between the King your Brother and his Most Christian Majesty and your self which you say Arlington and his Party endeavoured by a thousand Deceits to break to the end they might supplant all three of you but Arlington's Design was to establish a good Understanding and Intelligence between the Parliament the Prince of Orange and the States-General You say that Arlington and his Party had used a thousand Deceits to carry on his Rogueries to betray the Councils of France and England and you and your Party used Ten thousand Rogueries to betray England Holland and the Prince of Orange to the French King You said through the Deceits of the Lord Arlington your Designs succeeded not but through your Violence and Folly his Designs succeeded to the Honour of God and the Happiness of the three Kingdoms and you are living upon the Charity of that Monster of Mankind whose Interest you advanced whilst you were here But you will say what is all this to the Purpose Yes it is much to the Purpose You may see that the Nation knows well how you interested the French King in all your Councils to change the Protestant Religion into down-right Popery and the well established Government into French Arbitrary Power and were not your Party grown to such a height of Insolence that they boasted openly of the Aid and Assistance the French was to give for the setting up the Romish Religion 3. A Third Step you took to ruin the Protestant Religion and the well established Government of England was your unhappy Match with the Daughter of Modena I must put you in mind what the Opinion of the then Parliament entertained of that Match and that you may see in these following Particulars 1. That it would disquiet the Minds of the Protestants at home and fill them with endless Jealousies and Discontents and would bring the King your Brother into such Alliances abroad as might prove highly prejudicial if not destructive to the Protestant Religion it self Now Sir it was your main Design to inflame the hearts of the People and put them upon a Ferment And you engaged the King in the said Marriage as might put him upon those Alliances as might weaken his Esteem with his People and strengthen you and your Popish Cut-â—hroats in your Conspiracy against the Peace and Tranquility of the Nation For Sir in a Letter of Coleman's to Ashby the Rector of S. Omers he saith you commanded him to let the Fathers know that that Match was to strengthen the Catholick Cause and Interest and that now the King your Brother who had ingaged in it would be engaged to unite himself in a more near Alliance to his Majesty of France and the Princes of Italy Apr. 2. 1674. 2. That they had found by sad experience that such Matches had encouraged Popery within this Kingdom and had given Opportunity to Prieists and Jesuits to propagate their wicked and devilish Doctrines and to seduce great numbers of the King's Protestant Subjects You that had such a mighty Work upon your hands as the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the Subduing of a pestilent Heresie which had so long domineered in these Kingdoms and it being a great Work and the Labourers in your great Harvest being but few and you being like to meet with mighty Opposition as indeed you did and an effectual one too so that it did import you to have all the Assistance you could that your Labourers might not be out of breath and tho' next to Gods or rather the Devil's Providence you did rely on the mighty Mind of his Most Christian Majesty whose Generous Soul had inclined him to many Barbarous and Traiterous Undertakings and tho' his Temper was in that very much like your own yet three or four Strings to your Bow were more than one for the more Alliances abroad with Catholick Princes would increase the Number of your Labourers in the Devil's Harvest Therefore in order to this what Alliances you were engaging your Brother in you well know and you cannot forget how all that Design was dashed and by whom But Sir you must be stone-blind and so must your whole Party if you did not see that Experience had taught my Lord Arlington and the Parliament how such Matches had been fatal to this Kingdom and to their Designs The Match of the King your Father with the Daughter of France was the first Step that was taken to advance Popery and the French Interest in England and when she came over what a Swarm of Priests and Friars followed her and what Numbers of Priests and Jesuits she protected and what Numbers were seduced in hopes of Employment under her or of Preferment by her Grace and Favour and how that unhappy Prince was influenced by her Councils till she had promoted a War in Scotland by the Influence of that old Incendiary Cardinal Richlieu and the Rebellion in Ireland and the bloody Civil Wars here which terminated in the Ruin and by the Just Judgment of God in the untimely end of your Father 2. The Match of the King your Brother with the Daughter of Portugal by whom he could through the Blessing of God have no Issue This Lady what she wanted in Understanding to be a Councellour she had made up to her in the blessed Gifts of Malice and Treason and Revenge which she exercised to the utmost And what Swarms of Priests Jesuits Monks and Friars were by her protected and with what Zeal she promoted the Romish Religion and protected Men that were in a Conspiracy against our Religion Laws and Liberties and how great Numbers were by her Priests perverted to the Romish Faith to the great disquiet of the Government the Parliament well knew And therefore Sir you must know that the Experience they had of these two considerable Matches how fatal they had been to these Kingdoms was a sufficient Motive for to interpose in yours 3. The Parliament observed how your Devilish Popish Party were animated by the hopes of this Match before it was consummate which were discouraged by the King's Concessions at the last meeting of that Parliament you know what they were the Breaking the Indulgence and the Passing the Test Bill My Lord Arlington and the Parliament were very prosperous in their Rogueries as you called them those Sons of Zerviah were then too many for you and your damnable Crew It is remembred upon the hopes of this Match that a Protestant could scarce come within your Court at S. James's but he was affronted by your Popish Crew and scarce a better Word than Damn you for a Heretick Dog and when Complaints were made to you of these Insolencies the Complainer found no other Redress than What Business had you there insomuch that this sort of Carriage was observed by the Parliament and upon this Consideration they interposed with all their Might to hinder if possible the Consummation of the intended Marriage to that Italian Princess 4. They did greatly fear it would
deplorably deprived by the Re-establishment of Prelacy so it is evident not only to impartial Persons but to professed Enemies with what unparalell'd Patience and Constancy the People of God have endured all the Cruelty Injustice and Oppression that the Will and Malice of Prelacy and Malignants could invent and exercise And being most unwilling to act any thing which might import Opposition to lawful Authority or engage the Kingdoms in War although we have been all along groaning under the Over-turning the Work of Reformation Corruptions of Doctrine Slighting of Worship Despising of Ordinances the Changing the Ancient Church-Discipline and Government Thrusting out so many of our Faithful Ministers from their Charges Confining straightly Imprisoning Exileing yea and putting to Death many of them and Intruding upon their Flocks a Company of Insufficient Scandalous Persons Confining Imprisoning Torturing Tormenting Scourging and Stigmatizing Poor People Plundering their Goods Quartering upon them Rude Soldiers Selling their Persons to Foreign Plantations Horning and Intercommuning many of both Sexes whereby great Numbers in every corner of the Land were forced to leave their Dwellings Wives Children and Relations and made to wander as Pilgrims still in Hazard of their Lives none daring to Recet Harbour or Supply though Starving or so much as to speak to them though upon Death-bed without making themselves obnoxious to the same Punishments And these things acted under colour of Law in effect tending to banish not only all Sense of Religion but also to extinguish all natural Affection even amongst Persons of nearest Relations and likewise groaning under the intolerable Yoak of Oppression in our Civil Interest our Bodies Liberties and Estates so that all manner of Outrages have been most arbitrarily exercised upon us for a Tract of several Years past particularly in the Year 1678. by sending us an armed Host of Barbarous Savages contrary to all Law and Humanity and by laying on us several Impositions and Taxes as formerly so of late by a Meeting of Prelimited and Over-awed Members in the Convention of Estates in July 1678. for keeping up of an armed Force intrusted as to a great part of it into the Hands of avowed Papists or Favourers of them by whom sundry Invasions have been made upon us and most exorbitant Abuses and incredible Insolencies committed against us and we being continually sought after while meeting in Houses for Divine Worship Ministers and People frequently apprehended and most rigorously used and so being necessitated to attend the Lord's Ordinances in the Fields in the most desert Places and there also often