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 ^X-i'^N
 
 THE 
 
 WORKS 
 
 Of the late Right Honorable 
 
 HENRY St. JOHN, 
 
 LORD VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE. 
 
 In FIVE VOLUMES, complete. 
 
 Publiflied by DAVID MALLET, Efq; 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed in the Year MDCCLIV.
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 or 
 
 xJi A 
 
 2- 7 
 
 1 7^-"^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 A LETTER to Sir William Windham: written in the 
 year one thoufand feven hundred and feventcen Page 3 
 
 I 
 
 ^ Reflections upon exile 99 
 
 ^ The Occafional Writer, N° I. '3^ 
 
 The Occafional Writer, N" 2. . H4 
 
 The Occafional Writer, N° 3. ^7® 
 
 The firft vifion of Gamilick ^^5 
 
 d An Anfwer to the London Journal of Saturday, December 21,1728 189 
 
 o^ An Anfwer to the Defence of the Enquiry into the reafons of the 
 
 ^ Condudt of Great Britain 223 
 
 Remarks on the Hiftory of England 271 

 
 LETTER 
 
 T O 
 
 Sir William Windham 
 
 Written in the year one thoufand feven hundred and feventeen. 
 
 Vol. L a
 
 LETTER 
 
 T O 
 
 Sir W I l l I a m Windham, 
 
 I Was well enough acquainted with the general charadcr of 
 mankind, and in particular with that of my own country- 
 men, to expert to be as much out of the minds of the to- 
 ries during my exile, as if we had never lived and aftcd toge- 
 ther. I depended on being forgot by them, and was far from 
 imagining it poflible that I fhould be remembered, only to be 
 condemned loudly by one half of them, and to be tacitly ccn- 
 fured by the greateft part of the other half. As foon as I was 
 feparated from the pretender and his intereft, I declared myfclf 
 to be fo, and I gave diredlions for writing into England what 
 I judged fufficient to put my friends on their guard againft 
 any furprife concerning an event which it was their intereft, 
 as well as mine, that they fhould be very rightly informed 
 about. 
 
 As foon as the pretender's adherents began to clamor agaiii/f: 
 me in this country, and to difperfe their fcandal by circular 
 letters every where elfe, I gave directions for writing into Eng- 
 land again. Their groundlefs articles of accufition were re- 
 futed, and enough was faid to give my friends a general idea 
 
 A 2 of
 
 4 ALETTERTO 
 
 of what had happened to me, and at leaft to make them fufpend 
 the fixing any opinion till fuch time as I Hiould be able to 
 write more fully and plainly to them myfelf. To condemn no 
 perfon unheard is a rule of natural equity, which we fee 
 rarely violated in Turky, or in the country where I am writ- 
 ino-; that it would not be fo with me in Great Britain, I 
 confefs that I flattered myfelf. I dwelt fecurely in this con- 
 fidence, and gave very little attention to any of thofe fcur- 
 rilous methods which were taken, about this time, to blaft 
 my reputation. The event of things has fhewn, that I truft- 
 ed too much to my own innocence, and to the juftice of my 
 old friends. 
 
 It was obvious, that the chevalier and the earl of Mar hoped to 
 load me with the imputation of treachery, incapacity, or negle6l; 
 it was indifferent to them of which. If they could afcribe to 
 one of thofe their not being fupported from France, they ima- 
 gined that they fliould juftify their precipitate flight from Scot- 
 land, vv^hich many of their fafteft friends exclaimed againft ; and 
 that they fhould varnifh over that original capital fault, the 
 drawing the highlanders together in arms at the time and in the 
 manner in w^hich it v/as done. 
 
 The Scotch, who fell at once from all the fanguine expedla- 
 tions with which thev had been foothed, and who found them- 
 felves reduced to defpair, were eafy to be incenfed: they had 
 received no fupport whatever, and it was natural for them ra- 
 ther to believe, that they failed of this fupport by my fault, than 
 to imagine their general had prevailed on them to rife in the very 
 point of time when it was impoflible that they fliould be fup- 
 ported from France, or from any other part of the world. The 
 duke of Ormond, who had been the bubble of his own popula- 
 rity, v/as enough out of humor with the general turn of affairs 
 
 to
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 5 
 
 to be eafily fet againft any particular man. The cmiflaries of 
 this court, whofe commiilion was to amufe, had impofcd upon 
 liim all along, and there were other bufy people who thought 
 to find their account in having him to themfelves. I had never 
 been in his fecret whilft we were in England together : and 
 from his firft coming into France he was either prevailed upon 
 by others, or, which I rather believe, he concurred with others 
 to keep me out of it. The perfedl indifference I lliewed whe- 
 ther I was in it or no, might carry him from adting feparately, 
 to ad aojainft me. 
 
 The whole tribe of irifli and other papifts were ready to feife 
 the firft opportunity of venting their fpleen againft a man, wjio 
 had conftantly avoided all intimacy with them ; who a6ted in 
 the fame caufe but on a dilferent principle, and who meant no 
 one thing in the world lefs than raifing them to the advantao-es 
 which they expeded. 
 
 That thefe feveral perfons, for the reafons I have mentioned, 
 fliould join in a cry againft me, is not very marvellous : the con- 
 trary would be fo to a man who knows them as well as I do. 
 But that the engHfli tories fliould ferve as ecchos to them, nay- 
 more, that my character fhould continue doubtful at beif 
 amongft you, when thofe who firft propagated the flander are 
 become afhamed of railing without proof, and have dropped 
 the clamor, this I own that I never expedled, and I may be 
 allowed to fay, that as it is an extreme furprife, fo it fhall be a 
 leflbn to me. 
 
 The whigs impeached and attainted me. They went farther— 
 at leaft in my way of thinking that ftep was more cruel than 
 all the others — by a partial reprefentation of fads, and pieces 
 of fads, put together as it beft fuited their purpofe, and pub- 
 
 liflicd
 
 6 ALETTERTO 
 
 liflied to the whole world, they did all that in them lay to ex- 
 pofe me for a fool, and to brand me for a knave. But then 
 I had deferved this abundantly at their hands, according to the 
 notions of party-juftice. The tories have not indeed impeach- 
 ed nor attainted me ; but they have done, and are ftill doing 
 fomething very like to that which I took worfe of the whigs, 
 than the impeachment and attainder : and this, after I have 
 fhewn an inviolable attachment to the fervice, and almoft an 
 implicit obedience to the will of the party ; when I am actu- 
 ally an out-law, deprived of my honors, ftripped of my for- 
 tune, and cut off from my family and my country for their 
 fakes. 
 
 Some of the perfons who have feen me here, and with whom 
 I have had the pleafure to talk of you, may, perhaps, have 
 told you, that far from being opprefTed by that ftorm of mis- 
 fortunes in which I have been tolled of late, I bear up againft 
 it with firmnefs enough, and even with alacrity. It is true, 
 I do fo : but it is true likewife, that the laft burft of the cloud 
 has gone near to overwhelm me. From our enemies we exped: 
 evil treatment of every fort, we are prepared for it, we are ani- 
 mated by it, and we fometimes triumph in it : but when our 
 friends abandon us, when they wound us, and when they take, 
 to do this, an occalion where we ftand the moft in need of their 
 fupport, and have the befk title to it, the firmeft mind finds it 
 hard to refift. 
 
 Nothing kept up my ipirits when I was firfl: reduced to the 
 very circumftances I now defcribe, fo much as the confideration 
 of the delufions under which I knew that the tories lay, and the 
 hopes I entertained of being able foon to open their eyes, and 
 to juftify my condud:. 1 expedted that friendfhip, or if that 
 principle failed, curiofity at leaft would move the party to fend 
 
 over
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 7 
 
 over fome perfon, from whofe report they might have both 
 fides of the queftion laid before them. Tho this expedation be 
 founded iii reafon, and you want to be informed at leaft as 
 much as I do to be juftified, yet I have hitherto flattered my 
 felf with it in vain. To repair this misfortune, therefore, as 
 far as hes in my power, I refolve to put into writing the fum of 
 what I fhould have faid in that cafe : thefe papers fhall lie by 
 me till time and accidents produce fome occalion of communi- 
 cating them to you. The true occafion of doing it, with ad- 
 vantage to the party, will probably be loft : but they will re- 
 main a monument of my juftification to pofterity. At worft 
 if even this fails me, I am fure of one fatisfa6l:ion in writing 
 them ; the fatisfadlion ot unburdening my mind to a friend, 
 and of ftating before an equitable judge the account, as I ap- 
 prehend it to ftand, between the tories and my felf. " Quan- 
 " tarn humano concilio efficere potui, circumfpeclis rebus 
 " meis omnibus, rationibusque fubdudis, fummam feci co- 
 " gitationum mearum omnium, quam tibi fi potero breviter 
 *' exponam." 
 
 It is neceflary to my deiign that I call to your mind the flate 
 of affairs in Britain from the latter part of the year one thoufmd 
 feven hundred and ten, to the beginning of the year one rhou- 
 fand feven hundred and fifteen, about which time we parted. I 
 go no farther back, becaufe the part which I ad:ed before that 
 time, in the firft eflays I made in public affairs, was the part of 
 a tory, and fo far of a piece with that which I adlcd afterwards. 
 Befides, the things which preceded this fpace of time liad no 
 immediate influence on thofe which happened fince that time ; 
 whereas the ftrange events which we have feen fall out in the 
 king's reign were owing in a great meafure to what was done, 
 or negle<fted to be done, in the laft four years of the queen's. 
 The memory of thefe events being frefli, I fliall dwell as little as 
 
 poflible
 
 8 ALETTERTO 
 
 pofTible upon them. It will be fufficient that I make a rough 
 fketch of the face of the court, and of the condud: of the feveral 
 parties during that time. Your memory will foon furnifh 
 the colors which I fhall omit to lay, and finifh up the 
 picture. 
 
 From the time at which I left Britain I had not the advan- 
 tage of adling under the eyes of the party which I ferved, nor 
 of being able from time to time to appeal to their judgment. 
 The grofs of what happened has appeared, but the particular 
 fleps which led to thofe events have been either concealed or 
 mifreprefented. Concealed from the nature of them, or mif- 
 reprefented by thofe with whom I never agreed perfedly, except 
 in thinking that they and I were extremely unfit to continue 
 embarked in the fame bottom together. It will, therefore, 
 be proper to defcend, under this head, to a more particular rela- 
 tion. 
 
 In the flimmer of the year one thoufand feven hundred and 
 ten the queen was prevailed upon to change her parliament and 
 her miniftry. The intrigue of the earl of Oxford might fa- 
 cilitate the means, the violent profecution of Sacheverel, and 
 other unpopular meafures might create the occafion, and en- 
 courage her in the refolution : but the true original caufe was 
 the perfonal ill ufage which fhe received in her private life, and 
 in fome trifling inftances of the exercife of her power ; for in- 
 dulgence in which fhe would certainly have left the reins of go- 
 vernment in thofe hands, which had held them ever fince her 
 acceflion to the throne. 
 
 I AM afraid that we came to court in the fame difpofitions as 
 all parties have done j that the principal fpring of our a<3;ion3 
 was to have the government of the ftate in our hands ; that our 
 
 principal
 
 SIRWILLIAM WINDHAM. 9 
 
 principal views were the confervation of this power, great em- 
 ployments to our felves, and great opportunities of rewarding 
 thofe who had helped to raife us, and of hurting thofe who 
 flood in oppolition to us. It is however true, that with thefe 
 confiderations of private and party intereft, there were others 
 intermingled wliich had for their object the pubHc good of the 
 nation, at leafl what we took to be fuch. 
 
 We looked on the political principles which had generally 
 prevailed in our government from the revolution in one thou- 
 sand fix hundred and eighty eight to be deftruftive of our true 
 intereft, to have mingled us too much in the affairs of the con- 
 tinent, to tend to the impoverifhing our people, and to the 
 loofening the bands of our conftitution in church and ftate. 
 We fuppofed the tory party to be the bulk of the landed inte- 
 reft, and to have no contrary influence blended into it's compo- 
 lition. We fuppofed the vvhigs to be the remains of a party, 
 formed againft the ill deflgns of the court under king Charles 
 the fecond, nurfed up into ftrength and applied to contrary ufes 
 by king William the third, and yet ftill fo weak as to lean 
 for fupport on the prefbyterians and the other fe6laries, on the 
 bank and the other corporations, on the Dutch and the other allies. 
 From hence we judged it to follow, that they had been forced, 
 and muft continue fo, to render the national intereft fubfervieiit 
 to the intereft of thofe who lent them an additional ftrength, 
 without which they could never be the prevalent party. The 
 view, therefore, of thofe amongft us who thought in this man- 
 ner, was to improve the queen's favor, to break the body of 
 the whigs, to render their fupports ufelefs to them, and to fill 
 the employments of the kingdom down to the meancft with to- 
 nes. We imagined that fuch meafures, joined to the advan- 
 tages of our numbers and our property, would fecure us againft 
 all attempts during her reign ; and that we ftiould foon become 
 Vol. I. . B too
 
 lo ALETTERTO 
 
 too conliderable, not to make our terms in all events which 
 might happen afterwards : concerning which, to fpeak truly, 
 I believe ^qw or none ot us had any very fettled refolution. 
 
 In order to bring thefe purpofes about, I verily think that 
 the perfecution of diflenters entered into no man's head. By 
 the bills for preventing occafional conformity and the growth of 
 fchifm, it was hoped that their fling would be taken away. 
 Thefe bills were thought neceffary for our party intereft, and 
 befides were deemed neither unreafonable nor unjuft. The 
 good of fociety may require that no perfon fhould be deprived 
 of the proted:ion ot the government on account of his opinions 
 in relisious matters, but it does not follow from hence that men 
 ought to be trufted in any degree vt^ith the prefervation of the 
 eftablifhment, who muft, to be conliftent with their principles, 
 endeavor the fubverlion of what is eftablifhed. An indul- 
 gence to confciences, which the prejudice of education and long 
 habits have rendered fcrupulous, may be agreeable to the rules 
 of good policy and of humanity : yet will it hardly follow from 
 hence, that a government is under any obligation to indulge a 
 tendernefs of confcience to come ; or to connive at the propa- 
 gating of thefe prejudices, and at the forming of thefe habits. 
 The evil efFedl is without remedy, and may therefore deferve 
 indulgence ; but the evil caufe is to be prevented, and can, 
 therefore, be intitled to none. BejGides this, the bills I am 
 fpeaking of, rather than to enadl any thing new, feerned only 
 to enforce the obfervation of antient laws ; which had been judg- 
 ed neceffary for the fecurity of the church and flate, at a time 
 when the memory of the ruin of both, and of the hands by which 
 that ruin had been wrouo;ht, was frefh in the minds of men. 
 
 The bank, the eaft-India company, and in general the 
 moneyed intereft, had certainly nothing to apprehend like 
 
 what:
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 1 1 
 
 what they feared, or affedcd to fear from the tories, an entire 
 fubverfion of their property. Multitudes of our own party 
 would have been wounded by fuch a blow. The intention of 
 thofe, who were the warmeft, feemed to me to go no farther 
 than reftraining their influence on the legiflature, and on mat- 
 ters of ftate ; and finding at a proper feafon means to make 
 them contribute to the fupport and eafe of a government, under 
 which they enjoyed advantages fo much greater than the reft of 
 their fellow fubje(3:s. The mifchievous confequence which had 
 been forefeen and foretold too, at the eftablilliment of thofe 
 corporations, appeared viiibly. The country gentlemen were 
 vexed, put to great expences and even baffled by them in their 
 elections : and among the members of every parliament num- 
 bers were immediately or indireftly under their influence. The 
 bank had been extravagant enough to pull off" the mafk, and 
 when the queen feemed to intend a change in lier miniftry, 
 they had deputed fome of their members to reprefent againft it. 
 But that which touched fenflbly, evea thofe who were but lit- 
 tle affeded by other conflderations, was the prodigious inequali- 
 ty between the condition ot the moneyed men and of the reft of 
 the nation. The proprietor of the land, and the merchant who 
 brought riches home by the returns of foreign trade, had during 
 two wars bore the whole immenfe load of the national expen- 
 ces ; whilft the lender of money, who added nothing to the 
 common ftock, throve by the public calamity, and contributed 
 not a mite to the public charge. 
 
 As to the allies, I faw no difference of opinion among all 
 thofe who came to the head of affairs at this time. Such of 
 the tories as were in the fyftem abovementioncd, fuch of them 
 as deferted foon after from us, and fuch of the vvhigs as had 
 upon this oecalion deferted to us, feemed equally convinced of 
 the unreafonablenefs and even of the impoflibility of continuing 
 
 B 2 the
 
 12 
 
 A LETTER TO 
 
 the war on the fame difproportionate foot. Their univerfal fenfe 
 was that we had taken, except the part of the ftates general, the 
 whole burden of the war upon us, and even a proportion of this ; 
 while the entire advantage was to accrue to others : that this 
 had appeared very grofly in one thoufand feven hundred and 
 nine and one thoufand feven hundred and ten, when preHmina- 
 ries were inlifted upon, which contained all that the allies, giv- 
 ing the greateft loofe to their wiflies, could defire, and little or 
 nothing on the behalf of Great Britain: that the war, which had 
 been begun for the fecurity of the allies, was continued for their 
 frrandeur ; that the ends propofed when we engaged in it might 
 have been anfwered long before, and therefore that the firft 
 favorable occafion ought to be feifed of making peace ; which 
 we thought to be the intereft of our country, and which ap- 
 peared to all mankind, as well as to us, to be that of our party. 
 
 These were in general the views of the tories, and for the 
 part I a6led in the profecution of them, as well as of all the mea- 
 fures acceffory to them, I may appeal to mankind. To thofe 
 who had the opportunity of looking behind the curtain I may 
 likewife appeal for the difficulties which lay in my way, and for 
 the particular difcouragements which I met with. A principal 
 load of parliamentary and foreign affairs in their ordinary courfe, 
 lay upon me : the whole negotiation of the peace and of the 
 troublefome invidious fteps preliminary to it, as far as they could 
 be tranfa6led at home, were thrown upon me. I continued in 
 the houfe of commons during that important feffion which pre- 
 ceded the peace ; and which, by the fpirit fhewn through the 
 whole courfe of it, and by the refolutions taken in it, rendered the 
 conclufion of the treaties pradicable. After this I was dragged 
 into the houfe of lords in fuch a manner, as to make my promo- 
 tion a punifliment, not a reward, and was there left to defend 
 
 the treaties almoft alone. 
 
 It
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 13 
 
 It would not have been hard to have forced the earl of Ox- 
 ford to ufe me better. His good intentions began to be very- 
 much doubted of : the truth is, no opinion of his {incerity had 
 ever taken root in the party ; and which was worfe, perhaps, for 
 a man in his ftation, the opinion of his capacity began to fall 
 apace. He was fo hard pufhed in the houfe of lords in the be- 
 ginning of one thoufand fevcn hundred and twelve, that he had 
 been forced, in the middle of the feffion, to perfuade the queen 
 to make a promotion ol twelve peers at once ; which was an 
 unprecedented and invidious meafure, to be excufed by no- 
 thing but the neceflity, and hardly by that. In the houfe of 
 commons his credit was low, and my reputation very high. You 
 know the nature of that affembly : they grow, like hounds, 
 fond of the man who fiicws them game, and by whofe halloo 
 they are ufed to be encouraged. The thread of the negotia- 
 tions, which could not ftand ftill a moment without coing back, 
 was in my hands : and before another man could have made 
 himfelf mafter of the buHnefs, much time would have been loft, 
 and great inconveniencies would have followed. Some, who 
 oppofed the court foon after, began to waver then : and if I 
 had not wanted the inclination, I fhould have wanted no help 
 to do mifchief. I knew the way of quitting my employments 
 and of retiring from court when the fcrvice of my party requir- 
 ed it : but I could not bring myfelf up to that refolution, when 
 the confequence of it muft have been the breaking my party, 
 and the diftrefs of the public affairs. I tliought my miftrefs 
 treated me ill, but the fenfe of that duty which I owed her 
 came in aid of other coniiderations, and prevailed over my re- 
 fentment. Thefe fentiments, indeed, are fo much out of fa(hi- 
 on, that a man who avows them is in danger of pafling for a 
 bubble in the world : yet they were, in the conjundlure I fpeak 
 of, the true motives of my condud, and you faw me go on 
 
 as
 
 14 ALETTERTO 
 
 as chearfully in the trotiblefome and dangerous work afTigned 
 me as if I had been under the utmoft fatisfadion. I began, 
 indeed, in my heart, to renounce the friendfliip, which till that 
 time I had preferved inviolable for Oxford. I was not aware 
 of all his treachery, nor of the bafe and little means which he 
 employed then, and continued to employ afterwards, to ruin me 
 in the opinion of the queen and every where elfe. I faw, how- 
 ever, that he had no friendfhip for any body, and that v/ith re- 
 fped to m.e, inftead of having the ability to render that merit 
 which I endeavored to acquire an addition of ftrength to him- 
 felf, it became the object of his jealoufy, and a reafon for un- 
 derminino- me. In this temper ot mind I went on, till the great 
 work of the peace was confummated, and the treaty figned at 
 Utrecht : after which a new and more melancholy fcene for 
 the party, as well as for me, opened itfelf. 
 
 I AM far from thinking the treaties, or the negotiations which 
 led to them, exempt from faults. Many were made no doubt 
 in both, by thofe who were concerned in them, by myfelf in 
 the firft place : and many were owing purely to the oppofition 
 they met with in every ftep of their progrefs. I never look 
 back on this great event, paffed as it is, without a fecret emo- 
 tion of mind ; when I compare the vaftnefs of the undertaking, 
 and the importance of it's fuccefs, v/ith the means employed to 
 bring it about, and witli thofe which were employed to tra- 
 vcrfe it. To adjufi: the pretenfions and to fettle the interefts 
 of fo many princes and ftates, as were engaged in the late war, 
 would appear, when confidered fimply and v/ithout any ad- 
 ventitious difiFiCulty, a work of prodigious extent. But this 
 was not all. Each of our allies thought himfeli: entituled to 
 raife his demands to the moft extravagant height. They had 
 been encouraged to this, firft by the engagements which we 
 had entered into with feveral of them ; with fome to draw them 
 
 into
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 15 
 
 into tlie war, with others to prevail on them to continue it> 
 and fecondly by the manner in which we had treated with 
 France in feventeen hundred nine and ten. Thofe who in- 
 tended to tie the knot ot the war as hard, and to render the 
 coming at a peace as impradlicable as they could, had found 
 no method fo elTe^lual as that of leaving every one at liberty to 
 iniift on all he could think of, and leaving themfelvcs at liberty, 
 even it thefe concellions fliould be made, to break the treaty 
 by ulterior demands. That this was the fecret, I can make no 
 doubt after the confeflion of one of the * plenipotentiaries who 
 tranfaded thefe matters, and who communic:>ted to me and 
 to two others of the queen's miniflers an inflance of the duke of 
 Marlborough's management at a critical moment, when the 
 french miniflers at Gertrudenberg feemed inclinable to come 
 into an expedient for explaining the thirty feventh article of 
 the preliminaries, which could not have been refufed. Cer- 
 tain it is, that the king of France was at that time in earnefl 
 to execute the article of Philip's abdication : and therefore the 
 expedients for adjufling what related to this article would eafily 
 enough have been found, if on our part there had been a real 
 intention of concluding. But there was no fuch intention : and 
 the plan of thofe who meant to prolong the war was cflablifh- 
 ed among the allies, as the plan which ought to be followed 
 whenever a peace came to be treated. The allies imagined, 
 that they had a right to obtain at leaft every thing which had 
 been demanded for them refpedlively : and it was vifible that 
 nothing lefs would content them. Thefe confiderations fet the 
 vaftnefs of the undertaking in a fliiHcient light. 
 
 The importance of fucceeding, in the work of the peace, 
 was equally great to Europe, to our country, to our party, to 
 our perlbns, to the prefent age, and to future generations. 
 
 * Buys penfionary of Amfterdam. 
 
 But
 
 i6 A LETTER TO 
 
 3ut I need not take pains to prove what no man will deny. 
 The means employed to bring it about were in no degree pro- 
 portionable. A few men, fome of whom had never been con- 
 cerned in bufmefs of this kind before, and moft of whom put 
 their hands for a long time to it faintly and timoroufly, were 
 the inftruments of it. The minifter who was at their head 
 fliewed himfelf every day incapable of that attention, that me- 
 thod, that comprehenfion of different matters, which the firft 
 poft in fuch a government as ours requires in quiet times. He 
 was the firft fpring of all our motion by his credit with the 
 queen, and his concurrence was neceffary to every thing we did 
 by his rank in the flate : and yet this man feemed to be fome- 
 times aileep, and fometimes at play. He neglected the thread of 
 buHnefs, which was carried on for this reafon with lefs difpatch 
 and lefs advantage in the proper channels, and he kept none in 
 his own hands. He negotiated, indeed, by fits and ftarts, by 
 little tools, and indirect ways : and thus his adivity became as 
 hurtful as his indolence ; of which I could produce fome re- 
 markable inftances. No good effedl could flow from fuch a 
 conduct. In a word, when this great aflair was once engaged, 
 the zeal of particular men in their feveral provinces drove it tor- 
 ward, tho they were not backed by the concurrent force of the 
 whole adminiftration, nor had the common helps of advice till 
 it was too late, till the very end of the negotiations ; even in 
 matters, fuch as that of commerce, which they could not be 
 fuppofed to underftand. That this is a true account of the 
 means ufed to arrive at the peace, and a true charadier of that 
 adminiftration in general, I believe the whole cabinet council 
 of that time will bear me v/itnefs. Sure I am, that moft of 
 them have joined with me in lamenting this ftate of things whilft 
 it fubflfted, and all thofe who were employed as minifters in 
 the feveral parts of the treaty felt fufliciently the difficulties 
 
 which
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 17 
 
 which this ftrange management often reduced them to. I ,am 
 confident they have not forgot them. 
 
 I F the means employed to bring the peace about were feeble, 
 and in one refpedl contemptible, thofe employed to break the 
 negotiation were ftrong and formidable. As foon as the firft 
 fufpicion of a treaty's being on foot crept abroad into the world, 
 the whole alliance united with a powerful party in the nation 
 to obftruft it. From that hour to the moment the congrefs of 
 Utrecht finiflied, no one meafure poflible to be taken was 
 omitted to traverfe every advance that was made in this work, 
 to intimidate, to allure, to embarrafs every perfon concern- 
 ed in it. l^his was done without any regard either to decency 
 or good policy : and from hence it foon followed, that paffion 
 and humor mingled themfelvcs on each fide. A great part of 
 what we did for the peace, and of what others did againft it, 
 can be accounted for on no other principle. The allies were 
 broke among themfelves before they began to treat with the 
 common enemy. The matter did not mend in the courfe of 
 the treaty : and France and Spain, but efpecially the former, 
 profited of this difunion. 
 
 Whoever makes the comparifon, which I have touclicd up- 
 on, will fee the true reafons which rendered the peace lefs an- 
 fwerable to the luccefs of the war than it might, and than 
 it ought to have been. Judgment has been paffed in this 
 cafe, as the different pafTions or interefts of men have infpired 
 tliem. But the real caufe lay in the conftitution of our mini- 
 flry, and much more in the obftinate oppofition which \\'e met 
 with from the vvhigs and from the allies. However, fure it is, 
 that the defeds of the peace did not occafion the defertions 
 from the tory party which happened about this time, nor thofe 
 diforders in the court which immediately followed. 
 
 Vol. I. C Long
 
 i8 ALETTERTO 
 
 Long before the purport of the treaties could be known, 
 thofe whigs who had fet out with us, in feventeen hundred and 
 ten, began to relapfe back to their party. They had among 
 us fhared the harveft of a new miniftry, and Uke prudent per- 
 fons they took meafures in time to have their fhare in that of 
 a new government. 
 
 The whimfical, or the hanover-tories continued zealous in 
 appearance with vis, till the peace was figned. I faw no peo- 
 ple fo eager for the conclufion of it *. Some of them were 
 in fuch hafte, that they thought any peace preferable to the 
 leaft delay, and omitted no inftances to quicken their friends 
 who were acSlors in it. As foon as the treaties were perfedled 
 and laid before the parliament, the fcheme of thefe gentle- 
 men began to difclofe itfelf entirely. Their love of the peace, 
 like other paiHons, cooled by enjoyment. They grew nice 
 about the conftruftion of the articles, could come up to no di- 
 re6t approbation, and, being let into the fecret of what was to 
 happen, would not preclude themfelves from the glorious ad- 
 vantage of rifing on the ruins of their friends and of their 
 party. 
 
 The danger of the fucce/Iion, and the badnefs of the peace^ 
 were the two principles on which we were attacked. On the 
 firft, the whimfical tories joined the whigs, and declared di- 
 ie6ily againfl: their party. Altho nothing is more certain than 
 this truth, that, there was at that time no formed defign in the 
 party, whatever views fome particular men might have, againft 
 his majefty's acceifion to the throne. On the latter and moft 
 other points, they affedled a moft glorious neutrality. 
 
 * Hanmer's letter. 
 
 Instead
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 19 
 
 Instead of gathering ftrength, either as a miiiifliy or as a 
 party, we grew weaker every day. The peace had been judg- 
 ed with reafon to be the only foHd foundation whereupon we 
 could ere<5t a tory fyftem : and yet when it was made we found 
 ourfelves at a full.ftand. Nay the very work, which ought to 
 have been the balis of our ftrength, was in part demoliOicd be- 
 fore our eyes, and we were ftoned with the ruins of it. Whilfl: 
 this was doing, Oxford looked on, as if he had not been a par- 
 ty to all which had palTed ; broke now and then a jefl:, wliicli 
 favored of the inns of court and the bad company in wiiich 
 he had been bred : and on thofe occafions, where his ftation 
 obliged him to fpeak ot bufinefs, was abfolutely uninteUigible. 
 
 Whether this man ever had any determined view befides 
 that of raifing his family is, I believe, a problematical queftion 
 in the world. My opinion is, that he never had ajiy other. 
 The condu(5t of a minifter, who propofes to himfelf a great and 
 noble objedt, and who purfues it fleadily, may feem for a while 
 a riddle to the world ; efpecially in a government like ours, 
 where numbers of men different in their charadters and diffe- 
 rent in their interefts are at all times to be managed : where 
 public affairs are expofed to more accidents and greater hazards 
 than in other countries ; and where, by confequence, he who is 
 at the head ol buiinefs will find himfelf often diftradted by 
 meafures which have no relation to his purpofe, and obliged to 
 bend himfell to things which are in fome degree conti'ary to his 
 main defign. The ocean which environs us is an emblem of 
 our government : and the pilot and the minifter are in fimilar 
 circumftances. It feldom happens, that either of them can 
 fteer a dired: courfe, and they both arrive at their port by means 
 which frequently feem to carry them from it. But as the work 
 advances, the condudt of him who leads it on with real abili- 
 
 C 2 ties
 
 20 ALETTERTO 
 
 ties cleats up, the appearing iiiconfiftencies are reconciled, and 
 when it is once confummated, the whole fliews itfelf fo uniform, 
 fo plain, and fo natural, that every dabler in politics will be apt 
 to think he could have done the fame. But on the other hand, 
 a man who propofes no fuch object, who fubftitutes artifice in 
 the place of ability, who inftead of leading parties and govern- 
 ing accidents is eternally agitated backwards and forwards by 
 both, who begins every day fomething new, and carries nothing 
 on to perfedion, may impofe a while on the world : but a little 
 fooner or a little later the myftery will be revealed, and nothing 
 will be found to be couched under it but a thread of pitiful ex- 
 pedients, the ultimate end ol which never extended farther than 
 living from day to day. Which of theie pictures refembles Ox- 
 ford moft, you will determine. I am forry to be obliged to name 
 him fo often ; but how is it pofTible to do otherwife, while I am 
 fpeaking of times wherein the whole turn of affairs depended 
 on his motions and charadler ? 
 
 I HAVE heard, and I believe truly, that when he returned to 
 Windfor in the autumn ot feventeen hundred and thirteen, after 
 the marriage of his fon, he preffed extremely to have him created 
 dvike of Newcastle or earl of Clare.: and the queen prefum- 
 ing to hefitate on fo extraordinary a propofal, he refented 
 this hefitation in a manner which little became a man who had 
 been fo lately railed by the profufion of her favors upon him. 
 Certain it is, tliat he began then to fhew a ftill greater remifs- 
 nefs in all parts of his miniftry, and to affe6l to fay, that from 
 fuch a time, the very time I am fpeaking of, he took no fhare 
 in the diredlion of affairs, or words to that effedr. 
 
 He pretended to have difcovered intrigues which were fet 
 on toot againfl; him, and particularly he complained of the ad- 
 vantage which was taken of his abfence, during the journey he 
 
 made
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 21 
 
 made at his fon's marriage, to undermine him with the queen. 
 He is naturally inclined to believe the worft, which I take to 
 be a certain mark oi a mean fpirit and a wicked foul : at leaft 
 I am fure that the contrary quality, when it is not due to 
 weaknefs of underfcanding, is the fruit of a generous temper, 
 and an honeft heart. Prone to j'udge ill of all mankind, he 
 will rarely be feduced by his credulity ; but I never knew a 
 man fo capable of being the bubble of his diftruft and jealoufy.. 
 He was fo in this cafe, altho the queen, who could not be ig- 
 norant of the truth, faid enough to undeceive him. But to be 
 undeceived, and to ovv^n himfelf fo, was not his play. He hop- 
 ed by cunning to varnifh over his want of faith and of ability. 
 He was delirous to make the world impute the extraordinary 
 part, or to fpeak more properly, the no part which he acted 
 with the Ilaff of treafurer in his hand, to the queen's with- 
 drawing; her favor from him, and to his friends abandonino- 
 him : pretences utterly groundlefs, when he firft made them, 
 and which he brought to be real at lafl. Even the winter be- 
 fore the queen's death, when his credit began to wain apace, 
 he might have regained it ; he might have reconciled himfelf 
 perfedlly with all his antient friends, and have acquired the 
 confidence of the whole party. I fay he might have done all 
 this ; becaufe I am perfuaded that none of thofe I ha\'e named 
 were fo convinced of his perfidy, fo jaded with his yoke, or fo 
 much picqued perfonally againft him as I was : and yet if he 
 would have exerted himfelf in concert with us, to improve the 
 few advantages which were left us, and to ward ofi' the viiible 
 danger which threatened our perfons and our party, I would 
 have ftifled my private animofity, and would have aded under 
 him with as much zeal as ever. But he was uncapable of taking 
 fuch a turn. The fum of all his policy had been to amufe the 
 whigs, the tories, and the Jacobites, as long as he could, and to 
 keep his power as long as he amufed them. When it became 
 
 impoflible
 
 22 ALETTERTO 
 
 impoffible to amiife mankind any longer, he appeared plainly at 
 the end of his line. 
 
 By a fecret correfpondence with the late earl of Hali- 
 fax, and by the intrigues of his brother, and other fanati- 
 cal relations, he had endeavored to keep fome hold on the 
 whigs. 
 
 The tories were attached to him at firft by the heat of a re- 
 volution in the miniftry, by their hatred of the people who were 
 difcarded, and by the fond hopes which it is eafy to give at the 
 fetting out of a new adminiftration. Afterwards he held out 
 the peace in profpedt to them, and to the Jacobites, feparately, asjan 
 event which muft be brought about before he could effedually 
 ferve either. You cannot have forgot how things which we 
 prefled were put oil, upon every occafton, till the peace : the 
 peace was to be the date of a new adminiftration, and the period 
 at which the millenary year of toryifm fhould begin. Thus 
 were the tories at that time amufed : and lince my exile I have 
 had the opportunity of knowing certainly and circumftantially 
 that the Jacobites were treated in the fame manner, and that the 
 pretender was made, through the french minifter, to exped that 
 meafures fhould be taken for his reftoration, as foon as the 
 peace had rendered tliem practicable. He was to attempt 
 nothing, his partifans were to lie ftUl, Oxford undertook for 
 all. 
 
 After many delays, fatal to the general intereft of Europe, 
 this peace was figned, and the only confiderable thing which 
 he brought about afterwards was the marriage I have mentioned 
 above : and by it an acceftion of riches and honor to a family whofe 
 eftate was very mean, and whofe illuftration before this time 
 I never met with any where but in the vain difcourfes which he 
 
 ufed
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 23 
 
 ufed to hold over claret. If he kept his word with any of the 
 parties abovementioned, it miift be fuppofed that he did fo with 
 the whigs ; for as to us we faw nothing after the peace but in- 
 creafe of mortification and nearer approaches to ruin. Not a 
 ftep was made towards completing the fettlement of Europe, 
 which the treaties of Utrecht and Radftat left imperfedl ; to- 
 wards fortifying and eflablifhing the tory party ; towards fe- 
 curing thofe who had been the principal a6tors in this admini- 
 ftration againfl luture events. We had proceeded in a confi- 
 dence that thefe things fhould immediately follow the conclu- 
 fion of the peace : he had never, I dare fwear, entertained a 
 thoug;ht concernino; them. As foon as the laft hand was given 
 to the fortune of his family, he abandoned his miftrefs, his 
 friends, and his party, who had bore him fo many years on their 
 fhoulders : and I was prefent when this want of faitli was re- 
 proached him in the plaineft and ftrongeft terms by one of the 
 honefteft * men in Britain, and before fome of the moft -f con- 
 fiderable tories. Even his impudence failed him on this occa- 
 lion : he did not fo much as attempt an excufe. 
 
 He could not keep his word which he had given the pre- 
 tender and his adherents, becaufe he had formed no party to 
 fupport him in fuch a defign. He was fure of having the 
 whigs againft him if he made the attempt, and he was not fure 
 of having the tories for him. 
 
 In this ftate of confufion and diftrefs, to which he had re- 
 duced himfelf and us, you remember the part he acfled. He 
 was the fpy of the whigs, and voted with us in the morning 
 againft thofe very queftions which he had penned the night be- 
 
 * Lord Trevor. 
 
 ■f Duke of Ormond, lord Anglesey, lord Harcourt, and myfelf in Ox- 
 ford's lodgings in St. James's houfe. 
 
 fore
 
 24 ALETTERTO 
 
 fore with Walpole and others. He kept his poft on terms 
 
 which no man but he would have held it on, neither fubmit- 
 ting to the queen, nor complying with his friends. He would 
 not, or he could not ad with us, and he refolved that we 
 fliould not act without him, as long as he could hinder it. 
 The queen's health was very precarious, and at her death he 
 hoped by thefe means to deliver us up, bound as it were hand 
 and foot, to our adverfaries. On the foundation of this merit 
 he flattered himfelf that he had gained fome of the whigs, and 
 foftened at leaft the reft of the party to him. By his fe- 
 cret negotiations at Hanover, he took it for granted that he 
 was not only reconciled to that court, but that he fliould un- 
 der his prefent majefty's reign have as much credit as he had 
 enjoyed under that of the queen. He was weak enough to 
 boaft of this, and to promife his good offices voluntarily to fe- 
 veral, for no man was weak enough to think them worth being 
 follicited. In a word, you muft have heard that he anfwered 
 to lord Dartmouth and to Mr. Bromley, that one fhould 
 keep the privy feal, and the other the feals of fecretary ; and 
 that lord Cowper makes no icruple of telling how he came to 
 offer him the feals of chancellor. When the king arrived, he 
 went to Greenwich with an affectation of pomp and of favor. 
 Againft his fufpicious character, he was once in his life the bub- 
 ble of his credulity : and this deluflon betrayed him into a pu- 
 nifhment, more fevere in my fenfe than all which has happen- 
 ed to him fmce, or than perpetual exile ; he was affronted in 
 the manner in which he was prefented to the king. The 
 meaneft fubject would ha\'e been received with goodnefs, the 
 moft obnoxious with an air of indifterence ; but lie was re- 
 ceived with the moft diftinguifhing contempt. This treat- 
 ment he had in the face of the nation. The king began his 
 reign, in this inftance, with punifl^iing the ingratitude, the perfi- 
 dy, the infolence which had been ftiewn to his predeceftbr. 
 
 Oxford
 
 SIRWILLIAM WINDHAM. 25 
 
 Oxford fled from court covered with fhame, the obJe<5l ot 
 the derifion of the whigs, and of the indignation of the tories. 
 
 The queen might, if fhe had pleafed, have faved her felf 
 from all thofe mortifications fhe met with during the laft 
 months of her reign, and her fervants and the tory party from 
 thofe misfortunes which they endured during the fame time; 
 perhaps from thofe which they have fallen into lince her deatli. 
 When fhe found that the peace, from the conclufion of which 
 fhe expefted eafe and quiet, brought flill greater trouble upon 
 her ; when flie faw the weaknefs of her government, and the 
 confufion of her affairs encreafe every day ; when fhe faw her 
 firft minifler bewildered and unable to extricate himl'elf or her ; 
 in fine, when the negligence of his public condu6l, and the fan- 
 cinefs of his private behavior had rendered him infupportable 
 to her, and Ihe took the refolution of laying him afide, there 
 was a ftrength ftill remaining fufScient to have fupported her 
 government, to have fulfilled in great part the expectations of 
 the tories, and to have conftituted both them and the minifters 
 in fuch a fituation as would have left them little to apprehend. 
 Some defigns were indeed on foot which might have produced 
 very great diforders : Oxford's conduct had given much occa- 
 lion to them, and with the terror of them he endea\'ored to in- 
 timidate the queen. But expedients were not hard to be 
 found, by which thofe defigns might ha\^e been nipped in the 
 bud, or elfc by which the perfons who promoted them might 
 have been induced to lay them afide. But that fatal irrefolution 
 inherent to the Stuart - race hung upon her. She felt too 
 much inward refentment to be able to conceal his difg:race from 
 him : yet after he had made this difcovery, fhe continued to 
 truft all her power in his hands. 
 
 Vol. I. D No
 
 26 ALETTERTO 
 
 No people ever were in fuch a condition as ours continued 
 to be from the autumn of one thoufand feven hundred and thir- 
 teen, to the fummer iollowing. The queen's health funk eve- 
 ry day. The attack which £he had in the winter at Windfor, 
 ferved as a warning both to thofe who wifhed, and to thofe who 
 feared her death, to exped. it. The party which oppofed the 
 court had been continually gaining ftrength by the weaknefs of 
 our adminiftration : and at this time their nvimbers were vaftlv 
 encreafed, and their fpirit was raifed by the near profpe6t of the 
 fucceffion taking place. We were not at liberty to exert 
 the ftrength we had. We faw our danger, and many of us 
 faw the true means ot avoiding it : but whilft the magic wand 
 was in the fame hands, this knowledge ferved only to encreafe 
 our uneaftnefs ; and whether we would or no, we were forced 
 with our eyes open to walk on towards the precipice. Every 
 moment we became lefs able, if the queen lived, to fupport her 
 government : if fhe died, to fecure our felves. One iide was 
 united in a common view, and afted upon an uniform plan ; 
 the other had really none at all. We knew that we were out of 
 favor at the court of Hanover, that we were reprefented there 
 as Jacobites, and that the eledor, his prefent majefty, had been 
 rendered publicly a party to that oppofttion, in fpight of which 
 we made the peace : and yet we neither had taken, nor could 
 take in our prefent circumftances, any meafures to be better or 
 worfe there. Thus we languifhed till the twenty feventh of 
 July one thoufand feven hundred and fourteen, when the queen 
 difmified the treafurer. On the friday following, flie fell into an 
 apoplexy, and died on funday the firft of Auguft. 
 
 You do me, I dare fay, the juftice to believe, that whilft this 
 ftate of things lafted I law very well, how little mention foever 
 i might make of it at the time, that no man in the jminiftry, or 
 
 in
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 27 
 
 in the party, was (6 much expofed as my felf. I could cxpcd; 
 no quarter from the whigs, for I had defervcd none. There 
 v/ere perfons amongft them for whom I had great efteem and 
 friendlhip ; yet neither with thefe nor with any others had I 
 preferred a fecret correfpondencc, which might be of ufe to me 
 in the day of diftrcfs : and befides the general chara6ter of my 
 party, I knew that particular prejudices were entertained againft 
 me at Hano\'er. The whigs wanted nothing but an opportu- 
 nity of attacking the peace, and it could hardly be imagined- 
 that they would flop there. In which cafe, I knew that they 
 could have hold on no man fo much as myfelf : the inftrudtions, 
 the orders, the memorials had been drawn by me, the corre- 
 fpondence relating to it in France, and every where elfe, had 
 been carried on by me ; in a word, my hand appeared to almofb 
 every paper which had been writ in the whole courfe of the ne- 
 gotiation. To all thefe conliderations I added that of the 
 weight of perfonal refentment, which I had created againft 
 my Mi at home and abroad : in part unavoidably by the fhare 
 I was obliged to take in thefe affairs ; and in part, if you will, 
 unneceflarily by the warmth of my temper, and by fome un- 
 guarded expreillons for which I have no excufe to make, but 
 that which Tacitus makes for his father-in-law, Julius 
 Agricola : *' honeftius putabam offendere quam odide. 
 
 Having this profpecf of being diftinguiflied from the reft of 
 my party, in the common calamity, by feverer treatment, 1 
 might havejuftified myfelf, by reafon and by great authorities 
 too, if I had made early provifion, at leaft to be fate, when I 
 ihould be no longer ufeful. How I could have fecured this 
 point I do not think fit to explain, but certain it is that I made 
 no one ftep towards it. I refolved not to abandon my party 
 by turning whig, or, which is worfe a great deal, whimlical, 
 nor to treat fcparately from it. I refolved to keep my felf at 
 
 D 2 liberty
 
 28 ALETTERTO 
 
 liberty to ad on a tory bottom. If the queen difgraced Ox- 
 ford and continued to live afterwards, I knew we lliould have 
 time and means to provide for our future fatety : if the queen 
 died and left us in the fame unfortunate circumftances, I ex- 
 pedied to fuffer for and with the tories, and I was prepared 
 for it. 
 
 The thunder had long grumbled in the air, and yet when 
 the bolt fell, mofl: of our party appeared as much furprifed as 
 if they had had no reafon to expe6t it. There was a perfect 
 calm and univerfal fubmiffion through the whole kingdom. 
 The Chevalier indeed fet out as if his defign had been to gain 
 the coaft and to embark for Great Britain, and the court of 
 France made a merit to themfelves of flopping him and oblig- 
 ing him to return. But this, to my certain knowledge, was a 
 farce acSled by concert, to keep up an opinion of his character, 
 when all opinion of his caufe feemed to be at an end. He 
 owned this concert to vne at Bar, on the occafion of my telling 
 him that he would have found no party ready to receive him, 
 and that the enterprife would have been to the laft degree ex- 
 travagant. He was at this time far from having any encourage- 
 ment : no party, numerous enough to make the leafl" diftur- 
 bance, was formed in his favor. On the king's arrival the 
 ftorm arofe. The menaces of the whigs, backed by fome ve- 
 ry rafli declarations, by little circumftances of humor which 
 frequently ofTend more than real injuries, and by the entire 
 change of all the perfons in employment, blew up the coals. 
 
 At firft many of the tories had been made to entertain fome 
 faint iiopes that they would be permitted to live in quiet. I 
 have been affured that the king left Hanover in that refolution. 
 Happy had it been for him and for us if he had continued in it ; 
 if the moderation of his temper had not been overborne by the 
 
 violence
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 29 
 
 violence of party, and his and the national intereft facrihced to 
 the padions of a few. Others there were among the torics who 
 had flattered themfelves with much greater expedations than 
 thefe, and who had depended, not on fiich imaginary favor 
 and dangerous advancement as was offered them afterwards, 
 but on real credit and fubftantial power under the new govern- 
 ment. Such impreflions on the minds of men had rendered the 
 two houfes of parliament, which were then fitting, as good 
 courtiers to king George, as ever they Jiad been to queen Anne. 
 But all thefe hopes being at once and with violence extinguifhed, 
 defpair fucceeded in their room. 
 
 Our party began foon to adl like men delivered over to their 
 paflions, and unguided by any other principle ; not like men 
 fired by a juft refentment and a reafonable ambition to a bold 
 undertaking. They treated the government like men who 
 were refolved not to live under it, and yet they took no one 
 mcafure to fupport themfelves againfl: it. They exprefled, with- 
 out refcrve or circumfpedlion, an eagernefs to join in any attempt 
 againft the eftablifhment which they had received and con- 
 firmed, and which many of them had courted but a few weeks 
 before ; and yet in the midft of all this bravery, when the 
 eledion of the new parliament came on, fome of thefe very 
 men adled with the coolnefs of thofe who are much better dif- 
 pofed to compound than to take arms. 
 
 The body of the tories being in this temper, it is not to be 
 wondered at, if they heated one another, and began apace to 
 turn their eyes towards the pretender : and if thole £qWj who 
 had already engaged with him, applied themfelves to improve 
 the conjundture and endeavored to lift a party for him. 
 
 I WENT,
 
 30 
 
 A LETTER TO 
 
 I WENT, about a month after the queen's death, as foon as 
 the feals were taken from me, into the country, and whilfl I 
 continued there, I felt the general difpofition to jacobitifm 
 encreafe daily among people of all ranks; among feveral who 
 had been conftantly diftinguiflied by their averfion to that 
 caufe. But at my return to London in the month of Februa- 
 ry or March one thoufand feven hundred and fifteen, a few 
 weeks before I left England, I began for the firft time in my 
 whole life to perceive thefe general difpofitions ripen into refo- 
 lutions, and to obferve fome regular workings among many of 
 our principal friends, which denoted a fcheme of this kind. 
 Thefe workings, indeed, were very faint, for the perfons con- 
 cerned in carrying them on did not think it fafe to fpeak too 
 plainly to men who were, in truth, ill difpofed to the govern- 
 ment, becaufe they neither found their account at prefent un- 
 der it, nor had been managed with art enough to leave them 
 hopes of finding it hereafter; but who at the fame time had 
 not the leaft afiedion for the pretender's perfon, nor any prin- 
 ciple favorable to his intereft. 
 
 This was the ftate of things when the new parliament,, 
 which his majefly had called, affembled. A great majority 
 of the eledlions had gone in favor of the whigs; to which the, 
 want of concert among the tories had contributed as much as 
 the vigor of that party, and the influence of the new govern- 
 ment. The whigs came to the opening of this parliament full 
 of as much violence as could poffefs men who expeded to 
 make their court, to confirm themfelves in power, and to gra- 
 tify their refentments by the fame meafures. I have heard that 
 it was a difpute among the minifters how far this fpirit fhould 
 be indulged, and that the king was determined, or confirmed 
 iu a determination, to confent to the profecutions, and to give 
 
 the
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 31 
 
 the reins to the party by the reprefcntations that were made to 
 him, that great difficulties would arife in the condud of the 
 leilion, if the court fhould appear inchned to check this fpi- 
 
 rit, and by Mr. W 's undertaking to carry all the buli- 
 
 nefs fuccesfully through the houfe of commons if they were at 
 liberty. Such has often been the unhappy fate of our princes: 
 a real neccffity fometimes, and fometimcs a feeming one, has 
 forced them to compound with a part of the nation at the ex- 
 pence of the whole ; and the fuccefs of their bufinefs for one 
 year has been purchafed at the price of public diforder for 
 many. 
 
