that themselves and their Brethren have suffer'd for this last near half an Age together has been only the Effect of the Intreagues of the Court of France of the two Cardinals and the Jesuits Nor have the Vnited Provinces less Cause to complain Not to mention the unjust Invasion in 1672. for which all the Subtlety of Lewis the Fourteenth's Counsel could never alledge any other well grounded Reason then the favourable Opportunity to Conquer those Rich Provinces through the Cowardise sloath and want of Intelligence in those that manag'd Affairs at that time were there nothing else but the Violences and Cruelties which the French King and his Ministers have Committed within these Nine or Ten Years upon the Subjects of the States General their Ships Embargo'd their Goods Confiscated their Seamen Imprison'd constrain'd to change their Religion to serve against their own Country or to undergo the Punishment of the Gallies the prodigious Number of Merchants Ships which their Privateers have taken their Villages and Towns laid in Ashes and all this in time of Peace and without the least appearance of Justice I dare be bold to say that their High and Mightinesses must have Hearts of Steel to be insensible of these Recent Outrages and that all the Offers and Reparations that France can make are not sufficient to equal them But some will say it is the Interest of the Vnited Provinces to continue in Peace and the States never had a fairer opportunity to obtain from France whatever they shall judge requisite for the security of their Subjects and their Trade I acknowledge it But who shall be Guarantee for the Observation of the Treaty which is to be made with France Certainly neither England nor the Empire Is it prudence to confide in those Persons who have a thousand times deceiv'd us who never keep their word any longer then sincerity agrees with their Ambitious Desires and their Interests who make a sport of their Promises Oaths Contracts and most solemn Edicts who are equally Treacherous to Friends and Enemies Subjects and Allies True it is that Peace is very desireable but not a Peace of six Months or a Year but a firm stable and perpetual Peace or at least such a Peace as shall last as long as we live 'T is also as true that it is the Interest of Common-wealths rather to preserve themselves in the Condition they are in then to make new Conquests But when we have Neighbours Potent Ambitious and such as seek to aggrandize themselves by all manner of means right or wrong they have no other way to secure themselves from their unlookt for Invasions then to take advantage of the first opportunity that presents it self to pull down their Power and to reduce them to such a Condition that they be no longer able to do any more Mischief This Happy Opportunity is now come England and Holland have now William the III. for their Sovereign and Governour The whole Body of Germany moves toward Revenge The French themselves pant after their deliverance the Persecuted Protestants and Jansenists are not the only Male Contents of that Kingdom The Clergy the Nobility and People all Orders of the Kingdom groan under the Tyranny of the Jesuits and only wait for a Chieftain to deliver them from Slavery This is a truth not to be question'd and to convince the Public there needs no more for any Man to do then to cast his Eyes upon the general Causes of the Discontents of the French No Country is more Fruitful no Climate more temperate and serene then theirs no Inhabitants more Civil or more Humane then those of this Kingdom You would say it was a Country made on purpose to be the Habitation of Good and Vertuous People and a Paradise upon Earth But as it is a Country Rich and Fertile and as the People are extreamly humble and submissive they are overwhelm'd with all sorts of exactions insomuch that their Plenty becomes their Misery and their Obedience makes their Oppressions more grievous To reduce a free and Warlike People into so rigorous a Servitude requir'd a long time and a world of Contrivances It was requisite to ravish from the Clergy their Rights to deprive the Nobility of their Priviledges and to invade the Liberties of the People 'T is well known that the Gallicane Church has bred up and foster'd in her Bosom the greatest Luminaries in Europe that she has had in all Ages Holy Bishops who have oppos'd the Usurpations of the Popes who have publicly rebuk'd the Vices of the Grandees and have openly withstood the Tyranny of Princes The Inferior Clergy were solely under the Jurisdiction of their Prelates their provincial and national Synods At this day they are expos'd to the Mercy of the Court and the Fury of the Jesuits not only in civil Causes but also in what concerns their Ecclesiastical Discipline and Religion A world of Formalities a world of Assemblies but no appeal against a Letter under the Privy Signet We also know what has formerly been the Power of the Nobility without their Consent neither Peace could be concluded nor War undertaken nor any Leagues offensive or defensive could be made Offices of public Trust which are now put to Sale the Prey of Usurpers in Confederacy or Hunger-starv'd Commissaries Military Imployments which are bestowed for the most part upon Souldiers of Fortune or the Lacqueys of Favourites Benefices which are now at the absolute disposal of the Kings Confessor the Councel of Conscience or the Jesuits All Pensions all Civil or Ecclesiastical Dignities all considerable