insomuch that when he publisheth his Orders for gathering of Money if his Subjects cannot supply him otherways they must sell their Goods and whatever they have to give him what he demands yea I have known in France poor People sell their Beds and lie upon Straw sell their Pots Kettles and all their necessary Houshold Goods to content the unmerciful Collectors of the King's Taxes By this little hint we may easily see how much happier we are as being laden with noburthens but what we are able to bear and enjoying securely our Estates and whatever we can call our own under the protection of our Laws Should we then leave any Stone unturn'd to keep our selves as we are by opposing to our utmost such a cruel Conqueror as the French King would undoubtedly prove if he ever to our great misfortune subdued us XX. But let us speak one Word to the third thing I mentioned before that by this Act we are to have no standing Army in time of Peace the advantage whereof we may easily conceive if we look a little aside towards our Neighbours the French they suffer patiently in time of War the heaviest Taxes and would not think themselves so much to be pityed as now they are if a Peace concluded with the Enemy bettered their condition for they are then in a worse conditon in a manner than they were before because the standing Armies impower their Prince to doe what he pleases in time of Peace 't is then that he looks about him to consider who has got together any considerable Treasures that he may ease them of them though lawfully gained and by good services done to the Crown so that it is no wonder if the French Subjects chuse at any time War rather than Peace because in time of Peace their King's Armies are wholly imployed against them whereas in the time of a settled War they are partly taken up in opposing a Foreign Enemy Let the impartial Reader judge from the Premises of the Happiness of the English Subjects compared with the miserable Condition of the French XXI The late Parliament has done another thing without which nothwithstanding all our other advantages contained in this Act our Happiness had not been lasting as it is now like to be for ever and it is the settling of the Succession of the Crown upon Protestants and none but Protestants The Words of the Act are so remarkable that I think it fit to insert them here before I give you my Reflexions upon them Whereas it has been found by sad experience that it is inconsistent with the safety of this Protestant Kingdom to be governed by a Popish Prince or by any King or Queen Marrying a Papist the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do further pray that it may be enacted That all and every Person and Persons that is or shall be reconciled to or hold Communion with the See or Church of Rome or shall profess the Popish Religion or shall Marry a Papist shall- be excluded and be for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Crown and Government of this Realm and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same or to have use or exercise any Regal Power Authority or Jurisdiction within the same and in all or every such case or cases the People of these Realms shall be and are hereby absolved of their Allegiance and the said Crown and Government shall from time to time descend to and be enjoyed by such Person or Persons being Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the same Person or Persons so reconciled holding Communion or Professing or Marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead XXII Nothing more certain than what is here asserted that it is inconsistent with the safety of this Protestant Kingdom to be govern'd by a Popish Prince or by any King or Queen Marrying a Papist If we look back to the publick Transactions in the days of King Charles the First we shall soon be convinced of this undeniable Truth since we may derive all our Domestick and Civil Disturbances from his Marrying a Popish French Princess who at last became so troublesome to him that he was forced to send home to France again all her Attendants in hopes to bring her to a better temper by removing from her such Popish Emissaries as were thought to put her upon some dangerous designs which made the Nation jealous of her secret Intrigues with France yea and sometimes of the very King's Religion as if he had been perverted by the Queen or her Priests or had shown himself somewhat too much inclined to the Popish way of Worship but whether things were just as the People fansied them or not it is certain this unlucky Match was the occasion of our Civil Wars and of so much bloodshed in thee three Nations Such another suspicion as this was the secret spring of all our late Domestick Troubles during the Reign of King Charles the Second for though he professed outwardly the Protestant Religion yet the People upon what grounds I know not well could not be sometimes satisfied but that he was either a Papist or popishly inclined and upon this very account the Nation was always apprehensive of French Pensioners of Popish Plots of Tyranny and Arbitrary Power Now such apprehensions and fears could not but be the seed of Divisions among us of Heart-burnings and either of grounded or groundless Jealousies to the endangering the Peace and Safety of the whole Kindgom So true it is that it is inconsistent with