themselves the R. C's have neither Hearts to keep firm to such a Resolution nor Hands to Execute it Since therefore They themselves have unhappily brought their Church into such Preâ—pices by provoking the Dissenters it is in a particular manner their Duty as well as their laterest to endeavour to soften them by assisting the Letter and promoting the Design of it But if the old leaven still remain they continue to argue as formerly if the Surplice be parted with the Church of England is lost if the Penal Laws be repealed the Test will follow and comfort themselves with this most Christian reflection that the R. C. will not accept of what is offered them such men deserve all the misery that is preparing for them and will perish without Pity and give thinking Men occasion to remember the Proverb Beat a Fool or a Zealot in a Morter yet his Foolishness will not depart from him But the Dissenters ought not to be much concerned at this they have their own Bigots and the Church of England theirs there will be Tools whilst there are Workmen This a time for Wisdom to be justified of her Children when honest men ought to leave off minding the lesser Interests of this or that particular Church and joyn in securing the common Interest of the Protestant Religion And to conclude I would particularly beg of the Dissenters to make use of their best Judgment on this so critical an occasion which they will do in my opinion in keeping close to the contents of this Letter by endeavouring to obtain in a fair and legal way such a Liberty to all Perswasions as is the Natural Right of Freemen and as our Protestant Successors declare themselves willing to joyn in and if those who have an equal nay a greater Interest than themselves will not agree to such a Liberty because they will be Masters or nothing the Dissenters will have the comfort of having discharged their own Consciences as prudent Men and good Christians ought to do and may safely trust God with the Event Sir I thought I had made an end but looking your Letter over again I find I have forgot to answer a reason or two you give why you doubt whether the Letter be truly M. Fagels You are informed you say that such and such Great Men doubted of it but some might as well pretend to doubt of the Truth of that Letter tho they knew it to be true as believe Her Majesty to be with Child almost before she knew it Her self and that she was quick when the Embryo as Anatomists say is not much above an Inch long I don't think that Popish Successors like certain weeds grow faster than others The Persons you name may Trim and presume on their Merit least they might be thought capable of Resentment A dangerous Reflection I say their Merit you have seen a long relation of the great services some when they were in power did their Highnesses it is bound up with a relation of the true causes of their sufferings for their or rather their Highnesses Religion You know even how one of them the last Summer payed them his reverence with all the Respect and Humility of a due distance and with the same caution with which the Invincible Monarch fights out of Cannon shot But Sir though the character of a Trimmer be ordinarily the character of a Prudent Man there are times and seasons when it is not the Character of an Honest Man. I acknowledge that since their Highnesses Marriage nothing has hapned so much for the good of the Protestant Interest as this Letter of M. Fagels and if I had been either the Writer or Adviser of it I should be very proud of it and think the Nation much in my debt But Sir that was not a very good reason to make you doubt of it for a good cause will have its time tho not so often as a bad one which hath ordinarily the Majority on its side I am confident at present we have all the reason in the world to expect it for my own part though I am neither young nor strong I hope to live to see a day of Jubilee in England for all that deserve it when honest men shall have the same pleasure in thinking on these times that a Woman happily delivered hath in reflecting on the pain and danger she was in But Knaves shall remember them as I am told the damned do their sins Cursing both them and themselves Sir I am Yours January 12 1688. A Letter Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel Pensioner to the Great and Mighty Lords the States of Holland and Westfriesland Writ in French on the 9th of April N. Stile 1688. To the Marquiss of Albeville Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty of Great Britain to the High and Mighty the States General of the Vnited Provinces To which is prefixt an Account in Dutch of the Letter Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel on the 4th of November in the year 1687. to Mr. Stewart written by the said Pensioner and Published by his Order Printed at the Hague by James Scheltus Printer to the States of Holland and Westfriesland Translated out of the French and Dutch into English READER I Gaspar Fagel having the honour to serve the Great and Mighty States of Holland and Westfriesland in the Quality of their Pensioner cannot any longer delay the giving the Publick this account that in the month of July last 1687. I was very earnestly desired by Mr. James Stewart Advocate to write to him what were the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts concerning