number and is That excessive Fines have been imposed and illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted To which he says That the persons so Fined were adjudged to deserve them and if so they were not excessive or the King out of his extraordinary Clemency remitted a great part of them But our Author does not tell us how many were so fortunate as to meet with this extraordinary Clemency I am confident he might have incerted that List without swelling his Book to any extraordinary size I know none that received any relief this way I have heard that the Fine of 30000 Pounds imposed on my Lord Devonshire against the Rules of Honour as well as Justice was not remitted but that his Lordship was forced to give his Bond for the same which hung over his head until King William's coming to the Throne so this cannot be said to have been remitted though it was not paid and one would think this had been as fit a Case for the Experiment our Author speaks of as any that happened in his Reign if we consider that such beinous Offences as Assaults used anciently to be punished by a Fine of Ten Groats the restoring the Five thousand Pounds to Mr. Solicitor Williams that had formerly been exacted of him as Speaker does neither excuse the Judges from the injury they did the House of Commons in that matter nor can the Author say it was remitted nor can I believe it proceeded barely from his forgiving Nature I am sure no part of Oateâ—'s Punishment was forgiven though there was scope enough to have pardoned much and to have him still under the lash Our Author upbraids the Convention in being Advocates for Oates and Countenancers of Perjury by this Article If there had been no other persons cruelly or illegally handled there might have been some suspicion of as if this Article had respected his Case but since this is the case of many others it is hard judging it done in favour of any one of them But without turning Advocate for Oates I may say That though he were guilty of what he is accused of by those two Indictments yet if the rest or the material parts of his Evidence were true the easiest discipline had been hard measure But supposing there had been no Popish Plot that his whole story had been a fiction his Crime had then been very heinous and had deserved the severest Punishment the Law could inflict but no more And if the King or his Judges had thought that this monstrous Perjury had deserved a severer Punishment than the Laws in being prescribed as certainly it did supposing it really so the matter should have been represented to the Parliament which in this case might have been done without any delay the Parliament being to meet within three days after the Passing of this Arbitrary Sentence And if they had been satisfied of his Villany doubtless they would have made him a perpetual Object of the Legislative Justice but certainly a Power of perpetually Tormenting Burying people alive and Fining beyond ability of payment or any regard to the Rule Salvo contenemento is too great a Power to be intrusted with beneplacito Judges If the Author had come through their hands for such a Libel against that Government as his Book is against this I dare say he would have been convinced of the truth of these two Articles In the handling of these Heads our Author insinuates King James's Clemency from the many Pardons by him granted which is scarce worth the disputing now but that he does thence encourage us to come again within his Power To the end therefore that he may not impose too much upon unwary people by this Topick Let us remember first That he suffered his Coronation to pass over without any Pardon though the Nations were then in a profound Peace The excuse for this is That this was reserved for the Parliament of this we are assured by himself and that Monmouth's Rebellion hindered it from Passing then But how to reconcile this to a forgiving Nature I see not that Rebellion made a Pardon as well more necessary as generous But then how should those rebellious Vermin have been rooted out Jeffery's Campaign was the more effectual way therefore it was not fitting to throw such a rub therein that might have reserved some of those ill-principled Men for the next mischief therefore it was agreed that a competent time should be allowed to rid the Kingdom of them That after ten Months had been successfully spent in this prosecution the Nation on the tenth of March 85 is blessed with a Proclamation called A most Gracious and General Pardon It is well his Majesty gave it a Name for otherwise people would scarce have known what to have called it for we find near Two hundred by name excepted out of it a number greater than ever suffered for any former Rebellion about a fourth part of those were Women which is enough to make one believe that the Duke's Army was composed of Amazons And further all that Lanâ—eâ— with the Duke of Monmouth or were Officers in his Army or reâ—uted so are excepted by another Clause and all Bodies polltick and incorporate These things would almost tempt one to credit the report that they excepted all persons out of that Pardon whose Names they could learn and rather than let one escape they excepted them by half their Names for in so unchristian a matter they regarded not Christian Names and that their rage was levelled against all persons concerned in that unfortunate business will appear more plain if we consider the Quality of the persons excepted in that General Indempnity Marriners and Semstrices are of so considerable a rank as to be expresly