our Prince against the Laws and Liberties of our Countrey I Answer in the Negative and we do assure the World That it is from a tender regard to our Laws and Liberties as well as from a sense of Duty to repair the injury done our Exiled Prince that we resolve to contribute to his return The antient Constitution was broke in upon by the Abdication and our Laws Rights and Liberties have been more eminently and signally over-run during the P. of Orange's Kingship than by any of our most Violent and Arbitrary Princes even when he was under the greatest Obligation clearest and distinct Barriers placed against it and we are possessed with reasonable â—â—ars nay a certainty of having 'em â—â—iâ—e ruined and extinguished by his future Conduct which layeth an Obligation upon all true English Men to repair these Breaches made upon the Constitution and to vindiâ—â—â—â— and restore their oppressed and â—â—ined Laws and Liberties by returning K. James and the P. of O. into their proper and respective Stations But we are desired and pressed to have some Care of the Protestant Religion and Church of Christ which will be visibly endangâ—red by the King's Restauration all Europe over and a due regard for the Rights and Liberties of all the Princes in Europe which will be sacrificed by it that this ought to be more tenderly minded by us since we are Citizens of the World and so the good of Mankind or the greatest part of it layeth a more sacred Obligation upon us and is to be preferred to the particular Interest of our own Prince and Countrey The security of Religion is a Duty never to be forgotten by good Protestants and is never to be endangered and desperately hazarded by honest Men. But alas this hath been little regarded by our late Reformers Have they not quite unhinged our Constitution of which the Protestant Religion was become apart Have they not already and are they not in a fair way to ruine our Laws and Liberties which are the best Fences about our Religion After we are become Slaves we may quickly be made any thing else the multitude of new Converts in France is an undeniable Instance of this Have they not unnecessarily exposed the Protestant Religion to the hazard of a rude and uncertain War from the commencement of which we can form no great hopes of a Successful Issue and that in Conjunction with Allies who are the greatest Enemies of our Religion who when their particular Interests have been served by our Blood and Treasure will certainly give us the slip and nick some Opportunity which our present Circumstances can never furnish them with of Establishing themselves at the Expence of our Religious and Civil Rights and Liberties And finally have we not dethroned our King upon the account of his Religion by which we have commenced a religious War which may come to be fatally retorted upon us and may endanger the whole Protestant Religion in Europe A religious War is carefully to be avoided by Protestants since they are the weakest and no Pretence ought to be furnished to the Catholicks for the like Measure For thô particular Animosities and Interest seem to divide them at present how quickly may these be adjusted by the Necessities of one of the contending Parties and how easie will it be then for the Pope to unite them together under the Banners of Religion to give us and the Protestants of Europe a Rowland for our Oliver This is no Chimera or Dream but we may probably expect to see and feel it A far weaker Pretence viz. the Union established amongst the Protestants of Germany at Leipsick and Smalcald gave Birth to the Catholick League there which over-run all the Protestants forced several Princes and Cities from their Communion and endangered Denmark It is upon such weighty Considerations and to prevent the danger which threatens the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad from our late Measures that all true Englishmen and good Protestants ought to endeavour the Restauration of our King As to the Caution given us to beware how we sacrifice the Rights and Liberties of all the Princes in Europe the greatest part of the Princes and States of Europe are not engaged in this War against France and consequently in no danger by it The two Northern Crowns Moscovy and Poland Portugal all the Princes and States of Italy except Savoy together with the Switzers are in perfect Peace with France and so the Supposition of this Author is absolutely false the Original and Ground of this War is purely private Contests betwixt the Crown of France and House of Austria and such other Princes as that House can draw into their Interest Do we not see that the Princes of Germany themselves who seem to have the most immediate Concern in it and should understand and be more alarmed at the Consequences of it than we do but make Merchandise of their Assistance and engage in and withdraw from this War as it contributes most to their particular Interests and according as they are best paid by the several Principals Do not the Northern Crowns whose Territories and Provinces lie more exposed to the Consequences of this War than our Islands maintain an exact Neutrality which will give their Subjects Possession of the best part of the Trade of Europe We are the only Fools who have been prevailed upon to engage inconsiderately in this War to be at the greatest Charge of it to drein our Blood and Treasure and to hazard our Religion and Liberties by it without so much as proposing any Return to ballance this Expence and Danger Our Conduct is such an Instance of Folly and Madness as amazeth the present and will not find Credit in future Ages As to the Maxim established by the Author upon which he buildeth all his fine Reasoning it is false and Phanatical to perfection Can any Man in his right Wits assert That the Interest of our Prince and Country must give place to the Interests of other States suppose them to be the greatest part of Mankind Much less then to those of the House of Austria which is the present Case Must the Interest of the British Monarchy be postponed to the Interest of the Mahometan and Pagan Countries which make the greatest part of Mankind Or must the Interest of Britain and so of the Protestant Religion which makes a part of it give way to the Interest of the Pope and Catholick Princes which make the greatest part of Europe We may quickly guess what our Fate would be by following such a Rule and may easily be persuaded that the Cause must be very bad which requires such wretched Maxims and Reasonings to â—â—pport it The last Question is Whether we would think our selves bound to sight 〈◊〉 him did we believe he would promote the same Designs he did before and what we would think our selves obliged to do in the like case and under the same Circumstances after he had remounted
Disertion will best appear from a true Narrative of Matter of fact which I shall give the Reader And though it may contain several things which are not generally known and yet contribute exceedingly to the clearing of this point I shall deliver nothing but Truths which can be made evident either by Letters or Evidence above all exception No sooner was the Prince of Orange landed but it quickly appeared to the World how strangely successful his Agents had been in their Negotiations The Poyson was universally spread and the Pretences of his Declaration greedily swallowed down without Examination though I shall make it appear before I have done That it was partly forged and nothing of it ever intended to be performed There was nothing sound or untainted in the whole Kingdom His Children run away from him the Clergy juggle with him his domestick and menial Servants betray him his Subjects flock in to the P. of Orange his Army disert and the very Creatures which he had raised from the Dust form Designs to deliver up his Person Was not this a Scene the most wonderful and astonishing that was ever presented upon the Stage of human Affairs What ground had the King to think that his Person could be with any manner of Safety amongst a People who had thrown off all Tyes and Duties which could rationally be depended upon in the like case When that natural Affection which was due from Children to their Parents was quite forgotten when the Love Respect Service and Gratitude which is due from Servants to their Master and Benefactor was entirely thrown off and unheard of Treachery cherished in their places When that Allegiance which is due from Subjects to their Prince was debauched and running into another Channel When that Fidelity which was due from Soldiers both as Subjects and Men who make a particular Profession of Honour to their Prince General and Nursing Father was so generally corrupted that he was advertised by his General Officers That the Army was quite poisoned and would not fight When his own Ministers and Counsellors were in Pay and Correspondence with the Invader and pushing him into Councils and Measures which might encrease the present Ferment and facilitate the Prince's Designs What hopes of Accommodation or Assurance of Safety could remain without renouncing all Reason Sense and Discretion especially if we consider that as soon as the account came that Oxford's and St. Alban's Regiment of Horse commanded by Langston and Cornbury and Heyfort with their Dragoons were deserted and gone into the Prince he called his General Officers and Colonels together at London amongst which were Churchil Kirk Trelauny Grafton and others and acquainted them he had called a free Parliament that he was resolved to secure Religion Liberty and Property at their Sitting He obtested these Officers to let him know if there was any thing farther which they desired for the Security of their Religion and Liberties and he would most willingly grant it and withal desired That if there was any amongst them who could not be satisfied to let him know it and he would frankly grant them Passes for themselves and Equipage to go in to the Prince Upon which they all answer'd chearfully and unanimously That they were fully satisfied and would hazard their Blood to the last drop in his Service And yet how basely and ungratefully some of them afterwards dealt by him is too well known and was enough to give that Prince just Jealousies of his own Safety amongst Men so lost as to all sense of Honour and Integrity And yet so loth was this Monarch to part from a People who had forsaken him first though surrounded with Fears and Distractions under which any other Person would have sunck that he