the repealing the Test and the Penal Laws but I was not easily brought to put Pen to Paper on this subject because I knew that their Highnesses Thoughts did not agree with his Majesties so that the writing in such matters was extream tender therefore I delayed it till I was more earnestly pressed to it and it was Intimated to me that those pressing desires were made by His Majesties Knowledge and Allowance at last I did according to the mind of their Highnesses draw the Letter which I writ to Mr. Stewart on the 4th of November I transmitted the draught of my Letter to their Highnesses and received upon it their order to send it after that their Highnesses had read and examined the draught in Dutch together with the Translation of it into English upon all this I sent my Letter to Mr. Stewart in the beginning of November and received an answer from him by which he signified that he had shewed my Letter both to the Earl of Melfort and to the Earl of Sunderland and that it was also shewed to the King himself nor did he in the least intimate to me that it was desired that I should make any great secret of it or take care that it should not become publick That Letter was afterwards about the middle of January Printed in England and upon its coming over into this Country it has occasioned a great
are only to blame for it who will rather be content that they and their Posterity should lie still under the weight of the Penal Laws and exposed to the hatred of the whole Nation than be still restrained from a capacity of attempting any thing against the Peace and the Security of the Protestans Religion And be deprived of that small advantage if it is at all to be reckoned one of having a share in the Government and publick Employments since in all places of the World his has been always the priviledge of the Religion that is established by Law and indeed these Attempts of the Roman Catholicks ought to be so much the more suspected and guarded against by Protestants in that they see that Roman Catholicks even when liable to the Severity of Penal Laws do yet endeavour to perswade his Majesty to make the Protestants whether they will or not dissolve that Security which they have for their Religion and to clear a way for bringing in the Roman Catholicks to the Government and to publick Employments in which case there would remain no relief for them but what were to be expected from a Roman Catholick Government Such then will be very unjust to their Highnesses who shall blame them for any Inconveniency that may arise from thence since they have declared themselves so freely on this subject and that so much to the advantage even of the Roman Catholicks And since the Settlement of matters sticks at this single point that Their Highnesses cannot be brought to consent to things that are so contrary to Laws already in being and that are so dangerous and so hurtful to the Protestant Religion as the admitting of Roman Catholicks to a share in the Government and to places of Trust and the Repealing of those Laws that can have no other effect but the securing of the Protestant Religion from all the Attempts of the Roman Catholicks against it would be You write That the Roman Catholicks in these provinces are not shut out from the Employments and places of Trust But in this you are much mistaken For our Laws are express excluding them by name from all share in the Government and from all Employments either of the Policy or Justice of our Country It is true I do not know of any express Law that shuts them out of Military Employments that had indeed been hard since in the first Formation of our State they joyned with us in defending our publick Liberty and did us eminent service during the Wars therefore they were not shut out from those Military Employments for the publick safety was no way endanger'd by this both because their numbers that served in our Troops were not great and because the States could easily prevent any Inconvenience that might arise out of that which could not have been done so easily if the Roman Catholicks had been admitted to a Share in the Government and in the Policy or Justice of our State I am very certain of this of which I could give very good proofs that there is nothing which Their Highnesses desire so much as that His Majesty may Reign happily and in an entire Confidence with his Subjects and that His subjects being perswaded of His Majesties fatherly affection to them may be ready to make him all the returns of Duty that are in thâ—â—â— Power But their Highnesses are convinced in their Consciences that both the Protestant Religion and the safety of the Nation will be exposed to most certain Dangers if either the Test or those other Penal Laws of which I have made frequent mention should be Repealed Therefore they cannot consent to this nor concur with His Majesty's Will for they believe they should have much to Answer for to God if the consideration of any present advantages should carry them to consent and concur in things which they believe would be not only dangerous but mischievous to the Protestant Religion Their Highnesses have ever pay'd a most profound Duty to His Majesty whcih they will always continue to do for they consider themselves bound to it both by the Laws of God and of Nature But since the matter that is now in hand relates