 The conjuncture I am fpeaking of affords a memorable in- 
 ftance of this truth. If milder meafures had been purfued, 
 certain it is, that the tories had never univerfally embraced ja- 
 cobitifm. The violence of the whigs forced them into the 
 arms of the pretender. The court and the party feemed to vie 
 with one another which fhould go the greatefl lengths in feve- 
 rity : and the miniflers, whofe true intereft it muft at all times 
 be to calm the minds of men, and who ought never to fet the 
 examples of extraordinary inquiries or extraordinary accufati- 
 ons, were upon this occalion the tribunes of the people. 
 
 The council of regency, which began to iit as foon as the 
 queen died, adled like a council of the holy office. Whoever 
 looked on the face of the nation faw every thing quiet ; not 
 one of thofe fymptoms appearing which muft have fhewn 
 themfelves more or lefs at that moment, if, in reality, there 
 had been any meafures taken during the former reign to defeat 
 the proteftant fucceffion. His majefty afccnded the throne 
 with as little contradiction and as little trouble, as ever a fon 
 fucceeded a father in the poffeffion of a private patrimony. 
 But he, who had the opportunity, which I had till my dif- 
 
 miHion,
 
 32 ALETTE RTO 
 
 miffion, of feeing a great part of what paffed in that council, 
 would have thought that there had been an oppofition aftu- 
 ally formed, that the new eftablifhment was attacked openly 
 from without, and betrayed from within. 
 
 The fame difpolition continued after the king's arrival. This 
 political inquifition went on with all the eagernefs imaginable 
 in feifing of papers, in ranfacking the queen's clofet, and ex- 
 amining even her private letters. The whigs had clamored 
 loudly, and affirmed in the face of the world, that the nation 
 had been fold to France, to Spain, to the pretender: and 
 whilft they endeavored in vain, by very fingular methods, to 
 find fome color to juftify what they had advanced without 
 proof, they put themfelves under an abfolute neceffity of ground- 
 ing the moft folemn profecution on things whereof they might 
 indeed have proof, but which would never pafs for crimes be- 
 fore any judges, but fuch as were parties at the fame time. 
 
 In the king's firft fpeech from the throne, all the inflam- 
 ing hints were given, and all the methods of violence were 
 chalked out to the two houfes. The firft fteps in both were 
 perfectly anfwerable: and to the fhame of the peerage be it 
 fpokcn, I faw at that time feveral lords concur to condemn, in 
 one general vote, all that they had approved of in a former 
 parliament by many particular refolutions. Among feveral 
 bloody refolutions propofed and agitated at this time, the refo- 
 lution of impeaching me of high treafon was taken : and I took 
 that of leaving England, not in a panic terror improved by the 
 artifices of the duke of Marlborough, whom I knew even at 
 that time too well to adl by his advice or information in any cafe, 
 but on fuch grounds as the proceedings which foon followed 
 fufiiciently juftified, and as I have never repented building up- 
 on, Thofe who blamed it in the firft heat were foon after 
 
 obliged
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 33 
 
 obliged to change their language; for what other rcfoliition 
 could I take? The method of profecution defigned againll: 
 me would have put me immediately out of condition to act for 
 myfelf, or to ferve thofe who were lefs expofed than me, but 
 who were, however, in danger. On the other hand, how 
 few were there on whofe affiftance I could depend, or to whom 
 I would, even in thofe circumftances, be obliged ? The ferment 
 in the nation was wrought up to a confiderable height; but 
 there was at that time no reafon to expert that it would influ- 
 ence the proceedings in parliament in fiivor of thofe who 
 lliould be accufed. Left to it's own movement, it was much 
 more proper to quicken than flacken the profecutions : and 
 who was there to guide it's motions ? The tories who had been 
 true to one another to the laft were an handful, and no great 
 vigor could be expeded from them. The whimficals, difap- 
 pointed of the figure which they hoped to make, began, iji- 
 deed, to join their old friends. One * of the principal amongft 
 them was fo very good as to confefs to me, that if the court 
 had called the fervants of the late queen to account, and liad 
 flopped there, he muft have confidered himfelf as a judge, and 
 have adled according to his confcience on what fhould have 
 appeared to him: but that war had been declared to the 
 "U'hole tory party, and that now the ftate of things was altered. 
 This dilcourfe needed no commentary, and proved to me, that 
 I had never erred in the judgment I made of this fet of men. 
 Could I then refoive to be obliged to them, or to fuffer with 
 Ox FORD ? As much as I ftill was heated by the difputes in which 
 I had been all my life engaged againfl: the whigs, I would fooner 
 have chofe to owe my fecurity to their indulgence, than to the 
 afllftance of the whimficals : but I thought banifliment, with all 
 her train of evils, preferable to either. I abhorred Oxford to 
 
 * Farl of Anglesey. I told the fad tothebifhop of Rochester that night or the 
 next day. 
 
 Vol. I E that
 
 34 ALETTERTO 
 
 that degree, that I could not bear to be joined with him in any 
 cafe. Nothing perhaps contributed fo much to determine me 
 as this fentiment. A fenfe of honor would not have permitted 
 me to diflinguilh between his cafe and mine own : and it was 
 worfc than death to lie under the neceflity of making them 
 the fame, and of taking meafures in concert with him. 
 
 I AM now come to the time at which I left England, and 
 have finifhed the firfl: part of that dedudlion of fads which I 
 propofed to lay before you. I am hopeful, that you will not 
 think it altogether tedious or unneceffary: for although very 
 little of what I have faid can be new to you, yet this fummary 
 account will enable you with greater eafe to recal to your 
 memory the paffages of thofe four years, wherewith all that I 
 am going to relate to you has an immediate and necelTary 
 connexion. 
 
 In what has been faid I am far from making my own pane- 
 gyric. I had not in thofe days fo much merit as was afcribed 
 to me : nor fmce that time have I had fo litde as the fame 
 perfons allowed me. I committed without difpute many 
 faults, and a greater man than I can pretend to be, conftitut- 
 ed in the fame circumftances, would not have kept clear of 
 all : but wdth refpe6l to the tories I committed none. I carried 
 the point of party-honor to the height, and facrificed every 
 thing to my attachment to them during this period of time. 
 Let us now examine whether I have done fo during the reft. 
 
 When I arrived in France, about the end of March one 
 thoufand feven hundred and fifteen, the affairs of England 
 were reprefented to me in another light than I had feen them 
 in, when I looked upon them with my own eyes very few 
 weeks before, I found the perfons,- who were detached to 
 
 fpeak
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 35 
 
 fpcak with me, prepared to think that I came over to nego- 
 tiate for the pretender : and when they perceived that I 
 was more ignorant than they imagined, I was afllired by tJiem, 
 that there would be fuddenly an iiniverfal rifing in England 
 and Scotland. The leaders were named to me, their engage- 
 ments fpeciiied, and many gentlemen, yourfell among others, 
 were reckoned upon for particular fervices, tho I was certain 
 you had never been treated with. From whence I concluded, 
 and the event has juftitied my opinion, tliat thefe afllirances 
 had been given on the general characters of men, by fuch ol; 
 our friends as had embarked fooner, and gone farther than 
 the reft. 
 
 This management furprifed me extremely. In the anfwers 
 I made, I endeavored to fet the miftake right ; to fhew that 
 things were far from the point of maturity imagined; that 
 the Chevalier had yet no party for him, and that nothing 
 could form one but the extreme violence which the whiizs 
 threatened to exereife. Great endeavors were ufed to engasc 
 
 CD & _ 
 
 me in this affair, and to prevail on me to anfwer the letter of 
 invitation fent me from Bar. I alledged, as it was true, 
 that i had no commiflion from any perfon in England, and 
 that the friends 1 left behind me were the only perfons who 
 could determine me, if any could, to take fuch a llep. As to 
 the lafl: propofition, I abfolutely refufed it. 
 
 In the uncertainty of what would happen, whether the pro- 
 fecutions would be pufhed, which was moft probable, in the 
 manner intended againft me, and againfl: others, for all of 
 whom, except the earl of Oxford, I had as much concern as 
 for myfelf ; or whether the whigs would relent, drop fome, 
 and foften the fate of others ; I refolved to conduA myfelf fo 
 as to create no appearance which might be ftraincd into a pre- 
 
 E 2 tence
 
 36 ALETTERTO 
 
 tence for hard ufage, and which might be retorted on my 
 friends when they debated for me, or when they defended 
 themfelves. I faw the earl of Stair, I promifed him that I 
 would enter into no jacobite-engagements, and I kept my 
 word with him. I writ a letter to Mr. fecretary Stanhope, 
 which might take off any imputation of negledt of the govern- 
 ment ; and I retired into Dauphine to remove the objection of 
 refidence near the court of France. 
 
 This retreat from Paris was cenfured in England, and fti- 
 led a defertion of my friends and of their caufe: with what 
 foundation let any reafonable man determine. Had I engag- 
 ed with the pretender before the party ad:ed for him, or re- 
 quired of me that I fhould do fo, I had taken the air of be- 
 ing his man ; whereas I looked on myfelt as theirs : I had 
 gone about to bring them into his meafures ; whereas I never 
 intended, even fince that time, to do any thing more than to 
 make him as far as pofTible adl conformably to their views. 
 
 During the fhort time I continued on the banks of the 
 Rhone, the profecutions were carried on at Weftminfter with 
 the utmoU: violence, and the ferment among the people was 
 rifen to fuch a degree, that it could end in nothing better, 
 it might have ended in fomething worfe, than it did. The 
 meafures which I obferved at Paris had turned to no ac- 
 count ; on the contrary, the letter which I writ to Mr. fecreta- 
 ry Stanhope was quoted as a bafe and fawning fubmiflion: 
 and what I intended as a mark of refped: to the government, 
 and a fervice to my friends, was perverted to ruin me in the 
 opinion of the latter. The adt of attainder, in confequence of 
 my impeachment, had paffed againft me, for crimes of the 
 blackeft dye : and among other inducements to pafs it my hav- 
 ing been engaged in the pretender's intereft was one* How 
 
 well
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 37 
 
 well founded this article was has already appeared ; 1 was jufl as 
 guilty of the reft. The correfpondence with me was, you know, 
 neither frequent nor lafe. I heard feldom and darkly from you, 
 and tho I fiw well enough which way the current ran, yet I 
 was entirely ignorant of the meai'ures you took, and ot the ufc 
 you intended to make of me. 1 contented my fell, therefore, 
 with letting you all know that you had but to command mc, 
 and that I was ready to venture in your fervice the little which 
 remained, as frankly as I had expofed all which was gone. At 
 laft your commands came, and I fhall fhew you in what man- 
 ner I executed them. 
 
 The perfon who was fent to me arrived in the beginning 
 of July one thoufand fev^en hundred and fifteen at the place 
 where I was. He fpoke in the name of all the friends whofe 
 authority could influence me, and he brought me word that 
 Scotland was not only ready to take arms, but under fome fort 
 of dilllitisfadlion to be withheld from beo-inning; ; that in Encr- 
 land the people were exafperated againft the government to fuch 
 a degree, that f:ir from wanting to be encouraged, they could 
 not be reftrained Irom infulting it on every occafion ; that the 
 whole tory party was become avowedly jacobite ; that many 
 officers of the army, and the majority of the foldiers were very 
 well affedled to the caufe ; that the city of London was ready 
 to rife, and that the enterprifes for feifing of feveral places were 
 ripe for execution : in a word, that moft of the principal tories 
 were in a concert with the duke of Ormond, for I had prcfled 
 particularly to be informed whether his grace adted alone, or if 
 not, who were his council ; and that the others were fo difpof- 
 ed that there remained no doubt of their joining as foon as the 
 iirft blow fhould be ftruck. He added, that my friends were 
 a little furprifed to obferve that I lay neuter in fuch a conjundlure. 
 He reprefented to me the danger I ran of being prevented by 
 
 people 

 
 38 ALETTERTO 
 
 people of all fides from having the merit of engaging early in 
 this enterprife ; and how unaccountable it would be for a man 
 impeached and attainted under tlie prefent government to take 
 no fliare in bringing about a revolution fo near at hand and fo 
 certain. He entreated that I v/ould defer no longer to join the 
 Chevalier ; to advife and alnfl: in carrying on his affairs, and to 
 follicite and negotiate at the court of France, where my friends 
 imagined that I fhould not fail to meet with a favorable recep- 
 tion, and from whence they made no doubt of receiving aflift- 
 ance in a iituation of aiTairs fo critical, fo unexpedled, and fo 
 promifing. He concluded by giving me a letter from the 
 pretender, whom he had feen in his way to me, in which I was 
 prefTed to repair without lofs of time to Commercy : and this 
 inftance was grounded on the meflage which the bearer of the 
 letter had brought me from my friends in England. Since he 
 was fent to me, it had been more proper to have come directly 
 where I was : but he was in haft to make his own court, and 
 to deliver the affurances which were entrufted to him. Per- 
 haps too, he imagined that he fhould tie the knot fafter on me 
 by acquainting me that my friends had adually engaged for 
 themfelves and me, than by barely telling me that they defired 
 I would engage for my felf and them. 
 
 In the progrefs of the converfation he related a multitude of 
 fails, which fatislied me as to the general difpofition of the peo- 
 ple ; but he gave me little fatisfad:ion as to the meafures taken 
 for improving this difpoiition ; for driving tlie bufinefs on with 
 vigor it it tended to a revolution, or for fupporting it with advan- 
 tage if it fpun into a war. When I queftioned him concern- 
 ing feveral perfons whofe difinclination to the government ad- 
 mitted of no doubt, and whofe names, quality, and experience 
 were very effential to the fuccefs of the undertaking, he owned 
 
 to
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 39 
 
 to me, that they kept a great referve, and did at mod but encou- 
 rage others to adt, by general and dark expreillons. 
 
 I RECEIVED this account and this fummons ill in my bed : 
 yet important as the matter was, a lew minutes ferved to de- 
 termine me. The circumftances wanting to form a reafonable 
 inducement to engage did not efcape me. But the fmart of a 
 bill of attainder tingled in every vein : and I looked on my 
 party to be under opprelfion, and to call for my afliftance. Be- 
 lides which, I confidered iirft that I iliould certainly be informed, 
 when I conferred v/ith the Chevalier, of many particulars un- 
 known to this gentleman ; for I did not imagine that you could 
 be fo near to take arms, as he reprefented you to be on no 
 other foundation than that which he expofed : and fecondl}', 
 that I was obliged in honor to declare, without waiting for a 
 more particular information of what might be expedled from 
 Enorland; iince my friends had taken their refolution to declare, 
 without any previous afllirance ot what might be expedled from 
 France. This fecond motive weighed extremely with me at 
 that time : there is however more found than fenfe in it, and 
 it contains the original error to which all your fubfequent er- 
 rors, and the thread of misfortunes which follov/ed are to be 
 afcribed. 
 
 My refolution thus taken, I loft no time in repairing to 
 Commercy. The very firft converfations with the Chevalier 
 anfwered in no degree my expedations : and I allure you with 
 great truth, that I began even then, if not to repent of my own 
 rafhnefs, yet to be fully convinced both of yours and mine. 
 
 He talked to me like a man who expelled every moment to 
 fet out for England or Scotland, but who did not very well 
 know for which : and when he entered into the particulars of 
 
 his
 
 40 ALETTERTO 
 
 his affairs, I found that concerning the former he had nothing 
 more circumftantial nor pofitive to go upon, than what I had 
 already heard. The advices which were fent from thence con- 
 tained fuch affurances of fuccefs, as it was hard to think that 
 men, who did not go upon the fureft grounds, would prefume to 
 give. But then thefe affurances were general, and the autho- 
 rity feldom fatisfadlory. Thofe which came from the beft 
 hand were verbal, and often conveyed by very doubtful meffen- 
 gers ; others came from men whofe fortunes were as defperate 
 as their councils ; and others came from perfons whofe fitua- 
 tion in the world gave little reafon to attend to their judg- 
 ment in matters of this kind. 
 
 The duke of Ormond had been for fome time, I cannot 
 fay how long, engaged with the Chevalier. He had taken 
 the diredion of this whole affaii*, as far as it related to England, 
 upon himfelf, and had received a commiflion for this purpofe 
 which contained the moft ample powers that could be given. 
 After this one would be apt to imagine, that the principles on 
 which the pretender fhould proceed, and the tories engage in 
 tliis fervice, had been laid down ; that a regular and certain me- 
 thod ot correfpondence had been eflablifhed ; that the necefla- 
 ry afhftances had been fpecified, and that poUtive affurances had 
 been given of them. Nothing lefs. In a matter as ferious as this, 
 all was loofe and abandoned to the difpoiition of fortune. 
 The firft point had never been touched upon. By what I have 
 faid above you fee how little care was taken of the fecond : 
 and as to the third, the duke had afked a fmall body of regu- 
 lar forces, a fum of money, and a quantity of arms and ammu- 
 nition. He had been told in anfwer by the court of France, that 
 he muft abfolutely defpair of any number of troops whatever, 
 but he had been made in general to hope for fome money, fome 
 ^rm?, and fome ammunition : a little fum had, I think, been ad- 
 vanced
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 41 
 
 vaiiced to him. In a cafe fo plain as this, it is hard to conceive 
 how any nian could err. The alliftances demanded from 
 France at this time, and even greater than thcfe, will appear, in. 
 the fequel of this relation, by the fenfe of the whole party to 
 have been deemed ell'entially neceffary to fuccefs. In fuch an 
 uncertainty therefore, whether even thefe could be obtained, or 
 rather with fo much realon to apprehend that they could not, it 
 was evident that the torics ought to have lain ftill. They miglit 
 have helped the ferment againft the government, but Hiould 
 have avoided with the utmofi: care the giving any alarm, or 
 even fufpicion of their true defign, and have relumed or not re- 
 fumed it as the Chevalier was able or not able to provide the 
 troops, the arms, the money, &c. Inflead of which thofe who 
 were at the head of the undertaking, and therefore anfwerab-le 
 for the meafures which were purfued, fuflered the bufinefs to 
 jog merrily on. They knew in general how little dependence 
 was to be placed on foreign fuccour, but a6led as if they had 
 been fure of it : while the party were rendered fanguine by their 
 pafHons, and made no doubt of fubverting a government they 
 were angry with, both one and the other made as much buftlc, 
 and gave as great alai-m as would have been imprudent even at 
 the eve of a general infurrection. This appeared to me to be the 
 ftate of things with refped to England, when I arrived at Com- 
 mercy. 
 
 The Scots had long prefled the Chevalier to come amonp-fi; 
 
 them, and had of late fent frequent meffages to quicken iiis 
 
 departure, fome of which were delivered in terms mucli more 
 
 zealous than refpe6lful. The truth is, they feemed in as much 
 
 haft to begin, as if they had thought themfelves able to do the 
 
 work alone ; as if they had been appreheiifive of no danger 
 
 but that of feeino; it taken out of their hands, and of ha\'ino: 
 
 the honor of it fliared by others. However, that which was 
 
 Vol. I. F wantinor 
 

 
 42 ALETTERTO 
 
 wanting on the part of England was not wanting in Scotland : 
 the Scots talked aloud, but they were in a condition to rife. 
 They took little care to keep their intentions fecret, but 
 they were difpoied to put thofe intentions into immediate exe- 
 cution, and thereby to render the fecret no longer neceffary. 
 They knew upon whom to depend for every part of the work, 
 and they had concerted with the Chevalier even to the place 
 of his landing. 
 
 There was need of no great fagacity to perceive how une- 
 qual fuch foundations were to the weight of the building de- 
 iiprned to be raifed on them. The Scots with all their zeal 
 and all their valour could bring no revolution about, unlefs hi 
 concurrence with the Englifh : and among the latter nothing 
 was ripe for fuch an undertaking but the temper of the people, 
 if that was fo. I thought therefore, that the pretender's friends 
 in the north fhould be kept from riling, till thofe in the fouth 
 had put themfelves in a condition to a6t: ; and that in the mean 
 while, the utmoft endeavors ought to be ufed with the king of 
 France to efpoufe the caufe ; and that a plan of the defign, 
 with a more particular fpecification of the fuccours defired, as 
 well as of the time when, and the place to which they fhould 
 be conveyed, ought to be writ for : all which, I was told by 
 the marfhal of Berwic who had the principal diredion at that 
 time of thefe affairs in France, and I dare fay very truly,, 
 had been often afked but never fent. I looked on this enter- 
 prife to be of the nature of thofe which can hardly be under- 
 taken more than once ; and I judged that the fuccefs of it 
 would depend on timing, as near as pofllble together, the in- 
 furredion in both parts of the iiland, and tiie fuccours from 
 hence. The pretender approved this opinion of mine. He in- 
 ftru<5led me accordingly : and I left Lorain after having accept- 
 ed the feals much againft my inclination. I made one condi- 
 tion
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 43 
 
 tion with him. It was this : that I (hould be at Hberty to quit 
 a ftation which my humor and many other coniiderations made 
 me think my felf very unfit for, whenever the occafion upon, 
 which I engaged was over, one way or other : and I dcdrc yon 
 to remember that I did fo. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Paris towards the end of July one thoufand fe- 
 ven hundred and fifteen. You will obferve that all I was 
 charged with, and all by confequence that I am anfwcrable 
 for, was to follicit this court, and to difpofc them to grant us 
 the fuccours necefiary to make the attempt, as foon as we fl^ould 
 know certainly from England in what it was deiired tliat thcfc 
 fuccours fhould confift, and whither they fhould be fcnt. Here 
 I found a multitude of people at work, and every one doing 
 what feemed good in his own eyes : no fubordination, no or- 
 der, no concert. Perfons, concerne din the management of 
 thefe affairs upon former occafions, have affurcd me this is al- 
 ways the cafe. It might be fo to fome degree ; but I believe 
 never fo much as now. The Jacobites had wrought one ano- 
 ther up to look on the fuccefs of the prefent defigns as infalli- 
 ble. Every meeting- houfe which the populace demolifhed, eve- 
 ry little drunken riot which happened, ferved to confirm them 
 in thele fanguine expeftations : and there was liardly one 
 amongft them who would lofe the air of contributing by his in- 
 trigues to the reftoration, which he took it for granted would 
 be brought about without him in a very ftw weeks. 
 
 Care and hope fat on every bufy irifli face. Thofe who 
 could write and read had letters to fhew, and thofe who had 
 not arrived to this pitch of erudition had their fecrets to whif- 
 per. No fex was excluded from this miniftry, Fanny Ogle- 
 thorp, whom you muft have feen in England, kept her cor- 
 
 F 2 ner
 
 44 ALETTERTO 
 
 ner in it, and Olive Trant was the great wheel of our ma- 
 chine. 
 
 I IMAGINE that this pidure, the lines of which are not in 
 the leaft too ftrong, would ferve to reprefent what paffed on 
 your iide of the water at the fame time. The letters which 
 came from thence feemed to me to contain rather fuch things 
 as the writers willied might be true, than fuch as they knew to 
 be fo ; and the accounts which were fent from hence were of 
 the fame kind. The vanity of fome, and the credulity of 
 others fupported this ridiculous correlpondence, and I queflion 
 not but very many perfons, fome fuch I have known, did the 
 fame thing from a principle which they took to be a very wife 
 one : they imagined that they helped by thefe means to main- 
 tain and to encreafe the fpirit ot the party in England and France. 
 They adied like Thoas, that turbulent Aetolian, who brought 
 An TiocH us into Greece : " quibus mendaciis de regc, multi- 
 *' plicando verbis copias ejus, erexerat multorum in Graecia 
 " animos ; iifdem & regis fpem inflabat, omnium votis cum 
 " arceffi." Thus were numbers of people employed under a 
 notion of advancing the buiinefs, or from an affedlation of im- 
 portance, in amuling and flattering one another, and in found- 
 ing the alarm in the ears of an enemy, whom it was their interefl 
 to furprife. The government of England was put on it's guard : 
 and the neceifity of ading, or of laying alide with fome difad- 
 vantage all thoughts of ailing for the prefent, was precipitated, 
 before any meafures neceflary to enable you to ad had been pre- 
 pared or almoft thought of. 
 
 If his majefty did not, till fome fliort time after this, declare 
 the intended invafion to parliament, it was not lor want of in- 
 formation. Before I came to Paris, what was doing had been 
 difcovered. The little armament made at the Havre which fur- 
 
 niihed
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 45 
 
 mHied the only means the Chevalier then had for liis tranf- 
 portation into Britain, which had exhauftcd the treafury of 
 St. Germains, and which contained all the arms and ammu- 
 nition that could be depended upon for the whole undertaking, 
 tho they were hardly fufficient to begin the work even in Scot- 
 land, was talked of publicly. A minifter lefs alert and lefs ca- 
 pable than the earl ot Stair would eaiily have been at the bot- 
 tom of the fecret; for fo it was called, when the particulars of 
 mellages received and fent, the names of the perfons from 
 whom they came, and by whom they were carried, were whif- 
 pered about at tea-tables and in coffee-houfes. 
 
 In fliort; what by the indifcretion of people here, what by 
 the rebound which came often back from London, what by 
 the private interefts and ambitious views of perfons in the french 
 court, and what by other caufes unneceffary to be examined 
 now, the moft private tranfadions came to light : and they 
 who imagined that they trufted their heads to the keeping of 
 one or two Iriends, were in reality at the mercy of numbers. 
 Into fuch company was I fallen, for my fins: and it is upon 
 the credit of fuch a mob-miniftry, that the tories have judged 
 me capable of betraying a truft, or incapable of difcharging it. 
 
 I H A D made very little progrefs in the bufmefs which 
 brought me to Paris, when the paper fo long expedtcd was 
 fent, in purfuance of former inftances, from England. The 
 unanimous fenfe of the principal perfons engaged was contain- 
 ed in it. The whole had been dictated word for word to the 
 gentleman who brought it over by the earl of Mar, and it had 
 been delivered to him by the duke of Ormond. I was driving 
 in the wide ocean without a compafs, when this dropped 
 unexpedledly into my hands. I received it joyfully, and I 
 fteered my courfe exadly by it. Whether the perfons from 
 
 whom
 
 46 ALETTERTO 
 
 whom it came purfued the principles, and obferved the rules 
 which they laid down as the meafures of their own condud 
 and of ours, will appear by the fequel of this relation. 
 
 This memorial afferted, that there were no hopes of fuc- 
 ceeding in a prefent undertaking, for many reafons deduced in 
 it without an immediate and univerfal rifing of the people in all 
 parts of England upon the Chevalier's arrival, and that this 
 infurred:ion was in no degree probable unlefs he brought a body 
 of regular troops along with him : that if this attempt mucarried, 
 his caufe and his friends, the englifh liberty and government, 
 would be utterly ruined : but if by coming without troops he 
 refolved to rifque thefe and every thing elfe, he muft fet out fo as 
 not to arrive before the end of September, O. S. to juftify 
 which opinion many arguments were urged. In this cafe 
 twenty thoufand arms, a train of artillery, live hundred offi- 
 cers with their fervants, and a confiderable fum of money 
 were demanded : and as foon as they fhould be informed, that 
 the Chevalier was in condition to make this proviiion, it 
 was faid that notice fhould be given him of the places to which 
 he might fend, and of the perfons who were to be trufted. I do 
 not mention fome inconveniencies which they touched upon ari- 
 ling from a delay. Becaufe their opinion was clearly for 
 this delay, and becaufe they could not fuppofe that the Che- 
 valier would adl, or that thofe about him would advife him 
 to a6t, contrary to the fenfe of all his friends in England. No 
 time was loft in making the proper ufe of this paper. As much 
 ot it as was fit to be Ihewn to this court was tranflated into 
 French and laid before the king of France. I v/as now able 
 to fpeak with greater afilirance, and in fome fort to undertake 
 conditionally for the event of things. 
 
 The
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 47 
 
 The propofal of violating treaties fo lately and fo folem il- 
 ly concluded, was a very bold one to be made to people, 
 whatever their inclinations might be, whom the war had re- 
 duced to the loweft ebb of riches and power. They would 
 not hear of a direft and open engagement, fuch as the fend- 
 ing a body of troops would have been, neither would they 
 grant the whole of what was afked in the fecond plan. But 
 it was impo/Tible for them or any one elfe to forefee how far 
 thofe fteps which they were willing to take, well improved, 
 might have encouraged or forced them to go. They granted 
 us fome fuccours, and the very fhip in which the pretender 
 was to tranfport himfelt was fitted out by Define d'Anicant 
 at the king of France's expence. They would have concealed 
 thefe appearances as much as they could ; but the heat of the 
 whigs and the refentment of the court of England might have 
 drawn them in. We fhould have been glad indiredlly to con- 
 cur in fixing thefe things upon them : and in a word, if the 
 late king had lived fix months longer, I verily believe there had 
 been war again between England and France. This was the 
 only point of time when thefe affairs had, to my apprehenlioiiy 
 the leaft reafbnable appearance even of pofiibility: all that 
 preceded was wild and uncertain : all that followed was mad 
 and defperate. But this favorable afpeft had an extreme fhort 
 duration. Two events foon happened, one of v/hich caft a 
 damp on all we were doing, and the other rendered vain and 
 fruitlefs all we had done. The firfl was the arrival of the duke 
 of Ormond in France, the other was the death of the king. 
 
 We had founded the duke's name high. His reputation and 
 the opinion of his power were great. The French began to 
 believe, that he was able to form and to head a party ; that 
 the troops would join him i that the nation would follow the 
 
 fignal
 
 48 A L E T T E R T O 
 
 fignal whenever he drew his fword ; and the voice of the peo- 
 ple, the echo of which was continually in their ears, confirmed 
 them in this belief. But when in the midft of all thefe bright 
 ideas they faw him arrive, almoft literally alone, v/hen to ex- 
 cufe his coming, I was obliged to tell them, that he could 
 not ftay ; they funk at once from their hopes : and that which 
 generally happens happened in this cafe ; becaufe they had had 
 too good an opinion of the caufe, they began to form too bad 
 an one. Before this time, if they had no friendfhip for the to- 
 ries, they had at leaf! fome confideration and efteem. After 
 this, I faw nothing but compafTion in the befl of them, and 
 contempt in the others. 
 
 When I arrived at Paris, the king was already gone to Marly, 
 where the indifpofition which he had begun to feel at Ver- 
 failles increafed upon him. He was the beft friend the Ch£ va- 
 LiER had : and when I engaged in this bufinefs, my principal 
 dependence was on his perfonal charad:er. This failed me to 
 a great degree : he was not in a condition to exert the fame vi- 
 gor as formerly. The minifters who faw fo great an event as 
 his death to be probably at hand, a certain minority, an un- 
 certain regency, perhaps confufion, at beft a new face of go- 
 vernment and a new fyftem of affairs, would not, for their 
 own fakes, as well as for the fake of the public, venture to 
 engage far in any new meafures. All I had to negotiate by 
 myfelf firft, and in conjun6tion with the duke of Ormond 
 foon afterwards, languiflied with the king. My hopes funk as 
 he declined, and died when he expired. The event of things 
 has fufficiently fhewn, that all thofe which were entertained by 
 the duke and the Jacobite party under the regency were founded 
 on the grofleft deluflons imaginable. Thus was the projedt be- 
 come impradicable before the time arrived, which was fixed 
 by thofe who direded things in England, for putting it in ex*- 
 ccutipn. Thb
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 
 
 49 
 
 The new government of France appeared to me like a 
 ftrange country ; I was little acquainted with the roads. Moft 
 ot the laces I met with were unknown to me, and I hajxlly 
 iindcrftood the language of the people. Of the men who had 
 been in power under the late reign, many were difcarded, and 
 moft of the others were too much taken up with the thoughts of 
 fecuring themfelvcs under this, to recei\'e applications in favor 
 of the pretender. The two men who had the greatefl appear- 
 ance of favor and power were d'AcuEssEAU and Noailles. 
 One was made chancellor, on the death of Voisin, from attor- 
 ney general ; and the other was placed at the head of the treafury. 
 The firfl: palles for a man of parts, but he never a6led out of 
 the fphere of the law: I had no acquaintance with him be- 
 fore this time ; and when you confider his circumftances and 
 mine, you will not think it could be very eafy for me to get 
 accefs to him now. The latter I had known extremely well 
 whilfl: the late king lived : and from the fime court principle, as 
 he was glad to be well with me then, he would hardly know 
 me now. The * minifter who had the principal diredion of 
 foreign affairs I lived in friendiliip with, and I mufl: own to 
 his honor, that he never encouraged a defign, which he knew 
 that his court had no intention of fupporting. 
 
 There were other perfons, not to tire you with farther parti- 
 culars upon this head, of credit and influence, with whom I 
 found indireA and private ways of converflng : but it was in 
 vain to exped: any more than civil language from them, in a 
 cale which they found no difpofltion in their mafter to coun- 
 tenance, and in favor of which they had no prejudices of their 
 own. The private engagements into vA-hich the duke of Or- 
 leans had entered with his majefty, during the life of the late 
 
 * M. d'HuXELLES. 
 
 Vol. L G ^i"gj
 
 50 ALETTERTO 
 
 king, will abate of their force as the regent grows into ftrength, 
 and would foon have had no force at all if the pretender had 
 met with fuccefs : but in thefe beginnings they operated very 
 ftrongly. The air of this court was to take the counterpart 
 of all which had been thought right under Lewis the four- 
 teenth. " Cela refemble trop a Fancien fyfteme," was an an- 
 fwer fo often given, that it became a jeft, and almoft a pro- 
 verb. But to finifh this account with a fadl which is incredible, 
 but ftridly true ; the very peace, which had faved France from 
 ruin, and the makers of it, were become as unpopular at this 
 court, as at the court of Vienna. 
 
 The duke of Ormond flattered himfelf in this ftate of things, 
 that he had opened a private and fure channel of arriving at 
 the regent, and of bending him to his purpofes. His grace 
 . and I lived together at this time in an houfe which one ot my 
 friends had lent me. I obferved that he was frequently loft, 
 and that he made continual excurfions out of town, with all 
 the myfterious precaution imaginable. 1 doubted at lirft, whe- 
 ther thefe intrigues related to bufinefs or pleafure. I foon 
 difcovered with whom they were carried on, and had reafon to 
 believe that both were mingled in them. It is necelTary that 
 I explain this fecret to you. 
 
 Mrs. Trant, whom I have named above, had been pre- 
 paring herfelf for the retired abftemious Hfe of a * carmelite^ 
 by taking a furfeit of the pleafures of Paris ; when a little be- 
 fore the death of the queen, or about that time, fhe went into 
 England. What fhe was entrufted, either by the Chevalier, 
 or any other perfon, to negotiate there, I am ignorant of, and 
 it imports not much to know. In that journey fhe made or 
 
 * She ufed to pretend a refolution of turning nun. She is fince married to the 
 duke of Bouillon's brother, who was too much dilhonored by his former life, to 
 be fo even by this fcandalous match. jC-
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 51 
 
 renewed an acquaintance with the duke of Ormond. Tiic 
 fcandalous chronicle affirms, that fhe brought with her, when 
 {he returned into France, a woman, of whom I have not the 
 leviTl: ivnowledge, but who was probably handfome ; fince with- 
 out beauty, fuch a merchandifc would not have been faleable, nor 
 have anfwered the defign of the importer : and that fhe made 
 this way her court to the regent. Whatever her merit was flie 
 kept a correfpondence with him, and put herfelf upon that foot 
 of familiarity, which he permits all thofe who contribute to 
 his pleafurcs to afllime. She was placed by him, as (lie told me 
 lierfelf, where I found her fome time after that which I am 
 fpeaking of, in thehoufe of an antient gentlewoman,whohad for- 
 merly been maid of honor to Madame, and who had contra6led 
 at court a fpirit of intrigue, which accompanied herin her retreat. 
 
 These two had afibciated to them the abbe de Tesieu, in 
 all the political parts of their bufinefs ; for I will not fuppofe that 
 fo reverend an ecclefiaftic entered into any other fecrct. This 
 abbe is the regent's fecretary : and it was chiefly through him 
 that the private treaty had been carried on between his mafter 
 and the earl of Stair in the king's reign. Whether thepricfl had 
 ftooped at the lure of a cardinal's hat, or whether he acted 
 the iecond part by the fame orders that he a£fed the firft, I know 
 not. This is fure, and the britifh minifter was not the bubble 
 of it, that whilft he concerted meafures on one hand to travcrie 
 the pretender's deligns, he teftified on the other all the inclina- 
 tion poffible to his fervice. A mad fellow, who had been an in- 
 tendant in Normand-^, and feveral other politicians of the loweft 
 form, were at difTerent times taken into this famous junto. 
 
 With thefe wortliy people his grace of Ormond negotiated, 
 and no care was omitted on liis part to keep me out of the fe- 
 cret. The reafon of which, as flu* as I am able to guefs at, 
 
 G 2 fhall
 
 52 ALETTERTO 
 
 fhall be explained to you by and by. I might very juflly have 
 taken this proceeding ill, and the duke will not be able to find 
 in my w^hole condud: towards him any thing like it: I pro- 
 teft to you very fincerely I was not in the leaft moved at it. 
 
 He advanced not a ftep in his bufinefs with thefe fham mi- 
 nifters, and yet imagined that he got daily ground. I made 
 no progrefs with the true ones, but I faw it. Thefe, how- 
 ever, were not our only difficulties. We lay under another, 
 which came from your lide, and which embarrafled us more. 
 The firft hindered us from working forward to our point of 
 view, but the fecond took all point oi view h-om us. 
 
 A PAPER was fentinto England jufl before the death of the 
 king of France, which had been drawn by me at Chaville in 
 concert with the dukes of Ormond and Berwic, and with 
 monfieur de Torcy. This paper was an anfwer to the me- 
 morial received from thence. The ftate of this country was 
 truly reprefented in it : the difference was fixt between what 
 had been afked, and what might be expedled from France, 
 and upon the whole it was demanded what our friends would 
 do, and what they would have us to do ? The reply to this 
 came through the french fecretary of ftate to our hands. They 
 declared themfelves unable to fay any thing, till they fhould 
 fee what turn affairs would take on fo great an event as the 
 death of the king, the report of which had reached them.. 
 
 Such a declaration fhut our mouths and tied our hands. I 
 confefs I knew neither how to folicit,, nor what to foHcit ; this 
 lafl meffage fufpending the projed. on which we had aded be- 
 fore, and which I kept as an inftrudion conftantly before my 
 eyes. It feemed to me uncertain, whether you intended to go 
 on, or whether your delign was to ftifle as much as poffible all 
 
 paft
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 53 
 
 pad tranfadions ; to lie pcrfcdlly ftill ; to throw upon the court 
 the odium oi having gi\'en a falfc alarm, and to wait till new 
 accidents at home, and a more favorable conjundiure abroad, 
 mig;ht tempt you to refumc the enterprife. Perhaps this would 
 have been the wifcfl game you could have played : but then, you 
 fhould have concerted it with us who a6led for you here. You 
 intended no fuch thing, as appeared afterwards : and therefore, 
 thofe who adled for the party at London, whoever they were, 
 muft be deemed incxcufable for leaving things on the foot of 
 this meilage, and giving us no advice fit to be depended upon 
 for many weeks. Wliilft preparations were to be made, and 
 the work was to be fet a going by afiiftance froin hence, you 
 might reafonably exped: to hear from us, and to be determined 
 by us : but when all hopes ot this kind feemed to be gone, it was 
 your part to determine us, and we could take no refolution here, 
 but that of conforming ourfelves to whatever fliould come pre- 
 fcribed from England. 
 
 Whilst we were in this condition, the mofl defperate that 
 can be imagined, we began to receive verbal meflages from you 
 that no more time was to be loft, and that the Chevalier, 
 fhould come away. No man was, I believe, ever fo einbar- 
 railed as I found my felf at that time. I could not imagine 
 that you would content yourfelves by loofe verbal meiiages, after 
 all that had happened, to call us over, and I know by expe- 
 rience how little inch meffages are to be depended on. For 
 foon after I engaged in thele affairs, a monk arrived at Bar,, 
 difpatched, as he afrirmed, by the duke of Ormond, in whofe 
 name he infilled that the Chevalier fhould haften into Britain, 
 and that nothing but his prefence was wanting to place the 
 crown on his head. The fellow delivered his errand ih pofi- 
 tively, and fo circumffantially, that the refolution was taken at 
 Bar to fet out, and my rendezvous to join the Chevalier was 
 
 ap-
 
 54 A LETTER TO 
 
 appointed me. This method to fetch a king with as Httle cere- 
 mony as one would invite a friend to fupper, appeared fome- 
 what odd to mc, who was then very new in thefe affairs. But 
 •u'hen I came to talk with the man, for by good luck he had 
 been fent for from Bar to Paris, I eafily difcerned that he had 
 no fuch commifllon as he pretended to, and that he acSed of 
 his own head. I prefumed to oppofe the taking any refolution 
 upon his word, tho he was a monk ; and foon after we knew 
 from the duke of Ormond himfelf, that he had never fent him. 
 
 This example made me cautious, but that which determin- 
 ed my opinion was, that I could nev^r imagine, without fup- 
 pofing you all run mad, that the fame men who judged this 
 attempt unripe for execution, unlefs fupported by regular troops 
 from France, or at leaft by all the other afliftances which are 
 enumerated above, while the defign was much more fecret 
 than at prefent, when the king had no fleet at fea, nor more 
 than eight thoufand men difperfed over the whole ifland, 
 when we had the good wiflies of the french court on our fide, 
 and were fure of fome particular afliftances, and of a general 
 connivance ; that the fame men, I fay, fhould prefs for making 
 it now without any other preparation, when we had neither mo- 
 ney, arms, ammunition, nor a Angle company of foot, when the 
 government of England was on it's guard, national troops were 
 raifed, foreign forces fent for, and France, like all the reft of the 
 continent, againft us. I could not conceive fuch a ftrange 
 combination of accidents as fhould make the necefllty of act- 
 ing encreafe gradually upon us, as the means of doing fo were 
 taken from us. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, my opinion was, and I did not ob- 
 ferve the duke of Ormond to differ from me, that we fliould 
 wait till we heard from you, in fuch a manner as might affure 
 
 us
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 55 
 
 us of what you intended to do yourfelves, and of what you cx- 
 pedlcd from us, and that in the mean while we fliould go as far 
 as the Httle money wliich we had, and the Httic favor which 
 was fhewn us would allow, in getting fome embarkations ready 
 on the coaft. 
 
 Sir George Byng had come into the road of Havre, and 
 had demanded by name fev^eral fhips which belonged to us, to 
 be given up to him. The regent did not think ht to let him 
 have the fhips ; but he ordered them to be unloaded, and 
 - their cargoes were put into the king's magazines. We were in 
 no condition to repair the lofs ; and therefore, when I mention 
 embarkations, you will pleafe to underftand nothing more than 
 veflels to tranfport the pretender's perfon, and the perfons of 
 thofe who fhould go over with him. This was all we could do, 
 and this was not neg-Ieded. 
 
 We were thus employed, when a gentleman arrived from 
 Scotland to reprefent the ftate of that country, and to require 
 a definitive anfwer from the Chevalier, whether he would 
 have the infurredion to be made immediately, which they ap- 
 prehended they might not be able to make at dl, if they were 
 obliged to defer it much longer. This gentleman was fent in- 
 flantly back again, and was directed to let the perfons he came 
 from know, that the Chevalier was dedrous to have the rilino- 
 of his friends in England and Scotland fo adjufted, that they might 
 mutually afTift each other, and diftrad: the enemy ; that he had 
 not received a final anfwer from his friends in England, but 
 that he was in daily expedlation of it ; that it was \'ery much to 
 be wiOied, that all attempts in Scotland could be fufpended till 
 fuch time as the Englifh were ready ; but that if the Scots were 
 fo preffed that they muft either fubmit or rife immediately, he 
 was of opinion they fhould rife, and he would make the bcfl 
 of his way to them. What
 
 56 A LETTER TO 
 
 What this forwardnefs in the Scots, and this uncertainty 
 and backwardnefs in the EngUili muft produce, it was not hard 
 to forefee ; and therefore, that I might negle£t nothing in my 
 power to prevent any falfe meafures, as I was confcious to my 
 felf that I had neglected nothing to promote true ones I dif- 
 patched a gentleman to Londom, v/here I iuppofed the earl of 
 Mar to b^, fome days before the mefTage I have jufl fpoken of 
 was fent to Scotland. I delired him to make my compliments 
 to lord Mar, and to tell him from me, that I underftood it to 
 be his fenfe, as well as the fenfe of all our friends, that Scotland 
 could do nothing effedlually without the concurrence of Eng- 
 land, and that England would not fiir without afliftance from 
 abroad : that he might affure himfelf no fuch afliftance could 
 be depended upon, and that I begged of him to make the 
 inference from thefe proportions. The gentleman went, but 
 upon his arrival at London, he found that the earl of Mar was 
 already fet out to draw the Highlanders into arms. He com- 
 municated his meffage to a perfon * of confidence, who undertook 
 to fend it after his lordlliip, and this was the utmoft which ei- 
 ther he or I could do in fuch a conjundure. 
 
 You were now vifibly departed from the very fcheme which 
 you had fent us over, and from all the principles which had 
 been ever laid down. I did what I could to keep up my own 
 fpirit as well as the fpirits of the Chevalier and ot all thofe 
 with whom I was in correfpondence : I endeavoured even to 
 deceive my felf. I could not remedy the mifchief, and I was 
 refolved to fee the conclufion of the perillous adventure. But I 
 own to you, that I thought then, and that I have not changed 
 my opinion fince, that fuch meafures as thefe would not be pur- 
 fued, by any reafonable man, in the moft common affairs ol life, 
 
 * Mr. Lewis, who belonged to the earl of Oxford. 
 
 It
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 57 
 
 It was with the iitmofl aftonininicnt that I faw them piirfuccl, 
 in the conduft of an cntcrprife which had for it's objed: nothing 
 lefs than the difpofition of crowns, and for the means of bring- 
 ing it about nothing lefs than a civil war. 
 
 Impatient that we heard nothing from England, when wc 
 expecled every moment to hear that the war was begun in 
 Scotland ; the duke of Ormond and I refolved to fend a per- 
 fon * of confidence to London. We inflrudled him to repeat to 
 you the former accounts, which we had fent over, to let you 
 know how deftitute the Chevalier was, either of adual fup- 
 port, or even of reafonable hopes, and to defire that you v\'ould 
 determine whether he fhould go to Scotland, or throw himfelf 
 on fome part of the englifli coaft. This perfon was farther in- 
 ftruded to tell you, that the Chevalier being ready to take 
 any refolution at a moment's warning, you might depend on 
 his fetting out the inftant he received your anfwer : and there- 
 fore, that to fave time, if your intention was to rife, you would 
 do well to ad: immediately, on the affurance that the plan you 
 prefcribed, be it what it would, fhould be exa6tly complied 
 with. We took this refolution the rather, becaufe one of the 
 pacquets which had been prepared in cypher, to give you an ac- 
 count of things which had been put above three weeks before 
 into moniieur de Torcy's hands, and which by confequence we 
 thought to be in yours, was by this time fent back to me by 
 this minifter, I think open, with an excufe that he durft not 
 take upon him to forward it. 
 
 The perfon difpatched to London returned very foon to 
 us, and the anfwer he brought was f, that fince affairs grew 
 daily worfe, and could not mend by delay, our friends 
 
 * Mr. EzECHiEL Hamilton : he got all the papers by heart. 
 
 t Lansdown gave this anfwer in the name of all the perfons privy to the fecrct. 
 
 Vol. I, H in
 
 ^8 ALETTERTO 
 
 in England had refolved to declare immediately, and that they 
 would be ready to join the Chevalier on his landing: that 
 his perfon would be as fafe there as in Scotland, and that in 
 every other refped, it was better that he fhould land in Eng- 
 land ; that they had ufed their utmoft endeavors, and that 
 they hoped the weftern counties were in a good pofture to re- 
 ceive him. To this was added, a general indication of the place 
 he fhould come to, as near to Plymouth as poiTible. 
 
 You mufl: asree, that this was not the anfvver of men who 
 knew what they were about. A little more precilion was ne- 
 cefiary in didating a meffage, which was to have fuch 
 confequences : and efpecially fmce the gentleman could not 
 fail to acquaint the perfons he fpoke with, that the Chevalier 
 was not able to carry men enough to fecure him from being tak- 
 en up, even by the firfh conftable. Notv/ithftanding this, the 
 duke of Ormond fet out from Paris, and the Chevalier from 
 Bar. Some perfons were fent to the north of England, and 
 others to London, to give notice that they were both on their 
 way. Their routs were fo ordered, that the duke of Ormond 
 was to fail from the coaft of Normandy fome days before the 
 Chevalier arrived at St. Malo, to which place the duke was 
 to fend immediate notice of his landing ; and two gentlemen 
 acquainted with the country,' and perfeftly well known to all our 
 friends in thofe parts, were difpatched before, that the people 
 of Devonfhire and Somerfetfliire, who were, we concluded, in 
 arms, might be apprifed of the jQgnals which were to be made 
 from the fhips, and might be ready to receive the duke. 
 
 On the coaft of France, and before his embarkation, the 
 duke heard that feveral of our principal friends had been feifed,: 
 immediately after the perfon who came laft from them had left 
 London; that the others were all difperfed, and that the 
 
 confterna-
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 59 
 
 conftcrnation was univerfal. He embarked notwdthftanding 
 this melancholy news, and, fupported by nothing but the firm- 
 nefs of his temper, he went over to the place appointed : he did 
 more than his part, and he found that our friends had done 
 iefs than theirs. One of the gentlemen who had pafled over 
 before him, and had traverfed part of the country, joined him 
 on the coaft, and afHired him that there was not the lead 
 room to exped: a rifing. In a word, he was refufed a night's 
 lodging in a country which we had been told was in a good pof- 
 ture to receive the Chevalier, and where the duke cxpc6led 
 that multitudes would repair to him. 
 
 He returned to the coaft of Britany after this uncomfortable 
 expedition, where the Chevalier arrived about the fame time 
 from Lorain. What his grace propofed by the fccond at- 
 tempt, which he made as foon as the veffel could be rehtted, 
 to land in the fame part of the ifland, I profefs my felf to be 
 ignorant. I writ him my opinion at the time, and I have al- 
 ways thought, that the ftorm in which he had like to have 
 been caft away, and which forced him back to the french 
 coaft, faved him from a much greater peril, that of perifhino- 
 in an attempt as full of extravagant raflmefs, and as void of all 
 reafonable meaning, as any of thofe adventures which have 
 rendered the hero of La Mancha immortal. . 
 
