper was killed in Battel and lest no Heir behind him and King Henry being undoubt d Heir of the House of Lancaster by his Marriage with the Heiress of the House of York united the two Roses and had an unquestionable Title to the Crown without any Breach in the Lineal Succession And also in omitting to give us the Instance of Edw. III. which are all the Examples our History affordeth and are very far from making a Precedent in our Case Edw. III. was the eldest Son and undoubted and nearest Heir of the Crown and thô he mounted the Throne during his Father's Life yet it was upon his Father's Resignation And though he had all the Heat and Ambition of a young Man and discovered during his Reign a largeness and greatness of Soul more than ordinary yet he constantly refused the Crown until his Father's Resignation was obtained This can be none of those greater Breaches of the Succession hinted at by our Author and doth not at all sute the Case of King William And Hen. IV. makes as bad a Precedent for our Practise King Ri. II. resigned in the favour of Hen. had no Children to be prejudiced by his Resignation King Henry was the next Heir the Pretences of the House of York being not then set on foot but that Family acquiesced in his Right as well as the rest of the Kingdom So that our own Histories can as little furnish us with Examples to justifie our present Practise as those of other Nations If in the Instances assigned the horrid Violences of Richard the Third the Male Administrations of Richard the Second and Edward the Second could not in the Opinion of this Author warrant their Dethronnig from the Character of Injuries done them he must certainly be jesting all along with us in his Pamphlet in justifying an Abdication for less and shorter Errors and the Tory Nottingham is forced at last to peep out from under his Republican Disguise As to the Pretence That by saving the Succession to the Princess of Denmark and her Heirs the Convention hath sufficiently shewn how far they were from designing any Alteration in the Succession or the ancient Constitution of our Monarchy it is equally weak and frivolous with any of the rest and lays a Foundation for another Election as it is expressed in the Vote For the Provision is not to the Princess of Denmark's Heirs simply as the Author falsly and disingenuously represents but runs thus To the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which failing to the Heirs of the Body of the said K. William which excludes all collateral Pretenders of the Orleans and Palatine Families who would have been comprehended under the general Notion of Heirs It was not possible for the Wit of Man to contrive a Vote which in so few Words could more visibly alter the Nature of our Hereditary Monarchy make more and stronger Precedents for an Elective occasion more Interruption in the Succession and lay a better Foundation for the like for the time to come For in this Sentence we have a Breach in the Person of the reigning King by the Abdication we have another Breach in the Person of the Prince of Wales we have the People conferring the Crown by Election upon the Princess of Orange to the Prejudice of that Prince his Title we have a Survivancy of the Government settled in the Prince of Orange by a second Act of this Elective Power of the People to the prejudice of the Princess of Denmark and her Heirs which makes a third Breach in the Succession and lastly we have all the Collateral Heirs of this Crown quitâ— cut off by the Entale by which the Monarchy is to b extingu shed or a Series of Elective Monarchs buckled upon this Nation us â—trongly as those good Patriots could do it by their Sentence Let any wise and thinking Man judge if this be not such a palpable and visible â—â—â—inging of all the antient Frame and Constitution of our glorious Monarchy as deserves the warmest Endeavours and most diligent Application of every honest Man for the settling of this our antient English Government upon its old Basis by the Restauration of K. James The Author of A Letter to a Friend concerning the French Invasion did certainly foresee these Difficulties the former Author had run himself into and being unwilling to shipwrack his Reason upon such gross Absurdities he broadly hints at Conquest And in this he but seconds the Author of the Answer to the Paper delivered by Mr. Ashton at his Execution Licenced by a Secretary of State who boldly and without Disguise pleadeth upon that Title This Plea though it be not liable to the same Absurdities with the other yet labours under greater since by one blow and with one dash of his Pen he levels at the Birth-rights of the Subjects as well as of the Monarch and undeavours to extinguish the Freedoms of Englishmen as well as the antient Government and certainly to entail upon and place us actually under that Slavery the fear of which is the best Reason they assign for restraining us from assisting our King in his Return as if such remote fears of Slavery were