not to the making of new Laws but to the total Repealing of those already made both by King and Parliament They do not see how it can be expected of them that they should consent to such a Repeal to which they have so just an aversion as being a thing that is contrary to the Laws and Customs of all Christian States whether Protestants or Papists who receive â—one to a share in the Government or to publick Employments but those who profess the publick and established Religion and that take care to secure it against all attempts whatsoever I do not think it necessary to demonstrate to you how much their Highnesses are devoted to His Majesty of which they have given such real Evidences as are beyond all verbal ones and they are resolved still to continue in the same Duty and Affection or rather to encrease it if that is possible I am SIR Yours c. Novemb. 4. 1687. Amsterdam Printed in the Year 168â— Reflexions on Monsieur Fagel's Letter SIR I Shall endeavour to answer yours as fully and briefly as possible 1. You desire to know whether the Letter I sent you be truly Monsieur Fagel's or not 2. Whether their Highnesses gave him Commission to write it 3. How far the Dissenters may relie on their Highnesses word 4. What effects it has on all sorts of People Sir Roman Catholicks may be pardoned if they endeavour to make that Letter pass for an Imposture it is their Interest so to do and they are seldom wanting to promote that let the methods be never so indirect which they are forced to make use of It does indeed spoil many hopeful projects of theirs But how any Protestant among us can really doubt the truth of it is strange to me Some things carry their own evidence along with them I take this Letter to be one of that kind I do not desire you to believe me upon my bare affirmation that I know it to be genuine tho this be most true but shall offer my Reasons to convince you that it cannot be otherways First The Letter is like its Author the Matter is weighty the Reasoning solid the Stile grave full and clear like that of a Lawyer It has an Air all over which as well shews the Religion and Temper of its Writer as the Matter and Method of it do his Capacity and Judgment Now all these Qualities make up the Character of Monsieur Fagel Secondly There are the same grounds to believe this Letter to be M. Fagel's as there are to believe any thing you have not seen viz. The constant Asseverations of Persons of undoubted Credit that come from Holland who all agree in it and assure us of it M. Fagel own'd it to several English Gentlemen and many both here and in Holland knew two
Name and Reign The maxims of the French Kings have been to outvie each other in Robbing their Neighbours and Oppressing their Subjects by perfidiousness and cruelty But those of the Family of Orange on the contrary have been to Rescue Europe from its Oppressors and maintain the Protestant Interest by Vertue Truth Honour and Resolution knowing that such methods are as necessary to make Protestant Princes and States flourish as Vice and Oppression are to maintain Popish Government No Popish Prince in Europe can pretend to have kept his Word to his Protestant Subjects as the Princes of Orange have always done to their Popish subjects at Orange and elsewhere and the Papists have often broke their Word to that Family and have been and are its declared Enemies and though the Princes two great Grand-Fathers Admiral Coligni and Prince William were Assassinated by the Authority and with the Approbation of that whole party yet it cannot be made appear that ever the Princes of that Family failed in keeping their Word even to such Enemies or used their own Popish subjects the worse for it in making distinction between them and their other subjects or influenc'd the States to use theirs so I say the States who allow their R. C. subjects all the priviledges of their other subjects only they are kept by a Test from having any share in the Government which is truly a kindness done them considering that ill-natured Humour of destroying all those that differ from them which is apt to break out when that Religion is in power Now the Church of England may justly expect all sort of protection and countenance from the successors when it 's their turn to give it they have a legal right to it and Impartial Dissenters must acknowledge that of late they have deserved it But as for the Protestant Dissenters I think no honest man amongst them will Apprehend that their Highnesses who keep their Word to their Popish Enemies will break it to Protestant subject tho differing from the publick Establishment The next thing I am to make good is That His Highnesses Education must have infused such principles as side with his Interest There must be a fatal Infection in the English Crown if matters miscarry in his Highnesses Hands his Veins are full of the best Protestant Blood in the World The Reformation in France grew up under the Conduct and Influence of Coligni Prince William founded the Government of the United Netherlands on the Basis of property and liberty of Conscience His Highness was bred and lives in that State which subsists and flourishes by adhering steadily to the Maxims of its Founder He himself both in his publick and private concerns as well in the Government of his Family and of such principalities as belong