 The Chevalier had now but one of thefe two things left 
 him to do, one was to return to Bar, the other was to go to 
 Scodand, where there were people in arms for him. He took 
 this laft rcfolution. He left Britany, where he had as many 
 minifters as there were people about him, and where he was 
 eternally teifed with noify difputes about what was to be done, 
 in circumftances in which no reafonable thing could be done. 
 
 H 2 He
 
 6o ALETTERTO 
 
 He fent to have a vefTel got ready for him at Dunkirk, and he 
 croffed the country as privately as he could. 
 
 Whilst all thefe things pafled, I remained at Paris, to try, 
 if by any means fome ailiftance might be at laft procured; 
 without which it was evident, even to thofe who flattered them- 
 felves the moft, that the game was up. 
 
 No fooner was the duke of Ormond gone from Paris, on the 
 defign which I have mentioned, and Mrs. Trant, who had 
 accompanied him part of the way, returned, but I was fent 
 for to a little houfe at Madrid in the Bois de Boulogne, where 
 fhe lived with mademoifelle de Chaussery, the antient gentle- 
 woman with whom the duke of Orleans had placed her. 
 Thefe two perfons opened to me what had pafled whilft the 
 duke of Ormond was there, and the hopes they had of draw- 
 ing the regent into all the meafures necellary to fupport the at- 
 tempts, which were making in favor of the Chevalier. 
 
 By what they told me at jfirft, I faw that they had been 
 trufted ; and by what paffed in the courfe of my treating with 
 them, it appeared, that they had the accefs which they pre- 
 tended to. All which I had been able to do by proper per- 
 fons and in proper methods, fmce the king of Frances death, 
 amounting to little or nothing, I refoh'ed, at laft, to try what 
 was to be done by this indirect way. I put myfelf under the 
 condud of thefe female managers, and without having the 
 fame dependence on them as his grace of Ormond had, I 
 pufhed their credit and their power as far as they reached, 
 during the time I continued to fee them. I met with fmoother 
 language and greater hopes than had been given me hitherto. 
 A note figncd by the regent, fuppofed to be writ to a woman, 
 but which was to be explained to be intended for the earl of 
 
 MaRj
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 6i 
 
 Mar, was put into my hands to be fent to Scotland. I took 
 a copy of it, which you may fee at the end of thefe papers *. 
 When Sir John Areskine came toprefs forfuccor, the regent 
 was prevailed upon by thefe women to fee him, but he carried 
 nothing real back with him, except a quantity of gold, part of the 
 nioney which we had drawn from Spain, and which was loft with 
 the vellel in a very odd manner on the fcotch coaft. The duke of 
 Ormond had been promifed feven or eight thoufand arms, which 
 were drawn out of the magazines, and laid to be lodged, 1 think, 
 at Compiegne. I ufed my utmoft efforts, that thefe arms might 
 be carried forward to the coaft, and I undertook for their tran- 
 fportation : but all was in vain ; fo that the likelihood of bring- 
 ing any thing to effeft in time appeared to me no greater 
 than I had found it before I entered into this intrigue. 
 
 I SOON grew tired of a commerce, which nothing but flic- 
 cefs could render tolerable, and refolved to be no longer amuf- 
 ed by the pretences, which were daily repeated to me, that 
 the regent had entertained perfonal prejudices againft me, and 
 that he was infenlibly, and by degrees, to be dipped in our 
 meafures; that both thefe things required time, but that they 
 would certainly be brought about, and that we fhould then 
 be able to anfwer all the expedations of the Englifli and. 
 the Scotch. The firft of thefe pretences contained a fa6l, 
 which I could hardly perfuade myfelf to be true, becaufc I 
 knew very certainly, that I had never given his royal highnefs 
 the leaft occafion tor fuch prejudices: the fecond was a work 
 which might fpin out into a great and uncertain length. I took 
 my refolution to drive what related to my felf to an immedi- 
 ate explanation, and what related to others to an immediate 
 decidon, not to fuflfer any excufe for doing nothing to be 
 founded on my condud, nor the falvation, if I could hinder 
 
 * This note has not been found among the author's papers. 
 
 it,
 
 62 A L E T T E R T O 
 
 it, of fo many gallant men as were in arms in Scotland, to reft 
 on the fuccefs of fuch womanifh projeds. I fhall tell you 
 what I did on the firft head now, and what I did on the fe- 
 cond hereafter in it's proper place. 
 
 The fact, which it was faid the regent laid to my charge, 
 was a correfpondence with lord Stair, and having been one 
 night at his houfc, from whence I did not retire till three in 
 the morning. As foon as I got hold of this, I delired the 
 marfhal of Berwic to go to him. The marOiai told him from 
 me, that I had been extremely concerned, to hear in general, 
 that I lay under his difpleafure ; that a fiory, which it was faid 
 he believed, had been related to me ; that I expected the juftice 
 which he could deny to no man of having the accufation prov- 
 ed, in which cafe I was contented to pafs for the laft of hu- 
 man kind, or of being juftihed if it could not be proved. 
 He anfwered, that fuch a ftory had been related to him by 
 fuch perfons as he thought would not have deceived him ; that 
 he had been fmce convinced, that it was falfe, and that I fhould 
 be fatislied of his reaard for me : but that he muft own he was 
 very uneafy to find, that I, who could apply to him through 
 the marfhal d'Huxelles, could chufe to treat with Mrs.TRANT, 
 and the reft ; for he named all the cabal, except his fecreta- 
 ry, whom I had never met at mademoifelleCHAussERY's. He 
 added, that thefe people teifed him, at my inftigation, to death, 
 and that they were not fit to be trufted with any .bufinefs. He 
 applied to fome of them the fevereft epithets. The marfhal of 
 Berwic replied, that he was fure I fhould receive the whole 
 of what he had been pleafed to fay vv^ith the greateft fatisfa6li- 
 on; that I had treated with thefe perfons much againft my 
 will ; and finally, that if his royal highnefs would not employ 
 them, he was fure 1 would never apply to them. In a con- 
 yerfation which 1 had, not long after with him, he Ipoke to 
 
 me
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 63 
 
 me in much the fame terms as he had done to the niarHial. I 
 went from him very ill cdilied as to his intentions of doing any 
 thing in favor of the Chevalier ; but I carried away with 
 me this fatisfaclion, that Jie had aiTigned me, from his own 
 moutli, the pcrfon throiigli whom I fliould make my applica- 
 tions to him, and through whom I fhould depend on receiving 
 his anfwers ; that he had difavowed all the little politic clubsy 
 and had commanded me to have no more to do with them. 
 
 Before I refume the thread of my narration, give me leave 
 to make fome refledion upon what I have been laft faying to 
 you. When I met with the duke of Ormond at his return 
 from the coaft, he thought himfelf obliged to fay fomething to 
 excufe his keeping me out of a fecret, which during his abfence 
 I had been let into. His excufe was, that the regent had ex- 
 adied from him that I fhould know nothing of the matter. 
 You will obfcrve, that the account which I have giv^en you 
 feems to contradict this aflertion of his grace, {ince it is hard 
 to fuppofe, that if the regent had exacted that I fliould be kept 
 out of the fecret, thefe women would have dared to have let me 
 into it ; and fince it is ftill harder to fuppofe, that the regent 
 would make this exprefs condition with the duke of Ormond, 
 and the moment the duke's back was turned, would fuffer 
 thefe women to teife him from me, and to bring me anfwers 
 from him. I am, however, far from taxing the duke with af- 
 firming an untruth. I believe the regent did make fuch a con- 
 dition with him, and I will tell you how I underftand all this 
 Htde management, which will explain a great deal to you. 
 This prince, with wit and valor, has joined all the irrefolution 
 of temper pofTible, and is, perhaps, the man in the world the 
 leaft capable of faying no to your face. From hence it happen- 
 ed, that thefe women, like multitudes of other people, forced 
 him to fay and do enough to give them the air of having credit 
 
 with
 
 64 ALETTERTO 
 
 with him, and of being trufted by liim. This drew in the duke 
 of Ormond, who is not, I dare fay, as yet undeceived. The re- 
 gent never intended from the firft, to do any thing, even indi- 
 redly, in favor of the jacobite caufe. His interefi: was plainly on 
 the other lide, and he faw it. But then, the fame weaknefs in 
 his charader carried him, as it would have done his great uncle 
 Gaston in the fame cafe, to keep meafures with the Cheva- 
 lier. His double trimming chara6ter prevailed on him to talk 
 with the duke of Ormond: but it carried him no farther. I 
 queftion not but he did on this occafion, what you muft have ob- 
 ferved many men to do. We not only endeavor to impofe on 
 the world, but even on ourfelves. We difguife our weaknefs, 
 and work up in our minds an opinion that the meaflire which 
 we fall into by the natural or habitual imperfedion of our 
 charader, is the effed: of a principle of prudence, or offome 
 other virtue. Thus the regent, who law the duke of Ormond, 
 becaufe he could not relift the importunity of Olive Trant, 
 and who gave hopes to the duke, becaufe he can refufe no bo- 
 dy, made himfelf believe that it was a great ftrain of policy to 
 blow up the lire, and to keep Britain embroiled. I am per- 
 fuaded that I do not err in judging that he thought in this 
 manner; and here I lix the reafon of his excluding me out 
 of the commerce which he had with the duke of Ormond, 
 of his affedling a perfonal diflike of me, and of his avoiding 
 any correfpondence with me upon thefe matters'; till I forced 
 myfelf in a manner upon him, and he could not keep me any 
 longer at a diftance without departing from his firfl: principle, 
 that of keeping meafures with every body, He then threw 
 me, or let me Hide, if you will, into the hands of thefe wo- 
 men, and when he found that I prelTed him hard that way too, 
 he took me out of their hands and put me back again into the 
 proper channel of bufinefs, where I had not been long, as you 
 will fee by and by, before the fcene of amufement was finifhed. 
 
 Sir
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 65 
 
 Sir John Areskine told me, when he came from the firft 
 audience that he had of his royal highnefs, that he put him 
 in mind of the encouragement which he had giv^en the earl of 
 Mar to take arms. I never heard any thing of this kind, but 
 what Sir John let drop to me. If the fadl be true, you fee 
 that the fcotch general had been amufed by him with a vvit- 
 nefs. The englifh general was fo in his turn, and while 
 this was doing, the regent might think it beft to havQ him 
 to himfelh Four eyes comprehend more objedrs than two, 
 and I was a little better acquainted with the characters of peo- 
 ple, and the mafs of the country, than the duke, tho this 
 court had been at firft a ftrange country to me in comparifoii 
 of the former. 
 
 ■ An infinity of little circumftances concurred to make me 
 form this opinion, fome of which are better felt than explain- 
 ed, and many of which are not prefent to my memory. That 
 which had the greateft weight with me, and which is, I think, 
 decifive, I will mention. At the very time when it is pretend- 
 ed, that the regent treated with the duke of Ormond, on the 
 exprefs condition that I fhould know nothing of the matter ; 
 two * perfons ot the firft rank and greateft credit in this court, 
 when I made the moft prefling inftances to them in favor of 
 the Chevalier, threw out in converfation to me, that I fhould 
 attach myfelf to the duke of Orleans, that in my circumftances 
 I might want him, and that he might have occafion for me. 
 Something was intimated of penfions, and cftablifhment, and 
 of making my peace at home. I would not underftand this 
 language, becaufe I would not break with the people who held 
 
 * Marlhal d'HuxELLES, marflial d'EpFiAT : twenty five thoufand pound ofFered 
 by the laft. 
 
 Vol. I. I it,
 
 66 ALETTERTO 
 
 it : and when they faw that I would not take the hints, they 
 ceafed to give them. 
 
 I FANCY that you fee by this time the motives of the regent's 
 conduft. I am not, I confefs, able to explain to you thofe 
 of the duke of Ormond's: I cannot fo much as guefs at 
 them. When he came into France I was careful to fhew 
 him all the friendfhip, and all the refped pofTible. My 
 friends were his, my purfe was his, and even my bed was 
 his. I went further, I did all thofe things which touch moft 
 ienfibly people who have been ufed to pomp. I made my 
 court to him, and haunted his levee with afliduity. In re- 
 turn to this behavior, which was the pure effedl of my good 
 will, and which no duty that I owed his grace, no obligation 
 that I had to him, impofed upon me ; I have great reafon to 
 fufped:, that he went at leaft half way in all that was faid or 
 done againft me. He threw himfelf blindly into the fnare 
 which was laid for him, and inftead of hindring, as he and 
 I, in concert, might have done, thofe affairs from languilhing, 
 in the manner they did feveral months, he furniihed this court 
 with an excufe for not treating with me, till it was too 
 late to play even a faving game; and he neither drove the 
 regent to aflift the Chevalier, nor to declare that he 
 would not afUft him; tho it was fatal to the caufe in ge- 
 neral, and to the Scotch in particular, not to bring one of 
 the two about. 
 
 It was Chriftmas one thoufand feven hundred and fifteen 
 before the Chevalier failed for Scotland. The battle ol Dun- 
 blain had been fought, the bufinefs of Prefton was over : there 
 remained not the leaft room to expedl any commotion in his 
 favor among the Englifh ; and many of the Scotch, who had 
 declared for him> began to grow cool in the caufe. No pro- 
 
 fpedt
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 67 
 
 fpedl of fuccefs could engage him in this expedition, l)ut it 
 was become ncceilary for his reputation. Tlie Scotch on one 
 iide fpared not to reproach him, I think unjuftly, for his de- 
 lay; iuid the French on the other were extremely eager to 
 have him gone. Some of thole who knew little of britiih af- 
 fairs imagined, that his prelence would produce miraculous 
 eifeds. You muft not be furpriled at this. As near neighbours 
 as we are, ninety nine in an hundred among the French are 
 as little acquainted with the inlide of our ifland as with that 
 of Japan. Others of them were uneafy to fee him fkulking 
 about in France, and to be told of it every hour by the carl 
 of Stair. Others again imagined, that he might do their bu- 
 iinefs by going into Scotland, tho he fhould not do Jiis own : 
 that is, they flattered themfelves, that he might keep a war 
 for fome time alive, which would employ the whole atten- 
 tion of our government ; and tor the event of which they 
 had very little concern. Unable from their natural temper, 
 as well as their habits, to be true to any principle, they thought 
 and afted in this manner, whilft they affeded the greateft 
 friendship to the king, and whilft they really did deiire to en- 
 ter into new and more intimate engagements with him. Whilft 
 the pretender continued in France they could neither avow 
 him nor favor his caufe: if he once fet his foot on Scotch 
 ground, they gave hopes of indiredl aftiftance : and if he could 
 maintain himfelf in any corner of the ifland, they could 
 look upon him, * it was faid, as a king. This was their lan- 
 guage to us. To the britifli minifter they denied, they 
 lorfwore, they renounced ; and yet the -f man of the befthead 
 in all their councils, being afked by lord Stair what they in- 
 tended to do, anfwered before he was aware, that they pre- 
 
 * Difcourfe of Abb5 d'EsTREES, afterwards archbifliop of Cambray. 
 t Mar. d'HuxELLES. 
 
 I 2 tended
 
 68 ALETTERTO 
 
 tended to be neuters. 1 leave you to judge, how this flip 
 was taken up. 
 
 As foon as I received advice that the Chevalier was failed 
 from Dunkirk, I renewed, I redoubled all my applications. 
 I negleded no means, I forgot no argument which my un- 
 derftanding could fuggeftto me. What the duke of Ormond 
 refted upon, you have feen already ; and I doubt very much 
 whether lord Mar, if he had been here in my place, would have 
 been able to employ meafures more efte6lual than thofe which 
 I made ufe of. I may, without any imputation of arrogance, 
 compare my felf on this occalion with his lordihip, fmce there 
 was nothing in the management of this affair above my de- 
 gree of capacity ; nothing equal, either in extent or difficul- 
 ty, to the bulinefs which he was a fpedator of, and which I 
 carried on, when we were fecretaries of ftate together under 
 the late queen. 
 
 The king of France, who was not able to furniih the pre- 
 tender with money himfelf, had writ fome time before his 
 death to his grandfon, and had obtained a promife of four 
 hundred thoufand crowns from the king of Spain. A fmall 
 part of this fum had been received by the queen's treafurer at 
 St. Germain's, and had been either fent to Scotland or em- 
 ployed to defray the expences which were daily making on 
 the coaft. I preffed the fpanifh ambalTador at Prris, I folicit- 
 ed, by Lawless, Alberoni at Madrid; and I found * an- 
 other more private and more promifing way of applying to 
 him. I took care to have a number of officers picked out 
 of the iriffi troops, which ferve in that country ; their routs 
 were given them, and I fent a fhip to receive and tranfport 
 them. The money came in fo flowly and in fuch trifling 
 
 * Marquis Monti. 
 
 fums,
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 69 
 
 lums, that it turned to little account, and the officers were on 
 their way when the Chevalier returned irom Scotland. 
 
 In the fummer, endeavors had been ufed to prevail on the 
 king of Sweden to tranfport from Gottenburg, the troops he 
 had in tliat neighbourhood into Scotland, or into the north 
 of England. He had cxcufcd himfelf, not becaufc he diflikcd 
 the proportion, which on the contrary he thought agreeable to 
 his intercft : but for reafons of another kind. Firft, becaufc 
 the troops at hand for this fervice confifhcd in horfc, not in 
 foot which had been afked, and which were alone proper for 
 fuch an expedition : fecondly, becaufc a declaration of this fort 
 might turn the proteftant princes of the empire, from whofe 
 offices he had ftill fome profpedl of affiftance, againft him : 
 and thirdly, becaufc altho he knew that the king of Great Bri- 
 tain was his enemy, yet they were not in war together, nor had 
 the latter aded yet a while openly enough againfl him to juftify 
 fuch a rupture. At the time I am fpeaking of, thefe reafons 
 were removed by the king of Sweden's being beat out of the 
 empire, by the little confequence which his management of 
 the proteftant princes was to him, and by the declaration of war 
 which the king as elector of Hanover made. I took up this 
 negotiation therefore again. The regent appeared to come 
 into it. He fpoke fair to the baron de Spar, who preiled him 
 on his fide, as I prefled him on mine, and promifcd befidcs 
 the arrears of the fubfidy due to the Swedes, an immediate ad- 
 vance of fifty thoufand crowns for the enterprife on Britain. 
 He kept the officer who was to be difpatched I know not how 
 long booted ; fometimes on pretence, that in the low ftate of 
 his credit he co\ild not find bills of exchange for the fum, and 
 fometimes on other pretences, and by thefe delays lie evaded 
 his promife. The French were very frank in declaring, that 
 they could give us no money, and that they would give us no 
 
 troops.
 
 7© ALETTERTO 
 
 troops. Arms, ammunition and connivance, they made us 
 hope for. The latter in fome degree we might have had, per- 
 haps ; hut to what purpofe was it to connive, when by a multi- 
 tude of little tricks they avoided furnifhing us with arms and 
 ammunition, and when they knew that we were utterly unable 
 to furnifli ourfelves with them ? I had formed the delign of 
 engaging french privateers in the pretender's fervice. They 
 were to have carried whatever we fhould have had to fend to 
 any part of Britain in their firft voyage, and after that, to have 
 cruifed under his commiffion. I had actually agreed for fome, 
 and it was in my power to have made the fame bargains with 
 others. Sweden on one fide, and Scotland on the other, would ■ 
 have afforded them retreats : and if the war had been kept up 
 in any part of the mountains, I conceive the execution of this 
 defign would have been of the greateft advantage to the pre- 
 tender. It failed, becaufe no other part of the work went on. 
 He was not above lix weeks in his fcotch expedition, and thefe 
 were the things I endeavored to bring to bear in his abfence. I 
 had no great opinion ot my fuccefs before he went ; but when 
 he had made the Jaft flep which it was in his power to make, I 
 refolved to fulTer neither him nor the Scotch to be any longer 
 bubbles of their own credulity, and of the fcandalous artifice of 
 this court. It would be tedious to enter into a longer narrative 
 of all the ufelefs pains I took. To conclude therefore ; in a 
 converfation which I had with the M. d'HuxELLEs, I took 
 occafion to declare, that I would not be the inflrument of 
 amufmg the Scotch ; and that fmce I was able to do them 
 no fervice, I would at leaft inform them, that they muft flatter 
 themfelves no longer with hopes of fuccour from France. I 
 added, that I would fend them vefTels, which with thofe al- 
 ready on the coaft of Scotland, might ferve to bring ofT the pre- 
 tender, the earl of Mar, and as many others as poifible. The 
 marfhal approved my refolution, and advifed me to execute it 
 
 as
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 71 
 
 as the only thing which was left to do. On this occafion he fhcw- 
 ed no refeive, he was very cxplicite, and yet in this very point 
 of time, the promife of an order was obtained, or pretended to 
 be obtained from the regent, for delivering thofe ftores of arms 
 and ammunition which belonged to the Chevalier, and which 
 had been put into the french magazines, when Sir George Byng 
 came to HavTe. Castel Blanco is a Spaniard who married 
 a daughter of lord Melford, and who under that title fct up 
 for a medler in englilh bulinefs. I cannot juftly tell whether 
 the honor of obtaining this promife was afcribed to him, to the 
 junto in the bois de Boulogne, or to any one elfe. I fuppofe 
 they all alTumed a fhare of the merit. T he projed; was, that 
 thefe ftores fhould be delivered to Castel Blanco; that he 
 fhould enter into a recognifance to carry them to Spain, and 
 from thence to the weft Indies, that I fhould provide a veflel 
 for this purpofe, which he fliould appear to hire or buy ; and 
 that when ihie was at fea fhe fhould fail dirc6lly for Scotland. 
 You cannot believe that I reckoned much on the effed: of this 
 order : but accuftomed to concur in meafures, the inutility of 
 which I faw evidently enough, I concurred in this likewife. 
 The necefiary care was taken, and in a fortnight's time the fhip 
 was ready to fail, and no fufpicion of her belonging to the Che- 
 valier, or of her deftination, was gone abroad. 
 
 As this event made no alteration in my opinion, it made 
 none in the difpatches which I prepared and fent to Scotland, 
 In them I gave an account of what was in negotiation. I ex- 
 plained to him what might be hoped for in time, if he was 
 able to maintain himfelf in the mountains without the fuccours 
 he demanded from France. But from France I told him plain- 
 ly, that it was in vain to expedl the leaft part of them. In 
 fhort, I concealed nothina from him. This was all I could 
 do to put the Chevalier and his council in a condition to judge 
 
 what
 
 72 ALETTERTO 
 
 what meafures to take : but thefe difpatches never came to his 
 hands. He was failed from Scotland jufi: before the gentleman, 
 whom I fent, arrived on the coaft. He landed at Graveline 
 about the twenty fecond of February, and the firft orders he 
 gave, were to flop all the veffels which were going on his account 
 to the country from whence he came. 
 
 I SAW him the morning after his arrival at St. Germain's, and 
 he received me with open arms. I had been, as foon as we heard 
 of his return, to acquaint the french court with it. They were 
 not a little uneafy, and the firft thing which theM. d'HuxELLES 
 faid to me upon it was, that the Chevalier ought to proceed 
 to Bar with all the diligence poflible, and to take pofleilion of 
 his former afylum before the duke of Lorrain had time to de- 
 fire him to look out for a refidence fome where elfe : nothing 
 more was meaned by this propofal,than to get him out of the do- 
 minions of France immediately. I was not in my mind averfe to 
 to it for other reafons. Nothing could be more difadvantageous 
 to him than to be obliged to pafs the Alpes, or to refide in the 
 papal territories on this fide of them. Avignon was already 
 named for his retreat in common converfation, and I know not 
 whether from the time he left Scotland, he ever thought of any 
 other. I imagined, that by furprifing the duke of Lorrain we 
 fliould furnifh that prince with an excufe to the king, and to 
 the emperor j that we might draw the matter into length, and 
 gain time to negotiate fome other retreat than that of Avignon 
 for the Chevalier. The duke's good v^'ill there was no room 
 to doubt of, and by what the prince of Vaudemont told me 
 at Paris fome time afterwards, I am apt to think we fhould 
 have fucceeded. In all events it could not be wrong to try eve- 
 ry meafure, and the pretender would have gone to Avignon 
 with much better grace, when he had done, in the fight of the 
 world, all he could to avoid it. 
 
 I FOUND
 
 S I R W I L L I A M WINDHAM. 73 
 
 I FOUND him in no difpofition to make fuch haftc : he had 
 a mind, on the contrary, to ftay fome time at St. Gcrmains, 
 and in the neighbourhood of Paris, and to have a private 
 meeting with the regent. He fent me back to Paris to lollicit 
 the meeting. I writ, I fpoke to themarfhal d'HuxELLES, I did 
 hei\ to fcrve him in his own way. The marlhal anfwered me 
 by word of mouth, and by letter. He refufed me by both. 
 I remember he added this circumflance, that he found the re- 
 gent in bed, and acquainted him with what the Chevalier de- 
 fired ; that the regent rofe up in a pafTion, faid that tlie tilings 
 which were afked were puerilities, and fwore that he would 
 not fee him. I returned without having been able to fiicceed 
 in my commifTion : and I confefs I thought the want of fuccefs 
 on this occailon no great misfortune. 
 
 It was two or three o'clock on the funday or monday morn- 
 ing when I parted from the pretender. He acquiefced in 
 the determination of the regent, and declared that he would 
 inftantly fet out for Lorain : his trunks were packed, his 
 chaife was ordered to be at the door at five, and I fent to 
 Paris to acquaint the niinifter that he was gone. He aflccd me 
 how foon I fhould be able to follow him, gave me commilllons 
 for fome things, which he defired I fliould bring after him : 
 and in a word, no Italian ever embraced the man he was going 
 to ftab, with greater fhew of affedlion and confidence. 
 
 In s T E A D of taking poft for Lorain, he went to the little houfe 
 in the bois de Boulogne, where his female minifters refided ; 
 and there he continued lurking for fe\eral days, and pleafing 
 himfelf with the air of myftery and bufmefs, wliilfl the only 
 real bufinefs, which he fhould have had at that time, lay neg- 
 leded.. He faw the fpaniili and fwcdiili miniflers in this place. 
 
 Vol. I. K I can-
 
 74 ALETTERTO 
 
 I cannot tell, for I never thought it worth afking, whether he 
 faw the duke of Orleans : poilibly he might. To have been 
 teifed into fuch a ftep, which {ignified nothing, and which gave 
 the cabal an air of credit and importance, is agreeable enough 
 to the levity of his royal highnefs's character. 
 
 The thurfday following the duke of Ormond came to fee 
 me, and after the compliment of telHng me, that he believed I 
 fhould be furprifed at the mclTage he brought, he put into my 
 hands a note to himfelf, and a little fcrip of paper diredled to 
 me, and drawn in the ftyle of a juftice of peace's warrant. 
 They were both in the Chevalier's hand-writing, and they 
 were dated on the tuefday, in order to make me believe that 
 they had been writ on the road and fent back to the duke : his 
 grace dropped in our converfation, with great dexterity, 
 all the iniinuations proper to confirm me in this opinion. I 
 knew at this time his mafter was not gone, fo that he gave me 
 two very rifible fcenes, which are frequently to be met with 
 when fome people meddle in bufinefs ; I mean that of feeing a 
 man labor with a great deal of aukward artifice to make a fe- 
 cret of a nothing, and that of feeing yourfelf taken for a bub- 
 ble, when you know as much of the matter as he who thinks, 
 that he impofes on you. 
 
 I CANNOT recoiled: precifely the terms of the two papers. 
 I remember that the kingly laconic ftyle of one of them, and 
 the exprefiion of having no farther occafion for my fervice, 
 made me fmile. The other was an order to give up the pa- 
 pers in my office ; all which might have been contained in a letter- 
 cafe of a moderate fize. I gave the duke the feals, and fome pa- 
 pers which I could readily corae at. Some others, and indeed 
 all fuch as I had not deftroyed, I fent afterwards to the Cheva- 
 lier: and I took care to convey to him, by a fafe hand, feve- 
 
 ral
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 75 
 
 ral of his letters, which it would have been very improper the 
 duke fliould have leen. I am furp'rifed that he did not reflect 
 on the coniequence of my obeying his order literally. It de- 
 pended on me to have fhewn his general what an opinion the 
 Chevalier had of his capacity. I fcorned the trick, and would 
 not appear piqued, when 1 was far from being angry. As I 
 gave up, without fcruple, all the papers which remained in my 
 hands, becaufe I was determined never to make ufe of them ; fo 
 I confefs to you, that I took a fort of pride in never afking for 
 tliofe of mine, which were in the pretender's hands : I contented 
 my felf with making the duke underftand how little need there 
 was to get rid of a man in this manner, who had made the bar- 
 gain which I had done at my engagement, and with taking this 
 firft opportunity to declare, that I would never more have to 
 do with the pretender, or his caufe. 
 
 That I might avoid being queftioned and quoted in the moft 
 curious and the mofl babling tov/n in the world, I related what 
 had palTed to three or four of my friends, and hardly ftirred 
 abroad during a fortnight, out of a little lodging which very 
 few people knew of. At the end of this term the marfhal of 
 Berwic came to fee me, and ailced me what I meaned, to con- 
 fine my felf to my chamber, when my name was trumpetted 
 about in all the companies of Paris, and the moft infamous (lo- 
 ries were fpread concerning me. This was the firft notice I 
 had, and it was foon followed by others. I appeared imme- 
 diately in the world, and found there was hardly a fcurrilous 
 tongue which had not been let loofe on my fubjedt, and that 
 rhofe perfons whom the duke of Ormond and earl of Mar 
 muft influence, or might filence, were the loudeft in defaming 
 me. 
 
 K 2 Parti-
 
 ^6 ALETTERTO 
 
 Particular inftances wherein I had failed were cited ; and 
 as it was the fafliion for every Jacobite to affed being in the fe- 
 cret, you might have found a multitude of vouchers to fa6ts, 
 which, if they had been true, could in the nature of them be 
 known to very few perfons. 
 
 This method, of beating down the reputation of a man by 
 noife and impudence, impofed on the world at firft, convinced 
 people who were not acquainted with me, and ftaggered even 
 my friends. But it ceafed in a few days to have any " effed 
 againft me. The malice was too grofs to pafs upon refledion. 
 Thefe ftories died away almoft as faft as they were publifhed, 
 for this very reafon, becaufe they were particular. 
 
 They gave out, for inftance, that I had taken to my own ufe, 
 a very great fum of the Chevalier's money, when it was no- 
 torious that I hadfpent a great fum of my own in his fervice; and 
 never would be obliged to him for a farthing, in which cafe, I 
 believe, I was fmgle. Upon this head it was eafy to appeal to 
 a very honeft gentleman, the queen's treafurer at St. Germains, 
 through whofe hands, and not through mine, went the very lit- 
 tle money which the Chevalier had. 
 
 They gave out, that whilfl: he was in Scotland, he never 
 heard from me, tho it was notorious that I fent him no lefs 
 than five expreffes during the fix weeks, which he confumed 
 in this expedition. It was eafy, on this head, to appeal to the 
 perfons, to whom my difpatches had been committed. 
 
 These lies, and many others of the fame fort which w^re 
 founded on particular fads, were difproved by particular fads,, 
 and had not time, at leaft at Paris, to make any imprefiion. 
 
 But
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 77 
 
 But the principal crime with which they charged me then, and 
 tlie only one which fince that time they have inlifted upon, is 
 of another nature. This part oi their accufation is general, 
 and it cannot be reluted without doing what I have done 
 above, deducing feveral fa6ls, comparing thefe fadls together, 
 and reafoning upon them ; nay, that which is worfe, is, that 
 it cannot be tully refuted without the mention oi fome fii6ls, 
 wliich, in my prefent circumftances, it would not be very 
 prudent, tho I ihould think it very lawful for me, to divulge. 
 You fee that I mean the ftarvino; the war in Scotland, which 
 it is pretended might have been fupported, and might have 
 fucceeded too, it I had procured the fuccors which were afk- 
 ed, nay, if I had fent a little powder. This the Jacobites, 
 who affe6t moderation and candor, fhrug their fhoulders at : 
 they are forry for it, but lord Bolingbroke can never wafli 
 himfelf clean of this guilt ; for thefe fuccors might have been 
 obtained, and a proof that they might, is, that they were fo 
 by others. Thefe people leave the caufe ot this management 
 doubtful, between my treachery and my want of capacity. The 
 pretender, with all the falfe charity and real malice of one 
 who fets up for devotion, attributes all his misfortunes to my 
 negligence. 
 
 The letters which were writ by my fecretary above a year 
 ago into England, the marginal notes which have been made 
 fince to the letter from Avignon, and what is faid above, 
 have fet this affair in fo clear a light, that v^^hoever examinesy 
 with a fair intention, muft feel the truth, and be convinced 
 by it. I cannot, however, forbear to make fome obfervati- 
 ons on the fame fubjedt here. It is even neceflary that I 
 fhould do fo in the deiign of making this difcourfe the foun- 
 dadon of my juflification to the tories at prefent, and to the 
 whole world in time» 
 
 There.
 
 78 A L E T T E R T O 
 
 There is nothing which my enemies apprehend fo much 
 as my juftihcation, and they have reafon. But they may 
 comfort themfelves with this reflexion, that it will be a mis- 
 fortune, which will accompany me to my grave, that I fuf- 
 fered a chain of accidents to draw me into fuch meafures and 
 fuch company ; that I have been obliged to defend my felf 
 againft fuch accufations and fuch accufers; that by affociat- 
 ino- with fo much folly, and fo much knavery, I am become 
 the vi<aim of both ; that I was diftreffed by the former, when 
 the latter would have been lefs grievous to me, fmce it is 
 much better in bufmefs to be yoaked to knaves than fools, 
 and that I put into their hands the means of loading me 
 Hke the fcape-goat with all the evil confequences of their folly. 
 
 In the iirft letters which I received from the earl of Mar, 
 he writ for arms, for ammunition, for money, for ofHcers, 
 and all things, frankly, as if thefe things had been ready, and 
 I had engaged to fupply him with them, before he fet up 
 the ftandard at the brae of Mar; whereas our condition 
 could not be unknown to his lordfhip, and you have feen 
 that I did all I could to prevent his reckoning on any ailift- 
 ance from hence. As our hopes at this court decreafed, 
 his lordfhip rofe in his demands : and at the time when it 
 was vifible that the regent intended nothing lefs than even 
 privately and indiredly to fupport the Scotch, the pretender 
 and the earl of Mar writ for regular forces and a train of ar- 
 tillery ; which was in effed to infift that France fhould enter 
 into a war for them. I might in anfwer to the firft inflances 
 have afked lord Mar, what he did in Scotland ? and what he 
 meaned by drawing his countrymen into a war at this time ? or 
 at leaft upon this foot? He who had dictated not long before 
 a memorial, wherein it was aflerted, that to have a profped 
 
 of
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. yc^ 
 
 of fuccceding in this enterprife, there niuft be an iinivcrfal 
 infurredlion, and that fiich an infurredlion was in no fort pro- 
 bable, unlefs a body of troops was brought to fupport it ? He 
 who thought that the confequence of failing, when the at- 
 tempt was once made, mull be the utter ruin of the caufe, 
 and the lofs of the britifh liberty ? He who concurred in de- 
 manding as a pis-aller, and the leaft which could be inlifted on, 
 arms, ammunition, artillery, money, and officers? I fay, I might 
 have aiked what he meant to begin the dance when he had not 
 the leaft affurance of any fuccor, but, on the contrary, the 
 greateft reafon imaginable to believe this affair was become as 
 defperate abroad by the death of the moft chriftian king, as it 
 was at home by the difcovery of the defign, and by the mea- 
 fures taken to defeat it ? 
 
 Instead of adling this part, which would have been wife, I 
 took that which was plaufible. I refolved to contribute all I 
 could to fupport the bulinefs, fince it was begun. I encourag- 
 ed his lordHiip as long as I had the leaft ground for doing fo, 
 and I confirmed the pretender in his refolution of going to 
 Scotland, when he had nothing better left him to do. If I 
 have any thing to reproach myfelt with, in the whole progrefs 
 of the war in Scotland, it is having encouraged lord Mar too 
 long. But on the other hand. If I had given up the caufe, 
 and had writ defpondingly to him, before this court had explain- 
 ed itfelf as fully as the marflial d'HuxELLEs did in the con- 
 verfation which is mentioned above, it is eafy to fee what liirn 
 would have been given to fuch a condud:. 
 
 The true caufe of all the misfortunes which happened to 
 the Scotch, and to thole who took arms in the north of Encr- 
 land, lies here; that they rofe without any previous certainty 
 of foreign help, in diredl contradidlion to the fcheme which 
 
 their
 
 So ALETTERTO 
 
 their leaders l-hemfelves had formed. The excufe which I have 
 heard made for this, is that the adt of parliament for curbing 
 the highlandcrs was near to be put in execution ; that they 
 would have been difarmed and entirely difabled from rifmg at 
 any other time, if they had not rofe at this. You can judge 
 better than I of the validity of this excufe. It feems to me, 
 that by management they might have gained time, and that 
 even when they had been reduced to the dilemma fuppofed, 
 they ought to have got together under pretence of reiifting 
 the infradions of the union without any mention of the pre- 
 tender, and have treated with the government on this foot. By 
 thefe means they might probably have preferved themfelves in 
 a condition of avowing their defign when they fhould be fure 
 of being backed from abroad: at the worll they might have 
 declared for the Chevalier when all other expedients failed 
 them. In a word, I take this excufe not to be very good, 
 and the true reafon of this condudl to have been the rafli- 
 nefs of the people, and the inconfiftent meafures of their 
 head. 
 
 But admitting the excufe to be valid, it remains ftill an un- 
 deniable truth, that this is the original fountain from whence 
 all thofe waters of bitternefs flowed, which fo many unhappy 
 people have drunk of I have faid already, that the necelTi- 
 ty of ading was precipitated before any meafures to aft with 
 fuccefs had been taken, and that the neceffity of doing fo feem- 
 ed to increafe as the means of doing fo were taken away. To 
 Vv'hom is this to be afcribed ? Is it to be afcribed to me, who 
 had no fhare in thefe affairs, till a few weeks before the duke 
 of Ormond was forced to abandon England, and the difcove- 
 ry of the intended invafion was publilhed to parliament and 
 to the world? or is it to be afcribed to thofe who had from 
 tlie firfl been at the head of this undertaking ? 
 
 Unable
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 8i 
 
 Unable to defend this point, the next refort of the Jaco- 
 bites is to this impudent and abfiird affirmation, that not- 
 withftanding the difadvantages under which they took arms, 
 tliey fliould have fucceeded, if the indirect afliflances, which 
 M'ere alked from France, had been obtained : nay, that they 
 fliould have been able to defend the highlands, ii I had fcnt 
 them a little powder. Is it poffible that a man fhould be 
 wounded with fuch blunt weapons? Much more than powder 
 was afked for from the firft, and I have already faid, that 
 when the Chevalier came into Scotland, regular troops, ar- 
 tillery, &c. were demanded. Both he and the carl of Mar 
 judged it impoffible to ftand their ground, without fu:h af- 
 liltance as thefe. How fcandalous then muft it be deemed, 
 that they fuffer their dependents to fpread in the world, that 
 for want of a little powder I forced them to abandon Scot- 
 land? The earl of Mar knows, that all the powder in France 
 would not have enabled him to flay at Perth as long as he did, 
 if he had not had another fecurity : and when that failed 
 him, he muft have quitted the party, if the regent had given 
 us all that he made fome of us exped:. 
 
 But to finifh all that I intend to fay on a fubjeA which 
 has tired me, and perhaps you ; the Jacobites afiirm, that the 
 indired: ailiftances which they defired might have been obtain- 
 ed : and I confefs, that I am inexcufablc if this fa6l be true. 
 To prove it, they appeal to the little politicians of whom I 
 have fpokcn fo often. I affirm, on the contrary, that nothing 
 could be obtained here to fupport the Scotch, or to encourage 
 the Englifb. To prove the aflertion, I appeal to the mini- 
 fters with whom I negotiated, and to the regent himfelf, who, 
 whatever language he may hold in private with other people, 
 cannot controvert with me the truth of what I advance. He 
 
 Vol. I. L excluded
 
 82 ALETTERTO 
 
 excluded me formerly, that he might the more eafily avoid 
 doing any thing ; and perhaps he has blamed me fince, that 
 he might excufe his doing nothing. All this may be true, 
 and yet it will remain true, that he would never have been 
 prevailed upon to ad: direftly againfl his intereft in the only 
 point of view which he has, I mean the crown of France, and 
 againft the unanimous fenfe of all his minifters. Suppofe that 
 in the time of the late queen, when fhe had the peace in 
 view, a party in France had im^plored her affiftance, and had 
 applied to Margery Fielding, to Israel, to my lady Ogle- 
 thorpe, to Dr. Battle, and lieutenant general Stewart ; 
 what fuccefs do you imagine fuch applications would have 
 had? The queen would have fpoke them fair, fhe would 
 fpeak otherwife to no body : but do you imagine fhe would 
 have made one ftep in their favor ? Olive Trant, Magny, 
 mademoifelle Chaussery, a dirty abbe Brigault, and Mr. 
 Dillon, are characters very appolite to thefe ; and what I fup- 
 pofe to have paffed in England is not a whit more ridiculous 
 than what really paffed here. 
 
 I SAY nothing of the fhips which the Jacobites pretend that 
 they fent into Scotland three weeks or a month after the pre- 
 tender was returned. I believe they might have had my lord 
 Stair's connivance then, as well as the regent's. I fay no- 
 thing of the order which they pretend to have obtained, and 
 which I never faw, for the ftores that were feifed at Havre 
 to be delivered to Castel Blanco. I have already faid enough 
 on this head, and you cannot have failed to obferve, that 
 this fignal favor was never obtained by thefe people, till 
 the marfhal d'HuxELLES had owned to me, that nothing 
 was to be expeded from France, and that the only thing 
 which I could do was to endeavor to bring the preten- 
 der, the earl of Mar, and the principl perfons who were moft 
 
 expof^
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 83 
 
 expofcd, ofi:: neither he nor I imagining that any fuch would 
 be left behind. 
 
 When I began to appear in the world, upon the advertifc- 
 ments which my friends gave me of the clamor that was raifcd 
 againfl: mc, you will eaiily think I did not enter into fo many 
 particulars as I have done with you. I faid even Icfs, than you 
 have feen, in thofe letters which Brinsden writ into England, 
 in March and April was twelve month; and yet the clamor 
 funk immediately. The people of coniideration at this court 
 beat it down, and the court ot St. Germains grew fo afhamcd 
 of it, that the queen thought fit to purge herfelf of liaving 
 had any fhare in encouraging the difcourfes which were held 
 againfl: me, or having been fo much as let into the fecret of 
 the meafure which preceded them. The provocation was 
 great, but I refolved to adl without pafTion. I faw the ad- 
 vantage the pretender and his council, who difpofed of things 
 better for me than I fhould have done for myfelf, had given 
 me: but I fiw likewife, that I muft improve this advantage 
 with the utmoft caution. 
 
 As I never imagined that he would treat me in the man- 
 ner he did, nor that his minifters could be weak enough to 
 advife him to it ; I had refolved, on his return from Scotland, 
 to follow him till his refidence fhould be fixed fomewhere 
 or other : alter which, having ferved the tories in this, which 
 I looked upon as their laft ftruggle for power, and having con- 
 tinued to a6l in the pretender's affairs till the end ot the term 
 for which I embarked with him ; I fhould have efteemed my- 
 felf to be at liberty, and fhould in the civileft manner I was 
 able have taken my leave of him. Had we parted thus, I 
 fhould have remained in a very ftrange fituation during the 
 
 L 2 reft
 
 84 ALETTERTO 
 
 reft of my life : but I had examined myfelf thoroughly, I was 
 determined, I was prepared. 
 
 On one fide he would have thought that he had a fort of 
 right on any future occafion to call me out of my retreat; the 
 tories would probably have thought the fame thing: my refo- 
 lution was taken to refufe them both, and I forefaw, that both 
 would condemn me. On the other fide, the confideration of 
 his keeping meafures with me, joined to that of having once 
 openly declared for him, would have created a point of ho- 
 nor, by which I fhould have been tied down, not only from 
 ever engaging againft him, but alfo from making my peace 
 at home. The Chevalier cut this gordian knot afunder at 
 one blow. He broke the links of that chain which former 
 engagements had faftened on me, and gave me a right to 
 efteem myfelf as free from all obligations of keeping mea- 
 fures with him, as I fhould have continued if I had never 
 encraaed in his intereft. I took therefore, from that moment, 
 the refolution of making my peace at home, and of em- 
 ploying all the unfortunate experience I had acquired abroad, 
 to undeceive my friends, and to promote the union and the. 
 quiet of my country. 
 
 The earl of Stair had received a full power to treat with 
 me, whilft I was engaged with the pretender, as I have been 
 fince informed. He had done me the juftice to believe me 
 incapable to hearken, in fuch circumftances, to any propo- 
 fals of that kind : and as much friendfhip as he had for me,, 
 as much as I had for him, we entertained not the leaft evert 
 indirsd correfpondence together during that whole time. 
 Soon afterwards he employed a perfon * to communicate to. 
 me the difpofition of his majefty to grant me my pardon, and 
 
 * Saladin of Geneva, then at Paris. 
 
 his
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 85 
 
 his own defire to give me, on this occafion, all the proofs he 
 could of his inelination in my favor. I embraced the offer, as 
 it became me to do, with all poflible fenfe of the king's good- 
 nefs, and of his lorddiip's friendlhip f. We met, we talked 
 together, and he wrote to the court on the fubjedl. The turn 
 which the minillers gave to this matter was, to enter into a 
 treaty to reverfe my attainder, and to ftipulatc the conditi- 
 ons on which this ad: of grace ihould be granted me. 
 
 The notion of a treaty fhocked me. I refolved never to be 
 reftored rather than go that way to work, and I opened my 
 felf without any referve to lord Stair. I told him that I look- 
 ed on my felf to be obliged in honor and in confcience to un- 
 deceive my friends in England, both as to the ftate of foreign 
 affairs, as to the management of the Jacobite intereft abroad, 
 and as to the chara6lers oi: perfons : in every one of which points' 
 I knew them to be mofi; grofsly and moft dangeroufly deluded. 
 That the treatment I had received from the pretender and his 
 adherents would juftify me to the world in doing this : that 
 if I remained in exile all my life, he might be afiiired, that I 
 would never more have to do with the Jacobite caufe ; and 
 that if I was reftorcd, I fliould give it an effectual blow, in 
 making that apology which the pretender has put me un- 
 der a necefHty of making : that in doing this I flattered my- 
 felf, that I fliould contribute fomething to the eftablifliment 
 of the king's government, and to the union of his fubje^fs ; 
 but that this was all the merit which I could promife to have : 
 that if the court believed thefe profeflions to be flncere, a treaty 
 with me was unneceffary for them; and that if they did not 
 believe them fo^ a treaty with them was dangerous for me: 
 
 f There will be added, at the end of this relation, an original letter irom the 
 earl of Stair to Mr. Craggs, giving a full account of the traniaCtion here men- 
 tioned. 
 
 tliat
 
 86 ALETTERTO 
 
 that I was determined in this whole tranfadlion to make no 
 one ftep which I would not own in the face of the world ; 
 that in other circumftances it might be fufficient to ad; honeft- 
 ly, but that in a cafe as extraordinary as mine, it was necef- 
 fary to ad clearly, and to leave no room for the leaft doubtful 
 conftrudion. 
 
 The earl of Stair, as well as Mr. Craggs, who arrived 
 foon after in France, came into my fenfe. I have reafon to 
 believe, that the king has approved it likewife upon their re- 
 prefentations, fince he has been pleafed to give me the moft 
 c-racious aflhrances of his favor. What the eftedt of all this 
 n:ay be, in the next, or in any other feffion, I know not : but 
 this is the foot on which I have put myfelf, and on which I 
 ftand at the moment I write to you. The whigs may conti- 
 nue inveterate, and by confequence fruftrate his majefty's good 
 intentions towards me ; the tories may continue to rail at me, 
 on the credit of fuch enemies as I have defcribed to you in the 
 courfe of this relation : neither the one nor the other fhall make 
 me fwerve out of the path which I have traced to myfelf. 
 
 I HAVE now led you through the feveral ftages which I pro- 
 pofed at firft, and I fl:iould do wrong to your good underftand- 
 ing as well as to our mutual friendfhip, if I fufpeded that you 
 could hold any other language to me than that which Dola- 
 BELLA ufes to Cicero. " Satisfadum eft jam a te vel officio vel 
 " familiaritati; fatisfadum etiam partibus." The king, who 
 pardons me, might complain of me, the whigs might declaim 
 againft me, my family might reproach me for the little regard 
 which I have fliewn to my own and to their intereft; but 
 where is the crime I have been guilty of towards my party 
 and towards my friends ? In what part of my condud will the 
 tories find an excufe for the treatment which they have given 
 
 me?
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 87 
 
 me? As tories, fucli as they were when I left England, I defy 
 them to find any. But here hes the fore, and tender as it is, 
 I muft lay it open. Thofe amongft them, who rail at me now, 
 are changed from what they were, or from what they profclT- 
 ed themfelves to be, when we lived and adled together. They 
 were tories then, they are Jacobites now. Their objeftions to 
 the courfe of my condii6t whilfl; I was in the pretender's intereft 
 are the pretence; the true reafon of their anger is, that I re- 
 nounce the pretender for my life. When you were firft driven 
 into this intereft, I may appeal to you for the notion which 
 the party had. You thought of reftoring him by the ftrcngth 
 of the tories, and of oppofing a tory king to a whig king. 
 You took him up as the inftrument of your rev^enge and of 
 your ambition. You looked on him as your creature, and ne- 
 ver once doubted of making what terms you pleafed with him. 
 This is fo true, that the fame language is ftill held to the ca- 
 techumens in jacobitifm. Were the contrary to be avowed 
 even now, the party in England would foon diminifh. I en- 
 gaged on this principle when your orders fent me to Commercy, 
 and I never a6led on any other. This ought to have been 
 part of my merit towards the tories, and it would have been fo 
 if they had continued in the fame difpofitions. But they are 
 changed, and this very thing is become my crime. Inftead of 
 making the pretender their tool, they are his. Inftead of 
 having in view to reftore him on their own terms, they are 
 laboring to do it without any terms ; that is, to fpeak proper- 
 ly, they are ready to receive him on his. Be not deceived : 
 there is not a man on this fide of the water v/ho ads in 
 any other manner. The church of England-jacobite and the 
 irifh papift feem in every refped: to have the fame caufe. Thofe 
 on your fide of the water, who con-efpond with thefe, are to 
 be comprehended in the fame clafs : and from hence it is, that 
 the clamor raifed againft me has been kept up with fo much 
 
 induftry>
 
 88 ALETTERTO 
 
 ■^nduftry, and is redoubled on the leafl appearance of my re- 
 turn home, and of my being in a fituation to juftify myfelf. 
 
