The State-Prodigal his Return Containing a true State of the Nation In a Letter to a Friend SIR I Am not asham'd to own I am a Convert when the Arguments are so plain and convincing to which I have submitted my Judgement For I must tell you freely I see little or nothing performed of what was promis'd us but worse things done than those that offended us and I know not how to perswade my self that a Gentleman of your Sincerity and good Sense can resist the Authorities I shall bring for my Conversion I need not tell you what my hopes were of the good Effects of the coming of the Prince of Orange what an Idea I had fram'd to my self of England's happiness upon it and what pains I took to quiet some and engage others into the same Sentiments and Expectation with my self I say I need not tell you this since it is what you every Day reproach me with when you seem to wonder I am now of another Opinion That which is the business of this Letter is to satisfie you in the reason of my Change and that I am in the Right as they must always be whose Judgments are governed more by Things than Men. First Sir It is plain the Prince of Orange has now made himself King and it is as plain he never pretended to the Crown Under this the Nation has laboured still does and is like to do you see for it brings heavy burthens upon our Backs besides the stroakes of our own Consciences It is a pernitious and fatal hardship he puts upon us and which had no necessary relation to the Security of the Protestant Religion on the contrary it has raised Objections upon us that we are not able to Answer You know how sullenly he refused to be Regent or that his Wife should have Succeeded to the Crown which was yet farther than any True Son of our Church ever intended by his coming hither or he was promised or had the Confidence to propose For all we aimed at Was to secure our Religion settle good Alliances and follow him to France that we might be safe from Popery and Europe from War Not to thrust out our King set by his Children and be King in his room So that to be free with you Sir I take the very Foundation of this New Fabric to be Rotten therefore look you well to your hits for such a Building cannot stand long 2. But Sir. As Monstrous and Unnatural as the thing it self looks to a just Eye the Methods taken to accomplish it have something Blacker in them I will begin if you please with that which was the Beginning of the Business that is the Corrupting the King's Servants and Officers from their Truth and Duty to him as their Master and King. I need not prove to you that Treachery has in all Times and Places been reputed the most infamous of Crimes but of that also there is degrees and this if I fail not is of the foulest sort whether we consider the Instruments or those that set them to work The first were such as he had created for so Divines speak When a thing is made out of nothing They owed the very Being of their Fortune to King Jamâ—s yet carried away their Homage to a Stranger They Revealed his Secrets advised his Errors and betrayed his Arms. Thus much and much too little too for those Instruments of this happy Change. Now Sir for the Employers I could wish they came from a far Country and a Barbarous People such as have never read the Ten Commandment nor been taught the Gospel or at least that they had been some injured Strangers who had owed no Duty to our Blood But alas Sir It was a Nephew against his Vncle Daughters against their Father Sisters against their Brother and at last a Husband against his Wife Are there nearer Relations Are there stronger Ties And have not these been publickly violated and that with Solemnity what trust Sir can there be in those to whom such Obligations are no longer Sacred It lessens though it can never excuse the Guilt of the Accessaries that they had such Principals according to the Poet travest'd If Tom such Curses have What shall they that make the Knave In the mean time the pretended Preservation of the Protestant Religion has already lost us Two of the Commandments whilst we have not only Coveted what was our Neighbours But what was our Fathers too and that in a manner the most Dishonourable Surely this cannot be the way to live long in the Land that they have taken away from him unless it be because It is not the Land the Lord their God has given them So far for Corruption and Treachery 3. The next Artifice which was made use of to bring this Business about was you may remember several vile Things charged upon the King such as the Murther of his Brother and my Lord of Essex A League with France and a false Child these were industriously spread to dissolve the Affections and Duty of the People and prepare them for a New Master But the Accusers have not only waved the Proof but think it unreasonable in us to expect it at their hands when themselves never believed it and laugh at us that we did not understand them soever As for the Murthers they are neglected by the worst of his Enemies not to say opposed They think the pretended Evidence too gross