to him as in that of the Army and in the Dispensing of that great power which the States have given him has as great regard to Justice Vertue and true Religion as may compleat the character of a Prince qualified to make those he Governs happy It does not indeed appear that their Highnesses have any share of that devouring Zeal which hath so long set the World on fire and tempted thinking men to have a notion of Religion it self like that we have of the Ancient Paradice as if it had never been more than an intended Blessing but all who have the honour to know their Highnesses and their Inclinations in matters of Religion are fully satisfied they have a truly Christian Zeal and as much as is consistent with Knowledge and Charity As to his Highnesses circumstances they will be such when his Stars make way for him as may convince our Scepticks that certain persons times and things are prepared for one another I know not why we may not hope that as his predecessors broke the Yoke of the House of Austria from off the Neck of Europe The honour of breakinâ— that of the House of Bourbon is reserved for him I am confident the Nation will heartily joyn with him in his Just Resentments Resentments which they have with so much Impatience long'd to find and have miss'd with the greatest indignation in the Hearts of their Monarchs His Highness has at present a greater influence on the Councils of the most part of the Princes of Christendom than possibly any King of England ever had And this acquired by the weight of his own personal merit which will no doubt grow up to a glorious Authority when it is cloath'd with Soveraign power May I here mention to â—ay the Jealousies of the most unreasonable of your Friends that his Highness will have only a borrowed Title which he may suppose will make him more catious in having designs at home and his wanting Children to our great misfortune will make him less solicitous to have such Designs But after all it must be acknowledged that in matters of this Nature the premises may seem very strong and yet the conclusion not follow Humane infirmities are great Temptations to Arbitrariness are strong and often both the Spirit and Flesh weak Such fatal mistakes have been made of late that the Successors themselves may justly pardon mens Jealousies A Widow that has had a bad Husband will cry on her Wedding-day though she would be married with all her heart But I am confident you will grant to me that in the case of the present Successors the possibilities are as remote and the Jealousies as ill grounded and that there is as much to ballance them as ever there was to be found in the prospect of any Successors to the Crown of England Now may I add To conclude the Reasons that I have given you why we may depend on their Highnesses that I know considerable men who after great Enquiry and Observation do hope that their Highesses being every way so well qualified for such an end are predestinated if I may speak so to make us happy in putting an end to our Differences and in fixing the Prerogative and in recovering the Glory of the Nation which is so much sunk and which now when we were big with Expectations we find Sacrific'd to unhappy partialities in matters of Religion The last thing you desire to know is What Effects this Letter has had But it is not yet old enough for me to judge of that I can better tell you what Effects it ought to have I find the moderate wise men of all Perswasions are much pleased with it I know Roman Catholicks that wish to God matters were settled on the model given in it they see the great difficulty of getting the Test Repealed And withal they doubt whether it is their Interest that it should be Repealed or not They fear needy violent men might get into Employments who would put His Majesty on doing things that might ruine them and their Posterity They are certainly in the right of it It is good to provide for the worst A Revolution will come with a Witness and it 's like it
may come before the Prince of Wales be of Age to manage an unruly Spirit that I fear will accompany it Humane Nature can hardly digest what it is already necessitated to swallow such provocations even alters mens Judgments I find that men who otherways hate severity begin to be of opinion that Queen Elizabeths Lenity to the R. C's proves now cruelty to the Protestants The whole Body of Protestants in the Nation was lately afraid of a Popish Successor and when they Reflected on Queen Maries Reign thought we had already sufficient Experience of the Spirit of that Religion and took Self-preservation to be a good Argument for preventing a second Tryal But now a handful of Roman Catholicks perhaps reflecting on Queen Elizabeths Reign are not it seems afraid of Protestant Successors But if some Protestants at that time from an Aversion to the Remedy hoped that the Disease was not so dangerous as it proves I am confident at present all Protestants are agreed that henceforward the Nation must be saved not by Faith. And therefore I would advise the R. C's to consider that Protestants are still men that late Experiences at home and the Cruelties of Popish Princes abroad has given us a very terrible Idea of their Religion That opportunity is precious and very slippery and if they let the present occasion pass by they can hardly ever hope that