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A55705 The present settlement vindicated, and the late mis-government proved in answer to a seditious letter from a pretended loyal member of the Church of England to a relenting abdicator / by a gentleman of Ireland. Gentleman of Ireland. 1690 (1690) Wing P3250; ESTC R9106 56,589 74

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so spirited away but some part of them may and have been found out but little Restitution to the Proprietors and less of Punishment on the Offendors Then again though Robberies might have been in the Country and at a distan●● from him yet it is something strange that he could not p●serve the place of his own Residence and the Country about it from such Violences for which he has done so little that no part of the Kingdom has greater reason to complain than they From these Considerations I am as much satisfied that the Royal Assent accompanied these Rapines as that it did that far greater one the Repeal of the Acts of Settlement How the Advocates of King James will maintain this Treatment of his Protestant Subjects I cannot tell neither can I tell how to reconcile his Speech to his pretended Parliament on the 7th of May proposing their relief against the Acts of Settlement as he softly phrased it and his Declaration to his pretended Subjects in England dated the day after that most Gracious Speech wherein he tells us That the Priviledges and Properties of his Protestant Subjects was his Care unless they say it was his Care and Endeavour how to destroy them We have heard of Mr. d'Avaux's demand That all Protestants should be dismissed the Council-Board for otherwise he could not disclose his Master's Secrets there which was immediately done We have heard from one of his Lords That both the late King and his Popish Council would rather hazard and lose Forty Crowns than be obliged to the Protestants for the possession of the Kingdom and design to re-gain his Dominions by the Arms of good Catholicks and the glorious Monarch of France and their reason for this is very comfortable to all English-men and Protestants being that in the first Case he must be tied and fettered with Conditions but in the other Case he would come in free and boundless and like an Absolute Conqueror might do what he pleased I thought I had done with our Author when I cast my Eye on a line as true as most of the rest That the King never tempted any of the Men of Honour to change their Religion I never had the honour of being Closetted so know not the Discourses usually practised there but it would be some disparagement to his and his Father-Confessor's Zeal to think that always forgotten But without insisting on that it is not to be imagined that so many turned Apostates without temptation or that the Treasurer's Staff carried none with it Our Author makes him kinder herein than his Promise in the Scotch Declaration not to use invincible necessity The Reflections due to this have been done by so much a better hand that I will forbear And having thus done with the Author it is time to draw to a Conclusion In order to which I will only observe upon the whole matter That the Subjects of this Kingdom during the Reign of King James were in so miserable a condition that they could call nothing their own but their Fears and sad Apprehensions of the worse things that were preparing for them When we heard we were to Obey without reserve we could not forget the Times of our happy Ancestors whose Obedience was guided by the known Laws of the Land and lament our own and Childrens fate that were to be ruled by the Arbitrary Will of one Man for whose Prudence and Moderation we could have no security When we saw a Power to Suspend some Laws put in Execution we could not but look on all the rest as lost since our Tenure was so precarious When we saw our Clergy so much oppressed in those early days we did not doubt Father Peter's Will or Power to improve that Spirit of Persecution as far as a blind Zeal or the French Pattern could carry it When we saw an Army maintained in time of Peace we could not forbear thinking sometimes on the French Dragoons and their way of Propagating the Faith In a word when we saw the strange Methods that were taken to procure a right House of Commons we could not but fear that our Misery would be perfected by those we formerly thought the Preservers of our Liberties and Properties And now that it hath pleased God to put an end to all these things and that we are not only free but have a long prospect of Happiness before us not to be destroyed but by our selves not to be lessened or impaired but by the influence of such Discourses as the Author 's on weak or unwary Men. Let us remember how much it concerns every one of us to oppose those designs which tend only to bring us into the same slavery we have so lately escaped The same did I say Alas as ill as we were before the Abdication upon his return that would be a desirable State unless we believe he has learned Mercy in France or that he is less a Papist than he was or of less Arbitrary Principles When Gratitude for the highest Obligations both the setting and keeping the Crown on his Head could not preserve us our Laws or Religion what must we expect from his Anger and Revenge And if we consider with what severity the weak Endeavours of Monmonth and his Party to Dethrone him were punished It is hard to imagine what Punishment is reserved for those that have actually displaced him or taken him at his word which he accounts the same thing and we must not think that his Thunder would only pursue those that have been active in the late Revolution but the whole Nation must be struck with it that it may not be in their power to do the same thing again and it would be a mighty Army he would think big enough to secure him from the like affront and of what sort they must be is not hard to determine I know it is needless to inlarge on these hints because you are fully perswaded that it is the most prudent as well as just Course to remain contented with the present Government and to contribute in our several Stations what in us lies to the support thereof FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. Line 31. for October Read November P. 4. l. 32. r. so served P. 7. l. 34. r. November P. 37. l. 3. r. December P. 40. l. 19. after another r. Commandment In the same Line dele of the Commandments P. 41. l. 17. r. Commissioners P. 43. l. 10. r. twig instead of way P. 44. l. 36. r. support him P. 48. l. 11. r. Burgus P. 49. l. 5. r. Magnifies P. 52. l. 26. dele first of BOOKS Printed for J●seph Watts at th● Angel in St. Pauls Church-yard THE History of Ireland from the First Conquest of it by the English to this time in two Parts Folio The Trial of the Lord Russel c. Of Colonel Sidney Folio Of Edward Fitzharris c. An Exact Diary of the late Expedition of his Majesty into England Quarto Representation of the Threatning Dangers Impending over Protestants in Great Britain before the coming of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Treatise of Monarchy in two Parts 1. Concerning Monarchy in General and second concerning this Particular Monarchy Wherein all the Questions occurrent in both are stated disputed and determin'd Discourse of the Opposition of the Doctrine Worship and Practice of the Roman Church to the nature designs and characters of the Christian Faith by Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury Quarto The True Test of the Jesuits or the spirit of that Society Disloyal to God their King and Neighbour Quarto Monsieur Jurieu's Account of the Extasies of the Shepperdess of Saou in Dauphine Quarto Reformed Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year Twelves Cro. C. 114. Cro. C. 220.
