decided the Destiny of Empires that according to the manner of spinning out a War now a days the lives of five or six Kings equally Prosperous would not suffice to Conquer all Europe To which I have another answer to make that the same methods are not taken nor the same ways us'd as formerly to gain the Vniversal Monarchy The People of Europe are so accustom'd to be rul'd by different Princes that there would be little reason to fear a King who should conceive a design to subdue them all and afterwards to govern them by his Lieutenants in regard his design would be no less fantastic then impossible A Vniversal Monarch then at present is quite another thing then an Absolute Prince at home and who has reduc'd his Neighbours so low that they are not able to enterprize any thing against him that they are constrain'd to brook his outrages and injuries and to suffer him to do what he pleases Now is there any Person of good credit that can deny but that France was almost arriv'd at this high Pitch of Grandeur and that in all outward Appearance he had attain'd to what he desir'd had James 11. his faithful Ally kept firm upon his Throne Now let the Confederates consider whether it be not their interest to humble the Pride of France and whether they will ever meet with an opportunity more Favourable Not that I would advise them to the Tryal of an Absolute conquest of France but if they can but regain what she has wrested from them restore the Duke of Lorain to his own and as occasion offers sever the Dukedoms of Normandy Britain and Guyen as formerly they were divided and which is no more then what is long'd for by the inhabitants at this day take advantage of the discontents of the People to re-establish the custom of calling free Assemblies of Estates and in a Word divide that vast Kingdom into several Principalities and reduce it to the same condition wherein it was toward the end of the Second Race and at the beginning of the Third before Philip the August at what time the Kings of France had something else to do then trouble their Brains about disturbing their Neighbours quiet Perhaps some French man will tell me I am a Traytor to my Nation and give that Advice which is enough to embroyl the Kingdom in Civil War But there is nothing of that in my design for I dare protest with a safe conscience that my Principal aim is only to asust my fellow Country-men in the recovery of their liberty Though if they cannot recover it but by a Civil War that may last for some Years is it not infinitely to be prefer'd before an eternal slavery But say my opposers these Petty Princes will be always quarrelling one with another And do not the great ones do the same Let the Counts of Foix and Armagnac fight it out as long as they please the rest of France takes no notice of their brawls But when Lewis the XIV Rendevouzes three hundred thousand Men he drains and depopulates a great Kingdom and strikes such a terror into all his Neighbours that they are compell'd to oppress their People to withstand his Invasions besides a War between two petty Princes can never last long for that in a short time they find themselves both so enfeebl'd that they are constrain'd to agree This is the only means to procure a general Peace and to prevent France from breaking the Treaties that shall be concluded with her THE REESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRINCES DISPOSSESS'D AND OF THE PROTESTANTS EXIL'D is another of the most happy and important consequences of the Union of the Confederates Wars are the Law-suits of Princes Battels and Conquests are their Judges and the mischeif is that these Judges are both blind and inconstant and there is always Appeal from their decrees so soon as the vanquish'd finds himself in a condition to come to a new Tryal And therefore that Christendom may be restor'd to a general and lasting Peace there is a necessity of fixing as far as lies in mortal Power the Fate and destiny of Armed Decisions by bringing the Protestants of Europe to such an equal Ballance that no one may be easily able to oppress the Rest We have sought in vain for this Medium ever since the Pyrenean Treaty for that the strength of Spain decay'd of a suddain and England which was only able to oppose the Progress of the French intended nothing less Now the medal begins to turn Great Britain is at liberty Germany is United the Empire grows powerful and it may be said without any injury to the valour of the rest of the Generals neither to his Highness the Elector of Bavaria that the Emperour is cheifly beholding for the Victories which he has gain'd over the Grand Enemy of the Christian Name since the Seige of Vienna to Duke Charles of Lorain It would be therefore a great peice of injustice if that Noble Prince should not Reap as well the Fruit of his Labours as the Honour of having so many times triumph'd