The State of PARTIES and of the PUBLICK as influenc'd by those Parties in this Conjuncture offered to ENGLISH MEN. 'T IS a miserable Circumstance and the General Ruine of prosperous States when Parties out of Separate Interests and Passions pursue different Ends of their own without regard to the Publick although the chief Interest of each But it is a Circumstance beyond common Misery a Propensity to ruine more than natural and a Fatality over Mankind greater than has been ever observed perhaps in any Country or Set of Men that they should be divided into Parties from the Publick Interest when there is not so much as any real particular Interest in effect carrying on in any of those different Parties not any of these discriminating Interests so laid or so pursued as that by all the violent Steps taken by the Engagers they are any ways advanced So that although Violence be done and still doing perpetually to the Publick though all contend for the Promotion of that Interest or Party under which they only look for any Happiness Yet for all this not one of these Interests receive any Advantage not one of these Parties are likely to procure or come any thing near their End Our Nation must be allowed to be in a most compleat way to Misery if this be proved their Case That there are Parties is well known The first great Division is between King William and King James which takes in all our present active Men For as for Commonwealth's-men which some would have to be a third Distinction besides the Turn it serves at Court it has no meaning unless the quiet Part of England those tired with Revolutions and farther Engagements with Men of these Days or those that are divided in their Thoughts upon the Interests of either King as they stand to England unless I say these be they call'd Commonwealth's-men however absurd it be Of these two Interests that of King James's does properly make but one Party though the other two Those I say make but one Party as they act in the Publick for they having in Prospect only and as the End of all their Agitations the Government of King James they are not now divided nor can be yet whilst unprevailing in any Dispute or Difference considerable about Administration as how by whom or in what Methods favouring one or other Party that Government shall be carried on The side then of the now-governing King being divided into Whig and Tory there are but three Parties that pull different ways or with any noted Force in the Publick Affairs The meaning of all these Men if they have their main Interest their Stake Estate and Friends in England is and must be to preserve England though not from perfect Monarchy and absolute Power of a Crown at home which some approve of and like the best whatever Name of Tyranny or Slavery it has heretofore gone by yet to preserve us at least from the Yoak of Foreign Power from being over-grown by States that are about us and coming down from being the Principal in Power and Riches to be the last of Europe or but once inferiour to any of these neighbouring ones which will turn to as much since it necessarily subjects us to the Miseries of those Invasions we indured of old as then the Common Prey of all the World and every rising Nation This surely whatever else may be his Interest is the Interest of every individual English-man in all these Parties to prevent But if this be what is least done if this not only be not prevented but be the only thing that every Party every Side though not intentionally yet really does draw on advance promote and nothing else no not their Party-Interest not any valuable Victory or Triumph that one may gain above another so much as gratifying a Passion Then are we in that State I mention'd in the fairest most miraculous way that can be thought on to every thing that can be call'd Ruine or Destruction to a Country That when we lose our Strength we are more miserable than any other People the surest Seat of the most various sharp and lasting War Experience the most remarkable that ever was has taught us from the highest Remembrance of our selves through Romans Danes Saxons and many Nations more though less remark'd down to the last Normans and that concluding Conquest which by the Power of the Conqueror abroad and the Continuance of his Line here established us on our own Bottom And that this was not meer Misfortune but that it is a Fate peculiar to us I mean that it is a natural Evil to us more than any Country when we are low who ever studies our Situation and the Growths of Nations on the Continent will know that such a Country as this is more disputable than any other that the Dominion of it cannot be so fixed and the immediate Masters of it however powerful on the Continent not able to insure to themselves the Possession of it by holding it out against Strangers or guarding it from their Enemy so well as of other Places that this is in that Sense as a Frontier Country with this Difference that those that are really Frontier Countries though they are so this Day may have the luck not to be so a little while after but that this Country has always the Nature of a Frontier ever to maintain War in it and to be the Subject and Place of Contention amongst those that are stronger than it self when-ever such there are In fine That as we are an Island and have the Sea round us so by being Masters of that which is in short by being in the Practice of it most and can be no otherwise we must of Consequence be the strongest in the World as the World is now turn'd to Navigation and each Country by Degrees at length brought to depend absolutely on Trade by wanting many Necessaries from foreign Places which once they could live without perhaps but since cannot nor can defend themselves without this being the Change that the improved Art of Navigation has made in the World tying Countries to a reciprocal Dependency on one another for their Growths and obliging them to some sort of Correspondency But on the other side that as we are the strongest in Situation by being an Island the Dominion of the Sea suppos'd to be with us so that being lost to us in any other Hands or divided amongst others we are of all the most and worst exposed This being granted it follows that whatever Circumstances of ours admit other Nations Foreigners whatsoever to grow though at the same time we were granted to grow too so as in Proportion above us in Navigation and Trade this necessarily subjects us to all the Miseries before pointed at and is the direct way leading to a Consequence that is no ways to be evaded for when that Work is done and the Advantage once given up what ever Party do as they
