Dyers News Examined as to His Sweddiſh Memorial against the Review.

HAD not the Town been allarm'd with my Name in Print, and all my Friends ſurpris'd with a proſpect of ſomething Fatal at⯑tending it; I had not for a long time appeared in Print again in this part of Britain,—But I can not be ſo far wanting to the deſires of thoſe whom this has amuſed, as to forbear giving the World ſome Account of it.

'Tis ſent down it ſeems in Dyers News from London, that the Sweddiſh Ambaſſador Monſieur Liencroon has delivered in a Memorial to this Court, complaining of the Review, as Reflecting on the King of Sweden, and de⯑mands Satisfaction.

Firſt, Gentlemen, I aſſure you I know nothing of this my ſelf, neither from my Friends in England, nor from the Government, neither do I be⯑lieve one Word of it. I have immediately on Notice of this Written to England, and deſir'd ſome of my Friends to wait on the Secretaries of State to acquaint them where I am, and that if it be required, I will on the firſt Notice take Poſt for London, and put my ſelf into their Hands, to Anſwer any thing the Law ſhall require.

In the next place, I have Reviſed what I have Writ of the King of Sweden, and I profeſs I can ſee nothing in it in the leaſt, that is or ought to be an Affront to His Swediſh Majeſty.

And laſtly, I thank GOD, I Live in a Land where the Liberty of the Subject is ſuch, that ſhould all this be true, I can receive no Hurt but by Law.

The King of Sweden indeed has carried it with ſo high a Hand in ſome parts of the World, that their Princes deliver up their Subjects bound Hand and Foot for him to uſe his Pleaſure with them.—But GOD be Praiſed, the Queen of England is none of thoſe: The Liberty of Engliſh Men is in a better Caſe, and no Man can be Puniſhed in England at the will of the Prince, much leſs at the will of a Forreign Prince.

In England even the Soveraign can not puniſh but by Law, the Subject muſt have a fair Tryal, and a Jury of his Equals muſt Determine the Fact: If the King of Sweden ſhould demand the delivering up the meaneſt Subject the Queen has, even a meaner, if ſuch can be, than the Author of the Review, Her Majeſty would immediately Reply, That it is not in Her Power to deliver any of Her Subjects up, or to puniſh them any farther [2] than as the Law directs: And that the meaneſt and moſt deſpicable Subject in England may even ſay to his Soveraign, That he will not be delivered up.

Nor do I believe the King of Sweden can think he has an Emperor of Germany to deal with in the Queen of Great-Britain, and that he can de⯑mand a Count Zobor of Her Majeſty.

I am content to be anſwerable to the Law, if I have offended him or any Body elſe; and it is no Arrogancy to ſay I am a Subject of the Laws of England, and of no other Mortal Power in the World.

This is to be a Subject to GOD and the Queen, for an Obedience to the Law is all the Subjection, ſpeaking of Humane Affairs, that either GOD or the Queen requires.

But what is it you ſaid of the King of Sweden, ſays the Enquirers, you muſt have ſaid ſome ill thing of him, or elſe he would not have Complain⯑ed of your Paper by his Ambaſſador?

Truly, Gentlemen, I'll tell you as near as I can what I ſaid of him—and if I tell it again, you will ſay, 'Tis a ſign I have not much fear upon me of his Reſentment.

1. I ſaid, That the Swede lying in Saxony all this Summer with 50000 Men about him, and doing nothing, while he ſuffered his new King of Poland to be ruin'd, and the Countrey to be ravaged by the Muſcovite, ſignified that he had ſome ſecret deſign in his Head, ſome project on Foot, which no Body knew of but himſelf.

2. I ſaid, If he had no Deſign, no Meaning, no Proſpect, and yet lay ſtill there, while his Subjects and his Allies were ruined by his Enemies, he was the moſt Impolitick, Nothing-doing Prince in the World.

3. I ſaid, That for a Prince to neglect the Defence of his own Subjects, and leave them Expoſed to the Invaſion of Cruel and Barbarous Neighbours, when he is at the ſame time puſhing on the Conqueſts and Triumphs of Victory againſt their Neighbours, is all one with a Father who neglects to provide for his Family, of whom the Text ſays, he is worſe than an Infidel.

4. I ſaid, That if the Swede ſhould fall on the Emperor, and thereby oblige him to quitt the Confederacy, and make a ſeparate Peace with France, we ſhould have but little Cauſe to thank him for his Care of the Proteſtant Religion.

5. I ſaid, That if the Swede ſhould fall upon the Emperor, and oblige him to draw all his Troops from Hungaria, Naples, Provence and the Rhine, he would be beaten, and not be able to ſtand before him.