mentioned and so many of them were of that mean quality that some judged it a greater Indignity to Lord Macklesfeild to be ranked with such fellows than to be excepted out of the Pardon As for the General Pardon of the 2d of October 88 it did reach more Offenders than most Kings have had occasion to pardon but then they were such as were made so by his own instigation so that the least he could do was to pardon those Offences of which he was not only an accessory but the chief promoter for all others it came in a time as little needed as regarded and the same or worse may be said of his Salisbury Pardon of the 22d of September So that I think there is but little encouragement from any or all of these to trust him any more The last Article is That several Grants and Promises were made of Fines and Forfeitures before Conviction This is so great a breach of the Law and leaves so great a stain that our Author chuses rather to deny the truth of it than to justifie or extenuate it and though of the whole number it is the only one he dares venture to deny yet it is as great a truth as the others though I am but little acquainted
Neighbouring Princes will not be denied but whether with more than one of them I question and whether thereby he did not sink the Reputation of his Justice and Honour both abroad and at home will appear by the respect he had at Rome where one would have thought he should have been courted at another rate for a Protestant instance the States denial of Dr. Burnet and not suffering the Doctor to with-draw though he desired it is sufficient and the Carriage of the French at Hudsons-hay shews their kindness as well as respect If our Author had considered these things surely he would not have bragged of the good Correspondence he held with his Neighbour Princes and States or of the Reputation he had acquired to himself abroad When I met the Author praising the late King for his Mercy and Compassion to his Enemies I began to suspect my Eyes and was in hopes that he would have brought us so good news from the West that we should speak no more of the Western Campaign and that the Numbers that were said to be executed there were only in Effigie and that he had the very persons to produce sound and in good health without I could have done this I should not have mentioned the other especially if I had been of the Author's opinion that he was Master of so many other good qualities I should think that the using this had been enough to make people suspect the rest of the Character for if that had been true there had been no need to add this so notoriously otherwise I have read the History of England and upon a serious reflection thereon I believe it may be truly said That so many of the Common people were not put to death by the Hand of Justice and driven into Exile for all the Rebellions of these 600 years as were served for that of Monmouth's which did not last six weeks the weaker Sex not spared But for the Duke of Alva's Government of the Netherlands Foreign Story could not have afforded a precedent but then I do not find that great Man praised for his Lenity in this we are an Original neither do I find that he was more exact in his Scrutiny than we were at Westminster where we were told that the Rebels were 6000 of which 2000 killed and only 2000 brought to Justice the other 2000 our Grand-Jury were directed to find out and yet after all this some people will brag of this Man's forgiving Nature the sobriety of his Life and discountenancing Debauchery may be true as to excessive Drinking but the placing his spurious Issue in the highest degree of Honour is no great discouragement to the other sort of Debauchery For his Assiduity in his Councils and Treasury and the rest of that Paragraph as it is needless to examine them so certainly the truth of them is no proof that the late King intended the happiness of his Subjects in general The next Paragraph asserts That it was the late King's opinion that Liberty of Conscience would be grateful to a great many of his Subjects and would invite Forreigners to fix their Habitations amongst us to our great advantage that it was the best expedient to bring us to a brotherly Love and to prevent the Calamities that befel this Kingdom in his Father's time and that he had this Notion still fixed in him with a design to signalize his Reign thereby In opposition to which I will endeavour to shew that the late King had no such glorious aim and that thereby he only intended to subvert the established Religion of these Kingdoms which will plainly appear if we consider first how different such a method is to the fundamental principles of his Religion as well as the practise of all Ages those that believe there is no Salvation out of the Church which is only one and that theirs if they have any Bowels of Compassion or Charity will endeavour the enlarging the pale of that Church And then that Hereticks are to be extirpated upon the penalty of having their Territories given away to others where this duty is neglected is as essential a part of his Religion as General Councils can make it therefore it were an injury to his Charity and Piety to suspect he would not use his power so as became a zealous and submissive Son of the Church and what could be a greater brand to the sincerity of his Religion than decreeing counter to infallible Councils it were as easie reconciling Toleration to Infallibility as such actions with being a good Catholick unless they were sanctified with a good intention and done for the good of the Church