January last was composed of these not a County City or Borough of England but appeared there by their Representatives and the whole Peers did or might have appeared by themselves or Proxies so that here was a Parliament in substance and the Author will not pretend that any thing was wanting but the King 's Writ to call them together To which I say first That anciently when Parliaments met at the King's Court on fixed times as the Feast of the Nativity and other Feasts every year we have no account of any Summons because the Time and Place of meeting being known that was needless But these Times are so dark that I will not insist much on this nor on the Election of our Kings in the Saxon Times which was done by an Assembly convened certainly without the King 's Writ or any Authority from one I confess that in the ordinary Administration of Affairs the King's Writ is requisite to bring the Nation to a great Council But this is not required so much for any Authority derived from thence as to keep up an agreement and harmony in the Government if this were otherwise all Members could sit in the House of Commons that have such a Writ authorizing their Election which not so especially in long-liv'd Parliaments such as King Charles the Second's was there a Majority of the House might have been of such as were Elected by vertue of a Warrant from the Speaker In 73 about Thirty Members Elected by vertue of the King's Writs were not suffered to sit but were dismissed the House and the Speaker Issued Warrants for new Elections so that in these cases the Authority seems to proceed more from the Speaker's Warrant than the King 's Writ But I say that from this usual practise it does not follow that the Estates may not Assemble otherwise in extraordinary Cases As in this Hereditary Monarchy Suppose the Royal Family were extinct must the Nation remain still in confusion never come into any form of Government because we cannot have the King 's Writ to Summon a Parliament that is unreasonable therefore the Representatives of the Nation must meet and settle the Government without any Writ of Summons this is no impossible supposition though it never happened in this Kingdom because it has happened in other places and upon such occasions the Government has been re-settled by the States Next Supposing that on the Death of the reigning King his Son or Successor is far distant this is no fictitious supposition because it really happened In what condition must we be until the return of our King or directions from him The Authority of our Judges Sheriffs c. determined with the King's Life so they cannot act therefore in this necessity to avoid Anarchy and Confusion the States of the Kingdom must meet and settle the Government by appointing Officers and doing what else is requisite for the safety of the Kingdom And this they did upon the Death of Henry the Third without any Writ or Authority from his absent Son After the Death of William Rufus the Crown of this Kingdom was given to King Henry by an Assembly of the people not chosen by Writ this shews also the regard they had in those days to the Lineal succession These instances shew that the King 's VVrit of Summons is not so essentially necessary to the Being of Parliaments but that the people of England may and have assembled in some cases without them of which we have a very late instance in the Parliament to which the Royal Family is much obliged and to which the Nation was more obliged than to any but the one now sitting I mean the Parliament that brought back the Royal Family This Parliament met without the King 's VVrit and was called in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England and yet fate made Laws and acted as a Parliament with King Charles the second for several Months together and yet no Man can say there was so great reason for their continuing together as for the present Parliaments we had not then so many Enemies abroad and at home the Kingdom was in full quiet the French and Irish were not then our avowed Enemies nor ready to devour us a forty days delay then had not put us in the power of either of them as probably it had now done and if the King had now taken that course the consequence had only been the trouble of Electing the same persons a-new and postponing the necessary preparations for our security for two Months at least And if we further compare the Case in question with these I have mentioned we will find that it has much the advantage in other circumstances for that Parliament laboured under more difficulties than the want of VVrits of Summons a doubt that the Long Parliament was then in being by vertue of King Charles the First 's unfortunate Act that it should not be dissolved without their own consent and in 59 King Charles was at Breda or not much further off and he would gladly have Issued VVrits if they had been desired of him but his Brother cancelled and tore those he had once Issued that Parliament met without any request from the Body of the people this at the Express request of the City of London and almost the whole Nation and if that Parliament was called by those that Exercised the chief Authority in the Nation so was this by him that at our own desire had taken the Administration of Affairs upon him though the Royal Line was not extinct yet in October last the Kingdom was left as much in confusion and without government as if that misfortune had befallen us a Parliament by VVrits we could not have and without a Parliament it was impossible to settle the Kingdom so that we had no choice but either to continue without any Government as we were or to meet in Parliament as we did which being formerly done in other Countries as well as our own And since the King is pleased to consult with them we must acquiesce in their Judgments and obey them as the Legislative power of this Kingdom notwithstanding our Author's Jests here and his Assertions in the fourth Article That this is done without precedent or colour of Law The third Article Article is His committing and prosecuting the Bishops for humbly Petitioning to be excused from consenting to the said assumed Power of Suspending the Laws and their execution For answer to which our Author refers us to what he said on this subject before and therefore so do I. He tells us further on this Head That the present Government remembring the Proverb Felix quem faciunt is resolved to avoid the Rocks the last split upon which I look upon to be no ill news For now if we will take the Author's word there will be no further attempts against our Church or Religion our Laws or Properties but God-bethanked we have better assurance than the Author