hunted out and assaulted to the effusion of our Blood and killing of some whereby we were inveitably constrain'd either to defend our selves by Arms at those Meetings or be altogether deprived of the Gospel preached by Faithful Ministers and made absolute Slaves At one of which Meetings upon the First Day of June instant being the Lord's Day Captain Graham of Claverhouse being warranted by a late Proclamation to kill whomsoever he found in Arms at Field-Conventicles making Resistance did furiously assault the People assembled and further to provoke did cruelly bind like Beasts a Minister with some others whom he had found that same Morning in Houses and several being killed on both sides they knowing certainly that by Law they behoved if apprehended to dye they did stand to their own defence and continue together and there after many of our Friends and Countrymen being under the same Oppression expecting the same measure did freely offer their Assistance We therefore thus inevitably and of absolute Necessity forced to take this last Remedy tho Magistrates having shut the Door by a Law against Application that whatever our Grievances be either in things Civil or Sacred we have not the Privilege of a Supplicant do judge our selves bound to dcelare That these with many other horrid Grievances in Church and State which we purpose to manifest more fully hereafter are the true Causes of this our Lawful and Innocent Self-defence And we most solemnly and in the presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all Hearts declare that the true Reasons of our continuing in Arms candidly and sincerely are these First The defending and securing of the true Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Government founded upon the Word of God and summarily comprehended in our Confessions of Faith and Catechism and established by the Laws of this Land to which King Nobles and People are solemnly sworn and engaged in our National Solemn League and Covenant and more particularly the Defending and Maintaining the Kingly Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over his Church against all sinful Supremacy derogatory thereto and incroaching thereupon Second The preserving and defending the King's Majesty his Person and Authority in the Preservation and Defence of that true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom that the World may bear Witness with our Consciences of our Loyalty and that we have no Thoughts nor Intention to diminish his just Power and Greatness Third The Obtaining of a Free and United Parliament and a Free and General Assembly in Order to the Redressing of our foresaid Grievances for the preventing the eminent Danger of Popery and extirpating Prelacy from amongst us This therefore being the Cause we appear for and resolve in God's Name to own hereby homologating all the Testimonies of faithful Sufferers for the Truth in Scotland these eighteen Years by gone We humbly request the King's Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms and if that cannot be obtained then we heartily and humbly invite and intreat beseech and obtest by the Bowels of Jesus Christ all who are under the same Bonds with us to occur in this Common Cause and Interest and that they will not stand still and see not only us oppressed but this foresaid Cause ruined Adversaries proudly and highly insult against God and all good Men Friends of the Truth discouraged yea the Protestant Cause in Britain and Ireland and even your selves within a little time made a Prey of or else forced when we are broken which the good Lord prevent dreadfully to wrong your Consciences Finally because we desire no Man's hurt or blood we request our Country-men now the standing Forces of this Kingdom some of them being our Friends and Kinsmen not to fight against us least in so doing they be found fighting against the Lord whose Cause and Quarrel we are sure he will own and signally countenance seeing we fight under his Banner who is the Lord of Hosts This Sir you know was the Declaration of these Blessed Servants of God but you had not filled up the measure of your Sins and therefore God was pleased to deliver these miserably enslaved wretches into your hands and they were made a prey to your never to be forgotten Cut-throats and some of them sealed their Testimony of Jesus with their Blood You may remember what Havock your Popish Crew made of them
kind and loving Brother for he joined with you in those wicked Designs and Purposes which you were carrying on to destroy and enslave us and too often took your Faults upon himself to screen you from the publick Justice of the Nation 4. They saw old Officers unjustly displaced and men of base Quality unworthily advanced by which Contrivance you Sir may very well remember you created a great disaffection in the King 's best Friends both of the old Nobility and Gentry and others that had espoused the King your Brother's Quarrel upon just English Principles and chose rather to advance a parcel of base Irish Papists and vile Frenchmen to the great discouragement of the English and those that heartily would have served the King your Brother upon English Protestant Principles It is well known that some of those you preferred were so insolent that when they came to have and enjoy great Places in the Ministry of King Charles the Second's Government that they assumed to themselves by your direction the Regal Power treating in Matters of War and Peace with Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors giving Instructions to the said King Charles's Ministers abroad without communicating them to those that ought to have been privy to the same contrary to Law and all this I can prove hath been done by your direction How many honest Old Servants were displaced by the influence you had on the King your Brother some are yet alive to tell especially those who were well affected to the Protestant Religion and in Parliament had appeared for the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom in opposition to Popery and Slavery 5. They saw King Charles the Second carried away with Vanities and wholly governed by his Whores You may remember that some of those Whores you your self put upon him as Jenny Roberts who was in part kept by you as a Spy upon him and for this end at your Command she turned Papist and when she could be of no use to you nor was constant to King Charles you and he put her off and left her to starve Cleveland and Porismouth two Metropolitan Whores that governed him as they pleased and what Sums of Money through the ascendency they had over him they obtained from him I shall not need to tell you and how many Bishopricks they disposed of we have not forgotten And in all this Sir it is plain you promoted them to advance your Cause and Interest 6. He entred into a League with England's mortaâ— Enemies the French and such strong Alliances were made with that Savage Prince and Nimrod of Europe by which means we were hurt in our Trade and impaired in our Riches and Greatness and to effect this Work what Arts and Contrivances you and your Conspirators did use by introducing French Whores French Fashions and Customs and French Officers and French Servants whom we have nourished and cherished with all the Caresses imaginable and to the meanest Valet de chamber or Contemptible Lacquey or Fidler who pretended to be but alamode de France your Parasites paid more respect to than to our brave Englishmen nay so amorous too had your fine but debauched Ladies been of a French Kick shaw that they have even hugged them in their very Bosoms and have lamented the loss tho but of the meanest French Skips witness the Tears that fell from divers great Personages of the Feminine Sex that on their Knees made supplication for that insipid High way-man Du Vall who at last though with great difficulty was hanged at Tyburn for Robberies committed on the Highway It is true he was a man of excellent Parts and singular Learning only he could neither Write nor Read But had this been all I should not have mentioned this Particular There wae more in this then some unthinking men at that time were aware of for you and your Accomplices made further steps to maintain this strong Alliance with the French our mortal Enemies for you did not only introduce the Modes and Customs of France amongst us but the Yoke of France that must be put on too I have heard of a cer certain Knight called Sir James that in a Coffe-house was heard to say That it would never be well in England till our King was as Absolute as the King of France He was an Alderman of London and Sir your very humble Admirer and at that time you had made a very gracious promise to him of obtaining of your Brother the great Park near Dublin for him for the great Services he had done your self and the French Interest And truly Sir he hath deserved that Boon at your hands were it but for the aforesaid wise Saying of his and had that Rascal had but Brains suitable to his Impudence a man might easily have taken him for one of the Chief of the Conspirators with your self against the Religion Laws and Liberties of the People of England This Fellow I say was an Alderman of London and his Residence was in the City but by his Discourse a man would have sworn he had always lived with your Conspirators at St. James's or at Whitehall or with the French Taylor an old Companion of yours who thanked God That