Theſe and ſuch as theſe is the utmoſt of the Matter, and if the Swediſh Ambaſſador has made a Complaint of this, I ſhall always be ready to Anſwer it.

If I had really ſaid any thing which was Unbecoming me of the [3] King of Sweden or any Body elſe, I ſhould be willing to acknowledge it, and make Satisfaction; But as what I have ſaid are both known and uſeful Truths, with a great deal of Calmneſs and Satisfaction I ſay I am ready to Anſwer him or any Man elſe, as far as the Liberty and Laws of Britain require, and ſo much for the King of Swedens Ambaſſador.

'Tis a Happy thing, Gentlemen, to live under the laws of England, I hope you are advancing apace to the ſame Liberty, you may be aſſured no Nation in Europe enjoys the like Privileges, and I hope you will all partake of them, and learn to value them.

No Reſentment of Forreign Princes can affect us, no Threatnings terrifie us, an Engliſh man is born a free man, no Power can inſult him, no Supe⯑rior Oppreſs him; The Law only is his Governour, no Magiſtrate, no Counſellor, no Authority, no not the Sovereign has the leaſt illegal Power over him, he can have no Sentence pronounced againſt him, no pu⯑niſhment inflicted, no Fine levied, no not by the Queen Her Self, but according to Law.

This is the Confidence, the Peace and the Glory of this Iſland, and no Forreign Power can interpoſe in it; If the greateſt King or Emperor in the World demands of the Queen of Britain the delivering up any one of Her Subjects to them, they may lawfully refuſe to go,—if the Sovereign puts a Man in Priſon by His Royal Authority,—the Man ſerves the Judge with a Writ of Habeas Corpus, and he will let him out again, even Her Majeſty her ſelf, asking Pardon for the Expreſſion, cannot detain him.

He that will abandon this Liberty is not a Fool only but a Knave, a Knave to himſelf, and to his Family, a Knave to his Poſterity, and a Knave to the Conſtitution of the Nation, for he gives up the Right of a Subject, and leaves an Example of wilful Bondage to his Countreymen.

If there be any ſuch, I have only to ſay, I am ſure, I am not the Man: Britains Gentlemen are none of the Tribe of Iſſachar, whoſe Coat of Arms is an Aſs couchant; what Burden the Law puts upon us, we freely ſubmit to, and never complain either of the Law or of the Sovereign.

But we always Kick at Oppreſſion, and Reſiſt Tyrrany, and it has hither⯑to, GOD be praiſed, been found in vain to Enſlave us.

Her Majeſty, the beſt Queen that ever Governed us, has made it Her Glory to Reign over a Free People, the Queen deſpiſes Tyrrany as infinitely below Her; It's Her Pleaſure to ſee the Laws Triumph, 'tis Her Glory to ſee Juſtice Uninterrupted, and 'tis Her Majeſties peculiar Bleſſing that there are none of Her People complaining of Oppreſſion.

Attempts enough have been made to ſurpriſe the Government into Tyr⯑rany, but both the Attempts and their Authors have found their Quietus in Her Majeſties Juſtice, and in Her Native Averſion to Cruelty and Ar⯑bitrary Power.

[4] 'Tis from hence, with ſatisfaction, any Subject may ſay, and I ſay it with a ſecret Joy, that I can not expreſs, the Innocent Man may fly with Safety to the Law, if he has not Offended, he is ſure he ſhall not be Op⯑preſt, if he has, he is ſure to find Juſtice always mingled with the Princes Compaſſion.

Let none of my Friends be afraid for me, if I have broke the Law, they ought to abandon me to the Law, and I ask no Favour; If I have not, no King, no Power, no Threatning, no not all the Powers of Europe can make Her Majeſty break in upon Her Peoples Liberties, or Deviat from Juſtice, in the Satisfaction of which all Her Subjects are eaſie and ſafe, and I among the reſt.

As to Dyer's Letter, he was always Careful that it ſhould not be ſeen in London, whether for Shame or Fear is not Material, and from thence he often takes the Liberty to Forge Stories that have not the leaſt ground of Truth in them, and this is not the firſt time he has done ſo by me in particu⯑lar, which Forgeries he ſpreads in the Countrey, and the Letter not being to be had in the City, he is not ſo eaſily contradicted.

I muſt ſay, however, Dyer, the News Writer, ought to have been the laſt Man in the World to have ſaid this in his Paper, ſince Monſieur Liencroon never took notice what he wrote in his publick Paper, viz. that the Duke of Marlborrow obtained his deſire of the King of Sweden by Bribing Count Piper.