made offers of a Treaty which the Prince accepted not that he designed to come to any Settlement upon it but because he durst not unmask himself so far as to refuse it and was in hopes to find some Pretext or other to break it off Upon this the Commissioners met on both sides but with so little Inclination on the Prince's side to come to an Accommodation which would have bereaved him of that sweet Morsel he had been so long labouring for nay he discovered so firm a Resolution to attain his ends without scrupling any thing how severe soever which could compass them that those noble Lords who were empower'd by the King to treat for him did acquaint his Majesty with the insuperable Difficulties they met with in their Negotiation and that they thought themselves bound in Duty to let him know that his Person was not in Safety under the Power of a Prince who by the haughty and rigid Conditions he proposed or rather imposed and his still marching on notwithstanding the Treaty did visibly enough discover some farther hidden Design This must certainly be thought Warning enough from Persons who were even then leaning to the strongest side and so would not have hazarded such advice unless forced to it by Truth and Horror of the Design or put upon it by the Prince himself to frighten the King away who was sensible his Stay did check his Designs and so was resolved to be rid of his Person some way or other Upon this the King thought fit to withdraw and afterwards sent the E. of Feversham from that place with such ample Concessions and such real discoveries of a sincere Intention to satisfie his People to the full that the Prince was extreamly alarmed upon it and did plainly see the miscarriage and ruin of all his Designs if Feversham's Message should be imparted to the English that were about him for though there were some who upon all occasions were forward enough to advise the utmost Severities against the King's Person yet by far the greatest part for Number Interest and Quality were at the bottom for an Accommodation with the K. which would have setled and bettered the Nation but at the same time would have quite dashed the Prince's Hopes and Expectations and therefore some bold Stroke must be given that so much Patience so great Labour and so many Crimes might not be lost the Publick Faith must be broken and Feversham must be secured without so much as acquainting the Persons of Quality of the English Nation who were about him with it though all a long he had pretended to act by their Advice But in so nice a Conjunction he was afraid to trust to their Affection as knowing very well they would have pâ—y'd more than was fitting for his Interest into the pretended Cause of the Earl's Confinement and his Message the Goodness of which would certainly have preserved the Publick Faith inviolable in the Earl's Person notwithstanding of the Crime alleg'd against him and continued in the Treaty whereas by this Method the Message was concealed the Treaty was quite broken off and the King would most certainly be frightned to steal away After such a series of Defection amongst all sorts of People
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
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
neversomuch Hazard and Difficulty The Prince in his Declaration after an Enumeration of Grievances assures us He came for no other Design than to have a free and full Parliament assembled and the Elections made and returned according to the antient forms and that the Members of this Parliament should meet and sit in full freedom until such Laws be prepared as the two Houses should concur in and find necessary for Maintenance of the Protestant Religion and securing the Peace Honour and Safety of this Nation that there may be no more Danger of falling at any time under Arbitrary Government and that he had nothing before his Eyes in this Undertaking but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the Covering of all Men from Persecutions for their Consciences and the securing to the whole Nation the free Enjoyment of all their Laws Rights and Liberties under a just and legal Government For the accomplishing of which since he had only brought a Force with him for defending his Person against the Violence of Evil Counsellors all the Peers of this Realm Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and others of all Ranks and Degrees are invited to assist him against all who shall endeavour to oppose the redressing of Violences done to the Constitution of the English Government These Pretences can never be adjusted to the Notion and Title of Conquest The Nobility Gentry and Commons of this Realm acting in a free and legal Parliament for the securing of their Laws Rights and Liberties under a just and legal Government neither can nor will ever design it I will charitably suppose the Convention of Estates and their Constituents did believe they had valuable Rights and Privileges their Religion Liberties and Properties which were derived and secured unto them from positive Statutes and Laws of the Land as well as from the Dictates of Nature and Original Contract that those Rights and Privileges were invaded and in danger to be lost which made them run into that general Defection and make a Present of the Crown to the Prince of Orange as the only expedient they could then think of So long as the Prince's Title runs in this Channel they are at Liberty when they please to review those Measures examine the Grounds and upon a Rectification of their Judgments and Conviction that their beloved Rights and Privileges may be better secured under their antient Monarch to betake themselves again unto him Sublata causa tollitur effectus Or they may enquire into the Conduct and Government of the Prince whether it Quadrate with the Original Contract they made with him whether their Rights and Privileges have been entirely preserved and if they can discover any bad Influences or Aspect towards Liberty and Property then to make a Sacrifice of the Workmanship of their own Hands to a fresh Establishment of those Sacred and Venerable Rights by the Maxims of this last Revolution The Interest of the People is paramount to that of the Prince But if our Conquest take place then Adieu to Rights and Privileges Liberty and Property The old musty Statute Books and Records of Westminster hall and the Tower may be committed to the Flames as so much waste Paper His Will and Pleasure must be the Law whereby we are governed our Liberties must lie at the Mercy of his Ministers and our Properties must be committed to the Stewardship of his Soldiers Let us examine the Condition of Conquered People and Provinces from antient and modern History Their old Government Laws and Customs which they had been inured to from their Infancy recommended and endeared to them by long Use and Acquaintance must be swept off the Stage strange Orders strange Customs strange Ministers must take their place Our Persons our Liberty our Estates and all our most valuable Earthly Enjoyments must lie at the Mercy Pleasure and Will of the Conqueror Industry and Virtue will vanish there being no Reward for them for a Conquered People must aspire no higher than to learn to obey submissively and to eat the Bread of Tribulation and Affliction with Patience The care and desire of Posterity will languish being unwilling to beget Children to become Slaves and miserable as our selves The Indian Women strangled their own Children after their Birth that they might not become Servants to the Spaniards and Dutch Severities will be found nothing short upon the Record of History of Spanish Cruelties The Annals of all Nations can furnish us with dreadful Instances of the unspeakable Miseries of a Conquered People We may find those Examples of the Calamities of that Condition which would make us embrace Death for a Favour and be able to sink us into utter Despair unless at the same time these very Histories had given us a view of the strenuous and successful Endeavours of those generous and worthy Spirits who have despised Dangers Difficulties Torments and Death it self for the Rescue and Deliverance of their Country and fellow Subjects The greater and more terrible the Dangers were the more vigorously and undauntedly did they court them when they were in pursuit of so glorious a Quarry The Efforts of Conquered Nations for the Recovery of their lost Liberties stand fairest upon the Records of Fame and are handed down to us with the greatest Exactness and Encomiums as if our Ancestors had judged it necessary and all Writers had conspired together to rouze up when Occasion called for it that desire of Liberty which was born with us If Conquest must be forced upon us as our present Lot I hope all true Englishmen now will discover as great a Sense as any upon Record of a vindicative Duty to their Country and love for their Liberties be as tender and careful to transmit them safe and sound to their Posterity as their Ancestors have been vigilant and active in handing them down to them that they will be no less careful of the ancient Government and Monarchy of this Nation than of their own particular Rights since every blow which reaches the one must certainly wound and endanger the other and that it shall be impossible to make the English a Conquered People because they will generally chuse not to be rather than to be Slaves It may be alledged that all that I have said upon Conquest might have been forborn since the King sets up for no such Title perhaps it is not seasonable to do it But to have Conquest so publickly pleaded for in Pamphlets Written or Licensed by Secretaries of State and that without any Check or Punishment from the Prince is very suspicious especially if upon Examination of those Oppressions which we suffer under the present King we shall find his Conduct smell Rank that way If we be treated as a Conquered People the Misery is still the same or rather greater though the Prince who deals so by us should be called a Reformer It being made evident and plain That King James was highly injur'd and the antient Government quite unhinged by the Sentence of
