LIBERTY.
SLAVERY.
DIALOGUE BETWIXT
WHIG
and
TORY.
herein the Principles and Practices of each Party are fairly and impartially stated; that thereby Mistakes and Prejudices may be remov'd from amongst us, and all who prefer
English
Liberty and the Protestant Religion, to
French
Slavery and Popery, may be inform'd how to chuse fit and proper Instruments for our Preservation in these Times of Danger.
LONDON,
Printed in the Year, M.DCC.X.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE following Discourse was first printed
the Year 1692. but as the same Causes w
always produce the same Effects, 'tis thought n
unseasonable to publish it now afresh: and if th
who have any regard to the Happiness of the Native Country, of whatever Party they be, w
peruse it with Minds free from Heat and Prejudic
the Publisher will attain his chiefest aim.
To the KING.
SIR,
THO the sacred Majesty of Kings (I am sensible) ought not in common cases to be approach'd by every little Busy-body, or frivolous Remonstrance-maker; yet when our Prince's Palace is
Fire, and his sacred Person in the midst of the Flames,
e meanest of his Subjects hath the Privilege then to
ve him warning of his Danger, and to assist to quench
e Fire: And this I am afraid, Sir, is at present too near
r Case, or I would not have assum'd the Boldness to
sturb your Repose, or have plac'd my self so disadvanta
eously before your Majesty, as I must expect to appear,
nder the Character of a publick Censor of the Manners
your Ministers, and a petty State-Reformer. But it is
ot I alone that am thus concern'd and busy for the Pub
ck; the whole World are at this time mournfully reflec
ing upon the miserable Estate we are fallen into from
hat happy and glorious Prospect of things which we had
1688 and 1689: This has put all Men upon Enquiry
to the Causes of the unhappy Change of our Affairs;
nd I find it agreed on all hands, that the principal Occasion
f our Misfortunes (or rather Mismanagements) is from
he intrusting those with the Government of all, who
ere the Creatures and Tools of the two last Reigns, and
re irreconcilable Enemies to your Majesty's Government;
hose who oppos'd your coming to the Crown; those who
eclar'd to your Face King
James
the only Rightful King;
hose who sold their Country and betray'd it to the two
ast Kings, and will be always ready to sell it even to the
French
King, if he prove the fairest Chapman.
I have heard that
Thurloe,
who was Secretary of Sta
to
Cromwell,
being ask'd by King
Charles
II. how they d
support their Government so long, when all the Nobilit
Gentry and Clergy were against it? he reply'd,
By intrusti
those only in the Management of all Affairs, who were as hearti
against that Nobility, Gentry and Clergy.
I do not apply th
literally; for God be prais'd, your Majesty has a great pa
of all these several Degrees of Men, who are most hearti
and zealously in your Interests: But I mean by this, that yo
are to oppose your Enemies with their Enemies, not wit
their Friends; and that the Design of keeping out Kin
James
with Jacobites, seems to be as impracticable, as h
Project prov'd of setting up Popery with a Protestan
Army.
Yet there are some about your Majesty, who (for ba
and private Ends) endeavour to possess you with the destructive Politicks of courting and buying your Enemie
into your Service; and would persuade you, that Kin
James
's Tories are the only Party truly principl'd for Monarchy, and are fittest for Employment, as being lon
practis'd in Business: And that (on the contrary) you
Majesty's best Friends, whom they call Whigs, are not onl
ignorant, and unacquainted with Publick Business, but ar
Haters of Monarchy, of Commonwealth Principles; an
at best, for making their Kings no more than Dukes
Venice,
and Kings of Clouts. Now this is a Notion so false, so fatal to the Prosperity of your Affairs, and so dangerous to the very Being of your Government, that
cannot but think it highly necessary, that this matter should be fairly stated and laid before your Majesty. I am sensible how unfit I am for the Task, and how open I lie to a Charge of Presumption in attempting it, But as the Son of
Cyrus,
who was from his Birth dumb, broke Silence when he saw his Father in the Hands of his Murderers; so (since I saw no other Champion appear in this Cause) I resolv'd to break thro all Impediments, even those of Nature, and to endeavour the Rescue of my King out of the Hands of those who have already been the Ruin of two Kings, your Majesty's Predecessors, and who will undoubtedly bring you and your Affairs into great Difficulties, if you be not deliver'd from their Counsels.
In order to this, I have impartially made a Collection (in the following Dialogue) of all the Arguments which Whigs imploy against the Tories, or Tories against the Whigs, and submit it to your Majesty's discerning Judgment, and most piercing and distinguishing Wisdom (upon the whole) which of them are most proper for your Majesty to employ; those who were in the Interest of Popery
d of
France,
or those who oppos'd both to the Death.
appeal to you, Sir, whether a Tory's being for the Di
ne Right of Succession, and consequently for King
James
's Monarchy, makes him the fitter in Principle to be employ'd
y King
William?
Or, whether his boasted Skill in Busi
ess will be of any use to your Majesty, if he be in Prin
ple and Inclination for King
James,
and believes King
illiam
a King
de facto
only, without a Rightful Title,
nd in plain
English,
an Usurper? If these Gentlemen
as their Principles will naturally lead them to do) use all
heir Skill in their several Stations, to obstruct and make
ifficult your Affairs, to betray your Designs to your Enemies, to countenance and protect King
James
's Friends in
ll their Plots and Contrivances, furnish them with In
elligence, help them to Passes, Escapes,
&c.
all which things (it cannot be deny'd) have been and are daily done by some Persons employ'd in this Government: Of what Use, Sir, or Service then is this boasted Skill in Business to your Majesty's Interests? Certainly Men less conversant in Publick Affairs, who have a Zeal for your Government, would be of more Use and Service to you; Men who were persecuted by King
Charles
and King
James
either in their own Persons, or in the Persons of their Friends, who were fin'd, imprison'd, and some of their Relations hang'd in those Reigns, are more likely to act in earnest against King
James,
and in the supporting your Majesty and your Government, than those who had their Fortunes and their Families rais'd by King
James
and his Brother King
Charles,
and who hope to be rais'd yet more by his Return, or at least to secure in his Government what they have got in this, by obliging him and his Friends, at the Price of sacrificing you and your's.
For Example: Is it reasonable to believe the E. of
N.
whose Father and Family was rais'd by King
Charles
and King
James
for prostituting the Law (and his nauseous Rhetorick) to the Designs of those two Brothers, who himself was a Privy-Counsellor with Father
Peters,
and chosen by King
James
at the time of the Revolution to treat with your Majesty at
Hungerford,
in order to delay your Progress to
London
; and lastly, who so violently oppos'd your Majesty's being crown'd King, as to lay an eternal Obligation upon King
James
by it: I say, Sir, is it reasonable to believe this Gentleman so proper a Secretary of State to your Majesty, as the E. of
S.
who has so mortally disoblig'd King
James,
in being so early, and so zealous in your Interests, who went at the Head of that Message to King
James
wherein he was requir'd to retire from
Whitehall
; who has since that been so instrumental to place and preserve the Crown upon your Head; and has, in a word, broken all Measures so with King
James,
as to leave no possibility of a Reconciliation to him, and consequently has no Retreat from this Government, but is oblig'd in common Sense to serve your Majesty faithfully and zealously?
Or can your Majesty think Mr.
K.
who (it is generally said) believes himself the Son of King
J.
and it is known by all the World, owes his Fortune to him; who (if we may believe Report) at the time of the Revolution, agreed with Captain
Tosyer,
to carry the Ships he then commanded in the
Straits
to King
James
in
France
(had not the common Sailors very rudely oppos'd the Project) who after this acquitted himself so ill at
Cadiz,
in letting the
Thoulon
Squadron pass by him in his sight, without fighting them; and to conclude, has made so unaccountable a Campagn of it this Summer: Can your Majesty (give me leave to say, Sir) think this Gentleman (after all this) fitter to command the Fleet of
England,
than Mr.
R.
whose Provocations to King
James
are never to be forgiven by him; who was one of the most instrumental Men in
England
in placing you upon the Throne; who last Year gave you the greatest and most glorious Victory that ever was obtain'd by us at Sea; and whose Courage, Conduct and Fidelity the Parliament of
England
has unanimously attested?
And now, Sir (if I may presume so far) will your Majesty be pleas'd to examine what Honour, what Profit has accru'd to you, or the Nation, by your employing these Gentlemen who have of late been at the Head of the Ministry? For God's sake, Sir, cast up the Account of the last four Years Management, and see what you have gain'd by changing Whigs for Torys. Have not your Affairs gone backward both at home and abroad? Have not Mismanagements been multiply'd? Have you not cool'd your Friends, and yet not gain'd your Enemies? Do not almost all the Tories you employ drink King
James
's Health in your Wine, and serve him in your Offices? Do they not obstruct all Business which ought to be dispatch'd, and dispatch all Business which ought to be obstructed? browbeat your Friends, and delay them in the most just Pretences, but comply with your Enemies in their most unreasonable Demands; nay, connive at their Cabals and Conspiracies, and snatch them out of the Hands of Justice, when the Law has sentenc'd them to Death for their Treasons? Would not such Ministers and Friends as these be less dangerous to you, when profess'd Enemies, nay in Arms against you in the Field, than in your Council, Cabinet and Offices? Undoubtedly they would.
But I know the common Answer to all these kind of Complaints is, That it is more easy to find Faults than Remedies. If you please therefore, Sir, we will consider of Remedys, and I think there may be some found out both easy and certain, and they are these: First, Sir, be pleas'd to remove from your Person, Council and Offices of Trust, Men bred up and confirm'd in Principles destructive to our
English
Government, and hateful to your People; and to discountenance all State-Projecters, and Mountebank-Ministers, who make Wounds in the State to recommend their Balsam: Throw out, Sir, these
Achans
to be ston'd by the People, who will otherwise, I fear, prevent God's Favour to you; who blast your Success abroad, and rob you of the Affections of your Subjects at home, with their accursed thing, I mean that Tinsel Power with which these Miscreants dazle the Eyes of Princes, and lead them out of the right way. God is displeas'd with it: For uncontroulable and unaccountable Power is the Right and Attribute of God alone; and (as the Scripture tells us)
He will not give his Glory unto another; nor suffer those to act like Gods, who are to die like Men.
Your People also will be displeas'd with a Despotick Power; for the Kings of
England
are bound by Laws, by mutual Compacts,
&c.
(as you your self, Sir, have set forth most unanswerably in your Declaration when you came over) and if these are broken,
English-men,
who believe themselves Subjects to the Crown of
England
(as by Law establish'd) and not Slaves to any particular Person
Otherwise King
James
would have a fairer Pretence, than I hope we shall ever allow him.