over the Infidels Hangary being reduc'd and the Hereditary Countries of the House of Austria being secured for a long time from the terrour of the Ottoman Arms deserve without doubt that the Empire should do it's utmost to restore it's Preserver to the Inheritance of his Ancestors I dare affirm also that his Atcheivments are of that importance to the Glory and Repose of the Imperial Family that they ought to preserve the memory of this Victorious Champion and testify their acknowledgement to his Posterity if Fate prevent them from returning their Gratitude to himself Interest and Vertue are not always Enemies to one another they agree perfectly well upon this occasion The Conquests of France in the Low-Countries the Invasion of Lorain of Franche Conte and Alsatia have render'd her so potent and so near a Neighbour to the Empire that at length in the last Campaign she took Philipsbourgh and has almost made her self Mistriss of the four Electorats of the Rhine So that if the revolution in England had not hasten'd her to the defence of her own Country 't is very probable that she would have carry'd on her Victories with little or no Obstruction Crown'd the Dauphin King of the Romans and reduc'd in time the Electors of Saxony Brandenburgh and Bavaria the Landgraves of Hess and the rest of the Princes of Germany to the same condition as the Ancient Dukes of Normandy Guyen and Burgundy that is to say to nothing The Roman Catholics may imagin that the Re-establishment of the Exil'd Protestants does not concern them But it more nearly concerns them then they are aware of It is said that one of the Causes which hasten'd the ruin of the Reformed in France was this because the Court was sensible of their discontents and murmurings during the War with the Vnited Provinces They were accus'd of holding Intelligence which the Hollanders and of discovering to
their Offers They vainly flatter themselves to seduce the Hollanders during the Kings abode in England or to raise Disturbances in England while he remains in Holland 'T is true that feeble Affection which is supported only by Fancy or only grounded upon some Conformity of Temper and Humour is as frail as the Foundation is slight But when Religion Vertue and the public Interest are the Bonds of Union between the Prince and Subjects it is a Link inseparable which the absence of some few Months renders much the stronger Now the Affection which the two Nations bear to his most Serene Majesty William the III. is of the latter sort The English are a Warlike Nation that passionately Loves their Kings especially when their Inclinations are Martial Their Princes have for a long time enjoy'd both Normandy and Guyenne which oblig'd them frequently to cross the Sea but we never read in any History that their Subjects took any Advantage of their absence to rise up in Rebellion The Vnited Provinces ever since their first Confederacy having been almost continually engag'd in Wars are more accustom'd to see their Prince at the Head of their Armies then at leisure at the Hague So that both the one and the other will easily be contented that his Majesty should visit them by turns Besides that the English will have Queen Mary always present in their Capital City whose Piety and Vertue whose great Understanding and Mildness renders her equal to Elizabeth a Person to whom the Hollanders were so devoted that at her departure the chiefest of their wishes were that she might be but as well belov'd at London as she had been at the Hague to which her Royal Highness answer'd that she desir'd no more These are the greatest Difficulties that are propounded and buzz'd abroad by our Male Contents or which I have been able to think of Their weakness appears to me a certain presage of the felicity of the People under the Reign of William the III. and Mary the II. and of that Peace which the Union between England and Holland will restore to Europe The SECOND PART The Happy Consequences of the Union between FRANCE and HOLLAND The Means to preserve it entire AMong the happy Consequences of the Union between the Subjects of their Majesties of Great Britain and of their High and Mightinesses there are some which are particular to each of the two Nations and relate to the form of Government their Laws and Priviledges But it belongs not to a private Person to meddle with those sorts of Matters as being the business of Parliaments and Assemblies of Estates Other Consequences there are more general wherein divers Confederate Princes several Countries all the Protestants and all Europe find themselves interested and upon which we shall make some Reflections I place in the first ranck the bringing down the Power of France not believing that I could begin with a more pleasing Subject Since the Pyrenean Peace that Kingdom has mounted to a Degree of Grandeur and Pride which have render'd