THE PRIVATE LEAGUE Betwixt the LATE KING JAMES II. And The FRENCH KING LICENS'D May 2. 1689. J. Fraser AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRIVATE LEAGUE BETWIXT The Late King JAMES the Second AND THE FRENCH KING In a LETTER from a Gentleman in London To a Gentleman in the Countrey LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX AN ACCOUNT OF THE Private League BETWIXT THE Late King JAMES the Second and the French King. In a Letter from a Gentleman in London to a Gentleman in the Country SIR I Am surpriz'd at the unbelief which your Letter informs me has seiz'd some of your Neighbours who after a publication in Print that in the Year 1670 there was a League concluded between Lewis the Fourteenth and Charles the Second for the Introducing of Popery into England Scotland and Ireland by overturning the Fundamental Laws of the Land have the face still to demand where the so much talk'd of League is between Lewis the Fourteenth and James the Second They complain say you that those who had given them hopes of seeing the Original Treaty have not been as good as their words To speak the truth Sir I find something in this their unreasonable proceeding that at once surprizes and confounds me I never knew that our Nation had the ill repute in the world of being senseless and stupid Our behaviour in a case that concern'd our Religion and Liberty has made it conspicuous to all Europe that we know the importance of the one and the other and that we are not insensible when such dear Interests lye at stake But in the mean time what will all Europe think when they hear that some English men do still doubt of a matter so evident and are resolved to continue so till they see the Original of that League produc'd and have liberty to peruse it King James say they has flatly denied that he had made any such League with France First By the Marquis d' Albyville at the Hague 5. Octob. 1688. in the Memorial he presented to the Deputies of the States General Secondly since the Prince of Orange's Declaration had renewed this Suspicion against him the Earl of Sunderland hath lately writ from Holland that he knew nothing of any such League These forsooth are the two convincing proofs they relye upon who will needs doubt of this matter of fact and who by these doubts against all sense and reason endeavour to make this truth pass for suspected Well suppose for once that my Lord of Sunderland knew nothing of it and if that which he pretends of his continual opposing himself against the Popish party be true 't is no strange thing if they were loath to commit their Secrets to him But can his ignorance in a case which without imprudence was not to be communicated to him because of his great zeal for the Protestant Religion and the interest of the State be a sufficient ground for us to call the matter in question King James the II. positively denies it in the Memorial presented to the States by the Marquis d' Albyville and after that in the Answer which a Popish Lord has writ in his name to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And one would think all this might pass for a palpable proof and incontestable conviction of the falseness of this pretended League Will you give me leave Sir plainly to tell you what my thoughts are of those upon whom this Declaration of King James makes such an Impression in spite of the Evidence they may have to the contrary They seem plainly to me to renounce the use of their Reason and to be willing that the rest of Mankind should in complaisance to them do so likewise They cannot be ignorant that King James II. has for many years been of the Jesuits Fraternity or at least that he has been continually under the conduct of their Councils I can't believe their Memory is so short to forget how at the time of his Shipwrack in going for Scotland he suffered many Persons of great Quality to perish that he might save some of his Fraternity of the Jesuits Order disguis'd one of them in the Habit of a Valet de chambre and the other in that of a Cook. They know that after he had made himself the Head of their Conspiracy against this Kingdom whilst he was yet only Duke of York the effect of this his being guided by the Jesuits proved no less than the total overthrow of all the Laws which he had Sworn to maintain at his coming to the Crown as soon as he had got an opportunity to Execute those Projects with Authority which the Love of his own Quiet and fear of hazarding all had made King Charles his Brother to Suspend And yet after all this they can by no means induce themselves to believe that James II should dare to deny by his Minister that he was engaged in any League with France Pray let us take a view of what he did and therefore durst do in contempt of the Laws of the Land which he had Sworn to observe he sends his Ambassador to Rome to testifie his Obedience to the Pope He gives way to a Nuncio from thence to reside at his Court in order to advance the Interest of the Church of Rome which he could not do without being Perjur'd and Cruel he makes a Jesuit one of his Privy Council in the Face of all England yea of all the World that is a Person guilty of High Treason for having set his foot on English ground and a Member of that Bloody Society who became liable to the Punishment inflicted on Traitors because of their Equivocations Perjuries and Conspiracies which are the distinguishing Character of that Fraternity And yet in spite of all this we will believe James II. so scrupulous as not daring to hide or disguise a Truth in a case which the Interest