 You have feen already what reafons the pretender, and the 
 feveral forts of people who compofe his party here, had to get 
 rid of me, and to cover me to the utmoft of their power with 
 infamy. Their views were as fhort in this cafe as they are 
 in all others. They did not fee at firft, that this condu6t 
 would not only give me a right, but put me under a necefli- 
 ty of keeping no farther meafures with them, and of laying the 
 whole myftery of their iniquity open. As foon as they difcover- 
 ed this, they took the only courfe which was left them, that 
 of poifoning the minds of the tories, and of creating fuch pre- 
 judices againft me whilft I remained in a condition of not {peak- 
 ing for myfelf, as will, they hope, prevent the effect: of what- 
 ever I may fay when I am in a condition of pleading my own 
 caufe. The bare appreheniion, that I fhall (hew the world 
 that I have been guilty of no crime, renders me criminal among 
 thefe men: and they hold themfelves ready, being unable to 
 reply either in point of fad or in point of reafon, to drown my 
 voice in the confuHon of their clamor. 
 
 The only crimes I am guilty of, I own. I own the crime 
 of having been for the pretender, in a very diiierent manner 
 from thofe with whom 1 aded. I ferved him as faithfullv, I 
 ferved him as well as they, but I ferved him on a different prin- 
 ciple. I own the crime of having renounced him, and of be- 
 inor refolved never to have to do with him as long; as I live. I 
 own the crime of being determined fooner or later, as foon as 
 I can, to clear myfelf of all the unjull afperfions which have 
 been cafl upon me ; to undeceive by my experience as many as I 
 can of thofe tories who may have been drawn into error, 
 and to contribute, if ever I return home, as far as I am able, 
 
 to
 
 S I R W I L L I A M WINDHAM. 89 
 
 to promote the national good of Britain without any other re- 
 gard. Thcfe crimes do not, I hope, by this time appear to 
 you to be of a very black dye. You may come, perhaps, to 
 think them virtues, when you have read and confidercd what 
 remains to be faid ; for before I conclude, it is necellary that 
 I open one matter to you which I could not weave in fooner 
 without breaking too much the thread oi my narration. In 
 this place, unmingled with any thing elfe, it will have, as it 
 deferves to have, your whole attention. 
 
 Whoever compofed that curious piece oi falfe fact, falfe 
 argument, falfe englifh, and falfe eloquence, the letter from 
 Avignon, fays, that I was not thought the moft proper perfon 
 to fpeak about religion. I confefs I fliould be ot his mind, and 
 fliould include his patrons in my cafe, if the practice of it was 
 to be recommended : for furely it is unpardonable impudence 
 to impofe by precept what we do not teach by example. I 
 fhould be of the fame mind, if the nature of religion was to 
 be explained, if it's myfteries were to be fathomed, and if 
 this great truth was to be eftablifhed, that the church of Eng- 
 land has the advantage over all other churches in purity of doc- 
 trine, and in wifdom of difcipline. But nothing of this kind 
 was necelTary. This would have been the taflc of reverend and 
 learned divines. We of the laity had nothing more to do than 
 to lay in our claim, that we could never fubmit to be govern- 
 ed by a prince who was not of the religion of our country. 
 Such a declaration could hardly have failed of fome eftedt to- 
 wards opening the eyes and difpoling the mind even of the 
 pretender. At leaft, in juftice to ourfclves, and in juftice to 
 our party, we who were here ought to have made it, and the 
 influence of it on the pretender ought to have become the rule 
 of our fubfequent condudl. 
 
 Vol. I. M In
 
 90 ALETTERTO 
 
 In thinking in this manner I think no otherwife now than I 
 have always thought: and I cannot forget, nor you neither, 
 what paffed when a httle before the death of the queen, let- 
 ters were conveyed from the Chevalier to feveral perfons, to 
 myfelf among others. In the letter to me, the article of reli- 
 o-ion was fo aukwardly handled, that he made the principal 
 motive of the confidence we ought to have in him to confift in 
 his firm refolution to adhere to popery. The elfedt which this 
 epiflle had on me was the fame v/hich it had on thofe tories to 
 whom I communicated it at that time ; it made us refolve to 
 have nothing to do with him. 
 
 Some time after this I was afTured by feveral, and I make no 
 
 doubt but others have been fo too, that the Chevalier at 
 
 the bottom was not a bigot. That whilfl: he remained abroad 
 
 and could expe6l no fuccor, either prefent or future, from any 
 
 princes but thofe of the roman catholic communion, it was 
 
 prudent, whatever he might think, to make no demonftration of 
 
 a defign to change : but that his temper was fuch, and he was 
 
 already fo difpofed, that we might depend on his compHance 
 
 with what fhould be defired of him, if ever he came amongfl 
 
 us, and was taken from under the wing of the queen his mother. 
 
 To ftrengthen this opinion of his charader, it was faid that he 
 
 had fent for Mr. Lesley over; that he allowed him to celebrate 
 
 the church of England-fervice in his family, and that he had 
 
 promifed to hear what this divine fhould reprefent on the fub- 
 
 jed of religion to him. When I came abroad, the fame things, 
 
 and much more, were at firft infinuated to me, and I began 
 
 to let them make impreflion upon me, notwithftanding what 
 
 I had feen under his hand. I would willingly flatter myfelf, 
 
 that this impreflion difpofed me to incline to jacobitifm, rather 
 
 than allow that the inclination to jacobitifm dilpofed me ea- 
 
 fily
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 91 
 
 fily to believe what, upon that principle, I had fo much rcafon 
 to wifli might be true. Which was the caiife, and which the 
 effeft, I cannot well determine : perhaps they did mutually oc- 
 calion each other. Thus much is certain, that I was far 
 from weighing this matter as I ought to have done, when the 
 folicitation of my friends and the perfecution of my enemies 
 precipitated me into engagements with the pretender. 
 
 I WAS willing to take it for granted, that fince you were 
 as ready to declare, as I believed you at that time, you muft 
 have had entire fatisfadlion on the article of religion. I was foon 
 undeceiv^ed ; this fhring had never been touched. My own ob- 
 fervation, and the unanimous report of all thofe who from 
 his infancy have approached the pretender's perfon, foon taught 
 me how difficult it is to come to terms with him on this head, 
 and how unfafe to embark without them. 
 
 His religion is not founded on the love of virtue and the de- 
 teflation of vice ; on a fenfe of that obedience which is due to 
 the will of the Supreme Being ; and a fenfe of thofe obligati- 
 ons which creatures formed to liv^e in a mutual dependence on 
 one another lie under. The fpring of his whole condudt is 
 fear. Fear of the horns of the devil, and of the flames of 
 hell. He has been taught to believe, that nothing but a blind 
 fubmillion to the church of Rome, and a ftridt adherence to 
 all the terms of that communion, can fave him from thcfe 
 dangers. He has all the fuperftition of a capuchin j but I 
 found on him no tin6lure of the religion of a prince. Do not 
 imagine that I loofe the reins to my imagination, or that I 
 write what my refentments dictate : I tell you limply my opi- 
 nion. I have heard the fame defcription of his character 
 made by thofe who know him beft; and I converfed with very 
 few among the roman catholics themfelves, who did not think 
 him too much a papift. M 2 No-
 
 92 
 
 A LETTER TO 
 
 Nothing gave me from the beginning fo much uneafinefs 
 as the confideration of this part of his chara6ler, and of the 
 little care which had been taken to corredl it. A true turn 
 had not been given to the firft fteps which were made with 
 him. The tories, who engaged afterwards, threw themfelves 
 as it were at his head. He had been fuffered to think that the 
 party in England wanted him as much as he wanted them. 
 There was no room to hope for much compliance on the 
 head of religion, when he was in thefe fentiments, and whert 
 he thought the tories too far advanced to have it in their pow- 
 er to retreat; and little dependence was at any time to be plac- 
 ed on the promifes of a man capable of thinking his damna- 
 tion attached to the obfervance, and his falvation to the breach 
 of thefe very promifes. Something, however, was to be done : 
 and I thought that the leaft which could be done was, to deal 
 plainly with him, and to {hew him the impoflibiHty of go- 
 verning our nation by any other expedient, than by complying 
 with that which would be expedled from him as to his reHgion. 
 This was thought too much by the duke of Ormond and Mr. 
 Lesley; altho the duke could be no more ignorant than the 
 minifter, how ill the latter had been ufed, how far the Che- 
 valier had been from keeping the word which he had given, 
 and on the faith of which Mr. Lesley had come over to him. 
 They both knew, that he not only refufed to hear himfelf, but 
 that he fheltered the ignorance of his priefts, or the badnefs of 
 his caufe, or both, behind his authority, and abfolutely forbid 
 all difcourfe concerning religion. The duke feemed convinced 
 that it would be time enough to talk of religion to him when he 
 fhould be reftored, or, at iboneft, when he fhould be landed 
 in England ; that the influence under which he had lived be- 
 ing at a diftance, the reafonablenefs of what we might pro- 
 pofe, joined to the apparent aecellity which would then ftare
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 93 
 
 Iiim In the face, could not fail to produce all the cffedls wliich 
 we could dcfire. 
 
 To me this whole rcafoning appeared fallacious. Our bufincfs 
 was nocto make him cliange appearances on this fide of the water, 
 but to prepare him to give thole which would be neceflary on 
 the other : and there was no room to hope that if we could 
 gain nothing on his prejudices here, we fhould be able to over- 
 come them in Britain. I would have argued juft as the duke 
 of Ormond and Lesley, if I had been a papift ; and I faw well 
 enough that fome people about him, for in a great dearth of 
 ability there was cunning to be met with, affe6led nothing more 
 than to keep off all difcourfe of religion. To my apprchenfion 
 it was exceeding plain that we fliould find, if we were once in 
 England, the neceflity ot going forward at any rate with him, 
 much greater than he would find that of complying with us. 
 I thought it an unpardonable fault to have taken a formal en- 
 gagement with him, when no previous fatisfadion had been ob- 
 tained on a point, at leaft as eflential to our civil as to our reli- 
 gious rights ; to the peace of the ftate, as to the profperity of 
 the church : and I looked on this fault to be aggravated by eve- 
 ry day's delay. Our filence was unfair, both to the Cheva- 
 lier, and to our friends in England. He was induced by it 
 to believe, that they would exad; far lefs from him, tlian we 
 knew they expedled : and they were confirmed in an opinion of 
 his docility, which we knew to be void of all foundation. TJie 
 pretence of removing that influence, under which he had lived, 
 was frivolous, and fhould never have been urged to me, who 
 faw plainly, that according to the meafures purfued by the very 
 perfons who urged it, he mufl: be environed in England by the 
 fame people that furrounded him here ; and that the court of 
 St. James's would be conftituted, if ever he was reftored> in the 
 feme manner as that of St. Gcrmains was.. 
 
 WiLEN.
 
 94- 
 
 A LETTER TO 
 
 When the draught of a declaration, and other papers which 
 were to be difperfed in Great Britain, came to be fettled, it ap- 
 peared that my apprehenfion and diftruft were but too well 
 founded. The pretender took exception againft feveral paf- 
 fages, and particularly againft thofe, wherein a dired; promife of 
 fecurinsf the churches ot England and Ireland was made. He 
 was told, he faid, that he could not in confcience make fuch a 
 promife : and, the debate being kept up a little while, he afked 
 me with fome warmth, why the tories were fo delirous to have 
 him, if they expeded thofe things from him which his religion 
 did not allow ? I left thefe draughts by his order with him, 
 that he might confider and amend them. I cannot fay that he 
 fent them to the queen to be corrected by her confefTor and the 
 reft of her council ; but I firmly believe it. Sure I am, that 
 he took time fufficient to do this ; before he fent them from 
 Bar where he then was, to Paris whither I was returned. 
 When they were digefted in fuch a manner as fatisfied his ca- 
 fuifts, he made them be printed : and my name was put to the 
 declaration, as if the original had been figned by me. I had 
 hitherto fubmitted my opinion to the judgment of others ; but 
 on this occafion I took advice from my fell. I declared to him, 
 that I would not fuffer my name to be at the bottom ot this 
 paper. All the copies which came to my hands I burnt, and 
 another was printed off, without any counterftgning. 
 
 The whole tenor of the amendments was one continued in- 
 ftance of the grofleft bigottry ; and the moft material paftages 
 were turned with all the jefuitical prevarication imaginable. 
 As much as it was his intereft, at that time, to cultivate the re- 
 lpe6l which many of the tories really had for the memory of the 
 late queen, and which many others affeded as a farther mark 
 of their oppofition to the court, and to the whig party ; as 
 
 much
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. 95 
 
 much as it was his intercft to weave the honor of her name into 
 his caufe, and to render her, even after her death, a party to the 
 difpute ; he could not be prevailed upon to give her that cha- 
 rader which her enemies allowed her, nor to make ufe of thofe 
 expreflions in fpeaking of her, which by the general manner of 
 their application, are come to be little more than terms of re- 
 fpedl and words of form, proper in the ftyle of public adts. For 
 inftance : 
 
 She was called in the original drauaht " his fifler of 2I0- 
 *' rious and blefled memory." In that which he publifhed, 
 the epithet of " blefled" was left out. Her eininent jiiftice 
 and her exemplary piety, were occafionally mentioned. In 
 lieu of which, he fubftituted a flat, and in this cafe an invi- 
 dious expreilion, " her inclmations to juftice." 
 
 Not content with declaring her neither juft nor pious in 
 this world, he did little lefs than declare her damned in the 
 other, according to the charitable principles of the church of 
 Rome. 
 
 " When it pleafed almighty God to take her to himfelf," 
 was the exprcflion ufed in fpeaking of the death of the queen. 
 This he erafed, and inftead thereof inferted thefe words: 
 *' when it pleafed almighty God to put a period to her Hfe." 
 
 He gracioufly allowed the univeriities to be nurferies of loy- 
 alty, but did not think that it became him to ftyle them '* nur- 
 *' feries of religion." 
 
 Since his father pafles already for a faint, and fince reports 
 are encouraged of miracles, which they fuppofe to be wrought 
 at his tomb, he might have allowed his grandfather to pafs 
 
 for
 
 96 ALETTERTO 
 
 for a martyr : but he ftruck out of the draught thefe words, 
 " that bleffed martyr v/ho died for his people," which were 
 appUed to king Charles the firft, and would fay nothing more 
 of him than that " he fell a facrilice to rebellion." 
 
 In the claufe which related to the churches of England and 
 Ireland, there was a plain and diredl promife inferted of " ef- 
 " fedual proviHon for their fecurity ; and for their re-eftablifh- 
 ** ment in all thofe rights which belong to them." This 
 claufe was not fuffered to ftand, but another was formed, 
 wherein all mention of the church of Ireland was omitted, and 
 nothing was promifed to the church of England but the fecu- 
 rity, '* and re-eftablilhment of all thofe rights, privileges, im- 
 " munities, and poffeflions which belong to her," and where- 
 in he had already promifed by his declaration of the twentieth 
 of Jtily, to fecure and " protedt all her members." 
 
 I need make no comment on a proceeding fo eafy to be un- 
 derftood. The drift of thefe evalions, and of this ajffeded obfcu- 
 rity is obvious enough, at leaft it will appear fo by the obferva- 
 tions which remain to be made. 
 
 He was fo afraid of admitting any words which might be 
 conftrued into a promife of his confenting to thofe things, which 
 fhould be found neceilary for the prefent or future fecurity of 
 our conftitution, that in a paragraph where he was made to fay, 
 that he thought himfelf obliged to be follicitous for the prof- 
 perity of the church of England, the word profperity was ex- 
 punged ; and we were lelt by this mental relervation to guefs 
 what he was follicitous for ? It could not be for her profperity: 
 that he had expunged. It muft therefore be for her deftrudion, 
 which in his language would have been ftyled, her converfion. 
 
 Another
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. [97] 
 
 Another remarkable proof of the fame kind is to be found 
 towards the conchilion of the declaration. After having fpoke 
 of the peace and tlorifliing eftate of the kingdom, he was 
 made to exprefs his rcadinefs to concert with the two houfes 
 fuch further meafures, as fliould be thought neccfiary for fecur- 
 ing the fame to future generations. The defign of this para- 
 graph you fee. He and his council fiw it too, and therefore 
 the word " fccuring" was laid aiide, and the word " leavino-" 
 was inferted in lieu of it. 
 
 One would imagine, that a declaration corre(5ted in this 
 manner might have been fuffered to go abroad without any 
 farther precaution. But thefe papers had been penned by pro- 
 teftants, and who could anfwer that there might not be ftill 
 ground fufficient from the tenor ot them to in{iif on every thing 
 necefiary for the fecurity of that religion? The declaration of 
 the twentieth of July had been penned by a prieft of the fcotch 
 college, and the expre/Tions had been meafured fo as to fuit per- 
 fectly v/ith the condu6l which the chevalier intended to hold, 
 fo as to leave room to diftinguhli him, upon future occalions, 
 with the help of a little pious fophifliry, out of all the enc:i<T^e- 
 ments which he fcemed to take in it. This orthodox paper was 
 therefore to accompany the heretical paper into the world, and 
 no promife of moment was to ftand in the latter, unlefs quali- 
 fied by a reference to the former. Thus the church was to 
 be fecured in the rights &c. which belong to her. How ? No 
 otherwife than according to the declaration of the montli of 
 July. And what does that promife ? Security and protedlion to 
 the members of this church in the enjoyment of their proper- 
 ty. I make no doubt, but Bellarmine, if he had been the 
 chevalier's confeffor, would have paiTed this paragraph thus 
 amended. No engagement whatever taken in favor of the 
 
 Vol. I. N church
 
 [gS] ALETTERTO 
 
 church of Ireland, and a happy diftindion found between fe- 
 curing that of England, and protedling her members. Many 
 a ufeful proje6l for the dejftrudion of heretics, and for accu- 
 mulating power and riches to the fee of Rome, has been efta- 
 blifhed on a more flender foundation. 
 
 The famefpirit reigns through the whole. Civil and religious 
 rights are no otherwife to be confirmed, than in conformity to 
 the declaration of July ; nay the general pardon is reftrained 
 and limited to the terms prefcribed therein. 
 
 This is the account which I judged too important to be 
 omitted, and which I chofe to give you all together. I fhall 
 furely be juftified at prefent in concluding, that the tories are 
 oToflly deluded in their opinion of this prince's chara6ler, or 
 elfe that they facrifice all which ought to be efteemed pre- 
 cious and facred among men, to their pafTions. In both thefe 
 cafes I remain ftill a tory, and am true to the party. In 
 the firft I endeavor to undeceive you by an experience pur- 
 chafed at my expence and for your fakes : in the fecond I en- 
 deavor to prevail on you to revert to that principle from which 
 we have deviated. You never intended, whilft I lived amongfl 
 you, the ruin of your country; and yet every ftep, which 
 you now make towards the reftoration you are fo fond of, 
 is a ftep towards this ruin. No man of fenfe, well inform- 
 ed, can ever go into meafures for it, unlefs he thinks him- 
 felf ai>d his country in fuch defperate circumftances, that no- 
 thing is left them but to chufe of two ruins that which they 
 like beft. 
 
 The exile of the royal family, under Cromwell's ulur- 
 pation, was the principal caufe of all thofe misfortunes, in 
 which Britain has been involved, as well as of many of thofe 
 
 which.
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. [99] 
 
 which have happened to the reft of Europe, during more tliaii 
 half a century. 
 
 The two brothers, Charles and James, became then infe6t- 
 ed with popery to fuch degrees, as their different charadlers 
 admitted of. Charles had parts, and his good underftand- 
 ing ferved as an antidote to repel the poifon. James, the 
 fimpleft man of his time, drank off the whole clialicc. The 
 poilbn met, in his compolition, with all the fear, all the credu- 
 lity, and all the obftinacy of temper proper to increafe it's vi- 
 rulence, and to ftrengthen it's effedt. The firft had always 
 a wrong byafs upon him ; he connived at the eftabliOiment, 
 and indiredJy contributed to the growth of that power, which 
 afterwards difturbed the peace, and threatened the liberty of 
 Europe fo often : but he went no farther out of the way. The 
 oppoiition of his parliaments, and his own refledlions flopped 
 him here. The prince and the people were indeed mutually 
 jealous of one another, from whence much prefent diforder 
 flowed, and the foundation of future evils was laid: but his 
 good and his bad principles combating ftill together, he mahi- 
 tained, during a reign of more than twenty years, in fome to- 
 lerable degree, the authority of the crown, and the florifhing 
 eftate of the nation. The laft, drunk with fuperftitious and 
 even enthufiaflic zeal, ran headlong into his own ruin, whilft 
 he endeavored to precipitate ours. His parliament and his peo- 
 ple did all they could to fave themfelves by winning him. 
 But all was vain: he had no principle on which they could 
 take hold. Even his good qualities worked againft them, and 
 his love of his country went halves with his bigotry. How he 
 fucceeded we have heard from our fathers. The revolution of 
 one thoufand fix hundred and eighty eight faved the nation, 
 and ruined the king. 
 
 N 2 Now
 
 [loo] A LETTER TO 
 
 Now the pretender's education has rendered him infinitely lefs 
 fit than his uncle, and at leaft as unfit as his father, to be king 
 of Great Britain. Add to this, that there is no refource in his 
 underftanding. Men of the beft fenfe find it hard to over- 
 conie religious prejudices, which are of all the ftrongeft ; but 
 he is a Have to the weakeft. The rod hangs like the fword 
 of Damocles over his head, and he trembles before his mo- 
 ther and his prieft. What, in the name of God, can any mem- 
 ber of the church of England promife himfelf from fuch a cha- 
 ra6ler ? Are we by another revolution to return into the fame 
 ftate from which we were delivered by the firft? Let us take 
 example from the roman catholics, who aft very reafonably in 
 refufing to fubmit to a proteftant prince. Henry the fourth 
 had at leaft as good a title to the crown of France as the pre- 
 tender has to ours. His religion alone ftood in his way, and 
 he had never been king if he had not removed that obftacle. 
 Shall we fubmit to a popifh prince, who will no more imitate 
 Henry the fourth in changing his religion, than he will imitate 
 thofe fhining qualities which rendered him the honefteft gentle- 
 man, the braveft captain, and the greateft prince of his age ? Allow 
 me to give a loofe to my pen for a moment on this fubjed:. Gene- 
 ral benevolence, and univerfal charity feem to be eftablifhed in the 
 gofpcl as the diftinguifhing badges of chriftianity. How it hap- 
 pens I cannot tell ; but fo it is, that in all ages of the church the 
 profefTors of chriftianity feem to have been animated by a quite 
 contrary fpirit. Whilft they were thinly fcattered over the world, 
 tolerated in fome places, but eftablifhed nowhere, their zeal often 
 confumed their charity. Paganifm, at that time the religion by 
 law eftablifhed, was infulted by many of them ; the ceremonies 
 were difturbed, the altars thrown down. As foon as by the fa- 
 vor of Constantine their numbers were increafed, and the 
 reins of government were put into their hands, they began 
 
 to
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. [loi] 
 
 to imploy the fecular arm, not only againfl: different religions, 
 but againll different fedls which arofe in their own religion. 
 A man may boldly affirm that more blood has been flied in the 
 difpiites between chriftian and chriftian, than has ever been 
 drawn from the whole body of them in the perfecutions of the 
 heathen emperors, and in the conqiiefts ot the mahometan 
 princes. From thefe they have received quarter, but never 
 from one another. The chriftian religion is actually tolerated 
 among the mahometans, and the domes of churches and 
 mofques arife in the fame city. But it will be hard to find an 
 example, where one ledl of chriftians has tolerated another 
 which it was in their power to extirpate. They have gone 
 farther in thefe later ages : what was pradifed formerly has 
 been taught fince. Perfecution has been reduced into fyftem, 
 and the difciples of the meek and humble Jesus have avowed 
 a tyranny, which the moft barbarous conquerors never claim- 
 ed. The wicked fubtilty of cafuifts has elfablifhed breach of 
 faith with thofe who differ from us, as a duty in oppofition to 
 faith, and murder itfelf has been made one of the means of fal- 
 vation. I know very well that the reformed churches have 
 been far from going thofe cruel lengths, v^'hich are authorifcd 
 by the dodlrine as well as example of that of Rome ; tho 
 Calvin put a flaming fword on the title of a french edi- 
 tion of his inftitute, with this motto, " Je ne fuis point venu 
 " mettre la paix, mais I'epee:" but I know likewife, that the 
 difference lies in the means, and not in the aim of their policy. 
 The church of England, the moft humane of all of them, 
 would root out every other religion, if it was in her power. 
 She would not hang and burn ; her meafures would be milder, 
 and therefore, perhaps, more effeduaL 
 
 Since then there is this inveterate rancor among chriftians, 
 can any thing be more abfurd, than for thofe of one perfuafion 
 
 to
 
 [io2] A LETTER TO 
 
 to truft the fupreme power, or any part of it, to thofe of ano- 
 ther ? Particularly, muft it not be reputed madnefs in thofe of 
 our religion, to truft themfelves in the hands of roman catho- 
 lics ? Muft it not be reputed impudence in a roman catholic 
 to expe£t that we fhould ? he who looks upon us as heretics, 
 as men in rebellion againft a lawful, nay a divine authority, 
 and whom it is therefore meritorious by all forts of ways to re- 
 duce to obedience. There are many, I know, amongft them 
 who think more generoufly, and whofe morals are not cor- 
 rupted by that which is called religion : but this is the fpirit of 
 the priefthood, in whofe fcale that fcrap of a parable, " Com- 
 " pel them to come in," which they apply as they pleafe, out- 
 weighs the whole decalogue. This will be the fpirit of every 
 man who is bigot enough to be under their diredlion : and fo 
 much is fufficient for my prefent purpofe. 
 
 During your laft feffion of parliament, it was expeded that 
 the whigs would attempt to repeal the occafional bill. The 
 fame jealoufy continues ; there is, perhaps, foundation for it. 
 Give me leave to afk you, upon what principle we argued for 
 making this law, and upon what principle you muft argue 
 againft the repeal of it. i have mentioned the principle in the 
 beginning of this difcourfe. No man ought to be trufted with 
 any fhare of power under a government, who muft, to ad: con- 
 fiftently with himfelf, endeavor the dcftrudion of that very go- 
 vernment. Shall this propolition pafs for true, when it is ap- 
 plied to keep a preibyterian from being mayor of a corporation ? 
 and fhall it become falfe, when it is applied to keep a papift from 
 being king ? The proposition is equally true in both cafes, but 
 the argument drawn from it is juft fo much ftronger in the 
 latter, than in the former cafe, as the mifchiefs, which may re- 
 fult from the power and influence of a king, are greater than 
 thofe which can be wrought by a magiftrate of the loweft order. 
 
 This
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. [103] 
 
 This feems to my apprehenfion to be argumentum ad homi- 
 nem, and I do not fee by what happy diftindlion a jacobite 
 tory could elude the force of it. 
 
 It may be fald, and it has been urged to me, that if the 
 chevalier was reftorcd, the knowledge of his charafter would 
 be our fecurity ; " habet foenum in cornu :" there would be 
 no pretence for trufting him, and by confequence it would be 
 eafy to put fuch reftridions on the exercife of the regal power, 
 as might hinder him from invading or fapping our religion and 
 liberty. But this I utterly deny. Experience has fliewn us 
 how ready men are to court power and profit ; and who can 
 determine, how far either the tories or the whigs would com- 
 ply, in order to fecure to themfelves the enjoyment of all the 
 places in the kingdom ? Suppofe however, that a majority of 
 true Ifraelites inould be found, whom no temptation could 
 oblige to bow the knee to Baal ; in order to preferve the go- 
 vernment on one hand, muft they not deftroy it on the other ? 
 The neceflary reilridions would in this cafe be fo many, and fo 
 important, as to leave hardly the fhadow of a monarchy, if he 
 fubmitted to them ; and if he did not fubmit to them, thefe 
 patriots would have no refource left but in rebellion. Thus, 
 therefore, the affair would turn, if the pretender was reftored. 
 We might, moft probably, lofe our religion and hberty by the 
 bigotry of the prince, and the corruption of the people. 
 We Ihould have no chance of preferving them, but by an en- 
 tire change of the whole frame of our government, or by ano- 
 ther revolution. What reafonable man would voluntarily re- 
 duce himfelf to the neceffity of making an option among fuch 
 melancholy alternatives ? 
 
 The beft which could be hoped for, were the chevalier 
 on the throne, would be, that a thread of favorable accidents, 
 
 improved
 
 [i04] A LETTER TO 
 
 improved by the wifdom and virtue of parliament, might keep 
 off the evil day during his reign. But ftill the fatal caufe M^ould 
 be eftablilTied, it would be entailed upon us, and every man 
 would be apprifed, that fooner or later the fatal effedl muft 
 follow. Conlider a little what a condition we fhould be in, 
 both with refped: to our foreign intereft, and our domeftic 
 quiet, whilft the reprieve lafted, whilft the chevalier or his 
 fucceffors made no diredl attack upon the conftitution. 
 
 As to the firft, it is true indeed, that princes and ftates are 
 friends or foes to one another, according as the motives of am- 
 bition drive them. Thefe are the firft principles of union and 
 divifion amongft them. The proteftant powers of Europe 
 have joined, in our days, to fupport and aggrandife the houfe of 
 Auftria, as they did, in the days of our forefathers, to defeat her 
 defigns, and to reduce her power ; and the moft chriftian king 
 of France has more than once joined his councils, and his arms 
 too, with the councils and arms of the mofl; mahometan em- 
 peror of Conftantinople. But ftill there is, and there muft con- 
 tinue, as long as the influence of the papal authority fubfifts in 
 Europe, another general, permanent, and invariable divifion 
 of interefts. The powers of earth, like thofe of heaven, have 
 two diftinft motions. Each of them rolls in his own political 
 orb, but each of them is hurried at the fame time round the 
 great vortex of his religion. If this general notion be juft, ap- 
 ply it to the prefent cafe. Whilft a roman catholic holds the 
 rudder, how can we expe(Sl to be fteered in our proper courfe ? 
 His political intereft will certainly incline him to direct our firft 
 motion right ; but his miftaken religious intereft will render 
 him incapable of doing it fteadily. 
 
 As to the laft, our domeftic quiet ; even whilft the cheva- 
 lier, and thofe of his race concealed their game, we fhould 
 
 remain
 
 SIR WILLIAM WINDHAM. [105] 
 
 remain in the moft unhappy flate which human nature is fub- 
 jett to, a ftate of doubt and fufpence. Our prcfervation would 
 depend on making him the objed; of our eternal jealoufy, who, 
 to render himfelf and his people happy, ought to be that of our 
 intire confidence. 
 
 Whilst the pretender and his fuccelTors forbore to attack the 
 religion and liberty of the nation, we fhould remain in the 
 condition of thofe people who labor under a broken conftitu- 
 tion, or who carry about them fome chronical diftemper. 
 They feel a little pain at every moment ; or a certain uneafl- 
 nefs, which is fometimes lefs tolerable than pain, hangs con- 
 tinually on them, and they languifh in the conftant expedla- 
 tion of dying perhaps in the fevereft torture. 
 
 But if the fear of hell fhould diflipate all other fears in the 
 pretender's mind, and carry him, which is frequently the ef- 
 fe6t of that pafHon, to the moft defperate undertakings ; if 
 among his fuccellbrs a man bold enough to make the attempt 
 fliould arife, the condition of the britilli nation would be ftill 
 more deplorable. The attempt fucceeding, we fhould fall in- 
 to tyranny ; for a change of religion could never be brought 
 about by confent ; and the fame force, that would be fufHcient to 
 enflave our confciences, would be fufHcient for all the other 
 purpofes of arbitrary power. The attempt failing, we fhould 
 fall into anarchy ; for there is no medium when difputes be- 
 tween a prince and his people are arrived at a certain point ; he 
 muft either be fubmitted to, or depofed. 
 
 I HAVE now laid before you even more than I intended to 
 have faid when I took my pen ; and I am perfuaded, that if 
 thefe papers ever come to your hands, they will enable you to 
 caft up the account between party and me. Till the time of 
 
 Vol. L [O] the
 
 [io6] THE EARL OF STAIR 
 
 the queen's death it ftands, I believe, even between us. The 
 tories diftinguiihed me by their approbation, and by the credit 
 which I had arnongil them ; and I endeavored to diftinguifh 
 myfelf in their fervice, under the immediate weight of great 
 difcouragement, and with the no very diftant profpe6): of great 
 danger. Since that tim.e the account is not fo even, and I dare 
 appeal to any impartial perfon, whether my fide in it be that of 
 the debtor. As to the opinion of mankind in general, and the 
 judgment which pofterity will pafs on thefe matters, I am un- 
 der no great concern. " Suum cuique decus pofteritas rependit." 
 
 F R O M T H E 
 
 EARL OF STAIR, 
 
 His majefty's embaflador at Paris, 
 
 T O 
 
 JAMES CRAGGS junior, Efq. 
 
 Secret Letter*. 
 
 V 
 
 Monfieur, 
 Ous aves vu par ma depeche I'etat dela negotiation. J'ai 
 a prefent a vous parler, en particulier, deBoLiNGBROKE. 
 
 Je I'ai vu ches moi le jour apres Tarrivee de Mr. Pitt : etnous 
 avons eu enfemble une converfation d'une heure ct demie ; dont 
 la fubftance eft, que lui, Bolingbroke, rentroit, du meilleur 
 
 * This letter, which, with feveral more private and fecret letters, had been re- 
 turned to lord Stair by his correfpondent, was communicated to the editor of 
 thefe papers, fome time ago, by a relation of his lordlhip : and it is copied here, 
 exadly, from the original in Ills own hand-writing. 
 
 de
 
 TOJAMES CRAGGS ESQ^ [107] 
 
 de fon cceiir, dans Ton devoir envers fon roi et fa jxitrie ; et que 
 rien au monde etoit capable de le detacher de cette refolution, 
 quand meme fa majeflc ne trouveroit pas a propos de lui fairc 
 grace. Qu'il etoit pret, de ce moment, a s'employer avec moi 
 dans ce pais-ici pour le fervice du roi, fi je croyois qu'il y pou- 
 voit etre utile a quelque chofe ; et qu'il me communiqueroit 
 tout ce qui viendroit a ia connoiflimce qui me pourroit etre dc 
 quelque ufage, et qu'il m'aideroit volontiers de routes les lu- 
 mieres qu'il pourroit avoir acquifes par fes habitudes ici. 
 
 Il me dit, que je f^avois bien, par fon caradtcre, qu'il nc 
 faifoit pas les chofes a demi ; qu'en rentrant en fon devoir il 
 fe propofoit de fervir le roi et fa patrie avec zele et avec af- 
 fedion. Que pour cet ejffet, il fe croiroit oblige, par routes 
 les obligations du devoir, de la reconnoifiance, de I'honneur 
 et de Tinteret meme, d'informer le roi de tout ce que fon ex- 
 perience lui pourroit fuggerer d'utile pour le fervice de la ma- 
 jefte, pour raffermiffement de la tranquillite publique, et pour 
 prevenir tous les projets qui fe pourront former en faveur de fes 
 ennemis, Qu'il feroit tout ce qui dependroitde lui de faire ren- 
 trer les toris qui ont embraffe le parti du pretendant dans leur 
 devoir, en leur faifant voir quelle efpece d'homme le pretendant 
 etoit ; et qu'ils fe trompoient s'ils croyoient qu'ils pourroicnt 
 avoir de la feurete avec lui ou pour leur liberte ou pour leur re- 
 ligion. Que pour pouvoir faire cela, il etoit necefiaire, meme 
 pour le fervice du roi, que lui, Bolingbroke, ne fut pas per- 
 du de reputation, qu'il ne pafsat pas pour delateur. 
 
 Il infifta beaucoup fur cet article. " Ce que je propole de 
 faire, me dit-il, eft digne d'un honnete hommc, convaincu 
 de fon erreur et touche d'un vrai repentir; c'eft ce que je fe- 
 " rai hautement et a la face de I'univers : et permettcs-moi 
 " d'ajouter, que c'eft un fervice reel que je rendrai au roi et a 
 
 
 *' ma
 
 [io8] THE EARL OF STAIR &c. 
 
 <' ma patrie. Mais de confentir a trahir des particuliers, ou a reve- 
 " ler ce qui m'acte confie, ce feroit me defhonnorer a jamais." 
 
 Te ne dois pas oublier a vous dire, qu'outre fon eloignement 
 pour le prctendant, il m'a temoigne beaucoup de depit centre la 
 France: etjefuis furqu'il me parloit fmcerement. 
 
 Te ferai bien-aife d'etre inftruit au plutot touchant les inten- 
 tions du roi a fon egard, et de ce que je dois lui promettre an 
 nom de fa majefle ; afin qu'il puiffe etre en etat de fe retirer de ce 
 pais-ici, ou j'apprchende qu'il ne fait pas bon pour lui. 
 
 Pour moi ; je vous avoue franchement, que je crois qu'il m'a 
 parle dans la fmcerite de fon ccEur ; qu'il eft refolu de faire fon 
 mieux pour abattre le parti du prctendant, et pour le dcraciner 
 tout-a-fait fi cela dependoit de lui : et il me paroit certain, qu'il 
 n'y a perfonne qui puifl'e nuire au pretendant au point qu'il le 
 peut faire. 
 
 A' LA fin de notre converfation, il me ferra la main, et me 
 
 dit: " Mi lord, fi Ton me fait la juftice de croire que mes 
 
 " profeffions font finceres, plus ils menagent ma reputation, 
 
 ** plus ils font le fervice du roi. Si au contraire ils me loupcon- 
 
 ** nent de ne pas marcher droit, ils auront raifon d'exiger de moi 
 
 ** des conditions que j'aurai en meme terns raifon, comme un 
 
 «' honnete homme, de rcfufer. Les difficultcs que je fais de 
 
 *« promettre trop, peuvent fervir de garans que je tiendrai ce k 
 
 *'• quoi je m'engage. En tout cas, le tems et ma conduite uni- 
 
 *' forme convaincront tout le monde de la droiture de mes in- 
 
 *' tentions: et il vaut mieux attendre ce tems avec patience, 
 
 *' quelque long qu'il puifie etre, que d'arriver avec precipita- 
 
 *' tion a fon but en fortant du grand chemin de I'honneur et 
 
 ^ de la probite." 
 
 REFLEC-
 
 REFLECTION S 
 
 UPON 
 
 K X I L H. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 O
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 UPON 
 
 E X I L E . 
 
 MDCCXVI. 
 
 DISSIPATION of mind, and length of time, are 
 the remedies to which the greateft part of manlcind 
 truft in their afflidions. But the firft of thefe works 
 a temporary, the fecond a flow, effe6l : and both are un- 
 worthy of a wife man. Are we to fly from ourfelves that wc 
 may fly from our misfortunes, and fondly to imagine that the 
 difeafe is cured becaufe we find means to get fome moments 
 of refpite from pain? Or fliall we exped from time, the phy- 
 flcian of brutes, a Hngering and uncertain deliverance ? Shall 
 we wait to be happy till we can forget that we are miferable, 
 and owe to the weaknefs of our faculties a tranquillity which 
 ought to be the effed of their flrength? Far otherwife. Let 
 us fet all our paft and our prefent afflidions at once before 
 our eyes f. Let us refolve to overcome them, inftead of flying 
 from them, or wearing out the fenfe of them by long and ig- 
 
 * Several pafTages of this little treatife are taken from Seneca : and the whole 
 is writ with fome allufion to his rtyle and manner, " quanquam non omnino 
 " temere fit, quod de fententiis illius queritiir Fabius," &c. Eras. Dcfen.jud. 
 
 ■f Sen. De con. ad Hel. 
 
 O 2 nominious
 
 lOo REFLECTIONS 
 
 noniinions patience. Inflead of palliating remedies, let us ufe 
 the incifion- knife and the caiiftic, fearch the wound to the 
 bottom, and work an immediate and radical cure. 
 
 The recalling of former misfortunes ferves to fortify the 
 mind againfl: later. He mufl blufli to fink under the anguifh 
 of one wound, who furveys a body feamed over with the fears 
 of many, and who has come vidlorious out of all the conflids 
 wherein he received them. Let iighs, and tears, and fainting 
 under the lightefl: ftrokes of adverfe fortune, be the portion of 
 thofe unhappy people whofe tender minds a long courfe of fe- 
 licity has enervated : while fuch, as have pafled through years 
 of calamity, bear up, with a noble and immoveable coniftancy, 
 againfl; the heavieft. Uninterrupted mifery has this good effecil, 
 as it continually torments, it finally hardens. 
 
 Such is the language of philofophy : and happy is the man 
 
 vAio acquires the right of holding it. But this right is not to 
 
 be acquired by pathetic difcourfe. Our condud can alone 
 
 give it us : and therefore, inftead of pre fuming on our ftrength,. 
 
 ihe furefl: method is to confefs our w.aknefs, and, without lofs 
 
 of time, to apply ourfelves to the fl:udy of wifdom. This was 
 
 the advice which the oracle gave to Zeno*, and there is no 
 
 other way of fecuring our tranquilHty amidfl: all the accidents 
 
 to which human life is expofcd. Philofophy has, I know, her 
 
 Thrasos, as well as War : and among her fons many there 
 
 have been, who, while they aimed at being more than men, 
 
 became fomething lefs. The means of preventing this danger 
 
 are eafy and fure. It is a good rule, to examine well before 
 
 we addid ourfelves to any fed : but I think it is a better rule, 
 
 to addidt ourfelves to none. Let us hear them all, with a per- 
 
 fed indifferency on which fide the truth lies : and, Vv'hen we 
 
 * DioG. Laert. 
 
 come
 
 UPON EXILE, 101 
 
 come to determiae, kt nothing appear fo venerable to us as 
 our own underflandings. Let us gratefully accept the help 
 of every one who has endeavoured to correct the vices, and 
 ftrengthen the minds of men; but let us chufe for ourfelves, 
 and yield univerfil alTent to none. Thus, that I may infiance 
 the fec5l already mentioned, when we have laid afide the won- 
 derful and furprifing fentenccs, and all tlie paradoxes of the 
 Portique, we fhall find in that fchool fuch doi5lrincs as our un- 
 prejudiced reafon fubmits to with pleafure, as nature didates, 
 and as experience confirms. Without this precaution, we 
 run the rifque of becoming imaginary kings, and real flaves. 
 With it, we may learn to afTert our native freedom, and live 
 independent on fortune. 
 
 In order to which great end, it is necefTary that we f^and 
 watchful, as centinels, to difcover the fecret wiles and operr 
 attacks of thi& capricious goddefs, before they reach us *. 
 Where rhe falls upon us unexpedled, it is hard to refifl; buC 
 thofe who wait for her, will repel her with eafe. The fudden 
 invafion cf an enemy overthrows fuch as are not en their 
 guard ; but tiiey who forefce the war, and prepare themfelvcs 
 for it before it breaks out, fland, without difficulty, the firfl: 
 and the fierceft ouiLt. I learned this imoortant lefTon lonci: 
 ago, and never truffed to fortune even while fhe feemed to be 
 at peace with me. The riches, the honors, the reputation, 
 and all the advantages which her treacherous indulgence pour- 
 cd upon me, I placed fo, that flis might fnatch them away 
 without giving m.e any diflurbance. I kept a great interval 
 between me and them. She took them, but (he could not 
 tear them from me. No man falters by bad fortune, but 
 he who has been deceived by good. l{ we grow fond cf her 
 gifts, fancy that they belong to us, and are perpetually to re- 
 
 * Sen. De con. ad Hel. 
 
 main
 
 102 REFLECTIONS 
 
 main with us, if we lean upon them, and exped to be con- 
 fidered for them ; we fhail fink into all the bitternefs of grief, 
 as foon as thefe falfe and tranfitory benefits pafs away, as foon 
 as our vain and childifh minds, unfraught with folid pleafures, 
 become deftitute even of thofe which are imaginary But, if 
 we do not fuffer ourfelves to be tranfported by profperity, nei- 
 ther fliall we be reduced by adverfity. Our fouls will be of 
 proof againfl: the dangers of both thefe ftates : and, hav- 
 ing explored our ftrength, we fhall be fure of it; for in the 
 niidft of felicity, we fhall have tried how we can bear misfor- 
 tune. 
 
 It is much harder to examine and judge, than to take up 
 opinions on truft ; and therefore the far greateft part of the 
 world borrow, from others, thofe which they entertain con- 
 cerning all the affairs of life and death *. Hence it proceeds 
 that men are fo unanimoufly eager in the purfuit of things, 
 which, far from having any inherent real good, are varnifhed 
 over with a fpecious and dt^ceitful glofs, and contain nothing 
 anfwerable to their appearances +. Hence it proceeds, on the 
 other hand, that, in thofe things which are called evils, there 
 is nothing fo hard and terrible as the general cry of the world 
 threatens. The word exile comes indeed harfli to the ear, and 
 flrikes us like a melancholy and execrable found, through a 
 certain perfuafion which men have habitually concurred in. 
 Thus the multitude has ordained. But the greateft part of 
 their ordinances are abrogated by the wife. 
 
 Rejecting therefore the judgment of thofe who determine 
 according to popular opinions, or the firfl: appearances of things, 
 
 * Dum unufquifque maviilt credere, quam judicare, nunquam de vita judica- 
 tusy femper creditur. Sex. De vita beat. -f Sen. De con. ad Hel. 
 
 let
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 103 
 
 let us examine what exile really is*. It, is then, a change 
 ot place; and, left you iLould fay that I diminifh the objed, 
 and conceal the moft fhocking parts of it, I add, that this 
 change of place is frequently accompanied by fome or all of 
 the following inconveniences : by the lofs of the eftate which 
 we enjoyed, and the rank which we held ; by the lofs of that 
 confideration and power which we were in poiTefTion of; by 
 a feparation from our family and our friends ; by the con- 
 tempt which we may fall into ; by the ignominy with which 
 thofc who have driven us abroad, will endeavour to fully 
 the innocence of our charadters, and to juftify the injuftice 
 of theii own conducft. 
 
 All thefe fhall be fpoke to hereafter. In the mean while 
 let us confider what evil there is, in change of place, abftradl- 
 edly and by itfelf. 
 
 To live deprived of one'^s country is intolerable f. Is it fo ?' 
 How comes it then to pafs that fuch numbers of men live out 
 of their countries by choice? Obferve how the ftreets of Lon- 
 don and of Paris are crowded. Call over thofe miUions by 
 name, and ask them one by one, of what country they are r 
 how many will you find, who, from different parts of the 
 earth, come to inhabit thefe great cities, which afford the 
 largeft opportunities, and the largeft encouragement, to virtue 
 and to vice ? Some are drawn by ambition, and fome are fent 
 by duty; many refort thither to improve their minds, and 
 many to improve their fortunes; others bring their beauty, 
 and others their eloquence, to market. Remove from hence, 
 and go to the utmoft extremities of the Eaft or the Weft : 
 vifit the barbarous nations of Africa, or the inhofpitable re.- 
 
 * S£N. De con. ad Hel. f Ibid, 
 
 gions
 
 104 REFLECTIONS 
 
 gions of the North : you will find no climate fo bad, no coun- 
 try fo favage, as not to have fome people who come from 
 abroad, and inhabit there by choice. 
 
 Among numberlefs extravagancies which have pafled through 
 the minds of men, we may juftly reckon for one that notion 
 of a fecret affe6lion, independent of our reafon, and fuperior 
 to our reafon, which we are fuppofed to have for our country; 
 as if there were fome phyfical virtue in every fpot of ground, 
 which neceffarily produced this effed in every one born upon 
 
 it. 
 
 li Amor patriae ratione valentior omni*." 
 
 As if the heimvei was an univerfal diftemper, infeparable from 
 
 the conftitution of an human body, and not peculiar to the 
 
 Swifs, who feem to have been made for their mountains, as 
 
 their mountains fcem to have been made for them f. This 
 
 notion may have contributed to the fecurity and grandeur of 
 
 ftates. It has therefore been not unartfully cultivated, and 
 
 the prejudice of education has been with care put on its fide. 
 
 Men have come in this cafe, as in many, from believing that 
 
 it ought to be fo, to perfuade others, and even to believe them- 
 
 felvesthat it is fo. Procopius relates that Aegarus came to 
 
 Rome, and gained the efteem and friendfiiip of Augustus to 
 
 fuch a degree, that this emperor could not refolve to let him 
 
 return home: that Abgarus brought feveral beafts, which 
 
 he had taken one day in hunting, alive to Augustus : that he 
 
 placed in different parts of the Circus fome of the earth 
 
 which belonged to the places where each of thefe animals had 
 
 been caught ; that as foon as this was done, and they were 
 
 turned Icofe, every one of them ran to that corner where his 
 
 earth lay : that Augustus, admiring their fentiment of love 
 
 * Ov. De Ponto, El. iv. f Card. Benti. Let. 
 
 for
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 105 
 
 for their country which nature has graved in the hearts of 
 bcafts, and ftruck by the evidence of the truth, granted the 
 requeft which Abgarus immediately prefled upon him, and 
 allowed, though with regret, tiic tetrarch to return to EdefTa. 
 But this tale deferves jull as much credit as that which follows 
 in the fame place, of the letter of Abgarus to Jesus Christ, 
 of our Saviour's anfwer, and of the cure of Abgarus. There 
 is nothing, furely, more groundlefs than the notion here ad- 
 vanced, nothing more abfurd. We love the country in which 
 we are born, becaufe we receive particular benefits from it, 
 and becaufe we have particular obligations to it : which ties 
 we may have to another country, as well as to that we are 
 born in ; to our country by eledion, as well as to our coun- 
 try by birth. In all other refpeds, a wife man looks on him- 
 felf as a citizen of the world : and, when you ask him where 
 his country lies, points, like Anaxagoras, with his finger to 
 the heavens. 
 
 There are other perfons, again, who have imagined that 
 as the whole univerfe fuffers a continual rotation, and nature 
 feems to delight in it, or to preferve herfelf by it, fo there is in 
 the minds of men, a natural reflleffnefs, which inclines them 
 to change of place, and to the fhifting their habitations *. This 
 opinion has at leaft an appearance of truth, which the other 
 wants ; and is countenanced, as the other is contradicted, by 
 experience. But, whatever the reafons be, which mufi: have 
 varied infinitely in an infinite number of cafes, and an immenfe 
 fpace of time ; true it is in fad:, that the families and nations 
 of the world have been in a continual fluduation, roaming 
 about on the face of the globe, driving and driven out by turns. 
 What a number of colonies has Afia fent into Europe I The 
 
 * Sen. De con. ad Hel. 
 