his great King of France could send for his Head and his Estate when he pleased Blessed be God Sir your Residence is in that sweet place of St. Germains where you enjoy your self and Friends in a most comfortable manner and you have your health as well as if you had 100 Sail of Ships at your Devotion and an Army of 50000 men which is a mercy I pray let me ask you What sort of People are your French Neighbours Is there not such a slavish temper in those poor Wretches as is astonishing Just to such a slavish and knavish Temper you were about to bring the People of this Nation to your Conspirators had made a considerable progress in this mighty Work and had not Divine Providence interposed you had compleated the same Your Party to compleat this Work found out the only true way which was first to enslave our Souls by subjecting them and our Reason to the blind Superstition of the Church for that Priest craft having once so far won upon Englishmen as to make them trust and pin their Faith and Reason upon their Sleeves they may after that bring them to any thing that they shall direct and therefore as in your Day so in all Ages heretofore nothing did shew more the Cunning of your Banditti than to drive on these two together Popery and Slavery only sometimes they have driven on the one by the other sometimes Popery led the Van to bring on French Slavery and sometimes French Slavery led the Van to bring on Popery Your Friends well knew that Popery and Slavery like two Sisters they go hand in hand sometimes one goes first and sometimes the other In England your Council resolved that Popery was to bring in Slavery in Scotland Slavery was to have brought in
Commons still had an evil Eye upon the Conspirators and got eight New Regiments to be disbanded that as the Exchequer had been shut up London might not be plundred and the Citizens might not be Dragooned out of their Estates Liberties and Religion all at once Upon this Peace being concluded with the Dutch oh what complaining Letters did you send to your Friends at St. Omers charging the King your Brother with the greatest breach of Promises and Oaths made to Madam the Princess and also Letters were sent to Doway to the Monks there yet assuring them you would never leave the Cause so for you still hoped that his Most Christian Majesty would do the work and ruin the Dutch States that they might not be a Nest for Rebels and Hereticks I was saying just now How could King Charles answer the Cancelling the Declaration of Indulgence and the passing the Test-Bill to Lewis his great Ally But now Sir I much more wonder how he could answer to that King his Concluding a Peace with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces for this seemed to me and many others the greatest Riddle how this would stand with the Holy League that he had made with that King to root out Heresy and to set up Popery for could we have but ruined the Dutch the work had been done to all intents and purposes Your Party well knew that Charles your self and the then Lords of the Admiratly fell under the displeasure of the French King by consent and since you could not humble the Dutch how willingly you condescended that the High and Mighty Monarch of France should have the humbling of the English Nation for by your Advice and Procurement it was agreed That he should let loose his Privateers among our Merchant-men so that from that time there was no security of Commerce and Navigation notwithstanding the publick Amity that was between the two Crowns but at Sea they murthered plundered made Prize and confiscated those they met with their Pyrats laid before the Mouths of our Rivers hovered all along upon our Coasts took our Ships in the very Ports insomuch that we in a manner were blockt up by Water and if any made application at his Sovereign Port for Justice they were insolently baffled if not cruelly beaten This you know and the Nation well knew that Charles your self and the Admiralty were Accomplices in this matter and that it did turn to a good account to the Conspirators as can be made appear even Sir to your face at St. Germains And this way of using the Nation continued till the latter end of the Year 1676. even from our concluding the Peace with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces Was this all No this way of Pyrating was only a mark of his Most Christian Majesty's Displeasure It was no reparation for our good King Charles's not keeping his word with him therefore all diligence was used to supply him with Recruits and those who would go voluntarily over were incouraged others that would not were pressed imprisoned and carried over by main force even as the Parliament here was ready to set down notwithstanding all the former frequent Applications to the contrary Nay yet further How did you empty all the Magazines of the Kingdom to furnish the French with all sorts of Ammunition of which Sir a particular Account was taken and can be given if demanded It is Sir well known that King Charles having broken the Tripple League and made a War upon the Dutch without Cause and had made Peace with them he would never enter into a League Offensive and Defensive with them yet he could make one with the French tho he had taken the Kingdom 's Money to enter into an actual War Nay that Conspirator Conventry had the League Offensive and Defensive made with the French King in his Pocket when the House of Commons voted the Money for an actual War with France It may be Sir you may say that King Charles did make an Alliance with Holland and the Articles of the League were on April 30. 1678. laid before the House by the King 's especial direction It may be so But will your Party call that a League Offensive and Defensive fit for a Parliament of England to agree to No for see how the House resented that Sham-League and to this end observe their Vote May the 4th 1678. Resolved That the League Offensive and Defensive with the States-General of the United Provinces with the Articles relating thereunto are not pursuant to the Addresses of this House nor consistent with the Good and Safety of the Kingdom That was one Resolve But there was a second Resolution of the House upon the same day Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That His Majesty be humbly advised and desired forthwith to enter into the present Alliances and Confederations with the Emperor the King of Spain and with the States-General of the United Provinces for the vigorous carrying on the War against the French King and for the good and safety of His Majesty's Kingdoms and particularly That effectual Endeavours be used for continuing the States-General in the present Confederation And that it be agreed by all Parties Confederate to prohibit all Trade between their Subjects and Countries and France and all other Dominions of the French King And that no Commodities of France or of the Dominions of the French King be imported into their Countries from any place whatsoever And also that all endeavours be used to invite all other Princes and States into the said Confederation and that no Truce or Peace be made or agreed to with the French King by His Majesty or any of the Confederates without the general Consent of all the Confederates had first therein Both which Resolves were sent to His Majesty by the Members of Parliament that were of the Privy Council and what a message they receive on the 6th of May following shews plainly his unwillingness to enter into League with the Confederates against France And Sir you know the Reason why Because the Interest and Religion of Lewis the French King was the Interest and Religion of the King your Brother and your self and Conspirators But Sir that which testifies your Brother's Obstinacy is refusing to enter into such a League Offensive and Defensive with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces c. For notwithstanding the Treaty of Peace with the States General had not you and your Conspirators furnished the French King with Men and Arms and Ammunition against the very Tenure and Intent of the said Treaty Therefore the Lords and Commons join in an Address on the 10th of November 1675. in which they earnestly pressed the King your Brother to call home his Subjects from the Service of the French King but instead of that more were sent and many of them by force or fraud call to mind the Address made by the House of Commons on May 20 1675. where great Complaints were made
