Their HIGHNESS the Prince Princess OF ORANGE's OPINION About a GENERAL Liberty of Conscience c. Being a Collection of FOUR SELECT PAPERS VIZ. I. Mijn Heer Fagel ' s First Letter to Mr. Stewart II. Reflexions on Monsieur Fagel's Letter III. Fagel's Second Letter to Mr. Stewart IV. Some Extracts out of Mr. Stewart's Letters which were communicated to Mijn Heer Fagel Together with some References to Mr. Stewart's Printed Letter LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Janeway in Queens-head-alley in Pater-Noster-Row 1689. A LETTER Writ by Mijn Heer FAGEL Pensioner of Holland to Mr. James Stewart Advocate Giving an Account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws SIR I Am extream sorry that my ill health hath so long hindred me from Answering those Letters in which you so earnestly desired to know of me what their Highnesses thoughts are concerning the Repeal of the Penal Laws and more particularly of that concerning the Test I beg you to assure your self that I will deal very plainly with you in this matter and without Reserve since you say that your Letters was writ by the King's knowledge and allowance I must then first of all assure you very positively that their Highnesses have often declared as They did more particularly to the Marquis of Albeville His Majesties Envoy Extraordinary to the States that it is their Opinion That no Christian ought to be persecuted for his Conscience or be ill used because he differs from the publick and and established Religion And therefore they can consent that the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland be suffered to continue in their Religion with as much Liberty as is allowed them by the States in these Provinces in which it cannot be denied that they enâ—â—y a full Liberty of Conscience And as for the Dissenters Their Highnesses do not only consent but do heartily approve of their having an entire Liberty for the full Exercise of their Religion without any trouble or hindrance so that none may be able to give them the least disturbance upon that account And their Highnesses are very ready in case His Majesty shall think fit to desire it to declare their willingness to concur in the settling and confirming this Liberty and as far as it lies in them they will protect and defend it and according to the Language of Treaties They will confirm it with their Guarranty of which you made mention in yours And if His Majesty shall think fit fuether to desire their concurrence in the Repealing of the Penal Laws They are ready to give it provided always that those Laws remain still in their full vigour by which the R. Catholicks are shut out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all publick Employments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military as likewise all those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secures it against all the attempts of the Roman Catholicks But Their Highnesses cannot agree to the Repeal of the Test or of those other Penal Laws last mentioned that tend to the security of the Protestant Religion since the R. Catholicks receive no other prejudice from these than the being excluded from Parliaments or from publick Employments And that by them the Protestant Religion is covered from all the Designs of the R. Catholicks against it or against the publick safety And neither the Test nor these other Laws can be said to carry in them any severity against the Roman Catholicks upon account of their Consciences They are only Provisions qualifying men to be Members of Parliament or to be capable of bearing Office by which they must declare before God and Men that they are for the Protestant Religion So that indeed all this amounts to no more than a securing the Protestant Religion from any Prejudices that it may receive from the R. Catholicks Their Highnesses have thought and do still think that more than this ought not to be askt or expected from Them since by this means the R. Catholicks and their Posterity will be for ever secured from all trouble in their Persons or Estates or in the Exercise of their Religion and that the Roman Catholicks ought to be satisfied with this and not to disquiet the Kingdom because they cannot be admitted to sit in Parliament or to be in Employments or because those Laws in which the security of the Protestant Religion does chiefly consist are not repealed by which they may be put in a condition to overturn it Their Highnesses do also believe that the Dissenters will be fully satisfied when they shall be for ever covered from all danger of being disturbed or punished for the free Exercise of their Religion upon any sort of pretence whatsoever Their Highnesses having declared themselves so positively in these matters it seems very plain to me that They are far from being any hindrance to the Freeing the Dissenters from the severity of the Penal Laws since they are ready to use their utmost endeavours for the establishing of it nor do they at all press the denying to the Roman Catholicks the exercise of their Religion provided it be managed modestly and without Pomp or Ostentation As for my own part I ever was and still am very much against all those who would persecute any Christian because he differs from the publick and established Religion And I hope by the Grace of God to continue still in the same