more dreadful than present Servitude which is the necessary consequence of Conquest These Champions make very bold with their Prince and wound his Honour and Interest deeper than the keenest Enemies could do Such Blunders must fall in when Men reason rather from Passion than from steady and generally received Maxime and labour to defend a deeply tinctured Republican Revolution by Tantivy Monarchical Principles It is strange to see a Man who is indued with a rational Soul whose greatest Prerogative and Excellency consists in a clear unbyassed and distinct Exercise of Reason so blinded with foolish Prejudice as rather than submit to plain and convincing Truth chuse to betake himself to this unaccountable notion of Conquest which is absolutely inconsistent with the Prince's Declaration destroys the Maxims and Grounds upon which the Convention of Estates from whom the Prince derives his Title did proceed overturns the Subjects Claim to Rights and Privileges the pretended care of which is the best Support of this Government brings home to our Fancies and Imaginations the most frightful Ideas which a free-born People can form to themselves of Tyranny and Slavery with all the terrible and desolating Consequences which attends them and consequently lays us under Obligations from a due regard to our selves and Posterity and Duty to our Country to shake off the Yoak with all Speed though with
and from thence foretels our Success in Flanders they were still but Undisciplined Irish we subdued with difficulty enough in some of those Places and our Victories over the French in Ireland or Flanders have not as yet burdened our Gazettes We have already expended many Millions of Morey and lost many Thousands of Men and have nothing in return for all this Consumption of Blood and Treasure but the Reduction of Ireland which vigorous and early Measures could have secured unto us at the begining and prevented the utter Ruin and Desolation of that Countrey and our late Victory at Sea over the French to comfort us for our two former Disgraces at Bantry and Beachy the shameful loss of many of our Navy Royal to the Enemy the seizure of so many Hundreds of our Merchant Ships and our Misfortunes in Flanders Some of our former Princes with a far less Expence of Men and Money when Affairs were managed with true English Councils and executed by English Men have subdued whole Provinces and given Law to Europe But we go now upon Politicks and are governed by Measures which are Calculated rather for the Interest of Foreign Confederate Princes than adjusted to the Honor Profit and Good of England This Confederacy hath cost us already a great deal of Money and it 's plain that the particular Interests Ambition and Pretences of these Foreign Princes gave Birth to the Prince's Undertaking rather than any kind regard to our Religion Rights and Liberties It is pleasant enough to imagine that the Pope the Fathers of the Spanish Inquisition and the Authors of the Hungarian and Piedmâ—ntish Persecutions against those of our Religion should be so concerned to establish the Protestant Belief amongst us and that those Foreign Princes who have extinguished the least shadow of Liberty and Property in their own Dominions have such pangs of Conscience and tender Regard for our expiring Liberties They wanted our Money and our Troops to carry on their several Pretences and if they could be still sure of Feasting and making War at our Expence the Favour would be as acceptable from the Hands of King James as from the Prince of Orange But the Prince who must stand equally obliged to them for his mounting the Throne and support in it was judged a fitter Instrument more humble obedient and active for emptying the English Treasures iâ— to Dutch Excheqâ—ers than ever they could expect from our Native King whom they were afraid would be found mâ—re steady to a true English Interest than to gratifie their unâ—atiable and boundless Pretences King James was a good Husband of his Treasure and they were afraid would never be induced to part with any of it to them but for equivalent Returns of Glory and Profit to the Nation They knew the Prince had a wâ—â—k side which might be better â—â—ought upon His towring Ambition and vâ—st unlimited Desires after Command and a noisy Fame exposed him continually to the bait they designed him which was to pay him in aâ—y Titles empty Compliments and feigned Pretences of Service and Obsâ—quiousness for our good English Gold and brave English Troops The Plot hath succeeded and we paid them very handsomly for the Trick they put upon us we have made vast Issues of Men and Money we have liberally fed those needy Princes and their Troops it is probable that more Money will be expected and demanded from us what are we to have for all this Expence we have already made and yet can see no end of What Cities what Provinces are we to have Is the French Navy to be burnt or put into our hands Are our old Pretences to the French Crown at least to the