only when the dread of that Power that now supports him hangs less upon them and that they can be freed from their Jealousy of thâ— King of France's governing by King James Now whilst we are losing every day at Sea whilst the King of France's Fleets and Privateers grow and the Terror of this spreads there can be nothing left to give a more absolute Horror of King James than this and when an Invasion comes to drive the body of the People from an Easiness and Vnconcernedness which otherwise they would be in towards any such Revolution carrying on into a very Desperation which will produce the uttermost Resistance when it may be expected they should be forc'd to yield The Hint that I have given may shew I think how much the Common Jacobites are besides their Interest and how well they know to wish as well for their King 's particular Interest as for the general Interest of their Country and what Mighty Service they do King James and Dis-service to King William by their common way of Talking about the Force of France at Sea and their Endeavours to give still greater Grounds for such Terror But to come now to the Behaviour of the other two Parties that are shut up within that of K. William's Every Body knows there are two Sorts of Men in each of which there are such as are engag'd to K. William's Interest as absolutely and without reserve as he has required of them or can require of them in any prostitute Sense and yet these Two are perpetually opposing one another and make two Sides which are commonly distinguish'd by the Names of Whig and Tory. According to the too good Success that the Courtier has had we see that notwithstanding any Interest that the Patriots as many as there are can make and notwithstanding that Odium which so many of the Court-Followers have incurr'd yet there is still this Fatality that Those continue the mainly prevalent in each those move the Herd of both these Parties those have in effect the sway that are with all that Latitude I have said engag'd in the Interest of this Court For whoever calls this Court in question whoever doubts its good Intention to English Men to English Liberties and Government whoever quotes past Declarations or instances a present Grievance nay or that in Discourse is but luke-warm towards the State a Way is found and it seldom fails to make that Man ill thought of by the Herd suspected by the Vulgar of his Party and shunn'd as a Deserter For with one Party he is insur'd a Commonwealth's Man and with the other a Plain Jacobite For what else should he be that acts against this Government Thus with one short Question and that equivocal Term of Government as it is put there the Courtier does his business This shews what is understood here by Whig and Tory meaningly as the Court is prevalent over both those Parties And as thus let us consider how they act whether as likely to obtain their common End in the support of this Government in the manner 't is suffer'd to be carried on by them or whether when that 's done as likely to obtain either of them their separate End in prospect of which they so assist and court this Government and as likely to carry their expected Advantage over their opposite Party The Tories have it for their End to see the Church establish'd in as high Power as ever to see it freed from the Eye-sore of Dissenters and Fanaticks to remove the ill Precedent of Scotland to set up Episcopacy in such strength as is requir'd by the Clergy-Men themselves to put them out of fear of every thing and to have a King governing with as large a Prerogative as may be but still by the Means and under the Tuition of such a Church The Whigs dread such a Power in the Church and are so disatisfied with what it has of that kind already fearing what may come that they expect a greater Security than is given them at present that those who are Dissenters from or under the Mark of the Church for being ill Friends to it may never see It in a condition to take its Revenge or give them any Disturbance These Men exclaim generally against all Arbitrary Bower but more especially That which the Church would introduce and that their Enemies would most profit by Neither of these two Parties towards the Satisfaction they desire go now about the making of any new Laws or attempt any Alteration in the Present Settlement But their Labour is the gaining of the King and the getting those of their Fraternity what-ever otherwise they be into the Government This is the only Means by which they at this time think to serve their Interest This is the only Pledg they now ask for the Success of their respective Parties Each promising to themselves that within a little or when-ever his Majesty has made an end of his Enemies He will declare for them and for the future employ only the Men of their Stamp Now though all this while according to the Methods kept up between these two Parties the Government were like to stand yet it is ridiculous and foolish what either of these Men expect We may I think be satisfied that what-ever we may expect from any other this Court is not likely to be at a stand and rest contented with the allotted Revenue and Prerogative much less to agree to a Diminution of either though there be a considerable Party in England that think and will still think which will cost the Court some Opposition that the Prerogative is at a height in some Points very prejudicial to England and likely to overturn the Ancient Government of it one time or other especially since the Nobility is now so sunk from what it formerly ever was It must therefore be suppos'd that when this general Victory is obtain'd and King William is establish'd either he will be immediately Absolute and have it in his Power to act as he fancies or he will be as he now is under the Restraint of Laws and Parliaments to be struggled with If it be the First What is it that will move his Fancy towards the Church-Men when under no Obligation to reverse all the Scotish-Affairs act contrary to the Principle of Holland and all his Protestant Calvinist Acquaintance and Relations abroad and exasperate so great a Body as the Dissenters and Whigs here The Church-Men must be wonderfully conceited and have a strange good Opinion of themselves or a very wrong one of the King's Principle and Conscience to think He would be thus serviceable to them out of Affection meerly On the other side If the Court be not by being fully Absolute freed from these Restraints but be to work its way through and that the Prerogative be in a craving State and wants to gain upon the People What can more satisfy it than the present Construction of Whig and Tory in