Abdication and our late Measures I come next to examine how exactly the Prince hath fulfilled and made good unto us the pretended Ends and Designs of his Declaration how well he hath kept the Original Contract we made with him and what benefit we may expect to reap for the future by this Revolution I shall take his Conduct in both Kingdoms joyntly under Consideration since he hath not only united them in the same Declaration but likewise issu'd out a Declaration apart for Scotland intimating thereby That the Oppressions in that Kingdom were more weighty and numerous than here and that the Arbitrary Designs of our Prince did always first commence there to make a Precedent for this Kingdom and that the Conduct and Posture of Affairs there did always certainly Prognosticate to the curious Observer what was designed to be Copied and Executed here I do not pretend to give a particular detail of the present Administration in that Kingdom but there are some considerable Errors have been acted there which have made a Noise and rais'd such publick Complaints there as hath convey'd the Knowledge of them here to us The assuming a Power of Dispensing with the due Execution of Laws enacted by King and Parliament for Security of Religion Liberty and Happiness of the Subject is much urged against King James as a great Motive to the Prince's undertaking A Dispensing Power assumed by any Prince doth fatally threaten the Liberties of a People where it is practised and makes them Tenants at Will for those Privileges which the Laws of the Land hath given them a Freehold in This is really such an important Point and of such Consequence for the Subject to have been cleared that it was indispensably the Duty of a Reforming Prince Convention of Estates and Parliament to have decided this Controversie and placed such Marks and Boundaries for the future so plain and obvious both to Prince and People that each might have known their particular Rights and governed themselves for the future accordingly But our Parliaments have thought fit to leave it where they found it dark and undecided to this day and the Prince hath discovered he was well enough pleased with this Omission by taking as large and broad Steps that way as any can be charged upon King James The Irish Treaty furnisheth us with a convincing Proof of this where such Indulgences were granâ—ed unto them solely and siâ—gâ—y by his own Authority with relation to the exercise of their Religion proâ— of their Arms dispensation from Oaths and security against â—rsuits for their Plunderings as were directly contrary to the Laws of the Land the Safety Rights and Privileges of the Protestant Subjects of that Kingdom This Treaty I do acknowledge was afterwards ratified by Parliament but though in some Cases the Authority of Parliament may give a legal Being for the future yet that new Life commenceth only from the date of their Sanction and doth not justifie preceeding Errors and the many Difficulties which arose in both Houses about the Ratification was a clear Innuendo how dangerous and illegal they judg'd the Treaty to be How strangely are we altered King James's exercise of this Dispensing Power could neither be forgotten nor attoned for but King William's stretch that way shall obtain a Parliamentary Approbation such is the Justice and unbyassed Integrity of these Times But we need not look so far as Ireland for Instances We have our personal Liberties secured to us by positive and express Statutes and Methods appointed by our Law whereby to recover our Liberties when lost with such severe Animadversions against those who obstruct the due course of Law in obtaining of our Freedom with such great and considerable Damages appointed in that case as plainly enough Points out unto us the Value and Worth of this true English Privilege It is the choisest piece of our Magna Charta and Original Contract and for my part I should much rather allow a Prince to dispence with Penal Statutes and issue out a Proclamation for Liberty of Conscience than to sport himself at Pleasure with my personal Freedom without which there can be no relish in any other Enjoyment and yet there never was a Reign wherein our Birth-right in this hath been more abused spoiled and broken in upon The English Subjects have been put into Proclamations and clapt into Prisons for High Treason and refused the benefit of their Habeas Corpus though there was no Information upon Oath against them according as the Law appoints to warrant such a Procedure Nay so grosly frequently and impudently have our publick Ministers affronted the Laws upon this Head that they have found themselves obliged to apply to Parliament for Pardon For we have found out a new Trick in this Government and reforming Age first to act all imaginable Violences against the best and choisest of our Laws and than to obtain either a Ratification or Pardon in Parliament whereby they have struck our English Constitution and the Liberty of the Subject Dead at one Blow by Debauching our Parliaments into a Confederacy against in place of Protecting the Liberties of the People and so making the Nation as it were Felo de se No period of History doth furnish us with such wholesale Merchants for our best and most valuable Rights neither do we know when this Trade shall be at an end or when our Rulers will be weary of Tricking us out of our Liberties We have a fresh Instance of late of the Knowledge and Learning of our Judges When the Earls of Huntington Midleton and others moved at the Barr for their Habeas Corpus there was no Information upon Oath against them to warrant a refusal otherways to be sure we should have heard of it But Aaron Smith must make Affidavit that they had Evidence for the High Treason charged against them which could not be got ready and so by his Liberty and Freedom of Conscience save in some measure the Credit of the Court By this fine new Knack they were all remitted back to Prison again Such Judges may at last come to be fit enough for the Bench even under a Conquest but in the mean time all such Expedients which are not warranted from the Statutes do rather prove the Injustice of the Court than fulfil the Law and however it may be Gilded we cannot but see and feel the bitter Pill we must swallow Was not the Habeas Corpus Act suspended for many Months It 's true this was done by Parliament but so much the worse if our own Delegates in whose Hands we trust the care but not the intire surrender of our Liberties make a Complement of that which is not in their Power to the Ambition or Necessities of any Prince Parliaments can no more justly over-turn Foundations than the Prince can Such Privileges as are derived from King and Parliament upon the account of the Subjects Temporary Conveniences are trusted to the review of the same Court
but these Fundamental Privileges which are the Birth-right of Nations and derived Originally from the Laws of Nature it self such as the Freedom of our Persons and Dominion over our Properties fall only under the Cognizance of Parliaments for their better Establishment against such Breaches as the depraved Nature of Princes and their Ministers will be making upon them The Nature and Design of Societies hath occasioned a partial Submission of these two great native Privileges to the safety of that Body Politick by punishing of Crimes and to the support of it by Taxes which we grant our selves but in no Construction of Reason Sense or Justice can Delegates be understood to be impowered to make an intire surrender of those Rights into the Hands of any Prince were it but for a moment It may be alledged That the safety and necessity of the Government put our Rulers upon such extraordinary Measures If reasons and pretences of State the Secrets of which are always locked up in the Prince his Brâ—ast can apoligize for such bold Strok s against our most Fundamental Priviâ—eges and Laws Where is there any Right or Immunity which we can call our own or be â—ssured off Since such pretences shall never be wanting to entitle the Prince to an absolute Dominion over 〈◊〉 Property as well as over our Liberty since the last is more valuable than the first Why may not Reasons of State as justly render him Master of the one as of the other If it was to preserve our Liberties from the insults of King James we placed the Prince upon the Throne we have certainly either mistaken the Disease or the Cure since he cannot be preserved upon it at a cheaper rate than a Sacrifice of what we intended to preserve we are to learn nothing from this Revolution but a surer and more infallible way of enslaving the Subject King James never dreamt of such a Method An English Parliament was hitherto esteemed a Court inseparable from the true Interest of Englishmen but a little more Training under so good a Master may make them change Principles and become in time as complacent and good natur'd as ever the French and Swedish States were Nothing it seems in Gratitude can be refused to our Deliverer But thô Gratitude be a Virtue it ought to have its Bounds lest it run us farther than designed or intended at first even to the destruction of those Rights for the Preservation of which we desire to appear so grateful The King of Denmark in our time by the Merit of some Actions performed for his People and during their first Raptures of gratitude for it sound the way to Enslave them by changing an Elective and Limited into an Hereditary and Despotick Monarchy The admitting of unqualified Persons into Places of Employment and the erecting the High-Commission-Court were thought great Crimes in King James and mighty Errors in Government and yet the first is as frequently practised in the Army as ever and how much further the Prince's dependance upon Popish Confederates may lead him in favour of Catholicks must be owing to their Moderation for we lie at their Mercy upon that head and may come to be made sensible that our Foreign Allyances may prove as troublesome and uneasie to us in favour of Papists as King James's Religion was And as to the last the Prince must either look upon that Court to be no Crime or by favouring the most active Members in it he must destroy and invert that old English Maxim That our Kings can neither Err nor be Punished but that evil Counsellors are liable to both The turning out the Fellows of Magdalen College from their Freeholds contrary to that Provision in Magna Charta That no Man should lose his Life or Goods but by the Law of the Land is not to be justified and yet falls much short of the putting People to death under this Government by Martial Law before it was Enacted Few Men will ever scruple to secure their Lives with the loss of their Places The Quo Warranto and Regulation Projects were much to be complained of but we may very easily imagine to whose Practises they were owing by the Countenance and