mind for since that Light with which Religion illuminates our mind is according to my sense of things purely an effect of the Mercy of God to us we ought then as I think to render to God all possible Thanks for his Goodness to us and to have Pity for those who are still shut up in Error even as God has pitied us and to put up most earnest prayers to God for bringing those into the way of Truth who stray from it and to use all gentle and friendly methods for reducing them to it But I confess I could never comprehend how any that profess themselves Christians and that may enjoy their Religion freely and without any disturbance can judge it lawful for them to go about to disturb the Quiet of any Kingdom or State or to overturn Constitutions that so they themselves may be admitted to Employments and that those Laws in which the Security and Quiet of the Established Religion consists should be shaken It is plain that the Reformed Religion is by the Grace of God and by the Laws of the Land enacted by both King and Parliament the publick and established Religion both in England Scotland and Ireland and that it is provided by those Laws that none can be admitted either to a place in Parliament or to any publick Employment except those that do openly declare that they are of the Protestant Religion and not Roman Catholicks and it is also provided by those Laws that the Protestant Religion shall be in all time coming
secured from the Designs of the Roman Catholicks against it in all which I do not see that these Laws contain any Severity either against the Persons or Estates of those who cannot take those Tests that are contrary to the Roman Catholick Religion all the inconveniences that can redound to them from thence is that their Persons their Estates and even the Exercise of their Religion being assured to them only they can have no share in the Government nor in Offices of â—rust as long as their Consciences do not allow them to take these Tests and they are not suffered to do any thing that is to the prejudice of the Reformed Religion Since as I have already told you Their Highnesses are ready to concur with his Majesty for the Repeal of those Penal Laws by which men are made liable to fines or other Punishments So I see there Remains no difficulty concerning the Repealing the Penal Laws but only this that some would have the Roman Catholicks render'd capable of all publick Trusts and Employments and that by consequence all those should be repealed that have secured the Protestane Religion against the designs of the R. Catholicks where others at the same time are not less earnest to have those Laws maintained in their full and due vigour and think that the chief security of the established Religion consists in the preserving of them sacred and unshaken It is certain that there is no Kingdom Commonwealth or any constituted body or Assembly whatsoever in which there are not Laws made for the safety thereof and that provide against all Attempts whatsoever that disturb their Peace and that prescribe the Conditions and Qualities that they judge necessary for all that shall bear Employments in that Kingdom State or Corporation And no man can pretend that there is any Injury done him that he is not admitted to Imployments when he doth not satisfie the Conditions and Qualities required Nor can it be denied that there is a great difference to be observed in the conduct of those of the Reformed Religion and of the Roman Catholicks towards one another The Roma Catholicks not being satisfied to exclude the Reformed from all places of profit or of Trust they do absolutely suppress the whole Exercise of that Religion and severely persecute all that profess it and this they do in all those places where it is safe and without danger to carry on that rigour And I am sorry that we have at this present so many deplorable Instances of this severity before our eyes that is at the same time put in practice in so many different places I would therefore gladly see one single good reason to move a Protestant that fears God and that is concerned for his Religion to consent to the Repealing of those Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of King and Parliament which have no other tendency but to the security of the Reformed Religion and to the restraining of the Roman Catholicks from a capacity of overturning it these Laws inflict neither Fines nor Punishments and do only exclude the Roman Catholicks from a share in the Government who by being in Employments must needs study to increase their Party and to gain to it more Credit and Power which by what we see every day we must conclude will be extreamly dangerous to the Reformed Religion and must turn to its great prejudice since in all places those that are in publick Employments do naturally Favour that Religion of which they are either more or less And who would go about to perswade me or any man else to endeavour to move Their Highnesses whom God hath honoured so far as to make them the Protectors of his Church to approve of or to consent to things so hurtful both to the Reformed Religion and to the publick safety Nor can I Sir with your good leave in any way grant what you apprehend That no prejudice will thereby redound to the Reformed Religion I know it is commonly said the number of the Roman Catholicks in England