; they become impatient, angry, and at length perhaps unreasonable. And whenever they see their King beset with Ministers of Lawless Principles (those wholesale Merchants of Arbitrary Power) they grow mistrustful and uneasy, and are apt in such Cases to shut their Purses, and open their Mouths. And give me leave to say, Sir, had not the People been made apprehensive and jealous, by seeing these Men in the Ministry, whose mischievous Methods they were so well acquainted with, and did so much abhor; no general Excise, no Loans, no Powers would have been thought by the People of
England,
too much to have intrusted you with; so highly they esteem'd your generous Relief of them, your unequal Courage, and the many other admirable Vertues they saw shine in you. An
English
King is the greatest Monarch upon Earth, when he reigns in the Hearts of his Subjects; and all other Methods to Power and Greatness have been found ineffectual in
England,
I remember I once saw written over a Mercer's Shop,
Keep thy Shop, and thy Sh
will keep thee:
and tho it be a homely Allusion, it is very applicable to the present Point;
Keep your Laws, Sir, a
your Laws will keep you
; support your People in their Right and Liberties, and Queen
Elizabeth
shall pass her Royal Word for them, they will support your just Prerogative a
home and your Honour abroad. And, Sir, by the way do not let your Flatterers give you a cheap Opinion of
Power deriv'd from the People; for it is undoubtedly from their Consent, that all Power must come: Nor let them make you uneasy that your Title to the Crown is from the universal free Choice of the Commons of
England.
Believe me, your Ministers, nor the two learned Bishops who have scribled upon this Subject, will ever be able to find you a better.
In the next place, discharge all Jacobites and Trimmer from Offices of Trust: For such as either desire King
James,
or from their Fear, or Wisdom, endeavour to deserve from him (so much as their Pardon) I humbly conceive are unfit for your Service at this Juncture; tho when the Government is more settl'd, I am for entertaining all who give Proofs of their Penitence for their past Actions and Opinions.
But, Sir, Purgatives will not alone perfect the Cure of your Government, and restore it to perfect Health; you must make use of Alteratives too, there must be a Change of Measures, as well as a Discharge of Men: And the Method I would humbly offer is this.
First; To make the Interest of
England
your chief Design and Aim; and since you are an
English
King, to become intirely an
English-man. England
is a Nation jealous of Rivals in her Prince's Favour, and thinks her self deserving of all his Care, and all his Caresses. If the People of
England
think you have a favourable Opinion of them, they will endeavour to deserve it; if not, they may perhaps deserve your worst Opinion too. This Humour of the Nation Queen
Elizabeth
found early, and apply'd her self so happily to it, as by this single Point to master all her Difficulties (the greatest it may be that ever Prince had to struggle with) whereas her Successors, by contrary Measures, brought themselves into very unfortunate Circumstances.
In the next place, Sir, let me desire you to avoid concerning your self in Elections of Members in Parliament, or influencing them when chosen: the Parliament is a sacred part of the
English
Constitution, and like the
Israelites
Ark of old, is not to be touch'd profanely, but with great Danger to those who touch it so. And therefore, Sir, it will be
ur true Interest to leave the People free to their Choice,
d the Members free to their Opinions when chosen
is still fresh in our Memories, how much the Practices
the late Reigns in corrupting Elections, and closeting
embers of Parliament, enrag'd the Nation, and they
d reason to resent it; for if (for the sake of a Vote) a
ember of Parliament shall be plac'd in an Office of
rust he is not fit for, this is destroying the Government
wo ways at once: For, to speak in the Phrase of the Ministry, it is making a Parliament of Clouts, and an Officer of Clouts at the same stroke. Rejecting Bills offer'd
y Parliament of publick Benefit, and for securing our
ntient Government, and the Fundamental Rights of the
bject, was highly displeasing to the Nation also in the
te Reigns, and will be so in all Reigns: As was likewise
e denying the People their undoubted Right of frequent
arliaments. They had also in the late Governments an
nvention to make a Pump of the Parliament, and by
ouring in a Pint of Water, to fetch out a Tun: This
as justly most provoking to the Nation, and treasur'd up Wrath against the Day of Wrath.
The refusing of Bills, and the Contempt of Addresses
rom the Parliament against Ministers, or in any other Cases, has likewise given great Offence in former Reigns. For tho the House of Commons, seconded by the House of
ords, cannot reach the Life or Estate of any Person, but
y a full Proof in form of Law; yet because it is so difficult a matter to come at such a Proof, a Vote of the House of Commons against any Minister, has always been esteem'd by all Kings (who were well with the People) a sufficient Reason for the removing them from Court: and I have heard that our King
Henry
IV. (a warlike and wise Prince) upon an Address from the Parliament against some of his Ministers, reply'd,
I know no Evil by these Men; but if they are thought unfit by my Parliament for my Service, I shall not think fit to continue them in it.
All these things, Sir, therefore are most carefully to be avoided by your Majesty: They will appear with a worse Grace in you, who have declar'd and made War against these Practices, than in your Predecessors. For as St.
Paul
says,
Thou who hast said, Ye shall not commit Adultery, dost thou commit Adultery? Thou who hast said, Ye shall not steal, dost thou steal?
You must by no means, Sir, give this occasion of Clamour and Recrimination to your Enemies. But be pleas'd to follow this General Rule, always to beware of the Ministers, and to avoid the Schemes and Counsels of King
Charles
and King
James
's Government, and then you can scarce err: For whatever is opposite to their Principles and Practices, is the direct Road to yo
Security and Success.
In the next place, Sir, let Rewards and Punishment
be duly and impartially distributed; this is a Rule
which all Ages and Governments have paid the greate
Respect and Observance, and to which the present Monarch of
France
does chiefly owe the Prosperity of h
Affairs: and without this Principle no Government ca
subsist. Your Ministers who serve you well and faithfull
must be distinguish'd from those who betray you, or serv
you carelesly and idely; and not smil'd or frown'd upon as they are supported or persecuted by this or that Par
or Faction. (And by the way, Sir, a Prince in
Englan
that rules according to the Laws and Interests of his Pe
ple, will never have occasion to make his Court to an
Party or Faction; nor can any Minister of any Part
serve you against the Interest of the Nation.) Let you
Soldiers be encourag'd, and prefer'd according to their Bravery and Abilities, without Favour or Affection: Th
bravest otherwise will follow the Example of Cowards, i
they find they have no Advantage over them by thei
Courage; for all Men would be Cowards if they durs
To an
English
Soldier a Smile or a kind Word is as acceptable at some times as a Month's Pay; and if you wil
condescend to a Commendation of what they do well, the
will endeavour on the next occasion to exceed what the
did before: For if you are once Master of their Love you are sure to have the Disposal of their Lives. No
need you fear to punish them severely, provided you reward them bountifully. Let the Insolence of your Enemies be rebuk'd, and Rebels and Traitors to your Government be severely punish'd, and not courted and caress'd for in the present State of Affairs all Mercy to your Enemies is Cruelty to your self and Friends: and it encourage
your Enemies, and disheartens your Loyal Subjects, to se
these Insolents brave the Government unpunish'd, and t
see your treacherous Ministers solliciting the Pardon o
every condemn'd Traitor; and making their Court to King
James
at the Price of your Safety, is most provoking to every good Man. Besides, it looks like your having a Doubt of your own Right and Title to the Government▪ to be thus backward in asserting it; and is so interpreted by the Jacobites.
Intelligence as another Point of mighty Consequence and can scarce be purchas'd too dear: For it is the Sou
of Government, and directs all its Actions properly, and without it you consult in the dark, and execute blind fold you know not what to act, what to fear, where to attack or where to defend. I do not mean by this that we are to penetrate into the
French
King's Counsels, or rifle his Cabinet, that I am afraid is out of the reach of our Power, and of our Purse: But I cannot but think we may be able to know the Marches of their Armies, and the Motions of their Fleets, without selling our Souls to the Devil for Intelligence, or breaking our Exchequer.
Thus, Sir, I have set before your Majesty, what, in my poor Judgment, is for your Interest to pursue, and what is for your Service to avoid; what will make your Majesty and this Nation happy, what will make both unhappy: and I heartily pray the great, good and wise God, to di
t, bless and prosper your Majesty in all your glorious
signs for the Defence of these Kingdoms, and of
Christe
dom,
against the common Enemy. If I have us'd too great a Freedom, or have offended in what I design'd for your Service, I am sorry for it: I call God to witness, my Plainness proceeded from my Zeal and Affection to your Interests, and the Prosperity of your Affairs, and not from any factious, saucy or unmannerly Principle. I wish some abler Pen had taken upon him this Part. But I must own, it provok'd me to see my Country and my King so forsaken; the one of Advocates, the other of honest Counsel: and this urg'd me to take upon me these two Characters, of Advocate and Adviser, both which I confess my self very unfit for: Not, but that as I said in the beginning, I take it to be the Privilege, nay and the Duty too of every
English
Subject (provided it be perform'd form'd with a decent and due Respect) to lay before the King such Matters as may be dangerous to his Person or Government, to be conceal'd from his Knowledg (for we are not ty'd up in
England
to
Spanish
Forms, where the King must be wet to the Skin, if he whose proper Office
o is be not in the way to put on his Cloke.) And I beg your Majesty to believe what I have said is from a Faithfulness and Sincerity, which will in all Accidents and Difficulties preserve me unalterably,
Your Majesty's Most Loyal, most Dutiful, and most Obedient Subject.
To the honest
English
Protestant READER.
