after such an Advice sent by Persons whom he had trusted with the most important Concerns of his Crown and Kingdom after such an open Breach of the publick Faith and after such visible and open discoveries of the Prince's secret Designs and unlimited Ambition a Passion which never scruples to sacrafice every Remora to its Establishment where it Predominates Is there any cool and rational Man will censure the King's Conduct in disbanding that Army which had for the most part made a Defection from him and in taking care of his Person by a speedy Retreat from amongst such wavering Subjects dangerous and disingenuous Enemies But in farther Evidence of the King's unwillingness to part from his People and of the Prince's fix d and determinate Resolutions to force him to as great a distance as he could being always jealous of a Reconcilement which would have quite buried his ambitious Thoughts and Designs I shall give the World a particular account of the most important Steps taken by either Relative to their several Designs The King when he came to London sent a Message to Sir Thomas Stamp now Mayor and to Sir Simon Lewis two eminent Aldermen of that City desiring them to acquaint their Brethren and others of the Common Council That he was resolved to put himself into the hands of the City there to remain until by a free Parliament he had given all Satisfaction to his People by securing their Religion Liberties and Properties to the full hoping that in the mean time they would take care to guard and secure his Person The foresaid Persons communicated this Message as they were desired but by the influence and interest of Sir Robert Clayton the offer was refused and the security of his Person would not be assured to him Here is plain demonstration both of the King's Willingness to piece up with his People and of the Danger which threatned his Person When the King came from Feversham to Whitehall Monsieur Zuylestein delivered him at Somerset house a Letter from the Prince which was designed to have reached him before he came from Feversham wherein he was desired but in the Style of a Command not to come any nearer London than Rochester To which the King very meekly returned an Answer That he would have complied with the Letter had it come sooner to his hands Can there be any more doubt after this of the Prince's unjust and ambitious Designs to put such a Restraint upon a Monarch in his own Dominions whose undoubted Title he had acknowleged both by his Declaration and a Treaty This was a piece of Haughtiness and Insolence above all Example except what his own future Practices hath furnished us with As soon as the King came to Whitehall he wrote to the Prince inviting him to St. James's allowing him his own Dutch Guards to secure his Person and assuring him That upon their Interview he would fully satisfie the intent of his Declaration But this was no satisfaction to the Prince He had a secret and concealed aim at the Crown and provided he could gain that point he liked it the better that it were Vested with all the Power he so much complained of in his Declaration His Conduct since hath sufficiently cleared this to these Nations An Interview which was so much desired by the King did not suit with this darling Project he could neither well ask it nor expect to have it granted Besides he found the Torrent of the Peoples Affections which had run so swiftly towards himself was then at a Stand and in danger to be turned into another Channel if the King remained at Whitehall and at liberty to apply himself to the regaining of his Subjects Hearts which he was sincerely resolved to court and acquire at any rate being free from the bad Influences and Advices of those Ministers which were in Confederacy with the Prince Upon all which it was resolved that Count Solmes should possess the several Posts at Whitehall with Dutch Guards and make the King a Prisoner And about two a Clock in the Morning he received Orders from the Prince by the Mouths of three noble Lords to be gone immediately from his own Palace and accordingly he was sent Prisoner to Rochester attended by Dutch Guards and all this performed with unspeakable Rudeness and Indignities done to his Person He was disturbed at an unseasonable hour with a Sentence of Banishment from his own Palace passed upon him by his Son-in-law who pretended only to settle and fix his Crown by redressing of Grievances and that Sentence pronounced unto him by three of his own Subjects who accompanied it with some unmannerly Severities which their fears of a courser Treatment if he staid put them upon He was refused his own Guards to attend him and his own Coach to carry him to Rochester though he declared That he could not travel by Water in so cold a Season against Wind and Tide without greatly endangering his Health Good God! that such Barbarities should be practised and afterwards justified by Christians which Pagans and Infidels would be ashamed of Whilst the King staid at Rochester and during the Sessions of those Lords and Commons who first put the Administration of Affairs into the Prince's Hand and moved for calling of the Convention he sent a Message to the present B of Winchester which he desired might be communicated to the rest of the Bishops acquainting him with his Resolutions to come either publickly or privately and put himself into the Hands of my Lords the Bishops to be under their Protectionâ— until at their Sight and by their Advice he had fully settled and secured every thing in a free Parliament This Message the Bishop of Winchester did impart to the rest and their return to it was That they could not receive him either publickly or privately under their Protection for in that case they would be responsible for his Safety and they were not in a Condition to secure him against the Ambition of the Prince who was resolved to accomplish his Designs and surrounded with so many Troops after so many Advertisements given him of the danger his Person was in by People who might know it and whose Testimony was not to be suspected and those Advertisements fortified and confirmed by the Prince's strange and unaccountable Carriage in breaking the publick Treaty in imprisoning my Lord Feversham contrary to the publick Faith thereby to elude the Effects of his Message in refusing a personal Treaty depriving him of his Liberty putting him under Guards and in banishing him imperiously and unmannerly from his own Houses After so many fruitless Applications to the Prince to the City and to the Bishops only to be secured as to his Person until by a free Parliament he had given full Satisfaction to his People Can there be any Person who is not become Bankrupt as to common Sense and Reason who will blame the King for withdrawing and thereby endeavouring to put himself in
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
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
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
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