Maritime Provinces to be made good unto us Or are we to reap nothing but the vain Honour of having contributed towards the Establishment of our Neighbours by our own Ruine The Duties of Neighbourhood are mutual and suppose them as strong and binding as the Author of A Letter to a Friend concerning the French Invasion would make them they plead as strongly for us as against us There lies as great an Obligation upon the Confederates to assist us in the Recovery of Normandy and Guyen as upon us to recover the lost Provinces in Flanders and upon the Rhine for them No doubt our present King hath taken Care for it in his Treaties with the Confederates if he have not it is a plain Discovery that the Interest of Foreigners is dearer to him than that of England How unjust is it to â—ob us of the fruits of so many Millions spent and of so many which are in hazard with our Religion Liberties and our All to boot If there be any effectual care taken for this by his Treaties it were very fit the Nation were made acquainted with it and that we certainly knew what we were to have and what Security the Confederate Princes have given for making good such Treaties it must be more than Words and common Security that can ballance the real Deeds and Kindnesses which we are daily conferring upon them But I am afraid we have not so much as a bare Promise of any thing The encrease and growing Strength of our Monarchy lies so visibly cross to the several Pretences and Interests of the Confederates that they would be deaf to any such Proposal and the Prince depends too much upon them for the support of his present Title to press such ungrateful things Can any Man of Reason believe that the Dutch and the House of Austria will agree to have the French Fleet put into our hands which would render us Sovereigns of the Ocean as well as of the Narrow Seas Or is it not next to Frenzie to imagine that the House of Austria will ever give way that we should recover our antient Footing in France either in whole or in part by which so many Catholick Cities and Provinces would be subjected to Hereticks the Communication betwixt Spain and Flanders cut off by shutting up the Channel on both sides and our Monarchy put into such a condition as would visibly shock the ambitious designs of that House which they would again resume upon recovery of their lost Provinces So that we are not to expect any new Acquisitions with all this vast Expence but are to rest satisfied with the Honour or Folly rather of raising the House of Austria to its antient Greatness and building up a Power which would more fatally threaten us and the rest of Europe than that which we must be at such Pains and Expence to pull down If the Prospect of a successful War be so little encouraging what have we to fear and feel from an unfortunate Issue How sadly may we come to be whipt when we shall be obliged to take back our Abdicated Monarch whether we will or no There will be nothing then to trust to for the Safety of our Religion and Liberties but the good Nature and true English Temper of a Prince whom in
that Case we have injured slighted and despised to the last degree Nay upon the Issue of a successful War against France we may be obliged to undergo the same Fate So far will this War in any Event be from terminating in an Establishment of our present Settlement that it doth visibly tend to the contrary This will appear no Paradox to any Man who doth exactly weigh the different Interests and Politicks of the several States of Europe with Relation to us and amongst themselves Such a curious and diligent Observer will quickly discover how much more agreeable King James's Restauration would be to the secret concealed Interest of all our Neighbouring States than the Prince of Orange's present Royalty The good Intentions of France towards it is not to be doubted The House of Austria after their Pretences upon France are satisfied do certainly become Favourers of King James's Restauration both upon the account of Religion and to remove a Dutch Stadtholder from being King of Britain thereby to facilitate their antient Pretences upon those revolted Provinces The Dutch will heartily agree to his Restauration to get rid of their Stadtholder who presseth so hard upon their Liberties they will be in no more Fears from France from this supposed Issue of the War and the Interest of England would always oblige its Monarch to cover and protect them from the Ambition of the House of Austria The best Wishes of Sweden cannot be wanting were it only by the Admission of the Prince of Wales's Right to place the Prince of Denmark a Remove farther from the Crown since his Accession to the Royalty amongst us by Vertue of his Princess's Title might endanger the Conquests which that Crown hath made upon Denmark And since the Politicks of Denmark with relation to us are solely levell'd at his Brother's Interest whenever the Indignities done to the Prince and Princess of Denmark shall oblige them to resume that