France insupportable to all her Neighbours so that it is neither the Wealth nor the Welfare of the French People that are envy'd for Men have more reason to be mov'd with Compassion at the sight of their Miseries 'T is against their blindness that Men exclaim and that indispensable fury that hurries them on to make others as miserable as themselves instead of complying with their good Intentions and permitting the release of those miserable People from the sad Condition wherein they are If France were enrich'd by Trade by Manufacture by a long Peace if it were aggrandiz'd by Marriages and Alliances by the free Concessions of Princes or by the vast Concurrences and Conflux of People to her Territories we should be so far from troubling her repose that we should do our utmost to imitate her Example But it is well known that her Conquests and her Riches are the Effects of Breach of Faith and her unjust Wars of her Vexations and Oppressions and the vast Contributions which she exacts from the People so that the generality of the Subjects are reduc'd by the Court to that Condition as not to be able to subsist but in the midst of the Rage of War by Pillage Robbery and Ransack The bare Duties of Humanity would oblige their Neighbours to redeem them from a Condition so opposite to the public good and the Salvation of their Souls nor is the particular Interest of other People an Obligation less engaging to the same Effect Since that under the pretence of Religion the Dragoons have ruin'd the best Families in the Kingdom wasted their Estates and disabl'd the Proprietors to make the best of their demeans and to continue their Trades since as an Accumulation of their Misfortune the Privateers being become Masters of the Seas Trade has undergon so sensible a decay that ten Years more like the three last will produce a far greater mischief then a general Pestilence for ten Months in regard they would be the ruin of an infinite Number of Families which by means of their Wealth and Industry are at present the support and glory of Europe Considering the present Constitution of our Western Parts the Wines the Strong-waters the Oyl and Salt of France are Merchandizes which Foreigners can hardly live without But the Inhabitants being impoverish'd and not able to burthen themselves with those things which would be given them in exchange they that want their Wares must be oblig'd to carry ready Money and to afford new Matter to feed the Extortions of the Collectors and the Insatiable Avarice of the Chief Ministers Add to this that if the War happen to spin out in length the great Number of Souldiers that must be rais'd throughout the Kingdom will be the cause that the greatest part of the Lands must lye untill'd and that the infinite Wealth accrewing by the profits of the Land would be all lost If it be so then some will say that it is so much the Interest of Foreigners to Labour the preservation of France it behoves them speedily to make a Peace with her 'T is very true that there could be nothing more advantageous then a general Peace but the mischief is that considering the present Condition of Affairs it is neither safe nor possible to conclude a Peace besides that it is also more uncertain and more difficult to be assur'd that it shall be of any long continuance Therefore before we talk of Peace it will be requisite 1. That Lemis the XIV Re-establish the Edict of Nantes and restore the Reformed to the same Condition wherein they were before the Death of Hen. IV. and make restitution of all the Damages which they have sustain'd since the Pyrenaean Peace but more especially since the Truce in the Year 84. It would be an eternal Ignominy to the Protestants to suffer the public Violation of the Treaties concluded with their Brethren without alledging any other reason but only that
THE Happy Union OF ENGLAND AND HOLLAND OR THE Advantagious CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALLIANCE OF THE CROWN of GREAT BRITAIN WITH THE States General of the Vnited Provinces Licensed May the 20th 1689. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin in the Old-Baily 1689. TO THE Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury My Lord THE Happy Consequences of a settl'd Alliance and Union between their Majesties of Great Britain and the States of the United Provinces are that which these few Sheets have undertak'n to make out as being necessary for the safety and repose of both in particular and of the Protestant Interest in general How zealously Your Lordship has always Labour'd the Advancement of the Latter and how Instrumental you have been to promote the Former is not unknown to all the World For this reason the Author of this Treatise really intended for the good of both Nations is so Ambitious as he is to appear in the English Dialect under Your Lordship's Patronage and Protection