Honest Reader,
AT the beginning of the late Revolution, I dare say, it wa
not expected by thee or me, That it would have been n
cessary in this Reign, to have enter'd into Argument
whether the Principles of
Whig
or
Tory
are most agreeable to t
Constitution of the
English
Monarchy, or which Party were to b
chosen for the Support of our present King and Queen. But suc
is our Fate, that I am afraid it requires an abler Pen than min
to convince some, who it is highly necessary should be convinc'd that any of the Measures of the late Reigns were mistaken; the
are taught to believe those Monarchs in the Right, nay e
those evil Counsellors too, who were so maul'd in the Declaratio
of 1688. and none are Rogues and Villains, and deserve to b
hang'd, but those who were most active in the bringing the preset King and Queen over, and in settling the Crown upon their Heads I thought it therefore high time that this Matter should be se
right; and in order to it, that the Principles and Practices o
Whig
and
Tory
should be truly and impartially examin'd; whic
I have endeavour'd to do to the best of my Knowledg, and shall b
well pleas'd to see any other do it better from my poor Hint.
acknowledg the Looseness of the Stile, the want of Method in th
following Paper, and the many Repetitions this Dialogue-way
writing is liable to, will lay it open to the Lash of every Pedan
and Schoolmaster. But know, I write not for Fame, or out o
any Vanity of being an Author;
and therefore I come not to you,
as the Apostle says,
in the inticing Words of Man'
Wisdom, but in Plainness and Truth,
&c. I have state
the Matter so fairly, that some of the
Tories
may be Fools enough perhaps to think I have given them a Victory (and triumph o
their Admirals did in their being Gazetted, because the Council wo
Favourable, as to suffer them to pass for mistaken Blockheads,
ead of wilful knavish Lyars) But indeed I thought the
Tories
so weak a Plea, that I might well allow them to make the
st of it, and have left nothing unsaid which I have ever heard
m say in their Defence. What they have done the honest
ople, and the Interest of
England
most Mischief by, is that
am of a
Commonwealth,
which I have in the following Dis
rse (I hope) convinc'd all honest Men is a false Notion, im
cticable and impossible in
England
; however this is the Breast
rk which they have always cover'd themselves with, when they
sign'd to fire upon the Rights and Privileges, the Laws, Liber
s and Properties of their Country: And whenever they do raise
is Breastwork, we must endeavour to beat it about their Ears;
am sure it is too weak to resist any Attack, and I hope (as
ays
says)
they fly, they fly, they fly, who first did make
at Lye.
What I have here written, is with an honest Design of
ing Service to my Country; and if it either happens to inform
convince any to embrace the Publick Interest, and the common
od of themselves and Fellow-Creatures, I have my end. And
r the
Tory Criticks,
they may bite till their Teeth meet thro
Book, yet I shall be as insensible of their Malice, as they have
en of the King's Mercy, Favour and Friendship to them. I will
mfort my self, honest Reader, that I have thee on my side; and
long as thou dost continue firm in the Support of the
English
aws and Liberties, thou dost build upon a Rock, against which,
hope, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail; and so long I will
uild upon thee, and hope for all Good from thee, and pray for all
lessings upon thee.
Adieu.
A Dialogue between
WHIG
and
TORY, &c.
Tory.
WELL met old Acquaintance; who would have thought seven years ago, to have seen you and I at
Whitehall
together in the same Interest?
Whig.
In the same Interest; why, who thinks that now?
Tory.
What, in one of your old peevish Fits? I thought now all things go to your Mind, you would have been in better Humour.
Whig.
You were begotten, born and bred in Mistakes, and I doubt not but you will continue so to your end: Yet you cannot be so grosly mistaken sure as to think all things go to any honest
Englishman
's Mind; when you, who were the Tools of the two last Reigns, the Instruments of all our past and present Misfortunes, and the declar'd Cause of the War which brought on the late Revolution, are notwithstanding the only Men courted by this Government.
Tory.
I am afraid you will never be pleas'd with any Monarchical Government.
Whig.
That is a Point I know you have been long endeavouring to put upon the World, but more industriously upon the Court; yet I wonder at your Impudence of urging it now, since it is so fresh in every Man's Memory, how zealously the Whigs struggled in the late Convention to settle the Monarchy, whilst you contested as zealously to make it an Anarchy.
Tory.
We will talk more of this by and by: But if you were so instrumental as you say in setting up this Government, why are you so out of Humour with what you have made your selves?
Whig.
Disappointment you must allow a just Cause of
esentment. We hop'd from new Lords, new Laws, new
inisters, and new Methods: but if still we are to have
e same Ministers, and consequently the same Methods,
he very Tools of the two last Reigns, and consequently
he same Work; this I take (in my Lord
H—
s Phrase)
be a Change, without an Alteration; and, in my Opi
n, gives too just occasion of Dislike: and I cannot but
nk this way of managing Affairs, must end unhappily,
oth to Prince and People.
Tory.
But how come, you and I to be so concern'd either
or the Prosperity of Princes, who never think of us,
ut as we can serve some present Turn of theirs; or for the
nterest of Mob, who will sing Ballads upon us under the
allows, when we are hanging there for their sakes? Pre
ee
Whig,
grow wise, and do not torment thy self thus
ith State-Affairs; let Princes take care of themselves, and
he People of themselves, and let us take care of ourselves. My Method is, to get what I can, and let Courts do what they will.
Whig.
Why then, Sir, with your leave, your Method is
foolish as it is knavish: For whoever sells his Country
o a lawless Power, leaves himself nor his Family no Certainty, no Property in what he has gotten by his Treachery; nay, his Estate is as often the Snare, as the Comfort of his Life. It proves sometimes a
Naboth
's Vine
ard, and makes him the Eye-sore of some hungry Court Favourite. And I would ask, Whether a small Estate fenc'd about with Laws, and the Possession thereof secur'd
o you and your Family, is not of more Value, than a much greater Revenue, of which you cannot assure your self the Possession one minute? Your Forefathers thought the Laws and Liberties of
England
worth their Care and Contest, and waded thro Rivers of Blood to leave them in force to their Posterity. And the Church once made it an Article of their Religion,
Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari
: But thou dost renounce all the Principles of Humanity, of common Sense, and of Religion, and oughtst to be driven out of a Country which thou makest open Profession to sell and betray. And as for what you say of the Ingratitude of Princes and People, the one to his faithful and affectionate Subjects, the other to their zealous Patriots; this does not discharge you from your Duty to either. But (in answer to the first) if you will serve Princes no farther than you serve your Country in serving them, that Service will always reward it self; and for the Mob, as you are ever pleas'd most mannerly to call your Countrymen and Fellow-Citizens, if any prove so sordid as you alledg, I shall answer you in the words of our Saviour
Forgive them, for they know not what they do:
And let his Example teach you better Principles, who, notwithstanding all the Scoffs and Indignities he met with, laid down h
Life upon the Cross for the Benefit of Mankind. B
your Principles make you the Triumph of Heathens, a
bring you upon the same foot with brute Beasts.
Tory.
Come don't tell us Stories of our great Grandfat
who troubled themselves about Trifles: There is a Fashio
in Government (as well as in Clothes) which must
comply'd with, according to the Humour of the prese
Age; and you may as well pretend to shape all Gowns b
Queen
Elizabeth
's Fardingale, as to shape our Court
Counsels according to the Sentiments of that or othe
times, which were as different too from one another,
we are different from them.
Whig.
As for your Fashion of Government, Mr.
Tor
I hope it is either gone to the Grave with King
Charles,
to
France
with King
James
; and could heartily wish yo
would follow it to either Place. But pray before you g
let me ask you in what Age or Time it was, that Men
Sense, or Men of Honour, did prefer Will and Pleasure
Laws, or Slavery to Freedom? As I take it, the Principles of Liberty and Property have always been in fashion amongst Men of Sense and Estates in
England,
and eve
will be. But your Principles can never find Professors bu
amongst Fools and Beggars.
Tory.
Whatever our Principles are, you find both the
and us prefer'd to you and yours, even by a Government of your own chusing; and let that satisfy you as an Answer to that Point.
Whig.
Not at all; that only proves a Mistake somewhere; and where the Mistake is, if you please, we wi
inquire: and I think it will best appear by examining th
original Rise, Principles and Practices of both Parties.
Tory.
Come on then, a clear Stage, and no favour.
Whig.
As for your original Rise, 'tis certain, you ow
your being known in the World, to the horrid and execrable Designs of the two late Kings to set up arbitrary Power and Popery amongst us; then were all the Jails Brothels, and Kennels rak'd for Villains of fear'd Consciences and desperate Fortunes: your
Arl—ns, Cliff—d
Os—s,
were then thought upon for Ministers of State and under them were bred such a pack of Wretches, as th
Court of
Tiberius
would have been asham'd of. In the La
they were of the same sort with the Ministry: Wha
Age can parallel your
N—ms,
your
N—ths,
you
Jeff—ys, Sc—gs, Rain—ds, Wri—s,
&c. and
ir under Managers
Graham
and
Burton?
&c. Then
to the Pillars of what they then call'd
the Church of
land,
tho so disguis'd at that time, that it was scarce
wn by its most dutiful, most affectionate, and most
is Children; I need say no more of them, than that
were compos'd of Bishops, and a Clergy prefer'd by
Kings, who were about to set up Popery and Tyranny;
therefore were to chuse such Men into the Govern
nt of the Church, who they thought would be most
plying with those Purposes, and whose Looseness of
als might bring most Discredit upon the Protestant
igion: and whoever remembers
Park—r, Cart—t,
nows
C—w
and
Wat—n,
will (I think) be of the
inion they were not ill chosen for the abovesaid Pur
es.
Tory.
But you see whatever Purposes they were chosen
several of the Bishops oppos'd Popery with the grea
Bravery imaginable.
Whig.
True, they did oppose a Popish Clergy being
ight into their Bishopricks, Churches and Colleges;
who but a mad Man would have expected any other
n them? But did they ever stick at any thing that
ht advance arbitrary Power over the Laity? Did they
conjure the People to Passive-Obedience, Non-Re
nce?
&c.
Did they not tie us Hand and Foot, and
ow us like
Daniel
into the Lions Den? Nay, did they
r stick at building his Popish Church for him, whilst
contented himself to make use of their Hands? But
en they saw that after they had gone so far in the Service, others were taken in to finish the Work, and to reap
e Fruit of what they had sow'd and planted: This was
deed intolerable, and then it was, and not before, that
ey begun to make a noise about the
Protestant Religion
and
nglish Liberties,
and to preach backward all their former
ermons.
Tory.
But you cannot deny but that they were very in
rumental to the Revolution.
Whig.
I own they were for some time, like Fishes who
ave got a Worm in their Heads, they did frisk and leap
ut of their own Element; but like them too, they soon
ung'd into it again; for King
James
was scarce got to
eversham,
before they repented what they had done, and
om that day to this have given all the Proofs and Marks
an invincible Hatred and Enmity to the present Government: They oppos'd the King's coming to the Crown,
ell into Cabals for the weakning his Government when
e was King, and rais'd Rebellion without, and Plots within the Kingdom for the restoring King
James,
&c. Nay, at this time it is undeniable, that wherever th
Clergy are most numerous, the
Jacobites
are most numerous too; there are more
Jacobites
ten for one in ever
Cathedral Town, than in any other Towns, accountin
number for number: And how the Universities are generally disaffected to this Government, is notorious; the reproach and rail against the very Bishops and Clergyme
prefer'd in this Reign. The Archbishop of
Canterb
himself, whose Learning, Piety, and Excellencies of a kinds, are so eminent, that it seems impolitick in them, a
well as unjust to reproach him; yet him too do they ra
scoff at, and treat with the foulest Invectives. In shor
those who every day piously attend the Service and religious Worship of the Church, who most frequently a
Communicants in the holy Sacrament, these they will no
withstanding call
Presbyterians, canting, whining Hypocrit
&c. and esteem none sound Members of their Body, b
those who drink with them, and come up to all the
highest Points of Dominion, Tyranny, and Uncharitabl
ness to all those who are not of their Faction: I will no
call it their Church, because I think it a Dishonour to th
best Reform'd Church in the World, to be serv'd by such a Clergy as are not only a Scandal to the Name of Protestant, but to the Name of Religion; and who, unde
the Title of Protestant Priests, are labouring with a
their Power the Return of King
James,
with his Poper
and Slavery, and preach and pray openly for his Restoration, whilst no Exhortation for Obedience to our presen
King, our great Deliverer from Popery and Slavery, heard from any Pulpit, no Passive-Obedience nor No
resistance is nam'd in this Reign: And if for the sake
their Livings they are forc'd to pray for the King an
Queen, it is in so faint and low a Voice, as if they ha
no mind to be heard either by God or the People.