 Vol. I. P Phoe-
 
 io6 REFLECTIONS 
 
 Phoenicians planted the coafts of the Mediterranean Tea, and 
 puilied their fettlements even into the ocean. The Etrurians 
 were of Afiatic extradion; and, to mention no more, the 
 Romans, thofe lords of the world, acknowledged a Trojan 
 exile for the founder of their empire. How many migrations 
 have there been, in return to thefe, from Europe into Afia ? 
 They would be endlefs to enumerate ; for, befides the Aeolic, 
 the Ionic, and others of almoft equal fame, the Greeks, dur- 
 ing feveral ages, made continual expeditions, and built cities in 
 fevcral parts of Afia. The Gauls penetrated thither too, and 
 eftablifhed a kingdom. The European Scythians over-ran thefe 
 vafl: provinces, and carried their arms to the confines of Egypt. 
 Alexander fubdued all from the Hellefpont to India, and 
 bulk towns, and eftablifhed colonies, to fecure his conquefts, 
 and to eternife his name. From both thefe parts of the world 
 Africa has received inhabitants and mafters ; and what fhe has 
 received fhe has given. The Tyrians built the city, and 
 founded the republic, of Carthage; and Greek has been the 
 language of Egypt. In the remoteft antiquity we hear of 
 Belus in Chaldaea, and of Sesostris planting his tawny colo- 
 nies in Colchos: and Spain has been, in thefe latter ages, 
 under the dominion of the Moors. If we turn to Runic hiftory, 
 v/e find our fathers, the Goths, led by Woden and by Thor, 
 their heroes fiift and their divinities afterwards, from the Afia- 
 tic Tartary into Europe : and who can afiure us that this was; 
 their firft migration ? They came into Afia perhaps by th.e 
 eaft:, from that continent to which their fons have lately failed 
 from Europe by the weft : and thus, in the procefs of three- 
 or four thoufand years, the fame race of men have pufhed: 
 their conquefts and their habitations round the globe : at leaft 
 this may be fuppofed, as reafonably as it is fuppofed, I think, 
 by Grotius, that America was peopled from Scandinavia. The 
 world is a great wildernefs, wherein mankind have wandered 
 
 and.
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 107 
 
 and joRled one another about from the creation. Some have 
 removed by neceflity, and others by clioice. One nation has 
 been fend of feizing what another was tired of polfcflino- .- 
 and it will be difficult to point out the country which is to this 
 day in the hands of its iirft inhabitants. 
 
 Thus fate has ordained that nothing fl:iall remain lono- in 
 the fime ftate : and what are all thefe tranfportations of people, 
 but fo many public exiles ? Varro, the moft learned of the 
 Romans, thought, fince Nature * is the fame wherever we go, 
 that this fingle circumftance was fufficient to remove all ob- 
 jedions to change of place, taken by itfelf, and ftripped of the 
 other inconveniences which attend exile. M. Brutus thought 
 it enough that thofe, who go into banifhment, cannot be hin- 
 dered from carrying their virtue along with them. Now, if 
 any one judge that each of thefe comforts is in itfelf infufficient, 
 he muft however confefs that both of them, joined together, 
 are able to remove the terrors of exile. For what trifles muft 
 all we leave behind us be efteemed, in comparifon of the two 
 moft precious things which men can enjoy, and which, we are 
 fure, will follow us wherever we turn our fteps, the fame na- 
 ture, and our proper virtue f? Believe me, the providence of 
 God has eftablifhed fuch an order in the world, that of all 
 which belongs to us the leaft valuable parts can alone fall 
 under the will of others. Whatever is beft is fafeft ; lies out 
 of the. reach of human power ; can neither be given nor taken 
 away. Such is this great and beautiful work of nature, the 
 world. Such is the mind of man, which contemplates and 
 admires the world whereof it makes the nobleft part. Thefe 
 are infeparably ours, and as long as we remain in one we fhall 
 enjoy the other. Let us march therefore intrepidly wherever 
 
 * Sen. De con. ad IIcl. -j- lb. 
 
 P 2 we
 
 io8 REFLECTIONS 
 
 we are led by the courfe of human accidents. Wherever they 
 lead us, on what coaft foever we are thrown by them, we fliali 
 not find ouriclves abfolutely ftrangers. We fliall meet with 
 men and women, creatures of" the fame figure, endowed with 
 the fame faculties, and born under the fam.e laws of nature. 
 We fliall fee the fame virtues and vices, flowing from the fame 
 general principles, but varied in a thoufand different and con- 
 trary modes, according to that infinite variety of laws and 
 cuftoms which is eflablifhed for the fame univerfal end, the 
 prefervation of fociety. We fball feel the fame revolution of 
 feafons, and the fame fun and moon * will guide the courle of 
 our year. The fame azure vault, befpangled with ftars, will 
 be every where fpread over our heads. There is no part of the 
 world from whence we may not admire thofe planets which 
 roll, like ours, in different orbits round the fame central fun ; 
 from whence we may not difcover an objedl ftill more ftupen- 
 dous, that army of fixed fbrs hung up in the immenfe fpace 
 of the univerfe, innumerable funs whofe beams enlighten and 
 cherifli the unknown worlds which roll around them : and 
 whilft I am raviflied by fuch contemplations as thefe, whilft 
 my foul is thus raifed up to heaven, it imports me little what, 
 ground I tread upon. 
 
 Brutus f, in the book which he writ on virtue, related thatr 
 he had fecn Marcellus in exile at Mitylene, living in all the 
 happinefs which human nature is capable of, and cultivating^, 
 ivith as much afiiduity as ever, all kinds of laudable knowledge. 
 He added, that this fpedacle made him think that it was rather 
 
 * Plut. Of banifliment. He compares thofe who cannot live out of their, 
 ©wn country, to the fimple people who fancied that the moon of Athens was a. 
 finer mooa than that of Corinth. 
 
 . labentem coelo quae ducitis annum, ViRC.Georg.. 
 
 •{• ^EN. De con. ad Kel. 
 
 He
 
 UPON EXILE. 109 
 
 Pie who went into baniflinient, fince he was to return without 
 the other, tlian the other who remained in it. O Marcellus^ 
 far more happy wlien Brutus approved thy exile, than whtn 
 the commonwealth approved thy confulfliip ! How great a 
 man muft thou have been, to extort admiration from him who 
 appeared, an objed: of admiration even to his own Cato ! 
 The fame Brutus reported further, that C^sar overfhot Mi- 
 tylene, becaufe he could not ftand the fight of Marcellus re- 
 duced to a ftate fo unworthy of him. His reftoration was at 
 lerigth obtained by the public interceflion of the whole fenate, 
 who were dcjeded with grief to fuch a degree, that they feem- 
 ed all upon this occasion to have the fame fentiments with 
 Brutus,, and to be fuppliants for themfelves rather than for 
 Marcellus f. This was to return with honour; but furely 
 he remained abroad with greater, when Brutus could not re- 
 folve to leave him, nor C^sar to fee him ; for both of them 
 bore witnefs of his merit. Brutus grieved, and Caesar 
 blufiied to go to Rome without him.. 
 
 Q^Metelllus Numidicus had undergone the fame fate 
 fome years before, while the peopk, who are always the furefl 
 inftruments of their own fervitude, were laying, under the 
 condudl of Marius, the foundations of that tyranny which 
 was perfected, by Caesar. Metellus alone, in the midfl of 
 an intimidated fenate, and outrageous multitude, refufed ta 
 fwear to the pernicious laws of the tribune Saturninus. His. 
 Gonftancy became his crime, and exile his punifhment. A 
 wild and lawlefs fa<^ion prevailing againft. him, the beft men. 
 of the city armed in his defence, and were ready to lay down., 
 
 -f Marcellus was aflaffinated at Athens, in his return home, by Chilo, an 
 o\i friend, and fellow-foldier of his. The mocive of Ciiilo is not explained, in 
 hillory. C.'^.esar was fufpedcd, but he feems to be juftilied by tiic opinion 
 of Brutus.. 
 
 ihcit:
 
 no REFLECTIONS 
 
 their lives that they might prefervefo much virtue to their coun- 
 try. But lie, having failed to perfuade, thought it not law- 
 ful to conitrain. He judged in the phrenfy of the Roman 
 commonwealth, as Plato judged in the dotage of the Athe- 
 nian. Metellus knew, that if his fellow-citizens amended, 
 he fliould be recalled; and if they did not amend, he thought 
 he could be no where worfe than at Rome. He went volun- 
 tarily into exile, and wherever he palled he carried the fure 
 f)'mptom of a lickly flate, and the certain prognoftic of an 
 expiring commonwealth. What temper he continued in abroad 
 will beft appear by a fragment of one of his letters which 
 Gellius *, in a pedantic compilation of phrafes ufed by the 
 annalift Q^ Claudius, has preferved for the fake of the word 
 frunifcor. " Illi vero omni jure atque honeftate interdidi : ego 
 " neque aqua neque igne careo : et fumma gloria frunifcor." 
 Happy Metellus 1 happy in the confcience of thy own vir- 
 tue ! happy in thy pious fon, and in that excellent friend 
 who refembled thee in merit and in fortune ! 
 
 RuTiLius had defended Afia againft the extortions of the 
 publicans, according to the ftrid: juftice of which he made 
 profeflion, and to the particular duty of his office. The Eque- 
 flrian order were upon this account his enemies, and the Ma- 
 rian facflion was fo of courfe, on account of his probity, as 
 well as out of hatred to Metellus. The moft innocent man 
 of the city was accufed of corruption. The beft man was pro- 
 fccuted by the worft, by Apicius ; a name dedicated to in- 
 famy f. Thofe who had flirted up the falfe accufation fat as 
 judges, and pronounced the unjuft fentence againft him. He 
 hardly deigned to defend his caufe, but retired into the Eaft, 
 
 * Lib. xv'n. cap. 2. 
 
 + There was another Apicrus, in the reign of Tiberius, famous for his gkit- 
 tony ; and a third in the time of Trajan. 
 
 I where
 
 U P O N E X I L E. iir 
 
 where that Roman \'iituc which Rome could not bear, was re- 
 ceived with honor*. Shall Rutilius now be deemed un- 
 happy, when they who condemned him are, for that adion, 
 delivered down as criminals to all future generations? when 
 he quitted his country with greater eafe than he would fuffer 
 his exile to finiili? when he alone durlt refufe the didator 
 SvLLA, and being recalled home, not only declined to go, but 
 fled fiirther off? 
 
 What do you propofe, it may be faid, by thefe example?, 
 multitudes of which are to be eolleded from the memorials of 
 former ages ? I propofe to fhew that as change of place, {im- 
 ply confidered, can render no man unhappy, fo the other 
 evils which are objeded to exile, either cannot happen to wife 
 and virtuous men ; or, if they do happen to them, cannot 
 render them miferable. Stones are hard, and cakes of ice are 
 cold : and all who feel them, feel them aHke f . But the crood 
 or the bad events, which fortune brings upon us, are felt ac- 
 cording to what qualities we, not they, have. They are in 
 themfelves indifferent and common accidents, and they acquire 
 ftrength by nothing but our vice or our weaknefs. Fortune 
 can difpenfe neither felicity nor infelicity unlefs we co-operate 
 with her. Few men, who are unhappy under the lofs of an 
 eftate, would be happy in the poffeffion of it : and thofe, who 
 deferve to enjoy the advantages which exile takes away, will 
 not be unhappy when they are deprived of them. 
 
 It grieves me to make an exception to this rule; but Tully 
 was one fo remarkably, that the example can be neither con- 
 cealed, nor paffed over. This great man, who had been the 
 faviour of his country, who had feared, in the fupport of that 
 
 * Sen. L. De prov. cap. 3.. f Plut. Onexile.. 
 
 cauf^,,
 
 IT2 REFLECTIONS 
 
 caufe, neither the infults of a dcfperate party, nor the dag- 
 gers of affairins, when he came to fuffer for the fame caufe, 
 funk under the weight. He difhonored that banifhment which 
 indulgent providence meant to be the means of rendering his 
 plory complete. Uncertain where he fhould go, or what he 
 fhould do, fearful as a woman, and froward as a child, he 
 lamented the lofs of his rank, of his riches, and of his fplen- 
 did popularity. His eloquence ferved only to paint his igno- 
 miny in ftronger colors. He wept over the ruins of his fine 
 '^houie which Clod i us had demoliilied: and his feparation from 
 Terentia, whom he repudiated not long afterwards, was per- 
 haps an affliction to him at this time. Every thing becomes 
 intolerable to the man who is once fubdued by grief'. He 
 regrets what he took no pleafure in enjoying, and, overload- 
 ed already, he fhrinks at the weight of a feather. Cicero's 
 behaviour, in fhort, was fuch that his friends, as well as his 
 enemies, believed him to have loft his fenfes\ Caesar be- 
 held, with a fecret fatisfadtion, the man, who had refufed to 
 be his lieutenant, weeping under the rod of Clodius. Pompey 
 hoped to find fome excufe for his own ingratitude in the con- 
 tempt which the friend, whom he had abandoned, expofed 
 himfelf to. Nay Atticus judged him too meanly attached to 
 his former fortune, and reproached him for it. Atticus, 
 whofe great talents were ufury and trimming, who placed his 
 principal merit in being rich, and who would have been noted 
 with infamy at Athens, for keeping well with all fides, and 
 venturing on none': even Atticus blufhed for Tully, and 
 the moft plaufible man alive aiTumed the ftyle of Cato. 
 
 " Mitto caetera intolerabilia. Etenim fletu impedior, L, iii. Ad Attic. 
 ep. lo. 
 
 '' Tam faepe, et tam vehementer objurgas, et aairao infirmo efle dicis. lb. 
 '^ Plut. Vit. Solon. 
 
 I
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 113 
 
 I HAVE dwelt the longer on this inftancc, becaiifc, whilft it 
 takes nothing from the truth which has been eftabliihcd, it 
 reaches us another of great importance. Wife men are certain- 
 ly fuperior to all the evils of exile. But in a flridl fcnfe he, 
 who has left any one paiTion in his foul unfubdued, will not 
 dtferve that appellation. It is not cnougli that we have ftuditd 
 all the duties of public and private life, that we are perfectly 
 acquainted with them, and that we live up to them in the 
 eye of the world : a pafiion that lies dormant in the heart, 
 and has efcaped our fcrutiny, or which we have obferved and 
 indulged as venial, or which we have perhaps encouraged, as 
 a principle to excite and to aid our virtue, may one time or 
 other deftroy our tranquility, and difgrace our whole charac- 
 ter. When virtue has fleeled the mind on every fide, we arc 
 invulnerable on every fide: but Achilles was wounded in the 
 Iiecl. The leaft part, overlooked or negleded, may expofe 
 us to receive a mortal blow. Reafon cannot obtain the ab- 
 folute dominion of our fouls by one vi<ftory. Vice has many 
 referves, which muft be beaten; many ftrongholds, which mull: 
 be forced ; and we may be found of proof in many trials, 
 without being fo in all. We may reliH: the fevereft, and yield 
 to the wcakeft attacks ol fortune, V\'e may have got the bet- 
 ter of avarice, tlie mofl epidemical difcafe of the mind, and 
 yet be flaves to ambition*. We may have purged our fouls 
 of the fear of death, and yet fomc otlier fear may venture to 
 lurk behind. This was the cafe of Ckt.ro. Vanity was his 
 
 * Seneca fays the contrary of all this, according to the Stoical lyflcm, which 
 however he departs trom on many occafions. " Si lontia unani cuamlibet 1 ar- 
 
 " ten"! fortunae fatis tibi roboris ell, idem adverfiis cmr.eserit. Si avantia di- 
 
 " milir, vehementiinma generis humani p:llis, moram tlbi ambitio non facict. 
 " Si Liitimum diem, &c. De Con. ad Hcl. 
 Non (ingula vitia ratio, fed pariteromniaproilernit. In iinivcrfnmfcmcl vinciiyr. IbJ 
 
 Nee audacem quidem timoris ablolvimus ; ne prodigum quidem avaricia libera- 
 itius. Ue Benet. L. iv. c. 27. 
 
 Qiii autcm habet vitiiim unum, habet omiia. l\\, L. v. c, 15, 
 
 Vol. I. Q^ cardinal
 
 114 REFLECTIONS 
 
 cardinal vice'. It had, I queftion not, warmed his zeal, 
 quickened his fndnftry, animated the love of his country, and 
 fupported his conftancy againft Catiline : but it gave to Clo- 
 Dius an entire vidory over him. He was not afraid to die^ 
 and part with eftate, rank, honor, and every thing which he 
 lamented the lofs of: but he was afraid to live deprived of them. 
 " Ut vivus haec amitterem'." He would probably have met 
 death on this occalion with the fame firmnefs with which he 
 faid to PopiLius Laenus, his client and his murderer, " Ap- 
 " proach, veteran, and, if at leaft thou canft do this well, 
 *' cut off my head." But he could not bear to feehimfelf, and 
 to be feen by others, ftripped of thofe trappings which he was 
 accuftomed to wear. This made him break out into fo many 
 fhameful exprefTions. *' Poffum oblivifci qui fuerim ? non 
 " fentire qui fim ? quo caream honore? qua gloria?" And, 
 
 fpeaking of his brother <' Vitavi ne viderem ; ne aut illius 
 
 *' lu6tum fqualoremque afpicerem, aut me, quern ille floren- 
 ** tiflimum reliquerat, perditum illi afflitlumque offerrem ^"' 
 He had thought of death, and prepared his mind for it. There 
 were occafions too where his vanity might be flattered by it. 
 But the fame vanity hindered him in his profperous eflate from 
 fuppoling fuch a reverfe as afterwards happened to him. When 
 it came, it found him unprepared, it furprifed him, it flunned 
 him ; for he was ftill fond of the pomp and hurry of Rome, 
 ** fumum et opes, ftrepitumque Romae," and unweaned from 
 all thofe things v/hich habit renders neceffary, and which na- 
 ture has left indifferent. 
 
 We have enumerated them above, and it is time to def- 
 cend into a more particular examination of them. Change of 
 
 ' In animo autem gloriae cupido, qualis fuit Ciceronis, plurimiim potefl, Vel. 
 Pat. L. i. " Ep. ad Attic. L. iii. ep. 3, 7, 10. etpaffim. 
 
 'I,, iii, ep. 10. ad Attic. 
 
 place
 
 UPONEXILE. 115 
 
 place then may be borne hy every man. It is the delight of 
 many. But who can bear the evils which accompany exile? 
 You who afk the queftion can bear them. Every one who 
 confidcrs them as they are in themfclves, inftead of looking at 
 them through the hlCe optic which prejudice holds before our 
 eyes. For vvhat? you have loft your eftate : reduce your de- 
 ^res, and you will perceive yourielf to be as rich as ever, with 
 this confiderable advantage to boot, that your cares will be 
 diminiflied. Our natural and real wants *' are confined to 
 narrow bounds vvhilft thofe which fancy and cuftom cr-eate 
 are confined to none. Truth lies within a little and certain 
 compafs, but error is immenfe. If we fufi'er our defires there- 
 fore to wander beyond thefe bounds, they wander eternally. 
 " Nefcio quid curtae femper abeft rei." We become necefli- 
 tous in the midft of plenty, and our poverty encreafes with 
 our riches. Reduce your defires, be able to fay with the apo- 
 ftle of Greece, to whom Erasmus was ready to addrefs his 
 prayers, " quam multis ipfe non egeo I" banifli out of your 
 exile all imaginary, and you will fuffer no real wants. The 
 litde ftream which is left will fuf^ice to quench the thirft of 
 nature, and that which cannot be quenched by it, is not your 
 thirft, but your diftemper ; a diftemper formed by the vicious 
 habits of your mind, and not the effed: of exile. How great 
 a part of mankind bear poverty with chearfulnefs, becault; 
 they have been bred in it, and are accuftomed to it ? f S'.iall 
 we not be able to acjjuire, by reafon and by rcfledion, what 
 the meaneft artiian pofiefTes by habit ? Shall thofe who have fo 
 
 * Naturalhi deflderia finita funt: ex falfa opinione nafcentia xibi ikfinant non 
 habent, niillus enim terminus falib eft. Sen. Ep. 16. 
 
 Excerp. ex Lib. Sen. falfcly fo called. 
 
 Si ad naturam vives, nunquam eris pauper •, fi ad opinionem, nunquam dives. 
 Exiguum natura dcfidci-at, opinio imn-icnlum. SlN. Ep, 16. 
 
 T Sen, De con. ad tlel. 
 
 Q 2 manv
 
 ii6 REFLECTIONS 
 
 many advantages over him, be Haves to wants and neceflities 
 oF which he is ignorant? The rich, whofe wanton appetites 
 neither the produce of one country, nor of one part of the 
 world, can fitisfy, for whom the whole habitable globe is ran- 
 racked, for w^hom the caravans of the call: are continually in 
 march, and the remotefl: feas are covered with fliips; thefe 
 pampered creatures, fated with fuperfluity, are often glad to 
 inhabit an humble cot, and to make an homely meal. They 
 run for refuge into the arms of frugality. Madmen that they 
 are, to live always in fear of what tliey fometimes wifh for, 
 and to ily from that life which they find it luxury to imitate! 
 Let us caft our eyes backwards on thofe great men who lived in 
 the ages of virtue, of fimplicity, of frugality, and let us blufh 
 to think that we enjoy in banifhment more than they were ma- 
 ilers of in the midlt of their glory, in the utmofl af]]uence of 
 their fortune. Let us imagine that we behold a great didlator 
 giving audience to the Samnite ambaffadors, and preparing on 
 the hearth his mean repaft with the fame hand which had fo 
 often fubdued the enemies of the commonwealth, and borne 
 the triumphal laurel to the capitol. Let us remember that 
 Plato had but * three fervants, and that Zeno had none -f. 
 Socrates, the reformer of his country, was maintained, as 
 Menenius Agrippa, the arbiter of his country was buried, by 
 
 * Plato's will, in Dioc. Laer. mentions four fervaats, befides Diana, to 
 ■whom he gave her freedom. 
 
 Apuleius makes his eftate confift in a little garden near the academy, two fer- 
 vants, a patten for facrifices, and as much gold as would ferve to make ear-ring^ 
 for a child. 
 
 f Zeno was owner of a thoufand talents when he came from Cyprus into Greece, 
 and he ufed to lend his money out upon fliips at an high intereft. He kept, in fhort, 
 a kind of infurance-office. He loft this eftate perhaps when he faid, " refte fane 
 " agit fortuna, quae nos ad philofophiam impellit." Afterwards he received many 
 and great prefents from ANTicoNa's. So that his great frugality and fimj licity of 
 life, was the effed of his choice, and not of neceflity. Vid. Dio. Laer. 
 
 contribution.
 
 UPONEXILE. 117 
 
 contribution*. V\'hile Atdlius Regulus beat tlie Cartha- 
 ginians in Afric, the flight of his ploughman reduced liis fa- 
 mily to diftrcls at home, and the tillage ot Jiis Htile farm be- 
 came the public care Scipio died without leavinn; enouo-h to 
 marry his daughters, ami their portions were paid out of the 
 treafury of the ftate ; for fure it was jufl that the people of 
 Rome fhould once pay tribute to him, who had cftabliflicd a 
 perpetual tribute on Carthage, After fueh examples fliall we 
 be afraid of poverty? Ihall we dIfJain to be adopted into a fa- 
 mily which has fo many illuftrious anceftors? fhall wc com- 
 plain of banilliment for taking from us what the greatefl phi- 
 lofophers, and the greatefl: heroes of antiquity never enjoyed ? 
 
 You will find fault perhaps, and attribute to artifice, that 
 I confider flngly misfortunes which come all together on the 
 banifhed man, a^id overbear him with their united weight. 
 You could fupport change of place if it was not accompanied 
 with poverty, or poverty if it was not accompanied with the 
 feparation from your family and your friends, with the lofs of 
 your rank, confideration, and power, with contempt and ig- 
 nominy. Whoever he be who reafons in this manner, let him 
 take the following anfwer. The leaft of thefe circumftanccs is 
 fmgly fufficient to render the man miferable who is not prepared 
 for it, who has not diverted himfelf of that paflion upon which 
 it is diredtcd to work. But he who has got the ma(-l:{.ry of all his 
 pafTions, who has forefeen all thefe accidents, and prepared Jiis 
 mind to endure them all, will be fuperior to all of them, and ta 
 all of them at once as well as fuigly. He will not bear the lofs 
 of his rank, becaufe he can bear the lofs of his efiate : but 
 
 * DiOG. Laer. Vit. Soc. quotes Aristoxenvs for sffirniing tluit Socrates 
 ufed to keep a box, and lived upon the money which was put into it : " Pofita icrj- 
 tur arcula, colUgifle pecunjam quae daretur; confumpta auteni ea, rurllis 
 pofuifTc." 
 
 he
 
 ii8 REFLECTIONS 
 
 he will bear both, becaufe he is prepared for both ; becaufe he 
 is free from pride as n^uch as he is from avarice. 
 
 You are feparated from your family and your friends Take 
 the lift of them, and look it well over. How kw of your 
 family will you find who deferve the name of friends? and 
 how few among thefe who are really fuch ? Erafe the names 
 of fuch as ought not to ftand on the roll, and the voluminous 
 catalogue will foon dwindle into a narrow compafs. Regret, 
 if you pleafe, your feparation from this fmall remnant. Far 
 be it from me, vvhilft I declaim againft a fhameful and vi- 
 cious weaknefs of mind, to prolcribe the fentiments of a vir- 
 tuous friendfhip. Regret your feparation from your friends : 
 but regret it like a man who defcrves to be theirs. This is 
 ftrength, not weaknefs of mind ; it is virtue, not vice. 
 
 But the lead uneafinels under the lofs of the rank which 
 we held is ignominious. There is no valuable rank among 
 men, but that which real merit ailigns. The princes of the 
 earth may give names, and inftitute ceremonies, and exad; the 
 obfervation of them ; their imbecillity and their wickednefs 
 may prompt them to clothe fools and knaves with robes of 
 honor, and emblems of wifdom and virtue: but no man will 
 be in truth fuperior to another, without fuperior merit ; and 
 that rank can no more be taken from us, than the meiit which 
 eftablifhes it. The fupreme authority gives a fiditious and 
 arbitrary value to coin, which is therefore not current alike in 
 all times and in all places ; but the real value remains invari- 
 able, and the provident man, who gets rid as fafl as he can of 
 the drofTy piece, hoards up the good filvcr. Thus merit will 
 not procure the fame conlideration univerfally. But what then? 
 the title to this confideration is the fame, and will be found 
 alike in every circumftance by thofe who are wife and virtuous 
 
 2 them-
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 119 
 
 tliemfelvcs. If it is not owned bj' fiich as arc othcrwifc, no- 
 thin": is however taken from us ; we liave no reafon to com- 
 plain. They confidercd us for a rank which we had ; for our 
 denomination, not for our intrinfic value. We have that rank, 
 that denomination no longer, and they confider us no longer : 
 they admired in us what we admired not in ourfelves. If they 
 learn to neglecfl us, let us karn to pity them. Their nfiiduity 
 was importunate: let us not complain of the cafe whicli this 
 change procures us ; let us rather apprehend the return of that 
 rank and that power, which, like a funny day, would bring" 
 back thefe little infedir , and make them fwarm once more about 
 us. 1 know how apt we are, under fpecious pretences, to dif- 
 guife our weakneffes and our vices, and liow often we fucceed 
 not only in deceiving the world, but even in deceiving our- 
 felves. An inclination to do good is infeparable from a virtu- 
 ous mind, and therefore the man, who cannot bear v/ith pa- 
 tience the lofs of that rank and pov/er which he enjoyed, may 
 be willing to attribute his regrets to the impoffibiiity which 
 he fuppofes himfelf reduced to of fatisfying this inclination. 
 But let fuch an one know, that a wife man contents himftlf 
 with doing as much good as his fituation allows him to do y 
 that there is no lituation wherein we may not do a great deal; 
 and that when we are deprived of greater pov/er to do more 
 good, we efcape at the fame time the temptation of doing fome 
 evil. 
 
 The inconveniencies, which we have mentioned, carry no- 
 thing along w'uh them difficult to be borne by a wife and vir- 
 tuous man ; and thofe which remain to be mentioned, con- 
 tempt and ignominy, can never fall to his lot. It is impol- 
 iible that he who reverences himfelf fhould be defpifcd by 
 others: and how can ignominy affect the man who collcds all 
 
 * Sen. Dc con. ad ilel. 
 
 his
 
 120 REFLECTIONS 
 
 his flrength within himfelf, who appeals from the judgment of 
 the multitude to another tribunal, and lives independent of 
 mankind and of the accidents of life? Cato loft the eledlion 
 of praetor, and that of conful ; but is any one blind enough 
 to truth to imagine that thefe repulfes refledled any dilgrace on 
 him ? The dignity of thofe two magiftracies would have been 
 encreafed by his wearing them. They fuffered, not Cato. 
 
 You have fulfilled all the duties of a good citizen, you have 
 been true to your trufl, conftant in your engagements, and 
 have purfued the intcrefl; of your country without regard to 
 the enemies you created, and the dangers you run. You fe- 
 vered her interefl:, as much as lay in your power, from thofe 
 of her fadions, and from thofe of her neighbours and allies 
 too, when they became different. She reaps the benefit of 
 thcfe fervices, and you fuffer for them. You are banifhed, and 
 purfued with ignominy, and thofe whom you hindred from 
 triumphing at her expence, revenge themfelves at yours. The 
 perfons, in oppofition to whom you ferved, or even faved 
 the public, confpire and accomplifli your private ruin. Thefe 
 are your accufers, and the giddy ungrateful crowd your judges. 
 Your name is hung up in the tables of profcripticn, and art 
 joined to malice endeavours to make your befl: adions pafs for 
 crimes, and to ftain your characfler. For this purpofe the fa- 
 cred voice of the fenate is made to pronounce a lye, and thofe 
 records, which ought to be the eternal monuments of truth, 
 become the vouchers of impofture and calumny. Such circum- 
 ftances as thefe you think intolerable, and you would prefer 
 death tofo ignominious an exile. Deceive not yourfelf The 
 ignominy remains with them whoperfecute unjuftjy, not with 
 him who fuffcrs unjuft perfecution. " Recalcitrat undique 
 tutus." Suppofe that in the ad: which banifhes you, it was de- 
 clared that you have fome contagious diflemper, that you are 
 
 crcoked,
 
 UPONEXILE. 121 
 
 crooked, or otlierwife deformed. This would render the le- 
 giflators ridiciilous*. The other renders them infamous. But 
 neither one nor the other can affedl the man, who in an health- 
 ful well-proportioned body enjoys a confcience void of all the 
 offences afcribed to him. Inftead of fuch an exile, would 
 you compound, that you might live at home in eafe and plen- 
 ty, to be the inftrument of blending thefe contrary interefh 
 once more together, and of giving but the third place to that 
 of your country ? Would you proftitute her power to the am- 
 bition of others, under the pretence of fecuring her from ima- 
 ginary dangers, and drain her riches into the pockets of the 
 meaneft and vileft of her citizens, under the pretence of pay- 
 ing her debts ? If you could fubmit to fo infamous a compo- 
 sition, you are not the man to whom 1 addrefs my difcourfe, 
 or with whom I will have any commerce : and if you have 
 virtue enough to difdain it, why fhould you repine at the other 
 alternative? Banifhment from fuch a country, and with fuch 
 circumftances, is like being delivered from prifon. Diogenes 
 was driven out of the kingdom of Pontus for counterfeiting 
 the coin, and Stratonicus thought that forgery might be 
 committed in order to get baniflied from Scriphos. But you 
 have obtained your liberty by doing your duty. 
 
 Banishment, with all its train of evils, is fo far from being 
 the caufe of contempt, that he who bears up with an undaunt- 
 ed fpirit againft them, while fo many are dejedled by them, 
 ereds on his very misfortunes a trophy to his honor : for fuch 
 is the frame and temper of our minds, that nothing fcrikes us 
 with greater admiration than a man intrepid in the midft of 
 misfortunes. Of all ignominies an ignominious death muft 
 be allowed to be the greateft ; and yet where is the blafphe- 
 
 * The dialogue between Cicero and Pmiliscvs. Di:n. Cass. L. xxxviii. 
 
 Vol. I. R mer
 
 122 REFLECTIONS 
 
 mer who will prefume to defame the death of Socrates'? 
 This faint entered the prifon with the lame countenance with 
 which he reduced thirty tyrants, and he took off ignominy 
 from the place : for how could it be deemed a prifon when 
 Socrates was there ? Phocion was led to execution in the 
 fame city, all thofe who met the fad procefiion, caft their 
 eyes to the ground, and with throbbing hearts bewailed, not 
 the innocent man, but Juftice herfelf, who was in him con- 
 demned. Yet there was a wretch found, for monfters are 
 fometimes produced in contradidion to the ordinary rules of 
 nature, who fpitin his face as he paffed along Phocion wiped 
 his cheek, fmiled, turned to the magiftrate, and faid, " Ad- 
 " monifh this man not to be fo nafty for the future." 
 
 Ignominy then can take no hold on Virtue"; for Virtue is 
 in every condition the fame, and challenges the fame refpedl. 
 We applaud the world when flie profpers ; and when fhe 
 falls into adverlity we applaud her. Like the temples of the 
 Gods, flie is venerable even in her ruins. After this mufl: it 
 not appear a degree of madnefs to defer one moment acquiring, 
 the only arms capable of defending us againfl: attacks which 
 at every moment we are expofed to? Our being miferable, or 
 not miferable, when we fall into misfortunes, depends on 
 the manner in which we have enjoyed profperity. It we have 
 applied ourfeives betimes to the il:udy of wifdom, and to the 
 practice of virtue, thefe evils become indifferent ; but if we 
 have neglected to do fo, they become neceffary. In one cafe 
 they are evils, in the other they are remedies for greater evils 
 than themfelves Zeno ' rejoiced that a fhipwreck had thrown 
 him on the Athenian coafl : and he owed to the lofs of his 
 fortune the acquifition which he made of virtue, of wifdomj 
 
 • Sen. De con. ad HeL 'lb. ■ ' Dioo. Laert. 
 
 of
 
 UPON K X I L E. 12; 
 
 of immortality. There are good and bad niis for the mind, 
 as well as for tlie body. Profperity often irritates our chroni- 
 cal diftempers, and leaves no hopes of finding any fpccific but 
 in advcrfity. In fuch cafes banifhment is like change of air, 
 and the evils we fufier are like rough medicines applied to in- 
 veterate difeafes. What * Anace-iarsis faid of the vine, may 
 aptly enough be faid of profperity. She bears the three grapes 
 of drunkennefs, of pleafure, and of forrow : and happy it is 
 if the laft can cure the mifchief which the former work. When 
 afflidions fail to have their due efted:, the cafe is defperatc. 
 They are the laft remedy which indulgent Providence ufes : 
 and if they fail, we muft languifh and die in mifery and con- 
 tempt. Vain men ! how feldom do we know what to wifli or 
 to pray for ? When we pray againft misfortunes, and when 
 we fear them moff, we want them moft. It was for this rca- 
 fon that Pythagoras forbid his difciples to ask any thing in 
 particular of God. The fhortefl and the beft prayer which 
 we can addrefs to him, who knows our wants, and our io;no- 
 ranee in asking, is this : " Thy will be dene." 
 
 TuLLY fays, in fome part of his works, that as happinefs 
 istheobjed of all philofophy, fo the difputcs among philofo- 
 phers arife from their different notions of the fovereign good. 
 Reconcile them in that point, you reconcile them in the reft. 
 The fchool of Ze no placed this fovereign good in naked vir- 
 tue, and wound the principle up to an extreme beyond the 
 pitch of nature and truth. A fpirit of oppofition to another 
 do6lrine, which grew into great vogue while Zeno flouriihed, 
 might occafion this excefs. Epicurus placed the fovereign 
 good in pleafure. His terms were v/ilfuliy, or accidently mi- 
 llaken. His fcholars might help to pervert his dodrine, but 
 
 * Sen. 
 
 R 2 rivalfl 
 
 lip
 
 124 REFLECTIONS 
 
 rivalfliip enflamed the difpute ; fcr in truth there is not fo much 
 difference between ftoicifiTi reduced to reafonable intelligible 
 terms, and genuine orthodox epicurilm, as is imagined. The 
 felicis animi immota tranquillitas, and the voluptas of the lat~ 
 ter are near enough a-kin: and I much doubt whether the 
 firmeiT: hero of the Portique would have borne a fit of the 
 ftone, on the principles of Zrno, with greater magnanimity 
 and patience than Epicurus did, on thofe of his own philofo- 
 phy *. However, Aristoi.e took a middle way, or explained 
 himfelf better, and placed happinefs in the joint advantages of 
 the mind, of the body, and of fortune. They are rea- 
 fonably joined ; but certain it is, that they muft not be placed 
 on an equal foot. We can much better bear the privation of 
 the laft, than of the others; and poverty itfelf, which mankind 
 is fo afraid of, " per mare pauperiem fugiens, per faxa, per ig- 
 " nes," is furely preferable to madnefs, or the ftone, though 
 •f Chrysippus thought it better to live mad, than not to live I 
 If banifhment therefore, by taking from us the advantages of 
 fortune, cannot take from us the more valuable advantages of 
 the mind and the body, when we have them ; and if the fame 
 accident is able to reftore them to us, when we have loft them, 
 banifhment is a very flight misfortune to thofe who are already 
 under the dominion of reafon, and a very great blefling to 
 thofe who are ftill plunged in vices which ruin the health both 
 of body and mind. It is to be wifhed for, in favor of fuch as 
 thefe, and to be feared by none. If we are in this cafe, let 
 us fecond the defigns of Providence in our favor, and make 
 fome amends for neglecting former opportunities by not letting 
 
 * Compare the reprefentations made fo frequently of the doftrineof volupty 
 taught by Epicurus, with the account which he himfelf gives in his letter to Me- 
 NOECEus, of the fenfe wherein he underftood this word. Vid. Djog. Laer, 
 
 f In his third book of Nature, cited by Plutarch, in the treatife on the con- 
 tradiftions of the Stoics. 
 
 flio
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 125 
 
 ilip the lafl;. *' Si nolis flmus, ciirres hydropiciis." We may 
 lliortcn the evils which we might have prevented, and as we get 
 the better of our diforderly panions, and vicious habits, we 
 fjhali ieel our anxiety diminilli in proportion All the approaches 
 to virtue are comfortable. With how much joy will the 
 man, who improves his misfortunes in this manner, difcover 
 that thofe evils, which he attributed to his exile, fprung froin 
 his vanit)' and lolly, and vanidi with them I He will fee that, 
 in his former temper of mind, he refembled the effeminate 
 prince who could drink no * water but that of the river Cho- 
 afpes; or thefimple queen, in one of the tragedies of Euripi- 
 des, who complained bitterly, that flie had not lighted the 
 nuptial torch, and that the river Ifmenus had not furniflied 
 the water at her fon's weddino;. Seeins; his former ftate in this 
 ridiculous light, he vvi 1 labor on with pleafure towards ano- 
 ther as contrary as poffible to it ; and when he arrives there, 
 he will be convinced by the ftrongeft of all proofs, his own 
 experience, that he was unfortunate becaufe he was. vicious, 
 not becaufe he was banifhed. 
 
 If I was not afraid of being thought to refine too much, 
 1 would venture to put fome advantages of fortune, which are 
 due to exile, into the fcale againfl: thofe which we lofe by 
 exile. One there is which has been negledled even by great and 
 wife men. Dbmetrius Phalereus, after his expulfion from 
 Athens, became firft minifter to the king of Egypt; and The- 
 MisTocLES found fuch a reception at the court of Perfia, that 
 he ufed to fay his fortune had been loft if he had not been 
 ruined. But Demetrius expofed himfelf, by his favor under 
 the fiv{\. Ptolemy, to a new difgrace under the fecond : and 
 Themistocles, who had been the captain of a free people, 
 became the vaffal of the prince he had conquered. How 
 
 * Plut. On banifliment. 
 
 much
 
 126 REFLECTIONS 
 
 much better is it to take hold of the proper advantage of exile, 
 
 and to live for ourfelves, when we are under no obligation of 
 
 living for others ? Similis, a captain of great reputation under 
 
 Trajan and Adrian, having obtained leave to retire, paffed 
 
 feven years in his retreat, and then dying, ordered this in- 
 
 fcription to be put on his tomb: that he had been many years 
 
 on earth, but that he had lived only feven *. If you are wife, 
 
 ■your leifure will be worthily employed, and your retreat will 
 
 add new luflre to your charader. Imitate Thucydides in 
 
 Thracia, or Xenophon in his little farm at Scillus. In fuch a 
 
 xetreat you may fit down, like one of the inhabitants of Elis, 
 
 who judged of the Olympic games, without taking any part 
 
 -in them. Far from the hurry of the world, and almoft an 
 
 unconcerned fpeftator of what pafTes in it, having paid in a 
 
 public life what you owed to the prefent age, pay in a private 
 
 life what you ovt-e to pofterity. Write as you live, without 
 
 pafTion ; and build your reputation, as you build your hap- 
 
 pinefs, on the foundations of truth. If you want the talent-, 
 
 the inclination, or the necefiary materials for fuch a work, fall 
 
 not however into floth. Endeavour to copy after the example 
 
 of SciPio at Linternum. Be able to fay to yourfelf, 
 
 " Innocuas amo delicias doftamque quietem.** 
 
 "Rural amufements, and philofophical meditations, will make 
 •your hours glide fmoothly on ; and if the indulgence of Hea- 
 ven has given you a friend like Laelius, nothing is wanting 
 lo make you completely happy. 
 
 These are fome of thofe reflexions which may ferve to Ter- 
 rify the mind under banifhment, and under the other misfor- 
 :tunes of life, which it is every man's intereft to prepare for, 
 
 * XiPHIL, 
 
 becaufe
 
 U P O N E X I L E. 127 
 
 Becaufe they are common to all men * : I lay they are com- 
 mon to all men ; becaufe even they vvhoefcape them are equally 
 expofed to them. The darts of adverfe fortune are always le- 
 velled at our heads. Some reach us, feme graze agamft us, 
 and fly to wound our neighbours. Let us therefore impofe an 
 equal temper on our minds, and pay without murmuring the 
 tribute which we owe to humanity. The winter brings cold, 
 and we muft freeze. The fummer returns with heat, and we 
 mufl; melt. The inclemency of the air diforders our health, and 
 we muft be flck. Here we are expofed to wild beafts, and there to 
 men more favage than the beafts : and ii- we efcape the incon- 
 venicncies and dangers of the air and the earth, there aie perils 
 by water and perils by tire. This eftablifhed courfe of things it is 
 not in our power to change ; but it is in our power to affume fucli 
 a greatnefs of mind as becomes wife and virtuous men; as may 
 enable us to encounter the accidents of life with fortitude, and 
 to conform ourfelves to the order of nature, who governs lier 
 great kingdom, the wor'd, by continual mutations. Let us fub- 
 mit to this order, let us be perfuaded that whatever does happen 
 ought to happen, and never be fo foolifh as to expoftulate with 
 nature. The beft refolution we can take is to fuft'er what v/e 
 cannot alter, and to purfue, without repining, the road which 
 Providence, who diredls every thing, has marked out to us : 
 for it is not enough to follow ; and he is but a bad foldier who 
 lighs, and marches on with reludiancy. We muH: receive the 
 orders with fpirit and chearfulnels, and not endeavour to flink 
 out of the poft which is afiigned us in this beautiful difpoiition 
 of things, whereof even our fufferings make a neceftary part. 
 Lefc us add refs ourfelves to God, who governs all, as Clean- 
 THEs did in ihofe admirable verfes, which are going to lofe 
 part ot their grace and energy in my tranflation of them. 
 
 • Sen. F.p. 1O7. 
 
 Parent
 
 123 R E F L E C T I O N S, &c. 
 
 Parent of nature ! Mader of the World ! 
 Where'er thy Providence direds, behold 
 My fteps with chearful refignation turn. 
 Fate leads the willing, drags the backward on. 
 Why fhould I grieve, when grieving I raufl: bear ? 
 Or take with guilt, what guiltlefs I might {hare ? 
 
 Thus let us fpeak, and thus let us ad, Refignation to the 
 will of God is true magnanimity. But the fure mark of a 
 pufillanimous and bafe fpirit, is to ftruggle againft, to cenfure 
 the order of Providence, and, inftead of mending our own 
 conduct, to fet up for correding that of our Maker. 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 OCCASIONAL WRITER. 
 
 Fidens animi atquc in iitrumque paratiis* 
 
 Vgu I. $ THE
 
 THE 
 
 • 
 
 OCCASIONAL WRITER. 
 
 NUMBER I. 
 
 Infcribed to the Person, to whom alone it can belong. 
 
 Moft Noble S i r, 
 
 AM one, whofe ambition it hath been, ever fince I came 
 into the world to dlftinguifh myfelf as a writer; in which, 
 I fairly confefs, I had not only the view of raifing my re- 
 putation, but that of eftablifhing my fortune. A profped:, 
 which feemed very reafonable in a time of general peace and 
 univerfal affluence ; in an age (o particularly polite, that it is 
 even the fafhion to appear knowing in all the elegant arts and 
 fciences; and that to whatever branch of them a genius fhall 
 think fit to turn himfelf, he is fure it will be to one that is in 
 vogue. 
 
 The firft efTays of my pen made a good deal of noife in 
 the world : they filled foreign journals, and were tranflated 
 into feveral languages. The Sorbonne, and both our mother 
 Univerfities, returned me thanks for having reconciled feveral 
 
 S 2 difputes,
 
 132 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° L- 
 
 difputes, and folved feveral difficulties in chronology and hi- 
 flory, which had perplexed the learned world, from tlie impar- 
 tial EusEBius, down to the circumftantial Prideaux ; my phi- 
 lofophical Poems were received with the greateft applaufe;, 
 and it is well known, that if the gay. part of the world read 
 my Anti-Lucretius for amiifement, the gravefl: divines have 
 not difdained to borrow arguments from it in their difputes- 
 with the materialifts. 
 
 Animated by fuch fuccefs, in one part of my aim, I pro- 
 ceeded with indefatigable labor, till continual difappointments, 
 in the other, rendered me at length more indifferent, to that 
 imaginary good, applaufe, and lefs patient of that real' evil,, 
 want. 1 began then to compare my condition with that of. 
 feveral great authors both antient and modem; and finding, 
 upon the comparifon that they had not been better treated, 
 than myfelf, 1 was focn led by my refledions to difcover the 
 true reafon of our ill fortune in the world; I- was foon con- 
 vinced that they and I had been on a wrong purfuit; that" 
 minifters of ftate pay no refpedl to the brighteft talents, when 
 they are m.ifipplyed, and efteem all talents to be fb, which 
 are not wholly employed about the prefent time, and princi- 
 pally dedicated to the fervice of ti.eir adminiftration; neither- 
 can I fay this proceeding is unjuft, how much foever I fufier 
 by it. 
 
 If we write for poflerity, we mufi not complain that the 
 care of rewarding our merit is left to pofterity; and if we 
 negledl to ferve the ftate, thofe, who are appointed to pre- 
 lide over it, br-eak no rule of equity w-hen they negledl us. 
 Spencer has been amply recompenced by poflerity for his Fairy 
 Queen; but the wife treafurer Burleigh declined the pay- 
 ment of an hundred pounds, which" Queen Elizabeth or- 
 dered
 
 N^ I. THE OCCASIONTAL WRITER. 133 
 
 dered him, and left this admirable poet to ftarvc. Had Spencer 
 applyed himfe]f to more fcrious ftudics, had he excelled in 
 phylics, in metaphyflcs, or even in the firft philofophy, or in 
 theology, inftcad of excelHng in wit and poetry, the " amabilcs 
 iiifaniae" of Horace, his ufage would have been the fame no 
 doubt. Even the greattfi: productions of thefe ftudies are but 
 trifles in the account of a confummate flatcfman, and may 
 properly enough be diflinguifhed from the others in his {cn{vy 
 by the title of " infaniae feveriores*" 
 
 Our Englifh miniflers, to their honor be it fpoken, have at^- 
 all times proceeded upon this admirable principle; the moft 
 excellent fermons, the moft elaborate treatifes, have not been 
 fufTicient to procure the advancement of feme divines, whilft- 
 a forry pamphlet or a fpiritual libel has raifed others to the high- 
 efi: dignities of the church. As it has fared with mere divinity, . 
 fo has it fared with mere eloquence: as one never caufed the 
 divine, lb the other never caufed the lawyer to be diflinguiflied. 
 But we know that if either of them be employed in a court- 
 caufe, , he never fails of making his fortune. The fame fate- 
 has attended writers of another kind ; the celebrated Tatlers, 
 and Spedlators, had no reward except from bookicllers andi 
 fame.. BuJ: when thofe authors made the difcovery I have 
 made, and applyed their talents better, in writing the Englifh- 
 man and the Freeholder, one was foon created a knight, and 
 the other became fecretary of ftate. In fhort, without cnu-- 
 merating any more inflances, , 1 may c-.nfidcntly affirm, that'- 
 this has been the cafe from the days of Burleigh to th's time; . 
 how much fooner it began to be lb, I hope, iir, you will noti' 
 give me the leifure to enquire, . 
 
 From the moment I re fo! ved to become a flate-writer, I' 
 mentally devoted mylelf to your fervice : and I do it now in
 
 134- THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° I. 
 this public and mod folemn manner. Employ me, iir, as you 
 pleafe ; I abandon myfelf intirely to you; my pen is at your 
 difpofition, and my confcience in your keeping. Eike a law- 
 yer, I am ready to fupport the caufe, in which, give me leave 
 to fuppofe that, I fhall be foon retained, with ardor ; and, if 
 occaiion be, with fubtilty and acrimony. Like a Swifs, I will 
 behave myfelf with equal boldnefs and fidelity; my pen is my 
 fortune, and I think it ' as honorable to offer it, as offer my 
 fword, without enquiring in a general battle, or in private fkir- 
 mi flies, at what relation or friend I ffrike. I cancel at once 
 all former obligations and friendfhip, and will moft implicitly 
 follow your inftrudions in panegyric on yourfelf and friends, 
 in fatyr on your adverfaries, in writing for or againfl: any fub- 
 jed; nay, in writing for or againfl the fame fubjed:, jufl: as 
 your intereft, or even your paflions, may render it expedient. 
 
 I AM not ignorant that when Carneades offered to argue 
 
 for viriue, and then againfl: it, Cato propofed to drive that 
 
 great philofopher and orator out of Rome. But Cato was a 
 
 man of narrov/ principles and of too confined an underftand- 
 
 ino-. He confldered virtue abftradedly, without any regard to 
 
 time, to place, and to that vaft variety of conjundures, 
 
 which happens in the courfe of human affairs. In common 
 
 life, morality is no doubt neceffary, and therefore Legiflators 
 
 have been careful to enforce the pradice of it ; but whenever 
 
 morality clafhes with the intereft of the ftate, it muft be, and 
 
 it always has been, laid afide. Thefe are my opinions : and it 
 
 is a great comfort to my confcience to And them confirmed by 
 
 the pradice of Ibme reverend perfons, whofe examples ought 
 
 to be of greater weight with me, than that of a wretched pa- 
 
 cran. I fliail therefore ihew my felf neither fqueamifli nor 
 
 ■whimfical in purfuing the enterprize to which I ofler my fer- 
 
 .vices^ but fliall remain firmly perfuaded, that all the moral 
 
 vices.
 
