REMARKS UPON THE Present Confederary AND Late Revolution IN ENGLAND c. LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCIII REMARKS UPON THE Present Confederacy c. THE most formidable Enterprise no doubt that ever was levell'd against the growing Grandeur of France during the long and successful Reign of Lewis le Grande was this late Confederacy form'd by the most powerful Princes in all Europe An Undertaking of so dangerous consequence to that Prince that if their Carier had not been stopt by a surprising Providence and diverted by the wonderful Vigilance and Activity of that truly greatest Prince in all these parts of the World that Monarchy by this time had laid expiring As the Confederates had resolutely and with prodigious Prospects of Advantage to themselves agreed upon this Design so to facilitate it had sagaciously enough foreseen what Remoraes might lie in their way and as resolutely determin'd to remove them right or wrong England which had for some years past skreen'd them from those violent and otherwise irresistible shocks they were exposed to from France was most feared at this time would stand in their way and to speak the Truth from the Experience we have had of the French Power and Policy during this War the least Assistance from her or a meer Neutrality had left them to the Mercy and entire Disposal of their Enemy This I say was politickly enough foreseen and by most wicked and unjust means for some time at least prevented though by comparing the Successes on both sides hitherto cannot in all humane probability be long protracted But more of this afterwards To accomplish this Grand Design of theirs King James must be deposed to make way for the Ambition and Pride of another the most likely to carry on the War against France if we either consider that heighth of Malice which he had long ago conceived against that Monarch chiefly from his being so frequently baffled in Holland and Flanders by the Bravery of his Generals there or that Natural Malignity in his very Constitution derived from his Ancestors who had never been famous for their Loyalty to their own Princes or Affection for Crowned Heads This they concluded feasible enough not being ignorant of the ambitious Designs the Prince of Orange had been carrying on for several years in England of mounting that Throne by having a hand in all the Plots against King Charles the Second but especially his Father in-law to exclude him and what not and the Dispositions he had laid in order to that End by his corrupting the greatest Ministers of State under that unfortunate Prince to take advantage from his Religion to which the English are naturally averse to put him upon some Acts which would in all likelihood alienate his Subjects Affections from him and make the P. or O's Access the more easie All this being well known to many of the Confederate Princes they had no more to doe but to sound his Inclination somewhat nearer and proffer him their Assistance for the obtaining of what he so eagerly desired and by all indirect means pursued To this end having engaged themselves and him in the strict bonds of a Confederacy they immediately lent him such Assistance as was requisite to land him in England where all things were ready to his hand and there most wickedly deposed King James II. I confess some are apt to alledge that the Prince of Orange exceeded his Commission and acted directly contrary to the Determination of the Confederacy their sole Aim being onely by this Invasion to draw King James in to their Designs But if we consider those notable Hints in the foreign Papers upon this occasion particularly The General History of Europe published in French at the Hague by the Authority of the States of Holland and West Friesland we may be easily inclined to believe the contrary out of which I shall present the Reader with some remarkable Passages and leave it to him to judge whether what I have laid down for my Principle does not look highly probable Historical Account for the Month of November in the Article of Advice from England 1688. The King's Fleet that is King James's is about forty three Men of War ten Fireships but though commanded by the Earl of Dartmouth who is entirely for the King's Interest 't is thought the Seamen and many of the Officers will not perform that Duty which the King expects from them Reflexions upon the Advice from Holland the same Month. The Expence that has been bestowed upon the Fleet and Army set forth from Holland is a sign they are morally assured of the Success of the Enterprise which I am apt to believe has been a long time ago in Agitation though it was carried on with that Prudence and Secrecy as not to be discovered till it could not be longer concealed Advice from Germany Decemb. 1688. The Confederates are arrived in Franconia where they stay till General Dunewald comes up to join them with the Emperour's Forces to the end they may march together c. Nevertheless when they are joined there is great probability they will do nothing till they hear what the Prince of Orange does in England for he is at present the primum Mobile of all things Reflexions upon the Advice from France Decemb. 