Tory.
Some few discontented Persons there may be perhaps, who may deserve this Character, but I hope yo
do not lay this Charge upon the whole Clergy of
England
Whig.
No, I know there are many religious, learned an
good Men amongst them, and there will I hope be more if this Government continues: But that the Number
not small who have refus'd the Oaths to this present Government, you cannot deny; and that most of the High-Church, as they call themselves, those who (as a learne
Doctor said) have the
Spirit of the Church
in which the
were bred, tho they will not say with St.
Paul,
they have the
Spirit of God
The first Instance I have met of their Modesty.
: Most of this Order, I say, profess to
e the Oath of Allegiance to this King, as he is King
facto,
not
de jure.
And by the Example of these Re
end Clergy-men, the Lay-Knaves and Fools are di
ted to take Oaths with mental Reservations, and pri
e Interpretations and Distinctions. And having no
inciple but that of Self-Interest, in which case you
r renounce all Justice, all Humanity to your Fellow-
eatures; you profess Slavery to some, that you may
d it over others; yea renounce and trample upon all
ws to serve a Turn, make a Jest of Liberty and Proper
▪ And to gratify your Pride or Avarice, you have be
ray'd your Country, persecuted and murder'd your inno
nt Countrymen and Fellow-Citizens, sold your Neigh
rs to the
French
King, and your Laws and Religion to
late Kings; and even from the same Principles have
en endeavouring to bring about the same Practices in
s Reign too; and in order to it, have been tempting
ur Lord and Master, in the Language of the Devil to
Saviour,
All this will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down
worship me:
and I hope he will answer you in his
rds upon that occasion,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
ng.
Thus have I given you in few Lines an Account of
e Rise, Principles and Practices of your Party, with
hich I could fill a Volume: But I consider the Nation
eds only a general Hint to refresh their Memory to
rticulars. For the Smart of the Wounds receiv'd in the
e Reigns from you, is yet most sensible to many honest
glish
-men.
Tory.
If this Devil of a
Tory
be so black as you paint
m, I wonder how he comes by so fair a Character, and
numerous a Party in the Nation, and so great a Coun
nance from all Courts of contrary Interests.
Whig.
Fair Appearances, and great Numbers prove no
ing; the leudest Srumpets are often fair, and Fools and
naves have in all Ages out-number'd the Wise and Ho
est. How ye
Tories
came to have so great a Countenance
om the last Court, I have already shew'd, and will
ince you command me) shew you how ye became the
avourites of this Court too, even by the same Means,
nd the same Man, that made you Favourites in King
harles
's Time. For the M. of
C.
after all his mischie
ous Management of Affairs in that Reign, having by
n ill Fate to this poor Nation, got into some small Pre
ence of Merit, by little Assistances he gave to the late Revolution; upon this he sets up again for Ministry. But being apprehensive that those honest Gentlemen, who had
o bravely expos'd their Lives and Fortunes for the Re
emption of their Country, and were so well acquainted with his Methods in the late Reigns, would be jealous o
his having too great a Credit with the King, he though
it his best play to begin with them; and from his firs
coming to Court, labour'd to insinuate Jealousies into th
King of those Gentlemen as
Commonwealths-men, Haters
Monarchy,
&c. and having likewise an implacable Pique t
Parliaments, for their Impeachment and Imprisonment o
him, he at the same time represents that part of the Government envious of the King's Power, and always endeavouring to make him a King of Clouts, a Duke o
Venice,
&c. Thus by misrepresenting the King's be
Friends, he made way to bring in his old Practices, an
his old working Tools (whom he represented to be Me
of Business, and Friends to Monarchy) into this Cour
too; and being assisted afterwards by the E. of
N.
an
some others, ye have indeed carry'd all before you: an
how much to the Interest of the Nation, and the Honou
of the King, let all the World judg, who have seen thi
poor Kingdom every year for this last four years brough
to a reasonable Apprehension of being invaded from Abroad, and betray'd at Home; and in a word, to subsis
only by a Miracle.
Tory.
All this rambling Story you have told is a wil
Supposition, and straining the Intention of this nobl
Lord to your own malicious Purpose, who design'd nothin
more in bringing in these Gentlemen you call the King
Enemies, than by reconciling them to the King and hi
Government, to make the Foundation of it broader an
deeper: And I know not how this comes to be such
Crime, and so ill Policy with us. I have heard, that
Henr
the Fourth of
France,
who was esteem'd a wise and politick Prince, thought it very good King-craft, to cares
his Enemies of the League, and to make his Court to the Jesuits.
Whig.
And pray, what did he get by it? Did he ever gain either of them heartily into his Interest? Were not those of the League ever ready to plot with the
Spaniard,
&c. against him? And for his dear Friends of the Church, not all his Renunciation of his old Religion, and his old Friends; not all his Gifts, his Caresses, and his Courtship could reconcile them to him, or so much as save his Life, when they had it in their Power to destroy it. For those jealous Gentlemen, the
Jesuits,
never would believe they had his Heart, till it was sent them in a Box to
La
A College of Je
its in
Anjou.
Fleche
to be buried there.
Tory.
But notwithstanding your
Jesuits Tale of a Tub,
I
undertake that all the
Tories
(as you call them) in
land,
both Clergy and Lay-men, shall take the Oaths
the King, and serve him heartily, provided he will
one thing.
Whig.
What's that?
Tory.
Utterly discard you
Whigs,
and give us the Penal
ws again upon the Fanaticks.
Whig.
And would that make the Foundation of the Go
nment broader and deeper, as you talk'd just now?
ides, have you not heard a Story of one
Sampson,
Sir,
o after he had resign'd his Lock of Hair in which his
ength lay, was deliver'd up to his Enemies by those he
trusted? But supposing what you propose (if gran
) might win you to be
Williamites,
were King
James
d; yet I am mistaken, if whilst he lives, and the King
France
continues as powerful as at present, you will ever
drawn by any Courtship, to engage so far in the Inte
ts of this Government, as to swear otherwise to the
ng than as King
de facto,
nor will you make your Re
nciliation to King
James
desperate. Answer to this
int plainly and truly.
Tory.
Wise Men will always secure a Retreat; and Self
eservation is a first Principle with all Men. And as a
entleman said wittily upon this occasion, As long as the
overnment can maintain it self, and will maintain me,
is sure of me: But I have liv'd too long at Court to die
Martyr for any Monarch, and will always behave my
lf so in one Court, as to be well with the next. And
o perhaps this is not all that this Government might
asonably wish from us, yet I can tell you they do not be
eve that they shall mend themselves, by changing us for
u, for divers and sundry Reasons.
Whig.
Pray let us have some of them.
Tory.
First, because you are for a Commonwealth Go
rnment, and Haters of Monarchy.
Whig.
That is, that we are mad Men, and void of all
ommon Sense and Reason; for whoever hath either of
ese, will know a Commonwealth to be a Chimera im
racticable, and impossible to be brought about in
England.
Macchiavel
be of any Authority, he says, in his 55
th
Chapter upon Government,
That where there is not an Equa
ty in the Conditions and Estates of a People, it is impossible for
hat People or Nation to erect and settle a Commonwealth.
He gives you Examples to confirm this, but I think there are some more to our purpose, as being more recent and nearer home. Upon the Revolt of the
Low-Countries
from the
Spanish
Yoke, it was necessary for them to put themselves under some Form of Government; and the For
being in their own free Choice, seven of the seventee
Provinces, who were a trading sort of People, much upo
an Equality in their Condition and Fortune, and had fe
Families of Nobility or Gentry among them, fell naturally into a Commonwealth-Government: But the othe
ten Provinces, having great Numbers of Nobility and Ge
try, tho they were more immediately under the Tyran
of the
Spaniard,
and had been more particularly sensible o
D' Alva
's Cruelty and Oppression, notwithstanding cho
rather to continue under the hated Government of
Spai
than to accept of the Invitation the other seven Province
had made them of coming into the more hated Project of Commonwealth; so impossible it is to reconcile Men di
tinguish'd by Titles and Fortunes, to mix themselves in common Level with the People upon any Consideration o
Disgust whatsoever. And whoever will look over wh
pass'd here in
England
from the Year 1648, to the Yea
1660. will be yet more convinc'd of the Truth of th
Assertion, and of the Nonsense of any Commonwealth Design in this Nation. Perhaps there were never at an
time so many Men of strong Inclinations for a Commo
wealth-Government as then, nor of greater Abilities t
effect such a Design: And yet they found the Nobilit
Gentry and dignify'd Clergy such a Rub in their way, i
no Art, no Force could remove; and at last they we
brought into that Confusion and Disorder by attempting i
that the very People and Army who were in this Projec
of a Commonwealth, and had overthrown the Monarch
in order to it, and could support
Cromwel
in a singl
Person, yet after his Death saw a necessity of restoring th
Monarchy again, and assisted towards it. But this wa
the Dust which the two last Courts threw into the People Eyes, when they would make them blind to arbitrar
Power and Popery; and is now one great Artifice th
Jacobites
depend upon, whereby to separate the Friends
this Government from its Support, tho it will always be Jeft to understanding Men. I have heard a Story of Lady, who passing thro a Croud to her Coach, and havin
a rich Jewel on her Breast, cover'd the Jewel with one o
her Hands; which a Pickpocket in the Croud observin
steps up to her, and claps his Hand upon a Place belo
which he thought would oblige her to remove her Han
from her Breast, to defend it: But the Lady apprehendin
the Thief's Design, very prudently neglected the fall Attack, and apply'd both her Hands to the securing he
Jewel, and by that means came off safe. And so Gentlemen, whenever you make your false Attack upon o
mmonwealth, we shall for the future take it for the
nal to us, that your real Aim is at our Liberties and
perties, and shall apply both our Hands and Hearts to
securing those Jewels of inestimable Price. But to be
ous, in our case the
Whigs
(as I said in the beginning of
Discourse) have given sufficient Proof how little they
gn'd a Commonwealth, and how hearty they were to
Monarchy, in their struggling so zealously to set the
wn on the King's Head.