Preferments the Authors and Promoters of those Councils received from this Government neither can the Quo Warrantoing of Charters be so illegal as the Declaration would make us believe since King William himself treads in the same Path by imposing a Governor upon New England upon the Quo Warranto Foot contrary to the Opinion of his Privy-Council Whereas by the Declaration the slighting and rejecting of Petitions delivered by Subjects with Submission and Respect is considered as a high Strain of absolute Power yet when the People of Scotland had secured to themselves the Privilege of Petitioning by their claim of Rights and in pursuance and by virtue of that Privilege the greatest part of that Parliament which placed the Crown upon his Head had humbly addressed unto the present King for his assent to some Votes which they had passed for Establishing of Religion and Liberty and which were agreeable to their antient Laws and Privileges they were scornfully and disdainfully refused and rejected If by the Declaration it was a fault to treat a Peer of England as a Criminal for asserting that the Subjects were not bound to obey a Popish Justice of Peace it cannot be a piece of Justice in King William to pass a Sentence of Banishment upon the Earl of Feversham who is a Peer of England within these few Weeks without so much as alleging a Crime against him Since by the Declaration the obliging People to deliver their Opinion before hand as to the repealing the Test and Penal Laws and the turning out of Employments such as would not promise lustily is represented as so fowl a piece of Collusion The Closetting of Members of Parliament now to pre-engage their Votes in Affairs depending before them and the Disgraces which some obstinate Persons fell under upon it should have been forborn unless King William be dissatisfied with the Prince of Orange's Declaration and the Rules and Maxims therein Established According to the Scottish Declaration the appointing of Judges in an unusual manner and giving 'em Commissions which were not to continue during Life or good Behaviour was highly illegal yet K. William after he got the Crown found he was mistaken in that Paragraph and nominated the whole Bench without subjecting them to a Tryal and Approbation of Parliament according as Law and Custom required did not think fit to continue their Commissions during Life or good Behaviour and appointed them a Lord President thô by express Statute he was to be elected by the Bench. By the Declaration the imposing of Bonds upon whole Counties without Act of Parliament and the permitting of free Quarters to the Soldiers are declared to be high and intollerable Stretches of Government The same hath been practised in this Government with greater Confidence less Compassion and
doing of which I must look higher than the begining of King James's Reign the early and unnatural Ambition of the Pr of Orange as well as the necessary connection and series of Affairs oblige me unto it It was not the danger which our Religion and Liberties were threatned with from the Designs and bad Administration of King James and a tender regard to the British Subjects for their Love and Respect to his dearest Consort and Himself with the Interest which his Birth and Marriage gave him in us first induced the Prince of Orange to look towards these Kingdoms and our Affairs The late King Charles notwithstanding of all the tenderness he had discovered for that Prince's Education and care for his Interests in espousing them so vigoursly upon all occasions against the States of Holland who would gladly have secured themselves by depressing him and his Family against those prophetick Fears they lay under for their beloved Rights and Liberties was the first that felt the Effects of his Nephew 's towring and boundless Ambition No sooner did the Prince of Orange find himself reinstated by the Authority and Interest of his Uncle in the Posts of Grandure possessed by his Father and Predecessors and so put into a Condition to appear upon the Stage and mingle in the greatest Affairs of Europe but he gave loose Ranes to his Ambition to range where-ever it could perch and fix without being restrained or frightned by those common Rules or Barriers which Morality and Religion had placed as Spoaks too mean in his Opinion to stop the Careere of a bold and daring Spirit Britain was the Place he fixed his Eye upon neither could Relation or Gratitude place any rubs in his way The lazy Temper of that Monarch addicted to his Pleasures and his being without Children the Religion of his Brother and want of Male Issue together with his own Allyance with the Royal Blood and some Discontents of the People which were begotten and heightned by the Addresses and Malice of a few Grandees promised him a plentiful Harvest in return to his Cabals and Cajoling Insinuations upon which those Grandees were applied unto and as quick and hearty returns made by them with assurance of Zeal Dependance and Fidelity being glad of so considerable a Support Hence sprang all those fatal Divisions which so long time exercised that Prince his Councils and Parliaments To spirit this Party in England and to fix himself one Degree nearer the Crown which he so much long'd for the Prince made his Addresses and was Married to the Lady Mary much against the inclination both of the King and Duke who did very well foresee the Consequence and were afraid of so near a Conjunction with so restless a Spirit But it is well known who disposed the King to agree to the Match for which and other good Services then in betraying his Master he is well rewarded now rather than for any Merits he had to plead upon this Revolution After this Match our Divisions and Discontents past all Bounds nothing less than the interruption of the Royal Line by a Bill of Exclusion would satisfie I know the danger of our Religion from a Popish Successor was pretended but the Prince of Orange's immediate Succession to the Crown in the Right of his Princess was the thing truly intended by the Prince's Agents and Privadoes Nothing else but such a hidden secret Design could have inclined so many Men of Sense and Reason to refuse the great Concessions was offered 'em which without Danger or the bad Consequences of neglecting a just Title did equally secure Religion and Liberty To this Project were Sacrificed all those great and mighty Securities which K. Charles would willingly have Granted in favour of our Religion and Liberties to be rid of that troublesome Bill of Exclusion and thus we lost the greatest and best Establishment we ever had in our view and which would legally peaceably and willingly have been setled upon us without any farther trouble danger or expence So early did this Prince's Ambition become fatal to our Liberties and Properties Hence sprang all those Councils and Measures which did so much Discontent the People and put that King upon the Quo Warranto Project thereby to temper and qualifie Parliaments which the Cabals and Machinations of the Prince had render'd so warm and uneasie to him Hence sprang that Ferment and those bad Humors which gave Life and Motion to the Duke of Monmouth's Invasion and Pretences who all a long had been made a Stale by some though the Prince lay close at the bottom and seemed to favour the Man until at last he perceived that the Duke did in earnest catch at that he so much longed for himself With what regret yea indignation must every English Breast be filled upon that blessed occasion we lost which might have prevented our present Expence of Blood and Treasure and all those Fears and Miseries we are now groaning under and know not when we shall be at an end of It is with unspeakable Grief I am obliged to remember so great a Loss nor do I mention any thing but what is very well known for a Truth to some Persons yet alive and which I have seen clearly verified by some convincing Dispatches which are yet extant and which shall be carefully preserved until they may be with safety produced Doth not Sir W. Temple in his Memoirs licenced and published of late acknowledge the greatest part of what is here asserted as if in this reforming Age People were to make their Court by publishing of Services for which their Posterity may have reason to curse their Ashes Thus we see what fatal Influences the Prince of Orange's Ambition had scattered upon our Councils and Measures during the later end of K. Charles his Reign Neither will he be found less active and successful by himself and Agents during K. James's Administration as will appear from a particular Enquiry into the pretended Abdication This strange and mysterious word which to this day is not well understood neither can be explained nor rightly fitted to what was intended by it either by the Authors of it or by any body else was first made use of in the Kingdom of Naples some Ages ago and begot that fatal Sruggle between the Anjouin and Arroganian Factions which at last quite ruined that flourishing Kingdom and brought it under a foreign Yoke under which it continues to this day I shall not criticize upon it nor examin how improperly it is applied in the Case of King James though that be obvious enough to any Man who understands the Civil Law or the proper and genuine signification of the Word but shall only enquire into the subject matter which according to the Sense of our Reformers amounted to Abdication a Vacancy and that is King James's Disertion and Invasion of the fundamental Laws and Liberties of England As to the first how properly his being forced away may be called a