1688. 'T is thought that Monsieur Seignalay's Journey to visit the Coasts was particularly occasioned by the turn of Affairs in England c. But now all those Journeys will signifie little for if Heaven continues Prosperity to the Prince of Orange of necessity the most Christian King must quit the Ocean Reflexions upon the Advice from England the same Month. So soon as the Enterprize of the Prince of Orange was discoursed of all Men imagined that he was sure of the greatest part of the Nobility of England Some put the question whether he will dethrone his Father in Law or whether c. he 'll be contented with the Honour of having saved the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the English Nation For my part I believe an Accommodation will be a difficult thing I make no question but the next Parliament King James will be declared to have forfeited his Crown Reflexions on the Advice from Germany February 1689. I am apt to believe they are not to be called by the name of Politicians who imagine that the Emperour caused the Marquess of Lucignan to be seised that he might have an opportunity to enter into a Negotiation Then again What was befaln the Emperour since unknown to us that should enforce him to alter his Conduct If it had been that the Affairs in England went ill on the P. of O's side that had been a Reason indeed but all the World knows there is no such thing the Prince of Orange has been crowned c. To all which I shall add a remarkable Passage out of the French King's Declaration of War against Spain Amongst other Motives he declares That he is informed what share the Governour
he can whose Defence he made one of the most specious Pretences in his Declaration Decl. Parag. 15. and so readily consented to the rooting out Episcopacy in Scotland settled by several Acts of Convocation and Parliament and though he with his usual Arts of Dissimulation seemed to be very squeamish when he came to that Clause of the Scotch Coronation Oath We shall be carefull to root out Hereticks by declaring he did not mean by those Words that he was under any Obligation to become a Persecuter yet never made any scruple to set on foot and encourage one of the most violent Persecutions we ever read of against the Episcopal Clergy there Neither can we indeed with any certainty determine to what side he is really most inclined whether the Presbyterian or Episcoparian he constantly varying his Favours to either according to the Emergencies of his present Interests in Scotland itself Sometimes he would seem to have good Inclinations towards the Episcopal Party when he has any just reason either to fear them or caress them for we are all sensible enough that the main Body of the Nobility and Gentry and the better sort even of the Commonalty of that Kingdom are most addicted to them and though in the hurry and Confusion of Affairs there in the beginning of the Revolution to gain the Presbyterians and other Sectaries he under hand encouraged them to fall upon the Bishops and regular Clergy in a tumultuous manner which was the most blessed juncture they could wish to vent their innate Malice and over boiling Zeal against a Party they hated if possibly more than the Devil himself that he might have an opportunity to make good his Engagements to those their Agitators who had been for some years plotting and juggling with him in Holland to bring about this Great Deliverance yet finding at length the impossibility of maintaining his Interest there upon that foot he has several times endeavoured by his Letters c. to procure an Accommodation between them by settling some of the Episcopal Clergy in Livings c. resolving no doubt assoon as he can conveniently to determine himself for that Party which he can most safely rely upon Neither has his Management here in England been much different he found the greatest part of the Nation addicted to the Principles of the Church of England as established by Law and some of their Principles and Doctrines opposite in the highest degree to his Designs therefore like a true Machiavelist he found it absolutely necessary to bring those Principles into Disreputation and extirpate them if possible right or wrong and to this purpuse set up the noted Latitudinarian Gang by the easie Allurement of his Favour and the assurance of the best Preferments to decoy the rest of their Brethren into a ready Compliance with him who immediately in their Preachings and Writings confessed and owned their former Errours to the People and in a short time rendred their so much celebrated Passive Obedience and Nonresistence the most ridiculous Doctrine and dangerous Error in the World gave us new Comments on Rom. 13. telling us that higher Powers must be obeyed without any regard to lawfull or unlawfull that Allegiance and Submission were all one that in some Cases it is lawful to violate the Commandments of God that Religion and the publick Good knew no Relations that it is lawful to swear with Reservation or to take publick