THE Most Humble Remonstrances PRESENTED To the Honourable the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the HOUSE of COMMONS in Parliament Assembled 1. COncerning the Proofs whereby the French Gentlemen Commissioners appointed for the Distribution of the Charity bestowed upon the Poor French Protestants that are come for Refuge into England may be convinced that in their Hands there are still remaining great Summs of Money arising from the said Charity and a Revenue more than sufficient for all the Poor Refuges Maintenance 2. Concerning the Means whereby all the aforesaid great Summs of Money may be discovered and the aforesaid French Gentlemen Commissioners compelled to give an exact account of them which compelling if it please God shall be as a triumphing Sword Cutting with one Blow the Gordian Knot of the said French Commissioners 3. Concerning the Motives that may induce the aforesaid Honourable House of Commons to use the aforesaid means which Motives are the Concerns of the King and State in general and in particular of all the Poor amongst the said Refuges By John Chabbert Minister and Refuge You the Honourable House of Commons are intreated by the aforesaid John Chabbert to approve that he may now declare to your Honours the love he hath and ever had for Justice and Truth and on the contrary how he abhorreth Injustice Cheating Tricks and Lies But in a particular manner how much he longs for the advantage and prosperity of the King State and Church of England not only for the Publick's but also for the Private's sake as he longs also for the satisfaction of the English Poor as well as of them which are amongst the Refuges and that in making bold humbly to shew by particulars all the Contents of the three Heads contained in the Title of his Undertaking To keep the order set in the said Title the aforesaid John Chabbert beginning with the aforesaid Proofs humbly sheweth 1. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received great Summs of Money upon three several Letters Patrents heretofore granted by Royal Authority for the aforesaid Poor Refuges sake especially upon the first and second Letters Pattents the first granted in the Year 1686. and the second granted in the Year 1688. That after that the said two Letters Pattents were effectually published and the Tenor of the same declared unto the Nation in all and every Church and Chappel in the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales c. The whole Nation was touched with so deep a sense and tender Commiseration of the Calamities and woful Sufferings of the said Poor Refuges in the cause of their Religion and of the urgent necessity which so many of them were lying under that not only all the Nobility Gentry and every Rich Man of whatever Degree and Character soever he was But even the greatest part of all the Tradesmen and Servants as every body knows did so generously and chearfully contribute by their extraordinary and large Charities to the subsistance of the said 〈◊〉 amongst the Refuges and that from those generous free and large Charitable Contributions which have been made for the relief of the said poor Refuges it must needs be inferred that great Sums of Money were then Collected 2. That the aforesaid French Commissioners and the Ministers and Church-wardens or Elders as they call them of the French Church in the Savoy or of the Waloon Church in the City of London have received great Summs of Money from the large Charities of particular Collections often bestowed by a great many Charitable Persons upon the aforesaid Poor Refuges behalf from the beginning of the Year 1685. to this very day of the Year 1696. Since that time a great number of Poor Refuges have been seen in England 3. That the aforesaid French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the aforesaid two Churches very often and at least during the space of Ten Years have received great Summs of Money arising from a great many Legacies the most part of them made by some English pious Persons and some of them by some French to be distributed in a very short time after their Decease to the said Poor Refuges But that it is to be feared the said French Commissioners have distributed nothing of the most part of the said Legacies or at least but the use or interest of some of them to the said Poor Refuges so that when this third Proof as well as the second before is duly reflected upon it plainly appears by the said two Proofs that they must needs have in their own or others Hands a great Fund of Money for the 〈◊〉 support of the poor Refuges 4. That the aforesaid French Commissioners by their own Confession and as every body knows have received during the space of many Years 〈◊〉 Twelve Thousand Pounds per annum bestowed liberally chearfully and charitably by His excellent Majesty our gracious King William upon the said Poor Refuges to relieve them in their urgent necessities and comfort them in their troubles That it is most certain that upon the said Royal Bounty the said French Commissioners during the space of the many Years aforesaid were able to supply all the wants of the said Poor Refuges if they had very well