Safety And it is evident notwithstanding all those ineffectual Applications he was resolved upon every occasion to court his Subjects to return to their Duty Witness his Letters addressed to several Members of his Privy Council and also that Letter written from St. Germains and designed for the Convention of Estates which they would not so much as receive or read I would now gladly know after what manner and upon what account in what sense and for what reason the King can be said to have deserted Desertion according to common sense and acceptation is a voluntary Neglect and Withdrawing his Person Care and Influences from attending that Administration Protection and Exercise of the Government which is due from him to the People committed to his Charge when no Force compell'd him no Danger threatned him and the People were willing to râ—tain him Is this applicable to the King's Case May not the Invading his Dominions with foreign Troops and an armed Power the Imprisonment of his Person putting him under Guards of Foreigners and banishing him from his own Houses be properly enough called a Force May not those extraordinary Indignities done him by the Prince and those Advertisements given him by several Persons of Quality Knowl dge and Interest of his hard and difficult Circumstances be very well called Dangers according to the common Rules of Prudence and Discretion With what Sense can the universal Defection of his Children Servants Soldiers and Subjects the rejecting all Treaties whether personal or by Proxie the Refusal of all Applications made by him to the City Bishops and Convention of Estates be understood an unwillingness in his Subjects to part with him or a voluntary Withdrawing or Neglect on his side We must renounce common Sense and quite invert the Nature of things before a Withdrawing so circumstantiated will pass upon the sober part of Mankind for a Desertion Besides it is a Maxim laid down by the Author of the Pretences of the French Invasion examined p 4 l. 3. and downwards That where a King or Queen is submitted to and owned by Oaths and other Methods required in such Cases the King himself is not at Liberty to give up his own Power and consequently cannot Desert much less can the People wrest it from him A Man hath himself much more Right to lay down that Power which is legally vested in him than any other Person or Persons can have to take it from him I hope this learned Gentleman will allow us the Benefit of his own Maxims which we are willing to admit of It cannot be denied King James was submitted unto and owned by Oaths and all other Methods required in such Cases and so not at Liberty to give up his own Power thô never so willing And consequently this pretended Desertion must march off the Stage according to the Author 's own Rules But the Disbanding of the Army in the Sense of this Author and others was so illegal a Step that it must pass for his dissolving of the Government Why truly common Prudence advised the Discarding of an Army which had dealt so treacherously with their Prince and Benefactor And I would gladly know what Statute this Measure of the King 's trespassed upon I challenge the Author to point it out to us I have heard it alleged That the King could not raise and maintain an Army without the Consent of Parliament But his power of Disbanding was never yet questioned much less made a Crime If the first be justifiable the last must be much more so From what has been said I hope the Desertion is quite shut out of doors The Reasons adduced make unanswerably against it and the Pamphleteer's own Maxims knock it dead without Mercy by which the greatest part of the Author's Pamphlet and Reasonings falls to the ground since he goeth all along upon the Supposition that the People were still willing to have acknowleged his Rights and secured their own to have treated and come to an Accommodation with him as also that the Prince never proposed any thing but to have Grievances fairly redressed which was still insisted on by the Prince and People in the most humble and usual Methods But that the King wilfully deserted threw up the Government refused all Treaties and left them in a perfect Anarchy to shift for themselves The Falsity of all which is already plainly enough demonstrated and the Abâ—ication must halt having lost the better half of its Foundation I come next to examine the Male-Administration which makes up the other part of this Structure in prosecution of which I do not intend to play the Advocate to defend and justifie any Breaches made upon the Laws and Liberties of my Country I am as tender of those great Concerns as any Man can be I love them as well I value them as high and shall be always ready to hazard as far for their Establishment as a good Englishman who knows their Worth ought to do And perhaps I have given better Evidences of this than the Authors of these Pamphlets can bring for themselves notwithstanding their Fustian Words and high Pretences But Mistakes in Government will be slipping in under the best Reigns and it is not every Error can furnish a good Reason for such important Revolutions such general Defections such deviations from that Duty which is due to Princes from the Obligation of Oaths the Tyes of Nature and the Laws of the Land and for dethroning of Kings inverting the nature of the Monarchy and the interrupting the Royal Line and Succession Such Alterations have been accompanied in all Ages with such Confusions Convulsions Blood Ruine and Desolation that nothing but the necessary Rescue of the Government it self and of all the publick and private Rights which are wrapt up in it from a clear plain visible undeniable and otherwise unavoidable Ruine and Destruction with a Certainty and Conviction that the Remedy proposed will prove feasible and successful without running us into the same dangers and difficulties â—â—n furnish the least shadow or pretence for Experiments which are to be attended with such Dangers founded upon the Breach of so many sacred Tyes and Obligations and Supported with such Expence of Blood and Treasure We ought to be very sure That the Errors complained of would certainly have overturned all Foundations and entirely robbed us of our Rights That those Errors did certainly arise from the natural Disposition of the Prince himself obstinately and incorrigibly bent to pursue them to the utmost whatever the Consequence might be and not rather from the Impulse of corrupted Ministers from a Design to ruine him and make a Property of us in serving the ambitious but guilded Pretences of some other Person before we run headlong into such Measures But alas I am afraid we are not able to stand this Tryal which every cool and thinking Man must allow to be very reasonable and upon an exact and impartial Enquiry it will be found That with all this
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
Parliaments as to any other business but Money-bills As to freedom of Speech and Debates though there be none questioned for it yet Members are so frequently Discouraged and Frowned upon at Court Disgraced and turn'd out of Employments whenever they launch out into an enquiry after Grievances or the present Administration And upon the other hand the Places of Honor and Trust and the Money of the Nation are so openly and visibly employed for debauching of Members from a sense and feeling of the true Interest of the People and for divesting them of all the publick and generous Notions Zeal unwearied and bold Endeavours for the Rights and Privileges of the Subject the joynt Good and Interest of King and Kingdom which hath been hitherto so much the Glory and Entertainment of brave English Spirits in our Parliaments that this native and necessary Freedom of Speech and Debates is more visibly threatned and more effectually destroyed than ever could have been done by Force Sentence or Imprisonment We are sooner wheedâ—ed with false if gilded Pretences than hectored or huffed into a Court Compliance Lastly was there ever a Reign wherein the plunderings and Free quâ—â—terings of Soldiers was more counteranced and the People more grievously oppressed by them than in this The Complaints of Scotland upon that head already hinted at the irregular and unheard of Abuses and Miscarriages of the Irish Army the Desolations brought upon that miserable Kingdom by them and the daily Instances we moâ—t with of that nature in this Kingdom are convincing and undeniable Evidences of the Truth of it Nay to such a pass is it already come that when a Secretary of State was applied unto by persons injured who were intirely in the Interest of the Government and presented by the Knight of the Shire with Complaints against the Abuses and free Quartering of Soldiers they were scornfully rejected with this Answer That Men and Horses must eat Meaning no doubt that since the Taxes designed by the Parliament for that end were necessarily to be applied unto the use of the Consederates the people must be doubly burdened for the Subsistence of the Troops Such brave Guardians are our present Rulers become of the English Liberties Here we have a sad but true Catalogue of our Miseries only it is not full and compleat The present Administration can furnish us with a great many more Instances But I have confined my self to a Deduction of those grosser Errors which visibly infringed the Pretences of the Prince's Declaration and the Petition of Rights the securing and preserving of which was the Reason expresly assigned for his Election into the Throne If in the Infancy of his Government when his sense of Gratitude for the Gift of Three Crowns if ever must be fresh in his Memory when the Hearts and Hands as well as the Purses of the People were necessary for his Support when his Honour as well as Interest called for a different Conduct he run so warmly into such Measures what must we feel when he comes to sit sure and be fixt upon his Throne We may certainly conclude upon the Inclinations and future Designs of a Prince by his preceeding Conduct and the choice of his Ministers and from both these Reflections in the present Case we have but a melancholy View of our future Condition Are not those very Men who in both Kingdoms were the Authors Contrivers and Actors of the most Arbitrary and grievous Proceedings which were complained of during the Reigns of our two last Monarchs become the Ministers the Darlings the Favourites of this Reign Have they changed their Principles and Maxims The former Instances in which they have their share may convince us to the contrary Is it to be imagined that a Prince who signalized his Entry upon the Stage of publick Affairs with a breach of the most solemn Oaths to the contrary the Destruction of the Liberties of his Native Country and by grasping at a Power which the Nature Law and Constitutions of that Government denied to his Character in it will be more tender of his Oaths to us and of our Constitution His past Conduct may clear it up unto us we are Strangers to him and he to us his Affections as well as his Birth are foreign he distrusts and despiseth us as treacherous to our former King He may love the Treason but hates the Traytors It is not a single Crime can entitle us 〈◊〉 his Favour it is by a Sacrifice if 〈◊〉 of King and Country we can touch his heart it is only by this double Treason we can get into his Confidence The Fate and Disgrace of those Persons who upon this