for them to hope they can ever dress it into any sort of probability The League so much hated and spoken of and which we were told the Prince of Orange had in his keeping and had shown to Colonel Strangewayes of Dorsetshire at Sherbourn-Castle was doubtless left by the way for we have heard nothing of it since But this puts me in mind of what a Gentleman told us since this Revolution upon this Subject viz. That the King was not only not in a League with France but refused to be so when invited by that King and rejected the Aids he offered him by Sea and Land in August last was a Year against this very Design not giving Credit to C. d' Avaux's advises to Mr. Barillon about the Preparations of the Prince of Orange as thinking it too Barbarous a Thing for the Prince to be guilty of and but a Trick of d' Avaux to draw him into his Masters Interest and Quarrel against the Empire And this some challenge the present Objectors upon and will prove it unto the Woâ—â—â—â— if they may be allowed to do it without injury to themselves Which shews us he had a little more Charity for his Son-in-Law than he has found from him for it 's evident he lost his Crown for want of that very League which some Men pretend 〈◊〉 for a Reason to deprive him Nor can he evâ—â—â— now be said to be in the Interest of France but France generously in his and what understanding there is between them we are to thank our selves for
〈…〉 drove hâ—m to it and he could do no lessed But 〈…〉 have owed his return wholly to the Arms of France it is not improbable but he might have been here long since but that seems an Honour chiefly reserved by him to the Valour and Justice of his own Subjects And as for the false Child you know as well as I it was the Town talk that the Prince had brought over the True Mother but for what we yet see she is run away with the League the one being as invisible as the other However Sir let me say that to pretend to come hither to Preserve the Succession of his Wife against a false Prince of Wales and neither shew us he is so nor suffer his Princess to come in his Place but thrust himself in the room of that very Prince of Wales and take the Crown and so break that Succession he pretended he came to Preserve inviolable has something in it that raises Horror in the Minds of Men of Honour and Principles having thereby done what he pretended to come on purpose to hinder This Story were hardly credible of a Reformer but by a just reflection upon former Actions and Morals especially the Battle of St. Dennis fought with the Articles of Peace signed in his Pocket the Murther of the de Wits with the Pardon and Rewards of those that Assassinated them and the present State of the Liberties of Poor Holland This Sir whatever you think is said to be the true Character of your renowned Reformer They that can bring themselves to swallow this to palliate this and set up with this have passed the Rubicon to whom there is nothing more to be said Then God have Mercy upon their Souls 4. But as these Slanders were used to Blacken the King and Dissolve our Affections first and then our Allegiance to him the same Gentlemen out of their plentiful Mint have sent forth many other Stories with as little Truth and not much less Calumny to render the Change Welcome and the Authors of it as so many Saviours to the Nation Such was the Ship-load of New-fashioned Knives opportunely taken by the Prince of Orange when he landed in the West and brought out of the French Forge to cut our Throats but by some accident or other were never seen since Next The Protestant Bridles for such to wear as would not turn Papist Then the Clerkenrvel Gridivons to carbanado or broyl Protestants discovered by an especial providence though at last they proved to be nothing but Casements for Windows The Irish Burning the Towns and Mâ—sstering the People was a Profitable Invention for it work'd Wonders How industriously this Story was spread all over the Nation and with what contrivance every one remembers since there was not a Town of any Note in the Kingdom that was not Alarm'd by Sham Letters with the same News at almost one and the same time The same Report was in Ireland and put the Foolish English there upon Practises that brought them under the stroke'of the Government and consequently into all the Inconveniences that have attended them ever since One would have thought that these Impostures had been a sufficient caution for the future but Experience tells us that Lyes are Bails we never reâ—use Therefore to keep us from looking back and prevent our returning to our King he must be Dead ay that he was and a certain Captain was to say He saw him laid in his Coffin too After that he was Mad and another gave a Guinâ—â— to see him Rave through a key-hole at St. Germains all which it is plain was to bâ—ssl the World about the belief of his being Landed in Ireland lest his Peoples Hearts should melt and they come back to their Duty and run to him Shall I add Mackay's great Victory the London derry Divers the invincible Boom and then