the safety of this Kingdom to be governed by a Prince thought to be popishly affected but sure far more to be governed by a sincere zealous and professed Papist as we all know King James gloryed to be how near we were the brink of our ruine during his Reign and how unavoidable our entire ruine was had he reigned longer over us is so evident to all seeing Men that I need not enlarge upon the matter here I shall only add in this place in order to make out the Truth of what is asserted by the late Parliament that it is inconsistent with the safety of this Protestant Kingdom to be governed by a Papist that when our Prince is a real Papist he is obliged by the Principles of his Religion to doe his utmost endeavours to submit his Subjects to the Pope's jurisdiction XXIII First Because he must then of course look upon his Subjects as real Hereticks and Schismaticks whom if he do not root out by all possible means he is liable to be deposed by the Pope according to the famous and known decision of the third Council of Lateran How then can a Protestant Nation put any trust in such a Prince whose whole business is and ought to be to destroy their Religion and force them to return to the old Romish Superstitions again And if Subjects cannot trust their Sovereign it is but rational to think they
will take all imaginable measures to prevent their own ruine and that of their Religion always dearer to them if they have any Piety at all than their very lives but these very measures how just soever must needs breed stirs in a Nation to the general disturbance of the Natives since the Politick Body no more than the Natural can be a moment in a quiet temper without a free and friendly intercourse and communication between the Head and the Members Secondly If a Popish Prince is obliged in Conscience as I elsewhere intimated he is neither to stand to his Promise nor Word given to protect Hereticks and Heresie how can he sincerely promise to maintain and defend our Church or rather how can we be so silly as to believe he will maintain it since it is not in his Power to do it in case he finds himself in a posture to undertake its ruine But Thirdly to be somewhat more particular the safety of this Nation was inconsistent with the Government of the late King James upon a particular account that I shall here mention XXIV Of all the different Persecutions of the Church of God none can be compared to the late Persecution of France both for its Cruelty and Novelty The Roman Emperors I confess exercised all imaginable Barbarities upon the Bodies of the Primitive Christians but never attempted or pretended any right over their Souls and Consciences they banished them tortured them invented all sorts of Death to destroy them but the art of Dragooning Men into Religion was reserved to be the contrivance of Lewis the Fourteenth though he was engaged by the most solemn Edicts of Nants and Nime and by his Coronation Oath to protect and defend the French Protestants with all their Rights and Privileges Had he declared he would suffer no longer the Hugonots in his Kingdom and ordered them upon that account to depart out of it if they could not change their Religion we had not complained so much of his severity how Anti-Christian soever but not to suffer his Subjects to leave him nor to live with him without turning to his Principle and that not by Argument but by all the Wounds the Dragooning Swoord could inflict that of Death only which in this case was the least excepted is such an example of Cruelty as is not to be parallell'd by the greatest Fury of the Roman Persecutions and which without doubt contributed not a little to our late happy Revolution by determing the English through an absolute necessity to do what they did for their own safety for had they not reason to look to themselves considering the proceedings of the French King contrary to all his Oaths and Promises to maintain defend and protect the Hugonots they could not but know that the late King James was more devoted to the interest of the Church of Rome than Lewis the Fourteenth himself so that they could not in prudence but take the measures they have so successfully taken for their own preservation and that of the Protestant Interest in general In one Word nothing could be more terrible to the English who are so much in love with Liberty and Property than to see themselves threatned to be Dragoon'd out of both by the help of such a powerfull Allie as Lewis the Fourteenth The late Parliament then considering the great progress King James had made in a very short time towards the bringing in of the French Method of converting People to Popery and what impressions such a Precedent as that of France might make upon a Prince that needed no spur to the promoting of his own Religion thought it fit and absolutely necessary for the safety of the Protestant Religion and the Peace of this Kingdom to exclude for ever from the Imperial Throne of England all Popish Princes whereby not England only is secured from such Troubles as always ensue upon any jealousie between the King and the People from different Principles of Religion but likewise all the Protestant Princes abroad are incouraged to stand their ground against Popish Invaders since they may be sure of seasonable succours upon occasion from the Protestant Princes of this