but to say he did not understand so much of the Arcana of his Religion cannot be supposed without saying he understood nothing of it and though he did not it cannot be doubted but he would have been told of his duty by some Monitory Briefs from Rome St. Peter's Successor used to be so kind to Princes as to lay before them the guilt and danger of actions less favourable to Hereticks and to call upon them to avoid both by executing the Decrees of the Church against them if it be said that the Roman Church at least the Guides of it approved what King James did in this matter and that to preserve his Conscience the Decrees of the Councils were suspended as to him I do verily believe it and think that it follows from thence that they knew what hook lay under that gilded bait otherwise I know not how the same persons could approve of the French King's Edict of October 85. annulling the perpetual and irrevocable Edict of Nantes and the barbarous manner of the execution of it and the late King's Declaration in 87. giving a general Liberty of Conscience two Decrees that concur only in one thing that they are both against the Laws of their several Lands In my opinion this would look so like an affront to that mighty Monarch's Conduct that unless he were likewise privy to the plot his Resentment would not be satisfied with less than a solemn Renunciation and taking new measures now he has the late King so much at his devotion And I doubt not if this proceeding had displeased him but in his late Contests with the Pope we should have heard him upbraiding his Holiness with this kindness to Hereticks but since neither of these have followed and that neither the King of France nor the Pope is offended at our Indulgence we may lawfully conclude there was little kindness thereby intended to us Secondly If this Notion had been still fixed in the late King and had he always been of opinion that none ought to be oppressed and persecuted for matters of Religion he would still have acted consonant to this principle which that he did not do is plain from his concurring with and promoting the enacting of the severest Laws against Dissenters in his Brother's time and also from his first Act of Government the rigorous imposing
thought them too many and endeavoured to make them sewer both by tearing so great a Limb as Magdalen from the University and shutting Twenty-seven of them out of the Church by the cruel Decree of the 18th of October 87. And how little he regarded those good Men that helped our Church to flourish may be seen by the Worthies he preferred to the Sees of Oxford and Chester and his preferring Farmer to Dr. Hough that he did this out of kindness to the Church our Author dare not say but he may tell me and that truly that in the See of Bristol it was otherwise and that therefore the King did not always design a scandal or injury to the Church by those he preferred in it I have too great a veneration for the Christian Courage and Sufferings of that Bishop not to make him an Exception out of that Rule But then we must remember he was preferred before his Fears of opposition from the Nation were quit off him and if we consider how many of the Lay-Protestants preferred by him in the beginning of his Reign were afterwards displaced and his after-carriage to that Bishop we may conclude that his High Commission would soon have rectified that mistake by a Deprivation if his fault was any thing greater than not Suspending Dr. Sharp or as great as the Bishop of Dunkell's giving his Vote in Parliament against the Repeal of the Test had it not received an unexpected dissolution But notwithstanding all his Suspensions Deprivations Imprisonments and other favours to our Clergy our Author tells us that many of the Dissenters were brought into the Communion of the Church by the unanswerable Writings of that time against Popery that these should influence them more than those learned ones set out a little before for their Conviction shews that the terrour of Popery wanted not its force in perswading them to that prudent Conduct But how to draw an Argument from hence in praise of the late King or his Times I see not unless those straying Sheep were brought back to the Fold by the diligence of his Shepherds Was any of those Pieces written by Sa. Oxon or did the famous Rippon's Sermon contribute thereunto Not so much I dare say as it did to the Preacher's Bishoprick I must confess the Reasons for Abrogating the Test Mr. Sclater's and Obediah's Pieces contributed thereunto but it was by setting ingenious Men to write Answers to them Before I close this Section I must again put you in mind of what I sormerly hinted to you That the Indulgence coming at the nick of time when things were healing very fast and when the great Scare-crow the approaches of our Church to Popery was experimentally confuted it looks as if some-body designed to widen our Breaches and to disappoint the Church of that satisfaction which was not more earnestly desired by us than dreaded by them As to the fifth in which our Author tells us That the Church of England is in danger and pretends to prove it by the late Act of Toleration I say first that the late King 's being larger must have endangered it more if the Act let in Turcism as our Author falsly suggests it keeps out Idolatry and at once frees us from God's Judgments due to that crying Sin and in a great measure from Popish Contrivances for now the Jesuits must work in the dark as they did formerly which as it much retards their designs so it occasions many mistakes