absolute Dominion and both are inveterate Enemies to your Majesty and this Protestant Kingdom and the French King is in all respects the most likely to support maintain and uphold them in those Attempts they being so exactly suitable to the inclinations of his Soul yea and of the Late King's Soul too notwithstanding your Majesty's being his Nephew and Son-in-Law into the bargain Sir these Conspirators have made it their business to asperse your Majesty's Government because of the great Taxes that are upon the Nation but I never find them to take notice of the Treasure that K. Charles II. wasted It 's true he was engaged in two most impious Wars against the Dutch and these Wars were very chargable to the Nation But besides those two Wars he spent abundance upon his Whores Pimps and Bauds under the notion of secret Service and yet we find nothing to be said of that Our Taxes are greater than ever the Nation paid but your Majesty's Loyal Subjects do not believe them so heavy but that they can and will hold it out many Years In a word there are none that retain their Loyalty and Duty to your Majesty but are highly pleased with your Majesty's being fully supplied to carry on so necessary a War and there is no good Man but will rather hazard his Person to keep the Enemy abroad than see either a French or Irish Army within your Kingdom of England destroying our Substance burning our Habitations and committing those Barbarities that were done in the Palatinate by the one or in Ireland in 41 by the other so that your Majesty may see that we that are English Men are not so much concerned at our Taxes as at the imminent Dangers your Majesty is daily exposed to both at home and abroad And being more confident than perhaps becomes me to judge the thoughts of Men I believe the Conspirators are more concerned that your Majesty is yet in the Land of the Living than at any of these Taxes of which I suppose their proportion is but small But your Majesty is not the first and only Prince that Fugitive Conspirators have traduced as these have filled the Ears of the French King and the Late King with monstrous Stories of your Majesty's Oppressing the Nation with unheard of Taxes thereby insinuating to him and his chargeable Guess how easy it would be to reduce the Nation that they might have farther opportunity of revelling and surfeiting upon his Treasure So the Fugitive Conspirators in the time of Q. Elizabeth were perpetually whispering in the Ears of the then King of Spain with prodigious Stories as false as Hell thereby to Exasperate that then great and Powerful Monarch against the Kingdom and did disparage the Forces of the said Queen and the posture and conduct of her Affairs in order to make him believe that the Conquest of England to be a matter of no great difficulty They did calumniate that Queen's Justice and blamed her proceedings against Seminaries and Romish Priests and for having a jealous eye upon those of their Communion for receiving those Priests and Jesuits thus sent into this Realm to seduce her Subjects and to withdraw them from their Obedience but our Conspirators could not traduce your Majesty or blacken your Government with those Points none might have been more easie and quiet under your happy Government than they if their Villainous Principles would have suffer'd them and not only so but they might have had Preferments too whilst poor Sufferers and your hearty Friends were Starving had not their damnable Insolencies and implacable hatred of your Majesty's Person and the welfare of the Kingdom been an obstacle in their way but that which I shall observe to your Majesty that they traduced that Queen with overcharging her Subjects with heavy and unaccustomed Taxes But it was then well known that no Prince could maintain such a Fleet at Sea and such an Army at Land without great Expence and Charge for her main end was to prevent a Foreign Invasion by which that wise Queen certainly knew would be more Expensive and Chargeable to the Nation than a Maintenance of a Force at Sea and Land would be to prevent it It is not unknown that your Majesties Prudence and Conduct hath appeared that tho your Majesty found the Nation in a Lamentable Condition the Trade Sunk Liberties Seized the People in a Ferment the Ensigns of the many Murders committed in the Reign of the Late King upon the Gates of the City and upon your Majesty's accession to the Throne a necessary War to be commenced yet the Trade hath in some measure been preserved Liberties restored the condition of the Nation much mended and like to be more and more improved both as to its Honour and Interest the People Quieted and Reprizals about to be made for the Murder of our Friends Your Majesty hath Reigned now Seven Years and never raised one Penny without the consent of Parliament and by the Authority of the same and the Late King had not Reigned seven Hours but he Levied Mony without Parliament But I would fain have these Fugitive Cut-throats that envy and malign your Majesty's easie Government to compare the necessities of Queen Elizabeth with the urgent occasion your Majesty hath of greater Taxes than ever that Princes could pretend to for it is most plain beyond all contradiction First that Wars are now more chargeable in this Age than in that which she Reigned Then it is plain your Majesty hath had but little or no Assistance the Dutch excepted from any Protestant Prince or any other Prince of the Confederacy but you have been rather necessitated to help them in the last place your Majesty hath every year of your Reign been obliged to have great Forces both at Sea and Land the Charges of your Majesties Predecessors have been for the most part Voluntary their Soldiers fought upon these Terms no Purchase no Pay and therefore the Subjects were not so much burthened by Foreign Wars but they went forth to Conquer Now its plain that for a King to defend his own Realm and the Liberties thereof is more Expensive than to Conquer other Princes Countries for the Conqueror would always pay himself and Army in his new Conquest But Sir that which is a wonder to me is this that they should complain to King Lewis and King James of the greatness of the Taxes here caâ—â—hey think that although he should comply with them once more to Invade us yet at the same time to charge your Majesty with that thing as a high Crime must be an unmannerly Charge since the French King himself doth the same every Year by his own Arbitrary Despotick Power that your Majesty hath only done by the Advice and Consent and Authority of a dutiful and loyal Parliament But truly Sir I must here acquaint your Majesty that some People have condemned the French King and King James too for giving Credit to these Conspirators for first they
according to an Act made in the Year 1673 But he enjoying that great and mighty Office of Lord High Admiral of England for several Years He obtain'd the King's Favour the Court was at his Will and Commandment either for love to him or for fear of his Greatness and Authority He so demeaned himself to the King his Brother that that King would never believe that the great Interest that he had acquired by the Greatness of his Office should ever be abused to the prejudice of the Government but for the King's Service and Benefit he increased the number of his Friends and Followers by gratifying some with Naval Preferments and others with Mony always imploying his Purse his Credit and his Countenance for the strengthning his Party and that in such a manner as that the King could not but perceive it yet he so dissembled the Matter and pretended to such a degree of Obedience and Affection to the King and gratify'd him in his sinful Pleasures that the King did not distrust his Proceedings and that he might continue in the King's Favour he made it his business as much as in him lay to comply with his Humours and Humane Frailties And when he was forced to lay down that great Office by reason of his refusal of the Sacramental Test above-mentioned he obtain'd of the King that his Friends and high Church Conspirators might be put in Commissioners of the Admiralty in his place he made all the Ministers of state sure to him so that when he was banished into Flanders a first and a second time and after his return he procured that the Duke of Monmouth should be banished the Court he judging him to be his Enemy and then his Conspirators endeavour'd not in vain to keep the said Duke of Monmouth in discredit with the King But the then Parliament being sensible of the dangerous Conspiracy against the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and the King's Person carried on by the Popish Party and finding that the Duke's being a Papist had incouraged them in that Hellish Plot they having great hopes of his coming such to the Crown they fell upon the Duke and to prevent the Storm from falling upon the Duke the King sends him into Scotland after that he had bridled and sadled that Kingdom in some measure to his Hearts content He applies himself to his Friends to procure his return he is accordingly permitted to return to the great Joy of his Party He fawns upon the King's Whore that he kept in the Matted Gallery at White hall and who he created Dutchess of Portsmouth who had a great Interest in the King and obtain'd at first or last whatsoever pleased her of the King that whosoever he was were he never so high in the King's Favour that displeased her in time lost the King's good Will and good Opinion this Duke carried himself so towards her that he seemed to affect nothing more than her good liking and yet not so desirous thereof as that he would wholly depend thereupon knowing that the King although he always attributed much to this infamous Whore and was pleased that she was Reverenced and Respected yet he could not well bear that her good Will should be sought above his own Royal Favour But the Duke did continue his Friendship with her hoping in time to command them both and when ever he found any of the King's Ministers not throughly complying with him and not ready to follow his Designs he laboured by all means to have them removed and others put in their Places who would not fail him in his wicked Designs and Purposes nor to depend wholly upon his Favour and also to make him privy if need were to whatsoever Business and Affair of State they were commanded by the King to dispatch