and Scotland is very inconsiderable and that they are possessed only of a very small number of the places of Trust tho even as to this the case is quite different in Ireland yet this you must of necessity grant me that if their numbers are small then it is not reasonable that the publick Peace should be disturbed on the account of so few persons especially when so great a favour may be offered to them such as the free Exercise of their Religion would be and if their numbers are greater then there is so much the more reason to be affraid of them I do indeed believe that Roman Catholicks as things at present stand will not be very desirous to be in publick Offices and Imployments nor that they will make any attempts upon the Reformed Religion both because this contrary to Law and because of the great Inconveniences that this may bring at some other time both on their Persons and their Estates yet if the Restraints of the Law were once taken off you would see them brought into the Government and the chief Offices and Places of Trust would be put in thnir hands no will it be easy to His Majesty to resist them in this how stedfast soever he may be for they will certainly press him hard in it and they will represent this to the King as a matter in which His Conscience will be concerned and when they are possessed of the Publick Offices what will be left for the Protestants to do who will find no more the support of the Law and can expect little Encouragement from such Magistrates and on the other hand the Advantages that the R. Catholicks would find in being thus set loose from all Restraints are so plain that it were a loss of time to go about the proving it I neither can or will doubt of the sincerity of His Majesties intentions and that He has no other design before Him in this matter but that all his Subjects may enjoy in all things the same Rights and Freedoms But plain Reason as well as the Experience of all Ages the present as well as the past shews that it will be impossible for R. Catholicks and Protestants when they are mixed together in places of Trust and publick Employments to live together peaceably or to maintain a good Correspondence together They will be certainly always jealous of one another For the Principles and the Maxims of both Religions are so opposite to one another that in my opinion I do not see how it will be in the power of any Prince or King whatsoever to keep down those Suspitions and Animosities which will be apt to arise upon all occasions As for that which you apprehend that the Dissenters shall not be delivered from the Penal Laws that are made against them unless at the same time the Test be likewise repealed This will be indeed a great unhappiness to them but the Roman Catholicks
months ago that such a Letter was written a Forgery would before this time have been detected esecially such a one as ruines the Designs of the Triumphing Party Thirdly It was written by M. Fagel in Answer to Letters from Mr. Stewart sent by His Majesties special Orders and Mr. Stewart hath both an English and Latin Copy sent him Therefore the English Copy is not called a Translation but it is a sort of Original for you are not to doubt but the matter was ordered so that her Royal Highness might peruse it as well as his Majesty In the next place you would know whether their Highnesses gave Order to Monsieur Fagel to write it I wish Sir you would take the pains to read the Letter over again and consider who this Monsieur Fagel is He is Pensionary of Holland and first Ministor of State raised to that Dignity by the Prince's Favour he Answers Letters written to him which are ordered by His Majesty to be communicated to their Highnesses In his Answer he gives an Aceount of their Highnesses Opinions about the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Matters of a National Concern and of the greatest Importance Now you must have a strange Opinion of Monsieur Fagel if you think him capable of so great an indiscretion or rather Imposture as to write such a Letter of his own Head. The Letter it self Demonstrates that whoever writ it is no Fool and the Circumstances I have marked show that he is no Knave And indeed the substance of it is not new it only repeats to His Maiesty the same Answer which the Prince and Princess had formerly given to His Majesties Envoy there In short you may leave the whole Matter to this plain issue if this Letter be a false one it will be disown'd if a true one it will be owned Their Highnesses love not to do things that will not bear the Light. It is Evident they did not intend the Matter of it should be a Secret having told it to Monsieur d'Albeville as often as he in his Discreet Way necessitated them to do it But how it came to be Printed I cannot inform you justly however you shall have my conjecture I remember as soon as it was noised about Town that Mr. Stewart had received a Letter of such a Nature from Monsieur Fagel care was taken that the Writer of the Common News Letters which are dispersed over the Kingdom should insert in them that their Highnesses had declared themselves for the Repeal of the Test This Pias Fraus might I suppose give Occasion to the Printing of the Letter as the Wisdom and Policy of our States-men in putting Mr. Stewart on Writing such Letters had procured it I say Letters for Monsieur Fagel