of the Roman Church and the designs he had Formed for that End with his Jesuits did oblige him to keep most secret Well if it were so indeed we must suppose it was a very difficult thing for that Prince to obtain a particular dispensation of the Pope for this concealing of the Truth if the general one he had already obtain'd of him for breaking his Coronation Oath as made to Hereticks would not serve the turn But pray Sir is not this a willful hoodwinking of our selves to lay any stress upon this Negation of James II. whilest we have a certain knowledg that there always was a strict League between the Duke of York and the French King and to assure us that this League has continued since the Duke of York has been advanced to the Crown of England We have an Authentick Declaration of the French Ambassadour at the Hague very express to that purpose I say we cannot in the least doubt but that there always was a strict League between the Duke of York and the French
the Treaty of Nimeguen of which the King of England was declared Guarantee was it not of absolute necessity for K. James to disavow that Untruth as soon as he was inform'd what had past at the Hague Ought he not to have made Reparation of the Fault the Marquess d' Albyville had committed by ordering him to explain himself fully about the false Supposal of the French Ambassador Was it not visible that his Honour was extreamly concern'd in the Declaration of France and that it was contrary to his Word given to the States General after his arrival to the Crown and which he had so often since renewed to their Ambassador in Ordinary Was it not natural for him to express himself plainly instead of suppressing the Fact as it was done in the English Gazette published by the Authority of the Court and reviewed by his Ministers where we find indeed the Memorial of the Marquess d' Albyville given into the States the 5th of October but not a word of the Memorial of the Count d' Avaux presented before Who sees not that this his Silence after the Declaration of the French Ambassador is an evident and solid Conviction of the Truth of the League between him and France For any one to answer the Objection by saying that K. James II. did disavow the thing openly in his Answer to the Prince of Orange's Declaration is to say nothing that may satisfy a Man of Reason Every Thing hath its Time a Man that holds his peace when he ought to speak in his own Justification is presum'd to be convict of the Thing laid to his Charge 'T is a Maxim of the Civil Law that to evident Presumption Proofs must be oppos'd Wherefore in the Case he was indispensibly obliged to deny the Fact whereof he was accused and to refute it at that Time and in those Circumstances for that Opportunity being once let slip his denying cannot be look'd upon otherwise than as the Effect of Fears and extream Necessity which often obliges Men to disguise and deny the Truth And surely if we only please to cast an Eye upon the Design he had of delivering Portsmouth to the French and suffering several of their Regiments to take possession of it which Affair took up much of the Time of the Secret Council in October and November 1687. we cannot with any Reason doubt of the Truth of this Secret League between Lewis XIV and James II. The Thing was not so secretly carried but that the different Advices given thereupon came to the knowledg of some as well as the Names of the Authors of them and the Reason which hindred the King from following them in that Circumstance The Hopes which he had of getting a Parliament to his mind that is such an one as might overthrow the Laws of the Government that was opposite to Popery and Tyranny was the chief Reason as is well known to many Persons of Quality that hindred him from taking a Resolution to make us feel the Effects of that League before it was declared in Publick Let us also cast an Eye upon all the Proceedings of James II. till his retiring to France as well as upon those of Lewis XIV in favour of him and we shall find them all but so many Effects and Consequences of the Secret League Lewis XIV always influenc'd the Court of England in the Time of Charles II during whose Reign England could not but be sensible of the Effects of the Secret Treaty of 1670 by the War against the Hollander by the frequent Dissolutions of her Parliaments and at length saw the whole Mystery laid open in the Conspiracy of Coleman Secretary to the Duke of York who acted nothing without express Order of his Master Since this it is become notorious to all that Charles II. who went under the Name of a Protestant and who notwithstanding his outward Profession did by Secret Treaties design the overthrow of the Protestant Religion within his three Kingdoms died a profest Papist And after all this cannot we perswade our selves to believe that James II. a declared Papist who had a Nuncio to prompt him and a Jesuit to counsel him did confirm or renew a Treaty with Lewis XIV for the Destruction of the Protestant Religion in the Kingdom especially when all his three Kindoms are Witness that for the advancing of Popery he has neither had any regard to the Laws of the Land nor to the Oaths he had taken to preserve them Thus much I assert boldly that since it cannot be deny'd but that there was a Secret Treaty betwixt Lewis XIV and James II we can less doubt but that the End and Aim of the Treaty was the Ruin of the Protestant Religion 1. We must needs conclude so from the Secret Treaty manag'd by the Dutchess of Orleans between Charles II. and Lewis XIV published by Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland with priviledg of the French King. This Treaty expresly tells us that the French King did promise Charles II. to subject his Parliament to him and to re-establish the Romish Religion in his Kingdoms We may easily guess whether these Things could be accomplish'd any other way than by Force of Arms that is by the Violence and Cruelty of his Dragoons 2. Who is so blind as not to see that K. Charles II. had ever since that Treaty cast about to furnish himself with Foreign Force to enslave his Subjects to his Arbitrary Power Those who find difficulty to believe this need only to consider the Secret Treaty he had made with Spain who was to furnish him with 8000 Men upon occasion and it was to assure himself of their good Service that Charles II. demanded Mony of his Parliament in 1680. 3. Can we be so wilful as not to trace the Current of the Design throughout all Coleman's Letters which contain nothing else but the Conspiracy of the Jesuits and Duke of York against the Government and the Protestant Religion 4. After that James II. came to the Crown notwithstanding the Just Oppositions of the Commons in the Westminster and Oxford Parliaments who easily foresaw all that is since come to pass did not he give undoubted Evidence that he still followed the same Measures when after the Defeat of Monmouth he declared to the Parliament that for Time to come he would make use of Popish Officers as well as keep an Army on foot contrary to the Laws 5. Have we not seen the whole bottom of his Designs unravell'd by the Care he took to fill that Army with Irish Papists at the same time that he disbanded all that Protestant Army and Souldiers that served him in Ireland that he might always have an Army at hand in that Kingdom for to invade England It appears beyond a possibility of doubting that all these Proceedings were only founded on the Continuation of a Design which could never be executed without a secret League with France and without a very express Assurance of being vigorously supported from thence when the nick of time should come I do not here set down only Supposals and Guesses in the Air when I assert that this League was to prove of most fatal Consequence to the Government and Protestant Religion For pray tell me what else can be supposed from a Union with Lewis XIV when we have seen him after having violated the Laws of his Kingdom and the Oaths he had taken exercising so outragious and barbarous a Cruelty against his own Protestant Subjects as well as against those of his Neighbours in Piedmont and the Principality of Orange Give me leave to make one other Reflection more viz. That it is altogether incredible if James II had not been strictly leagued with France by such a League as they were pleased to term Sacred but that he must have acted after another manner in favour of the Prince of Orange whose Subjects were opprest by the French King and his Principality ravaged in order to the rooting out of the Protestant Religion there His soft way of treating this matter with the Court of France was so publick a Testimony of the Intelligence he held with Lewis about destroying the Protestant Religion that we must of force conclude that James II. was conscious to a Treaty which was of greater Concern to him than all the Obligations of Blood or Alliance which ought otherwise to have made him the Protector of the Prince of Orange his Nephew and Son-in-Law and consequently the Husband of the Presumptive Heiress of the Kingdom I only touch at these Points and I pass over many others that evince the same Truth As for those affected doubts which you tell me do remain still in the Minds of some of your Friends they seem to me to be of the nature of those that troubled the Pharisees and of whom we say that seeing they see and do not perceive because they are resolved not to yield to the most clear and incontestable Truths I bewail their Condition who so wilfully blind and hoodwink themselves and I wish they may never be undeceived if nothing less will do it than by the French King 's sending over his booted Apostles with the Original of the League he has with James II into England as he has already done into Ireland of which I presume by this time neither Papist nor Protestant has the least doubt Sir I am Yours Memorandum about the Proposition made to the States by the English Ambassador 1672.
same Subject sent in 1680. by the Duke of Ormond to the Court. All these particulars appeared so evident to the Parliaments of Westminster and Oxford that they judged it impossible to reserve for the Duke of York any hopes of his Succession to the Crown and that the Court Party and Favourers of the Duke would have thought themselves to have gain'd much if the Duke who was lookt upon as the Author of all these Intriegues might only have retain'd the Title of King with leaving the whole Administration of the Government to the Prince of Orange We Englishmen having since that been so good natur'd as to admit the Duke to the Crown after the Death of King Charles II. whom the Papists had conspir'd to Murther on purpose to make place for the Duke Let any one judge whether there be any likelihood he should have renounced his League with France which he had always lookt upon as absolutely necessary for the making his designs to bear notwitstanding a publick Neutrality that was to be heldwith France as he was Guarantee of the Treaty of Nimeguen After all this a Man must have lost both Sense and Memory to suppose that he broke this Treaty since his coming to