Employments were as it were Portions for the Younger Sons of Noble Families and afforded them Means to support the lustre of their House Whereas now we see the Nobility without Estates and ill Educated through Poverty or want of Education stooping to the meanest of Drudgeries Formerly when a Lord was disgusted with the Court he retir'd to his Castle where he liv'd like a petty Soveraign no Man daring to come to trouble his Repose But those happy days are past Now they must eat their Bread in the train of the Favourites make their applications to such as have only their Vices or their Intreagues to favour them and instead of that noble Fireceness so well becoming those whom Birth Knowledge and Vertue have rais'd above the Common Sort they must now put on the Countenances of Slaves and Suppliants upon the approach of a Beggar in Rich Apparel a Commissary of the Treasury or a Jesuit of the Court. As for the People their misery is so great as would require a showr of Bloody Tears to deplore it and a Graving Tool of Iron to describe it so that I have often question'd whether Posterity would give credit to what a thousand Testimonies have both seen and try'd themselves and which they can never express but in a Language far short of the Truth Who would believe that a People Laborious Active Sober Industrious that inhabits a Country Fertil
lessen the Authority of the Church of England 'T is a strange thing that the Roman Catholics who hardly know their own Religion should pretend to teach us ours They have been told a thousand times that the Bishops and Presbyterians of England differ only in so slight Ceremonies which are nothing to the Essential part of Divine Worship and that there is more of Obstinacy and Misunderstanding between them then of real Cause of Dispute We have seen at the Hugue for this ten or twelve Years the Princess of Orange now Queen Mary of England repair indifferently sometimes to the Dutch or French Church and sometimes to her own Chappel The Prince no sooner arriv'd at London but he receiv'd the Communion in an Episcopal Church and gave a favourable Reception to the Presbyterian Ministers who went to Congratulate him We see every day several of the Episcopal Party Communicate with the Reformed on this side the Sea and our French and Holland Protestants joyn themselves with the Church of England Yet maugre all this the Romish Doctors would make us believe we are of two Religions And upon the same score because their Religion properly consists only in exterior Pomp in Images Relics Beds Rosaries Holy-water Monks of several Colours and such like Superstitious Exercises and Institutions and that those other things wherein they differ from the Protestants are only the Inventions of Italian Policy they imagin it to be the same with ours Whence it comes to pass that all the Speculative Opinions of our Divines are by those Gentlemen lookt upon as so many All the Confessions of Faith the Liturgies the Ceremonies in the Administration of the Sacraments the Varieties of Discipline the Orders and Habits of the Preachers if our Adversaries were so to be believ'd among us make so many different Sects For this reason it was that a certain Prelate who believ'd himself to be very witty has made a History of the Variations of our Churches and he had so great a desire to augment the Number that he bethought himself of ascribing to us as many Relics as he found Systems of our Ministers upon the Apocalyps the most obscure Book of all the New Testament Nevertheless we must acknowledge that the Headstrong Obstinacy of some of Ours and the remains of Ignorance and the Spirit of Antichristianism that will not yet out of the Bones of some that Envy our Unity have given occasion to these Calumnies The Western Church has mourn'd for above these ten Centuries under the Darkness and Yoke of Popery During which time there was Opportunity and Advantage enough to deepen the Superstitions and Impressions of Popery under so wicked a Master Add to this that since the Reformation we have not had a Prince whose Knowledg Piety and Puissance have been able to reconcile our Differences The Great Gustavus had conceiv'd such a Design in his Mind but he vanish'd like a flash of Lightning in the midst of his Victories It seems that God has reserv'd this Honour for William the III. and this Happiness till our Time God has sent this Prince into the World in a Country where the Spirit of Toleration has pass'd from the Magistrates to the most Learned Ministers He has call'd him to a Kingdom replenish'd with Learned and Pious Bishops who have for a long time preserv'd their Flocks in Peace by their gentleness and moderation The Prince at hi first Coming to the Government found Factions in the Church as well as in the State He has appeas'd both the one and the other The Persecution of the Reformed in France has open'd the Eyes of all their Brethren and has shew'd them the necessity of guarding themselves from the Fury of the Jesuits All these Conjunctures in my Opinion presage a happy Union of the Protestants As to what is said that the Prince of Orange is more absolute in the Vnited Provinces then any of his Predecessors is an Equivocation For ever since the Establishment of the Commonwealth the Hollanders have always born a very great Affection to the House of Orange but true it is that ever since William the Silent who laid the first Foundations of their Liberty this State never had a Prince whom they lov'd more