had five or six on that subject before he answered so unwilling were they in Holland to return an Answer since they could not give one that was pleasing or do any thing that look'd like meddling The third Thing you desired to be satisfied in is Whether the Dissenters may rely on their Highnesses Word I am as apt to mistrust Princes Promises as you are But shall now give you my reasons why I think the Dissenters may safely do it And at the same time because of the Affinity of the matter I will tell you why I think we may all rely on their Highnesses for our Civil Liberties as well as the Dissenters may do for Liberty of Conscience Much of what I have to say is equally applicable to them both yet because I know you have had an Account of Her Royal Highness better than I can give you I shall for the most part speak only of the Prince My first Reason is the certainest of all Reasons That it will be His Highnesses interest to settle matters at Home which only can be done by a Legal Toleration or Comprehension in Matters of Religion and by restoring the Civil Liberties of the Nation so much invaded of late That this will be his interest is Evident if his Designs lye abroad as it 's certain they do Designs at home and abroad at the same time are so inconsistent that we see His Majesty though raised above his Fears at home by His late Victory and invited abroad by all that can excite his Appetite for Glory cannot reconcile them The truth is one that would undertake it is in the same Condition with Officers that beat their men to make them fight they have Enemies before and behind But you may happily Object that Princes do not always follow their true Interests of which it is not difficult in this Age to give several Fatal Instances I Answer That it is to be presumed that Princes as well as other men will follow their Interests till the contrary appear and if they be of an Age to have taken their Fold and have till such Age kept firm to their Interests the Presumption grows strong but if their Inclinations the Maxims of their Families the Impressions of their Education and all their other Circumstances do side with their Interest and lead them the same way it is hardly Credible they should ever quit it Now this being the present Case we have all the certainty that can be had in such matters The Prince of Orange has above these 15 years given so great proofs of his Firmness and Resolution as well as of his Capacity and conduct in opposing the Grand Ravisher I may add the Betrayers too of Liberty and Religion that he is deservedly by all Impartial Men own'd to be the Head of the Protestant Interest A Headship which no Princes but the Kings of England should have and none but they would be without it Now one may rationally conclude That when the Prince shall joyn to his present possession of this Headship a more Natural Title by being in a greater capacity to Act he will not degrade himself nor lay aside Designs and Interests which ought to be the Glory of England as they are indeed the Glory of his Family acquired and derived to him by the Blood of his Ancestors and carried on and maintained by himself with so much Honour and Reputation I might add here That the Prince is a Man of a sedate even Temper full of Thoughts and Reflection one that precipitates neither in Thinking Speaking nor Acting is cautious in Resolving and Promising but firm to his Resolutions and exact in observing his Word inform your self and you 'll find this a part of his Character and conclude from hence what may be presumed from his Inclinations Now as to the Maxims of his Family let us compare them a little where it may be decently done The French King broke his Faith to his Protestant Subjects upon this single point of Vain Glory that he might shew the World he was greater than most of his Predecessors who though they had the same Inclinations were not Potent enough to pursue them effectually as he has done to the everlasting Infamy of his
Name and Reign The maxims of the French Kings have been to outvie each other in Robbing their Neighbours and Oppressing their Subjects by perfidiousness and cruelty But those of the Family of Orange on the contrary have been to Rescue Europe from its Oppressors and maintain the Protestant Interest by Vertue Truth Honour and Resolution knowing that such methods are as necessary to make Protestant Princes and States flourish as Vice and Oppression are to maintain Popish Government No Popish Prince in Europe can pretend to have kept his Word to his Protestant Subjects as the Princes of Orange have always done to their Popish subjects at Orange and elsewhere and the Papists have often broke their Word to that Family and have been and are its declared Enemies and though the Princes two great Grand-Fathers Admiral Coligni and Prince William were Assassinated by the Authority and with the Approbation of that whole party yet it cannot be made appear that ever the Princes of that Family failed in keeping their Word even to such Enemies or used their own Popish subjects the worse for it in making distinction between them and their other subjects or influenc'd the States to use theirs so I say the States who allow their R. C. subjects all the priviledges of their other subjects only they are kept by a Test from having any share in the Government which is truly a kindness