Tory.
We own you were for giving him the Name of a
g; but after all, speak sincerely, did you design to
e him any more than a King of Clouts, a Duke of
Ve
or a Stadtholder?
Whig.
We design'd to make him as great a King as the
ws of
England
and our antient Constitution make any
ng: And if you pretend to make him more, take the
nour of it. But, Sir, upon this occasion your Party
e for making his present Majesty less than either a Duke
Venice,
or a Stadtholder of
Holland:
For in proposing to
e him a Regent, you make him only a Journy-man
g, a Subject to King
James,
and accountable to him.
what the
Whigs
did to deserve being suspected of a
mmonwealth Design, or of any Intention to lessen the
g's just Power, I am yet ignorant.
Tory.
You are wilfully so then; for what could the mea
g of the Convention be to settle the Revenue of the
wn from three Years to three Years, and to take away
Revenue of the
Chimny-Mony,
one of the fairest Flowers
the Crown, but lessening the King's Power, and making
Government precarious?
Whig.
The Chimny-Tax being grown a Grievance more
sible and more odious to the common People than any
er; and the Danger of being enslav'd by giving such
at Revenues (for Life) to the two last Kings (by
ch they were inabled to maintain Standing Armies,
to subsist without Parliaments) was so fresh in the
mories of all thinking
Englishmen,
and so apprehended
them, that the King's Friends thought it greatly for
Service to take away the Burden of the one, and the
prehension of the other from the People; and by using
ferent Methods to those which had been follow'd in the
rmer Reigns, to make his present Majesty's Government
re acceptable to all good Men, and that he might hereby
gn in the Hearts of his Subjects, and be distinguish'd by
em: which Method, if pursu'd, would have given us a
rer Prospect of our Affairs, than at present I am afraid
have. But this is not the Interest of wicked Ministers,
o when Kings take their Courses, lose these Dominion over them: their Business is therefore to make Prin
jealous of Encroachments of Parliaments, of Comm
wealth Designs amongst the People, to represent the Kin
Interest separate from the Interest of his Subjects; a
then, to ingratiate themselves with him, and raise th
selves in his Opinion for their Parts and Abilities, t
offer him Schemes of Politicks, to prevent Designs aga
him which were never thoght on. Thus these ho
Jago
's first work a Prince up to Jealousies and Hatred his People, by false Suggestions; and then, as a Rem
against the Mischiefs they have suppos'd, put him u
Designs ruinous to his Country and himself. But in
mean time, by appearing thus zealous for what they
the King's particular Interest and Glory, they insin
themselves into some sort of Princes Favour, they bec
Confidents of all Court-Intrigues, and grow great
rich; they dispose all Offices, and crush all who are their Creatures, and at last come to awe and govern Ki
themselves. As Waiting-Women, who when they h
debauch'd their Mistresses by their mercenary Sollic
tions, and are become the Trustees of their Frailty, t
no longer tast the Busk, nor bitter Reproofs for misplac
a Pin or Patch; but from Servants become Mistresses, Faults are then found with them, no Liberty deny'd the
even the Purse, and the rich Petticoat is absolutely at Waiting-Woman's Service, till at last they bring th
Mistresses to Infamy and Beggary. And so to return the Ministry again; by this kind of Management t
make their Masters Kings of Clouts, necessitous, misera
and despis'd Princes. For Example; What made the
King
James
a King of Clouts, but those evil Counsell
who put him upon a Despotick and Dispensing Pow
and propagating a Religion against Law; who put
upon preferring Papists and
Irish,
to Protestants and
Engl
who advis'd his seizing Colleges and Charters, setting High-Commission-Courts, and making Parliaments
Laws a Nose of Wax? Deny this if you can, Mr.
T
Nay, as to your Idol-King,
Charles
II. (who notwi
standing I believe much the worse of the two Broth
as sinning against a better Understanding, and grea
Obligations) was it not by these Counsels and some these Counsellors, that this Gentleman was made a K
of Clouts too, from having all the Advantages at the t
of his Restoration that ever King was bless'd with?
was belov'd, delighted in, and courted by his Subjec
was respected Abroad, in Plenty and Power at Home; a
could direct the Votes of a Parliament with a Nod (m
than he could at last with his Exchequer) yet after
this, in a few Years, by the Management of some of
present Evil Counsellors, who gave him ill Impressions
his Subjects, made him out of love with Parliaments,
poison'd him with lawless Power, and Love of Tricks
worst of Poisons to an
English
King) who, for their
filthy Interest, persuaded him to sell
Dunkirk,
break
Triple League,
and enter into Measures with
France,
de
ctive to the Interest of this Nation, and of all
Europe:
these Measures, I say, he at last became distasteful to
Subjects, and was forsaken by a Parliament the most
ch'd to him, and in love with his Person to a Fault; so
at last his Necessities drove him to become a Pensioner
France
A fine Character for an
English
King.
. And if you will believe Mr.
Dryden,
his Poet
reat, he concluded his Reign in these miserable Cir
stances, of being [despis'd Abroad, and living on Tricks
Home.] And how these Gentlemens Father and
ndfather were made Kings of Clouts by the like Mea
s and the like Ministers, by endeavouring at lawless
ver, and laying aside Parliaments,
&c.
even the Histo
of those Times publish'd by their own Authority,
ke it out plainly. And now, Mr.
Tory,
if you please
will examine a little into the few Examples we have
Princes who have practis'd a contrary method to
before-mention'd one; we will inquire what Effects
t sort of Government has produc'd, and we need go
farther, I think, than Queen
Elizabeth
's Reign, the
mediate Predecessor to the
Scotish
Race, to fetch a Com
ison that will answer all Objections: And to give the
uty of her Government its due Lustre, let us set it off
h the Difficulties that attended it, and surrounded it
the beginning. Let us consider her in the first place—
the weaker Sex,—a Woman—having no
A new Distinction our Statesman have lately found out.
right
tho a lawful Title;—the greatest part of her
bjects of a contrary Religion to her—The Queen
Scotland,
her next Neighbour, a Pretender to the
own—
Ireland
in open Rebellion: The King of
Spain,
greatest Monarch of
Europe
at that time, her mortal
emy and Invader—Plots and Conspiracies by the
pists against her at home—And no Ally abroad but
e
Dutch,
then an Infant State, and supported by her.—
d yet we see this poor weak Woman in the midst of all
ese Disadvantages, absolute and uncontroul'd at Home,
ful and glorious Abroad. This indeed seems very ex
ordinary; let us inquire therefore what Methods were then practis'd in order to the producing such wonder
Success: Was it by corrupting Elections, or making P
sioners of Parliament-Men?—No, for her Court
pleaded (as well in bar of being Parliament-Men as being Sheriffs) that they were the Queen's Servants: that by this we may reasonably conclude there was nothi
to be got by it in those Days.—Was it by imployi
her Sister Queen
Mary
's Ministers, or courting her Enem
the Papists?—No,—For she made
England
too hot
the one, and adorn'd almost every Gibbet in the Nati
with her Justice upon the other.—Was it by a Standi
Army then?—Not that neither; for she had no Art
nor no Guards, but her Gentlemen-Pensioners, and Y
men of the Guard. I know you'l say,
How the Devil a
she bring Matters about as she did, without using any of
admir'd Methods of our late Times?
—In good soo
even by so homely and plain a Receipt, that you'l lat
at me when I tell it you—Only—by loving, and co
ting the Love of her People, and not preferring
Scotl
French,
nor
Irish
Favourites to them (as in the late Reig
—By being just to their Rights and Liberties, and devot
to their Interests—By rewarding bountifully, and p
nishing severely—By encouraging honest Men, a
—browbeating State-Projectors and Tricksters; Kna
who persuade Princes, that their Interest is separate fr
the Interest of their People;—who counsel them stretch Prerogative, or be overfond of it;—who end
vour to breed unkind Thoughts in them to their be
Friends and honestest Subjects. This sort of Gentlem
were out at Heels in her time. She, like a truly wi
Woman, never seem'd fond of Despotick Dominion, n
of those who flatter'd her with it, and put her upon i
for she knew, that
Nolo Dominari
is the readiest way
Power in
England,
and that it is soonest
found of those w
seek it not.
—She—wisely thought, that to be th
Deliverer of Europe,
was a greater Character than to b
Conqueror of it
; and that it would be more truly glorio
to redeem one single Town from Slavery, than to enslav
the whole World. Not like some of her Successor
who (unworthy to be Sovereigns of the Noble Order th
Kings of
England
wear) have chosen rather to be th
Dragon than St.
George,
rather to destroy than to defe
their Kingdoms. She never took Mony from her Subject
but she gave them a Pennyworth for their Penny, an
was seldom nice in affording them such Laws as the thought necessary to their Safety. For being well assur
or her own just intentions, she never suspected their And thus at last she got an absolute Power even over th
s,—as a good Wife gets a Power over her Husband,
oving and obeying him. And now I think I have suf
ently exemplify'd what sort of Ministers and Methods
are which make Princes great and glorious Monarchs,
which make them Kings of Clouts. And whether this
er Character belongs to the
Whig
or
Tory,
I submit to
Judgment of every impartial and reasonable Man. But
n with your Charge.
Tory.
It is objected against you
Whigs
also, that you do
love the King's Person.
Whig.
What an Accusation hast thou blunder'd upon,
n very
Irish Tory,
thou eternal Trifler! Not love the
g's Person!—'Tis a Thought fit only for a Chamber
d, when the Chaplain or Valet offer their Service to
. Kings are to be lov'd by Millions of their Subjects
o never see their Persons (as Heaven is by Mankind)
their Providence and Care of their People, for the In
nces they dispense of their Justice and Mercy, and for
universal Good and Benefits which they scatter amongst
ir Subjects. And in this Point their Thoughts and
signs should be God-like; and by any other sort of
vers than these, any King will be as slenderly accom
ny'd in his Misfortunes, as King
James
was to
Feversham.
t beside, this Accusation is as false as it is foolish: pray,
, Who shew'd the most early Inclination to the Prince
Orange
's Person, the
Whigs
or the
Tories?
Who went
o
Holland
first, and begun the Project of the Prince of
ange
's coming over hither,
Whigs
or
Tories?