Revolution frankly sacrificed the first but knew not how to subdue their Scruples as to the last may sufficiently prove this Truth We have none but our selves to blame for this Mischief By our Abdicating Vote and subsequent Measures our antient just and legal Government is destroyed and overturned and in so doing we have disingaged him from the Promises he made in his Declaration since it was only under a just and legal Government that we were assured of his Endeavours to preserve our Laws Rights and Liberties Let us yet a little farther examine the Benefits we shall reap from this Revolution the Means we have to support it and what will probably be the Issue of all these great Transactions The malignant aspect of our late Measures towards our beloved Rights and Privileges seems to be pretty well cleared already and scarce admits of an aggravating Thought more unless we consider that we are like to pay the Price of a perfect and lasting Cure for downright Poyson and a mortal consuming Feavor But perhaps this Victorious Prince by his Conquests and admirable Conduct will raise the Military Glory of this Nation so high and enlarge her Territories and Command so far as shall quite darken and eclipse the Lustre and Fame of our greatest and most fortunate Kings and thereby alleviate or quite bury our Sense and Feeling of past present and future Miseries If the Lawrels and Conquests of a Monarch which are first drenched in Tears and are founded upon the Slavery of the People can atone for such Miseries the French at this Day would be the happiest People in Europe This will not pass upon English Men who observe from their Histories that the most Victorious of their Monarchs have always been most render and careful of their Liberties and I am afraid that even this faint Comfort shall not be afforded us What reason have we to expect that by the Conduct and Military Knowledge of a Prince against whom the Naked and Undisciplined Irish made Head for three Campaigns together we shall be able to gain Troops and Provinces from the more Numerous better Disciplined and Conducted Troops of France For though the Author of A Letter to a Friend concerning a French Invasion flatters us with our Victories over the French at the Boyn Athlone Agrim and Limrick
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
it practicable And as to the miraculous and enterprizing Faith of Priests and new Converts the zeal folly and warmness of their Brains will always prevent any real Mischiefs nay K. James his Reign even upon the supposition that it were as bad as is alledged is an undeniable Proof that the Protestant Religion cannot be undermined nor the Popish Religion Established in these Kingdoms by the Address or Authority of any Prince I shall give it for granted that all imaginable Methods were taken for propagating the Popish Religion that they were indulged in the publick Exercises of it that Court Preferments were thrown upon them meerly upon the account of their Religion without any Vertue or Mâ—rit to Intitle them to it that Protestants were absolutely and upon all occasions discourag'd that it was endeavour'd to make the World â—eâ—â—â—ve that all Favours and Preserments were for the one and nothing but Disâ—races and Frowns for the other that there was the greatest Care Pains and Application in the World made use of to make the Army and Courts of Judicature I do belive by this supposition I have out-done all that the most malicious Enemies will urge against K. James and yet all the World knows what little Progress was made how few Converts were gained and how really weak their best and surest Precautions did appear when it came to the touch If so many of his Subjects Soldiers and Servants were prevailed upon by Fears and Jealousies which were maliciously and industriously heightened above what any reason which was given for them could well bear what must then have been the Consequence if by real publick and undoubted Discoveries the King's intentions to ruin the Established Religion had been made unquestionably plain and evident Nothing less than an universal Defection and his perpetual Banishment from the Hearts and Affections of every English Man could have followed The Catholicks of Britain are not one of a hundred they have neither Heads Hearts nor Hands enough to force a National Conversion As the Protestants are the most Numerous so the Laws and Constitutions are upon their side their Civil Rights and Liberties are twisted together with their Religious and whosoever strikes at the last must infallibly wound the first It is not easie to overturn the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions whereby Religious and Civil Rights are secured to free born People we are in Possession by our Laws of our Religion and of that Liberty which distinguisheth our Happiness from that of other Subjects we love it and know it 's true worth we value and esteem our selves above other People upon the account of our native Freedoms and we will not easily part with 'em all Attempts and Designs upon them have been unsuccessful Ambitious Princes and Arbitrary Ministers may be forming Projects and Designs fortifying them the best way they can and making Parties for it but our Constitution together with the Protestant Religion which is now become part of it and our Laws will prove always too hard for them at last Nothing can expose or betray our Religion and Constitution to any danger but overmuch fondness in the People to a Prince who under some popular Mask and Pretence covers close and fatal Designs against either Let us but examine the present condition of our neighbouring States and we shall find that Raptures of Love in the people hath overturned more Constitutions and built up more Despotick Governments than the Force or Address of Princes could ever do It is commonly received for a Truth That Love is blind and credulous and certainly holds good with relation to a Political Affection There is a certain allowable Jealousie in the People which is very consistent with the Duty Affection and Respect due to the Prince and guards and protects their Laws and Constitution Without some Measures of this Jealousie the Constitution will be always in danger and this Antidote can never be wanting in the Protestant Subjects of Britain under a Popish King His Religion gives us such a lively and active Jealousie of him and his Designs makes us so watchful and puts us so much upon our guard that all the Efforts of such a Prince thô never so dextrous supported by so weak and inconsiderable a Party as the Catholicks of Britain can never endanger Religion and Liberty Rather his Circumstances and Inclinations to those of his own Religion their ease and quiet might have been improved into farther and more real Securities for Religion and Liberty by a wise and discreet Treaty orderly managed in Parliament To all this it may be alledged That though the Catholicks of Britain be not a Party sufficient to carry on and effectuate such Designs yet the Forces of the Hector of France were still at the Command and Service of his Dear and Faithful Ally for carrying on so good and meritorious a Work as that of Reducing again Great Britan into the Bosom of the Roman Church This is maliciously and artfully enough suggested but let us examin it a little How does it appear that King James was become so lost to all Reason Morality and Discretion as to resolve to call in a French Power to over-run a Countrey which was his own and destroy a People who were living peaceably under him by which from one of the most Considerable and Potent Monarchs of Europe he became the Least and most Contemptible His refusal of French Troops and Assistance when threatened with a Foreign Invasion seems to be no great Proof of this and his betaking himself at that time to the Love and Affection of his Subjects as it was a plain discovery he was not Conscious to himself of any real Design which could destroy that mutual Love and Confidence betwixt Prince and People which is a Debt due from the one to the other however his Measures might have been Traduced or maliciously Poysoned so it may let us see how improbable it is to imagine that a Prince could ever form Designs of destroying a People whose Affections he durst trust in such an Extremity Again What Reason is there to imagine that the French King vvould be so ready to furnish Troops and be at the Charge of such a Reformation He is generally allowed to be a Prince who studies his own Interest the most of any and fits all his Maxims his Conduct and Allyances exactly to it and never takes a step which upon the remotest view may seem to cross the Interest of his Crown and Monarchy And if it do appear as certainly it will to any judicious thinking Man that the Reducing Great Britain to the Bosom of the Roman Church may greatly endanger the Crown of France than all â—â—â—rs of a French Reformation will fall to the Ground The English Pretences to the most considerable Maritime Provinces nay upon the Crown of France it self are generally known and Histories can inform us how troublesome how dangerous and how successfully they were many times carried on against those Monarchs partly