whereby he came tho he were out of the Councel upon the same account as he had left the Office of Lord High Admiral to the perfect knowledge of all that was purposed and determined by the King 's Privy Council and he was in such Favour and Credit that even the principal Officers about the King either for Faer or Love or by other Mens Examples submitted themselves wholly unto his Devotion and he had such Interest in the King's Court and Courtiers that all or most part of them seemed to be at his sole Disposition and to affect him more than the King himself He having Installed himself in this manner in the Court and in a great measure withdrew the Hearts of the principal Officers thereof from their Duty and Love to their King He thought it also not enough to be invested in their Favours but all the endeavours were used that he might have the Affections of the Common People to procure this he obtains the help of a filthy Strumpet called High-Church whose Blasphemous Preachers of Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance did him mighty Service in order thereunto And what Feasting there was provided for the Apprentices of the City of London who were a sort of young Men who were to be by his Conspirators debauched in order to his Service and by the great promises of his Grace and Favour he easily and quickly perswaded the Conspirators to favour his Cause and Conspiracy Nay all the legal Force throughout the Kingdom from the Lord Lieutenant of a County to a Deputy Lieutenant and Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns and Serjeants were all and every of them his Creatures the Justices of Peace and Sheriffs were his Admirers and the Custom-house and Excise were all at his Devoire from one end of the the Kingdom to the other and generally Vintners and Ale-drapers were of his Interest and so was old L'Estrange the Guide and his little Scoundrel Clergy of the Church by which means many of the Common People were so ready willing and desirous to perform and accomplish his Pleasure as that in respect of their Obedience to him he seemed to lack nothing but the name of a King to be one Notwithstanding the great Honour and Reverence the Court shewed him in the Reign of his Brother and the Love and Affection the Commonalty did bear him the nearness of his relation to the King and the mighty Interest he had and the unaccustomed Authority he had in so slie a manner Usurped the high Attempts and Imaginations he had lodged in his Heart and the great Opinion he had of himself yet he was so far from appearing puffed up with Pride and Disdain to those that were much below him that he thought not scorn to give Audience to the meanest Man that had business with him Now how could a Man of my Circumstances having provoked him by the Discovery of the Hellish Conspiracy carried on by him and his wicked Popish Party and Popishly affected stand against such a Man of such an Interest for he and his Party when they could not hurt me by their Subborned Witnesses against me not only to destroy my Reputation but my
to the French Interest which Letter Sir I saw and the Instructions were followed to a Tittle by the Fathers at S. Omers In those Letters the States-General were to be acquainted with this Now Sir it is well known that the King your Brother's being ingaged in the French Interest was no Secret at the Court at Vienna nor with the States-General but that the Prince of Orange was drawn into that Interest this must be surprizing Therefore Sir we might easily see the secret Hatred you conceived against the Prince and his Cause and Interest You and your Conspirators could have been heartily glad of being blest with such an Ally but because he was true to his Cause and Interest you by your lying Jesuits did what you could to create a Jealousie in the then Confederate Princes of the Sincerity of the Prince to the Confederacy and to the Interest of the United Provinces in order to his Ruin These Letters that were sent to the Emperor's Confessor bore Date Jan. 4. 1678. Stilo Novo Sir You may not forget the 12 Jesuits that Whitebread the Provincial of the Jesuits sent into Holland to create a Belief in the Dutch that the Prince of Orange designed no less than the Subversion of the Government of the United Provinces by procuring his Party to receive and own him as their King and that it was the Design of the said Prince to assume the Title and Crown of a King and change their Government and make a Seisure of their Freedoms These Jesuits were sent by Virtue of Letters sent from Coleman in your Name and Money was sent over to be received at Dunkirk the Sum was 4000 Crowns to bear the Charge of the Mission into Holland and the Bills were signed by one Busby a Merchant here in London the Money being paid in by Sir Allen Apsley therefore Sir it may well be concluded who was at the Head of this Piece of Villany In a word Sir you see what means you and the rest of your Popish Incendiaries used to beget in the Dutch an ill Esteem of the Prince of Orange and to widen the Difference between the Lovistein Party and his Friends and if possible to seduce his Friends and destroy his Interest and the Interest of the Protestant Religion and the best Title the Jesuits of St. Omer's us'd to give him was Apple-tree Will at which you were pleased in the multitude of your witty Thoughts to laugh as Coleman us'd to tell us when ever any Discourse happened concerning the Prince of Orange But Sir you may say That he was your Sister's Son and that at that time you had married your Daughter to him so that he was not only your Nephew but your Son-in-Law What then How you and your Party used him when he was your Nephew the Princes of Europe saw and the Honest Party of England resented his Usage and had Thoughts of you accordingly yea and of your Brother to but you pretend that you had married your Daughter to him No Sir it was neither you nor your Brother married the Lady Mary to the Prince of Orange it was something else I had almost said the Siege of Charleroy and the Advice of a worthy Minister of State upon the same But suppose you had married your Daughter to the Prince of Orange and that it was your own Inclination to which I cannot yet be reconciled in my thoughts but that after the Marriage you pursued his Ruin with as much vigour as you did before give me leave to sum up the whole in a few words You and your Accomplices resolved That the Prince of Orange should not become Great therefore he must be destroyed and in order to effect so mighty and so great a Work all means are used to stir up the Dutch to mutiny against him upon that Diabolical Suggestion of your Conspirators That he had designed and was resolved to subvert their Government and usurp a Crown and Title of a King the Emperor is also instigated to create a Belief in the States-General That the Prince designed the making himself Absolute and oh how did you and your Party hug your selves with the Expectation of a Breach between him and the States-General so that his and the whole Protestant Interest might fail in Holland In truth when a Man reflects upon this Affair he would wonder at your Barbarity and naturally ask this Question Why should this Prince aim at the Destruction of the Prince of Orange Was he not his Sister's Son his Son-in-law What profit would it be to you to destroy him An honest-thinking Man would hesitate at these things but when he considers who it is attempts this and for what cause then it naturally follows there was a pretended Cause for such Diabolical Suggestions and such Barbarous Designs You that was his Uncle was converted to such a degree of Zeal as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of the Conversion of Heretical Kingdoms and so your Interests we know were inseparately united to the French King that it was impossible to divide them You know that you used all means to secure His Most Christian Majesty's Interest in England and that for many weighty Reasons one among the rest was That his and yours prevailing would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion that ever it receiv'd from its birth then undoubtedly the Prince of Orange through God's mercy now our Gracious King at that time stood within a step or two of the Throne and being a Protestant ought in all Policy to be removed notwithstanding his being your Nephew and Son-in-law For what do Men talk of natural Affection amongst Popish Princes Was you not in a Conspiracy against Charles the Second when he was at Bruxels though he was your own Brother or else he is basely bely'd And was not the Queen his Mother zealous in the same Conspiracy notwithstanding he was her Son Why then should any Man talk of natural Affection Sir you cannot forget that you had a mighty Work upon your Hands that was The Conversion of these Kingdoms and subduing the Northern Heresie and that your hopes of it were very great and that you were zealous to a miracle of being the Author of so Glorious a Work Your mighty Mind and the Mighty Mind of the French King were relied upon by the Conspirators for that also that the Interest of the French King was highly attracted to that of yours Why then should any wonder at your Passing a Bill of Exclusion upon the Prince of Orange who the World knew notwithstanding all your Hellish Suggestions both to the Emperor and States-General stood ready with all his might to Baffle You and the French King and all your mighty Undertakings Consider further That the Interest of the French King was highly attracted to your Interest and this pleased you and your Party and so you thought your selves secure But here was your Nephew and Son-in-law his Interest was as highly attracted