from the Censures of those who make it their business to disturb the Public Tranquility both of Church and State Not doubting through Your Lordships Favour of the same Reception here as the Original had in the place that gave it Birth Yet humbly craving on the other side Your Lordships Pardon for the Confidence of this Address which speaks however the High Esteem and Honour that all Men who value the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of their Country have for Your Person but more especially of Your most Humble and Most Obedient Servant R. W. The Necessity of a Union between the ENGLISH and HOLLANDERS USually we judge by the Event of the Uprightness or Injustice of human Actions and of the Prudence or Indiscretion of those that Act. The Philosophers take upon them to make their Comments upon these inconsiderate Judgments That vulgar Opinion carries it That is to say that they who prosper pass for Wise and many times for Vertuous Men they who are unfortunate are lookt upon as imprudent and sometimes which is worse as wicked and impious A Kingdom oppress'd with exactions becomes enrag'd against the Contrivers of their Misery and revolts against those that Officiate in the Tyrannies of the Court. Therefore Forces are sent to quell and dissipate the mutinous Multitude their Ringleaders are seiz'd and put to Death by all the most infamous and cruel ways of Execution nor do they grant any Act of Oblivion to the rest but by charging them with new Taxes and Impositions And as a Consummation of their Misfortunes their Posterity attribute all their Miseries to them and Historians range them in the Number of Factious and Rebels justly depriv'd of their Liberties and their Ancient Priviledges For these thirty Years the Kings of England have labour'd to render themselves Absolute they have gradually dispoyl'd the Cities and Corporations of their Charters and made it their business to introduce Popery into their three Kingdoms well knowing that the Alteration of the Establish'd Religion trailes after it the Change of the Government and the Laws and no less assur'd that of all the Christian Sects the Roman is that which best agrees with Arbitrary Dominion and is most proper to inspire blind Obedience The English weary'd with their Sufferings privately call in the Prince of Orange and that great Hero was receiv'd into the Island as their Tutelar-Angel but with so much Order and Unanimity that the suddain Commotion was taken rather for a public Rejoycing then a Rebellious Insurrection Some make hast to meet him others set up his Standard while the King disturb'd in Mind perplex'd and astonish'd withdraws without striking a stroak and punishes himself with a voluntary Exile for having followed the Advice of his Evil Counsellors All Europe admires so suddain a Revolution The Protestants lookt upon him as a Prodigy of Heaven sent for the relief of Truth oppress'd The moderate Catholics acknowledge the Justice of the Prince of Oranges Designs applaud the mildness which he exercises toward their Brethren and impute the unkindness which he has for their Religion at this Conjucture to the violent Counsels of the Jesuits The Politicians of both Parties look upon the Success as the Effect of a Transcendent Genius which Heaven has been pleas'd to Favour whether to set Enslav'd Europe at Liberty or whether it were to shew that Prudence and Mildness are more assur'd and efficacious means to attain their Ends then the Sanguinary Maxims of Matchiavel Lastly Persons of the clearest Intellects and most perspicacious insight into Affairs belive that nothing can be above the reach of that Prince who has shewn himself able to carry on for many Years a Design of so great Importance unknown to his Enemies or any other who had no occasion to be interested therein A Prince who has United several Soveraign Potentates against France who has so well managed the Inclination and Humours of three Kingdoms of several distant Plantations and a Powerful Commonwealth for a long time harass'd by various Factions as to soder them into Unanimity A Prince in a Word who after he has taken time to reflect and consider puts his Resolutions in Execution with a courage and swiftness beyond imagination 'T is true the Sloath the lgnorance and the Necessity which constrains some Men to submit to a present Conjuncture and to side with the strongest Party are without question the real sources of those applauses which are given to those whom happy Success has exalted above others Add to this that how desirous so ever Men may be to ingratiate themselves with such Persons yet they are always willing to act conformably to their own Understandings So that Self-Love being willing to reconcile these two Passions easily perswades us that our Flatteries are just and that the Grandees are beholding to their Merit for their advancement