last that keep the Barrier They too if not immediately must in a Campaign or two more go the same way of course though at the closing of our Campaigns which cannot keep us up but a defensive War we endeavour to take a kind of Revenge by attacquing the French with as much Advantage and Success as we did now lately at Steinkirk But can we think notwithstanding this that by recruiting our wasted Troops and by raising other nâ—w ones proportionable to what France raises we shall prevent all this and not only so but after having retaken Namur and Mons with what else we have lost be able to pierce into France through treble Ranks of Garisons by taking of them one by one or all at once or leaving 'em behind and marching through ' em Surely Men of thought will stick at this But notwithstanding all this The Engagers with the Court carrying a Majority in this Parliament with 'em are giving the Government this ineffectual Assistance and are drawing from us vast Sums to supply Confederate Armies and Armies of our own abroad As if this were really to do us good would avail any thing and were our proper Method of securing our selves Whilst our Sea-Practice whence should be drawn the French's Ruine but whence our own is now lies in the shamefullest Condition that can be What signifies it that we have a number of huge Ships to sail about together a Month or two in the Summer if still the French keep all they have in the West-Indies and the Means that they have there if not taken from 'em of breeding Sea-Men above all the World besides if here in our Seas they breed vast Numbers and set out numerous and mighty Ships out of the spoil of us and our Ships If Trading be not safe for us our Seas being to us shut up and Sweeds Danes Portugees and other Nations to whom the Sea is free growing into Trade and carrying all Supplies which thus we cannot hinder into France 'T is plain that if we cannot after this we certainly must sink 'T is against this that we should turn all our Power our Riches which would not then be doubly lost in being given amongst Foreigners from England never to return thither and being given besides in vain 'T is towards this we should turn all our Care and Counsels and therefore if the good Genius of England has not Power enough by Patriots within it to alter this Administration all is in vain and we must fall That in this respect we do now every thing so improperly every thing so wastfully that we pretend to do and that there is so little a Part aimed at or intended of what might farther be done by us than is attempted under the present Management there is indeed no wonder When of all Parts of our Government there is not any more loose more inconsistent more corrupt than that Part which regards our Sea-Affair We have no Council no Committee for Trade establish'd nothing of any Office instituted or Officers properly qualified and empower'd to inspect our Trade to report the Condition of it and propose the Regulations necessary to our Parliament insomuch that that Assembly is forc'd upon Occasions to have recourse to the Merchants themselves to be instructed and are often at a loss and as in the East-India Business in a likelihood of ruining Trade by having their only Information in those nice Matters from such as are surely interested one way or ther. Our Offices of Admiralty and the like are dispos'd of in Gifts to Men of Intrigue and as the World has now sufficiently remark'd he that by his Skill can work a Party delay or bring on a Business in the Parliament and has the House-Craft is recommended to the steering of a Fleet and the ordering of our Naval Force All is of a peice and throughout all the Places any ways relating to this great Trust down to the very inferiour Officers in single Ships Bribery and Cabal does every thing If this go on as has been shewn England sinks whoever rises We are expos'd to the last Misery and a Foundation at this rate is laying for such a State as was before represented And now at this present time if the House of Commons carry not what they have begun upon the Admiralty to a real thorough Reformation in all those Affairs however the others are suffer'd to lie if our Force at Sea and the natural Strength that way which we have yet left amongst us be not by their ordering otherwise exerted other-guess Encouragements set up for Sea-Men the Sea Souldiering the very Vocation it self by a better Usage of those that follow it made more advantageous than as it now stands that it may draw in more than any other and not be as it is the most justly declinable and ready to be abandon'd by those that are already in if there be not an other-guess rewarding of those that serve well the proper Methods set up to clear us of the French-Cruisers and their Privateers fit Ships with right Regulation apply'd to that Work The Dealing with them not left so as it now is as an ungrateful Work only but the Reducing of them made by Rewards fitted to such Service as well for Privateers and Adventurers of our own as for the Ships of the Publick an Employment most advantageous and which may be heartily undertaken by those that so expose themselves In short what-ever ill Performance Unskilfulness and Corruption be suffered in any other Part of our Government However Matters may go in Westminster-Hall however the Chancery be filled or any Offices in the Nation that are to do Right amongst Particulars of that Body however any other Part of the Ministry stand according to whatsoever Party If our Parliament do not now right our Country in this Concern do not redress and assure this part of our Administration in Hands they can intrust and shall have Power over to make Faithful and by their own Management for it will be by no other save thus what we are losing not only to the French but to all other Foreigners that use the Sea If they do not thus much and suddenly set us in another Course to regain what 's past and do our utmost here However great these Armies and Confederacies sound that fill so many Heads at present whatever Pomp and Grandeur in this Government hinders them from dreaming any Insecurity in it I fear they will not long be Possessors of the Power that accompanies them now in their Seats at Westminster nor be the Masters long of those Estates that give them now the Places they have there Their giving Millions so liberally will but hasten the Business though many give their Concurrence to this most unprovident way of giving and to the Methods proportionable of raising what is thus given not as unsensible of Mismanagement but out of meer Fear of being over-run But it is ordinary to see Men in their Fears run more