no Boom the Seventy odd thousand Irish men killed before London-derry which were Three times more than ever were there the Irish Protestants surprising Dublin the Duels between the French and Irish their killing the French Officers at the head of the Camp by Dublin and Fourteen Thousand of them deserting the King thereupon That Admiral Herbert had taken King-sale and the King was gone for Limrick in order to abdicate and run away for France And last of all the repeated Wonders of the Inniskilling-men beyond Bevis of Northampton or the Stories of the Giants or any thing else but Honest Doctor Walker's Legend of London-derry It will not be very improper to mention here the Disingenious Practises of the State News Writers and that in diverse respects First In diminishing of Things against them as in the Case of the Viscount of Dundee that he had but Twenty Men when he had Five hundred that he had but a few Hundreds and in vain endeavoured to raise the Highlanders when the next day he was allowed to have Six thousand because he had beaten Mackay when in Truth he had not Two thousand Men and Mackay had above Four thousand And then that Mackay came to Sterling with Fifteen hundred Men in very good Order who did not bring Six with him nor himself in any good Order a more compleat Victory having never been obtained the odds and number considered You are as happy in concealing We are to know nothing of the baffle we received from the French at Bantry-bay where your great Herbert run away from the French Admiral just as your great Mackay did from my Lord Dundee You will not let us know of one Ship that is taken by the French though the most pitiful Vessel we take from them is to have a place in the Gazene Yet it is certain we have lost Four hundred Sail of Ships which are worth a Million and Four thousand Sea-men which cannot be valued and that in spite of your Admiral Herbert with his Fleet that has cost you a Million and a half to guard the Channel and and preserve the Trade of the Kingdom Nor are we to have one Word of the Sickness of our Fleet by which we have lost about Six thousand more which is more then Two Dutch Wars used to cost us Neither are we to have On pain of Death one tittle of Truth from Ireland for upon no less terms are any of Schomberg's Camp to write News But since the Birds of the Air have told us the illand perishing Condition of that Camp and that the Town began to believe it more Inniskilling Victories were contrived as was after the Scotch Battle to drown Truth and divert the People from reflecting on the miserable Condition they are brought into But after all those Heroes are in good English but a pack of Cow-stealers whose Valour consisted in killing the Vnarmed Owners the Poor Country People An Action that would have been called a Mâ—ssacre in the Irish to Steal first and then Murther to keep the Prize To speak freely Sir inventing of Stories together with disguising and concealing Truth
for want of Money they say â—enting has sent his Masters 400000 l. with a Lump of his own for Holland for fear of the worst However it be let us never after this ridicule the Irish Genius or the French Liberty but confess our selves the most Foolish Base and Inconstant of all People And yet believe me Sir we see but much the better side of our Misery neither for before the next Summer is over though King James and the French King should not visit us in England which is more then I dare ensure at any rate the Cryes and Rage of the numerous Poor of almost all Trades will be too many for our New Polititians and the Rabble will every where Reign over others when they have nothing of their own to quiet them Work or Plunder is the best of their Case No Work where there is no vent for it and Starve they will not whilst others have it The Consequence is obvious and needs no comment This is a way of Beating us without Fighting for this beats our Pockets which should support our Arms to beat our Enemies And this Year has given us such melancholy Proofs of their Skill and Power this way that the encrease of their Strength by the Conjuction of the Algireens which they will bring into our Channel very speedily together with the vast Naval Preparations now in France the Bountiful Gift of both Seculars and Regulars in King James's Favour without one negative being near Four millions and a half of our Money the inclinations of the present Pope his Influences on the Confederacy their known Poverty the disposition of diverse Princes and States ought to encrease our fears to a despair of ever seeing a quiet State in England till the King as the Song has it Enjoys his Own again But if we had reason to think better of our Case we have seen enough to tell us we are like to be govern'd by a Strange Army as well as a Strange King for French Dutch Danes or any Thing that is Foreign has the Preference to English-men They must not be employed and when they are we see how little they are trusted or pay'd at home or abroad So that it is plain King William will not confide in the Men that