Moreover it is most certain that these successful Persons are many times highly worthy of Honour and that Prudence and Indiscretion are the most usual causes of the good or bad Success of Men of which they who only understand the most known Circumstances of the Revolution of England may convince themselves with little trouble But if Men are so quick in judging of things done on the other side they are so slow to determin when they ought to Act that their mistiming Execution or their Wavering and Hesitation becomes the disappointment of the greatest and most noble Designs They whose Interest it is to oppose them fill their Minds with pannic Fears or desperate Mistrusts and Jealousies and in regard that the number of Persons timorous and jealous are very numerous and for that idle and imaginary Fear works a more signal Effect upon such then a hope and assurance grounded upon Reason therefore that a Man may act with Prudence upon such occasions it behoves him to take a convenient time to examin the Circumstances of Time of Places and Persons and then to resolve and pursue his design by the
in Corn abounding in Wine in Cattel in Pasturage in Oyl in Salt in all sorts of Fruits a Country water'd with large Rivers to the North and West wash'd by the Ocean and to the South by the Mediterranean Sea as if Nature not content with the peculiar Wealth she has bestow'd upon it design'd to furnish it with all that Foreign Climates have in particular I say who would believe that a People thus endow'd in the midst of a soil abounding with Milk and Honey should be forc'd to dwell in Straw Huts and to be reduc'd to Beggary Who would believe that there should be nothing to be seen but Palaces demolish'd and ruin'd Houses in a Kingdom where no Enemy has been ravaging for these two or three Ages together That a Country Husband man after he has till'd his own Lands and reap'd the Harvest should have nothing but a little Rye Barley or Chest-nuts to eat or the squeezings of the Lees of the Grape mixed with Water or Water it self to drink For the Collector of the Kings duties has despoil'd him of his Wheat his Wine and his Oyl leaving him hardly wherewithal to sow his Land next Year and pay his Tenths Besides that the Land is over and above charg'd with duties for goods brought in and going forth Customs and other excessive Taxes and to compleat the total consuming of what the Collectors could not carry away the Souldiers run from Province to Province trampling the poor People under foot Strangers wonder at the vast Number of Souldiers that France keeps up in pay But this does not come to pass because the Kingdom is better Peopl'd then other Countries You shall travel several Leagues together through most fertile Champaign Countries and hardly meet with one poor miserable Cottage whereas the very Mershes and Sands of Holland seem to be but one Great and Magnificent City But the reason is for that being Born where only the King the Favourites of the Wealthy and the Souldiers can live the rest must either carry a Musquet or starve In all other Countries the Great Cities enjoy considerable Priviledges hold General Assemblies composed of the Nobility the Clergy and the third Estate where they consâ—â—â— of what concerns the public good to prevent the indiscâ—â—â—â—on of bad Counsellers from putting the Kingdom in combustion and the hungry Courtiers from inriching themselves with the sweat of the People 'T is not so in France Bourdeaux Marseilles Toulouse La Rochelle Nismes Montauban c. have all lost their Franchises and are curb'd and kept in awe by Citadels and strong Garrisons The King keeps his Court but seldom in Paris to lessen the Power of that Proud City All the rest of the Cities are so poor that Grenoble one of the most Flourishing and Capital of the Dauphinate the Seat of the Parliament of that Province is not able to raise Money to restrain within it's Channel a small River that overflows the Country and many times threatens the City with a destructive deluge The Parliaments more especially that of Paris had reserv'd to themselves a right to examine the Edicts and Decrees of their Prince And if they found any thing fit to be excepted against they humbly represented their exceptions to his Majesty as they did to Hen. IV. when he was designing to recal the Jesuits and their remonstrances were frequently of that force as to cancel an Edict otherwise they allow'd and confirm'd it But they have Punish'd with so much rigor and cruelty several Counsellers who in the late troubles during the Minority of the King gave proof of their constancy and zeal for the public good that at this day no Body dares so much as open their mouths Nor do they now make use of the Word d'Enteriner which properly signifies to give the force of a Law to a Declaration of the Prince so that the Parliaments for fear of jostling