by the natural Boldness Spirit and Courage of the English far surpassing that of the French but more especially from the Inclination of the French themselves to live under a Government which was so much easier and more agreeable than their own it being natural for People to covet the same Plenty and Freedom which they see is injoyed and possessed by their Neighbour Hence it was that though we lost all our Footing in France yet still our Forces and Enmity was more dreadful to those Monarchs than that of any other State in Europe though more considerable for its native Strength and consining by dry Marches upon 'em and they always Courted our Friendship and Allyance with the greatest Submissions and Applications imaginable And until the Reign of Q. Elizabeth the French did always chuse rather to divert our Invasions with their Money and Treaties than to encounter them by Force being afraid to graple with that Power which they had so often felt to their Cost Since that time neither our Friendship hath been so much Courted nor our Enmity so carefully Avoided as formerly This doth not proceed from the increase of the French Power and decrease of ours though the Revenues and Military Force of France be strangely augmented since ours in proportion hath received the same increase Our Treasure is augmented and that being the Sinews of War quickly furnisheth and maintains every thing else And the other States of Europe are from the Circumstances of Affairs better disposed for Allyances with us than ever they were in the time of our Ancestors So that France is but still France and England in the same Proportion with it as to Force and Revenue and in a more promising Condition of making Allyances and of being more usefully served by them Our Pretences are still the same and every whit as Strong and Just and we as willing and desirous to make Advantage of them and yet we are in no respect so formidable to that Crown as formerly nor in a Condition to shake that State and make such impressions into the Heart of France as our Ancestors have done The true Reason is our difference in Religon for we being Protestants and France Popish this sets the Two Nations at a greater distance from mutual Correspondence and Contrivances which must necessarily preceed and occasion important Revolutions than all their former Animosities Emulation and Duty to their natural Prince could ever do Loyalty to Princes National Considerations and Point of Honor and Reputation do many times give way to present and future Advantages But when Religion and Point of Conscience comes in to gather and cement all those divided Interests together and unite them as it were into one bundle they become the more hard and difficult to overcome This plain and evident Reason cannot escape the Knowledge and Reflection of so wise a Prince as the French King is acknowledged to be The difference in Religion is a much greater Security to him against our Attempts than his Armies Fleets or Strength of his Towns The Sense of Religion doth many times rouze and influence the Courage and Resolutions of Men when other humane Considerations prove to weak to quicken their drooping Spirits Catholicks will fight to the last to escape the Dominion of such as they believe Hereticks when perhaps French Men would be willing enough to come under the English Government which is so much easier and better than their own I do not question but this very Consideration alone will prove strong enough to keep the French King from endeavouring our Reunion to the Roman Church which would make the Pretences of an English Monarch more dangerous than ever by our Union with Scotland which formerly gave such notable Diversions to our Forces both at Home and in France That Prince's Disputes with the Pope for Point of Prerogative shews plainly that he never will indanger his Crown in his own Person or Posterity to serve the Interests and Desires of the Papal Chair from all which we may safely conclude that the Protestant Religion in Britain was in no great danger of being ruined by King James though really as bad as he was represented If our Religion and Liberties were placed so much out of danger of being overturned by the Laws and Franchises we were then in Possession of how much better might we have established them for the future and placed them above the shadow of any Danger by embracing and improving the Offers which our lawful Prince made us of carving out our own Satisfaction and Securities He was surprized with an astonishing Defection of his Subjects with a Conspiracy of a great many Princes and States against him He knew no place but France to retire unto where he might have a Cover for his Head but could have no great Expectations of being quickly restored to his Throne by a Power which had so much other Diversion He was unwilling in his old Age to go into Exile was very desirous to leave a perfect Calm to his Son before his own Death which by the Co rs of Nature and the ordinary Destiny of his Family he could not believe was very remote and had a Love and Kindness to us still as a Father for his disobedient Children All which would have procured us from our lawful King a lasting legal full and happy Settlement would have established our Religion bettered and secured our Liberties upon lasting Foundations without any trouble and with a great deal of innocency How many crimes would have been avoided by following this Method and how many more prevented which will be necessary if we be obstinate to support and maintain the Injustice we have done How many Millions of Money and how many Lives might have been saved or at least more profitably employed by the Conduct and good Husbandry of our Lawful King for the Honour of England restraining the unbounded Pretences of ambitious Neighbours and in giving Peace and Quiet to Europe There is no question but a King who was so unwilling to leave us and had so much of an English Spirit would have gone into any Measures with relation to foreign Affairs that his Paliament should have thought fitting in which case what returns of Glory and Profit would this Nation and Monarchy have reaped from this Blood and Treasure which is now absolutely lost and thrown away and our future Expences and Dangers daily growing upon us with as little hope of Success My heart is so rent and torn with the thoughts of it that my Pen is ready to drop out of my hand as I write But we wantonly longed for an Abdication without examining the true Value of what we refused and the Consequences were to follow upon the other Measures We have made a religious War of it which may be fatally returned upon us and we never considered that Defections upon Pretences for the Protestant Religion seldom or never terminate othervvise than by the Destruction of Religion and Pretenders both
seldom lasting amongst Neighbouring Princes rarely continue during their own Lives and are never transmitted to to their Posterities so many Reasons and Jealousies of State are falling in which occasion frequent and unavoidable Breaches And a King of England who is Absolute and Master of his Subjects would be a great deal more troublesome and dangerous to France than otherways and so it is not very probable that that Monarch will ever contribute to make us a Conquest to K. James and introduce Popery and Slavery amongst us There is one sure way to prevent this danger of Conquest and that is by the vigorous endeavours of every Enlish Man to repair the Injury done to our Abdicated Monarch King William's unwillingness to Abdicate which these Authors threaten us with can't put a stop to it His breaches upon our Laws and Constitution and his violation of the Original Contract made with himself deserves it and it is not all his Partisans and Troops can cover him from Abdication whenever the People of England thinks fit to declare it We are told next by these Authors That K. James is become so in love with the French Government that we shall never so much as have his Promise for securing our Religion and Liberties even though we have no reason to depend upon that or any other Security he can give us since he hath undertaken to the Pope and K. of France to make void all when he is upon his Throne and that it is visible from his Carriage in Ireland to the Protestants there that neither the sad Example of K. Charles the First who suffered for the like Attempts towards Arbitrary Power nor the fresh Remembrances of his own Misfortunes will ever oblige him to lay aside his Arbitrary Designs And however instrumental Protestants may be in his return that Pardon for their former Failings is all can be expected from him without obtaining the least kind regard to their Religion or Liberties on that Score I would gladly know upon what Grounds they assert that K. James will grant no Security at all for Religion and Liberty Have they made the Experiment and been refused It is not a bare Assertion can convince us of the Truth of it since we are assured to the contrary I have heard of a Scotch Plot for Restoring King James the particulars of it I am not acquainted with Only I have been told That upon the Application of some few Gentlemen of that Nation unto him he frankly granted them under the Broad Seal of Scotland all that was proposed for the security of Religion and Liberty and agreed to several Immunities which the P. of O. refused that Nation though he was solemnly engaged to grant them when the Crown of that Kingdom was tendered unto him Here is more than a bare Promise the Concessions are passed under the Broad Seal and granted by him when his Affairs were in Promising Circumstances at the desire of a few Gentlemen who had been active against him and who could make no such considerable Addition unto his Party as might induce him to it unless his own Inclinations when free from the pressure of designing Ministers and readiness to rectifie whatever was grievous to the People had put him upon it Can it be doubted after this that he will deny any thing that is necessary for the good and happiness of his Subjects whenever they apply seriously unto him for it But he must make good his Engagements to the Pope and King of France and make void all when he remounts the Throne which his hard Circumstances obliged him to grant If this were made plain unto us there would be a great deal of weight in it all the Evidence we have for it is the Veracity of the Author which goeth no great length being founded only upon supposition that he could not be countenanced by those Princes without such an Engagement This is an Argument that concludes more forcibly against themselves since it is reasonable to imagine that more solemn and sacred Engagements in favour of the Holy Chair and a Conviction of more punctual and ready Performances were necessary to induce the Pope and so many Popish Princes to countenance a Protestants mounting the Throne to the prejudice of a Papist I am yet to learn what were the great Merits of the Irish Protestants since the Revolution the fresh Obligations laid upon him and what were the new Discoveries he gave us there of his hatred to Protestants and irregular Arbitrary Courses I have seen a Book written by Dr. King which these Authors refers us to as sufficient Evidence to make good their Charge but it is so scandalously and notoriously False and stuffed with so many gross Errors and willful Mistakes in point of History and matter of Fact even in many things which fall under my own Knowlege that the Doctor seems to have Calculated his Book for a Virulent false Libel thereby to merit some Benifice from this Government rather than for our Information by a true and impartial History And the World shall be obliged with a particular Account of his Falshoods and Calumnies by a full and impartial Account of those Transactions