Corporate and other Market Port Towns of that Kingdom to the great Terrour of the English Protestants and the Disturbance of their Trade To redress which how many Petitions were presented setting forth the Calamity the Protestant Interest was exposed to and what Danger they were in of losing their Trade both at home and abroad and how they returned without any manner of Redress but were ridiculed by Leyton and abused by your Tool the Lord Lieutenant It is well known that the Irish Papists some few only excepted did not understand Trade and therefore the End for which they were let in to live in Towns Corporate and into other Market-Towns within that Kingdom was that they might over-power the Protestant Party and seize their Effects as they did in the Rebellion They began in the Year 1641 and that they might get into Offices in those Towns Corporate to keep the Protestants so much under as would incapacitate them to stand upon their defence the Irish being well armed and the English being disarmed by a private Order from your self to the then Lord Lieutenant which was discovered in the Papers found at Jolliff's house in Weldstreet in Feb. or Jan. 1678 9 amongst Papers belonging to Sir Ellys Leyton And for two or three Years together great Inquiry was made by some of your Conspirators for News out of Ireland so big they were with the Expectation of a Rebellion there which certainly had been if it had not been for fear of the Scotch who were well planted in the North of Ireland who with all the Bravery and Resolution that became honest Men and good Protestants to stand by the English in opposition to the Irish for which Cause you did use your utmost Efforts to have those Scotch that were so planted in the North of Ireland to be disarmed but whether at that time your Design took effect I cannot well remember 6. Furthermore you to carry on your wicked designs and purposes in that Kingdom for the better establishing of Popery and Arbitrary Power and discouraging of the Protestant Religion and English Interest You procured Letters of the King your Brother bearing date Septemb. 28th 1672. and upon that Letter so procured there was an Order of Council of that Kingdom in which Letter and by which Order the English Protestants were strictly charged and commanded upon pain of his high Displeasure not to prosecute the Irish Papists in any Actions whatsoever for any Wrongs or Injuries committed by them during the late Rebellion Nay Sir you would not have it called a Rebellion but you desired it might be called rather the late Troubles which you could not obtain and rather than your Teagues should lose the Benefit of the said Letter you were content to have it called a Rebellion and the Reason was you and your Brother too were well satisfied who had a hand in it and first stirred it up witness the Parchments that were found in the Red Trunk in Jolliff's House in Weld-street and the Letter written in the behalf of the Marquis of Antrim to your Devilish Court of Claims in which the principal Author of that Rebellion was made manifest but that by the Way only In that Rebellion what Murders Rapines Thefts and barbarous Outrages were for some time daily committed by the Irish Papists upon the poor Protestants some yet alive in both Kingdoms to testifie And yet of your tender Care of those Barbarous Cut-throats you would not have them answer at Law for any of the aforesaid Villanies and why Because what they did was in Zeal for the Catholick Cause to which you by a Miracle was converted insomuch that for the promoting of it you had regard neither to Law or Justice Sence or Reason Nay some that did sue those Murderers before that damnable Court was set up were much discountenanced by your Party there and by your self here in England if they had occasion to make any Application to your self for any Favour or Kindness 7. You constituted Richard Talbot Agent from your self to the Roman-Catholicks and they constituted him their Agent to you from them for which Talbot had a sufficient Pension to whore and game withal and give the Devil his due he answered his Trust with all the Care Fidelity and Diligence both to you and the Popish Party Not only so but you procured for him the said Talbot a Command in Ireland as a Reward for his great Services done Of this Agency of the said Talbot Dr. Tongue and Mr. Thomas Jones your quondam Chaplain having some clear Proof they made Application to the King your Brother and he ridiculed the Business and said That Talbot was not only a Blockhead but was in no manner fit for an Agent for any party he being also a Man too much addicted to his pleasures and you met with Jones and asked him whether he was turned from a Preacher to an Informer and told him he had pitched upon a very unlikely man for an Agent Thus was any Truth that was against Poperty or Papists brought by any honest Man hissed of the Stage by your Brother and your self Sir I confess you would have used me so when I charged him with a Commission from some body to be General Governour and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the King then told me how Tongue and Jones had been to inform him that Talbot was an Agent from the Popish Party in Ireland to the Duke and an Agent from the Duke to the Popish Party which he rejected as an improbable thing but the Story I told him was more improbable I discovered his Agency and made out that by Letters under the hand of the said Talbot so that Tongue and Jones were justified and you did in a few Years so justifie that part and so many particulars of my Testimony in that Affair that your very Passive Obedience Rogues began when it was almost too late to look about them For in time he was General of the Army in Ireland in the time of the Earl of Clarendon's Regency and after him to the sorrow of many Unbelievers he was by you made Lord Lieutenant 8. Your Conspirators received a Letter from Talbot the pretended-Archbishop of Dublin wherein it was expressly said That your Jesuits in Ireland and others were preparing the Irish Papists to Rise in defence of their Liberties and Religion and to recover their Estates and that if the Parliament that was to sit in England did engage heartily with the King and the King with them in a War against the French King that a place or places should be opened to receive the French King's Army in Ireland whenever his most Christian Majesty should think fit to send one And by Order from Coleman and the Jesuits in London the Fathers at the English College at S. Omers were to advertise the Father Confessor to the French King of the same and other Jesuits that had an Interest in the French King and the Fathers of S. Omers were assured
neither pay'd by him nor yet receiv'd by them and not only so but that the Protestants in the North of Ireland were much alarm'd at those Quantities of Arms and Ammunition that were put into the Hands of the Irish Catholicks 10. Your Conspirators Coleman and the Jesuites in London receiv'd Letters from St. Omers written from Father Ireland not he that was hanged for his own Name was Ironmonger but this Man 's own Name was Saltmarsh That Care was taken for the Destruction of the Duke of Ormond in Ireland he being then Lord-Lieutenant there And for what Reason Because he had refused Sir to join with you in Breaking the English Interest in that Kingdom though Sir you may remember that the said Duke was a Person very Obsequious to your Brother and your Self and the Reason why you could not get him to engage with you in Omnibus was his own Safety and Ease Yet when you acted by the King's Command the said Duke never failed you nor did his Son the Earl of Ossory which cost that good Gentleman many a Sigh when he came to dye for the Business of the Smyrna Fleet and the Wicked War against the Dutch stuck upon his Soul to the last Minute of his Life But I say Because the Duke of Ormond would not push on every thing you put upon him he was not for your turn though give him his due he had gone farther than his Inclinations lead him to please your Mind 11. In the last place when you took the Crown you in a short time put the whole Government into the Hands of the Irish Papists by which means the English Protestant Interest was in great danger to be lost and the Protestant Inhabitants were under the daily Fears through your Grace and Favour of having their Throats cut nay many daily by your Cut-Throat Teagues were by your especial Direction basely inhumanely and barbarously murthered So that some tasted of that Cruelty which others justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power you set up there Some of them left the Kingdom and abandoned their Estates calling to mind that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell upon their Fathers in that Kingdom in the year 1641. And to crown your Work you traiterously invaded that Kingdom and called a Number of your Villains together and christened them by the Title and Name of a Parliament and what you did by their countenance many yet alive can tell But Doctor King an old Passive Obedience Friend of yours hath painted you out at large in those particular Carriages of yours