the Absolute Power of their Invincible Monarch barely write down that they have read such or such an Edict of the King and that they have Verify'd it that is they have acknowledg'd it to be his Majesties Act and Deed. After which his most humble Slaves have not a Word more to say I will not here speak of that same tedious and barbarous Persecution of the Reformed in France though that Party was very considerable in the Kingdom as well for that other Authors have made very large Descriptions of it as for that it is not convenient to meddle with Particular differences in a discourse that relates only to the public Interest I shall only observe that Religion which is the General Pretence laid hold of to cause the Roman Catholics to approve these violent Proceedings is not the real cause thereof and that it is not out of any zeal for the Glory of God that those poor People are depriv'd of their Relations and Friends and of their fellow Citizens and that they destroy and ruin their Trade It may be that the King is over perswaded that his conscience obliges him to exterminate Heresy But he is a good natur'd Prince naturally not inclin'd to cruelty yet when he is made believe that he offers an oblation to God in Sacrificing to his vengeance those that worship him after a manner different from ours it is enough to overcome a good disposition and push on zeal even to fury But as for his Counsellers they are too sufficiently known to the World to make any doubt whether Conscience or Religion are the Motives that spur them on to Act. 'T is certain they are not and therefore we must seek out for others and I think I have call'd to mind some of them The first is the hatred of the Jesuites against all those that are not of their Opinion For Opinion is the Queen of the World And therefore they who would command others use all their endeavours to make those whom they labour to bring under Subjection to admit of their Maxims chiefly those that relate to Philosophy Divinity and Morality The Grandees can easily rid themselves of a few Private Persons by the way of Calumny or by bringing them into trouble but to destroy a numerous Body that continually raises up fresh Enemies there is no way but to proceed by open force The Jesuits being the most Rigid of all the Doctors of the Roman Church always found the Reformed to be Opposers of their designs Nor were the Jansenists who accus'd these Fathers for being the Corrupters of Christian Morality less odious to them But the Society being more Powerful then both these brought about their ends by a Persecution of above Forty Years In the first Place they put in practice Processes and brangling Suits Knavery and Imposture of which they made use against those that escap'd their fury by flying for Sanctuary into Foreign Countries The second Motive to Persecution is the Avarice of the Society which appear'd by the Benefices and Estates of the Jansenists and Protestant confiscated which the Jesuits
been and still are Persecuted under the specious Colour of Religion against Public Faith and Assurances against Establish'd Laws and Irrevocable Edicts and against the Law of Nature and of Nations If it be true that it is impossible for any French Divine or Learned Man to write according to his Conscience even in reference to those things which the Gallican Church has left undecided If it be true that the Jesuits have a design in hand to extirpate their Enemies by all manner of ways which they shall deem proper and that they are so much Masters of the Kings Favour that they can but only ask and have but that all good Men that all France and all Europe betake themselves to their Arms to exterminate this Impious Society which permits Murder Robbery Whoredom and all Sorts of Vices that they set up the Standard not against the King and Kingdom but to deliver his most Christian Majesty from his wicked Counsellers that fill the Churches and Monasteries with false Pastors and Intruders that exclude the Nobility from their Employments and bestow them upon their own Creatures that fat themselves with the Blood of the People and enrich themselves with the Confiscate Estates of the Innocent Nor would it be a Bloody War but an easie Victory for the English and Hollanders under the lucky Auspices of their Prince or rather an Extirpation of Tyranny and the Delivery of an unhappy People worthy of a better Fate resolv'd on by both Nations to the end that the Deliverer of England may be no less celebrated for setting France at Liberty More especially while the French thus lying under the smart of their Provocations are thus favourably dispos'd to Assist the Enterprises of their Avenger But should this come to pass cry some in regard the War could not be long and that the success would be almost unquestionable This they cry would be still to make William the Third more puissant and more