powerfull Monarchy Though what has been hitherto said does sufficiently justifie all the proceedings of the King and late Parliament to the satisfaction of all such as are but impartial Men and not disaffected to the present Government yet because some Men seem discontented at two things not done by the late Parliament and which they think ought not to have been omitted as being undoubtedly of no small consequence for the publick Concerns and Peace of the Nation it may not be amiss in this place to clear all their scruples upon these two Heads viz Why the late Parliament neither settled the Militia of the Kingdom nor passed the Act of Indempnity though earnestly pressed to it by the King in order to the quieting of Peoples Minds As to what relates to the settling the Militia of the Kingdom it is to be considered that how necessary soever it may seem to be it was neither perhaps possible as then things stood nor expedient to settle it by reason of the uncertain and unknown disposition of most Men's Minds at first in all great and sudden Revolutions but more especially in such an extraordinary and unprecedented one as ours was for since our greatest strength consists in our Militia can any Man of Sense think or say 't was either fit or secure in the then posture of our Affairs to deliver up the very Bulwark of the Nation into the Hands of such high Officers as the Lieutenants of the Militia are in England till it was better known if those who were fit for such Places were really Men of such a temper as the present Government might trust to and rely upon For extraordinary Revolutions of State being much of the Nature of great Waters tossed to and fro by boisterous Winds do always require some time before they are settled again in such a calm as may encourage both private Men to follow their former measures and likewise those who sit at the Helm to undertake and prosecute the fittest Methods for securing themselves and the People under their Government from new Dangers and Storms always to be feared after a sudden and unexpected Calm as ours was we were under such a dismal Cloud of imminent and threatning dangers a little before the Heavens cleared up from the Dutch coast that we do wonder at this very Day to see our selves escaped such an unavoidable Shipwreck as we thought our selves then exposed to but it is not enough that we are got on Shore and a terra firma to stand upon unless by looking nearer into the matter we consider seriously with our selves how to maintain our ground and settle what we have done upon a sure foundation for as our late happy Revolution was a real one how odd soever and unlooked for so considering how easily Men change their Resolutions and because
a War so necessary in this present juncture of our Affairs Our All lies now at the Stake our Lives Properties Liberties and Religion Should any Tax or Impost put us out of Humor and cause us to wish for a change as if we could pretend to any security in case things were settled again upon the same Foundation they were on before VII Are we not sufficiently acquainted from daily experience with this undoubted Popish Principle That a Papist is obliged to break his Oath taken not to extirpate Heresie as soon as he is in a capacity to root out what he thinks Heresie under a no less pain than that of Eternal Damnation King Lewis has satisfied all the World by what he has lately done that this is no Calumny and King James cleared all our Doubts upon the matter by what he likewise really did and endeavoured to doe VIII But a late Seditious Pamphlet tells us a Tragical Story of the decay and loss of Trade by this present War That the Dutch run away with our Trade at Sea and the French with our Ships This is but a meer groundless flourish that can only make impression upon some weak Minds that neither understand their own Interest nor that of the Nation they are in 't is true we have lost several Ships and that is unavoidable in the beginning of any War as well as in this till the Merchant-Men bound homewards are informed of a War declared which must needs require some time but of late we have lost none or we have taken the equivalent of our losses from the Enemy and for the time to come his Majesty has taken such measures that it shall not be hereafter in the Power of the French to put a stop to our Trade either into Holland Spain the East Countries or West and East Indies and as for the Dutch 't is a groundless supposition though too often in the Mouths of such as are disaffected to the Government That they run away with our Trade since the contrary may be easily made out to an unprejudiced Mind Do we not Trade still as well as the Dutch both to the East and West Indies to Sweedland Denmark Hamburgh and Poland Do the French allow them free passage more than to us And if they send abroad greater Merchant Fleets and perhaps under greater Convoys than we do by so doing they rather lend us a helping Hand than wrong us because in the mean time they clear the Seas of French Privateers which makes of course our Voyages the safer and great Convoys not so absolutely necessary as they would be at another time when we were not in Union with the Dutch So that such reflexions are either but idle and frothy Discourses or made upon a design to raise Sedition and stir up the Nation against the present Government