it will be possible for them to recover it That their Fathers and Grandfathers would have thought themselves in Heaven to have had such an offer as this is in any of the four last Reigns and therefore that they had better be contented with Half a Loaf than no Bread. I mean it will be their Wisdom to embrace this Golden Occasion of putting themselves on a level with all other English-men at least as to their private Capacity and to disarm once for all the Severity of those Laws which if ever they should come to be in good earnest Executed by a Protestant Suceessor will make England too hot for them And therefore I should particularly advise those among them who have the Honour to approach His Majesty to use their Credit to prevail with him to make this so necessary a step in favour of the Nation since the Successors have advanc'd two thirds of the way for effecting so good and pious a work Then and not till then the R. C's may think themselves secured and His Majesty may hope to be great by Translating Fear and Anger from the Breasts of His Subjects to the Hearts of His Own and the Nations Enemies But if an Evil Genius which seems to have hovered over us now a long time will have it otherwise if I were a R. C. I would meddle no more but live quiet at home and Caress my Protestant Neighbours and in so doing I should think my self better secured against the Resentments of the Nation than by all the Forces Forts Leagues Garranties and even Men Children that His Majesty may hope to leave behind him As for the Protestant Dissenters I am confident the Body of them will continue to behave themselves like men who to their great Honour have ever preferred the Love of their Country and Religion to all Dangers and Favours whatsoever but there are both Weak and Interested men among all great numbers I would have them consider how much the state of things is altred upon the coming out of this Letter for if hitherto they have been too forward in giving Ear to Proposals on this mistake that they could never have such a favourable Juncture for getting the Laws against them Repealed I hope now they are undeceived since the Successors have pawn'd their Faith and Honour for it which I take to be a better security as matters go at present than the so much talk'd of Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience would be though got in a legal way for our Judges have declared That Princes can dispence with the Obligation of Laws but they have not yet given their Opinion that they can dispence with the Honour of their Word nor have their Highnesses any Confessor to supply such an Omission However it is not to be charg'd on their Highnesses if such a Magna Charta be not at present given them provided the Test be let alone but I fear the Roman Catholicks Zeal will have all or nothing and the Test too must be Repealed by wheedling the Dissenters to joyn with willing Sheriffs in violating the Rights of Elections which are the Root of the Liberties of England a prudent way of recommending their Religion to all true English-men But if any of the Dissenters be so destitute of Sense and Honesty as to prefer a Magna Charta so obtained Void and Null in it self to their own Honour and Conscience to the Love and Liberties of their Countrey to the present Kindness of all good Men and their Countenance at another time and above all to the Favour and Word of the Successors who have now so generously declared themselves for them We may pronounce that they are men abandoned to a Reprobate sense who will justly deserve Infamy and the Hatred of the Nation at present and its Resentments hereafter Is it possible that any Dissenter who either deserves or loves the Reputation of an Honest Man can be prevailed with by any pretences of Insinuations how plausible soever to make so Odious and pernicious a bargain as that of buying a precarious pretended Liberty of Conscience at the price of the Civil Liberties of the Country and at the price of removing that which under God is the most effectual Bar to keep us from the Dominion of a Religion that wouldas soon as it could force us to abandon our own or reduce us to the Miserable Condition of those of our Neighbours who are glad to forsake all they have in the World that they may have their Souls and Lives for prey As for the Church of England their Clergy have of late oppos'd themselves to Popery with so much Learning Vigour Danger and Success that I think all honest Dissenters will lay down their Resentments against them and look on that Church as the present Bulwark and Honour of the Protestant Religion I wish those high men among them who have so long appropriated to themselves the name and Authority of the Church of England and have been made Instruments to bring about Designs of which their present Behaviour convinces me they were ignorant as I suppose many of the Dissenters are whose turn it is now to be the Tools I say I wish such men would consider to what a pass they have brought Matters by their Violences or rather the Violences of these whose Property they were and at length be wise They cannot but be sensible of the Advantages they receive by this Letter I suppose they apprehend I am sure they ought to do it that the Ruine of their Church is resolv'd on But if the Dissenters upon this Letter withdraw