done them considering that ill-natured Humour of destroying all those that differ from them which is apt to break out when that Religion is in power Now the Church of England may justly expect all sort of protection and countenance from the successors when it 's their turn to give it they have a legal right to it and Impartial Dissenters must acknowledge that of late they have deserved it But as for the Protestant Dissenters I think no honest man amongst them will Apprehend that their Highnesses who keep their Word to their Popish Enemies will break it to Protestant subject tho differing from the publick Establishment The next thing I am to make good is That His Highnesses Education must have infused such principles as side with his Interest There must be a fatal Infection in the English Crown if matters miscarry in his Highnesses Hands his Veins are full of the best Protestant Blood in the World The Reformation in France grew up under the Conduct and Influence of Coligni Prince William founded the Government of the United Netherlands on the Basis of property and liberty of Conscience His Highness was bred and lives in that State which subsists and flourishes by adhering steadily to the Maxims of its Founder He himself both in his publick and private concerns as well in the Government of his Family and of such principalities as belong to him as in that of the Army and in the Dispensing of that great power which the States have given him has as great regard to Justice Vertue and true Religion as may compleat the character of a Prince qualified to make those he Governs happy It does not indeed appear that their Highnesses have any share of that devouring Zeal which hath so long set the World on fire and tempted thinking men to have a notion of Religion it self like that we have of the Ancient Paradice as if it had never been more than an intended Blessing but all who have the honour to know their Highnesses and their Inclinations in matters of Religion are fully satisfied they have a truly Christian Zeal and as much as is consistent with Knowledge and Charity As to his Highnesses circumstances they will be such when his Stars make way for him as may convince our Scepticks that certain persons times and things are prepared for one another I know not why we may not hope that as his predecessors broke the Yoke of the House of Austria from off the Neck of Europe The honour of breakinâ— that of the House of Bourbon is reserved for him I am confident the Nation will heartily joyn with him in his Just Resentments Resentments which they have with so much Impatience long'd to find and have miss'd with the greatest indignation in the Hearts of their Monarchs His Highness has at present a greater influence on the Councils of the most part of the Princes of Christendom than possibly any King of England ever had And this acquired by the weight of his own personal merit which will no doubt grow up to a glorious Authority when it is cloath'd with Soveraign power May I here mention to â—ay the Jealousies of the most unreasonable of your Friends that his Highness will have only a borrowed Title which he may suppose will make him more catious in having designs at home and his wanting Children to our great misfortune will make him less solicitous to have such Designs But after all it must be acknowledged that in matters of this Nature the premises may seem very strong and yet the conclusion not follow Humane infirmities are great Temptations to Arbitrariness are strong and often both the Spirit and Flesh weak Such fatal mistakes have been made of late that the Successors themselves may justly pardon mens Jealousies A Widow that has had a bad Husband will cry on her Wedding-day though she would be married with all her heart But I am confident you will grant to me that in the case of the present Successors the possibilities are as remote and the Jealousies as ill grounded and that there is as much to ballance them as ever there was to be found in the prospect of any Successors to the Crown of England Now may I add To conclude the Reasons that I have given you why we may depend on their Highnesses that I know considerable men who after great Enquiry and Observation do hope that their Highesses being every way so well qualified for such an end are predestinated if I may speak so to make us happy in putting an end to our Differences and in fixing the Prerogative and in recovering the Glory of the Nation which is so much sunk and which now when we were big with Expectations we find Sacrific'd to unhappy partialities in matters of Religion The last thing you desire to know is What Effects this Letter has had But it is not yet old enough for me to judge of that I can better tell you what Effects it ought to have I find the moderate wise men of all Perswasions are much pleased with it I know Roman Catholicks that wish to God matters were settled on the model given in it they see the great difficulty of getting the Test Repealed And withal they doubt whether it is their Interest that it should be Repealed or not They fear needy violent men might get into Employments who would put His Majesty on doing things that might ruine them and their Posterity They are certainly in the right of it It is good to provide for the worst A Revolution will come with a Witness and it 's like it
