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 attending 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 demands 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 believe 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 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 demand 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 Complained 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 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 Superior 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 punishment 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 hitherto, 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 Tyrrany, but both the Attempts and their Authors have found their
Quietus
in Her Majesties Justice, and in Her Native Aversion to Cruelty and Arbitrary Power.
'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 Opprest, 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 particular, 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.
ADVERTISEMENT.
Preparing for the Press a brief Scheme of the Duty and Office of a Justice of Peace and a Constable, conform to the Constitution of
Scotland
and
England,
both separately and unitedly considered.
Also a Review of the Trade and Improvement of
Britain.
This last is designed (if time in
Scotland
permits the Author) to be Published Weekly; And to be so Ordered, that Gentlemen who think them worth it, may Collect them and Bind them up in Volumes Yearly. They are designed to meddle neither with
Whig
nor
Tory, Church
nor
Dissenter, Williamite
or
Jacobite;
but meerly for the Benefit of all Parties, endeavour to Talk to you of the Improvements of Trade, Land, Navigation, Manufactures, &c. for the publick Advantage of
Scotland,
and without any Gain to the Author.
FINIS.