I am obliged to undeceive the world of the false accusation with which I am charged in it And I thought Sir that I could not do this better than by writing to you that are His Majestys Minister and who know perfectly the truth of the matter that is now called in question and therefore I desire you will write concerning it to the Earl of Sunderland I believe he has not seen or at least that he has not considered the passages of that Book that do concern me For I am sure if he had done that he would never have Licensed it for my Lord Sunderland knows as well as any man alive does that my Letter to Mr. Stewart is no Pretended Piece he himself saw the Letter or at least the English Translation of it that I sent along with it And he could not but know likewise both by your Letters and by what you told by word of mouth that their Highnesses and in particular Her Royal Highness have often owned to you their sense of the Test and the Penal Laws conform to that which I writ in their name to Mr. Stewart So I do persuade my self that My Lord Sunderland will have the Justice and Goodness to recall this Licence which has been obtained of him by a surprise and that the Author of so manifest and so Injurious a Calumny shall be punished as he deserveth I will not likewise conceal from you the design I have of publishing an account of all that has passed in this matter as well as of this Letter which I take the liberty now to write to you in which my design is not to enter into any dispute concerning the matter it self much less to offend any person whatsoever but only to cover my Honour which is struck at by this attrocious Calumny I am Sir your most humble and most obedient Servant GASPAR FAGEL To all which this Attestation of the Printer is added I the under subscribing James Scheltus Printer in Ordinary to the Great and Mighty Lords the States of Holland and Westfriesland dwelling in the Hague do declare and attest by these presents that the Writing here published together with the Copy of the Letter writ in French to the Marquis of Albeville Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty of Great Brittain to the States were delivered into my hands in order to their being Printed by Mijn Heer Gasper Fagel Pesioner to the above named Lords and States of Holland and Westfriesland and that I have printed them by his express Order At the Hague the 10th of April 1688. J. SCHELTUS Some Extracts out of Mr. James Stewart's Letters which were communicated to Mijn Heer Fagel the States Pensionary of the Province of Holland Together with some References to Mr. Stewart's Printed Letter MR. Stewart staid about seven Months after he had received the Pensionary's Letter before he thought fit to write any Answer to it and then instead of sending one in writing to the Pensioner or in a Language understood by him he has thought fit by a Civility peculiar to himself to Print an Answer in English and to send it abroad into the World before the Pensioner had so much as seen it The many and great Affairs that press had upon that Eminent Minister together with a sad want of Health by which he has been long afflicted have made that he had not the leisure to procure Mr. Stewart's Letter to be translated to him and to compare the Matters of Fact related to in it with the Letters that were writ the last year by Mr. Stwatr which are in his Possession nor did he think it necessary to make too much haste And therefore if he has let as many Weeks pass without ordering an Answer to be prepared as the other had done Months he thought that even this Slowness might look like one that despised this indecent Attempt upon his Honour that Mr. Stewart has made in giving so unjust a Representation of the matter of Fact. He hopes he is too well known to the World to apprehend that any Persons would entertain the hard Thoughts of him which Mr. Stewart's late Print may have offered to them and therefore he has proceeded in this matter with the Slowness that he thought became his Integrity since a greater Haste might have look'd like one that was uneasy because he knew himself to be in Fault As for the reasoning part of Mr. Stewart's Paper he has already expressed himself in his Letter to Mr. d' Albeville that he will not enter into any Arguing upon those Points but will leave the Matter to the Judgement of every Reader therefore he has given order only to examine those Matters of Fact that are set forth in the beginning of Mr. Stewart's Letters that that so the World may have a true Account of the Motives that induced him to write his Letter to Mr. Stewart from the words of Mr. Stewart's own Letters And then he will leave it to the Judgment of every Reader whether Mr. Stewart has given the Matter of Fact fairly or not It is true the Pensioner has not thought fit to print all Mr. Stewart's Letters at their full length there are many Particulars in them for which he is not willing to expose him And in this he has shewed a greater Regard to Mr. Stewart than the Usage that he has met with from him deserves If Mr. Stewart has kept Copies of his own Letters he must see that the Pensioners Reservedness is rather grounded on what he thought became himself than on what Mr. Stewart has deserved of him But if Mr. Stewart or any in his name will take Advantages from this that the Letters themselves are not published and that here