themselves the R. C's have neither Hearts to keep firm to such a Resolution nor Hands to Execute it Since therefore They themselves have unhappily brought their Church into such Preâ—pices by provoking the Dissenters it is in a particular manner their Duty as well as their laterest to endeavour to soften them by assisting the Letter and promoting the Design of it But if the old leaven still remain they continue to argue as formerly if the Surplice be parted with the Church of England is lost if the Penal Laws be repealed the Test will follow and comfort themselves with this most Christian reflection that the R. C. will not accept of what is offered them such men deserve all the misery that is preparing for them and will perish without Pity and give thinking Men occasion to remember the Proverb Beat a Fool or a Zealot in a Morter yet his Foolishness will not depart from him But the Dissenters ought not to be much concerned at this they have their own Bigots and the Church of England theirs there will be Tools whilst there are Workmen This a time for Wisdom to be justified of her Children when honest men ought to leave off minding the lesser Interests of this or that particular Church and joyn in securing the common Interest of the Protestant Religion And to conclude I would particularly beg of the Dissenters to make use of their best Judgment on this so critical an occasion which they will do in my opinion in keeping close to the contents of this Letter by endeavouring to obtain in a fair and legal way such a Liberty to all Perswasions as is the Natural Right of Freemen and as our Protestant Successors declare themselves willing to joyn in and if those who have an equal nay a greater Interest than themselves will not agree to such a Liberty because they will be Masters or nothing the Dissenters will have the comfort of having discharged their own Consciences as prudent Men and good Christians ought to do and may safely trust God with the Event Sir I thought I had made an end but looking your Letter over again I find I have forgot to answer a reason or two you give why you doubt whether the Letter be truly M. Fagels You are informed you say that such and such Great Men doubted of it but some might as well pretend to doubt of the Truth of that Letter tho they knew it to be true as believe Her Majesty to be with Child almost before she knew it Her self and that she was quick when the Embryo as Anatomists say is not much above an Inch long I don't think that Popish Successors like certain weeds grow faster than others The Persons you name may Trim and presume on their Merit least they might be thought capable of Resentment A dangerous Reflection I say their Merit you have seen a long relation of the great services some when they were in power did their Highnesses it is bound up with a relation of the true causes of their sufferings for their or rather their Highnesses Religion You know even how one of them the last Summer payed them his reverence with all the Respect and Humility of a due distance and with the same caution with which the Invincible Monarch fights out of Cannon shot But Sir though the character of a Trimmer be ordinarily the character of a Prudent Man there are times and seasons when it is not the Character of an Honest Man. I acknowledge that since their Highnesses Marriage nothing has hapned so much for the good of the Protestant Interest as this Letter of M. Fagels and if I had been either the Writer or Adviser of it I should be very proud of it and think the Nation much in my debt But Sir that was not a very good reason to make you doubt of it for a good cause will have its time tho not so often as a bad one which hath ordinarily the Majority on its side I am confident at present we have all the reason in the world to expect it for my own part though I am neither young nor strong I hope to live to see a day of Jubilee in England for all that deserve it when honest men shall have the same pleasure in thinking on these times that a Woman happily delivered hath in reflecting on the pain and danger she was in But Knaves shall remember them as I am told the damned do their sins Cursing both them and themselves Sir I am Yours January 12 1688. A Letter Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel Pensioner to the Great and Mighty Lords the States of Holland and Westfriesland Writ in French on the 9th of April N. Stile 1688. To the Marquiss of Albeville Envoy Extraordinary of His Majesty of Great Britain to the High and Mighty the States General of the Vnited Provinces To which is prefixt an Account in Dutch of the Letter Writ by Mijn Heer Fagel on the 4th of November in the year 1687. to Mr. Stewart written by the said Pensioner and Published by his Order Printed at the Hague by James Scheltus Printer to the States of Holland and Westfriesland Translated out of the French and Dutch into English READER I Gaspar Fagel having the honour to serve the Great and Mighty States of Holland and Westfriesland in the Quality of their Pensioner cannot any longer delay the giving the Publick this account that in the month of July last 1687. I was very earnestly desired by Mr. James Stewart Advocate to write to him what were the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts concerning the repealing the Test and the Penal Laws but I was not easily