Oaths in private senses that an Oath to the present Government did not interfere with the former to K. James c. Nay any Pretences in the beginning were allowed and admitted of provided they could but hook them into the interest of the Government and bring them off in some measure from their former Principles so firmly had it been resolved by this Gentleman and his Cabinet to ruine the old Church of England and let loose her Discipline and by all imaginable Arts and Devices to render her odious and contemptible Neither has this wicked and atheistical Project wanted its Success in a moment of time her Face was so altered and scarce to be known again her Priesthood perjured and turn'd schismatical and like Renegades their new Zeal and Malice boil'd up to that degree that the Liturgy must be alter'd her ancient Creeds expung'd her Ceremonies lest at liberty or laid aside and a Comprehension established for bringing all their Reverend Brethren the Gifted Coblers Tirkers Taylors c. with the Foreign Reformed Schismaticks into Church-Preferments all the Fences and Hedges must be pull'd down in order to unite these Brethren in Iniquity against the common Enemy tho' indeed the only design was to extirpate and run down those Principles which whenever it pleases God Almighty to pull off the Scales of the Eyes of the honest and well meaning tho' deluded People of this Nation would set his Worship a packing notwithstanding that Security which he has promised himself from those horrid Perjuries he has been the occasion of and which themselves in all their common Discourses own to have so little Obligation and shamefully call Garrison Oaths Thus having as far as possible he could dissolved the True Old Church of England and erected a new One upon a mere civil Basis such as 't is of Rebellion Perjury and Usurpation and rendered it impossible to retrieve the Discipline of the Church and her Sacred Offices during his Government here the next thing he endeavours is to profit himself of all Parties in Religion notwithstanding his popular Pretence of uniting them all against the common Enemy viz. Popery to this purpose he studies privately to dash them one against the other by reviving old Stories under the former Reigns and to keep up some necessary Feuds amongst them for fear of a good Understanding and Uunion perhaps in time to throw him out of the Saddle when once they perceive their true Interest and therefore never omits to caress them as his only Friends he can rely upon when he has a prospect of making a particular Advantage upon them as in the management of the Election of Mayors Sheriffs and Aldermen in the City of London and in the Elections of Burgesses for Parliament all over the Nation is too notorious to be insisted upon in order to oblige them to lend or grant Money c. When one Party begins to grow cold and indifferent by Disappointments c. then he underhand applies himself to another and by stirring up Animosities and Quarrels among them casts Mists before their Eyes that being intent upon their private Revenge and little Plots and Contrivances one against another they may take the less cognizance of the more publick Concerns and be the more eager and emulous of serving him in hopes of drawing him in to favour and assist their Party Thus he plays Tricks and juggles with Religion and that is the most Orthodox which conduces most to the establishing himself in the Government and is always ready to vary his Religion with his
Forces by Sea and Land put in mind of our being exposed to their Attempts the danger of our Countrey Liberties and Properties and to animate us to open our Purses the wider and bleed the more freely he assures us in the Word of a True Protestant Dutchman he has the same Religion to defend What pitiful Nonsense is all this It has been pretended all along this War that the French King in his Negotiations with the Pope and the Italian Princes and States to encline them to use their Interest to procure a Peace among the Catholick Princes or to take part with him has made it his Business to perswade them that the War carried on against him so far as the Protestant Princes or States were concerned was on the score of Religion which has been denied by the said Protestant Princes and most of their Writers on this occasion and particularly by the Author of the General History of Europe published by the Authority of the States General in the P. of O's Declaration published by Schomberg in Dauphine and in the Articles of Limerick we find the P. of O. to the regret of many of our Protestant Rebels has granted greater Liberty and Priviledges to the Roman Catholicks in Ireland than ever they enjoyed in the Reigns of any of our Protestant Kings But to come nearer he uses ambiguous terms which look very suspitiously We have the same Religion to defend What same Religion The new Latitudinarian Religion Presbyterian or the Oliverian Independent or what Even what you please We are Presbyterians in Scotland Episcoparians in England Calvinists in Holland and if some intelligent Persons are not mistaken Roman