then William Henry The reason is because he enter'd upon the Government at a time when the Hollanders seem'd to be ruin'd beyond recovery and yet he restor'd them to their former Grandeur However notwithstanding this signal Service done them the dread of War and certain vain Suspitions were the Cause that there was great Opposition made against a Levie of sixteen Thousand Men which the Prince most earnestly press'd for as better understanding the Designs of France then any of the Burgomasters of Amsterdam The Event demonstrated that never was any Opposition made upon such bad Grounds nor more Prejudicial to the State For Lewis the XIV boasted in the Edict which revokes that of Nantes that he had not made the Truce but to Exterminate the Protestants out of his Kingdom James the II. took that time to perplex the Church of England and to invade the Liberties of his People At length France threw off her Mask and broke the Truce as soon as she thought she could do it with Advantage That long Train of Delusions justify'd the Prince's Innocence shew'd that he had no other Aim in all his Designs but the Preservation of Liberty and the Protestant Religion and gain'd him the Hearts of all the Hollanders And I would fain know how long it has been a Crime for a Governour to win the Love of those who are under his Conduct Thus you may see how the first Prince William render'd himself Absolute and how the same Power came to be transferr'd to his Successors not by Usurpation but by preserving the Liberty of the Republic The form of Government is still the same the Elections are made by the usual Suffrages the Resolutions taken for the raising of Money making Peace and War Affairs of Trade Justice and Civil Government are all determin'd in the Assembly of Estates according to the Ancient Customs and we are ready to make it appear that for these fifteen Years last past that William Henry has sate at the Helm he has acted nothing but according to the Laws and by vertue of the power annex'd to his high Authority and Command As to what is reported that the Prince engag'd the States General in his Expedition for England without imparting to them his Design is a Calumny of his Enemies which has no other foundation but the Malice of those who are enrag'd that he did not make a discovery of that Fortunate Enterprize at such a time that they might have had more leisure to prepare to obstruct him And it is an easie thing to convince all Intelligent Persons of the Folly of this Objection Suppose this Revolution had been the Effect of long deliberation it was necessary before all other things 1. To be assur'd of the Inclinations
THE Happy Union OF ENGLAND AND HOLLAND OR THE Advantagious CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALLIANCE OF THE CROWN of GREAT BRITAIN WITH THE States General of the Vnited Provinces Licensed May the 20th 1689. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin in the Old-Baily 1689. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury My Lord THE Happy Consequences of a settl'd Alliance and Union between their Majesties of Great Britain and the States of the United Provinces are that which these few Sheets have undertak'n to make out as being necessary for the safety and repose of both in particular and of the Protestant Interest in general How zealously Your Lordship has always Labour'd the Advancement of the Latter and how Instrumental you have been to promote the Former is not unknown to all the World For this reason the Author of this Treatise really intended for the good of both Nations is so Ambitious as he is to appear in the English Dialect under Your Lordship's Patronage and Protection from the Censures of those who make it their business to disturb the Public Tranquility both of Church and State Not doubting through Your Lordships Favour of the same Reception here as the Original had in the place that gave it Birth Yet humbly craving on the other side Your Lordships Pardon for the Confidence of this Address which speaks however the High Esteem and Honour that all Men who value the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of their Country have for Your Person but more especially of Your most Humble and Most Obedient Servant R. W. The Necessity of a Union between the ENGLISH and HOLLANDERS USually we judge by the Event of the Uprightness or Injustice of human Actions and of the Prudence or Indiscretion of those that Act. The Philosophers take upon them to make their Comments upon these inconsiderate Judgments That vulgar Opinion carries it That is to say that they who prosper pass for Wise and many times for Vertuous Men they who are unfortunate are lookt upon as imprudent and sometimes which is worse as wicked and impious A Kingdom oppress'd with exactions becomes enrag'd against the Contrivers of their Misery and revolts against those that Officiate in the Tyrannies of the Court. Therefore Forces are sent to quell and dissipate the mutinous Multitude their Ringleaders are seiz'd and put to Death by all the most infamous and cruel ways of Execution nor do they grant any Act of Oblivion to the rest but by charging them with new Taxes and Impositions And as a Consummation of their Misfortunes their Posterity attribute all their Miseries to them and Historians range them in the Number of Factious and Rebels justly depriv'd of their Liberties and their Ancient Priviledges For these thirty Years the Kings of England have labour'd to render