formidable And then they come in with their Proverbs and say 't is hard for Mortal Man to preserve his Vertue from Temptation in overflowing Prosperity And let the Kings Intentions of themselves be never so sincere and upright who shall assure us of the vertue and honesty of his Counsellers This looks like a Mans tormenting himself for recreations sake or like his framing Chimeras to combat the shadows of his own fancy An Ordinary Person that has but common Constancy and Prudence never changes upon the least puff of Wind but when he has all his Life long observ'd certain Maxims of Honesty which have gain'd him a respect in the World and are conformable to the Dictates of his conscience it is the least of his thoughts to depart from them for that he understands that Levity is a mark of weakness of mind and want of wit and that nothing is more displeasing to God then Inconstancy and Breach of Word Much less can we believe that a Prince of a clear understanding constant and couragious could ever be capable of change or that he would go about to tarnish his Honour disturb his own repose or to render himself unacceptable to God of whose Blessings at present he is so well assur'd Besides that Courtiers when they perceive their Master to be a Person accomplish'd in vertue are wary how they let him perceive the Irregularities of their inclinations but rather make it their Study to shew themselves conformable to his disposition They are cautious of giving him bad Council for fear of incurring his displeasure They will rather on the contrary Study to become vertuous or at least to seem so Besides the Counsellers of King William are no more to be fear'd then the King himself Their modesty will not permit me to give the World a lively Portraiture of their vertues and therefore it will suffice to observe that they are all either English or Hollanders true Protestants and Persons of deep foresight and for the most part Men of Learning That is to say they are Men who have frequently expos'd their Lives for their Religion and the Liberty of their Country Add to this that the Souls of Learned Men are too highly exalted above the mean thoughts of Treason and Conspiracy and their Hearts too generous to be capable of Baseness and Perfidy nor will the Spirit of Popery and Tyranny ever accord with Philosophic Liberty There is this also farther to be said that though a Prince and his Counsel should have vow'd their own ruin by conspiring against the Repose and Priviledges of two Nations it would be impossible for them to accomplish their design ' I is true that if a Nation accustom'd to Arbitrary Power and Slavery happens to subdue a free People 't is very probable that the Victors will ravish from them their ancient Franchises if they can do it without loosing the Fruit of their Conquests for that it must needs be a trouble to the Victors that the condition of the vanquish'd should be better then theirs Nevertheless it does not always so happen For the Courts of Flanders and Dukes of Burgundy in vain attempted several times to accustom their Subjects of the Low Countries to the French Manners And the Spaniards were so sensible of their Error in endeavouring to introduce the Inquisition into those Provinces that they were forc'd to permit them to enjoy whatever they had remaining of their ancient Priviledges But when two free People are United together their Union fortifies their Liberty against all those that would go about to invade it England and Scotland have often experienc'd the truth of this tho it can hardly be said that they obey'd the same Line for a whole Century of Years together Not to insist upon time past 't is well known that James the Second had already adventur'd to declare himself invested with an Arbitrary Power in reference to the Scots And if the English had not call'd in the Prince of Orange to their Assistance their late King would not have stopt there By which it is clearly to be seen that there is so little reason for the Hollanders to be Jealous of their new Governour or for the People of Great Britain to repent their having set the Crown upon the Head of a Prince so powerful before that on the contrary the Puissance of their Supreme Chiestain is their proper and safest security since it is neither in his Will nor in his Power to make use of it to their Hurt and for that their Security under him will protect them from all the Assaults of France which taking Advantage of their Divisions advanc'd within a little of ruining both the one and the other The three other Objections are so inconsiderable that they are not worth the trouble of insisting upon them Nevertheless we shall refute them in a few words least some conceited Reader should believe we avoid the medling with them The Prince is a Presbyterian by Birth therefore he will favour the Nonconformists of Great Britain and