have quitted their Allegiance to advance him Is it that we have lost our Integrity or that he sees we begin to have the Grace to repent God grant it before it is too late Shall I tell you here of the crys of the Country under the burden of your Dutch Souldiers or Saviours if you please They take what they will and pay what they will with Oaths and Blows into the bargain The Army of King James in his whole Reign never committed so many Riots Batteries and base Murthers and your Dutch-men in a Years time Among the rest think upon that Action of running their Swords through a poor Child in a Cradle to be revenged of the Mother for hindring them from Killing the Father So the Danes lately in the North in a drunken sit murther'd their Officer taking him for their Landlord Their other Riâ—â—s are so frequent and extravagant that the nature of our Saviours shows us what sort of Salvation we are to hope for or what are the means and instruments our Great Saviour makes use of for our deliverance Sir You will see that we have lost our Country with our King For the Man that you have put in his Place will very quickly put Foreigners into yours they shall Rule over you And to let you see I do not speak without Book I am very well affor'd there are 20000 Foreigners more gone for which will make up an 〈◊〉 40000 Strangers there are also 24 Sail of Dâ—nes and Sweâ—ds Men of War hired into the Service of this Government which with Sixty Sail of Dutch 〈◊〉 not War are to be the Navy that must Guard the Rights and Câ—râ—reâ—â—â— of the People of England next Year for our Eâ—â—â—â—â— Seamen are Suâ—pâ—â—â—ed with this Prince as the 〈…〉 and for that reason are to be sent 〈◊〉 on Service of leser trust and moment but the true meaning and consequence of this is we 〈…〉 for He shall call them in for your Service as he will tell you but he still keep them here for his own And in 〈…〉 become a Conquest to him in a short time if you receive not your King again And here spare me a Word or two in point of Prudence Is not King James at the Head of a great Army such an one as your Schomberg dare not Fight for all he was to be Master of all Ireland by Michaelmas day Has he not now a better Fleet than yours to wait upon him to distress Schomberg and to bring him where he pleases to attack you here leaving your Trade to the care of his Privateers and Algireens And is it not as evident that Scotland is his upon a small Succor the moment he sends it and England to a great degree by Taxes loss of Trade a ruinous War and your intestine Faction and Animosities Could not the most valourous Army and best Disciplined in Europe commanded by Diligent Cunning and Stout Men as ever Usurped a Throne keep out King Charles the Second That had no Army or Navy to help him and can you imagin this Slow and Vnactive Creature will be able to do it that wants Qualifications as well as Title to quiet and settle the Kingdom and secure his Abbettors Open your Eyes I beseech you and see what your Deliverer has done for you even he who was to Conquer France by last Midsummer has got no farther yet then Hampton-Court and New-Market And instead of beating the French They even they the hated the despised French rid Almiral over us in our own Seas Such a Revenge of your Scorns as makes you truly contemptible That a Nation that hardly ever made a Ballance between you and the Dutch in any War which you never feared but under your own King and slighted under this Inchanted Knight should become your Match and Terrour and the Dutch of your sides too Where are your Heads or your Hearts What Conduct what Valour is this A fine Summers Expedition An admirable Account for the Parliament and to the Kingdom for their Money Behold the Fruit of your Experiment the Fortune of your Change the Success of your New King and your Gain by his Skill and Arms I say your Interest lyes Two to One on the side of your Duty and you must be Mad as well impious to continue your Disallegiance To conclude Sir let it move you and your Friends a little to consider how cruelly you have used your Poor King what Difficulties you give him And for what and for whom you do it and save him all further trouble which may prevent Blood obtain Grace and perhaps give Peace to Europe to be sure return Trade and Strength to England This your Country your Children your Consciences if you will but hear them call aloud for Hear them therefore better late than never and pray let it not be too late for the Public nor for your Self Thus Sir you see I have been very free with you as a Man of Conscience ought to be when so good an Occasion is offered as you were pleased to give me in our last Discourse and I with withal my Heart that these reasons may have the same effect upon you they have had with me that while you can for believe me time grows very precious you may return to the Duty you owe your King who after all the dâ—â—mal Stories some Mens Interest makes them tell us of his condition will find a Fatted Calf with which to Feast all his returning Prodigals I am Sir Yâ—â—râ— FINIS