themselves Absolute they have gradually dispoyl'd the Cities and Corporations of their Charters and made it their business to introduce Popery into their three Kingdoms well knowing that the Alteration of the Establish'd Religion trailes after it the Change of the Government and the Laws and no less assur'd that of all the Christian Sects the Roman is that which best agrees with Arbitrary Dominion and is most proper to inspire blind Obedience The English weary'd with their Sufferings privately call in the Prince of Orange and that great Hero was receiv'd into the Island as their Tutelar-Angel but with so much Order and Unanimity that the suddain Commotion was taken rather for a public Rejoycing then a Rebellious Insurrection Some make hast to meet him others set up his Standard while the King disturb'd in Mind perplex'd and astonish'd withdraws without striking a stroak and punishes himself with a voluntary Exile for having followed the Advice of his Evil Counsellors All Europe admires so suddain a Revolution The Protestants lookt upon him as a Prodigy of Heaven sent for the relief of Truth oppress'd The moderate Catholics acknowledge the Justice of the Prince of Oranges Designs applaud the mildness which he exercises toward their Brethren and impute the unkindness which he has for their Religion at this Conjucture to the violent Counsels of the Jesuits The Politicians of both Parties look upon the Success as the Effect of a Transcendent Genius which Heaven has been pleas'd to Favour whether to set Enslav'd Europe at Liberty or whether it were to shew that Prudence and Mildness are more assur'd and efficacious means to attain their Ends then the Sanguinary Maxims of Matchiavel Lastly Persons of the clearest Intellects and most perspicacious insight into Affairs belive that nothing can be above the reach of that Prince who has shewn himself able to carry on for many Years a Design of so great Importance unknown to his Enemies or any other who had no occasion to be interested therein A Prince who has United several Soveraign Potentates against France who has so well managed the Inclination and Humours of three Kingdoms of several distant Plantations and a Powerful Commonwealth for a long time harass'd by various Factions as to soder them into Unanimity A Prince in a Word who after he has taken time to reflect and consider puts his Resolutions in Execution with a courage and swiftness beyond imagination 'T is true the Sloath the lgnorance and the Necessity which constrains some Men to submit to a present Conjuncture and to side with the strongest Party are without question the real sources of those applauses which are given to those whom happy Success has exalted above others Add to this that how desirous so ever Men may be to ingratiate themselves with such Persons yet they are always willing to act conformably to their own Understandings So that Self-Love being willing to reconcile these two Passions easily perswades us that our Flatteries are just and that the Grandees are beholding to their Merit for their advancement Moreover it is most certain that these successful Persons are many times highly worthy of Honour and that Prudence and Indiscretion are the most usual causes of the good or bad Success of Men of which they who only understand the most known Circumstances of the Revolution of England may convince themselves with little trouble But if Men are so quick in judging of things done on the other side they are so slow to determin when they ought to Act that their mistiming Execution or their Wavering and Hesitation becomes the disappointment of the greatest and most noble Designs They whose Interest it is to oppose them fill their Minds with pannic Fears or desperate Mistrusts and Jealousies and in regard that the number of Persons timorous and jealous are very numerous and for that idle and imaginary Fear works a more signal Effect upon such then a hope and assurance grounded upon Reason therefore that a Man may act with Prudence upon such occasions it behoves him to take a convenient time to examin the Circumstances of Time of Places and Persons and then to resolve and pursue his design by the
the French only sought to amuse them till he made himself Master of the Low Countries and Germany These Reasons were laid before the King with so much strength of Argument and the Parliaments refus'd with so much constancy those Aids which the King stood in need of to continue the War that King Charles found himself constrain'd to accept of those Proposals which were made him by the States and the Treaty was concluded at Westminster the 19. of Feb. 1674. And whatever endeavours the Kings of England have since us'd they could never engage their Subjects in an open and formal War with the Vnited Provinces It is easie to deduce several Consequences from this piece of story which utterly dissipate those vain Jealousies that the Enemies of the two Nations would fain create between them under pretence of Trade 1. The First is that the English and Hollanders have no natural Antipathy one against the other and that their Three last Wars were only the Effect of an Vsurpers Revenge who labour'd the Destruction of the Royal Family and of two Kings their Conceal'd Enemies who had sworn the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion their Priviledges and Liberties The Second is that Commerce is so far from being a lawful Cause of the difference between the two Nations that on the