when you with your French Mirmidons invaded that Kingdom But Sir let me tell you That Great William our King hath endeavoured and doth still study to bring Ireland into such a State that the Settlement of the Protestant Religion may there be religiously observed and the Protestant English Interest may be secured against any Effort of yours or your Irish Teagues to the contrary notwithstanding III. SCOTLAND You having play'd your Game so well in Ireland it will not be amiss to cast our Eye upon that Quondam Ancient Kingdom and see how you managed there for as you managed Ireland by a Tool that succeeded the Lord Roberts so in Scotland You and your Brother acted by Lauderdale for he brought all the Laws and Liberties of Scotland to the Council-Chamber bringing all Persons and Causes of any moment to your Arbitrary Council who acted as Lords Paramount without controul and so zealous were you by him to promote and support the French Interest there that continually new Levies were making in Scotland for the Service of the French King tho' at that very time we were pretending a French War in England You remember Sir that by your Influence upon the King your Brother and on the Council of Scotland you make them use all the diligence that was possible to get an Army there to be a standing Army in the room of the Militia of that Kingdom the Militia being not thought fit for your Popish Designs And the means to effect the same you pitch'd upon those you judged to be the most effectual which was first to Oppress and Enrage the Dissenters and this could not be better accomplished than by disturbing and prosecuting their Meetings and Religious Assemblies for the Worship of God which You and your Conspirators did with all imaginable diligence And you having found out a new way by caution your Conspirators devised a Bond should be imposed upon every Man they marked out for Ruine as being Enemies to their Arbitrary Proceedings which Bond was That the Landlord should be bound for his Tenant the Master for his Servant and the Husband for the Wife and Father for the Children not to go to Conventicles Which you knew many would not do for that the People of Scotland generally hated Praelatical Government But this way they thought would so enrage the People whom they fore-knew would not part with their Meetings that they doubted not but to force a Rebellion and thereupon have a fair Pretence to raise Forces for the Security of the Kingdom against restless Meeters and Meetings Which Design Sir You and your Party in that Kingdom did at last effect Another Device you and your Conspirators had of seizing the Field-Meetings by the armed Forces and destroying them both in Bodies and Estates and dragging them to Gaols and then by whole Ship-loads selling them to the Plantations as Condemn'd Men and Ship-loads coming here for London they by one way or another got their Liberty Was this of the Bond all And was the Selling of them all No For You and your Conspirators found out another way by the Tyranny of Duke Lauderdale and that was this There was a Warrant procured from the Council of Scotland to disarm divers Shires and Low-lands of that Kingdom and when that would not exasperate them then another Order was procured to order the High-landers a sort of barbarous Papists to be armed and by whole Regiments to come down upon the Inhabitants spoiling and destroying the whole Country living amongst them at discretion and these very High-landers thus armed under the pretence of keeping the Peace had in their Commission from your Brother's and your Council in Scotland Authority to live at Free Quarter upon those Inhabitants which they did divers Months together to the destruction of the poor People And all this was to procure a Rebellion at any rate But least this should be too general I will descend to some Particulars that the thing may be plain to your Ragged Regiment at St. Germans and your Hell-born Cut-throat Crew here in England I. I will shew you in several Particulars how your Brother and You invaded the Rights of the Good People of Scotland in general II. I will give you to remember some Instances of your Brother's and your Barbarity to particular Persons III. Your Brother's and your way of using your Prisoners I. Give me leave to put you and your Conspirators in mind of
Kingdom From all which it 's apparent what you did when you were Duke of York was in order to compleat the Work when you came to be King James These great and insufferable Oppressions of the poor Protestants of that Kingdom and the open contempt of all Law Justice Sence and Reason together with the sad Consequences that most certainly followed upon it did put those poor People under great and just Fears and did thrice make them offer at such lawful Remedies as were Allow'd by the very Law of Nature tho' it was not with that effect that was desir'd Lauderdale and your other Conspirators did endeavour to make all men to apprehend the loss of their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates if they should go about to preserve themselves from your great Oppressions by Petitions Remonstrances or other means the Law did allow of So you did by several Scotch Noblemen and Gentlemen to their utter ruine therefore what Obligation you have laid upon the Kingdom in general or any one Protestant in particular both before and since your pretended Reign there I leave it to your self and Conspirators to judge And therefore blessed be God for delivering that Nation from your Tyranny and Oppression IV. ENGLAND NOW we have seen your particular Projects that you and your Conspirators pursued to ruine Holland Ireland and Scotland I think it will not be unnecessary to put you in mind of the Pranks you and your Party play'd both before and since you usurped the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom and then you will see whether you can expect that any honest Englishman should ever engage for your return again in Peace to this Nation Therefore I shall use this method 1. I shall shew you how far you were engag'd in the Conspiracy of turning the Civil Government into downright French Slavery and our Protestant Religion into Popery before you took the Crown And 2. I shall shew you what you contributed to it after 3. I will shew you the unreasonableness of the attempting your return hither On which Particulars I hope you have leisure enough to reflect and advise about with your worthy Ministry you have attending your person at St. Germains I. I will shew you how far you were engaged in the Conspiracy of turning the Civil Government into downright French Slavery and our Protestant Religion into Popery before you took the Crown When God was pleased to restore you and your Brothers you may remember that you came into a Land flowing with Milk and Hony for its Plenty and a well-govern'd Country for Religion and Virtue But this agreed not with the Complexion of your Souls you had another Game to play and this I found in a Letter of yours from Breda to old Courtney the Jesuite That you would follow the Directions that Mazarine had given you and then you question'd not but to bring the People to receive the Roman Catholick Religion This Sir was your Project and how you pursued it let all the World judge Therefore 1. Your Conspirators were resolv'd to remove all those who had been eminent in Virtue and Sobriety from any Command or Place of Trust in the Government I must not forget the Usage of those who had been great Instruments in that Work viz. Two thousand Ministers in one day laid aside that room might be made for those whose Doctrine should enslave the People and whose profligate Lives should render Men Atheists enough to be of any Religion but of that which was according to Godliness Make them Atheists said Mazarine aad you will soon make them Papists Nay the love of Debauchery created such a Prejudice in your Brother the King against the Marquiss of Argyle that it was the chief Obstacle to his being pardon'd for he had reprov'd Charles for offering Violence to a sober Lady in Scotland in the year 1650 for which Reproof he never forgave Argyle to his dying day Nay give me leave to remember you that when that unfortunate Lord was in Custody and humbly requested but to speak one word with the King before he was carried for Scotland to be murder'd you took upon you to reprove any that should move the King with this Jeer. That Argyle was one of the Godly Party it was not for such fellows to see the King Or to that purpose and the King your Brother was pleas'd to say Let my Lord Argyle be content he shall see the Maiden e're long his own dearly beloved Invention And nothing was a greater Argument for his Destruction than his Piety Sir I can prove that those men who were concerned in Judging and Condemning your Father to death tho' that was the Pretence or handle you took to have them cut off yet the great reason why they were not spared was that if they lived and as long as they lived they would have been great Obstacles in your way of debauching the People and that was the reason of their being cut off for old Courtney being at London and admiring their demeanour and deportment in their Confinement gave you an account of their Piety and Devotion And so did old Hitchcock the Monk but what Answer you made them was remarkable your Brother and your self would never have had them excepted had you not been fully satisfied that