But grant that what this disaffected Pamphleteer says were really true as it is not in the full measure he would have it let us balance our present decay of Trade on the one side and on the other hand the consequences of not prosecuting vigorously the present War against the French and we shall easily discover either the gross mistakes of such as discourse after this rate or their real designs to ruine their Country by preferring a small inconveniency of not so sull a Trade to the very being of Liberty and Religion and perhaps of the Nation it self IX For let us allow to this pretended Politician the desired change of Government he seems to aim at this can never happen but in one of these three ways either by the returning of King James again or by the invasion of King Lewis or by a Civil War at home which last thing if some do really intend they design nothing else but their own ruine and that of their Country and if they would have King James to come again must he come in by Conquest If he ever recovers England by Conquest where are then our Properties our Liberties our Religion our Laws and whatever Privileges we now glory in and that no other Subjects in the World can boast of Would they have King James come in again by agreement Besides the apparent impossibility of the thing upon several and obvious accounts I would willingly be satisfied as I was saying before how we can trust him after so many violations of his Word and since by the Principles of his Religion he is obliged in Conscience not to keep either Word given or Oath taken to protect and promote Heresie if he is once in Power to destroy it If our Pamphleteer pretends to a Change of Government by a French Invasion he must either be a professed French Papist or a very bad English Protestant and quite of a different temper from all true English-Men who have stood in opposition from all times to the French Interest not only upon the account of the Protestant Religion but likewise because of their Civil Rights which both they must of necessity part with if the French ever got footing in England X. I confess as things now stand there is little or no danger at all of their attempting the Conquest of their ancient Conquerors the English because of our Union at present against France with so many powerful Allies but yet if we take not hold of this opportunity by the Fore-look I know not what may happen in another Scene of Affairs in case we were lest alone to deal with the French who by the connivance of the last two Reigns are become so formidable at Sea as to be a match either for Us or the Hollanders Now can any Man of reach blame the King for recommending so often to the late Parliament the absolute necessity of prosecuting vigorously the present War in this present juncture of our Affairs or find fault with the Representatives of the Nation for supplying him with the necessary Sinews of War especially since he has offered to give them an Account of the disposal of their Money for the very uses they designed it for Neither can we be jealous of his Majesty's Design in calling in Foreigners in order to the speedy reduction of Ireland because 't is a matter of great Consequence for the Humbling of France both by Sea and by Land together with our Allies to put an end to our Domestick Broils with all possible expedition and this cannot be better performed than by joining to our own Forces a Body of veterane and experienced Forreigners XI But this looks say some of our Male-Contents as if his Majesty mistrusted his own Subjects which if narrowly looked into is a meer groundless aspersion since all his Majesty's Forces both by Sea and by Land an inconsiderable number of Foreigners excepted are Natives either of England Scotland or Ireland Does the French King mistrust his own Subjects because of his joyning with them several Foreign Nations as Switzers Italians and both English Scotch and Irish upon occasion the true reason of this common Practice
is that an Army consisting of Forces of different Nations is upon this account more formidable than it would be if it consisted of meer Natives that both those Foreigners and the Natives fighting through emulation leave no stone unturned to out-doe one another the observing of this Maxim made the Dutch a free People to the pitch we see them in at this day The French likewise owe in part their present Greatness to the valour of the English Scotch and Switzers who fighting not so much out of any particular kindness to them as for their own reputation were wont to overthrow whatever stood in their way to the great advantange of the French under whose pay they then were undoubtedly this is his Majesty's design in sending for Foreigners that the Natives may act their parts the better by Emulation and Example So that though it be allowed to be true as certainly it is that King William has a sufficient number of his own Subjects to reduce Ireland and those of an unquestionable Valour too yet it is prudence in him to call in Strangers to give Life and a new Vigour to his Armies upon occasion XII But in our case there is another reason not to be dissembled why the present Government thinks it necessary to make use of Foreigners for our assistence and it is this That though the Nation be full of stout and valiant Men that might alone doe the business yet 't is