 NO I. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 135 
 
 vices, I may be occafionally guilty of in fo good a couric, 
 will be exalted into political virtues. 
 
 After this plain and honeft account, which I have given of 
 myfelf, it may be allowed me to lay, that you cannot find a 
 perfon better qualifyed for your ferviee, or more worthy to be 
 lifted, among thofe who draw their pens in your caufe, and of 
 whom I am willing to hope that you have a greater and an abler 
 body in referve, than you have hitherto judged proper to bring 
 into the field. 
 
 It is evident, that a minifter, in ev^ery circumftance of life, 
 ftands in as much need of us pubhc v^riters as we of him. In 
 his profperity he can no more fubfift without daily praife, than 
 we without daily bread, and the farther he extends his views the- 
 more neceffary are we to his fupport. Let him fpeak as con- 
 temptuoufly of us as he pleafes, for that is frequently the 
 manner of thofe who employ us moft, and pay us beft ; yet: 
 will it fare with his ambition as with a lofty tree, which can- 
 not fhoot it's branches into the clouds, unlefs it's root work 
 into the dirt, from which it rofe,. on which, it ftands, and bv 
 which it is nourifhed.. 
 
 If a minifter falls into adverfity, fhall he take up the pen 
 in his own defence ? would not the cafe be as deplorable for 
 him to be left to write, as for a prince to be left to fight in his- 
 own quarrel? Believe me, fir, whenever fortune abandons you,, 
 and who knows how foon that may happen, you will find. 
 yourfelf in a very forlorn ftate. At the name of your fuccef- 
 for, thofe crowds, that attend your levee, will vanifn like fpi- 
 rits at the dawn of day. None will remain about you, but 
 fuch as no other adminiftration will condefcend to employ : 
 and we may therefore very probably behold you, which would 
 
 be. 
 3
 
 ^36 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N^ I 
 
 be a pitiful fight indeed, endeavouriRg ta feeure a fafe retreat 
 ,with H***** on one fide of you, and L****** on the other, 
 •tv/o grotefque perfonages, exactly paired and nearly allyed, 
 but furely as little fit to fupport a minifler in his decline, as to 
 adorn his triumph. In fiich a turn as this, you may depend 
 on my utmofl; efforts to keep up a fpirit for you : and I can 
 make no doubt of being feconded by feveral of my fellow* 
 writers, fince I am certain you will not fcruple to fliare fome 
 part of that fortune, which your indufiry and parfimony have 
 raifed, with thofe who unite to fave the whole ; and fince we 
 Ihall be reafonable enough not to exped: above fixpence in the 
 pound out of it, which cannot well amount to more than fif- 
 teen or twenty thoufand pounds. A trifling fum for fo great 
 a fervice and fo weighty a purfe I 
 
 You may perhaps, after all I have faid, be ftill apt to think 
 •that thefe are wild difeourfes, which have no other foundation 
 but my defire to render myfelf necefi'ary. You may refine too 
 much in your refledions on my condud, and too little in thofe 
 you make on your prefent fituation ; or if you judge rightly of 
 this, it is not impofilble but you may depend too much on your 
 own vigilance and dexterity. Should any of thofe flatterers, who 
 joften betray their patrons into a fatal fecurity, fpeak to you 
 much in the fame manner, as fleep addrefTes him&lf to Pali- 
 Burus in the fifth book of the Aeneis. 
 
 — — Pahnure, ferunt ipfa aequora claflem, 
 Aequatae fpirant aurae, datur hora quietij 
 Pone caput, fefibfque oculos furare labori. 
 
 You would anfwer, I am perfuaded, as this Pilot did- 
 
 Mene falis placidi vultum, fludlufque quietos 
 Ignorare jubes? mene huic confidere monftro? But
 
 N^ I. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 137 
 
 But Palinurus flept, and you know the confcqucnce. 
 
 Be not therefore difpleafed if a iincere and zealous fcrvant 
 roufes you, admonifhes you not to trufl: too much to appear- 
 ances, and fhevvs you danger when perhaps you leaft expedt it. 
 You have failed long in a fmooth fea with gentle and favor- 
 able gales. We believe your courage and your abilities extreme- 
 ly great, but we believe it implicitly; for you have net had 
 foul weather enough to give any conliderable proofs of citizen 
 Thefe circumftances, which might be abufed to infpire fecuri- 
 ty, I urge as reafons why you fliould be alarmed ; for the ele- 
 ment you have to deal with is by the laws of nature incon- 
 ftant : and therefore the longer you have been without a florni 
 the more reafon you have to expert one. There is no furer 
 prefage of an hurricane than jufl fuch a dead calm as I have 
 obferved for fome time. 
 
 To fpeak without a figure : I would not have you flatter 
 yourfelf, that the undiflurbed quiet you have fo long enjoyed is 
 merely owing to your own integrity and political merit, or to the 
 uncommon profecution of hawkers and pamphleteers, which 
 has been carried on by the diredion of one of your principal 
 inftruments, and indeed a mofl: vigorous ftatefman. Ihis quiet, 
 iir, is owing to deep and inveterate deiigns, v/hich it becomes 
 me to lay before you, without any regard to the cenfurc I may 
 incur, of revealing private converfation, and of breach of trufl:. 
 Know then, that from the time you came into a fulncfs of power, 
 many were fhocked at the manner in which you feizcd it, 
 and at the ufe you m.ade of it. They faid that both were 
 hurtful, indecent, and even fhamelefs. They went flill far- 
 ther, and affirmed, that your condud was fcolifh with regard 
 to your own intereil:, fince it was fcolilL for a man to truft to 
 
 Vol. I. T _ one
 
 138 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° I. 
 
 one fingle expedient of government, who had feveral in his 
 power ; and efpecially to luch an expedient as that of money,, 
 which would equally ferve to fupport him or to hang him. 
 Thefe perfons however, notwithftanding their difcontent, re- 
 folved to lie quiet, till your mal-adminil^ration fhould be- 
 come fo glaring as to juftify their oppofition, even in his ma- 
 jefty's fight: they faid they would not follow your example; 
 and upon that occafion they remembered with fome fharpnefs 
 how you did your utmoft to diftrefs the king's affairs, upon 
 the firfl: difgufl: you received ; nay they were malicious enougli 
 to call to mind fome perfonal refl'edlions *,. which the heat of 
 your imagination, and your familiarity with majefty, betrayed 
 you into, and for which they faucily wifhed what I dare not 
 name. Thefe fedittous fpirits flattered themfelves that you 
 would do your own bufinefs when you had the full fwing of 
 your pov/er. They were acquainted, they faid, with the pre- 
 fumption and diftruft, with the boldnefs and pufillanimity,. 
 with the indifcretion and cunning, and with fifty other con- 
 tradidlions, which made up your charadter : and upon thefe 
 they depended for putting a fpeedy end to your adminif^ration. 
 This end they imagine to be now at hand ; for thus they rea- 
 fon. A minifter, who is attacked on his management of the 
 public revenue, and has all the advantages of money and 
 authority on his fide, may efcape tho he is guilty ; but if he 
 is innocent, the proceedings againfl: him in fuch a cafe mufi: 
 necefl'arily confirm his power, and eftablifh his reputation : no- 
 thing more delirable than fuch an attack can happen to him. 
 But our prefent minifter, fay thefe malignants, diredly ftops 
 all enquiry : in public he evades giving fuch accounts as the 
 reprefentatives of the people have a right to demand ; in pri- 
 
 * See a pamphlet called An Anfwer to an infamous Libel, intitled. Sedition 
 and Deflimation difplayed. Princed for R. Francklin. 
 
 vate
 
 N°. I. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 139 
 
 vate he is modeft and difcreet enough to laugh at thofe who 
 think him fuch a fool as to fumiih proofs againft himfelh Can 
 a minifter keep his ground long, who has no other defence 
 than an implied confeilion of his guilt ? will fuch a behaviour 
 be endured in a nation hitherto free, and where there remain 
 at leaft fome fparks of honor and of love of the country ? 
 
 These and many other refledlions, which for brevity fake I 
 omit, upon your particular condu6l, and upon our domeftic 
 affairs, are frequently thrown out. But, fir, I confefs to you, 
 that I tremble when I hear the fame perfons difcourfe concern- 
 ing the ftate of the nation with regard to her foreign interefls. 
 They affirm and they offer to demonftrate, that the affairs of 
 Europe never were in greater confuiion, and that the part we 
 take upon ourfelves is fuch an one, as no nation ever a£led 
 which was not betrayed, or whcfe miniftcrs were not infatuat- 
 ed. That you are fo, they fay, is paft difpule, whether you 
 have conducted thefe affiirs yourfelf, or have left them to thoie 
 men of eminent talents, who are concerned in this part of 
 your adminiftration : they infi.fl: that nothing could ha\e hap- 
 pened to us, if you had intirely neglected our foreign interefts, 
 worfe than what you have brought upon us, by running into 
 the other extreme. For they afk, what is the fruit ol: your 
 continual negotiations, fupported by a vafi: expence, and car- 
 ried on as bufily as if the welfare of Great Britain had been 
 at ftake in every difpute which has happened on the conti- 
 nent? They anfwer for you, and they defy you to contradicl 
 them, that we have made the quarrels of other people our 
 own ; and that we find ourfelves engaged as principals, in fome 
 cafes wlicre wc have but a very remote concern, and in others 
 where we have no concern at all. That our commerce fuf- 
 fers and runs the rifque of being lou, not for a time, but for 
 ever, in feveral branches, much more beneficial to us than the 
 
 T 2 Oflcnd
 
 I40 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° I- 
 Oftend trade ; and that our right to keep thofe important pof- 
 feflions, which were yielded to us in the moftfolemn and authen- 
 tic manner, is come, by dint of negotiation, from being indifpu- 
 table, to be called in queftion. In a word, that to reflore the 
 public tranquility, and to fettle our own interefts, we muft en- 
 gage in a new war and conclude a new peace : that you have 
 contrived to make it impoffible for us to do one, without light- 
 ing againft the very principle for which we have fought ever 
 fmce the revolution, or to attempt the other without lying 
 under the particular circumftance, that our principal allies will 
 be as much in earned as our enemies to wreft out of our hands 
 the chief advantages which we obtained by the treaty of Utrecht. 
 At the time when thefe treaties were made, continue they, 
 your great minifter cried aloud and fpared not. He com- 
 plained, as much as any man, that the exorbitant power of 
 France was not fufficiently reduced ; and that the barriers of 
 our allies, on the Rhine and in the Netherlands, were left too 
 weak: and is it under his adminiftraticn that we are to fee a 
 pretence given to the French, and an opportunity thrown into 
 their hands, of ftrengthening their power, and of extending 
 their barriers ? When I tell thefe objedors that your brother 
 anfwers for the court of France, they laugh in my face, and 
 reply, " Well he may, and fo might any of thofe, who were in 
 the French intereft, have done at the time when the triple alli- 
 ance was broken, and France was encouraged by England to 
 fall upon the Dutch " The minifters, who are anfwered for, 
 would be as weak as he, who anfwers for them, if they did 
 not fee the advantage in the prefent jun6ture, and did not 
 take a fecret malicious pleafure in making us, who contributed 
 fo much to reduce their power, become the inftruments of rai- 
 fing it again. In the cafe of a war then, we have, according 
 to this reafoning, which really, fir, has an air of truth, no- 
 thing fo much to fear as the affiftance of our chief ally j and 
 
 in
 
 N° I. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 141 
 
 in the ca e of a treaty, not only France, but Holland like- 
 wife, muft be againft us in that important article of Gibraltar 
 and Port-Mahon, and in all particular advantages of commerce, 
 which we have enjoyed, and may find it reafonable to pretend 
 to. The late duke ol Orleans, as dear a friend as he was to 
 us, infifted ftrenuoufly, that we fliould give up the places be- 
 fore-mentioned ;. pretended a promife to this cffedl, and him- 
 felf obliged in honor to fee this promifc kept. Every one, 
 who knows any thing of the tranfadlions of thofe times, knows 
 with how envious an eye the Dutch beheld the feparate pri- 
 vileges in trade, and the fole pofTeilion'^of Gibraltar, and of 
 the ifland of Minorca, which we obtained at the laft peacej 
 and what lengths they would have gone to facilitate the nego- 
 tiations, which at that time they oppofed, if they might have 
 been admitted to a fhare in thefe advantages. 
 
 The danger of an immediate invafion, and the engagements 
 entered into by the emperor and the king of Spain to infult 
 us with their fleets, and to conquer Great Britain and Ireland 
 for the pretender, have been very induftriou/ly propagated by 
 thofe, who are already in your pay, and by me, who fland a 
 candidate for this honor, but am hitherto a voluntier in your 
 fervice. 1 am forry to tell you, fir, but Heaven forbid that I. 
 fhould conceal fo material a circumftance from. your knowledge, 
 we do not fucceed. We raifc a fpirit, but this fpirit turns 
 againfi you. There are more people than ever againft the pre- 
 tender ; and zeal forlupporting the prefent cfiablifhment never 
 ran higher. But this zeal is njt any longer without know- 
 ledge : it is diredled to it's proper objed", and there is no pof- 
 fibiiity of leading it hoodwinked to ferve any other purpofes. 
 Some incredulous wretches there are, who fmile when we talk 
 to them of invafions and the pretender, and who content them- 
 felvcs to reply, that the machine is very f.afonably introduced, 
 
 and
 
 142 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° I. 
 
 and according to the rules of art. The greater number take 
 fire, and lay this new diftrefs, which we threaten them with, 
 at your door ; for, they fay, that we difobliged Spain forne 
 years ago, to tie the emperor the more firmly to us, and that 
 we have fince that time difobliged the emperor, by affefting 
 a clofer correfpondence, and greater union of councils with 
 France than ever was known between the two nations. They 
 fend us to that excellent treatife, "The barrier treaty vindicated," 
 to learn our true and lafting interefl in foreign alliances, and 
 there they pretend that we fliall find the condemnation of all 
 your meafures : they lament the miferable fcene, which they 
 apprehend may foon be opened, his majefty's foreign domi- 
 nions expofedto all the calamities of war, and perhaps in danger 
 of being lofi: ; we ourfelves ftruggling againft domeftic enemies, 
 and defending our coafts againft invalions : thefe mifchiefs 
 brought upon us by a conjundlion of the emperor, our old 
 ally, with the king of Spain his rival; a conjundion fo unna- 
 tural, that nothing but the higheft refentment at our behavior 
 to them both could have brought it about : in fhort, to finifh 
 up the pidurc. Great Britain reduced in this diftrefs to lean 
 folely upon France, and the faith of that court to become 
 our chief fecurity. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, your enemies, lir, the fubdancc 
 of whofe private converfation I have now honeftly reported to 
 you, conclude very infolently that you have filled up the mea- 
 fure of your iniquity and your lolly, and that you muft fink, 
 or the nation niuft fink under the weight oi that calamity 
 which you have brought and fufftred to be brought upon her. 
 
 As Ihocking as this account muft be to your ear?, I promife 
 myfelf that the iinccriry and plainnefs with which I have 
 given it, will be agreeable to you ; and thit you will receive 
 
 5 into
 
 N^I. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 143 
 
 into your bofom a man whofe affedlion for your perfon and 
 zeal for your fervice, muft be above all fufpicion, after giving 
 you intelligence of fo high a nature, without any ftipulation 
 for the difcovery. 
 
 I EXPECT to hear from you in eight days from the date here- 
 of; if I do not, you fhall hear again from him, who is, 
 
 Moft noble Sir, 
 
 Your honor's 
 
 moft devoted fervant. 
 
 From my Garret, 
 Jan. 1726-7. 
 
 The Occasional Writer, 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 OCCASIONAL WRITER. 
 
 NUMBER II. 
 
 To tlie fame. 
 
 Moft Noble S i r, 
 
 I Think myfelf obliged in honor to let the world know, 
 that you have treated all my propofals to write in your 
 fervice with a contempt unufual from one in yourftation ; 
 for I have feen the times when every little paukry proftitute 
 of his pen found countenance and encouragement. Thefe 
 wretches are fure of both, whenever there are any bad mea- 
 fures to be juftified, or any bold ftrokes to be given; and the 
 croaking of thefe ravens has always, in my imagination, boded 
 fome mifchief or other to the commonwealth. 
 
 For this reafon, I took upon me the charader of a moft 
 infamous libeller, in my firft addrefs to you, that I might be 
 able to make a furer judgmxnt of our prefent condition, and 
 know better what expectations to entertain ; fo thai I own I 
 am moft agreeably difappointed in not receiving any letter or 
 
 meftage
 
 N'^II. THE OCCASIONAL V/RITER. 145 
 
 meflage from you. I own, that inflcad of biting you, I am 
 fairly bit myfelf. 
 
 Some malicious refiners may pretend, perhaps, that an ad- 
 drefs of fuch a nature, made in fo public a manner, could 
 weet with no other treatment, even from a minifler who was 
 u*illing to accept the propoial. MaHce, I Aiy, may refine 
 thus, and endeavor to depreciate a virtuous adion, which 
 cannot be denied, by fuppofmg fucli motives to it as cannot 
 be proved. The pradice is too common, and efpecially where 
 men are divided into parties, where public difputcs create and 
 nourifh private animofities, and where perpetual feuds irritate 
 the natural malignity of the heart. But far be it from me to 
 judge with fo little charity ; I am willing to believe, fir, that 
 you declined the offers made you, not on account of the pub- 
 lic addrefs, by which they were conveyed, but becaufe you 
 difdained to fupport a virtuous adminiftration by a venal pen. 
 
 When I meet a man with loaded piftols in his pocket, or a 
 dagger under his cloak, I fufpedl that he is going upon no very 
 honorable defigns. Houfebreakers and coiners have been de- 
 tected, by having their tools found about them. Informers, 
 fpies, and hireling fcribblers are the tools of an evil fiatefman; 
 and when I fee all fuch difcouraged, and none of them about 
 a minifter, I think myfelf obliged to fuppofe that his defigns 
 are honorable, and his meafures direded to the public good. 
 
 I TAKE this opportunity therefore of begging your pardon for 
 the trial I prefumed to make. The liberty indeed was great ; 
 but fince it has turned fo vaflly to your honor, 1 hope to be 
 the more eafily forgiven. Shall I own it, fir? my h3pes go 
 ftill farther ; you difdained me under the feigned charader 
 which I affumed ; from the fame principle of honor, from the 
 
 Vol. I. U fame
 
 146 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER, N° IL 
 
 fame confcioufnefs of merit, you will, nay, you muft afford 
 me fome fhare of your efteem, when I appear, as I intend 
 to do for the future, under my own. Thefe papers fhall 
 breathe nothing but zeal to promote the honor of his majefty, 
 the fecurity of our prefent happy eftablifliment, and in one 
 word, the good of our country. The fame fpirit, which ani- 
 mates you and me, fhall animate them : and I cannot doubt 
 of your approbation, when I co-operate with you to thefe pur- 
 pofes, which were certainly the fole inducements you had to 
 enter into bufinefs ; as it is manifeft that you continue at ths 
 head of affairs for no other reafons. 
 
 The truth is, however, (for I think it becoming a friend- 
 Ihip, which is likely to grow as intimate as ours, that I fhould 
 difguife nothing from you) two things have lately happened, 
 which gave fome little fhock ta my good opinion of you. Tlie 
 iirft is an unwillingnefs you manifefled, that the true ftate of the 
 national debts fliould be known by the nation ; and the fevers 
 cenfure you pafTed on fuch perfons, as were delirous to give 
 their countrymen a fair account of their condition in a part fo 
 effential, that our being a nation, or not a nation, depends 
 almoft: entirely, in this crifis, on our running or not running 
 farther into debt. The other is the publication of a pamphlet 
 fuppofcd to be written by your direction, which is evidently 
 defigned to keep us no lefs in the dark as to all our afi'airs 
 abroad. 
 
 As to the iirfl:, that matter has been taken up already; and 
 will, I doubt not, in all places, and in all manners, be (o 
 thoroughly fifted, that we fhall no longer be at a lofs, either 
 as to the revenue, and the real charges upon it, or as to the 
 whole management of it. In which examination, fir, let me 
 advifc you, as a friend, to adt an ingenuous part, that fufpi- 
 
 cions
 
 N°II. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 147 
 
 cions may not increafe, and that I may not be obliged to write 
 to you in a ftilc, to which I fhall turn my pen with rcluc- 
 tancy. 
 
 As to the latter, I hope, it will be likewife examined ; and 
 if I was able to take fuch a task on myfelf, I /Lou Id, I am 
 perfuaded, in doing fo, but make a fecond trial of you to your 
 glory, and knit the bands of our friend fliip the clofer, by an- 
 fwering a pamphlet of fo pernicious confequence, and writ 
 with fo ill a defign. But I know my own unfitnefs to inform, 
 to inftrudl, and to roufe our countrymen, fome from their 
 lethargy, and fome from their golden dreams. I may toll the 
 alarm-bell, but perfons of greater ftrength and skill mufl be 
 called upon to raife it, and to ring it out in the ears of the 
 natioji. 
 
 We are grown more eafy, nay, more willing than ever, to 
 be impofed upon j and we do more than half the work of thofe 
 who find their account in deluding us. Almoft every man 
 confiders himfelf as a fingle perfon ; thofe few, who extend 
 their confiderations farther, feldom or never carry them be- 
 yond the narrow fyftem of a family, or a party. And thus it 
 happens, that private intereft is become the criterion, by 
 which judgments are formed upon public aftairs. T he man, 
 whoever he be, who is at any time in fafLion, has nothing to 
 do but to hold out that purfe, which the more he empties it, 
 the furer he is to fill. After which let him declaim imperioufly, 
 and aflert boldly, without regarding proof, or condefcend- 
 ing to argue ; let one of his tools write a pamphlet in much 
 the fame ftrain, and the work is done, the opinion of man- 
 kind is fettled, the crowd repeats what the orator has faid, and 
 the author writ ; the clamor is echoed back on *'all fides, and 
 t'hefe echoes, the revcrfe of all others, ftrcngthen by rcpcti- 
 
 U 2 tion.
 
 148 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° II 
 
 tion. Thus the corrupt lead the blind, and the blind lead one 
 another; the ftill voice of reafon is drowned in popular cla- 
 mor, and truth is overwhelmed by prejudice. 
 
 This is a true account of what happens frequently; it is 
 fo far from being a defcription drawn from imagination, that 
 I could give feveral inftances, and perhaps fhall have occafion 
 to quote fome, of fuch grofs impofitions on the common fenfe 
 of mankind, offered in this manner, and offered with fuc- 
 cefs, as no one would be bold enough to attempt putting on 
 the weakeft man in Britain in private converfation. 
 
 There are therefore, God knows, but too many reafons 
 for him to delpond, who entertains a thought of prevailing on 
 the generality of people, to lay aiide their prejudices, to check 
 their paffions, and to confider the ftate of the nation in a due 
 extent, and in a true light ; and yet fuch is our condition, fuch 
 a crifis are we in, that if we do not take and execute this re- 
 folution now, it may very probably be out of our power to do 
 it hereafter to any good purpofe. 
 
 In our fenate we hear of great dangers, which we have ta 
 apprehend from abroad ; and if we believe what is faid in a 
 foreign * ftate, we are expofed to very great ones at home. I 
 am willing to hope, that both one and the other are magnified ; 
 but they may grow to be fuch in reality as they are reprefent- 
 ed to be, if we do not take more than ordinary care; firfl, 
 to weigh in a juft balance each of the many evils which 
 threaten the nation ; and fecondly, if we do not penetrate into 
 every one of the caufes, which have combined to bring 
 them upon us. Should we fail in the firft point, we may in- 
 creafe our dangers from abroad ; by over-rating thofe at home^ 
 
 *Vide Letter from Stockholm, 
 4 and
 
 NMI. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 149 
 
 and by applying oiirfclves folcly to prevent the latter. But I 
 believe no one thinks us difpofed to run into this extreme ; wc 
 are much more likely to run into the other, and to increafc 
 our dangers at home, by over-rating thofc which we appre- 
 hend from abroad. Should we fail in the fccond point, and 
 negled- to penetrate into all the caufes which combine to bring 
 our prefent diftrefs upon ns, palliative remedies alone will be 
 applied, in the ufe of which we may very probably expire after 
 a tedious langor, but from which we cannot expert a radical 
 cure. 
 
 Convinced therefore, that if we ncgle<fl the prelent mo- 
 ment, if every man does not think and write, and fpeak and 
 ad: for his country at this time, according to his beft talents, 
 and according to the opportunities which he has of exerting 
 them, we fliall foon be in every fenCc a ruined nation. 
 
 I CONFESS, that I am impatient, however low my hopes of 
 fuccefs run, till fome abler pen accepts the invitation, which 
 *' the enquirer into the reafons of the condudl of Great Britain" 
 gives to every member of this community, till an enquiry is 
 made, according to the right which he is pleafed to allow, 
 into our prefent flate, and into the meafures, which have led 
 to it. But then this enquiry muft be made upon better prin- 
 ciples, and with an honefter view than he has, who made thisj^ 
 which lies before me : the perfon, who accepts his invitation,. 
 Oiould be one who would blufh to follow his example; for 
 he ads the part of an apologijfl, where he profefies to ad; that 
 of an impartial enquirer : he feems very zealous for the fuc- 
 cefs of the caufe which he pleads, and very indifferent what 
 means he employs to procure this fuccefs ; many things are 
 difguifed, many are concealed, and hardly any are reprefent- 
 cd in their natural and proper light. Fallacy, fophifm, and a. 
 
 puerile
 
 I50 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° 11. 
 
 puerile declamation, fwell the elaborate treatife; but there was 
 a defign perhaps, as well as habit, in fuch a manner of writ- 
 ing upon this occafion, fince a bad caufe muft be defended by 
 fuch means ; and, therefore, by fuch pens as would difgrace 
 and weaken a good one; fince it may poflibly appear, upon a 
 fair examination, that the caufe he is retained in is none of the 
 ijeft. 
 
 If this fhould appear, I am apt to believe, that thofe, who 
 fet him at work, will not be much concerned ; they could 
 not look on this pamphlet as any thing better than a momen- 
 tary expedient to miflead and inflame. If it has that effed:, 
 if it ferves to keep up the deluflon till all the jobs, which are 
 to be done, are done; the ends, which they propofed to them- 
 «idves, are perhaps anfwered. But if this nation fhould awaken 
 to a fenk of their true intereft, and if the BritiOi fpirit fliould 
 once more revive amongfl: us, it might very well happen that 
 thefe perfons would have made a faulty reckoning; for fu rely, 
 after having exercifed the juftice of the nation, by cenfuring 
 in one parliament a treaty of peace, which has been approved 
 in another, it will not be thought ftrange, if we punifh, at one 
 time or another, thofe who have negotiated us out of peace 
 and tranquility, into war and confuflon, altho the wifdom 
 of the nation fliould think fit to fupport, for the prefent, the 
 meafures of thefe minifters. 
 
 The enquirer fuppofes the whole face of affairs in Europe 
 to have received the great alteration which he is fo much fur- 
 prlfed at, within the fpace of the laft year; but I cannot agree 
 with him, that the turn has been fo fudden as he reprefents it. 
 *^ The calm hardly to be paralleled by any paft profpedl,"as this 
 great mafler of ftile expreffes himfelf by a figure of Hiber- 
 nian rhetoric, was accompanied, as calms frequently are, by 
 
 many
 
 NMr. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 151 
 
 many ligns of an approaching ftorm ; which hgns did not ef- 
 cape the ohfcrvation of the Tailors, and even paflengers in 
 our vcflcl, tlio they efcapcd that of our able pilots, who 
 were, it feems, all that while in a moft ferene fecurity. The 
 particular evils, which we apprehend at prefent, were known 
 to our minifters above a year ago, if it be true, as the enqui- 
 rer affirms, that the treaty of Hanover, and negotiations in 
 confequence of it, are ^' the ftcps, which the court of Great 
 *' Britain thought fit to take as foon as poffible, after the danger 
 " wc were in appeared evident beyond all contradiction." But 
 before the particular danger appeared, the general danger was 
 evident enough. When the treaty of Vienna was made, our- 
 fhip ftruck; but we had been failing among rocks and fhoals- 
 long before, ever lince we quitted our port, and launched, 
 out to fea, on the wife errand of convoying other people fafe.: 
 to theirs. 
 
 He. therefore, who is defirous to make the enquiry propo/ed,.. 
 in fuch.a manner as may be of real life to the public, mnft 
 take up things much higher than this partial writer was in- 
 ftrudted to do=. Many things happened during the congrefs of 
 Cambray, which deferve to be explained; and there are trea- 
 ties both previous and fubfequent to the quadruple alliance, 
 which deferve to be commented upon. 
 
 Nay, there feems to be a necefiity of going farther back. 
 than this reign, or even than this century, if we defign to be 
 thoroughly acquainted with the original of our prefent diftrcfs. 
 When we have taken a general furvey of the condu6l of Bri- 
 tain, with relation to the affairs of Europe, for about two 
 hundred years, we fliall come much better prepared to dif- 
 cover our true point of intereft; and by obferving how we 
 have departed from it, we fhall learn how to return to it. 
 
 This
 
 152 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. K^ 11. 
 
 This part I will venture to undertake ; and what I fliall fay 
 upon it, may ferve at leaft as an introdudlion to that work, 
 which, I hope, will be performed by fome abler hand. 
 
 The foundations of the grandeur of France, and thofe of 
 the grandeur of the houfe of Auftria, were laid very near at 
 the lame period. Ferdinand and Isabella began the latter; 
 and in Charles the fifth their grandfon, and almoft immediate 
 fucceflbr, it was carried up to that exorbitant height, which made 
 Europe tremble under his reign, under that of his fon, and 
 upon fome occafions even later. The progrefs which France 
 made was not fo rapid, but was perhaps as fure ; fhe fhared 
 with her rival the fpoils of the houfe of Burgundy, by the ad- 
 drefs and vigor of Lewis the eleventh, who not only extended the 
 bounds, and flrengthened the frontier of that clofe compatt 
 body, whofe very figure is an addition to the force of it, but 
 aflured it's inward tranquility better, and rendered that mo- 
 narchy more formidable than it had been in the time of his 
 predecefibrs, when the authority of the prince was lefs. 
 
 The forming of two fuch powers, in Europe, made it the 
 intereft of all other princes and ftates, to keep as much as 
 poflible a balance between them. And here began that prin- 
 ciple of Englifii policy to be eftabliflied, which, however true 
 and wife in itfelf, has hardly ever . been truly and wifely 
 purfued. 
 
 We fhould take things rather too high, if we went up to 
 the reign of king Henry the feventh, tho even there fome ob- 
 fervations are to be made, which have relation to our prefent 
 
 fubjedt. 
 
 Fre-
 
 No. II. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 153 
 
 Frequent and important occafions of adingon tliis principle 
 prefented thcmfelves in the time of Henry the eighth. Some 
 he took, fome he neglcdled, and feme lie managed ill ; for 
 to fay the truth, the whole condud: of this prince was a con- 
 tinued courfe of extravagance, \iolence, and levity : his vices 
 glared through the beft adions of his life. He exercifed the 
 tyranny, and pra6tifcd the bloody precepts of the church of 
 Rome, even while he was delivering us from the papal yoke. 
 His deliberations for peace or war feemcd often to have a mix- 
 ture of humor in them ; and his ov^n paflions, as well as 
 Woi.se y's, made him hold the balance of Europe, if he did 
 hold it, with an uneven hand. 
 
 The reformation, which began in his time in Germany, and 
 which was completed by Edward the fixth, and by queen Eli- 
 zabeth, in England, gave occafion to a new division of inte- 
 refts; and made it of the utmoft importance to the Vv-elfare of 
 this nation, not only to preferve a balance between the two 
 great powers of Europe, but to fupport the proteftant caufe 
 againfl; them both. The firfl of thefe was to be done by 
 throwing as much as the occafion might require of our weight, 
 fometimes into one, and fometimes into the other of thefe 
 fcales ; but the latter could be efFeded by nothing lefs than a 
 conftant adherence to that fide which was for a long time the 
 weakeft, and which, I doubt, is fo ftill. 
 
 Both thefe principles were purRied by queen Eiizabfth, 
 with the greateft wifdom, and with the grcateil fuccefs. To 
 illuftrate this fully, it would be necefiary to run through the 
 annals of her glorious reign. But a few general obfer\ atir ns 
 v/ill fuffice for our prefent purpofe. When (he came to t! e 
 crown, the nation was divided between tvvo powerful parties, 
 exafperated by religious zeal ; Ireland was papifi, Scotland was 
 
 Vol. I. X under
 
 154 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° IL 
 under the immediate influence of France, and the queen of 
 that kingdom, married to the dauphin of France, difputed her 
 title to the crown of England. In fl:!ort, the fureft fupport 
 Ihe had amidfl: all thefe difficulties, befidcs the firmnefs of her 
 mind, and the penetration of her underftanding,was in Philip the 
 lecond, whom llie difobhged by refufing to make him her huf- 
 band ; and who could not fail of being, on many accounts, as he 
 proved to be, her moft implacable and dangerous enemy. She 
 kept meafures for a while Vv'ith him, nay, perhaps, with the 
 court of Rome, and foon fettled her government, and efta- 
 blifhed her power : her own kingdom was the firfl: and prin- 
 cipal object of her care ; and Hie judged very wifely, that, in 
 order to be conliderable abroad, flie muft begin by making 
 herfelf fo at home. Her revenue was adminiftered with the 
 utmoft frugality, induftry was encouraged, manufadlures im- 
 proved, and commerce extended : fhe was far from negledling 
 foreip-n alliances, but her negotiations were conducted with 
 great art and little expence, and the engagements flie took 
 were always necelTary, feldom chargeable. She fupported the 
 proteftant caufe in France, with good offices, with loans of 
 money; and uponfome preffing occadons with troops. But fhe 
 never depended on the gratitude of Henry the fourth, and was 
 neither furprifed nor unprepared when he made returns very 
 unworthy of the obligations he had to her. The Dutch could 
 not have fuftained their revolt from Spain, nor have formed 
 their commonwealth, without her affiftance. She helped them 
 powerfully, but fhe exacted cautionary towns from them, as 
 a fecurity for her reiraburfement, whenever they fhould be in 
 a condition to pay ; and in the mean time as a check, to keep 
 them under the influence and diredlion of England. By fuch 
 methods as thef ■, her own country grew rich and l^ouriffiing, 
 while ffie not only preferved a balance of power abroad, but 
 contributed cxtreme'y to reduce Spain from being the terror 
 
 of
 
 Noll. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 155 
 
 of Europe, to that low ftate, into which it fell under the fuc- 
 eefibrs of king Philip the fecond. 
 
 The reign of king James the firft, is not to be read without 
 a mixture of indignation and contempt. He came to the crown 
 with great advantages ; but a bad head, and a worfe heart, 
 hindered him from improving any of them. He loft the op- 
 portunity of uniting the two kingdoms; he fuffered his revenue 
 to be ill adminiftercd ; his minillers were notorioufly corrupt, 
 and he himfelf very profufe. 
 
 Instead of aflwaging, he fomented difputcs by his pedan- 
 try; eftablifhed fuch principles of government, and raifed fuch 
 a fpirit in the clergy, as couid hardly fail to produce the ter- 
 rible effedls which followed in the reign of his fon. 
 
 Such a management of domeftic affairs would have put it 
 out of his power, if it had been his inclination to adl a wifer 
 part in foreign affairs : but he had no fuch inclination. Twelve 
 years he fuffered himfelf to be amufed with the Spanifh match; 
 he countenanced at leafl the popifh, and he abfolutely neglect- 
 ed the proteftant intereft, both in France and Germany. In- 
 ftead of helping the difpofitions, which appeared, to take the 
 imperial crown out of the houfe of Auftria, he favored the 
 caufe of that family, and abandoned his own children to the 
 refentment of the emperor and the popifli league. When the 
 thirty years war began in 161 8, the liberty of Germanv, and 
 the whole proteffant intereft, were in the utmoft peril. The 
 fole meafures, which he took for the fupport of cither, confift- 
 ed in fimple embaffies, ridiculous letters, and languid nego- 
 tiations. Queen Elizabeth defeated the ambitious deligns of 
 the Spanifh branch of the Auftrian family ; king James fa- 
 vored thofe of the German branch of the fame family. 
 
 X 2 Over
 
 156 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° II. 
 
 Over the fucceeding reign, and all that followed, to the 
 reftorationof kins; Charles the fecond, let us draw a veil. 
 
 During this time the decay of the Spanifli monarchy in- 
 creafed apace, the liberties of Germany were afferted, and the 
 power of the emperor bounded by the treaties of Weftphalia ; 
 but another power, that of France, began to rife very faft on 
 the foundations laid long ago. Richelieu and Mazarine 
 had given that crov/n a great fuperiority in the affairs of Eu- 
 rope, and the prince who wore it, refolved to maintain and 
 augment this fuperiority, at the expence of all his neighbours. 
 
 The attack which Lewis the fourteenth made upon the 
 Low Couijtries in 1667, fhewed, both in the manner of it, and 
 in the pretence taken for it, what Europe had to expedl from 
 this prince On this occaiion the triple alliance was made ; 
 and happy had it been, if the fame principles of policy had 
 continued to prevail. But the king who fit on our throne, 
 with better fenfe and more courage than his grandfather, was 
 at leaft as unfit as he to defend the liberties of Europe, and 
 perhaps more unfit to defend the proteftant intereft. 
 
 King Charles the fecond joined his councils and his arms 
 to thofe of France ; and when he could not openly aflif!:, he 
 privately abetted the ufurpations of that crown. He might, 
 by conforming to the defires of his people, who were in his 
 and their true incereft, have had the immortal honor of pre- 
 ferving a balance of power in Europe ; but he chofe the eter- 
 nal infamy of helping to deftroy this balance; and not content 
 to be the ally of a prince, vvhofe enemy he ought to have been, 
 he condefcended to be his inflrument, and even his penfioner. 
 This condud:, which took fo much ftrength from that fide, 
 which was already too weak, and which added fo much to 
 
 that
 
 N°II. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 157 
 
 that which was already too ftrong, eftabliflicd the abfolutc fu- 
 periority of France, and left Spain, Germany, Italy, and the 
 Seventeen provinces, nay and Britain too, in confequence, at 
 her mercy. 
 
 This terrible face of things did not mend on the acceffion 
 of king f AMES the fecond to the throne. Whatever his po- 
 litics were, religion would have got the better of them. Bi- 
 gotry mull: have cemented a clofe union between him and the 
 king of France, who was alone able and willing to aflift him 
 in the work he had undertaken at home. But the greatnefs of 
 our danger, as it fometimes happens, liwed us ; and in faving 
 us, faved all Europe. The revolution in our government caufed 
 a total change in our condud:. A prince, who had been long 
 at the head of a weak but refolute oppoiition to France, mount- 
 ed our throne ; and the principles of maintaining a balance 
 between the great powers of Europe, and of fupporting the 
 proteftant intereft, came once more into fafhion in this kingdom, 
 after having been lor near a century, either negleded, or ad:ed 
 again fl:. 
 
 The body of the nation refumed thefe principles with 
 warmth, and has fupported them ever fince with unparalleled 
 fpirit and vigor. But let it be fiiid without offence, fince it 
 may be faid with truth, and fmce it is neceilary that it fhould 
 be faid upon this occafion, we have not purfued them with as 
 much wifdom as zeal. If we have erred in our politics fince 
 the revolution, it is fure we have erred on the right fide. But 
 errors on the right fide are errors flill, and may, in time, prove 
 as fatal as errors on the other ; and are, in one refpedl at leaft, 
 more dangerous, as they are lefs attended to at Rv{\, or guard- 
 
 ed again fl. 
 
 Between
 
 158 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N«ir. 
 
 Between all extremes there is a certain middle point, which 
 men of genius perceive, and to which men of honor adhere 
 in private and in public life. 
 
 Thus avarice and prodigality are at an immenfe diftance ; 
 but there is a fpace marked out by virtue between them, 
 where frugality and generoiity refide together. Thus again, 
 to abandon thofe, whom it is our intereft to fupport, is an ex- 
 cefs of folly ; and to fupport the interefts of other people, to 
 the ruin of our own, is an excefs of folly likewife. But there 
 are lines defcribed by prudence, between thefe two excefles, 
 within which our common interefts meet, and may proceed 
 together. 
 
 It would be an invidious as well as tedious tafk, to go through 
 all the inftances, which might be produced ; wherein we have, 
 under pretence of preferving a balance of power in Europe, 
 gratified the padions of particular men, and ferved the turns 
 of private intereft, till we have rendered that principle, in a 
 reafonable purfuit of which our fafety and our glory confift, 
 the occafion of real danger to the intereft, and of reproach to 
 the wifdom of our nation. A few of thefe inftances will fuf- 
 fice to deduce the progrefs of our miftaken policy, to evince 
 the truth of what has been advanced in general, and to fix 
 the application of the whole to the prefent conjundlure ; 
 wherein 1 apprehend, that we are about to pay the price not 
 only of late errors, but a long feries of errors. 
 
 The war, which began in 1688, was no doubt a very ne- 
 ceflary war. It was neceftTary to extinguiOi the rebellion in 
 Scotland ; it was nccelTary to reduce Ireland ; it was neceftary 
 to aftert the new eftablifliment of our government. Thefe 
 were our immediate interefts j but we had remote interefts 
 
 likewife
 
 N°ir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 159 
 
 likevvife concerned, which were of thcmfelvcs fufficient to en- 
 gage us to enter, at leaft as allies and friends, into the war. 
 The empire wis in danger by the taking of Philipsburgh, and 
 other enterpriz-s of the French ; and Holland lay once more 
 open to their invaiions, by the feizing of Bonne. In the courfc 
 ot this war, Jreland was reduced ; all the efforts againft the 
 government in England and Scotland were defeated ; and, by 
 the peace, France acknowledged king William. 
 
 As unfortunate as we had been on the Rhine and in Flan- 
 ders, every thing, which the French had taken in the courfe 
 of the war from our allies, was reftored at Ryfwic ; and Luxem- 
 bourg, which France had ufurped before the war, was likewife 
 given up. Thus far all was well. The points, vv^hich Eng- 
 land contended for, were carried ; and our allies recovered by 
 treaty more than they had loft by war. 
 
 If a common guaranty of this treaty had been entered into 
 as foon as thofe powers acceded who refufed to lign when 
 England and Holland did, the tranquility of Europe would 
 have been better fecured than it was at this time, or at the 
 peace of Nimeghen ; at leaft England would have engaged, 
 as far as it became her to do, even upon the principle of main- 
 taining the balance of power, and no farther. 
 
 But, inftead of taking this ftep, we took another, which proved 
 fatal in it's confequences. The death of Charles the fecond, 
 king of Spain, without children, was then in profpedl. The 
 preteniions of France were known, and it's power had been 
 lately felt. Whenever the cafe fhould happen, a war feemed 
 to be unavoidable. But this war muft have been made by 
 France alone, for the conqueftof the Spanifh monarchy ; which, 
 as powerful as we then thought her, and as infolent as fhe 
 
 5 really
 
 i6o THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° II. 
 
 really was, flie would not have engaged in lightly. Neither 
 could fhe have fupported it, if fhe had, fince even with Spain 
 on her fide, fhe could not have fupported the lafl:, if the mines 
 of Peru had not been unaccountably left open to her. 
 
 On the apprehenfion, however, of fuch a war, and on the 
 fpecious pretence of preferving a balance of power in Europe, 
 the partition treaties were made ; that is, without the know- 
 ledge of the king of Spain, we difpofed of his inheritance ; 
 without the confent of the emperor, and in concert with his 
 adverle party, we fettled the rights contefted between the houfe 
 of Auftria and Bourbon ; and we engaged to make this par- 
 tition good by arms. 
 
 I DO not enter into the reafons for and againft this treaty, 
 which may be drawn from the particular ftipulations contained 
 in it, but content myfelf toobferve, in general, what impolitic 
 meafures we were at this period betrayed into, by an over-ween- 
 ing defire to preferve the balance .of power ; and how much 
 reafon we have to be always on our guard againft errors of this 
 kind, fince a prince, whom genius and experience had ren- 
 dered the greateft man of his age, was not exempt from them, 
 but drew both England and Holland fatally into them. 
 
 Whenever this balance is in real danger by the exorbitant 
 growth of one power, or by the union of more, other princes 
 and ftates will be alarmed ofcourfe. All of them ought, and 
 moft of them will take meafures for their common fecurity. 
 But the wife councils amongft them will, upon every fuch oc- 
 cafion, proportion their meafures, and the engagements they 
 enter into, not according to the nature of the danger confi- 
 dered generally, but according to the immediate or remote re- 
 lation, which it has to each of them j and according to the 
 
 ftrength ,
 
 N° ir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. i6i 
 
 ftrcngth, fituation, or any other circumftance, whicli may be 
 peculiar to each of them. 
 
 To do otherwifc, would be to lofe fight of our own parti- 
 cular intereft in the purfuit of a common intereft. Jt would 
 be nothing better than fetting up for the Don Quixotes of the 
 v/orld, and engage to fight the battles of all mankind. The 
 ftate, which keeps it's own particular intereft conftantly in 
 view, has no invariable rule to go by; and this rule will diredt 
 and limit all it's proceedings in foreign affairs ; fo that fuch a 
 ftate will frequently take no fhare, and frequently a fmall fliarc 
 in the difputes of it's neighbours, and will never exert it's 
 whole ftrength, but when it's whole is at ftake. But a ftate, 
 who negleds to do this, has no rule at all to go by, and muft 
 fight to negotiate, and negotiate to fight again, as long as it 
 is a ftate; becaufe, as long as it is a ftate, there will be dif- 
 putes among it's neighbours, and fome of thefe will prevail at 
 one time, and fome at another, in the perpetual fiux and re- 
 flux of human affairs. 
 
 If the kings of France and Spain, and the emperor, had 
 made an agreement amongft themfelves, about the fucceffion 
 .to the dominions of Spain, confiftent with the common inter- 
 eft of Europe, and confidcring the partia'ity which the court 
 of Spain had, at that time, for the houfe of Auftrin, there 
 was httle room to fear, that fuch an agreement would have 
 been too favorable to the houfe of Bourbon. If any fuch par- 
 tition had been made, I fliy, no objedtion VvouJd have re- 
 mained, either as to the right or manner of making it, and 
 we might have efcaped a war. If thefe princes had done no- 
 thing of this kind, we might have been ei gaged upon the 
 king of Spain's death, as I fiid before, in a defenfive war, for 
 preferving the dominions of our old allies, and the liberties of 
 
 Vol. I. Y Europe,
 
 i62 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N^ II. 
 
 Europe, againll the ufurpations of our antient enemy. But 
 inftead of waiting to be auxiliaries in a defeniive war, we put 
 ourfelves under a necefllty of being principals in an offenfive 
 one; and by affctling to fecure the balance of power, when 
 we had neither call nor right to meddle, we reduced our af- 
 fairs to this abfurd alternative, that we mufl; eithir make an 
 offenfive war as principals, againft the emperor and Spain, in 
 order to conquer for France, which was equally impolitic and 
 uhjuft, or againfi: France and Spain, in order to conquer for 
 the emperor, under the greateit difadvantages poffible ; which 
 happened to be the cafe. 
 
 The partition treaties forced the king of Spain to make a 
 will in favor of the houfe of Bourbon ; and the Spaniards 
 threw themfelves into the arms of France, to prevent the dif- 
 memberment of their monarchy. 
 
 Thus was the balance of power loft by our meddling where 
 we had nothing to do, even before it could have been in dan- 
 cer, if we had not meddled at all. We loft it, and the em- 
 peror knew that we muft reftore it for our own fakes, which 
 could be done no otherwife than by conquering for him ; and 
 this he left us to do the beft we could. While we fought his 
 battles, he lent us the Auftrian title, the perfon of his fon, the 
 prcfent emperor, and little elfe. We negleded every thing, 
 and ficrificed every thing in the profecution of this quarrel. 
 But the imperial councils were fo far from negleding any thing, 
 or facrilicing any thing to it, that they feemed wholly taken 
 up for fome years in fettling the affairs of Hungary to their 
 fatisfidion ; and they facrificed to an idle refinement in po- 
 litics the greateft opportunity which we ever had, or muft ever 
 hope to have ; I mean that of deftroying the naval force of 
 
 France,
 
 N°II. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 163 
 
 France, by the taking of Toulon. This they deliberately and 
 almoft avowedly hindered. , ; » 
 
 If ever people were called upon to think of their own im- 
 HK'diatc interefts, we were fo at this time. Whether we could 
 then have put an end to the expenfive war we were engaged 
 in for the houfe of Auftria, in a manner confiflicnt with the 
 -public intereft of Europe, I am not able to determine. Cer- 
 tain it is in fad, that far from entertaining any fuch thoughts, 
 we redoubled our fpirit and our efforts in the profecution of 
 the war. As we acquired new allies, we enlarged our en- 
 gagements; and as we obtained new vidlories, we extended 
 our views. The grand alliance formed by king William, for 
 reftoring a balance of power in Europe, propofcd no other ob- 
 jeds than fufficient barriers, fecurity to trade, and rcafonabic 
 fatisfadion to the houfe of Auflria*. Thcfc were thought, by 
 that great prince, all the points neceflary to be contended for. 
 But, inftead of confining ourfelves to fo narrow a plan, we 
 judged that the balance of power could not be effectually re- 
 ilored, unlefs we vvrefted the whole Spanifh monarchy from 
 the houfe of Bourbon, to give it to the houfe of Auftria. For 
 this prize we fought, and fought with as little regard to all 
 other interefts, as if we had defended our own altars, and our 
 own houfes. 
 
 Must we not acknowledge, upon tliis occafion, lirj the 
 fliortnefs of human forefight? The very meafure, which we 
 purfued at fo great expence of blood and trcafure (becaufe 
 nothing lefs could fccure the balance of power in Europe, and 
 even the trade of this kingdom, and the proteftant fuccefiion, 
 againfl; the invafions of France and the pretender) that very 
 
 * Vide G. Al. Art. 8. 
 
 Y 2 meafure
 
 i64 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER N° II. 
 
 meafure would, it fecms, have put all thefe into the utmoft 
 peril. 
 
 If we had fucceeded in our attempts to fet the crown of 
 Spain on the head of the prefent emperor, and his brother the 
 emperor Joseph had lived, would our danger from the union 
 of thefe two brothers not have been at leaft as great as that 
 which is apprehended from the union of the prefent emperor, 
 and of the prefent king of Spain, rivals almoil from their cra- 
 dles, and by a long courfe of oppoiition, fuch inveterate ene- 
 mies, that they could hardly be kept, as the enquirer affures 
 us, " within the bounds of common decency towards one ano- 
 *' ther, by all the addrefs of two powerful mediators in a pub- 
 " lie tre-ity ?" Might not the fame addrefs, that threw thefe ene- 
 mies into one another's arms, (for it will appear they did not 
 run thither fo unaccountably) and united them in deligns de- 
 flrudive to the commerce and rights of other nations, have 
 fucceeded equally well between the two brothers, efpecially 
 fmce, in this cafe, there would have been but half the work to 
 do ? The union would have been formed to our hands, and our 
 addrefs could only have been fliewn, in giving fuch proper 
 provocations, as might have infpired the defigns. 
 