to the frequent frustrating thereof the Act requires the professing of Faith in Father Son and Holy Ghost and thereby excludes Mahometism which the Proclamation does not Next I say it is pretty strange to find one that has said so much for Liberty of Conscience and a Proclamation granting it making the Act for Toleration dangerous Is it not lawful for their present Majesties to Signalize their Reign on the same Principle our Author pretends King James designed Or is the present Liberty the worse or more dangerous to Church or State becausâ— it comes as it ought to do in a regular and legal way from the Legislative Power Is it the worse because it does not alter the Constitution of our Government Had it been the less hurtful if like the late King 's it had placed the Royal Will and Pleasure above our Laws Does the King in the present Toleration claim an Absolute Power which we are bound to obey without reserve And does he thereby impose an Oath on us not only to submit to that Power but to assist and defend him in the Exercise thereof Since in these several particulars it has the advantage of the late King 's I doubt not but it will be more satisfactory to all people and that the Church will receive Ease as well as Enlargement by it 6. But Episcopacy is Abolished in Scotland and from thence sprung the Covenant that destroyed it here formerly our Author might as well have told us it was so at Geneva What has the Declaration of their Estates to do with the Government of our Church they do not so much as pretend to it only declaring it a Grievance to that Kingdom If the Author had but known how unlike the Scotch Bishops were to ours how unable they were of late to do any thing but mischief how little difference there is between no Episcopacy and Bishops during pleasure he would the less lament the loss but in truth the Abuses might have been redressed by other and easier methods good Laws might have restored Episcopacy to its antient Purity for otherwise and by that Argument we ought to Abolish Judges here because they have abused their Power being like the Scotch Bishops by their tenure Slaves to the Court though this is unreasonable and better methods have been taken but if we had chosen the other course certainly the loss would never have been less lamented than now when we are bleeding of the Wounds they have given us The Scotch I think should have remembred that the Protomartyr of the last Reign was one of those Tenants at Will and that Dr. Bruce was thrust out of the Bishoprick of Dunkell for opposing the Repeal of the Test These Nations ought to remember that it was he set us the glorious Example of despising the Honours and Profits of this World when they came in competition with the Preservation of the Protestant Religion But it is not fitting to be too positive in this matter relating to the Church of Scotland since it is uncertain what expedients his Majesty's Wisdom may find out for the satisfaction of that divided Nation But he tells us there is a Party in our Parliament endeavouring the same thing but who told him so he does not say if we judge of them by their Actions neither the Coronation-Oath nor the Address of the 16th of April last shews any thing of this and in the King's Answer thereunto and in the Speech that occasioned that Address we have his Majesty 's repeated Assurances
us to over-throw their Babel when they had almost brought it as they fancied to perfection And urges further That the King being willing to have his last intended Parliament as free as his People could desire had actually restored the old Charters to all the Corporations in England long before the Prince Landed Here the Author nifies the King's good intentions to us and would have us look upon his last Acts of kindness as the sole effects of his Goodness when alas they proceeded only from his Fears which will appear plain if we consider the Times of the several Passages relating to this matter The 9th of September New-Stile Mr. d' Avaux's Memorial to the States-General telling them of the strict Alliance between the two Crowns tells us of the Preparations making against us and came to our Court the 10th of September Old-Stile After ten days Consideration a Parliament is resolved on and the 21st the King by his Proclamation assures us of his kind Intentions to the Nation and Church and therein tells us he is willing the Roman Catholicks should remain incapable of being Members of the House of Commons a mighty favour The 26th of September the Lord-Lieutenants were authorized to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from the Lieutenancy and such Gentlemen were to be restored to the Commission of the Peace as had been lately laid aside The 28th of September his Majesty by Proclamation acquaints the Nation with the intended Invasion and recalls the Writs for the Parliament The 2d of October the King declared he would restore the Charter of London and gives us a General Pardon of the same date The 5th he Dissolves the Ecclesiastical Commission The 17th of October the other Corporations of the Kingdom are restored all which favours were conferred on us after they were terrified with the News of the Invasion so that we may rest fully assured they were the first fruits of that blessed design and the meeting of the Parliament was discharged Twenty days before the Restitution of the Corporations which by our Author's computation is a long time otherwise the Corporations were not restored long before the Prince Landed as our Author says they were The 9th Article