Catholicks in Flanders and after all every where Atheists There are those in the World who fear not to assert that it was publickly enough reported at Rome by divers of the Cardinals and particularly the Auditor of the Rota some time before the Revolution that he was reconcil'd to the Ch. of Rome and some stick not to assert that he made his Protest in the Royal Chapel at Brussels before the High Altar at his Admission into the Confederacy that he would inviolably perform the Articles of it whereof one is this if we may credit a Copy printed here in England of the Resolution of the Princes Allies and Confederates which has been taken in the Assembly at the Hague c. Art 1. Having resolved to make a Descent into France c. We will make no Peace with Lewis XIV till he has made reparation to the Holy See for whatsoever he has acted against it and till he has annull'd and made void all those infamous Proceedings against the Holy Father Innocent XI If this be really one Article of the Confederacy as there is a grand Suspition if we consider the Lukewarmness of that Pope towards King James as was frequently buz'd amongst us formerly what Figure he made in the Confederacy and his Inveterateness against the French King the Bigotry of the Emperour and the inflexible Temper of the Spaniard as to matters of Religion it 's not to be conceived how they should enter into a Negotiation of this nature with the P. of O. without an assurance of his coming over to their Persuasion and Resolution of promoting the Rom. Catholick Interest in these Kingdoms Neither is it reasonable to suppose they would contribute their Assistance to remove a Prince of their own Principles tho' with a grand Prospect of advancing their civil Interests to the hazard of impairing their Religion to make way for an heretical Prince Besides how can we imagine they would ever communicate such a secret to him if they were not first sure of him or could be sure of him without such an Engagement The sole Refusal or Discovery of it would have infallibly prevented all their Designs brought an indelible Dishonour and Scandal upon their Religion as well as their Persons and provoked K. James and the French King to take the utmost Vengeance upon them and made them justly odious to all the rest of the Christian World of whatever Persuasion What a Blemish would it have fixed upon the Emperor commonly characterized as a Prince of a most devout Temper and actually engaged against the Common Enemy of Christianity to be found in a Design to depose a Catholick Prince and at the same time to cut off all the Hopes of ever propagating the Catholick Religion in three Kingdoms Neither is his usual Partiality towards Popish Bishops Priests and the Roman Catholicks in general one of the slightest Arguments for his Suspicion though it 's usually objected that by his Alliances he was obliged to shew some favour to them Why was it not as well cautioned he should not set the Mob upon their Houses and Chappels and why did not those Princes by their Interest with him prevent the issue of so much Bloud and put a timely stop to those horrid Barbarities and irreparable ruine of vast Numbers of their own Persuasion then as to shew such favour and marks of distinction since No some Severity was absolutely necessary in the beginning to get the Affections of the People and to his surer establishment in the Throne but since he has gained his Point and dipt all Degrees and Orders of Men so deep in Guilt against their Lawful Soveraign that they fancy themselves beyond all hopes of Pardon he rides them at his pleasure makes them believe what he lists and readily stops their Mouths and entirely satisfies them with this Excuse There might be some other very considerable Arguments offered on this Head if necessary or prudent all that I shall add is this That for my own part I shall ever believe him to be a Papist as much as any others fancy him either a Presbyterian or of the Communion of the present pretended Church of England till he satisfies the World to the contrary by taking some severe Test and most solemn Oath and if this should prove true as it may notwithstanding his communicating publickly according to the Form of the Church of England as many have done formerly to our knowledg before the Test was advised to make the distinction How finely are we trumpt upon However let him urge this Motive as far as he pleases it 's little to the present purpose as the Business of Religion has been managed since his Vsurpation 't is no great matter what Religion he or we profess we have as good as renounc'd our Christianity already to make and receive him as King and I am sure nothing can be more contrary to it or affrontive of the Great God of Heaven and Earth than our very Prayers and Devotions wherein we beseech him to support and prosper one of the grandest pieces of Villany that ever was acted upon the Face of the Earth to confound all Justice and Probity which is as great an Indignity to an Holy and Just God as Idolatry in the highest degree of it Nay more than that all our Preaching and