 Would Charlfs have been lefs favorable to the trade of 
 his brother's fubjeds, at any place in the Auflrian dominions, 
 than Philip fhews himfelf to the trade of the fubjeds of 
 Charles ? Would Joseph not have concurred to aflift his 
 brother to regain Gibraltar, and the ifland of Minorca, at 
 leaft, as zealoufly as we can fuppofe that Charles concurs 
 to ailift Philip, either by good o^ces, or, if you pleafe, to 
 have it fo, by force of arms ? Would not a league between the 
 two brothers have been as much a popi/h league as that which 
 we are fo much alarmed at, between the furviving brother 
 
 and
 
 NO II. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 165 
 
 and the prefentking of Spain? Would not the hrft have made 
 ufe of the pretender, as the latter is faid to do, and as every 
 prince or ftate, with whom wc happen to be at variance, may 
 be provoked to do ? In fhort, I may fifcly challenge the author 
 of the enquiry, as great a cafuift as he is, to fliew any differ- 
 ence between the two cafes which I have compared together, 
 except this, that we might have been expofed to great dangers 
 from that fettlement of Europe, which we fought to bring 
 about, than we arc, or can probably be expofed to, from that 
 which we were fo follicitous to prevent. But the cafe is flill 
 ftronger than I have put it. For even after the death of the 
 emperor Joseph, his prefent imperial majefty continued his 
 claim to the whole SpaniHi monarchy; and you, and I, and 
 many of us, continued to lupport his claim, and oppofed 
 with all our force the negotiations of peace, which were 
 begun upon a different principle. Happily we failed of fuc- 
 cel's. The many, who remonftrated, " That we were haften- 
 " ing apace to make him a power too great and too formid- 
 " able ; and that we fhould find in him, at laft, the enemy 
 " we then dreaded only in another," prevailed. Had they 
 not, in what a condition fhould we have been at this time .? 
 Would the emperor have been more grateful, or lefs powerful, 
 with the crown of Spain and the Indies, added to fo many 
 others ? If the union between him and the king of Spain is 
 fo formidable to us, how much more reafon fhould we have 
 had to apprehend the confequenccs to our trade, and in the 
 end, to our liberties and our religion themfelves, if thefe di- 
 vided powers had been united in the fame ungrateful perfon, 
 as it is the mode at prefent to call the emperor ? 
 
 If Don Carlos fhould marry the eldeft; arch-duchefs, if 
 the emperor fliould die without iffue male, if the king of 
 France fhould die without iffue male, if the prince of Afturias 
 
 fliould
 
 i66 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. NMI. 
 
 fhoiild die without iflue male, and the princes of the blood in 
 France and Spain fliould not fupport the validity of the re- 
 nuncia'ions, all which is within the bounds of poffibility, "Don 
 *^ Carlos may be at once emperor, king of France, and king 
 *' of Spain ; and have the va^ ftrength and riches of all thefe 
 *' powersunited and centered in him." This terrible objed; ftarcs 
 our fpeculative enquirer in the face, and difturbs his head. It 
 difturbs, very probably, thofc excellent heads, who fet him a 
 fcribbling, who can fee fo lar into futurity at prefent ; and 
 who, not very long ago, were unable to difcern the neareft and 
 moft probable events. Let us confider nov/, what confcquence 
 of this kind might have happened, if, for fecuring a balance 
 of power in Europe, the prefent emperor had been likewife 
 king of Spain. If then the king of France, inftead of marry- 
 ing the daughter of Stanis'.aus, had married the eldeft 
 daughter of the emperor, which furely had been within the 
 bounds of polTibility, there would remain but one chance at 
 this time, viz. the emperor having a fon, to fave us from the 
 combination of fuch a power, as would in reality form what 
 we commonly, tho improperly, call univerfal monarchy ; lince 
 there would be nothing elfe, which could hinder Lewis the 
 fifteenth, from being king of France, of Spain, and of the 
 Weft-Indies, mafter of all the Auftrian dominions, and, by 
 confequence, emperor. T he truth I would inculcate by vi'hat 
 I have faid is this, that as the partition treaty threw too much 
 weight into the fcale of Bourbon, to the deftrudion of the ba- 
 lance of power in Europe ; fo the neceftary confequcnce of the 
 war we made to reftore this balance muft have been, if we had 
 fucceeded according to our deiires, to deftroy it again, by 
 throwing too much weight into the fcale of Auftria. This 
 has been proved by the event, and the enquirer demonftratcs 
 it, or he denionftrates nothing. 
 
 As
 
 N° ir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 167 
 
 As far, therefore, as we have brought this dcdudion, that 
 is, to the end of the laft war, it is manifcft that the notion of 
 preferring a balance of power in Europe has, for the reafons 
 touched upon above, and which every man will extend in his 
 own thoughts, proved to us hi^e an ignis fatuus ; in the pur- 
 fuit of which we have been led from difficulty to difficulty, 
 and from danger to danger, 
 
 If we enquire, whether the treaties of Utrecht and Baden 
 did affi^rd us an opportunity of correding onr errors, and of 
 profiting by our expeiience, it will be found that they did ; 
 fmce all the points, which had been in contefl: were then fet- 
 tled, and this ftttlement acquiefced in by all the parties to the 
 war, except the emperor, who kept up ftill his claim againft 
 Philip the fifth. 
 
 But the keeping up this claim could not have endangered 
 the public tranquility. He was unable to attack Spain for want 
 of a maritime force, or even Sicily, which was covered be- 
 fides by the guaranty of the neutrality of llaly ; and this neu- 
 trality ferved likewife to hinder Spain from attacking him. 
 There might have been a war of the pen, and there could have 
 been no other between them. 
 
 At the worfl:, if the king of Spain had invaded any part 
 of Italy, the guarantees of the neutrality might eafily have 
 prevented fuch an attempt; and in fo doing they would have 
 obferved the treaties, and kept the peace, far from breaking 
 either one or the other. 
 
 In fuch a ftate of foreign affiiirs, we had certainlv an op- 
 portunity of looking carefully after our own. The king of 
 Spain had no pretence to ask for any alteration in the fettle- 
 
 2 ment
 
 i68 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N°II. 
 ment fo lately eftabliflied with his own confent ; and the em- 
 peror could not have complained of his majefty for obferving 
 treaties, which he would not have made, but which he found 
 made ; nor for refufmg to enter into a new war on this ac- 
 count. 
 
 Whether we improved this opportunity, or not, what our 
 prefent condition is, and by what fteps we have been reduced 
 to it, I leave to the enquiry of fome perfon more capable than 
 myfelf. Let it fuffice, that I have endeavored to remove 
 fome delufions, which have affeded even men of the beft un- 
 derftandings, and the beft intentions- and to prepare the 
 minds of my countrymen to confider, at this critical point of 
 time, what our national intereft really is, without being biafTed 
 in their judgments by what they may have thought of it on 
 any former occalions. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Moft noble Sir, 
 
 Your honor's 
 
 moft devoted fervant, 
 
 F€t)ruary 3, 
 1726-7. 
 
 The Occasional Writer. 
 
 POST-
 
 Noir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 169 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 JUST after I had fent tliele flieets to the prefs, a paper, 
 intitled, " A letter to the Occafional Writer," was brought 
 to me. 1 have read this ItifF pedantic piece, with more at- 
 tention than it deferves, tho I read it curforily; and not- 
 vvithftanding the pains which the author takes to pafs for you, 
 I am ready to acquit you of the fcandal. You would certainly 
 have writ better, and your pen at leaft would not have ap- 
 peared fo near a-kin to that of the Craftfman Extraordinary, 
 
 Who this author fuppofes the Occasional Writer to be, I 
 cannot guefs. Such a wretch as he defcribes is, 1 believe, to 
 be found no where, nor even fuch an image of guilt and mi- 
 fery any where, except in the horrors of his own mind. 
 I fliall therefore, with a decent contempt for this fcurrilous 
 fcribbler, and without any concern about his imaginary corref- 
 pondent, continue thefe inoffenfive letters, in great tranquility 
 and fedatenefs, as often as occafion invites me, or as I £nd my- 
 felf in the humor. 
 
 Vol. T. Z THE
 
 THE 
 
 OCCASIONAL WRITER. 
 
 NUMBER III. 
 
 To the fame. 
 
 ; Quis te, juvenum confidentiflime, noftras 
 
 Juffit adire domos ? Quidve hinc petis ? inquit. At ille^ 
 
 Scis Proteu, fcis ipfe j neque eft te fallere cuiquam. ViRa^ 
 
 Moft Nobte S i r, 
 
 HEN I writ the poftfcript to my lafl: letter, I be- 
 lieved firmly that the anfvver to the Occafional 
 Writer was neither writ by you, nor publiHied by 
 your order. Many confiderations determined me to this opi- 
 nion. For inftance : I could not think, tliat in order to vent 
 yourfelf in a fit of railing, you would draw a pid:ure out of - 
 your own imagination, which cannot pafs for that of the per- 
 fon who writ to you, even in the low and vile chara<5ler he 
 aflfumedj and which you will hardly venture to own that you 
 meant to be the refemblance of any man in Britain. I could 
 not perfuade myfelf that you would give occafion, as I appre- - 
 hend very much that you may have done, to the drawing 
 of another picture after the life, which no one will miftake, 
 and which you will not be curious to place in your colledlion 
 of paintings. I have, with the reft of mankind, a great re- 
 
 2 gard
 
 NMir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 171 
 
 gard for fome of your friends ; but I have, witli the reft of 
 mankind hkewife, a great regard for your particular enemies, 
 among whom it fcemed impofTible to me that you, who know 
 them fo well, iliould prefume to find either Haves or criminals, 
 or infolvent debtors. I dare affirm, that there is not one of 
 them, who ever *' mortgaged his eftate for more than it's value, 
 " or reduced himfelf near the neceffity of living by contti- 
 ** bution." 
 
 These are fome of the motives which induced mc to ac- 
 quit you of the fcandal, as I then thought it, of writing this 
 paper. But, upon better information, and farther refledlion, 
 I have changed my opinion ; and I fee nothing inconfiftent 
 with my refpedl for you, in believing that you did write it. 
 
 As great an advantage as it is in all the affairs of life for a 
 man to keep his temper, it is often excufable, and perhaps 
 fometimes even praife- worthy, to lofe it. When a minifler is 
 contradided in matters relating to his adminiflration, and when 
 bu fy people fhall prefume to afk his reafons, inflead of fub- 
 initting to his authority, can we wonder if his pafTion tranf- 
 ports him into rhodomontades, and if he behaves himfelf a 
 little wildly? But when the virtue of a minifter like you, 
 whofe whole life has been one bright example of public and 
 private virtue, fhall be fufpeded, fo far as to be tempted to 
 paffion ; who can rcfufe him even applaule, if his generous 
 foul, tranfported with a juft indignation, breathes forth fuch 
 exprcfiions, as might, upon a lels occafion, pafs for indecent 
 ribaldry ? 
 
 This was your cafe, mofl noble fir, in the trial which I 
 prefumed lately to make, with too much holdnefs perhaps, but 
 furcly with a very good delign. A man writes to you from 
 
 Z 2 his
 
 172 THE OCCASIONAL y/RIlER. M" III. 
 his aarret, deicribes himlelf as j proftitute fcri'obler, and oHers 
 you the fervice of his ])en : thi^^, and this alone, appears to 
 you ; upon which a noble indignation ieizes yon, nnd you 
 hrike boldly, tho' you ftrike in the dark. There is really fome- 
 what fine in this Tally of rtfentment, and it confirms, in the 
 higheft degree, the fentinients I have long entertained of your 
 integrity, of your ability, and of a certain grace which ac- 
 companies and gives a luftre to every part of your conduft. 
 
 The fhcre I have had in this ad\'enture, affords me great 
 fat"sfa6tion. Your anger fell on a feigned charadler, and hurts 
 me n t ; but the honor of Jiaving drawn an anfwer from a 
 firfl: minifter, and an anfwer in print, accrues to me, and is 
 fuch a one, as the greatefl: of our weekly authors could never 
 boaft. 
 
 Give me leave therefore to be tranfported in my turn, but 
 to be tranfported with joy, and to infert an abftradl of your 
 anfwer in this paper, as Balzac placed at the head of his 
 works a letter from the cardinal de Richlieu. I confult my 
 own honor, it muft be confefled, in doing this ; but I confi- 
 der ftill more that juft applaufe and admiration which I, with 
 the reft of the world, am obliged on this occafion to give you. 
 
 To thofe parts of the Occafional Writer's letter, which fliew 
 that you are at this jundure in want of fuch fervices as the 
 fcoundrel he perfonatcd might be fit to do, you make no re- 
 ply The want you feem to admit, but the offer of fervice 
 you rejed; : let the public hear in what manner. 
 
 Ab-
 
 N^Iir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 173 
 
 Abstract of the M r's ANSWER to 
 
 the Occafional Writer. 
 
 Png. 1. " ^ I "^HO you have not figned your name, I know 
 " J you. Becaufe a man who is without all 
 <' principles of honcfty, who in no one thing can be relied 
 " upon, a betrayer of his friend, a traitor to his prince, an 
 " enemy to his country, a perjured, ungrateful, unfaithful 
 *' rafcal, muft be you ; one who is a compofition of all thefc, 
 " can be only you. 
 
 Pag. 2. " You are an infimous fellow, who make a repu- 
 " tation of doing mifchief ; and Herostratus and Nero 
 " were not greater villains than you. 
 
 " You are of fo profligate a charader, that in your prof- 
 perity no body envied you, and in your difgrace no body 
 pities you. 
 
 
 " You were in the intereft of France, and of the pope, as 
 *' hath appeared by your writings, and you went out of the 
 " way to fave yourfelf from the gallows. 
 
 Pag, 3. '* You are a fellow who have no confcience at all, 
 <* or a damnable complying one: and if you would lend it to 
 " me, it would be of no ufc to me, 
 
 *< You have no abilities ; you are an emancipated flave, a 
 <* profcribed criminal, and an infolvent debtor : and I am 
 ** not in fuch a defperate forlorn condition, to employ a fellow 
 " v/ho hath no talents. 
 
 Pag,
 
 
 174 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. No III. 
 
 Pag. 4. " You have been a traitor, and fhould be ufed like 
 ^' one. And I love my mafter fo well, that I vi^ill never ad- 
 " vife him to ufe you, left you iliould joftle me out of my 
 ** employment. 
 
 " The majority are of my opinion. One fide rails at you, 
 ^' the other dillikes you ; and that Palinurus would deierve 
 ** to be drowned indeed, who let you have the rudder, if he 
 " could help it. 
 
 Pag. 5. " I do not value, what you or your company fay of 
 me ; neither am I to be frighted with a parliamentary fcru- 
 tiny. You rail at me, becaufe you envy me ; and I defpife 
 all that a man in the impotence of difgrace can do againft 
 
 *' me, who could never terrify me in the zenith of his 
 
 ** power." 
 
 Then follow thefe admirable arguments. 
 
 Pag. 6, 7, 8. *' I. You may talk what you will of France, 
 ** Spain, and the emperor, power is fluduating, and perhaps I 
 <' know who is Britain's enemy as well as another. II. Tho' 
 *' we did lend the emperor a helping hand, we are not to let 
 *' him do what he pleafes ; and when we fet him up, it was 
 " good politics, and now it is equally good to take him down. 
 " III. 1 do not queftion but we fhall humble him. IV. I muft 
 " tell you plainly, you and I, as to foreign affairs, differ widely 
 *' in opinion. V. When our neighbours grow fancy and en- 
 *' croaching, it is high time to look about us, and not to be 
 *' taken napping. VI. I know you are like tiie emperor, be- 
 *' caufe he is like yourfelf in ingratitude ; and you hate our 
 *' friend France, becaufe you were well received there. 
 
 (C 
 
 If
 
 N° III. THE OCCASIONAL M^RITER. 175 
 
 *' If any body fays any thing of me, pray, tell tlicm ALL 
 « THESt: THINGS. But for all that, I will not give yo.u 
 '* an employment. 
 
 *' I know you to be (o hot-headed, that when you have 
 *< read this, you will vent all your malice againfl me. But I 
 *' do not value itj for I would rather have you my enemy 
 " than my friend. 
 
 *' Change your names, and be as abufive and fcurrllous as 
 *' you pleafc, I fl:iall find you out. I am Aristaeus ; you 
 *' are Proteus. You may change to a flame, a lion, a bull, 
 *' or a bear, I fliall know you, baffle you, conquer you, and 
 " contemn you. All your oppofition will redound to my 
 *' honor and glory. And fo, flr, 1 fcorn your profFered fer- 
 *' vices. Sir, 
 
 *« Yourmoft, &c.'* 
 
 How great ! how free ! how bold I how generous ! Well 
 may thofe who have the honor of a near approach to you, 
 extol the noble opennefs of your nature, which difplays itfelfe 
 in this uncommon manner ; and think that temper in a ftatef- 
 man truly admirable, which lofes itfelf fo glorioully. Did ever 
 minifter fpeak fo plainly, or lay him/elf fo open to any man,, 
 and efpecially to fuch a man as you fuppofcd yourfelt ^vriti^g 
 to at that time? Far from difcovering hatred and contempt 
 ot fuch wretches, perfons in your iituation have generally en- 
 couraged, and even feared them. Nay, they have fonietimes 
 afpired to be themfelves of that clafs ; and Seneca's Apocolo- 
 cyntholis upon Claudius, is not the fole inflance of minillers, 
 who have dipped their pens in fatyr, to rail at the memcry of 
 a dead prince. 
 
 But
 
 176 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. No III. 
 
 But now, after this honorable declaration which you have 
 made, after this great example which you have given, let 
 every mercenary fcribbler, every tool of fecret fervice, tremble 
 and defpair. Long may you live, mofl noble fir, the jufl: 
 model of a minifter, who fcorns the ailiftance of flattery, fal- 
 fhood, artifice, or corruption. 
 
 I HAVE devoted myfclf to your fervice, and fhall certainly 
 attend you through every ftage of your fortune: as long as 
 we both draw vital air, vou iliall feel the effetls of my zeal in 
 your caufe, and I proniife you very folemnly, that from hence- 
 forward I will live for no other purpofe ; fo that I am perfuad- 
 ed you will hear with pleafure the three engagements which 
 I think it proper to take with the public and with you. 
 
 The iirll: is, that my pen fhall conftantly preferve decency 
 and good manners, and lliall never be flained with any abule 
 of particular perfons. I will chaftife vice, I will expofe folly, 
 and I will combat error, wherever I find them. But I will 
 never touch upon any mialterable defedls in figure, in family, 
 in birth, in any kind whatfoever; much lefs will I allow 
 myfelf to hint at any particular fcandal, or even to mention 
 any real misfortune, which may equally befal the beft and the 
 worft of men; unlefs I am forced by my fubjedl to it, and un- 
 lefs I can foften the evil by the very manner of recalling it to 
 memory. To attack a vice, a folly or an error, is corrtdtion. 
 To attack the perfon is defamation. He who writes an in- 
 vedive, does a iilly thing, becaufe he lofes his end ; and the 
 wifcft of men has faid, '* he that uttcreth flander is a fool." 
 Even truth lofes it's force in an invedive, as it does in a pa- 
 negyric ; in one, it is thrown into the lump with malice, in 
 the other, with flattery ; and he who is guilty of the firfi, 
 that is, he who writes againft the man, not againft his crimes, 
 
 his
 
 N«III. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 177 
 
 his follies, or his errors, feldom proves any thing more than 
 his own envy, and the other's fuperiority. To conclude this 
 head, he, who writes an inveftive, does a bafc and v/ickcd 
 thing ; becaufe his defign is to difturb the quiet, and dcrtroy 
 the peace of another man, but not to reform him, or to fcrve 
 the public. The pen of fuch a writer, like one ofthofe fcourgts, 
 of which the profound Meibomius has writ fo learnedly, 
 while it chaftifes the perfon, ferves only to provoke the vice. 
 
 The fecond obligation, which I lay myfelf under, and which 
 equally becomes a man who writes in the caufe of truth, is 
 that of intire difintereftednefs. 
 
 I KNOW the generofity of your nature, 1 know what places 
 and penfions have been the rewards of fome very mean per- 
 formances in verfe and profe ; and that R. R. ftate-writer, of 
 whom we are obliged to alk blefiing, is moft certainly not at 
 the head of our profefTion. Thefe examples, and a due con- 
 fideration of the importance of my fervices, teach me fuffici- 
 ently what expedations I might entertain, without any rifque 
 of a difappointment. But I have neither ambition of this kind, 
 nor avarice. My fortune is above wanting the nccefiarics, and 
 my philofophy above wanting the fuperHuities ol lite. I there- 
 fore difcharge you from all obligation of rewarding my fervices; 
 and I wifli, for the fake of your eafe, your honor, and your 
 fafety, my example was likely to be followed. 
 
 When we behold a great man among a croud of dTmtcrc Acd 
 friends, we know that they follow his virtues, and his mciit ; 
 when we hear an orator bring over the majority of an unpre- 
 iudiced audience to his opinion, we mult impure it to the 
 force of his eloquence. But furcly it is as rare for a miniRer 
 to have difrntereRed friends, as an unprejudiced audience ; fo 
 
 Vol. I. A a tiiut
 
 T-n THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N^^ Ilf. 
 
 that a number of followers can be no proof oi his perfonal vir- 
 tues, or a majority of his eloquence. 
 
 The antients placed great happinefs in their inemptae dapes ;, 
 I would rather you fhould place yours in the inempti amici. 
 But alas! lir, as amiable as you are, this happinefs will hardly 
 fa.l to your lot, in our degenerate age; and 1 know not whe- 
 ther to maintain your power, you may not be forced to tarnifh 
 the luftre of your glorious adminiflration. The king has in- 
 deed the hearts of the people; his fervice will always be fup- 
 ported by a national concurrence, becaufe his views are al- 
 ways diredled to the national good. This part is eafy and fe- 
 cure, but v.'hen once men come to diftinguifh between the 
 king's fervice and yours, there will arife another part not fo 
 cafy nor fecure. You have blended them pretty artfully to- 
 gether hitherto, but I doubt the difcrimination is at hand. 
 When that comes, you will be reduced to a melancholy alterna- 
 tive ; which I beg you to think of, and to prepare for. To 
 ouit your power and your pretenfions, and to quit them be- 
 fore you have eflablifhed in your room that dear brother of 
 yours, who does you fo much fervice at home, by tiring the 
 ****, and the nation i'o much honor abroad by diverting the 
 Q*** Qf p**«^ would indeed be hard. But on the other hand, be 
 pleafed toconlider that this nation has gone very far into corrup- 
 tion already; that there is a point of corruption, to which no 
 nation can arrive and recover their liberties, if they are loft ; or 
 even preferve them, if they arc not loft, according to Machia- 
 vel's obfervation; and that whoever is the inftrument of plung- 
 ing his country irretrievably into this abyfs, I ufe a word you 
 feem fond of, will fall into a terrible abyfs himfelf, and have no 
 fuperiority any where, but where the briber ftands before the 
 • bribed, as the devil ftands before the finner. 
 
 2 You
 
 N° III. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 179 
 
 You fee, fir, how my zeal tranfJDorts me, and carries me 
 upon the lead hint, which may be improved to your honor or 
 icrvice, even out of my fubjed. I return to it, and the third 
 engagement which I take, is to obferve a ftridl impartiality. 
 
 To do otherwife, would be to ad contrary to my nature, 
 and to the didlates of my reafon. I have a natural abhorrence 
 of injuftice; and I conGdered, when I firft drew my pen, in 
 how particular a manner it behoves us political writers to be 
 on our guard, againft filling into any partiality. The judge 
 is circumfcribed by forms, to the obfcrvancc of which he is 
 bound ; he has the law open before him ; the parties, on whom 
 he fits in judgment are generally indifferent to him, and far 
 from having any of his paflions awakened, the whole man is 
 fometimcs prone to fleep. When there is room to fufpecl a 
 judge of partiality in a particular cafe, it is agreeable to the 
 pradice of fome countries that he iliould decline prefiding at 
 the trial, or be obliged to withdraw at the requiiition of the 
 party. With all thefe, and mc^ny other precautions which 
 wife conftitutions have eftablifhc;!, it is neither eafy nor fd^c for 
 the venerable fages of the law to exercife partiality. But we 
 political writers are not under the. fame reftraints, and are expofcd 
 to ftrong temptations. No forms are prefcribed to regulate our 
 proceedings; no particular laws adapted to the particular cafes 
 which may occur, lie open before us The general law of rea- 
 fon is the only rule we have to follow ; the application of this 
 rule requires the moft nice exadnefs, and we a re obliged to make 
 this application often, in pronouncing judgment on men and 
 things, when we are the moil warmly engaged in thofc civil 
 contefts, which the duty of our profeilion expofes us to, and even 
 wheii ovir tempers are ruffled by oppofition. From which con- 
 fideration, the diificulty of }>reic:rving a (Irid impartiality may 
 
 A a 2 evidently
 
 jPo the occasional writer. n°iii. 
 
 evidently appear : give me leave, however, to iKullrate this 
 ir alter a little farther. 
 
 In the Athenian commonwealth, the citizen who took no 
 fide was deemed indifferent to the public good, and was 
 branded for his infamous neutrality. Now, if fuch an obli- 
 gation as this lay upon every private citizen in that democra- 
 tical government, it is certain, that we public perfons, at leaft, 
 ought to think ourfelves under the fame obligation, even in 
 this limited monarchy of ours. Indifference mud be a crime 
 in us, to be ranked but one degree below treachery ; for de- 
 ferting the commonwealth is next to betraying it. Our duty 
 mufl: oblige us in all public difputes to take the beft £de, and 
 to efpoufe it with warmth : this warmth will beget warmth ; 
 for you know, fir, that the worft fide is not always the worft 
 defended. Provocations wid multiply dai y, and we may be 
 attacked in the moft fenfible parts. You, fir, yourfelf, may 
 for aught I know be infulted, and your fpotlefs charadler may 
 be defiled by fome faucy fcribbler : in this licentious age, no- 
 thing is held facred ; under the fpecious pretence ol free-think- 
 ing, the providence, and the very being of God, have been 
 openly called in queflion, and refledlions on your adminiftra- 
 tion may poffibly fteal into the world. 
 
 Suppose, for a moment, that any thing fo mcnftrous as this 
 fhould happen, that you fhould be directly inveighed sgainft, 
 or which perhaps is more poignant, ironically commended ; and 
 then confider how difficult it would be for a profeffed admirer 
 of you, heated in the conteft, to keep his temper, and to pre- 
 ferve his impartiality : you mufl agree with me, the task would 
 be extremely difficult. 
 
 But
 
 N°Iir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. i8i 
 
 But I am furc you will agree likwife, that i.s diflicult as it 
 would be, a confcicntious man ought to impole it upon himfelF. 
 
 The ill effects of partiality in us political writers, when it 
 carries us to give unjull: and falfe repr-efeiitations of men and 
 things will not be thought of little moment by you, who 
 labor for fame, and expecft a great part of your reward from 
 pofterity, as poRcrity is to receive a great part of the advan- 
 t^iges which your wife and virtuous adminiftration procures, in 
 " reviving, fuppcrting, and extending credit, in opening fo 
 " comfortable a profpe6l of the payment of our debts, in 
 ' ftrengthning us abroad by fo many beneficial alliances, and 
 above all in amending our morals, by the total difcourage- 
 ment of every kind of artifice and corruption." 
 
 
 The civil magiftrate may give away a man's eftate, or take 
 away his life; but we can do, and often have done more; we 
 fet the general chiraders and particular adions of men in what 
 light wepleafe, and deliver them down, fometimes very unjuftly, 
 under the moft amiable or the moft hateful colors to future ag[es: . 
 for the rafli fentence we pronounce is eagerly received, and as 
 eagerly tranfmitted by thofe who are animated with the fame 
 paliion. 
 
 In this manner are unjuft, and even falfe reprefentations 
 eflablifiied. They become the general opinion of mankind, 
 and then, altho our works fliould grow out of date as fafl as 
 a Gazette, which it muft be conftffed happens very frequent- 
 ly ; yet ftill the mifchicf is done, the hiftorian perpetuates the 
 flander which the politician broached, and triumphs in the 
 cotemporary authority, upon which he writes to ferve the pre- 
 fent turn, or to fatisfy refentment of party ; fuch perfons as 
 have no other crime but that of differing in opinion from us, 
 
 and
 
 i82 THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. N° III. 
 
 and fuch events as have no other demerit but our difllke of the 
 perfons who bring them about, are loaded with infamy. Po- 
 flerity is impofed upon as well as the prefent age, and the 
 children continue the fathers vengeance, without having the 
 fathers provocation. 
 
 This faint sketch of fbme confequences that follow the par- 
 tiality of poHtical writters, and of the danger wherein we all 
 ftand of being tranfported by our own paflions, or hurried by 
 thofe of other people, fo far to be anfvverable for fuch confe- 
 quences, may fuffice to ihew how much realbn there is for a 
 man who undertakes the career I am entering upon, to be 
 watchful over himfelf, and to lay himfelf under as ftrong are- 
 ftraint as I do by this folemn engagement. 
 
 Indeed, as the world goes, it is only by running into ex- 
 tremes that a ftate-writer can effedually pleafe his party, or 
 ferve himfelf ; the eye of party fees nothing but quite white, 
 or quite black, obferves no degrees between them, and can di- 
 ftin^Tuifh no middle color that partakes of both. • The greateft 
 genius in writing may be expofed to fhare the fate of the 
 greatefl: genie in painting. Annibal Carache, who followed 
 nature and truth with the utmofl: exadlnefs, found his noblefc 
 works difcountenanced and negledled. He thereupon advifed 
 GuiDO and Caravagio, his two favorite fcliolars, to take 
 quite another manner, to trace nothing fiith fully, but to out- 
 raore all they reprefented, the one by painting in the darkeft, 
 and the other in the lighteft manner. By rhefe means both 
 of them were fure of admirers, and both of them grew rich. 
 
 To imitate thefe painters, is all our party-writers aim at ; 
 whether their manner be black or white fatyr, or panegyric, 
 no matter. Their principle is to lay their colors on thick, and 
 
 to
 
 NMir. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. 183 
 
 to be equally in an extreme. But I hope, for my own part, 
 to prove that I am not of this number. On the contrary, I 
 will endeavor to excel in a much more difficult way, in fof- 
 tenings and middle teints ; and yet by thcfe to form a manner 
 fo ftrong, as Oiall be fufficient for my own reputation, and for 
 your fervice. To you, who have fo fine a tafte in painting, 
 this attempt will, 1 flatter myfelf, be agreeable, and will fe- 
 cure the continuance of your favor to. 
 
 Moft noble Sir, 
 
 Your honor's 
 
 mofl devoted fervant, 
 
 February 13, 
 J726-7. 
 
 The Occasional Writer. 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 FIRST VISION 
 
 O F 
 
 C A M I L I C K. 
 
 In Hoc S I G N o vinces. 
 
 HAVING as yet given the reader little befides grave 
 difcourfes on public matters, and forefeeing that dur- 
 ing the feflion of parliament, I fhall be obliged to 
 continue daily in the fame track, I am willing to take this one 
 opportunity of prefenting him with fomething, which has no 
 relation at all to public affairs, but is of a nature purely amu- 
 fing, and entirely void of refledlion upon any perfon what- 
 foever. 
 
 My friend Alvarez (a man not unknown to many here, 
 by his frequent journies to England) did fome time fince make 
 me a prefent of a Perfian manufcript, which he met v/ith 
 while he followed the fortunes of Meriweis. An exadl tran- 
 slation of the firft chapter has been made, at my requeft, by 
 the learned Mr. Solomon Negri, and is as follows. 
 
 Camilick's
 
 i85 
 
 C AMI LICK'S VISION. 
 
 IN the name of God, ever merciful, and of Haly his pro- 
 phet. I flept in the plains of Bagdad, and I dreamed a 
 dream. I lifted my eyes, and I faw a vaft field, pitched with 
 the tents of the mighty, and the ftrong ones of the earth in 
 array of battle. I obfervcd the arms and enfigns of either 
 hoft. In the banners of the one were pidured a crown and 
 icepter ; and upon the fliields of the foldiers were engraven 
 fcourges, chains, iron maces, axes, and all ivinds of inftruments 
 of violence. The flandards of the other bore the crown and 
 fcepter alfo; but the devices on the fliields were the balance, 
 the olive wreath, the plough-fhare, and other emblematical 
 figures of juftice, peace, law, and liberty. Between thele 
 two armies I faw a king come forth, and fign a large roll of 
 parchment ; at which loud fhouts of acclamation were heard 
 from every quarter. The roll itfelf flew up into the air, and 
 appeared over their heads, encompafled with rays of glory. I 
 obfervcd that where ever the fecond army moved, this glorious 
 apparition attended them ; or rather the army ftcmed only to 
 move, as that guided or dircded. Soon after, I faw both tl:efe 
 hofts engaged, and the whole face of the land o\erfpread with 
 blood. I faw the king who had figncd and broken that facrcd 
 charter, drink out of a golden-cup, fall into convulfions, gafp 
 and die. 
 
 I THEN faw another king t.:ke his place ; who, in the mod 
 folemn manner, engaged to make the words contained in the 
 roll the guide of his anions ; but notwithllanding this, I faw 
 both armies again encounter. 1 law tlic king a prifoner I 
 faw his fon relieve him, and I law the chiefs of the other armv 
 put to death. Yet that vidorious fon himle'.f bowed his head 
 Vol I. B h to
 
 i86 THE FIRST VISION 
 
 to the parchment ; which now appeared with fuller luftre than 
 before. Sevtral other battles enlued, with vaft flaughter on 
 both lides ; durino; which the celeftial volume was fometimes 
 clouded over ; but ftill again exerted its rays, and after every 
 cloud appeared the brighter. I obferved thofe heroes, who 
 fought beneath it, tho ever fo unfortunate, not once to 
 abate their courage, while they had the leaft glimpfe of that 
 heavenly apparition in their view ; and even thofe, whom I 
 favv overthrown, pierced with ghaftly wounds, and panting in 
 death, refigned their lives in fmiles, and with eyes cafl: up to 
 that glorious objrd:. At laft the long contention ceafed. I 
 beheld both armies unite and move together under the fame 
 influence. I favv one king twelve times bow down before the 
 bright phaenomenon, which from thence forward fprcad a 
 light over the whole land ; and, defcending nearer to the earth, 
 the beams of it grew fo warm as it approached, that the hearts 
 of the inhabitants leaped for joy. The face of war was no 
 more. The fame helds, which had fo long been the fcene of 
 death and defolation, were now covered with golden harvefts. 
 The hills were cloathed with fheep. The woods fung with 
 gladnefs. Plenty laughed in the valleys. Indufiry, commerce, 
 and liberty danced hand in hand through the cities. 
 
 While I was delighting myfelf with this amiable profpeft, 
 the fcene entirely changed. The fields and armies vaniflied ; 
 and I faw a large and magnificent hall, refembling the great 
 divan or council of the nation. At the upper end ol" it, under 
 a canopy, I beheld the facred covenant, fliining as the fun. 
 The nobles of the land were there affembled. They proftratcd 
 themfelves before it, and they fung an hymn. " Let the heart 
 " of the king be glad ; for his people are happy I A'lay the 
 light of the covenant be a lanthorn to the feet of the judges; 
 ' for by this fhall they feparate truth from falfliood. O inno- 
 
 *' cence, 
 
 (C
 
 OF CAMILICK. 187 
 
 <' cencc, rejoice ! for by this light flialt thou walk in fafcty ; 
 
 ** nor fhall the opprcfTor take hold on thee. O juftice, be 
 
 " exceeding glad I for by this light all thy judgments Hiall 
 
 *^ be decreed with wifdom ; nor fliall any man fay thou haft 
 
 " erred. Let the hearts of all the people be glad ! for this 
 
 *' have their grandfathers died ; In this have their fathers re- 
 
 " joiced ; and in this may their pofterity rejoice evermore !" 
 
 Then all the rulers took a folemn oath to preferve It invio- 
 late and unchanged, and to facrihce their lives and their for- 
 tunes, rather than fuffer themfelves or their children to be de- 
 prived of fo invaluable a blefling. 
 
 After this, I faw another and larger alfembly come for- 
 ward into the hall, and join the lirft. Thefe paid the fame 
 adorations to the covenant ; took the fame oath ; they fung 
 the fame hymn ; and added a folemn form of imprecation to 
 his effcS:. " Let the words of the roll be for ever in our eyes, 
 ' and graven on our hearts ; and accurfed be he who layeth 
 ' hands on the fame. Accurfed be he, who lliall remove this 
 ' writing from the people ; or who fliall hide the law thereof 
 ' from the king. Let that man be cut off from the earth. 
 ' Let his riches be fcattered as the duft. Let his wife be the 
 ' wife of the people. Let not his firft-born be ranked among 
 ' the nobles. Let his palaces be deftroytd. Let liis gardens 
 ' be as a defart, having no water. ! tt hi^ horfcs and his 
 ' horiemen be overthrown ; and let his dog. devour their car- 
 ' cifes."-— In the midft ot thele execrations entered a man, 
 drcffcd in a plain habit, with a purfe of gold in his hand. 
 He threw himlelf forward into the room, in a bluff, n ffianly 
 manner. A fnile, or nuher a fneer, fat on his coinitenance. 
 His face was bronzed over wirh a glare oi conlidence. An 
 arch malignity leered in his eye. Nothing was fo extraordi- 
 
 B b 2 nury
 
 1 88 THE FIRST VISION, 6cc. 
 
 nary as the efFed of this perfon's appearance. They no fooner 
 faw him, but they all turned their faces from the canopy, and 
 fell proftrate before him. He trod over their backs, without 
 any ceremony, and marched diredly up to the throne. He 
 opened his purfe of gold, which he took out in handfuls, and 
 fcattered amongft the afTembly. While the greater part were 
 engaged in fcrambling for thefe pieces, he feized, to my inex- 
 preffible furprize, without the leaft fear, upon the facred parch- 
 ment itfelf. He rumpled it rudely up, and crammed it into 
 his pocket. Some of the people began to murmur. He threw 
 more gold, and they were pacified. No fooner was the parch- 
 ment taken away, but in an inflant I faw half the augufl: 
 afTembly in chains. Nothing was heard through the whole 
 divan, but the noife of fetters, and clank of irons. I faw pon- 
 tiffs in their ecclefiaftical habits, and fenators clad in ermine, 
 linked together like the moft ignominious flaves. Terror and 
 amazement were impreffed on every countenance, except on 
 that of fome few to whom the man continued difperfing his 
 trold. This he did till his purfe became empty. Then he 
 dropt it; but then too, in the very fame moment, he himfelf 
 dropt with it to the ground. That, and the date of his power, 
 at once expired. He funk, and funk for ever. The radiant 
 volume again arofe ; again fhone out, and re-affumed its place 
 above the throne ; the throne, which had been darkened all 
 this time, was now filled with the effulgence of the glory 
 which darted from it. Every chain dropped off in an inflant. 
 Every fice regained its former chearfulnefs. Heaven and earth 
 refounded with liberty! liberty I and the HEART OF 
 THE KING WAS GLAD WITHIN HIM.. 
 
 An
 
 A N 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 London Journal* of Saturday, December 21, 
 
 1728. 
 
 "^ H E family of thcPuBLicoLAE are furely very numerous. 
 I pretend to no acquaintance with them, and I defire 
 none. Far be it from me therefore to aflign to any 
 one of the fraternity his particular lucubration. I do not pre- 
 fume to fay, for inftance, that fuch a piece was writ by Ben, 
 or fuch a one by Robin ; but I can plainly diftinguifh, in their 
 productions, a difference of ftyle and charader. In fome, I 
 feel myfelf lulled by a regular, mild, and frequently languid 
 harangue ; fuch as often defcends upon us from the pulpit. In 
 others, I obferve a crude, incoherent, rough, inaccurate, but 
 fometimes fprightly declamation ; well enough fitted for popu- 
 lar aflemblies, where the majority is already convinced. 
 
 The PuBLicoLA of the fcventh of Decemberquite jaded me. 
 I handled the numbfifh till I fancied a torpor feized my imagi- 
 nation ; and, perhaps you may think, that I am hardly yet re- 
 covered from the confequences of that accident. However, I 
 fhall venture to play a Httle witii the Publicola of this day j 
 
 * This paper was fiippofed to be then under the direftion of Benjamin lord 
 bilhop of ****». 
 
 for
 
 I90 ANANSWERTO 
 
 for I think I can go through an anfwer to his paper. He re- 
 turns the ball at leaft, and keeps up the game. 
 
 Before I come to this, give me leave to premife a word or 
 two more. 
 
 As different as the Publicol ae are in other things, in one they 
 are all alike. They are fcurrilous and impatient. They call 
 names, and grow angry at a fneer Raleigh laid down his 
 pen, rather than continue fuch a bear-garden contcft. I took 
 it up and anfwered them for once in their own ftyle; but they 
 muft not expe6l fo much complaifince from me any more. The 
 matters we enter upon are ferious, and by me they fliall be 
 treated ferioully and calmly. 1 fliall confider the dignity ot 
 the caufe I plead for; the caufe of truth ; the caufe of my 
 country ; and I /liall look down with contempt on the invec- 
 tives and menaces, which thej/^ may throw out ; and by which 
 they will fuit their flyle with great propriety to tlieir iubjcd:. 
 -—But let us come to the point. 
 
 The Publicol a of this day fets out with ftating, in an half 
 light, a queftion which hath been much debated in the world. 
 No man that I know of, no reafonable man I am fure, did 
 .ever find fault that we avoided a war. Our national circum- 
 ftances are lo well known, they are fo feverely felt, that mini- 
 jfters who maintained peace, and procured to their coun ry the 
 bleflings of peace, quiet, improvement of trade, diminution 
 of taxes, decreafe of debts, would be almofl: the' objects of 
 public adoration. But the exception t:;ken to our condud: 
 hath been this ; that we provoked a war firfl:, and fhewed a 
 fear of it afterwards. People recal the pafTages of three years 
 pail. They willi we had pra6liied greater caution at that time ; 
 but then tlie fame people very confiftently wifli that we had 
 
 2 ex-
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 191 
 
 exerted greater vigor iince. If the iionor and intcri-ft of his 
 late majcfty, and of the Britiih nation, fiy they, were fo fe- 
 verely wounded by the pubHc or private treaties of Vienna, that 
 it was fit to keep no longer any meafurcs, even fuch as has'c 
 been thought ot decency, with the emp; ror and the king of 
 Spain ; v*hy this fear of difobliging them ? Why this long 
 forbearance under all the infults offered to us by the Spaniards? 
 If we were in a condition, by our own ftrength, and by our 
 alliance with France, to enter with a profpcd- of fuccefs into 
 an immediate war ; why again have we chofen to defer it, 
 under fo many provocations to begin it? Why have we endur- 
 ed fome of the worft confequences of a war, without taking 
 thofe advantages which ading offenfively would undeniably 
 ■have procured to us ? But if all this Vv^as quite otherwife, con- 
 tinue the fame political reafoners ; if the honor and intercft 
 of his late majefly, and of the Britifli nation, were not fo fc- 
 verely wounded; it we were neither, by our own ftrength, nor 
 by the alliance of France, in a condition to rifque a war 3 nay 
 more, if things were fo unfortunately jumbled, that perhaps 
 *' this war would have been more to our own detriment than to 
 " that of our enemies," as the Publicolae have more than once 
 infinuated in their papers, what could we mean three years ago, 
 when matters were carried to greater and harfLer extremities 
 than it is poflible to find any example of among civilized na- 
 tions, fince the quarrels of Charles the fifth, and Francis the 
 fird? If our " principal ally would have been dangerous to 
 *' our interefts in the operations of a war, and is indifferent to 
 " them in the negotiations of peace," for this hath been infinuated 
 too from the fame quarter, what a treaty was that which pro- 
 cured us this ally? What afiu ranees were thofe which made us 
 depend upon him ? The difiicuky of thefe dilemmas cannot, 
 1 think, be folved ; and thofe who attempt it deceive thenifclvc:-, 
 whiift they mean to deceive the p\.v-iple. 
 
 But
 
 192 ANANSWERTO 
 
 But we are told that we went into a war, as far as the 
 reafon of things would give us leave. It feems then that the 
 reafon of things would neither give us leave to prote6l our 
 trade, nor to make reprizals, when our merchants were plun- 
 dered. If thefe words are to pafs for any thing more than 
 empty found, it will follow either that Publicola is capable 
 of affirming the grofleft untruth in a paper, addreffed to the 
 people of England; or that our fituation is worfe than the lead 
 languine of our friends ever thought it, or the moil malicioMS 
 of our enemies ever reprefented it. Very bad indeed muft it 
 be, if the reafon of things obliged us to bear from the Spa- 
 niards, at this low ebb of their maritime power, what would 
 not have been borne when their proud armada covered the 
 feas ; what would hardly have been borne, even in the reign 
 of king James the firft. 
 
 But, God be pralfed ! this is not our cafe; and therefore 
 Publicola muli be content to lie under the imputation which 
 he hath drawn on himfelf by the boldnefs of his aflertions. 
 
 He is frequently guilty of this fault ; and the words which 
 immediately follow thofe I have quoted, afford a ftrong in- 
 ftance of it. *' We did not, fays he, take the galleons and 
 " bring them home ; but we blocked them up ; which as 
 *' completely anfwered the true end and defign of fending 
 *' that fleet, as the actual taking of them. The defign was 
 *' to keep the money out of their hands (the Spaniards) and fo 
 '* difable them tocarry on the projed: of the treaty of Vienna." 
 Very well. This matter is brought to a fliort iifue. The 
 blockade of the galleons is over. Our fleet is come back 
 from the Wefl-Indies. The galleons are either come or coming. 
 The Spaniards therefore are, according to Publicola, no 
 longer difabled from carrying on the proje<n: oi the Vienna 
 
 treatv.
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 193 
 
 ti-e:ity. I ask then, have they abandoncdj have they renounc- 
 ed thefe projects ? If our fleet blocked up the galleons till 
 this was done, he is in the rio;ht. This anfwercd the deflon 
 of fending it. If they fhould, after this, break their faith, 
 and renounce the moft ficred obligations, none but they arc 
 to be complained of. 
 
 PuBLicoLA would havc us believe, indeed, that they hav» 
 renounced thefe projefts; that they have granted us the main 
 things in difpute ; and that the congrefs is only to fettle other 
 affairs of lefs importance. But this I deny ; and he fhall be 
 obliged to confefs either that he advances, iiere again, a bold 
 untruth ; or that he reckons our keeping Gibraltar notamongft 
 the main things in difpute, but amongft thofe of lefs import- 
 ance. Let him fhew me, if he can, in the preliminaries, a 
 particular and exprefs confirmation of our right to this place, 
 made by the Spaniards. I will undertake to fhew him the 
 general words, by which the Spaniards will pretend in the 
 congrefs, as it is notorious they do every where and on all oc- 
 cahons, that they haveftill a right to demand the reftitution of 
 Gibraltar, and that this right is to be difcuffed in the congrefs. 
 
 I KNOW it hath been faid more than once, in a very public 
 place, and in a very f^lemn manner, that Gibraltar fhould not 
 be even mentioned at the congrefs ; but it would be imperti- 
 nent to lay any ftrefs on the afl'urances of a perfon, who hath 
 prefumed to give fo many groundlefs ones already ; and who 
 either hath been bantered moft egregioufly himfelf, or hath 
 made no fcruple of bantering his country. 
 
 Here then is one main point of our interefts, to mention 
 no more, ftill unfettled; not becaufe the Spaniards have flown 
 'off from any agreement they had come to with us about it ; 
 
 Vol. L C c but
 
 194 A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 but becaufe it was never fettled j and yet the galleons are left 
 at liberty to come home. 
 
 If aflerting our right to Gibraltar, and fome other things, 
 which were founded fo high by an acquaintance of yours, Mr. 
 PuBLicoLA (the author of the Enquiry) had no fhare in the ends 
 which were propofed by fending our fleet to the Weft-Indies, 
 fuch ftrange incomprehenfible ends may, for aught I know, 
 have been completely anfwered : but if thefe points, fo eflen- 
 tial to Great Britain, were any of the main things in difpute ; 
 if they were any of the ends propofed by what is called di- 
 ftreffing the Spaniards ; then is it falfe to aflert that thefe ends 
 have been completely anfwered. 
 
 When we conlider what numbers of able and ufeful fub- 
 jedls his majefty hath loft in the expedition to the Weft-Indies; 
 and that we are, at leaft, as far off from a fettlement of in- 
 terefts with Spain now, as we were before that expedition was 
 undertaken, it is impoilible not to feel great and unaffe<fled 
 concern. 
 
 If it be asked, what was to be done ? I fliall anfwer that, 
 perhaps, it little becomes a private man to determine fuch great 
 queftions; but I will proceed to Oiew that all which Publi- 
 COLA advances againft taking the galleons, is trifling. 
 
 First then, if blocking up the galleons in the Spanifli ports 
 was of fuch confequence, taking them would have been a more 
 efledlual meafure to all the fame purpofes. 
 
 Secondly, if we had taken them, as it is certain that Mr. 
 Hosier could have done with eafe, and with all their treafure 
 on board, immediately on his firft arrival, we fhpuld have had 
 
 a chance
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 195 
 
 a chance the more for taking the flota too, which ftole away 
 to Europe, whilft our fquadron lay rotting before Porto-Bello. 
 
 Thirdly, if we had taken this trcafure, we fliould have 
 had in our hands a fufficient fecurity for indemnifying our 
 merchants, who have been the only fufierers, by the depre- 
 dations of the Spaniards, whilft the French and Dutch have 
 failed fecurely ; and to one body of whom, I mean the Soutla- 
 Sea company, the king of Spain owes, for former feizures un- 
 juftly made, as much perhaps as his proportion in the trcafure 
 of the galleons amounts to. 
 