is against Prosecutions in the King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognisable only in Parliament and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses The last Clause is omitted and so might all our Author thinks fit to say in answer to the first being only That be doubts not but those Judges câ—n justifie their Proceedings and that some Parliaments have brought matters before them that were not properly cognisable by them But what those things are he does not tell us but be it so and let them and their Advocates justifie them if they can But in the mean time does it follow that because one Court exceeds its bounds sometimes that therefore the King's-Bench may or how does this make the Parallel between the present and the late Times If he had told us that our Speaker had been Prosecuted in the King's-Bench for his Actings as such and Fined 5 or 10000 l. he had said more to the purpose than he has done in the whole Book The Author says the tenth Article is about partial corrupt and unqualified Juries But he should also have added That divers Jurors in Tryals for High Treason were not Free-holders He knew the consequence of this matter in the brave Lord Russel's Case and therefore thought fit to pass it over in silence but tells us That the noise against Graham and Burton for such practises is now ouer for want of proof To which I say the thing is obvious though the steps of those that managed this work of darkness is not yet made plain and no wonder though the same should never happen considering how few persons but those concerned can have any knowledge of it it is not likely the party corrupted will proclaim his own villany and shame so that if the said persons if they were the managers do but keep their own Counsel no positive Witnesses can be had against them But then considering the Nature of the Case the great Sums of Money said to be laid out privately at Law will satisfie Men not over-credulous But if our Author will have a little patience he may hear what proof there is against those Gentlemen the House of Commons having lately ordered a Charge to be brought In against them which was not done sooner because they had matters of far greater importance to dispatch The eleventh Article is requiring excessive Bail in Criminal Cases to elude the benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject The truth of this is not denied neither is it justified only the late Acts suspending the Habeas Corpus Act are exclaimed against which I must say is one of the greatest favours imaginable to those most concerned in it if it but prevent them from running too far in dangerous courses it had been a great Blessing to the Lord Dundee and his Family if the Estates of Scotland had committed his Person when they first observed him tampering though my kindness for some of those unfortunate persons then in custody makes me hope they were kept there as well to secure themselves as the Government yet I believe there are not many of them dare pretend to that innocency It must not be forgotten in this place how his Majesty like him whose Vicegerent he is mingles Mercy with his Justice and that he sent one of these Prisoners a considerable Sum of Money to support him from want not knowing how plentifully he might be provided from his own Estate with which it was not easie for him to hold any Communication our Author will find it hard to give me such an instance of Generosity in his King I have only one Remark more on this matter which is That if all Princes were endued with such Moderation and Clemency as our present King there would be but little need to secure us by Laws against that Wolf the Prerogative and that it is much better trusting Power with some Kings than others The late King could commit seven of our Peers at one time without and against the Law whereas his Majesty though encompassed with avowed Enemies in two of his Kingdoms and some as discontented as the Author in the third And though by the late Statutes he had Power to commit I may say at his pleasure yet I believe those so committed by him will scarce exceed the number lately carried to the Tower at one time so that upon experience of his prudent Moderation and that he does not use his Power for the Oppression of those that do not love him I see not why the Parliament may not continue this Trust for some time longer at least until Ireland be as well setled as the rest of the Kingdoms The 12th Article is by our Author made up of two I suppose on purpose to lessen the
and that as soon as conveniently could be it should be called in at the value it issued out and accordingly so it was But that is not practicable now at least to the advantage of any more of the Nation than the last Possessors all the other hands it passes through being certainly losers if in the Neighbourhood it be not as much valued as my Silver one which doubtless it will not be It is no strange thing to have Money inhanced something above the intrinsick value it has been the misfortune of most States to be forced in difficult times to make use of this expedient to increase their Coin But then as there always was an assurance from such Government that it should not only be received in all Payments to be made at the Exchequer but also called in at last so there was also some proportion or deâ—orum kept in the Advancement Thus in the worst of the late times when the Duke of Ormond Coined his own Plate and all that the respect to him or the Cause that he defended could gather together he thought it sufficient