Who put the
own upon his Head when he did come,
Whigs
or
Tories?
t to come nearer to the Point; Did not the
Whigs
shew
most apparent Partiality to the Prince of
Orange
's Person
all the Points of the Settlement of the Crown, and
rticularly in giving it him for Life, overlooking at the
me time the P. of
D
's Title, and the Lineal Succession?
id they not to a Man stand by the King's Authority in
e Debate concerning the P. of
D
's Revenue, and leave
e Disposal of that Affair intirely to the King's Pleasure?
nd now after four Years being us'd like the worst of
nemies for all these Services; after being shut out from
eaking to the King, and almost from seeing him; after
eing discountenanc'd and frown'd upon, they have notwithstanding (like the humorous Lieutenant) ever shew'd
grutching to his Grace upon the least Incouragement or
nvitation; and have at the opening of every Sessions, for three Winters successively, still been ready to swallow the
ame Sweetnings, and to be coaks'd by a Clap on the Cheek, like an old City Cuckold and Cully, and have been wrought into a Credulity, which nothing but their Fondness and Dotage on the King's Person could ha
effected.
Tory.
But you will not deny that you have sometim
express'd your selves peevishly concerning the King.
Whig.
And what Lover that hangs or drowns hims
for his Mistress, does not do the same? Railing in a Lo
is an infallible Symptom that he is far gone in the Distemper; and no Woman ever yet resented it when it ca
from that Cause. But our Court has not learn'd to distinguish between those who are angry with them, in conce
for their Prosperity, and those who seem'd pleas'd wi
them in hopes that they are in the way to Destructi
And to speak plainly, Sir, the Partiality and Courtsh
which the King hath shew'd to you
Tories,
in spite of
your apparent Hatred of his Person, as well as your pr
fess'd Dislike of his Title and Government, and the Av
sion he has shew'd to the
Whigs,
and Contempt of all the Advances and Addresses, has begotten ugly Reasonings
jealous and prying Men, as if there were a Biass towar
the Principles of former Governments, rather than
those this Government declar'd for, and set up upon: An
even the wise and well-meaning
Tories
begin once aga
to smell a T—d, when you hold it so near their Nos
But come, proceed.
Tory.
You are likewise accus'd of being wedded to
Party, and by that means will reduce his Majesty to
King of a Faction only of his Subjects.
Whig.
This will appear much otherwise, if you w
please to remember who brought in the E. of
N.
to b
Secretary of State, and many others of that Party, a
how few of your Faction were displac'd by the
Whigs
whe
they had Interest with the King. But this Charge wi
appear most foully true upon you, who by the basest Ingratitude and Villany fell upon undermining those wh
brought you into the Government the minute you wer
possess'd of the King's Ear. And yet you see, notwithstanding all your barbarous Treatment of us, we have always come in chearfully to all Votes for Mony, all Loans and all other Measures to support your Credit and the common Interest; till both are fallen so low, that the People Clamors were never so loud, nor their Dissatisfaction never so great. You, like
Solomon
's Harlot, are for tearing the Government asunder, if you may not have the Po
session of it. We have shew'd on the other hand true motherly Tenderness, and consented rather that it should remain in your Possession intirely, than be torn in piece
betwixt us; till it appear'd to all the World what a vile Step-mother you have been, and how you have starv'd and
s'd a Government worthy your most indulgent Tender
s and Care. And yet I am not for refusing any
Tory
t gives proof of his sincere Repentance, and of a
ve to his Country, but with all my heart would give
share of the fatted Calf to make the returning Pro
al welcome: tho I cannot but think it reasonable, that
should submissively seek the Government, and not the
vernment submissively seek you; that you should own
r Sin against Heaven and against your Country, and
e Security of another course of Life for the future,
not justify your Faults, and persevere in them. If I
ld see amongst any of you the least Consideration for
common Good and Benefit of Mankind, and the universal Welfare of your Fellow-Creatures, to which you
bound by the Law of God and the Law of Nature,
to which all the Heathens, who were not barbarous,
d a most profound Reverence and Obedience, and pre
'd to all private Interest, to Wives, Children, Estate,
to Life it self: If I can find any amongst you a Lover
his Country, a sincere Supporter of the Laws, Liber
s and Interest of the
English
Nation, I am as much his
rvant, tho he be a
Not—m,
a
Ca—n,
or a
R—r,
if he were a
Sh—
,
a
Ru—ll,
a
Som—rs,
or a
—d.
But instead of shewing any regard to the In
rest of the Nation, any Bowels for your Country, any
elf-denial in point of private Interest; have you not sold
ur Country and their Birth-rights upon all Occasions
ike
Esau
) for a Mess of Pottage? Have not some of
u put off Human Nature, Human Reason, and all common Honesty so far, as to conspire to bring in a
French
ower, to gratify your private and personal Piques? To
ring in Popery and Slavery to rule over you, because you
annot tyrannically rule over your Fellow-Subjects? Remember what the
Presbyterians
got by being so active in
estoring the two late Popish Kings, hoping to be reveng'd
hereby upon the
Independents
and other Dissenters. Were
hey not mingled in the same Persecution with the others,
ay more oppress'd and mark'd out for Wrath, as being more numerous and more considerable than any other Sect?
ust so must the
Church
and their Proselites expect to fare
rom the hands of their Popish Friends (whose Cause they
re so zealously propagating) they may admit them to the Honour of being the
Cat's-foot,
but not a bit of the
Ches
ut.
No
Whig,
no
Fanatick,
but will then have as fair Quarter (at least) from King
Lewis,
as you; for King
James
I take to be only a Cypher and Property to your
French
Lord and Master, who when he has finish'd his Work, will finish his Life too. And do you
Jure Divino,
you truly loyal Gentlemen, think that you will find mo
Favour then for being more attach'd to King
James
Interest? No, be assur'd, the most inveterate Enemies
King
James
will meet with as favourable a Treatment a
least as you, who have profess'd your selves so violent
enamour'd of King
James
's Person, and of the right Line Reflect a little upon the King of
France
's Conduct at the time of the late Revolution: He knew long before the Prince of
Orange
's Design of making a Descent into
England
and could have prevented it a thousand ways; but inste
of that, he writes to
Barillon,
then his Ambassador
England,
to know in what condition King
James
was
oppose the Prince's Forces. He being a Foreigner, an
judging only by outward Appearances, represents th
Army of King
James
sufficiently powerful to resist what Force the Prince of
Orange
could bring: whereupon th
French
King believing that the
English
and
Dutch
wou'd b
this means weaken and destroy one another, and leave
fair Game for him the next Year against the Emperor and
Flanders
; and to take away all Apprehension from the
Dutch
of their needing an Army for their own Defence and to give all Encouragement to their Design upon
England,
he draws all his Troops from the side of
Flanders
and falls upon
Philipsburgh
: which Army if he had march'
towards the
Spanish
Frontiers in
Flanders,
the
Dutch
dur
not have transported a Man, and the whole Design of th
Descent had been at an end. From hence it is plai
what Friendship the
French
King had for his dear Brother King
James,
and what you may expect from this Man o
Honour and good Nature, when you have serv'd his turn
Come, grow wise and honest, and let us not divide under this or that Ministry, under this or that Faction or Party; but let us all unite against the common Enemy: let us make the Publick Interest, and the Support of the Government as it is establish'd by Law, our chief and only Aim; and for all Projectors and Conspirators, whether for a
Commonwealth,
or
French Tyranny,
or any other
Tyranny,
I wish they were all hang'd on the same Tree, the first for Fools, the others for Miscreants and Villains. And thus much, and no more, am I for being wedded to a Party.
Tory.
I own you have told us a fair Tale; but nothing i
prov'd, nothing appears undeniable, but your Venom and Enmity against the Church and her Friends.
Whig.
If you mean the
French
Story needs proving, the Disgrace of
Barillon
when he return'd to
Versailles
upon the account of mistaking and misrepresenting the
English
Affairs, is notorious: But besides, the Story proves it self
e than a thousand Witnesses; and for the rest, I have
ted nothing but what every
English
Man is knowing of.
d as for what you charge me with in relation to the
urch, I see little reason for it; unless, as St.
Paul
says,
account me your Enemy because I tell you the Truth.
my part I reverence the Church of
England
as much
any Man: But I am not for sacrificing the Laws and
erties of the Publick, nay the very Nation it self, to a
eign Conquest, for the Sound of a word. I have a due
ect for the Priesthood too, and am their
Servant,
but
er can submit to be their
Slave
; I honour their Coat,
cannot be content to strip my self of mine in respect to
A moderate Respect is decent, and our Duty; more
ke to be Superstition at least, if not Idolatry: and to
ship a wooden Priest appears to me as bad as worship
g a wooden God.
Tory.
Now you are running into your usual Violence
Heat; and let me tell you as a Friend, it does you no
d neither with the Church nor Court, which latter has
ery low Opinion of those Men who express too much
rmth in what they say or do.
Whig.
And therefore their Affairs have succeeded accor
gly. Let the Nation be Judg, Whether if Men of
rmth had been put in Office by our Ministers, the
xes would not have been more justly and carefully col
ted, than they have been by those lukewarm Mana
rs they have employ'd; who, like the unjust Steward,
en the King's due was an Hundred, bid their Neigh
urs write down Fifty? Or, do you think the Deputy
eutenants of
Surry
would have absconded last Year, when
ey were order'd to raise the Militia upon King
James
's
ming down to
Normandy,
if they had been Men of
armth to the Government? Or that King
James
's
iends would dare to profess their Opinions, and carry
their Designs so publickly? That they would presume
insult the Government in every Coffee-house; nay, in
e
Mall
and
Whitehall
it self? That they would dare to
reaten you to your teeth, as they do, with Invasions,
escents and Rebellions; or would venture to correspond
ith
France,
and go forward and backward every day to
ing
James
; nay, raise Regiments of Horse and Foot un
er your noses for a Rebellion, if Men of Warmth and
eal were in the Government? But it is from hence
hat all these Insolences take their Rise, that the Enemies
f the Government are come from hating it, to despise it;
hat its Friends are discourag'd to appear for it, and that
hose Officers and Soldiers who in King
Charles's
time
ould have broken the Heads of those whom they heard reflect upon the King's Person or Government, will
this Reign hear both treated very odly; not that t
want Affection to either, but out of a fear to offend,
shewing themselves
Men of warmth
and
Partymen,
th
Characters being so abominable to our Court.
Tory.
You
Whigs
have been the occasion of all this t
for you were so irreconcilable to some Ministers of St
at the beginning of the Revolution, because they h
made a few slips in the late Reigns; or perhaps beca
they had hang'd some of your Friends, a Father, or B
ther, or so; that you forc'd them to take in some Perso
whom they themselves thought not very proper for t
Government: But if you will run a Man down, he
support himself at any rate; for Men are but Men. A
withal I believe they hop'd that a Place would buy a
Party out of their Principles, and that all whom th
brought into the Government, would be oblig'd by th
means to be for the Government.