there are only Extracts of them offered to the World then the Pensioner will be excused if he Prints them all to a Tittle The Truth is it is scarce conceivable how Mr. Stewart could assume the Confidence that appears in his printed Letter if he have kept Copies of the Letters that he writ last-Year And if he engaged himself in Affairs of such Importance without keeping Copies of what he writ it was somewhat extraordinary And yet this Censure is that which falls the softest on him But I will avoid every thing that looks like a sharpness of Expression for the Pensioner expects that he who is to give this Account to the English Nation should rather consider the Dignity of the Post in which he is than the Advantages that Mr. Stewart may have given for replying sharply on him And in this whole matter the Pensioner's chief Concern is to offer to the World such a Relation of the Occasions that drew his Letter to Mr. Stewart from him as may justify him against the false Insinuations that are given He owed this likewise as an Expression of his Respect and Duty to their Highnesses in whose Name he wrote his Letter and at whom all those false Representations are levelled though they fall first and immediately upon
too great Mislike of that which can never wrong him but will in probability in the event be wholly in his own power I hope you will consider and make your best use of these things I expect an Account of this per first I mean an Answer to this Letter and pray improve it to the best Advantage The Second Letter without a Date THat it is a thing most certain that his Majesty is resolved to observe the Succession to the Crown as a thing most sacred and is far from all Thoughts of altering the same and that his Majesty is very desirous to have the Prince and Princess of Orange to consent to and concur with him in establishing this Liberty So that upon the whole it may be feared that if the Prince continue obstinate in refusing his Majesty he may fall under Suspicions of the greatest part of England and of all Scotland to be too great a Favourer of the Church of England and consequently a person whom they have reason to dread And many think that this Compliance in the Prince might be further a wise part both as to the Conciliating of his Majesty's greater Favour and the begetting of an Understanding betwixt the King and the States and the Parliament will consent to the Liberty so much the rather that they have a Protestant Successor in prospect I cannot on these things make any conclusion but simply leave them to your Reflection and the best use you please to make of them I will expect your Answer per first VVindsor July 18. 1687. THE Hints that I gave you in my two former Letters I shall now explain more fully in this And therefore I heartily wish that the Prince and Princess may understand all that you think needful on this Subject It troubles his Majesty to find them so averse from approving this Liebrty and concurring for its Establishment so that in truth I cannot see why their Highnesses should not embrace cheerfully so fair an Opportunity to gratify both his Majesty and the far greater and better part of the Nation Now upon the whole I expect that you will make all I have written fully known at the Hague especially with the Prince But the main thing I expect from you is to have your mind whether or not his Highness may be so disposed as that a well Chosen Informer sent to himself might perfect the Work. And this Answer I will expect per first where ever the Prince be you know who are to be spoken and how I again entreat your Care and Dispatch in this with your Return London July 29. 1687. MIne of the 19 July with my last of the 26th July V. St. will I am sure satisfy you fully for therein I have indeed answered all can be objected and have given you such an Account of the Confirmation of all I have writ from his Majesty himself that I must think it a Fatality if your people remain obstinate And I again assure you if your people be obstinate it will be fatal to the poor Dissenters and I fear productive of Ills yet unheard of and therefore pray consider my Letters and let me know if there be any place to receive Information by a good Hand but however let us endeavour Good all we can and I assure you I have my Warrant Haste your Answer Windsor Aug. 5. 1687. AND in a word believe me if the Prince will do what is desired it is the best service to the Protestants the highest Obligation on his Majesty and the greatest Advancement of his own Interest that he can think on but if not then all is contrary But pray haste an Answer Windsor Aug. 12. 1687. I Have yours of the 15. Instant long looked for you remark that you have received mine of the 26 of July but say nothing of that of the 19. which was my fullest and which I assure you was writ not only with permission but according to his Majesties Mind sufficiently expressed our Religion ought certainly to be dearer to us than all earthly Concerns It is very true what you say that mistakes about its Concerns especially in such a time may be of the greatest Importance which no doubt should perswade to a very scrupulous Caution But yet I am satisfied That the simple Representing of what was wrote to you which was all I required was no such difficult Task But to be plain with you as my Friend your return was not only long delayed but I observe such a Coldness in it different from the strain of your former that I think I mistake not when I understand by your Letter more than you express I wish the P. may see or hear this from end to end London Aug. 22. 