to add a tenth part and so made Five shillings out of Four and six-pence So in the Harp-money we find a fourth part added and a Nine-pence was issued out for a Shilling So that in the first Case I had Nineteen pounds instead of Twenty pounds and in the worst Fifteen pounds whereas from King James and his People I shall receive but Sixteen shillings Eight-pence for my Twenty pounds which is but the Twenty-fourth part of what I ought to have received This is the first time that ever any thing pretending to the Name of a Government was so Bankrupt as to issue Money that did not carry intrinsick value above the Twenty-fourth part of its Name The Story of the Frogs in the Fable was formerly so Satyrically applied that our Author should have avoided the bringing it into our Memory but he writes without considering the Consequences or how severely his Allegations may be returned England is 'twixt York and Thee The Fable of the Frog He the devouring Stork and Thou the Log. So he justifies the late King 's retiring into France because all Princes and States besides France were actually engaged against him without considering the other edge that there was little Conscience and less Prudence in disobliging all the States of Europe in favour of France or how from hence we may argue That that King who has all the States of Europe on his back will be able to afford but little relief to his Exiled Ally And one would think the usage the late King met with when he was last in France was no temptation to run the risque of a second Command to retire out of the Territories of his most Christian Majesty But in this we must excuse him for certainly he has not only forgotten the Usage he met wiâ—â— there but also that ever he was there otherwise he would not have added to the Causes of his first Exile But then this Reciprocal Love between France and Him was no Argument why he might not have stayed at home his Fear was not from the Rabble as our Author says for they Huzza'd his return from Feversham but the truth is he feared a Parliament and that they would secure the Religion and Liberties of the Subject and so ruin all his hopes of establishing Popery which it seems he feared more than the Abdicating of his Crowns Our Author pretends he would have gone to Scotland but that his Fleet had deserted him and there was danger in the Land way To which I say a single Ship could have carried him to Scotland as well as France but then it was offered him to chuse his place of Residence and at what distance from the Parliament and with what number of Guards he pleased but he liked not this because it supposed a Parliament But since his Fears were so strong upon him that stay he durst not why did he not leave us some sort of Government Was there no Ballast so proper for his Ship as the Broad Seal which was never carried beyond Sea but once before and it was then reckoned as a crime in him that did it though the Cardinal left the King behind him but we had neither shadow nor substance left us which is the first Act of Kindness he ever did this Nation freeing us thereby from those Chains wherewith we had â—ashly bound our selves Towards the latter end our Author would perswade us That it is a Calumny cast upon the late King to say he endeavours to be re-instated singly upon a Popish Interest and goes about to prove this by his Proclamations A weak Argument this time of the day but he enforces it by the good treatment he gives the Irish Protestants But our Author might as well prove that the French King expects the Possession of the Palatinate and the neighbouring Territories from his kind usage of the inhabitants though King James's Army cannot take Towns the â—â—â—nch way yet to shew the World they have learned someâ—â—â—â—g from the French General sent to assist them they have burned them the French way and in this have been so good Scholars that they have out-done their Masters so that all his labour is not lost for they have lately Burned more Towns in Vlster than the King of France in Germany some of them we can reckon as in the County of Derry Newtown Lemaâ—addy-muffe Monymore Dawsons-bridge Kilrea Ballyagby in the County of Donegall Raphae Donegall in Tyrone-Omegh Castleâ—arfeild in Down Newry in the Counties of Cavan and Monaghan Castlesanderson Farnam and other good Houses if not some Towns which is one proof that what they did of this sort was out of rage and malice and not with any design to incommede or prejudice the English Army For what great relief could an Army find in one House But what puts this matter beyond all dispute they left the Town of Strabane seituate within ten Miles of Derry unburnt in the middle of their Rage and Flames because it belonged to the Earl of Abercorn who is a Papist and Lord Strabane of that Kingdom and all this havock has been made since the late King's Arrival there It is needless after this to mention the Plunderings and Robberies of every Protestant in the Kingdom but in fact so it is that not one of them has escaped and if this should be excused as done against his Will and without his Consent and as the out-rage of a cruel and ill-paid Army if it be so let him be blameless but then do not tell us of the good Treatment he hath given the Irish Protestants If the blame thereof be taken from him and placed to the account of the War he has justice done him without pretending to any Merit from his kindness to the Protestants which will be much lessened if we consider that not one single Man of the Nation has been redressed Flocks of Cattel cannot be