Duty and Loyalty which is due from them to their kind old Father who is still ready to receive them and to secure unto them those Advantages which they can never expect from the Pr. of Orange the Concurrence of that Crown towards King James's Restauration can be no longer wanting I do but hint at things which are of sufficient Importance to make all true Englishmen who love their Country and their Liberties to bethink themselves seriously how to cover and secure all those great and valuable Rights from the Oppression of the P. of Orange the Miseries Poverties and Dangers which will inevitably attend either a successful or unsuccessful War We have thrown our selves into a State-Hurricane from which there is no way of escaping but by restoring the just and legal Government of this Nation into its antient and unquestioned Channel Having fully established and made out the first three Motives assigned for K. James's Restauration I shall enquire a little into the fourth and last viz. the Securing of the Protestant Religion for all future Ages This appears a great Paradox to the Author of The Pretences to the French Invasion examined at which he falls into Exclamations against Mankind as the oddest Piece of the Creation for believing such incredible things But it is not his bold impudent and false Assertions supported only by empty and noisy Eloquence which can hide the Danger from us that our Religion as well as our Liberties and Properties lies under from this Revolution For clearing the Truth and Weight of this Motive I shall make it evident That our Religion was in no probability of being overturned by K. James's Practices before this Revolution That it was in our power to have secured it even against our Fears and Jealousies without any Breach upon the antient Government That the Dethroning of Monarchs upon the Pretence of Religion hath been fatal and destructive to all the several Protestant States who attempted it That according to all appearance it will be equally fatal in our Case and Circumstances And lastly I shall make it evident from a full and distinct Answer to all the Arguments adduced by the Authors against King James's Restauration that the best surest and most infallible way whereby to secure the Protestant Religion our Liberties and Properties upon lasting and durable Foundations is by returning to our Duty and restoring our Abdicated Monarch by as general a Consent as he was chased away by us It is very natural and common with Mankind and with Princes as well as others to have some more particular regard towards those of their own Religion to wish them well and to endeavour their ease when it lies in their Power so that it was nothing extraordinary to find King James labouring to give his Catholick Subjects a Right and Title to that ease and security which the Laws of the Land had deprived 'em of I do not believe that Liberty of Conscience in general and the covering of People from Persecution on that score can be rationally condemned as destructive and ruinous to the Protestant Religion we ought to have a better Opinion of the Principles of our Faith and be better convinced of their Truth and Excellency than to be afraid to have 'em bassled or shaken much less ruined by the Reasons of any other Persuasion That Religion which dares not shew its Face publickly and stand the shock of all its Adversaries without skeening it self under the Severity of Penal Laws furnisheth great Suspicion to curious and prying Men of its weakness and insufficiency But this I hope is not our Case our most holy Religion is built upon that Rock of Ages which can never be shaken is fortified by the Testimonies of the Law and the Prophets and expressly contained in the Word of God or derived from thence by clear and necessary Consequences and can subsist by its own worth and excellency without robbing the rest of Mankind of that Liberty their Birth-right Intitles them to and enslaving Consciences So that King James his Principle about Liberty of Conscience if duly and legally Established will be allowed But it is the Method we complained of which discovered some farther Design than bare Liberty of Conscience and thereby did visibly threaten our Civil Rights and Liberties and endanger our Religion Why truly the Measures taken were unjustifiable but we know to whose Council and Advice they were owing The whole was a Plot upon that Prince to spoil the Project of Liberty of Conscience which would have rivitted him in his Throne and to improve his Inclinations for the Roman Religion to his own ruin and destruction But suppose something more was intended by some than a bare Liberty perhaps the opening a Door of Preferment to Catholicks or the propagating that Religion over this Island Such an undertaing is irrational foolish and desperate can never be accomplished and the impossibility of it is so plain and obvious that no Man who understands the World and knew England and English Men so well as King James did could believe