to be considered in this unparallel'd juncture of our Affairs that if we divide the three Kingdoms into six parts two I doubt at least would prove either JACOBITES or disaffected to the present Government Now what if the King raised an Army consisting in part of Jacobites or of Persons disaffected to the present Government since 't is hard to know the bottom of Men's Hearts what if I say this hapned might not such an accident as this not altogether impossible endanger the whole Nation and throw it into the greatest confusion imaginable either by setting up King James again and the French Interest or by converting this ancient and moderate Monarchy into a Common-Wealth which would prove perhaps no less the ruine of the Nation than an Absolute Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government Is it not then more advisable now and I am sure those that love their Religion and the present Interest will be of my Opinion to make use in this juncture of Foreigners together with the Natives to keep a little in awe the hidden Jacobites and such as are disaffected to this Government lest they undertake to ruine the Nation upon the first fair opportunity to execute their treasonable and pernicious designs This complaint of our Male-Contents had been more plausible in another juncture of time than in such an one as this is which once successfully over and a Peace concluded we are secured by our Laws from our own standing Forces as well as from Foreigners In the mean time we ought to look to our selves as all Wise Men ought to do and secure our selves against pressing and present dangers the best way we can without minding remoter accidents and meerly possible events that are not yet so much as in prospect for upon meer Apprehensions and groundless Fears of what is never like to happen to put a veil before our Eyes hindring us to see the brink of the Precipice we now stand upon is an unaccountable piece of Folly or rather Madness that no Man having his Wits about him can be guilty of yet we must needs prove guilty of such a piece of Madness and Folly if through a groundless fear of what can never happen in England as things are now ordered we should scruple to secure our selves by the help of Foreigners from the Jacobites and the Malecontents who might perhaps get the upper hand if not prevented in time by some good Method as this is now thought to be XIII No farther incroachments upon our Rights and Privileges are to be feared in time to come since the bad success of all our late Kings is an example to all their Successors wherein they may read their Destiny if they understood so little their own Interest as to act arbitrarily as some of their Predecessors did to the great disturbance indeed of their Subjects for a time but at last to the utter ruine of Themselves and their Adherents His present Majesty is so fully persuaded of this Truth viz. That the Sovereign's Greatness in England depends chiefly and only upon the love of his Subjects that taking his Interest and the People's to be the same as really it is and always ought to be to shun the dangerous Factions of Court and Country he prudently complyed with their just desires to whatever they thought fit to be done for the common good I am then of Opinion that England was never so happy as 't is now saying aside the consideration of the present War so absolutely necessary because of the good understanding of the King and his Subjects though our Seditious Pamphleteer leaves no Stone unturned to divide them whoever he is he must needs be a Man of a strangly disaffected Spirit since he blames the late Parliament for allowing his Majesty so much Power as makes him a true King and not the hate representation and shadow of One an be would really be if according to the project suggested by this Man he should not be allowed so much as the liberty of choosing his own Councellors nor of Proroguing Perliaments either upon occasion c. XIV The suspending and stopping or stabbing as he calls it of the Habeas Corpus Act puts him in a great fit against the late Parliament as having by this suspension wronged the liberty of the Subjects yet if before we give our last judgment upon the matter we consider as we should do all things impartially not suffering our selves to be byassed by a wrong apprehension of things we shall easily discover that the suspending of that Act at that time was the only way to secure our Properties and Liberties by preventing a Civil and Domestick War which in all likely hood had ensued had it not been prevented in time by impowering the King to secure such as because of their Quality or their former Engagements with the Papists and with the then Male contents were likeliest to prove Ring-leaders to new disturbances in a time when things were not as yet settled upon so sure a Foundation as they now are XV. But nothing more insufferable in this Seditious Pamphleteer than his affected jealousie of his Majesty's being a sincere Protestant as if the Nation should be the more affraid of him upon this Account because for sooth the Parliament is likelier to give him more Power than if he were a Papist or of a contrary Religion to that of the Nation This is such an unaccountable Reflexion that I cannot but wonder to hear it from the Mouth of any Man that either pretends to common sense or reason for