Whig.
This is very far fetch'd, Mr.
Tory,
tho it is t
the first time I have heard it. But as to the first part
this Paragraph, the Matter of Fact is false: The
Wo
were willing to forget all past Miscarriages, and be reco
cil'd to any Minister that could be honest, as I shew
you before. But these Gentlemen quickly convinc'd a
the World, that they were grown so old and stiff in the former Mischiefs, that they were capable of no oth
Bent or Impression, but what they had taken in the la
Reigns. And it was plain to every Man who had Ev
that they were no sooner in the Ministry, but they fe
into their old Schemes, which no honest Man could com
into; and which I am afraid the Court has not found th
good Effects from, which these
Evil Counsellors
promis'
It's true, by giving Places to all that were supple an
complying, you have brought in the Knaves of all Parties But since that which brings them into the Service of th
Government, is their own Interest, and not that of th
Government; it will be reasonable for our Rulers to expect, that the whole Design of such Men will be rathe
how to serve themselves of the Government, than ho
to serve it. To conclude, Sir, notwithstanding all yo
have said in excuse of your Ministers and their Method
I cannot but remain in my first Opinion, That
the Men
easy Phlegm, born on the Confines of Indifference,
as Sir
Samue
Tuke
in
F—ch-like Fustian
describes our lukewarm Neutrals are not fit Men to be employ'd in our Government, as the Case stands at present, but will prove as destructive to i
as downright
Jacobites.
Tory.
All this is taking things for granted which we
y, and accusing Men of what you do not prove; and
were so, you confess there are Knaves of your Party
Whig.
The Truth of what I say in relation to your Par
is so notorious to all the World, that it would be as
ertinent to go about proving it, as to prove there is
n; even you your selves have confess'd, and preten
to repent of your Principles and Practices in King
mes
's time, tho you are now return'd to your Vomit.
as to what you say of our having Knaves amongst us,
ust confess it too true; and am as much afflicted as
can be, that any
Whig
should invade your undoubted
sole Right of being Knaves, and selling and betray
their Fellow-Subjects. But yet we hope we may claim
distinction to be made betwixt our Party, who not only
fess, but have maintain'd to the death the Religion,
ghts and Libertys of their Country; and yours, who
King
Charles
's and beginning of King
James
's Reign
e up all these things; and who, tho you are employ'd
and sworn to the present Government, made publick
joicings at the Slaughter of our Armies and Destruc
on of our Fleets. If the
Whigs
have the misfortune of
me Knaves professing themselves of their Party; our
viour himself had a
Judas
amongst his Twelve, and
t that did not at all discredit the Doctrine and
inciples of the Apostles; nor does our having some
naves among us, make it as reasonable and equal to ad
ere to your Party, that are the profess'd Enemies of
eir King and Country, as to depend on those who
ave generally in all times and on all Occasions declar'd
heir Affection to their Country, Love of its Laws and
eligion, and have since the Revolution shew'd their Zeal
or the present Establishment.
Tory.
Just now you seem'd to agree to a Comprehension,
nd were for welcoming the Prodigals, as you call'd them;
ow you are for excluding them again.
Whig.
No, I am for receiving any
Tory,
as I told you,
hat seeks the Government, and becomes a true Penitent:
ut I would not have the Government seek them, nor would I have them entrusted in this critical time without some marks of their Repentance and Regeneracy; and by our Easiness give them the Opportunity of selling us to the
French
K. or K.
James,
as I fear some of 'em do at this time.
Tory.
All that's Malice and Stuff, and not reasonably to be apprehended: And I tell you once more, it is the Opinion of some wise Men, that the King cannot follow a more fatal Counsel than to confine himself to any on
Party of his Subjects.
Whig.
Then your Patrons have been advising him fatall
these four Years; for they have been persuading the Kin
to throw himself intirely into your hands.
Tory.
They never refus'd to receive any Whig, tha
would comply, and come under their Protection; but
the King will chuse any one Party, I think we of th
Church are the most numerous and considerable, and ar
fittest as such to be employ'd by him.
Whig.
Now you are retir'd into your Sanctuary,
th
Church,
you think you are safe, and it is indeed dangerou
pursuing you: But however I'll venture it; and since yo
force me, I must repeat again some of those Argument
I have given you already, why you are not fit to b
trusted by this Government. First, you Tories do no
believe your selves King
William
's Subjects, and therefor
are very unfit to be employ'd by him as his Servants▪ Secondly, it cools the Affections of the People, to se
those employ'd in Places of highest Trust, who they hav
a Demonstration are not for the Government even whe
they are in it. And by this Method it is plain the King (according to the Fable) loses his
Shoulder of Mutton,
by catching at the
Shadow
; and by aiming at both Parties, he has neither.
Tory.
I confess I am for the King's relying on one Party as much as you are (tho not yours) but however, there are great and wise Men, as I told you, of another Opinion; and I have heard it ask'd, Why this method of uniting all Parties should not have as good an effect here as in
Holland,
for there the Prince of
Orange
reconcil'd all to the common Interest?
Whig.
I'll tell you why: First, it appears all Parties there sincerely intended the Good of the Government; which, it is too plain, is not your case. Secondly, Neither Party had any other Head to repair to, as you
Tories
have. The Prince of
Orange
had no pretending Rival to the Right of Stadtholder; but the King has here a Rival, a Father-in-Law, who pretends a Right to the Crown, who is supported by the greatest Power that ever was known in
Europe,
so as to make the Event appear doubtful, even to those who are most zealous to this Government. And by this means the Friends of King
James
are encourag'd to be firm to his Interests, and Neutrals; nay, and even his fearful Enemies are frighted from acting with a Zeal against him. Is this a time then to be trying Experiments, to put our selves and our Affairs into the hands of Men bred up, and principled against the Design of this Government? Is this a time to reconcile our
lves to our Enemies, and to take Men out of Plots, and place them in our Cabinet? No sure, with my Lord
N—
's leave,
this is not the time.
In this time of danger, those who have been the antient and declar'd Enemies of King
James,
and who have most reason to expect being hang'd if he return, are most fit for the King to rely on. But when these Difficulties are master'd, as much Comprehension as you please. In the mean time your Education in
Toryism,
your Obligations to King
James,
and, which is more than both, your present Hopes from him, will make you so averse to this Government, that no Favour, no Courtship can engage you heartily in its Interests; and it is nonsense to expect you should fight for a Title you have always declar'd to disapprove of.
Tory.
You are always harping upon that string: But
pposing we do not approve of the making him King,
t we know how to obey Kings when they are made; but
u, after you have made a King, are using him like your
reature, clipping his Power, and finding fault with his
onduct. For my part,
if I were a King, I would sooner
give a Man that dislik'd my Title, than one who dislik'd my Conduct.
Whig.
Why then, Mr.
Tory,
you would be none of the
sest Princes: For he who finds fault with your Conduct may be your Friend, but he who finds fault with your Title must be your Enemy, or else a Knave, and acts against his Conscience. But how does this Article appear, of the
Whigs
being dissatify'd with the King's Conduct in any point, but in his employing you, and the Consequences of it? Is it from giving chearfully whatever
ums were demanded in Parliament? Is it being ready to advance Mony upon the most remote Funds, in offering their Persons to the Publick Service in all times of Danger, notwithstanding all Browbeatings and Discouragements; by breaking all Measures with King
James
and
is Party, that they discover their Dislike and Dissatis
ction to the King or his Government? But if they
isapprove that the Friends of King
James
should be King
William
's Ministers, that those should be plac'd in all Offices who hate him and betray him, will he have reason to take their Dislike of this part of his Conduct so very unkindly from them, as to forgive it less than your re
ouncing his Right and Title to the Crown? But you
Tories
have got a Trick of bringing Kings into your Quarrels (as the Priests do God Almighty into theirs) and by placing them before you, hope to make your selve
safe, not caring how much you expose them: and you impudently place your own Crimes unfairly upon others and whilst you your selves are daily libelling and lampooning the King's Person and Conduct most maliciously and triumphing in all his Misfortunes ingratefully (witnes
the publick Insolences at the
Bath
and
Windsor,
upon th
late Defeat in
Flanders
) you according to your wonte
Modesty, charge the
Whigs
with your own Faults; and avoid being Criminals, by turning Accusers.
Tory.
I know not what some hot-headed drunken Me
may have said and done at the
Bath
or elsewhere; b
this I know, that a whole Party ought not to share th
Miscarriages of some few particular Men.
Whig.
You are in the right if that were the case; b
it is undeniable, that this Insolence is universal, and eve
amongst those of you employ'd and paid by the Government.
Tory.
This is a sore place I find you are ever complaining of. But why are you angry with us for being i
Places? Did we seek them? Were we not sought, cou
ted, intreated to accept of Employments? And sinc
you provoke me, I'll tell you the reason: The King foun
none of you
Whigs
capable of or fit for Business; he sa
you too of a sour, morose Temper, jealous of Prerogativ
affecting Popularity, childishly fond of Trifles, and t
nacious of lawless Liberty; whilst we are frank and ea
in all these matters, and know the respect that is due t
Crown'd Heads.
Whig.
That is, when they are rightful!
Tory.
Come, you will make no Prince have the wor
Opinion of us for that:
The Right Line, Passive Obedien
and
Non-resistance, Prerogative,
&c. will always sound we
in every King's Ear. And when he considers us Enemi
to his Title only out a Principle of Loyalty, he will hav
reason rather to accuse his own Misfortune, than o
Vertue: we plainly and honestly told him our Principle
that we believ'd him a King
de facto
only; and our H
nour in this point made him rely upon our Honour
others.
Whig.