But to come close home to the Charge Did not the Irish Protestants generally declare for the Prince of Orange Did they not actually either appear in Arms for the Prince or quit the Kingdom And those who stay'd were not they rather lookers on than actors or any ways useful towards the asserting the King's Rights I do not design this as a Satyr against the Protestants of Ireland the Measures taken there gave them much better grounds for their Fears than any we can pretend but only to shew that the Protestants of Ireland contributed no Endeavours towards his Restauration but run generally along with the Stream against it and so cannot be said to have made any new Experiment of his Kindness to and grateful sense of Obligations performed by Protestants They never desired or obtained any new Securities for their Religion and Liberties upon the Account of Services performed for him and so have no fresh Branches of Promise to charge upon him as our Authors do insinuate whereby to deter the Protestants of Britain from contributing towards his Restauration On the contrary we have a very convincing Argument from his Care of his Protestant Subjects there tho' either actually Enemies or at best but idle Spectators and his constant Endeavours to protect them from the Insults and Fury of the Irish of whom he was not fully Master to persuade us of the Gratitude and kind Returns we may expâ—ct from him when at liberty and obliged by our Services to express it How carefully did he preserve their Estates and Goods With how much tenderness did he give free Passage to the Women and Children from Londonderry when by denying it he must infallibly have carried the Town With what exact Discipline did he Govern an Army serving without Pay until King William's Protestant reforming
Reasonings which more perfectly resembled the Pretences Motives and Grounds of this Revolution by their Weakness Falshood and Prevarications How well our present Payments secure our native Countrey and Religion from Destruction may appâ—ar from the ruine of Ireland the Plunderings and free Quarters practised in Britain the Breaches made upon our ancient Monarchy and Constitution whereby a War is entailed upon Us and our Posterity from the Violences done to our Laws Rights and Liberties and Original Contract made with K. William and from the present visible and eminent Dangers which our Religion and Liberties are threatned with by any probable Issue of this War under a Prince who hath quite overturned the Liberties of his own native Countrey made fair advances towards the ruine of ours and was never yet Successful in any Enterprise he undertook except when he invaded his Father in Law contrary to all Divine and Humane Rules which perhaps God designed as a Scourge to these Nations for our Sins and when he fought Luxemburgh's Out-guards at St. Denis with the Peace in his Pocket contrary to the publick Faith and Law of Nations as if he were Predestinated to be Successful only in Crimes but unfortunate in heroick brave and generous Actions such as restraining the ambitious Encroachments of Princes and vindicating the Rights and Liberties of oppressed Nations having always practised in his own Case what he pretended to reform in another's How little the Deliverance of Europe is carried on by our present Payments is but too evident from the growing Successes of France in Flanders and the taking their most considerable Towns and Fortresses in the sight and under the nose of our present Monarch and those mighty Consederate Armies It is equally false to insinuate That our Payments during King Charles the Second's Reign bore any proportion with the Taxes under this and that they were employed only for assisting France to ruine Europe For the Subsidies we have already paid to this K. which Sir Edward Sâ—ymer who might very well know it assured the House of Commons did amount to 18 Millions before the last Impositions which were granted do far exceed all the Taxes paid to K. Charles joyn'd with the several Payments made to our Edwards our Henries and our Elizabeth who raised the Honour and Reputation of this Nation so high and spread our Conquests so far And it was to King Charles his Authority and Mediation the Peaces of Aix-la-Chapelle and Nimiguen were due which put then a Stop to the French Carreer And I am afraid our present Payments will very hardly bring about a Peace again upon the Foot of those Treaties and we are to take it as a very great Favour for which we are to be thankful to God and our present King if the Taxes we pay during this Government fall any thing short of the French Oppressions and Four Millions a Year over and above an Allowance for the Abatement of Chimney-Money and the ordinary Revenues of the Crown are but inconsiderable Payments in the opinion of these Authors It seems their Court Preferments are great and rich that they are so little sensible of those Taxes which are already become so heavy to this Nation and of which we see no end But the growing Debt to the French King for those Sums already spent upon K. â—ames 's Subsistance and the defence of Ireland and to be farther Expâ—nded for his Restauration will quite sink and undo this Nation It appears that these Authors take it for granted That the mercenary Temper of the Dutch in demanding and obtaining Satiâ—faction for their Expences which 〈◊〉 of a tender regard forsooth to our Liberties they bestowed upon our Deliverance will be exactly copied by other Princes But this is the first Instance of such Merchandise and it is not to be believed that great Princes who study Fame and tenderly regard their Honor and Glory will imitate so base an Example But suppose they should our Author is as wide in his Estimate of this Expence as in his other Reasonings We are frightned with a Charge Ten times bigger for many Years than our present Payments and yet will very much fall short of the half of one Years Tax we pay now The Sums spent upon the King's Subsistence and Ireland doth not amount to Three hundred thousand Luâ—dores and as for the Charge of his return I wish and heartily pray that all true English Men would unanimously concur together to prevent the pretence of demanding any such Charges the necessity of Foreign Troops and even the remotest Fears of French Popery and Slavery by returning our King with as general a Consent as he was forced from us which will vindicate the Protestant Religion from the reproach of Deposing Principles and establish it for the nature will reseâ—â—e the ancient Monarchy and Constitution of this Nation upon its old Basiâ— will repair the Injury done to our lawful King whereby we may legaly obtain those Securities for our Religion and Liberties which we are Courting unsucces fully amidst so many desperaâ—e Dâ—â—gâ—rs and Diffâ—â—â—lâ—â—s will infallibly relieve us from the weighty Oppressions and manifest Infractions of our choicest and most valuable Rights which we at present feel and have so much reason to be apprehensive of for the future will deliver us from the heavy Burthen of so many Taxes which we have already paid and which yet must be continued if we design to support a crazy and unjust Settlement any longer which after all our Blood and Expence must certainly fall to the ground and give place to the natural Force and Weight of our ancient Government and Monarchy to the just Title and undoubted Rights of our lawful Sovereign and his Posterity to the Love Affections and native Inclinations of English Men when the present fit is over and to the Interests of our Neighbouring Princes and States which lie visibly cross unto it so soon as their present Differences are at an end And lastly by this Method we shall be secured against those fatal Influences upon our Liberties which never fail to accompany all forced irresistable and unexpected returns of Exiled Monarchs I do humbly beseech Almighty God That of his Infinite Mercy for the good of these Nations and of all Europe he would open the Prince of Orange's Eyes give him a sight and discovery of the Vanity as well as Injustice of possessing his Father's Throne and incline his Heart to establish Religion and Liberty among us and give Peace to all Europe by doing an Act which would bury in Oblivion the famed Instances of Dioclesian and Charles V. and immortalize his Name even by restoring his old Father to his Right and Inheritance Was it really the Danger our Religion and Liberties were in which put him upon coming to Britain this would be an infallible way fully to secure them by new Laws and Concessions against which there lay no Objection Or was it to put himself at the head of the British Forces thereby to give a Check to the towring Ambition of the French Monarch this would more effectually do it for either that King would think himself obliged out of Gratitude to a Prince who is truly a Martyr for a supposed French League to give a reasonable Peace to Europe in order to King James's Restauration or by a Refusal our King was at Liberty to consult his own Interest and to unite with the Consederates by the Advice of Parliament which would make such a general and vigorous Application of the English Forces that way without any fear of Domestick Distraction as would quickly oblige that great Monarch to give ear to Reason and a Peace to his Neighbours And the Glory of having given Peace to Europe and subdued himself would place the Prince of Orange's Name upon the highest Pinnacles of Fame furnish the greatest Character imaginable for History give a great and noble Example to future Ages declare him the Benefactor of the Christian World and oblige all British Subjects to acknowlege that he had most generously contributed his best Endeavours for the securing of the Protestant Religion and the free Enjoyment of all our Laws Rights and Liberties under a just and legal Government according to his Declaration FINIS ERRATA PAge 5. Col. 1. Line 23. r. upon a Review of that bl ssed Occasion p. 8. c. 1. l. 37. deâ—e in p. 10. c. 2. l. 9. after Troops add to support 〈◊〉 p. 13. c. 2. l. 16. 〈◊〉 it r. th y. p. 14. c. 2. l. 39 r. easie p. 21. c. 1. l. 38. r. was not with p. 22. c. 1. l. â—â— lâ—â—e anoth r. p. 26. c. 1. l. 13. dele our p. 27. c. 2. l. 21. r. Princes p. 32. c. 1. l. 13. r. the. p. â—2 c. 1. l. 30 dele upon whole Counties p. 37. c. 1. l. 6. after in add the. dele are l. 23. r. Towns p. 41. c. 2. l. 3. r. scrâ—ening p. 43. c. 2 l. 4. dele and his Designs p. 4â— c. 2. l. 9. r. instanc p. 54 c. 2. l. 32. 〈…〉 fail to furnish