managed the said Twelve Thousand Pounds per Annum or if they had not kept back some of them or put them into Bankers Hands or imployed some of them in Trading and Traffick 5. That the aforesaid French Commissioners were publickly Accused by some of the said French Refuges Poor Gentlemen Ministers and others for having embezzelled or mis-imployed a considerable Summ of the aforesaid Twelve Thousand Pounds Per Annum And that the said French Commissioners have done their utmost endeavours to secure themselves from the said Accusation or rather that their Accusers should be silent and desist from their Accusation And for all that the said French Commissioners have let neither the Publick nor their Accusers know their Innocence in all its Circumstances and in keeping the Formalities of Justice although they were bound so to do for the securing of their own Reputation 6. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have received some considerable Summs of Money by the way of many Subscriptions and private Collections made in the City of London and its Suburbs for the aforesaid French Refuges Poor yet for all that it doth not appear that at least the greatest part of the aforesaid French Refuges Poor was the more relieved by the said French Commissioners than they were before the said Subscriptions and private Collections 7. That the aforesaid French Commissioners doubtless have received and do still receive a great many private Charities of particular Persons for the maintenance of many Charity-houses which Charity-houses imperceptibly and cunningly have been set up by the same Commissioners in the Suburbs of the aforesaid City of London many Years ago upon four accounts 1. To procure as many Charities as could be possible and to move all the charitable Persons who live in
the said City of London and other Cities and Towns of this Kingdom to put into their hands all the Charities they had designed for all the Poor amongst the Refuges which are ashamed to beg and which were never partakers of the said Charities bestowed upon the said Charity-houses although they may be in great want 2. To have a Lawful Cause at least in appearance to beg either themselves or move their Friends and Creatures so to do every where and of every Person whosoever they believed to be the most favourable to their Charity-houses 3. To have a pretence continually to declare openly as they have done already that they had received but very few private Charities for the support of their Charity-houses and that they were obliged sometimes to turn out many of the said Poor Refuges from the said Charity-houses and to deprive many more of the Soup or Broth distributed therein or to maintain them both with a Fund designed for paying of the Pensions to the French Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Persons of what Age soever and of both Sexes the Pensions of some of which said Persons the said French Commissioners lessened upon several occasions although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that before they had lessened the said Pensions of the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges the said Pensions were not sufficient for their maintenance And besides although the said French Commissioners were persuaded that the said Poor Gentlemen Ministers and other Refuges cannot live by any other means 4. To cast a mist before the whole English Nation 's Eyes and to hide from the Publick the said most considerable Fund they have in their Hands arising from the aforesaid very large Charities they have received for the said French Refuges Poor's support and for no other use whatsoever 8. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have saved very much of the aforesaid large Charities they have received by the aforesaid several ways And that the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-Wardens of the French Church in the Savoy and Walloon-Church in the City of London have saved very much of the aforesaid great Summs of Money by six ways well known to the greatest part of the French Refuges 1. In keeping some of the said French Refuges lying then under a great necessity from the least Relief which the tender hearted and generous English Nation had afforded to them as well as to the rest of the Refuges who were then or are still relieved by which means some of the said French Commissioners as themselves together with all the Refuges know very well were very near receiving an affront from some of those said necessitous Refuges yet kept notwithstanding from the said Relief Moreover by this means a great many of the same Refuges Poor and Helpless Creatures were dispersed all over England and went a Begging up and down the said Kingdom 2. In giving once for all to some others of the said Refuges a little Money nay and to some of the same more than to others not according to every one's Desert or Necessities but according to their own Will and Pleasure against all Equity and Reason 3. In giving to the smallest Number of the said Poor Refuges a little Pension and that sometimes only for a little while to those who have no Friends amongst them or a powerful Protector who hath