1687. I Have yours of the 16th Instant when I said your last was more Cool I meant not as your Affection but as to your diligence in that Affair for I am perswaded that the establishing of this Liberty by Law is not only the Interest of Protestant Dissenters above all others but that his Highness s consenting to it would be its secure Guarantee both against Changes and Abuses As you love the Quiet of good Men and me leave off Complements and Ceremonies and discourse his Highness of all I have written I am now hastening to Scotland but may return shortly for the Kings is most desirous to gain the Prince and he will be undoubtedly the best Guarantee to us of this Liberty and also to hinder all your Fears about Popery Newwark Aug. 26. 1687. BUT now I must tell you that though I know to be my very good Friend yet he hath not answered my Expectation for you see that to seven of mine he gave me not one Word of Answer although I told him that the substance of them was writ by the King's Allowance and a Return expected by him besides the Answers he makes are either Generals or Complements whereas my desire was that the Prince should know things and that his Answer with his Reasons might be understood but my Friend has delayed and scruffed things From Scotland Septemb. 24. 1687. I Have yours of the 30th of Aug. but have delayed so long to answer because I had written other Letters to you whereof I yet expect the Return my most humble Duty to my Friend at the Hague Edinburg Octob. 28. 1687. AS for that more important Affair wherewith I have long troubled you I need add no more my Conscience bears me Witness I have dealt sincerely for the Freedom of the Gospel I had certainly long e're now written to the Pensioner Fagel were it not that I judged you were a better Interpreter of any thing I could say I know his real Concern for the Protestant Religion and shall never forget his undeserved Respect to me but alas that Providences should be so ill understood London Novemb. 8. 1687. I Have yours of the 1st of November the enclosed from the L. Pensionary surprize me with a Testimony of his Favour and Friendship and also of his sincere Love to the Truth and fair and candid Reasoning upon the present Subject of Liberty beyond what I can express he hath seriously done too much for me but the more be hath done in complience with my insignificant Endeavours the more I judge and esteem his noble and zealous Concern for Religion and Peace which I am certain could only in this Matter be his just Motive I hope you will testify to him my deep Sense of his Favour and most serious Profession of Duty with all Diligence until I be in 〈◊〉 to make his L. a direct Return I showed the Letter to my Lâ—rd Melfort who was satisfied with it London Novemb. 6. 1687. Which it seems is by a mistake of the Date I Have your last but have been so harassed and toiled that I have not had time to write to you much less to my L. Pensionary yet since my last I acquainted the Earl of Sunderland with his Answer as the King ordered me but I see all Hope from your Side is given quite over and Men are become as cold in it here as you are positive there London Novemb. 19. 1687. By my last of the 8th Instant I gave you notice of the Receipt of my Lord Pensionary ' s Letter and what was and is my Sence of his extraordinary Kindness and Concern in that Affair Since that time I have had the Oppertunity to shew them to the King and at his Command did read to him distinctly out of the English Copy all the Account given of her Highnesses mind touching the Penal Statutes and the Test and withall signified the Sum of what was subjoyned especially the Respect and Difference therein Expressed to his Majesty ' s Person and Government but to my own Regret I find that this Answer hath been too long delayed and that now the King is quite over that Matter being no ways-satisfied with the Distinction made of the Tests from the Penal Laws and no less positive that his Highness is neither to be prevailed upon nor so much as to be further treated with in this Matter The Conclusion AND thus all that relates to the Occasion that drew the Pensioners Letter from him appears in its true light If this Discovery is uneasie to Mr. Stewart he has none to blame for it but himself It is very likely the first Article of his merit for the defacing of all that was past was the Pains he took to work on their Highnesses by the Pensioners means But that having failed him the abusive Letter that he has published upon it may come in for a second Article And now the Reproaches to which this Discovery must needs expose him must compleat his Merit If upon all this he is not highly rewarded he has ill Luck and small Encouragement will be given to others to serve the Court as he has done But if he has great Rewards it must be acknowledged that he has paid dear for them the printing and distributing 15000 Copies of his Letter is only the publishing his Shame to 15000 persons though it is to be doubted if so many could be found in the Nation who would give themselves the Trouble to read so ill a Paper FINIS