contrary it ought to incline them to a stricter Union if they understand their own Interests since their Trade then always flourish'd most when there was the strictest Amity between them 3. The Third is that they ought to take a more then ordinary care how they Engage in a War one against the other well knowing that in all their Sea Engagements the Advantages on both sides have been very little different or rather that they have come off with equal losses and that Strangers taking the real Advantages of their Quarrels are become their Rivals in Navigation Hambrough with the rest of the Hanse-Towns the Danes and Swedes for the most part now take in those Freights by which the Hollanders before gain'd so much profit and engross'd to themselves a great part of the Trade of the Baltic Sea The French who since the time of Hen. IV. had not so much as one Ship that belong'd to the King have acquir'd several Territories in America and are now Labouring to get Footing in the Indies by that Alliance which they have contracted with the King of Siam set forth great Fleets and pester the Sea with Pyrates All which came to pass while the English and Dutch were busily imploy'd in ruining one another So that if three of their Wars have so sensibly abated their Trade to such a degree the Fourth which after the present Union of the Two Nations would be the Effect of an Irreconcileable Hatred would prove their utter ruin by Translating to their Neighbours all the Advantages which the two Nations receive by their Shipping As for what concerns their Quarrels about loaring the Flag Freights and the Herring-Fishery they are not worth the trouble of any farther discourse and to bury them in Oblivion there needs no more then to keep close to the Peace of Breda in the Year 1667. The differences between the two East India Companies seem more considerable nevertheless if Men would but rightly understand one another it might be easie to remove this Stumbling-block either by Incorporating altogether or by some other way which provident deliberation might soon find out The Third Objection falls of it self after what has been said to refute the Second The Interest of the English and Hollanders inclining them to the continuance of their Union and to contribute their utmost to their mutual Prosperity there would never be any Jealousie between the two Nations unless they lent their Ears to the seducing Fallacies of their Enemies and by consequence their King and their Governour would have no occasion to Invade their Priviledges Besides that we are confidently assur'd that he will never endeavour it but on the other side will use all his endeavours to prevent any difference between the two Nations which are equally dear to him But supposing that we were not so certain as we are of the mildness and gentleness of his present Majesty at least we dare not question but that he is a Person of Honour and a Valiant Prince and that he has a High Esteem for true Glory If he has won Battles if he has taken strong Towns if he has made considerable Conquests he is only beholding for all this to the Blessing of God to his Valour and the exact Discipline which he observes in his Armies and the Love which his Souldiers have for him He was never known to purchase strong Holds to corrupt Governours nor to aggrandize himself by fowl and treacherous means If several French Officers have Listed themselves in his Service it was the Catholic Zeal which expell'd them their Country and the Reputation of so great a Captain which made them eager to serve under his Command How can it be imagin'd that a Prince who next to God is beholding for his high advancement only to the largeness of his Soul and the greatness of his Courage to the Wisdom of his Counsellers and the Love of his People A Prince that has suffer'd so long and with a Patience unimitable the wrongs that have been done him who never took up Arms in Revenge of his own Interests but to deliver an Oppress'd Nation that implor'd his Aid How I say can it be conceiv'd that it should ever come into such a Princes thoughts by indirect ways to destroy that Liberty which he adventur'd to restore with the hazard of his Blood and Life or that he would go about for an Airy Authority to loose that immortal Glory which he has acquired Or that while he Reigns as he does in the Hearts of his Subjects and Allies he should rather choose to draw upon himself the Hatred of the One and the Indignation of the Other rather then peaceably to enjoy the Fruit of his Labours If on the one fide Honour engages his Majesty of Great Britain to preserve the Priviledges of his Subjects as his own Handy-work and to maintain the Liberty of the Hollanders his Fellow-Citizens it inclines him on the other side to exterminate Tyranny We know it Triumphs in France with an unlimited Power and that it is there as it were in the Center Nor are we ignorant of the heinous Injuries which Lewis XIV has offer'd to William the III. when he was only Prince of Orange Governour and Generalissimo of the Vnited Provinces The English are forward enough of themselves to engage in a War with the French and several Historians have observ'd that they never give Money with a more willing Heart then when they are ask'd to contribute toward the Expences of that Expedition Besides they well understand that Cromwels Civil War The Evil Designs of their two last Kings their Intestine Discords their Engagements against the Hollanders in a word all