brought to put Pen to Paper on this subject because I knew that their Highnesses Thoughts did not agree with his Majesties so that the writing in such matters was extream tender therefore I delayed it till I was more earnestly pressed to it and it was Intimated to me that those pressing desires were made by His Majesties Knowledge and Allowance at last I did according to the mind of their Highnesses draw the Letter which I writ to Mr. Stewart on the 4th of November I transmitted the draught of my Letter to their Highnesses and received upon it their order to send it after that their Highnesses had read and examined the draught in Dutch together with the Translation of it into English upon all this I sent my Letter to Mr. Stewart in the beginning of November and received an answer from him by which he signified that he had shewed my Letter both to the Earl of Melfort and to the Earl of Sunderland and that it was also shewed to the King himself nor did he in the least intimate to me that it was desired that I should make any great secret of it or take care that it should not become publick That Letter was afterwards about the middle of January Printed in England and upon its coming over into this Country it has occasioned a great
too great Mislike of that which can never wrong him but will in probability in the event be wholly in his own power I hope you will consider and make your best use of these things I expect an Account of this per first I mean an Answer to this Letter and pray improve it to the best Advantage The Second Letter without a Date THat it is a thing most certain that his Majesty is resolved to observe the Succession to the Crown as a thing most sacred and is far from all Thoughts of altering the same and that his Majesty is very desirous to have the Prince and Princess of Orange to consent to and concur with him in establishing this Liberty So that upon the whole it may be feared that if the Prince continue obstinate in refusing his Majesty he may fall under Suspicions of the greatest part of England and of all Scotland to be too great a Favourer of the Church of England and consequently a person whom they have reason to dread And many think that this Compliance in the Prince might be further a wise part both as to the Conciliating of his Majesty's greater Favour and the begetting of an Understanding betwixt the King and the States and the Parliament will consent to the Liberty so much the rather that they have a Protestant Successor in prospect I cannot on these things make any conclusion but simply leave them to your Reflection and the best use you please to make of them I will expect your Answer per first VVindsor July 18. 1687. THE Hints that I gave you in my two former Letters I shall now explain more fully in this And therefore I heartily wish that the Prince and Princess may understand all that you think needful on this Subject It troubles his Majesty to find them so averse from approving this Liebrty and concurring for its Establishment so that in truth I cannot see why their Highnesses should not embrace cheerfully so fair an Opportunity to gratify both his Majesty and the far greater and better part of the Nation Now upon the whole I expect that you will make all I have written fully known at the Hague especially with the Prince But the main thing I expect from you is to have your mind whether or not his Highness may be so disposed as that a well Chosen Informer sent to himself might perfect the Work. And this Answer I will expect per first where ever the Prince be you know who are to be spoken and how I again entreat your Care and Dispatch in this with your Return London July 29. 1687. MIne of the 19 July with my last of the 26th July V. St. will I am sure satisfy you fully for therein I have indeed answered all can be objected and have given you such an Account of the Confirmation of all I have writ from his Majesty himself that I must think it a Fatality if your people remain obstinate And I again assure you if your people be obstinate it will be fatal to the poor Dissenters and I fear productive of Ills yet unheard of and therefore pray consider my Letters and let me know if there be any place to receive Information by a good Hand but however let us endeavour Good all we can and I assure you I have my Warrant Haste your Answer Windsor Aug. 5. 1687. AND in a word believe me if the Prince will do what is desired it is the best service to the Protestants the highest Obligation on his Majesty and the greatest Advancement of his own Interest that he can think on but if not then all is contrary But pray haste an Answer Windsor Aug. 12. 1687. I Have yours of the 15. Instant long looked for you remark that you have received mine of the 26 of July but say nothing of that of the 19. which was my fullest and which I assure you was writ not only with permission but according to his Majesties Mind sufficiently expressed our Religion ought certainly to be dearer to us than all earthly Concerns It is very true what you say that mistakes about its Concerns especially in such a time may be of the greatest Importance which no doubt should perswade to a very scrupulous Caution But yet I am satisfied That the simple Representing of what was wrote to you which was all I required was no such difficult Task But to be plain with you as my Friend your return was not only long delayed but I observe such a Coldness in it different from the strain of your former that I think I mistake not when I understand by your Letter more than you express I wish the P. may see or hear this from end to end London Aug. 22. 