as long as they lived you could have no manner of prospect of settling the Government and advancing the Catholick Religion both which have told me of their stedfastness and resolution to the last degree and could not forbear shedding of Tears when they discoursed that matter to me and if you remember it was the weaker part of those men that had their Lives given them not but that some of them were worthy persons but they had not arrived to those Experiences of God and true Religion as the others had done that laid down their Lives in that Cause But the truth is I never found many of them had so little Grace as to repent of what they had done Nay your Rage did not cease here for you by all the Wrong imaginable pack'd a Parliament together of greenheaded young Gentlemen the Sons of some Cavaliers whose Parents suffer'd in the late War and so were haters of Dissenters from whom an Act was obtained to empower Commissioners to displace all Officers that they should judge not to be firm to the King's Interest and Proceedings By this Knack you had all Justices of the Peace and Corporation Magistrates that had been forward in punishing Prophaneness and Ungodliness in their respective Places and had been great Promoters of Religion and Holiness of Life turn'd out and in their rooms were put all profane and ungodly Wretches Swearers by and Blasphemers of the Name of Almighty God these being Men for your Turn that you might the more easily enslave and so pervert the People And it was come to that pass that none could have any Employment unless he could swear and damn for the Church tho' they never came within the inside of
Hell shall prevail he hath secured us our Liberties Laws and Religion he hath brought himself and Government to that Perfection notwithstanding the vexatious War which lies hard upon us that he is capable of doing good to all Mankind and he hath totally disabled himself from doing hurt to any he wants not the French King's Purse nor his Friendship he wants not his Interest for his Interest is his Peoples and his Peoples his by which they are so united that the attempts of your Scoundrel Crew for your Restoration will be in vain the Hearts of the Nation are set against you and for your perfidious dealing both in Church and State the People of England will trust you no more Sir We have Sworn Allegiance to this King we chose in your stead and we are bound to stand by him our choise of him was from a Principle of Love to God and the Protestant Religion which he hath asserted You kept not your Faith with us and therefore our Allegiance ceased to you your Actions have been very plain and open and so pernitious that it was a Wonder of Wonders thaâ— we and our Religion have been delivered from Blood and Oppression And Sir I would let you know that we are not afraid of you and your Adherents for I believe the Protestant Religion and Protestant King will stand notwithstanding alâ— your Attempts and if you had brought your French Dragooning Apostles oâ—er to us yet we would and should have maintained our Ground and destroyed â—â—em and you We value not your little Two-penny Stuff that you have left â—â—hind you to plead your Cause your impertinent ignorant Non-juring Clergy-men can never preach us out of love to that Loyalty that we owe to K. William â—e have scarce a Williamite Cobler but can baffle them all These things consiâ—ered How can you ever expect any thing less than that Judgment the Psalmist â—rays for to be inflicted upon his Enemies Hath not God already set a wicked Tyrant over you Have you not been Judged by the Lords and Commons of England and Condemned Was not your Reign short And hath not another taken your Office In time Sir the Judgment may be compleated upon you There is of your Issue that have had no Hand in our Miseries and for this Cause our Eyes are set upon them for good and we shall pray for their long Life But as for you that God would cloth you with Shame and Confusion of Face and that he would upon the Head of our Protestant King let the Crown long florish And I do not question but God will hear the Prayers of his Faithful Subjects and will by his means bring the Nation to such a Settlement that our Allegiance will be firm to him and his Successors notwithstanding all those villainous Attempts that you and that Monster of Mankind your Brother of France by his and your Traiterous Accomplices have made to deprive us of so great a Blessing Which brings me to a Sixth Consideration 6. The last Reason I shall give you why it will be impossible for you to return to the Administration of the English Government and that all Attempts of that nature will be in vain because of your late barbarous and villainous Attempt you by your Conspirators have made upon the Person of our King and your purpose of backing that intended Murder by an unnatural Invasion you had some that pittied you but now our Hearts are shut up against you and are hardned against all your Cursed Adherents For now your Plot is discovered and it is a Plot and a Villainous One nothing can be plainer no Man of Common Understanding but must see your Conspiracy to bring in Popery and Slavery and to destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England We know Sir the Doctrine of your Popish and Non-juring Priests too well and your wicked Practices and we are now assured that you will not stick at any thing that may bring your wicked Designs about You must excuse me if I am plain with you I would not asperse you with hard Words if they were not very true I should not have been so Hot if you had not been concerned in the late wicked Design of murthering our King but if you had succeeded it would have been no more than you did to your Loving and Kind Brother but all this as well as the other is owing to you and your Popish Traiterous Crew who have debauched Mens Understandings overturned all Morals and destroyed all Divinity What shall I say of you and your villainour Party What is your Charity such as to destroy Kings And where was the Humility of insulting over the Nation The Mystery of Iniquity is revealed and you are disappointed The Nation sees that you are no Changeling as to yâ—â—r Vices and you will find that English-men are no Changelings Therefore it wâ—ll be in vain to make any more attempts to be Restored again for the future To conclude this Memorial Sir give me leave to tell you that I have thus fâ—â— laid open the Conspiracy against our Religion and Government and indeed it waâ— more than time it should be discovered for I think here hath been nothing asserteâ— but what hath been and can be made out we see how the French have been courted by you and your Party with what Ease have they been assisted and witâ— what Difficulty the Dutch both in your Brothers and your Reign We see your Brother and you abandon the Prince of Orange now our King in compliance with his and the Nations Enemies How can any Man think upon the French Depredations and Cruelties exercised at Sea upon the Subjects of England without Regret Call to mind your notorious Treacheries in that Affair Remember the constant Irregularities and Injustice from term to term of those who should have administred Justice between King and People Remember the search you made throughout the whole Kingdom to find Men of Arbitrary Principles that would bow the Knee to Baal in order to their being promoted to all publick Commissions and Employments and disgracing and displacing all those that durst in so universal a Depravation be honest and faithful in their Trust and Offices We saw to our great Grief the Defection of considerable Persons both Male and Female to the Popish Religion as if they enter'd by Couples Clean and Unclean into the Ark of that Cursed Synagogue not more in order to their Salvation than for their Temporal Advantage and Safety Sir the State of Ireland managed by your Brother and you would require a Volume to represent it and in your Time we could not but observe that all your Affairs and Councils in the Nation tended to a Popish Revolution And by the Foresight and Civility of the Man of Sin there was an English Cardinal prepared like Cardinal Pool to give us Absolution Benediction and to receive us to the Obedience of the See of Rome It is true your Conspiracy had taken effect had you not met with many Disappointments but the last Disappointment was the overturn of all your Designs at once which was occasioned by the Arrival of the Prince of Orange Guilt made you to flee The Sense the Nation had of your wicked Intentions against our Laws and Liberties caused the People of England to make choice of our Deliverer to reign over us He is anointed our King and as God hath set a Crown of pure Gold upon his Head so we question not but the same God will satisfy him with long Life and Happiness and that he will give him the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Zeal and Faithfulness to do what in him lies to the bringing on the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein Righteousness and Peace shall dwell by repairing the Breaches and decayed Places that you have made and caused amongst us And from hence Sir remember that though Hand join in Hand yet the Wicked shall not go unpunished they are Gods own Words who hath also declared with the greatest Solemnity that there shall be no Peace to the Wicked Isa 57.21 You have leisure to consider of these things and so Farewell FINIS