Let us examine then how honourably, how grat
fully you have behav'd your selves to a King who ha
rely'd on you, and oblig'd you so extremely. We will pa
by those who refuse to swear Allegiance to him on th
fore-mention'd honourable Pretences, and only mentio
those who have accepted Employments of Profit and Trus
Have not even those in the Government, both in
Englan
and
Scotland,
been plotting the Dethroning this King, who has trusted them so generously, and courted them so
indly? Particularly, did not one of your Party at the beginning of this Government give notice to the King's Enemies of Warrants against them, in order to their making their escape, and was discharg'd his Employment upon it? Did not a Brother of a certain Secretary give but blank Passes under the Hand and Seal of that Secretary, by which a Correspondence was carry'd on betwixt this Place and
France
securely? And was not this Gentleman on this account laid aside gently and privately, and this matter huddled up for fear of any Reflection on our Monarchical Favourites, and put on the Publick as Passes forg'd (as indeed they were by our own Officers) and a lame Proclamation put out with Rewards to the Discoverer, but without a Pardon for Life, when they knew the whole matter before-hand? Have not some Women lately been taken going to
France
(with Letters
o King
James
) with a
Scotish
Secretary's Pass, under his Hand and Seal? Was not an Officer of the Post-Office
ately found corresponding with
France,
and without any other Punishment for his Capital Crime, laid aside gently and privately? The Story of Captain
John Layton,
late Commander of the
St. Albans,
and which has been told
n the House of Commons, will shew you how faithfully
ou
Tories
serve the Government, and how fit you are
o be trusted. Captain
Layton
being order'd to cruise twenty Leagues off
Ʋ shant,
by a Storm of Wind was driven to Cape
Clear,
where he met a
French
Privateer, and took her: The Captain of the Privateer ask'd
Layton
the Name of his Ship, which he told him; upon this the Privateer looking into his Pocket-Book, ask'd
Layton
how he came there, for by his Intelligence the Station of the
St. Albans
was to be twenty Leagues from
Ʋ shant,
and no further. And the like Story is told of a Transport-Ship going to
France
with Prisoners some few Months ago, who meeting with divers Privateers, ask'd them how they durst be so bold as to cruise there, when four
English
Men of War were within six Leagues of them? they reply'd, they knew the Station of those
English,
and that they could not come where they were a cruising but by breaking their Orders. But the relation of the Sailor who was taken, and for some time serv'd aboard an
Irish
Privater, is yet more remarkable, for he deposeth, That they told him (three Months before the
Straits
Fleet fail'd from
Spithead
) both the time when they were to sail, the number of their Convoy, and likewise that the main Fleet was to go no further than beyo
Ʋ shant.
Now how they could come by this Intelligenc
but from Officers imploy'd by and sworn to the Gover
ment, I know not; and if so, how faithfully and hono
rably you
Tories
serve those who trust you, and how
you are to be imploy'd in this critical Time, I appeal
all the World.
Tory.
These are malicious Stories; and if strictly e
quir'd into, will prove false I dare say.
Whig.
Whenever there is a Committee of indiffere
Men order'd to take the Examination, I am inform
all this will be prov'd, and much more: and how reasonable it is to expect this and any other Treachery fro
you, will appear probable to those who see you in a
Offices daily and publickly drinking King
James
's Health
who see one Clerk going to a non-swearing Doctor, t
take Advice, whether he may serve the Government a
a writing Clerk without Damnation to his Soul? Ye
replies the Doctor, for thereby you keep out an i
Man, and may serve your rightful King upon occasion To see another Clerk valuing himself to his Companions, that his Place, thank God, does not oblige him to take the Oaths to the Government. To see Officer
of the greatest Trust in the Admiralty in Clubs twic
a Week with Mr.
P—ps,
Mr.
Ew—rs,
and othe
known
Jacobites,
and from Saturday to Monday constantly living with them Night and Day.
Tory.
I know who you mean, one of them is a Nephew to one of the Gentlemen, and expects 40000
l.
from him▪ and would you have him renounce such an Expectance i
consideration of your Place?
Whig.
No, but I would have the Government renounce such an Officer, that had such an Expectation from such an Uncle.
Tory.
But where could you get such able Officers, if these were discharg'd?
Whig.
As the Case stands, one honest Man will be of more service than ten such able Men: The Forms of Business will be quickly learn'd, and want of Experience will be less fatal to us, than want of Fidelity. Most of the Under-Places require a very indifferent Understanding, and little Experience to carry on the Business: And if you ascend to the Ministry, I cannot help thinking my Lord
Sh—y,
or Sir
J. T—d
as able Secretaries as the E. of
N.
and Mr.
R—ll
as able an Admiral as Mr.
K.
&c. What is it your able Men have done for us, pray, these four Years? Was ever any Government in so promising a Condition, as ours was at the time of the Revolution? Were we not the Hopes of all our Allies, and the Terrour of our Enemies? And is not the case alter'd with us? I fear it is. To be plain, a Ministry from
Wapping
could not have made worse work on't than yours have done. Ministers who know not so much as what Mony their Affairs will require, but ask the Parliament too little, and manage it so as to make it less: That want Intelligence so much, that Matters of the greatest Consequence have been publick in every Coffee-house three Days before it comes to the Secretary's Office; particularly the loss of our Merchants Fleet, and beating our Army in
Flanders:
As if (as one said) Secretaries, like Cuckolds, were to know their Dishonour and Misfortunes last. Then the Return of our Fleets for want of Provisions, laying out Mony in false Expeditions, and
anting it thereby in true Necessities; imperfect Or
rs, from whence proceeds imperfect Execution; and
sides, they prove an Excuse to Officers even in the
ost fatal Miscarriages; with a thousand more Misma
gements and Treacheries from the top to the bottom of the Ministry, too tedious to relate here.
Tory.
And do you think the Government would be
tter serv'd at this time by Novices and Strangers to
usiness?
Whig.
I have answer'd you that before: I think it would be much better serv'd by ignorant Friends, than understanding Enemies; tho I am far (at the same time) from granting you that Point, for I am sure there are more Men of Sense and Capacity to be found amongst the
Whigs
than amongst the
Tories
; and that Experience is not of such mighty Consequence as you would infer, will appear, if you will please to call to mind the Men employ'd in Publick Affairs by
Cromwel.
Was ever Government better serv'd than his? and yet he chose Men of the most private Condition, and one would have thought most unqualify'd for Publick Business, Taylors, Draymen, broken Shop-keepers, raw Scholars, and some few of the middling Gentry. But being careful to chuse Men principled against the Government of King
Charles,
and zealous for the Interest of the Government then on foot; they did Wonders, supported their Friends, and were awful to their Enemies; and this with all the Nobility, Gentry and Clergy, both Church of
England
and Presbyterian, in perpetual Combinations and Conspiracies against them at home, and a War in
Ireland,
Scotland, Holland,
and
Spain
too, upon their hands.
you have an Instance of it in this Government, in
Person of one of your Secretaries of
Scotland,
who
bred in a very private way) has shew'd himself a
successful Statesman, and of great consequence to
Welfare of the King's Affairs in that Country, and
merely from his incorruptible Honesty, Zeal and Integ
to the present Government, without Experience or g
Insight into Business.
Tory.
I must grant there is something in what
say, Union and Integrity will do great Matters:
you
Whigs
cannot pretend to this, for you are not
of you in the same mind; you have no Governme
no Discipline in your Party, no Firmness to one a
ther, or to any Point: Your great
P. F—y
t
Cadet, and carries Arms under the General of the
Saxons
; the two
Har—ys,
Father and Son, are En
neers under the late Lieutenant of the Ordnance, a
bomb any Bill, which he has once resolv'd to red
to Ashes, tho it were for Recognition, or any thi
else that is most necessary to our Security: Your
J
S.
and
Jack G.
whenever they touch Penny, will to
Pot too, and drink all in the Bowl, be it ever
deep. And besides this, you are always laughing,
spising or railing at one another; some of you are t
wise, some of you too witty, and some of you too
nest for the rest; jealous and envious of one anothe
Favour and Preferment, every Man thinking hims
fittest to be at the Head of Affairs, and hating and
flecting upon those who are so, and despising to be
vern'd or directed by them. And at the same ti
those who are at the top disdaining to look down upo
those below them, tho they were the steps by whi
they did ascend; they grow stately to their Frien
and unmindful of their Fortunes, impatient of Address
hard of Access, huddling into little Cabals, where th
are wise and witty among themselves: Whilst we
To
on the contrary have but one Heart, one Voice, o
Purse and one Interest; excuse and justify one anothe
Faults, prefer the meanest Fool or Knave of our Pa
ty; and in return the Underlings are every Man in
perfect Obedience to his Superior, to vote, rail, write
talk according to Direction, and not otherwise.
Whig.
I own there is too much Truth in what y
say, and you speak Truth so seldom, that we ought
allow it you when you do: But I hope we have seen t
Error of our Disunion, and shall mend it for the futur
however we may have had personal Differences,
likewise may have been too much divided, and too
inate in some Opinions, yet still in all Times, and
er all Discouragements, we have all agreed to the
e end,
viz.
the Publick Good of our Country, and
Support of its Laws and Liberties; and in this pre
t Reign have been and are unanimous against King
mes
and his Interest, and have at all times with one
nsent own'd his present Majesty, Rightful and Law
, which I take to be the
Shibboleth,
to distinguish
se who are alone fit to serve this Government. And
there be an Act of Recognition in force, I will be
d to say, all the other Steps of our ablest and ho
stest Statesmen will be upon boggy Ground; nor can
y Man be reasonably employ'd in any Office who
s not taken this Test: for whoever thinks King
Wil
m
not rightful, must think King
James
is so; and the
me Conscience which leads them to believe him right
l, will incline them to assist that Right when they
ve opportunity. But to return to the Point of your
harge, we must confess likewise that we have not been
much under the Government of our Superiours as
ou are, nor so industrious in supporting each other's
ivate and particular Interests. But to the first I
ight answer, That Fools and Beggars are more easily
d by the Nose than Men of Sense and Estates:
nd as to the latter, I must put you in mind, that
e Societies of
Ignatius
and of
Newgate
are both of
hem as much united as you, in universal Mischief;
r Roguery makes a stronger Glew and Cement than
ertue, because there are more Men capable of the
ormer than of the latter. And tho it were to be
ish'd, that the
Whigs
were more friendly, and had more
oncern for the Support of one another in all their ho
est Pretences; yet God forbid there should ever be such
Friendship and Partiality amongst them, as to con
emn and disgrace those who gain Victories, because
hey are not of their Party; and to support and de
nd those who have lost the Ships, Trade and Honour of the Nation, because they are their Creatures. But on the other side, where it is without offence to Justice and the Publick Interest, all Unanimity and Friendship
to be admir'd, prais'd and pray'd for; and I hope you
ill find it amongst us for the future, till it becomes
he Subject of your Envy, instead of being an occasion of
eproach. To put an end to this Argument: 'Tis plain
ith all your Friendships, and Union,
nd other Politicks, you have brought the Nation, and all its Allies, to
lowest Condition both in Power and Reputation.
have almost put it out of the Skill of any Condu
recover us; and whoever now takes the Administra
of Affairs upon them, will be apply'd to the Gov
ment, like Pidgeons to the Feet of dying Men.
however to those who are true Lovers of their C
try, no Time seems too late to attempt its Relief,
Difficulty so great as to discourage them from endea
ring it; and tho as the Case stands, it is more
probable, we
may
miscarry under the best Conduct,
it is undeniable we
must
miscarry under yours. An
I take my leave.
FINIS.