1687. I Have yours of the 16th Instant when I said your last was more Cool I meant not as your Affection but as to your diligence in that Affair for I am perswaded that the establishing of this Liberty by Law is not only the Interest of Protestant Dissenters above all others but that his Highness s consenting to it would be its secure Guarantee both against Changes and Abuses As you love the Quiet of good Men and me leave off Complements and Ceremonies and discourse his Highness of all I have written I am now hastening to Scotland but may return shortly for the Kings is most desirous to gain the Prince and he will be undoubtedly the best Guarantee to us of this Liberty and also to hinder all your Fears about Popery Newwark Aug. 26. 1687. BUT now I must tell you that though I know to be my very good Friend yet he hath not answered my Expectation for you see that to seven of mine he gave me not one Word of Answer although I told him that the substance of them was writ by the King's Allowance and a Return expected by him besides the Answers he makes are either Generals or Complements whereas my desire was that the Prince should know things and that his Answer with his Reasons might be understood but my Friend has delayed and scruffed things From Scotland Septemb. 24. 1687. I Have yours of the 30th of Aug. but have delayed so long to answer because I had written other Letters to you whereof I yet expect the Return my most humble Duty to my Friend at the Hague Edinburg Octob. 28. 1687. AS for that more important Affair wherewith I have long troubled you I need add no more my Conscience bears me Witness I have dealt sincerely for the Freedom of the Gospel I had certainly long e're now written to the Pensioner Fagel were it not that I judged you were a better Interpreter of any thing I could say I know his real Concern for the Protestant Religion and shall never forget his undeserved Respect to me but alas that Providences should be so ill understood London Novemb. 8. 1687. I Have yours of the 1st of November the enclosed from the L. Pensionary surprize me with a Testimony of his Favour and Friendship and also of his sincere Love to the Truth and fair and candid Reasoning upon the present Subject of Liberty beyond what I can express he hath seriously done too much for me but the more be hath done in complience with my insignificant Endeavours the more I judge and esteem his noble and zealous Concern for Religion and Peace which I am certain could only in this Matter be his just Motive I hope you will testify to him my deep Sense of his Favour and most serious Profession of Duty with all Diligence until I be in 〈◊〉 to make his L. a direct Return I showed the Letter to my Lâ—rd Melfort who was satisfied with it London Novemb. 6. 1687. Which it seems is by a mistake of the Date I Have your last but have been so harassed and toiled that I have not had time to write to you much less to my L. Pensionary yet since my last I acquainted the Earl of Sunderland with his Answer as the King ordered me but I see all Hope from your Side is given quite over and Men are become as cold in it here as you are positive there London Novemb. 19. 1687. By my last of the 8th Instant I gave you notice of the Receipt of my Lord Pensionary ' s Letter and what was and is my Sence of his extraordinary Kindness and Concern in that Affair Since that time I have had the Oppertunity to shew them to the King and at his Command did read to him distinctly out of the English Copy all the Account given of her Highnesses mind touching the Penal Statutes and the Test and withall signified the Sum of what was subjoyned especially the Respect and Difference therein Expressed to his Majesty ' s Person and Government but to my own Regret I find that this Answer hath been too long delayed and that now the King is quite over that Matter being no ways-satisfied with the Distinction made of the Tests from the Penal Laws and no less positive that his Highness is neither to be prevailed upon nor so much as to be further treated with in this Matter The Conclusion AND thus all that relates to the Occasion that drew the Pensioners Letter from him appears in its true light If this Discovery is uneasie to Mr. Stewart he has none to blame for it but himself It is very likely the first Article of his merit for the defacing of all that was past was the Pains he took to work on their Highnesses by the Pensioners means But that having failed him the abusive Letter that he has published upon it may come in for a second Article And now the Reproaches to which this Discovery must needs expose him must compleat his Merit If upon all this he is not highly rewarded he has ill Luck and small Encouragement will be given to others to serve the Court as he has done But if he has great Rewards it must be acknowledged that he has paid dear for them the printing and distributing 15000 Copies of his Letter is only the publishing his Shame to 15000 persons though it is to be doubted if so many could be found in the Nation who would give themselves the Trouble to read so ill a Paper FINIS