the Right to Command them As for example a Yearly Pension of Seven Pounds allowed to the Ministers then under Fifty years of Age during the space at least of one Year and a half is an evident Proof of the said little Pension as well 56 l. 18 s. that every one of the said Ministers have received of the Royal Charity for their own and their Families Subsistance during the space of Nine years as may be seen in a printed Paper delivered unto the King's Majesty the last 〈◊〉 January by all the poor Ministers Refuges 4. In paying the Pension as usually they have payed it to the aforesaid Poor Refuges sometimes Five sometimes Six Seven Eight Nine nay and sometimes even Ten Months after the Time appointed for the Payment of the said Pention instead of paying it Quarterly and even before hand as it was in their Power so to do having ever had since their Commission a sufficient Fund for that purpose whatever Asseverations they have made to make the Publick and the said Poor Refuges believe the contrary And the said French Commissioners in paying Quarterly the said Pension would have saved the said Refuges from being so Poor and a great many Troubles and Tears 5. In utterly debarring the said Poor Refuges from their own Pension during the space of about Two Years unjustly pretending they had no Fund at all to pay it them wherefore many of the said helpless Refuges have contracted many Debts that they cannot pay off without an Extraordinary Relief 6. By the Decease of a great many of the said Poor Refuges of all Ages whatsoever of both Sexes and of all Characters That by these Six Ways and Means the said French Commissioners undoubtedly have saved very much of the said very large Charitys they have received for the said French Refuges Support But nevertheless the said first Five Ways are Unlawful and against the Rules of the Holy Gospel seeing by the said Five Ways a great many Poor Refuges have been brought to Poverty to Hunger and to Divers Temptations and many of them have sunk under them as may easily be proved by a great many Eye-Witnesses and that the said French Commissioners themselves every where have Published and often Declared to the Supreme Powers that the said Refugees have lain under great Poverty and Sufferings the said French Commissioners making a show of being troubled at the said Poor Refuges Calamities 9. That the aforesaid French Commissioners have very much increased the said Summs arising from the very large Charitys aforementioned and they have increased the said Summs either by all their following ways or by others such as these are 1. Either in putting a good part of the said Summs into a Bankers Hands since the beginning of their Commission till this time 2. Or in imploying another part of the said Summs in Trading making the best of it by Sea and Land either in this or in Foreign Country's 3. Or in erecting some Manufactures to help off with another part of the said Summs coming from the aforesaid very large Charity 's bestowed upon the said Poor Refuges or in imploying it in some sort of Commodities that are the most a la mode and do take the best 10. That Mr. Daillon a French Minister Refuge now one of the best Friends that the said French Commissioners may have cannot deny but that formerly he undertook to oblige the same Gentlemen French Commissioners to give an Account of all the Summs of Money or a part of them arising from the Large General and Particular Charity 's upon all the Poor amongst the Refuges
which said Summs came all into the Hands of the said French Commissioners from the beginning of the Year 1696. Seeing that Undertaking was known by the Publick I mean by the most part of the French Refuges And that the said Mr. Daillon undoubtedly hath not forgotten that on July the 10th 1696. He Writ a Letter against the French Commissioners to the Meeting of French Ministers sitting then in the French Church at Hungerford-Market against the said French Commissioners by which said Letter he plainly shewed that the said Erench Commissioners were making the best of the Money accruing from the Charity 's bestowed to the said Poor amongst the Refuges either by putting it out into the Goldsmiths or Bankers Hands or in Trading with it by Sea and that only for themselves And that the same Commissioners did pay by the said Money accruing from the said Charity 's all their own Servants their Sallary c. Again that the said Mr. Daillon durst not make Oath that he hath not said and done what is aforementioned Now if he had so bad a Conscience he would be Convicted of Perjury by many Eye-Witnesses who particularly knew his Undertaking against the French Commissioners and who heard the Contents of the said Letter when it was Read before the said French Ministers met together in whose Meeting was President Mr. Betoule an Ancient Minister amongst the Refuges one of the best Friends of the said French Commissioners who kept the said Letter and who is now dead 11. That the aforesaid French Commissioners would not part with their Commission and leave the Sole Care of the said Refuges Poor's Maintenance to the City of London or to the Clergy of the said City who would have taken