the Crown Moreover we have seen James II. an unconcern'd spectator of Lewis XIV seizing of Orange and of the Desolation of his Son-in-Law's Subjects who were forced to embrace the Romish Religion by the Violence of Dragoons All Europe have seen the accomodation of the Business of Bantam suspended without any other Reason but the design of having a Pretence in reserve to break with the Hollanders as also there were equal pains taken in 1670 to find out a plausible one to unite with France and to ruine a State which endeavour'd to preserve the Liberty of Europe and the Protestant Religion We have seen JAMES II. affording the Algerines a free retreat into his Havens and the Convoy of his Frigats that they might safely carry away with them the Dutch and French Protestants they had taken between England and Holland We have seen JAMES II. take the Government of Ireland from the Earl of Clarendon to put it into the hands of the Earl of Tyrconnel to the end he might new model the Army by putting out Protestants and supplying their Places with Papists as being more suited to carry on his Designs against England and Ireland We have seen him send Prince George into Denmark to hinder that Crown from joining with the Protestant Princes and from quitting his Engagements with France whose Assistance and Power were of absolute necessity to him And within his own Kingdom what is it he hath not attempted to advance his Designs and overthrow the Government in conformity to his Treaty with France and the Directions of Barillon his Ambassador He has put all places of Strength into the Hands of Papists he has kept on foot a numerous Army to suppress all those who might oppose his Designs he has against Law established an High Commission-Court for Ecclesiastical Affairs to violate the Rights of the Clergy and the Universities He has introduced Popish Bishops into England He has allowed a free exercise of that Religion in all Places All which things he durst never have undertaken so openly and with so high a Hand had he not been supported with Hopes derived from the Treaty he had with Lewis XIV whose Arms he lookt upon as able to bring about the Designs he had projected so long since It seems to me that these Proceedings are an abundant proof that he was engaged in a League with France But beyond all this behold here another Argument which cannot be gain-said The French Ambassadour the Count d' Avaux was a publick Person at the Hague he spoke with order from the King his Master and that in the Assembly of the States General he there peremptorily declares the Ninth of September last That there was an Alliance between the King his Master and James the Second he makes use of this League to interpose himself by his Master's Command upon an occasion when Lewis XIV believ'd that the States were forming some Enterprise against James the Second He delivers his Memorial to the States and communicates it to the rest of the Ambassadors at the Hague Sept. the 9th The Memorial was conceiv'd in these Terms THe sincere Desire the King my Master hath to maintain the Peace of Europe will not permit his Majesty to be a Spectator of the Great Preparations your H. M. Lordships are making by Land and by Sea without taking those Measures wherewith his Prudence the inseparable Companion of all his Actions doth inspire him to prevent the Mischiefs which without doubt will be the Consequence of them And tho' the King be well assured of the Wisdom of your Counsels and that it is not to be imagined that a Commonwealth should lightly betake themselves to Arms and kindle a War which at this Juncture cannot but prove fatal to all Christendom yet his Majesty cannot believe that your H. and M. Lordships would ever engage your selves in so great Expences as well within as without your State or suffer so many Foreign Troops to enter your Country and in a Season so far spent put so numerous a Fleet to Sea or prepare so vast a Warlike Train in case they had not formed a Design corresponding to the Greatness of those Preparations All these Circumstances My Lords and so many more which I must not here relate persuade the King my Master that these Preparations have an eye to England And therefore the King my Master has charged me in his Name to declare That the Engagements of Friendship and Alliance which he has with the King of Great Britain will not only oblige him to succour him but also to consider the first Act of Hostility your Ships or Land-Forces shall exert against his Britannick Majesty as a manifest Breach of Peace and open Rupture with his Crown I leave it My Lords to the Prudence of Your H. and M. Lordships to consider the Consequences of such like Vndertakings And his Majesty has ordered me to make this Declaration to you in his Name no otherwise than in the sincere Intention he has as I have often had the Honour to declare to you to prevent whatsoever might trouble the Peace of Europe Subscribed Done at the Hague the 9th Septemb. 1688. The Coun d' Avaux Than which as it seems to me nothing can be said more plain and express What does the English Embassador hereupon Some days after he presents a Memorial to the Estates and this plainly of concert with the French Embassador because this his second Memorial did refer to that which the French Embassador Presented and contents himself to assure them that James the Second had no Treaty with France but what was made Publick See here the Memorial of the Marquiss de Albyville THe underwritten Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Great Britain has received Order to