the said Care upon themselves That it is a Convincing Proof that the said French Commissioners feared thereby that the great Summs of Money they have in their Hands should be discovered and in such a Case they feared the losing forever the Administration of the said great Summs and withall the hope of being the Owners of them probably not remembring that the aforesaid Summs coming from Bountiful Charity 's bestowed upon the said Resuges Poor are a Devoted and Holy Thing committed to their Trust and that they in Conscience are bound to give a strict Account of it to God and Man both in this World and in the World to come whatsoever they may think say or do about it 12. That assoon as the French Commissioners shall be Commanded by You the Honourable House of Commons either openly to Confess that they have in their own Hands the said great Summs or to shew the contrary by the Justifying Papers Writings and Deeds c. If the said French Commissioners do not perform whatever they are commanded Moreover if by the said Papers Writings and Deeds c. It doth not appear clearly that the said French Commissioners have distributed not to the Rich French Refuges but only to the Poor all the said Summs accruing from all the aforesaid Charity 's and Legacies Moreover if instead of justifying themselves thereby the said French Commissioners rather make this Objection That they could not give an exact Account of the said Summs seeing that a great many Refuges of both Sexes cannot Write and besides they have not set down all the Relieved Refuges Names It must be inferred from thence that the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-wardens of the aforesaid two Churches have not acted Faithfully and Righteously but that they acted against their own Conscience to Desraud the said Poor Refuges of the greatest part of the said Charity 's and to deceive the Lords Commissioners by whom all their said Accounts were to be Examined And that therefore it is certain they have still in their Hands the aforesaid great Summs whereof they must be forced to give a particular and exact Account 13. That if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to examine all the Proofs given before there is no doubt but it will be plainly seen that there must needs be remaining in the said French Commissioners Hands a very considerable Fund accruing from the said General and Particular large Charity 's often bestowed That there is left a very considerable Fund accruing from the good Husbandry and from the said great Summs of Money whereof the said French Commissioners have made use Again if it may please You the Honourable House so Commons after Your Honours have examined all the said Evidences to proceed against the said French Commissioners and against the Ministers and Church-Wardens of the aforesaid two Churches to force them to confess either that they have the said Fund in their own Hands or that they have put it into other Mens Hands or to Convict them of the same by other more easie and demonstrative better and shorter Ways and Means if such ones may be found The aforesaid John Chabbert shall make bold still Humbly to shew Your Honors all these following Means which he believeth the most proper for his Project He therefore sheweth 1. That if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to take notice of all the aforesaid Summs of Money arising from the said Charity 's bestowed upon the said Poor Refuges which said Summs and Charitys are come to the said French Commissioners Hands or to the said Ministers and Church-Wardens of the aforesaid two Churches Hands from the beginning of the Year 1681. to this very Day of this Month of the Year 1696. And again if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to order the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church Wardens c. Presently to prepare themselves to give an exact Account by Particulars of all the said Summs come to their Hands from the beginning of the said Year 1685. to this very day of the said Year 1696. The said French Commissioners will not dare to Disobey Your Honors Command This first Means therefore must needs be put into Practice That the Publick and the said Poor Refuges may hope that the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-Wardens of the said to Churches will be infallibly convinced that they have in their own Hands or in those of their Friends a great Fund and more than sufficient to maintain the said Poor Refuges 2. That if it may please You the Honourable House of Commons to chuse such a Number of English Gentlemen as Your Honors shall please such as shall be all of an Exemplary Goodness and Piety Gentlemen who love Justice and suffer not themselves to be corrupted with Bribes Gentlemen who are mindful of the Publick Concerns and of those of the Poor's And if it may please Your Honers to appoint for Commissioners such deserving Gentlemen to examine the Accounts that must be given by Particulars and the Acquittances Catalogues and other Papers that must be brought to them by the said French Commissioners Ministers and Church-Wardens of the said two Churches Undoubtedly this second means will be