 Fourthly, to have taken the galleons would not have been 
 liable to the fime inconveniencies, as we have feverely felt by 
 purfuing another meafiire The expedition would have been 
 foon over. The expence of lives and trcafure would have been 
 infinitely lefs. It would hav^e coft little or nothing to have 
 kept the Spaniards out of their money by a feizure, as long as 
 the true reafon of things fliould have required it ; whereas it 
 hath coft us more than all that money is worth, to keep them 
 out of it by a blockade only for a time ; and for a time, v/hich 
 hath not been fufficient to fecure us againft their defigns, or to 
 make them lay a fide their pretenfions. '' But if we had taken 
 *' them, fays Publicoi.a, we fhould have taken the money of 
 " other people, as well as of the Spaniards We fliould liave 
 " been py rates." Let us fee how this hangs together. If we 
 had reftored immediately to the proprietors their refpeitive 
 lliares, as he fuppofes we muft have done, the brand of py- 
 racy woidd not have ftuck upon us. But fuppofe we had 
 thought fit not to reftore their fhares to the Spaniards, till our 
 differences with the court of Madrid had been fettled ; fhould 
 we have been pyrates in that cafe ? He will be laughed at who 
 affirms it. Would the king of Spain's fhare in this trcafure 
 
 C c 2 have
 
 ,96 A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 have been no lofs to him ? would he not have miffed the ex- 
 travagant indulto, which he is now going to receive on this 
 inimenfe treafure ? Should we have been pyrates for punifliing, 
 in this manner, a prince, who adually befieged one of our 
 fortrefles, who adually detained the fhips and feized the eftates 
 of our merchants, and whofe fubjeds every day killed, robbed 
 and plundered the fubjeds of Great Britain ? 
 
 But I go a ftep farther ; for if we flop with Publicola, it 
 will be always fliort of the mark, and we fhall never exhauft 
 the fubjed, as I delire to do, becaufe I defire to find the truth, 
 and to be fure that I find it. What hath been fiid hitherto, 
 hath been faid on the fuppofition of a feizure only; and I hope 
 the fcruples of Publicola s timorous confcience are appeafed, 
 I hope he hath found out, by this time, that fuch a feizure 
 might have been carried on without pyracy. But fuppofe it 
 had been a capture, not a feizure; fuch a capture as can never 
 be made but in time of open war ; fuch a capture as intitles 
 the captors, by our laws, to the whole profit of the prize. Why 
 then we had commenced a war againft Spain by this adion, 
 as Spain had done long before againft us by a thoufand hofii- 
 lities. Why then vice-admiral Hosier, and the ofiicers and 
 feamen of his fquadrcn, had been in the fame cafe as Sir 
 Charles Wager, and the officers and leamen of his fqua^- 
 dron were in the laft war; and I do not remember that thefe 
 gallant men were ever profecuted as pyrates at home ; or re- 
 puted fuch abroad, or obliged to refund any part of the trea- 
 fure they had taken. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, Puelicola's argument proves no- 
 thing in the prefent cafe ; or it proves that even when we are 
 at war with Spain, we muft not prefume to attack thefe facred 
 galleons. Other nations are always interefted in them, as 
 
 well
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 197 
 
 well as the Spaniards. It will therefore be always unlawful, 
 according to this exctllent cafuift, to make prize of them: 
 and he is defied to dirtinguifli himfelf out of this abfurdity. 
 
 Having now gone through what Mr, Publicola calls, I know 
 not why, the fubjed: in general, we will examine the fccond 
 part of his epiftle. I pafs over all the Billingfgate with whicli 
 he ufliers in this part ; tho I could make myfelf and you too 
 very merry, if I would apply his critieifms on what Raleigh 
 lays, concerning one promife, to the interpretation which was 
 given to another promife; by which we might have learned, 
 amongft many other curious diftindVions, the difference be- 
 tween a diredt promife and a promife minifterially worded : 
 but i fliall leave him to his phrenzy, and proceed foberly to 
 fhew you that he fays nothing, or that which is worfe thin 
 nothing, in every line of this performance; in which he fcems 
 to triumph with fuch vaft complacency. 
 
 The point he labors is to fliew that the promilc made by 
 the lord Stanhope to reftore Gibraltar, which hath not been 
 complied with, and the deflrudion of the Spanifh fleet on the 
 coaft of *f Sicily, threw the court of Madrid into the arms of 
 *' the emperor, and were the true root and real caufe of all that 
 *' thorough hatred and deep malice fliewn in the treaty of 
 " Vienna;" and by confequence that all our prefent difficul- 
 ties with Spain proceed from hence ; from caufes laid many 
 years ago, and when the prefent minifters were not in power. 
 My bufinefs fliall not be to blame or to excufe any miniflers ;, 
 but to make a true dedudion of facts, and to reafon clearly and 
 juftly upon them ; and 1 charitably hope, that I may bring 
 Publicola to do fo in time; if for no other reafon, at leaft by 
 obliging him to take fhame to himfelf fo often : for tho I am 
 not fo bloody-minded as Publicola, who talks as if he had 
 
 heads.
 
 198 A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 heads in his power, yet I aflure him, that I will not let him 
 alone whilft, amongft other enormities, he makes it his bufi- 
 nefs to bury truth and common fenfe under fuch weekly heaps 
 of rubbiih. 
 
 I SHALL fhew immediately that, in whatever terms or man- 
 ner we fuppofe lord Stanhope to have made a promife of re- 
 ftorino- Gibraltar to the Spaniards, it will be of no avail to 
 Publicola's purpofe. But fmce he hath told us what he hath 
 heard, and Raleigh hath told us what he hath heard, for nei- 
 ther of them can pretend to fpeak on their own knowledge 
 concerning this affair, I will likewife take leave to ftate what I 
 have been informed of, upon better authority than what my ad- 
 verfary hath often writ upon in his affirmative ftyle. 
 
 I HAVE been informed then, that lord Stanhope had been 
 ■induced, or feduced, call it which you pleafe, by the late re- 
 gent of France, to make an overture of this kind at the court 
 of Madrid. Lord Stanhope, fays our author, might think 
 that Gibraltar was to be " honeftly given up for valuable confi- 
 derations." He might fo ; and he was fo honeft a man, {o 
 iincere a lover of his country, that if he had thought in ano- 
 ther manner, no confideration of private intereft, no regard to 
 the fervice of a miniflry, could have prevailed on him to make, 
 nor even to entertain the motion. But have a care of your 
 indnuations, Mr. Publjcola; and learn to make them with 
 a little more delicacy. The cafe is vaftly different now. The 
 fenfe of our auguft monarch is known. The fenfe of the whole 
 nation hath been loudly proclaimed ; and I believe no minifter, 
 how prefuming foever, will venture, at this time, to fay that 
 Gibraltar may be honorably or advantagcoufly given up ; and 
 ■.therefore no virtuous rainifter will think he can honeftly give it 
 
 up,
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 199 
 
 up, or confpire in mcafurcs which may create the appearance 
 of a necellity fo to do. But to return to my narration. 
 
 If fuch an overture was made by lord Stanhope, it was 
 made to prevail on the court of Spain to dcfift from the enter- 
 prize they had then in hand; an cnterprize, which we n:iciild 
 have been obliged to prevent, if the treaty of quadruple alli- 
 ance had never been made, by virtue of our guaranty to the 
 neutrality of Italy. That this overture was not received is 
 evident ; fince the Spaniards went on with their expedition, 
 which ended in the deftrudion of their fleet. Now call this 
 an overture, as I do; or call it a promife, as Publicola will 
 affe^l to do; it was vacated to all intents and purpofes by the 
 Spaniards, who refufed to comply with the condition on 
 which it was and only could be grounded. 
 
 It hath been faid by fomc, that this promife was renewed 
 afterwards, to pacify the Spaniards for the lofs of their Ihips, 
 and for their defeat in Sicily: but this deferves explanation ; 
 and will not ftand in the light which thofe who urge it de- 
 fire it fhould. 
 
 It is, I believe, true, that the French, who firft induced us 
 to make this overture, wouM, on the pretences jufl: now men- 
 tioned, and on the pretence of the hopes which the regent had 
 continued to give the Spaniards, have obliged us to acknow- 
 ledge this vacated promife as a fubfifting obligation; but I have 
 been informed, that this was refufed flatly to the minifter fent 
 over hither upon that occafion, and to the regent himfelf by 
 our minifter abroad. The promife then continued vacated ; 
 and we were as much difentangled from the fnares which our 
 good allies laid for us, as if no fuch promife or overture had. 
 been ever made. 
 
 4. But
 
 200 AN ANSWER TO 
 
 But farther. If a promife of this kind had been made on 
 our part, even after the expedition to Sicily, which there is 
 no color to affirm, yet that promife muft likewife have been 
 void, fince it was made fo, to all intents and purpofes, by the 
 king of Spain's acceffion to the * quadruple alliance. 
 
 That all poffeffions are mutually confirmed by that treaty, 
 except fuch as are fpecified in it, cannot be denied. The pof- 
 felTion of Gibraltar was therefore again confirmed to us by the 
 king of Spain, when he acceded to that treaty ; unlefs he can 
 flievv thai our pofleffion of it was excepted, or can produce 
 any private article or declaration, which made a refervation 
 of his right to this place, not with ftanding the cefTion of it 
 made at Utrecht. But nothing of this can be £hewn ; and it 
 hath been faid, I believe truly, that a contrary declaration was 
 made folemnly and publicly by the Britifli minifter in Holland, 
 at the very time when the acceffion was figned. 
 
 Thus far then the way is clear before us. When we came 
 mediators to the congrefs of Cambray (for fuch we were at that 
 place, tho we have the misfortune to find ourfelves principally 
 and almoft folely concerned in the difputes to be fettled at 
 SoifTons) the king of Spain had no right, nor pretence of right 
 to demand of Great Britain the reftitution of Gibraltar. In- 
 deed, if he had then fuch a pretence; if a promife, on our 
 parr, to reitore this place to him, which promife we refufed 
 to execute, had then fubfifled, how could he have accepted 
 of our mediation? 
 
 Ay, but (fays this poor hunted author, who doubles and 
 ihifts and works and tries, at any rate, to fave himfelf) lord 
 
 * Vide the treaty. 
 
 Stan-
 
 THE LONDONJOURI^AL. loi 
 
 Stanhope, according to Raleigh's own confcflion, was firfl 
 in this affair, and laid the foundation of this expe6lation in 
 the Spaniards.-- -It is plain the Spaniards had fuch afllirances. 
 It is allowed you, at leaft for argument fake, that lord Stan- 
 hope was lirft in this affair. The Spaniards hnd fuch affur- 
 ances. Make your moft of it. Thcfe affurances were dif- 
 chargcd. Thcle promifcs were relcafed ; and whatever lord 
 Stanhope can be luppofed to have done or faid about Gibral- 
 tar, hath no more relation to the prefent difpute, than what 
 was done or faid about Gibraltar in the time of king Ro- 
 DRiGUE and the count Julian : fo that our author is building 
 up a right for the Spaniards upon foundations which were 
 demoliflied as foon as laid. He is building up a right, or he 
 is building up nothing ; for to talk, as he does, of expedlati- 
 ons, in cafes of this nature, without eftablifhing a right, real 
 or plaufible, is too fri\'olous to deferve an anfwer. 
 
 Let me illuftrate this by a familiar inflance; for things 
 cannot be made too plain to him. I will fuppofe him a 
 clergyman. I will fuppofe that by merit, of fome kind or 
 other, he gets a promife of a bifhoprick. After this, he does 
 fomething inconfiftent with fuch a promotion. He forfeits all 
 title. He renounces all pretenfions to it. Shall his advocate 
 be admitted to infifl: that, notwithftanding all this, he expeds 
 to be a bifhop ftill; and, inftead of grounding his expectations 
 on his right, ground his right on his expedations ? No cer- 
 tainly ; fuch an advocate would be hiffed out of court, and 
 would deferve at leaft to have his gown pulled over his 
 ears. 
 
 But the Spaniards are not fo chimerical. They ground 
 
 their expectations, and what they call their right, on a new 
 
 engagement taken by us, as they fay, fxnce all the tranfadi- 
 
 VoL. I. D d ons.
 
 202 A N A N S W E R T O 
 
 ons, mentioned above, were over ; on a private article, in a 
 treaty made with them in 1721, Aipulating the contents of ti 
 letter to be written by the late king • and on the letter, writ- 
 ten in purfuance of this article, the original of which they offer 
 to produce ; and which they pretend to be a pofitive engage- 
 ment to reftore Gibraltar to them 
 
 With what front now could Publicola affirm, that what 
 Raleigh fays about tlie letter is nothing to his purpofe ; unlefs 
 this myfterious letter had been wrote before this fame kind of 
 
 a verbal promife was made? If this myfterious or minifterial 
 
 letter had been writ before lord Stanhope'^s promife was made, 
 it would have been nothing to Raleigh's purpofe; becaufe 
 his purpofe was to fhew, that the demand which tlie Spaniards 
 now make of Gibraltar, cannot be made on any thing whicli 
 palled in lord Shanhope's time; but it was extremely to his 
 purpofe to fhew that this letter was writ after lord Stanhope's 
 death. Had Publicola taken upon him to ridicule the pkinefh 
 and eafieft demonftration in Euclid, he could not have ren- 
 dered himfelf more ridiculous tlian he does upon this occa- 
 fion. 
 
 I AM at a lofs what words to ufe. I have debarred myfelf 
 from ufing hard ones ; and none but the hardefl are equal to 
 what this writer deferves. Let him pafs then without any 
 animadverlion from me. Let the reader pronounce feiitence 
 upon him. 
 
 To fum up the whole on this head. Publicola was to 
 prove that my lord Stanhope's promife to reftore Gibraltar, is 
 one of the reafons of the prefent obftinacy of the Spaniards, 
 and by confequence of our prefent difficulties. Now it is no- 
 torious that in fad the Spaniards ground their demand on 
 
 fome«-
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 20^ 
 
 fomething which pafTed whilfl- he was ahvc. Publicola fuys» 
 it never appeared that the prefcnt minirtry came into fuch ai- 
 furances. If he means the aflaranccs given by my lord Stan- 
 hope, and long ago made null, he is nioft certainly in the 
 right, for a very obvious reafon. But if he means tlie affur- 
 ances flill inlifted upon, 1 have nothing to /ay but thie. Thefe 
 afl'urances, or what the Spaniards call by that name, were 
 given in the year of our Lord 1721. 
 
 The fecond reafon afligned, by this profound politician, for 
 the obflinacy of the Spaniards, is the refentment which hath 
 Iain at their hearts, ever iince we deftroyed their fleet. Here 
 are no proofs offered ; nor can there be any, which are diredl: ; 
 becaufe the aflertion relates to what pafTes, and hath pafTed 
 thefe many years, in the hearts of the king, queen and mini- 
 fters of Spain. Jt is a fad, which we are to take on the bare 
 word of this author, or to rejcd. I make no fcruple of re- 
 jedling it, becaufe the probable reafons againfi: it feem to me 
 of much greater weight tlian his fingle authority in any cafe, 
 and efpecially in a cafe of this nature. The Spaniards were 
 certainly not very well pleafed with us for deftroying their 
 fleet. But doth it follow from hence, that the refentment 
 which they conceived upon this occafion, operates thus f^rong- 
 ly flill ? How often were the French beaten by us in the lafl 
 war ? Were not whole fquadrons of their fliips deftroyed ? How 
 many of their armies wxre defeated ? How many of their 
 towns were taken? Notwithftanding which, we fee with plea- 
 fure, the moft pcrfed; harmony, the moft intimate friendfhip, 
 fubfifl betvyeen their court and ours , even from the time, 
 when their difgraces were recent, and when their refentraents 
 againft us muft have run the highefl, if it was true that re- 
 fentment, and not the Ragione di Stato, as the Italians call 
 it, governed the condud of princes. But the Spaniards are 
 
 D d 2 more
 
 204 AN ANSWER TO 
 
 more vindicative than the French. This may be ftiid per- 
 haps by people, who are apt to fiipport one affirmation by ano- 
 ther, and to call that proof. But then how came it to pafs^ 
 that the Spaniards were fo foon reconciled to the French, and 
 entered into fuch clofe alliances with them immediately after 
 the campaign of i 71 8 ? If the Britidi arms beat the Spanifh 
 fleet,, the French arms took the Span ifli towns at the fame time. 
 The near relation, and the antient friend (hip between die two 
 courts of France and Spain, it may be faid again, rendered 
 their reconciliation eafy. But this would be to fuppofe what 
 is quite contrary to the natural courfe of human paflions. 
 According to that, the court of Spain muft have been infinite- 
 ly more piqued againft their own family, for joining in oppo- 
 fition to them with the emperor, who had been fo long their 
 common enemy, than againft the court of Britain, who had: 
 not the fame ties to them, and who a6led for an old ally. 
 This is natural and probable. Nay, when we confider how 
 many marks of the utmoft refentment were fhewn at thar. 
 time by the Spanifli to the French court; how many intrigues 
 the former carried on to fubvert the government, and to raife 
 a rebellion in France; I think we may juftify affirming that 
 this is true in fad. And yet how foon was all this forgot at. 
 Madrid ? How foon was the reunion of the two courts brought, 
 about in the clofeft manner, and cemented by marriages? 
 
 The king and queen of Spain might look on tKe pro- 
 ceeding- of the French, in this affair, as a political quarrel, 
 and a national wrong ; but they looked on an affair, which", 
 happened a few years afterwards, as a perfonal injury and: 
 affront. I mean the fending back the infanta in fo abrupt, 
 fo unprepared a manner, without any foftening, and with 
 fo many aggravating circumftances. Never refentment run; 
 higher, nor was expreffed in terms of greater paffion, than 
 
 that
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 205' 
 
 vhat of the court of Madrid upon this occafion ; and yet one 
 or two facrifices, a little addrefs, and a little management pa- 
 cified all; united the two courts again; and reflorcd to the 
 French, in a fliort time, fuch an influence in Spain, that it is 
 marvellous we, who depend fo much upon it, fliould not yet' 
 have found the leafl: effect from it in our favor. 
 
 I HAVE dwelt on thefe obfervations, in order to fhew to^ 
 what poor expedients thofe writers are reduced, who attribute 
 the prefent obflinacy of the Spaniards to the beating their 
 fleet above nine years ago. Surely it is ftrange that the car- 
 dinal De Fleury lliould have been able, in feven or eight 
 months time, to re-eftablifli a good correfpondence and friend- 
 fliip between the two courts of France and Spain, after fo- 
 great and fo fenflble an affront as Philip and his queen thought 
 was put upon' them by his predeceflxDr in the miniflry ; and 
 that our miniflers fhould not be able, in the courfe of as many 
 years, to atone for what their predeceflbrs did ; nor to pacify 
 the refentment of the Spaniards, for their lofs of the fleet in an 
 adion, which they might have avoided ; and which they ren- 
 dered, in fome fort, unavoidable to us. It is impoflible to 
 believe, that fuch an incident fliould produce thefe efleds; 
 which feem to flrengthen, rather than to grow weaker, the 
 fnrther they are removed from this fuppofed caufe of them. 
 There muft be fomething more recent than this anger, at a 
 lofs long flnce fuftained and repaired too, as I believe. Per- 
 haps we may begin to make fome difcovery of this kind, when 
 we examine the next article ; to which I fhall proceed as foon 
 as I have made a few reflections more on this head, which 
 PuBLicoLA moft prudently fuggefts to me, and which will be 
 of wonderful fervice to his caufe. 
 
 " Nox
 
 2o6 ANANSWERTO ^ 
 
 " Nor does the quadruple alliance" (fays he; but hemufl mean 
 the king of Spain's acceflion to this alliance) " being after the 
 *' promife" (that is, lord Stv^n hope's promife or overture, con- 
 cerning Gibraltar) " prove the Spaniards had given up their ex- 
 *' ped:ations founded on that promife ; but only that they were 
 *' not, at that time, in proper circumftances to inlift: upon it." I 
 Jiave flievvn how filly it is to talk of expectations, without any 
 right to exped ; and how the right of the Spaniards to Gi- 
 braltar, acquired by lord Stanhope's promife, or overture, either 
 real or fuppofed, was extinguifhed before the year 1721. But 
 1 agree, that if they had then had even a real right, they muft 
 have fubmitted to give it up, as they did at that time, becaufe 
 of the circumftances into which they were fallen. Let me 
 afk Mr. Publico la what reduced them to thefe circumftan- 
 ces ? He muft anfvver, it was beating their fleet. They had 
 been as obftinate before that time as it is poftible for them to 
 be now. Alberoni talked at leaft as high as the marquis 
 DE LA Paz. But they grew complying as foon as this hofti- 
 lity was committed. Might not the taking their galleons have 
 had the fame efl'e6t lately ? Would not our incomparable mi- 
 nifters, who run up and down the world negotiating and 
 making treaties, with fo much credit to themfelves, and fo 
 much honor and advantage to the nation, have done better 
 (I fpeak it with due fubmifTion to their approved wifdom) to 
 imitate than to blame the conduct of their predecefTors ? From 
 1721 to 1725, we heard of nothing but the happy and 
 iloriftiing ftate of our affairs. This muft have been owing, 
 according to Publicola, to the circumftances the Spaniards 
 were in ; and therefore this muft have been owing to the 
 defeat which they received in the Mediterranean. How came 
 cvve to hear from the very fame perfons, that all our difficulties 
 and the diftreffes we are in at prefent, ought to he dated be- 
 fore 
 4
 
 THE LONDON J O U R N A L. 207 
 
 fore the year 1721 ? Surely, to be in a florifhing flate, a na- 
 tion muft be in a feciirc ftate ; and how could that be true, 
 if, during the four years I have mentioned, a powerful neigh- 
 bour meditated revenge, and only waited an opportunity of 
 ftriking home ? How could it be declared, even from the 
 tlirone, that * nothing more than the forms of a congrels 
 were wanting to eflablilL the public tranquility, if the grand 
 quarrel between us and Spain did^ in effeft, fubdfl at that 
 time ? 
 
 There are people fo very regardlefs of truth, and fo very 
 indifferent to the lliame of being convicted of filfhood, that 
 they nev^er confider, when they affirm a fad:, any thing more 
 than the prefent expediency. Strange, almoft incredible in- 
 ftances of this might be quoted. I pafs them over in iilencc 
 for many reafons ; and, amongft others, for this reafon, that 
 fome of them are too recent to be forgot. I ftick to the point 
 before me ; and fhall conclude it by obferving that when 
 PuBLicoLA ailigns all the difficulties which we have labored^ 
 under fince the year 1725, to what paffed before the year 
 1721, he is confuted not only by the reafons I have urged, 
 which feem to me unanfwerable, but likevv'iie by an autho- 
 rity which every man will allow to be decifive. 
 
 The next article to be confidered is this. Raleigh, who 
 was not fatisiied with Publicola's way of accounting for our 
 prefent difficulties, and for the clofe alliance between the em- 
 peror and Spain, had afcribed both to our refufil of the fole 
 mediation at Cambray. He is accufed of malicioufly con- 
 cealing the truth, and of imputing that to ill management, 
 extraordinary refinement and great tendernefs, which was the 
 
 * Vide the king's fpeech at the opening of the feflion, 1721. 
 
 refult
 
 2o8 AN ANSWER TO 
 
 refult of true reafon. Now I think I can demon ftrate that 
 PuBLicoLA is ignorant of the truth ^ or that he conceals it, 1 
 will not fay corruptly, but unfairly. 
 
 That the treaty of Vienna was adually and in form figned, 
 before it could be fo much as known at Vienna that we had 
 refufed the fole mediation, I might grant in one knk^ and 
 for the fake of argument, tho I do not believe that the 
 fa6}: is juft as he ftates it; and yet I might fafely deny the fame 
 •thing in the only fenfe in which this fadl: can be of the leaft 
 life to our author. I can grant that this treaty might be figned 
 in form at Vienna, before it could be known there, in form, 
 that we had refufed the fole mediation; before the couriers 
 from Cambray to London, from London to Paris, from Paris 
 to Madrid, from Madrid to Vienna could perform their jour- 
 pies, and the feveral courts could hold their councils and make 
 their difpatches. But the certain knowledge of our refuling 
 this mediation might very well arrive at Vienna before the 
 treaty was figned ; nay, the treaty might be figned upon this 
 knowledge, by virtue of inftrudions given with this contin- 
 gency fpeciiied in them. I fay this might be the cafe; and 
 therefore to affirm this fad:, in the terms Publicola affirms it, 
 is nothing to the purpofe. What Raleigh advanced may ftill 
 be true. 
 
 That full powers were given by Spain to carry on the treaty 
 of Vienna four months before this offer of the mediation, is 
 moft certainly true : and therefore there is as much reafon to 
 be aftonifhed that early meafures were not taken to prevent 
 it, as there is that other meafures than what we have feen 
 purfued, were not taken to prevent the effedlsof fuch a treaty. 
 Could it be an abfolute fecret to our minifters, who ought to 
 be well informed ; fince they have had fuch immenfe fums 
 
 for
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 209 
 
 for fecret fervice, as were never heard of before their time, 
 that Spain was negotiating at Vienna, during thefe four 
 months? Could it be a fecret to them that, from the death of 
 the duke of Orleans, and about a year, at lead, before this 
 treaty was concluded, the Spanifh minifters were full of fears 
 and jealouftes about the completing the infanta's marriage 
 with the king of France ? If thefe things, which were not 
 quite unknown to moff private perfons, who obferved the 
 courfe of public events, and who fought information about 
 them, did not efcape the intelligence of our miniflers, how 
 could a confideration of the circumftances, which the court 
 of Spain was in at that period, efcape their fagacity ? 
 
 From the time of the acceflion of the king of Spain to the 
 quadruple alliance, the whole management of the court of 
 Madrid had been left to the duke of Orleans and his cardi- 
 nal Du Bois ; and if we were drawn into the treaty made at 
 Madrid in 1721, by this prince and his miniftcr, as I verily 
 believe we were, it is eafy to fee who was thanked for this 
 by the Spaniards, and how watchful France hath conftantly 
 been to feize and improve every occafion of rendring our title 
 to Gibraltar difputable, and of wrefting this important p'ace 
 out of our hands. We came then into the congrefs of Cambray 
 joint mediators with the French, between the emperor and 
 the king of Spain, but not with equal advantage ; not witij an 
 equal fhare in the confidence of one of the parties ; and wick 
 our fhare in the confidence of the other, pcrliaps, a little 
 diminished : for it is not unlikelv that the private treaty, made 
 at Madrid with the king of Spain, whilil: we were mediators 
 at Cambray between him and the emperor, might give um- 
 brage at leaft to the latter. I know not whether this ftep did 
 not even occafion fome complaint, tho not in form perhaps, 
 from the imperial miniilcrs. 
 
 Vol. L E c In
 
 2IO A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 In this (late of things, and in this dirpoiition of all parties, 
 what could it be imagined that the Spaniards fhould turn 
 themfeives to, on the forefight of a rupture of all intimacy, 
 and even correfpondence with France? Could they refolve to 
 leave themftlves without any ally Vv^ith fo many enemies, and 
 with their interells ftill unadjufted ? Could they refolve to run 
 the rifque, in this condition, ot falling back into a flate of 
 war, when they were about to purchafe peace at a price which 
 they thought fo dear ? Could they refolve to abandon them- 
 feives intirely to Great Britain, who had hitherto fliewn fo 
 much partiality to the emperor, flill their enemy, and whofe 
 principal iiitercourfe with them had been managed hitherto by 
 France, to whom they expected foon to become enemies ? 
 Certainly they could not refolve upon this, even as 1 have 
 fiated the cafe ; much lefs could they do fo, if they had fuch 
 an inveterate rancor at heart, as Publicola reprefents. What 
 then could our minifters imagine the Spaniards fKould do upon 
 a forefight of the infanta's being fent back, and by confe- 
 quence of breaking with France ? I will venture to fay, for it 
 is plain and evident, that if they thought any thing on this 
 affair, they mufl: think the very thing which the Spaniards 
 did. The Spaniards began to treat at Vienna, that they mighi: 
 prepare for theworft; and they delayed concluding their 
 treaty, till what they feared happened. Give me leave to 
 add, that it was eafy to fee that, whenever the minifters of 
 Philip and the Imperialifls fliould come to examine their 
 mafter's interefl: together, they would foon find thefe interefts 
 not fo hard to reconcile, nor their want of mediators fo great, 
 as they had imagined, whilft rivalfhip and pique kept them 
 at a diftance ; and that there were men of great weight in the 
 emperor's court, whofe private interefl muft render them par- 
 ticularly zealous to promote this union. All this happened ; 
 and it affords a pregnant ioflance of what I faid above, that 
 
 ixrafoa
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 211 
 
 reafon of ftate will determine the condu6t of princes, not old 
 ftale refentments. 
 
 From what hath been thus ftated I defire to make fomc 
 inferences, and to recommend them to Publicola's conside- 
 ration . 
 
 First then, It appears more ridiculous than ever to talk 
 of the promife of Gibraltar, and the lofs of their fleet as lying 
 at the hearts of the Spaniards, and breaking out upon this oc- 
 caijion. Neither muft it be faid abfolutely, that our refufing 
 the fole mediation at Cambray threw Spain into the arms of 
 the emperor. In what refpedl this ftep might contribute to it, 
 will be faid prefently. But the principal and determining 
 caufe of Spain's uniting fo clofely with the emperor, was the 
 lending back the infanta. 
 
 Secondly, However fudden the immediate refolution for 
 the departure of this princefs from France might be ; yet this 
 defign had been long in agitation ; fo long, that the fufpicion 
 of it had been entertained by the Spaniards, and was even 
 publicly owned by their minillers very many months before 
 they fent their full powers for carrying on a treaty at Vienna. 
 
 Thirdly, There was furely, in the whole progrefs of this 
 affair, notice enough to alarm any reafonable men, and time 
 enough to prepare for the confequences of a breach between 
 France and Spain. During the life of the duke of Orleans, 
 he had, and it could not well be othcrwife, the chief credit 
 at Madrid. But it was obvious enoiigh that, by fcndirg back 
 the infanta, his fucceffor would furnifh us Vvith a fair op- 
 portunity of attempting at leaft to get between France and 
 Spain, as France had flood between Spain and us, and of 
 
 E e 2 main-
 
 212 A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 maintaining ourfelves in that poft. This indeed was an oli- 
 jedlof the utmofl: importance, which deferved more than all 
 our negotiations have coft us, and which i4: is not impoHible 
 mio"ht have been accompliined for lefs. Whenever it fliall ap- 
 pear that we took all the meafures in our power, in a proper 
 manner and at a proper time, for this great end, infinite honor 
 will accrue to our miniflers without difpute. 
 
 Fourthly, If we had been as much prepared as one would 
 think we might in fo many months have been, we fliould have 
 had fome great advantages, which, if we were unprepared for 
 thefe events, and even furprifed at them, it was impoilible 
 we fhould reap. 
 
 The fole mediation could not indeed have been {boner of- 
 fered than it was ; becaufe it cculd not be offered till Spain 
 hid broke with France, and then it was offered to us. Nay, 
 if it had been offered fooner, I agree that we could not have 
 accepted it fooner, for reafons of policy and even of decency. 
 But if we had been prepared for thefe events, we might have 
 ftruck a great ftroke, as the generality of the world thought, 
 and continue to think, by accepting the mediation in form, 
 as foon as it was offered- In the cafe fuppofed of preparatory 
 meafures taken by us, on a forefight of fuch a conjundure, it 
 is probable that Spain would not have been extravagant enough, 
 to precipitate fo bad a bargain as fhe made for herfeT in the 
 Vienna treaty. Having no mediator nor even ally, fhe was 
 under a neceflity of granting almofl: any terms to the emperor, 
 provided fhe fecured the main points which fhe had in view. 
 But, fure of our fupport, and fKe might have had aflurances 
 fufficient for her to depend upon, it is impoffible to think fhe 
 would have carried her conceffions farther than fhe needed to 
 have done. In this cafe none of thofe engagements, which 
 
 were
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 213 
 
 were talked of, but which have never yet appeared fo injurious 
 to Britain, could have been taken ; and we might have had 
 perhaps the latisfadtion of feeing the peace of Europe confum- 
 mared by the reconciHation of two princes, the adjuftment of 
 vvhofe intcrclls had been fo long our care, and whofe union 
 is, without doubt, in general, and unlcfs fome particular cir- 
 cumftances of a very extraordinary nature hinder it, the com- 
 mon advantage of all thofe who deiire to fee a balance of 
 power prcfcrved in the weftern world. But I go farther. I 
 will fuppofc that we had not been able to foften Spain ; or that 
 we had not attempted it, which perhaps was the cafe; that 
 Spain looked on us with a jealous, and even a revengeful eye; 
 and in fliort that the mediation was offered to us, without any 
 defign that we fhould concern ourfelves in it, and purely for 
 form fake; yet furely, even in this cafe, fome advantage might 
 have been taken by our immediate acceptance of it. Our con- 
 dud:, at leaft, would have been free from any objcdion, and 
 Spain and the emperor would have been left without any color 
 of excufe. Might not fuch a ftep have retarded the conclu- 
 fion of this famous treaty ? Might not time have been gained ; 
 and would not the leaft time, in this cafe, have been of the 
 greatefi: moment to us ? 
 
 Fifthly, When the mediation was offered us, we could not 
 know how foon the treaty would be figned. It cannot be pre- 
 tended that we did. Our refufal of it therefore muft have 
 been grounded purely on thefe two confiderations, fo often 
 urged in defence of this meafure, that the Spaniards were our 
 inveterate enemies, and that we were in alliance with the 
 French, What is meant by being in alliance with the French, 
 and making this a diftindion between our relation to them and 
 our relation to the Spaniards, I am at a lofs to find. We were 
 furely in alliance with one nation, as well as the other, from 
 
 2 the
 
 214 ANANSWERTO 
 
 the moment the king of Spain acceded to the quadruple al- 
 liance, and the matters ftill unfeitled at Cambray were foldy 
 relative to him and to the emperor. If it be meant that we 
 thought the French our friends, and knew that the Spaniards 
 waited only for a pretended occafion to break out into enmity 
 with us, I think this reafon will prove the very contrary of 
 what it is advanced to prove. Did we fufpetl that fomething 
 contrary to our intereft, fomething dangerous to us, was work- 
 ing up in the negotiation of Vienna ; and did we for this very 
 reafon decHne an opportunity of coming at fome knowledge 
 of what was in agitation there? did we, for this very reafon, 
 refufe the bed means we could have hoped for, of keeping our 
 anticnt friendfliip with the imperial court, and of being in a 
 condition to check the court of Spain ? Such arguments as thefe 
 will not pafs; and whoever produces them hath too mean an 
 opir»ion of the reft ot mankind, and too prefumptuous an 
 opinion of his own fufBciency. On the part of France, no 
 objeftion could have been m.ade to us, if we had accepted this 
 mediation: for either the points to be mediated upon were 
 pure trifles ; fuch as the titles, and other matters of as little 
 weight, referred to the congrefs of Cambray ; in which cafe 
 our accepting the fole mediation muft have been quite indif- 
 ferent to the French : or thefe points were of moment to the 
 general intereft ; and in this cafe, the French ought to have 
 defired that we fhould continue in the mediation, for the fame 
 reafons which ought to have determined us to do fo. If the 
 friendfliip and confidence between us and the French was not 
 fo Vuid: as it hath been reprefented, they did not deferve the 
 compliment we made them. If this friendlliip and confidence 
 were fo- ftrifi, they might and they would have truftcd us 
 with pleafure. Every one knows how concerned and alarmed 
 the French were. at the, refentment which the king of Spain 
 iliewed on this- occaflon. Their firft care was to try all pollible 
 
 means
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 215 
 
 meani of pacilying him. If we could have been one of thefe 
 means, their obligations to, and their confidence in ns mufl: 
 have increafed. We might have treated for tliem, when they 
 could not treat for thcmfelves.- Inftead of t'lis, by dint of 
 management, v/c fo difpcfcd affairs, that the French in a Hiort 
 time treated lor us with the emperor and the king of Spain, 
 with whom we could not treat for ourfelves. 
 
 The lafl inference I fhall make, from all that hath been 
 faid, is this. As fending back the infanta was the certain 
 and immediate caufe of throwing Spain into the arms of the 
 emperor ; fo our refufal of the lole mediation may jbflly be 
 * deemed an acceffory caufe of it. This refufal might give oc- 
 cafion to carry the engagements of thefe two princes farther 
 than it was for our intereft that they fhould go. At leaft, our 
 acceptance of it was the fole, probable meafure, in that in- 
 il:ant, of preventing fuch engagements ; for this union of the 
 emperor and the king of Spain is not, in itfelf, fo terrible. 
 Spain might be as well, nay better for us and for all Europe, 
 in the arms of the emperor than of France; and if this union 
 is become formidable to us, we may thank for it our own ma- 
 nagement, through a long feries of bufinefs, and through di- 
 vers revolutions of affairs ; our too much negleft of Spain; our 
 too much dependence on France ; our being, upon all occa- 
 fions, indefatigably bufy about the interefls of other people, 
 and leaving to other people the conduft of our own ; of which 
 furely a more ftrange example cannot be imagined than that 
 which is before our eyes. We would not attempt, nay we 
 would not confent to be mediators, when we ftocd in that 
 charader, and could ftand in no other, notwithftanding all 
 the reafons for it in that nice conjun(3;ure. Such was our de- 
 licacy. But we have admitted and (may be I be allowed ta 
 fay fo ?j we have courted France to adl as mediator, where fhe
 
 2i6 A N A N S W E R TO 
 
 is a party ; for France is a party to the treaty of Hanover ; 
 and the treaty of Hanover, with the treaty of Vienna, give 
 occafion jointly to the congrefs of Soiffons, and all the prefent 
 negotiations. 
 
 That France is a party in our quarrel, we have been often 
 told ; and that flie would ad as fuch, we have been often af- 
 fured. She was to make befieging Gibraltar a Cafus Faederis. 
 She was to march an army into Roufillon. What was fLe not 
 to do ? — But we have feen her a<Et hitherto no part but that of 
 a mediator ; a common friend ; but unconcerned in the 
 quarrel. No good effedl hath yet appeared, even from her 
 offices as mediator. If, by thefe offices, fhe hath kept us from 
 ading for ourfelves, and made us prefer a precarious depen- 
 dence to a vigorous war, I am fure the effi^d of her ading in 
 this charader hath been a bad one for Britain. 
 
 Nothing can be more plain than that chain of caufes and 
 effeds, which hath draged us into our prefent difficulties ; and 
 as thefe difficulties increafed, the obftinacy of Spain muft of 
 courfe increafe Hkewife. If that court had never thought of 
 getting Gibraltar out of our hands, the ftate we brought our- 
 felves into was fufficient to fuggeft the defign to them. When 
 once Spain had purchafed the emperor's alliance, (1 may ufe 
 this expreffion, the treaty of Vienna will juftify it) fhe might 
 flatter herfelf that he would adhere to her, even in unreafon- 
 able expedations, fince he had no more to exped from us, 
 and had fo much to receive from her. As foon as we had 
 fagely declined having to do with her, or for her, unlefs in 
 concert with France, with whom fhe would have no- 
 thing to do at that time, France employed all poffible means 
 to be reconciled to her. Intrigues of every fort, ecclefiafHcal 
 and fecular, were fet on foot. They fucceeded j and Spain
 
 TFIE LONDON JOURNAL. 217 
 
 faw (he had nothing to apprchcnJ. What (he had to hope, I 
 determine not, from this party to the Hanover treaty. The 
 other princes and ftates, who acceded to this treaty, acceded 
 in fuch a manner, as it is eafy to prove, if Publicola fl^iould 
 think, fit to deny it, that wc could have little to hope and 
 Spain little to apprehend from their cngagementSj in her dif- 
 putes with us about our immediate intcrefts. 
 
 All other powers foftened towards each other by degrees ; 
 ancf by degrees we got deeper into the quarrel. Spain, from 
 having no ally, came to have many; fome more, fome lefs to 
 be depended on; none to be feared. From having a multi- 
 tude of difputcs, flie came to have none, except with us. We, 
 on the other hand, from having none of our intcrefts in dif- 
 pute, are come to fee hardly any others in controverfy. From 
 feeling ourfelves backed by feveral a'lies, we are come, at leaft 
 in the points of diredl relation to us, to have in effect: no ally 
 but one; and with that one we own that we are diiHitisfied ; 
 nay we own that we are afraid of him. The writer, I am anfwer- 
 ing, infinuates both; nay, he does it almoll: in exprefs words. 
 He complains of the indifference of France in fupport of our 
 interefts ; and of the danger of engaging in a war, in con- 
 cert with France. Who would have thought it, Mr. D'An- 
 VERS ? Here is the London Journal contradicting the Enquiry^ 
 and I am able to point out tq you many grofs inflances ot his 
 doing the fame thing. Here is Publicola accounting for our 
 prefcnt difficulties, now they are come upon us, by the very 
 arguments which were urged againft the Hanover treaty, and 
 which proved that the natural confequence of that treaty 
 was juft what the event hath fhevvn it to be. Thofe who 
 wrote againfl: the Enquiry foretold what would happen. Pu- 
 blicola juflilies the miniAry, by complaining that it hath, 
 happened ! 
 
 Vol. L F f I will
 
 2i8 ANANSWERTO 
 
 I WILL mention but one inftance more of this kind; and 
 that fhallbewith relation to the Oftend company. "The grand 
 *' quarrel, fiys Publicola, was between us and Spain. The 
 " Oftend trade, about which fuch a noife hath been made, was 
 " more the concern of our neighbors, both by treaty and in- 
 «' tereft, than our own."— Now I vv'ill leave the world to decide 
 by whom all this noife about the Oftend trade hath been made. 
 Did not you, Mr. D'Anvers, and feveral other writers, 
 maintain that this company was of but little concern to us, in 
 oppofition to the whole party on the contrary fide, who took 
 all poflible pains, both within doors and without, to prove 
 that the Oftend trade was a point of the utmoft: concern to 
 Britain, and even equal to Gibraltar itfclf? Nay, the author of 
 the Enauiry, who hath now the mortification to fee himfelf 
 oiven up, in every material article, by both parties; even by 
 thofe who fet him to work, goes fo far, p. 57. of that 
 memoiable performance, as to aftert that Gibraltar would be 
 of no importance to us, if the Oftend company ftiould be fuf- 
 ft-red to fubfift ; and having labored that point, with all his 
 flrenoth, for no lefs than twenty pages together, concludes it 
 thus: " That not only our own Eaft and Weft India trade, and 
 *' that of the Dutch, will be ruined by the Oftend company, 
 *' which will be the immediate eifed of it, or rather is fo al- 
 " ready in fom£ degree, hut alfo that the contagion will fpread 
 " to many other branches of the Britifti and Dutch trade ; 
 *' and convey along with it the riches, the ft:rength and the 
 " naval power to the fame Spanifti Netherlands. 
 
 *' But were it fo that Holland alone would be the fufferer 
 *' by the Oftcud trade, which is far from being the cafe, yet 
 *' the ruin of Holland muft carry along with it, in the end, 
 <' the ruin of Britain." 
 
 Such
 
 THE LONDON JOURNAL. 219 
 
 Such abfurdities as thefc would provoke merriment in a cafe 
 of lefs confequcncc ; but they provoke indignation in a cafe 
 where the honor and intcrc/l ot our king and country arc fo 
 deeply concerned. 
 
 In ^o this ftate were our foreign affairs brought, when his 
 prelent majefty came to the crown. 1 mention this the rather, 
 becaufe they, who now think it for their intereft to date the 
 rife of all this mifchicf fo much backwarder than it can con- 
 iillently with truth be dated, may poffibly find it for their in- 
 tereft hereafter, if new and almoft unavoidable difficulties 
 fhould come up.-n us, in confequence of what they have done 
 in a former reign, to date the rife of them as much too for- 
 ward. Let it tlien be remembered that all which hath hap- 
 pened in this reign, is no more than a prolongation of the 
 fame fcene. The great fcenes of the world are not to be fliift- 
 ed at our pleafure. They mufi: be continued fometimes, when 
 we are convinced the moll that they are weakly framed. Op- 
 portunities mufi: be waited for, and we trull; they will happen. 
 We are fure they will be improved by the capacity, the vigor, 
 the experience and valor of our augufl: monarch. A feafon- 
 able and powerful effort hath often broke through the moft com- 
 plicated evils. A word hath often effefted what the moft te- 
 dious negotiations, fuch as we have been accuftomed to, could . 
 never have brought about. 
 
 I HAVE now done with Mr. Publicola for this time; and 
 I hope for good and all. If my letter is grown into a greater 
 length than I defigned, tliis hath been owing principally to an 
 earneft dcfire of fetting thefe matters (fo often and fo qrofly 
 mifreprefented) in a jufl and clear light. I have advan.cd no 
 fads but fuch as are of public notoriety, fuch as I know to 
 be true, and fuck as I do verily believe to be fj, upon fuch 
 
 F f 2 grounds
 
 220 A N A N S W E R T O &c. 
 
 jTiounds as reafonable men have always thought fufficient to 
 conftitute, in cafes of this nature, the higheft probabiUty. I have 
 endeavored to pufli no confequence, nor to ftrain any argu- 
 ment farther than I judged it would evidently bear; for what- 
 ever PuBLicoLA may think, which concerns me little, I afTure 
 you, Mr> D'Anvers, that I would not have given myfelf this 
 trouble, fmall as it is, of anfwering him for any other reafon 
 but this ; that, in order to get well out of our prefent diffi- 
 culties and dangers, it is necelfary to know truly how we came 
 into them ; and that he therefore, who contributes to dilpel from 
 before the eyes of mankind thofe mifts of error which are fb 
 induftriouily raifed at this time, does fome fervice to his king 
 and his country. 
 
 I am, Sir, &c. 
 
 JOHN TROT. 
 
 A N
 
 A N 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 DEFENCE 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 E N QJJ I R Y into the Reafons of the 
 Condudl of Great Britain, ?cc. 
 
 In a Letter to Caleb D'Anvers, Efq;
 
 A N 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 Defence of the Enquiry into the Reafons of 
 the Conduit of Great Britain, &c. 
 
 s I R, 
 
 As foon as I heard that the author of the * Enquiry 
 had condefcended to take notice of a Letter which 
 , you thought fit to publifli in your journal of the 
 fourth of January laft, I refolved to make my acknowledg- 
 ments to him for fo great an honor, and to defire you to con- 
 vey them into the world. This duty fhould Iiave been dif- 
 
 - * The following was the motto to this Anfwer to the Defence, &c. viz. " Nor 
 can we conceive a more abjedl fervility of conduft, than for {:>eopIe, fo ion" 
 famed for commerce and bravery, to fee their darling good, and their peculiar 
 glory, the pledge of their liberty, and life of all their property, juft goin"- to 
 be forcibly and uniighteotifly torn from them; and tamely to look on without 
 one ftruggle for fo great a bicfling, or one hearty effort aguinif the invaders of 
 it. What can we become, if we give our confent to fuch ruin by our own fu- 
 pine indolence and infenfibility, and iuffcr ourfelves to be fhipt of our boafted 
 ilrcngth and ornament at once, but a nation, the molt defpicable of all nations 
 under heaven ; expofed to the contempt and infults of the world about us here 
 below, and rendered utterly unworthy, by our own condudf, of the care of 
 providence above us ?" Enquiry, p. 86. 
 
 charscd
 
 224- AN A N S W E R T O THE 
 
 charged immediately, if I had not been diverted from it hy 
 avocations of a very different nature ; and if I Iiad not ob- 
 ferved, on a review of the prefent difpofitions, that there was 
 no reafoa in force to make a very fpeedy reply neceiTary. What 
 I am going to fay now will, I think, juftify me for what I 
 have faid already, in the opinion of mankind ; and at leafl 
 in the fecret thoughts even of the author and defender of the 
 Enquiry : and as this effeft of the little additional trouble I 
 am about to give myfelf is the principal, nay, the fole good 
 one which 1 dare exped, we are in time for that ; and by 
 confequence I fliall not lofe my labor by my delay. 
 
 This author hath thrown feveral matters in my way, to- 
 which it is proper I fliould fay fomething before I enter into 
 that which is ftridly the fubjedl of our prefent difpute. 
 
 He declares upon this occafion, with all pofTible feriouf- 
 nefs, that " he hath not writ, or didated, or advanced, or, 
 *' direftly or indiredly, had the leaft part in the writing or 
 *' publifhing any paper, which hath appeared in the world, in 
 ** any form, from the time of writing the Enquiry, and from 
 «' fome time before that, to the twentieth of January 1728-9."' 
 He makes this declaration, " and for that fpace of time, parti- 
 *' cularly with a view to papers printed in the London Journal; 
 *' in all which he hath been utterly unconcerned either diredly 
 " or indiredly." 
 
 Far be it from me to queftion the truth of fo folemn a de- 
 claration. I give entire credit to it; and I freely own that he 
 hath reafon to complain of me for inlinuating, at leafl:, that 
 he hid a hand in the London Journals, The little fhare I have 
 had in the paper war hath not given me many opportunities of 
 knowing the combatants ; and the produdions on one iide, 
 
 2 gave
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQJJIRY, 6cc. 225 
 
 gave me little curiofity to enquire after tlie authors of them. 
 But I found it univerfaliy afHrmcd, and no where contradid- 
 ed, that this gentleman had a hand in tlie weekly papers jull 
 mentioned. The pcrfons who recommended thefe papers, 
 countenanced the opinion; and were glad, perhaps, that fo 
 conilderable a name (hoiild give them an authority which 
 might fupply whatever clfe they wanted. Nay, I found 
 amongfl: thofe, who were acquainted with this author, and 
 who profefs a particular regard for him, fome who were 
 angry at him on this very account; fome who were forry for 
 him ; but none who doubted the truth of the fad:. What 
 may have given occaiion to fo general a concurrence, he can 
 beft tell. I urge thefe circumftances only to fliew, how I was 
 led into an error. It was indeed error, not malice. But ftill 
 I think myfelf obliged to take this occasion of afking his par^ 
 don ; and I do it with all poiTible ferioufnefs, as he made 
 his declaration, and from the bottom of my heart ; becaufe 
 I am as much convinced, that he neither abetted, encouraged, 
 nor paid the authors of thefe papers, as I am that he was not 
 himfelf the author of them. 
 
 It cannot be imputed to me, that I have any thing to an- 
 fwer for, on account of the perfonal feverities which this au- 
 thor, in a very pathetic manner, complains of. We muft ac- 
 knowledge, and we ought to lament, that our public papers have 
 abounded in fcurrility. One would be tempted to imag'ne, 
 that the Saturnalia were held all the year round in Britain , for 
 thofe who can do nothing but rail, have had their encou- 
 ragements to write; and I am perfuadcd that this gentleman's 
 candor will oblige him to confefs, that nothing but a thorough 
 contempt hinders complaints from being made againfl: the wri- 
 ters of his own fide, much better grounded and fupportcd by 
 much ftronger inftances, than he can produce againft the wri- 
 
 . Vol. I. G g ters
 
 226 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 ters of the oppofitcfide, in his own, or in any other cafe. 
 For my part, i fliould be extremely forry to have it faid of 
 me, with truth, that I had railed at any author, inftead of 
 anfwering, or even in anfwering his book ; and lefs than any 
 would I be guilty of this crime, for fuch it is, towards one 
 who defends, with fo much uniformity of conduct, the liberty 
 of the prefs, that corner-flone of public liberty. Fie who 
 will fupport what hurts himfelf, becaufe he thinks it the fup- 
 port of the whole liberty we enjoy, fhall meet with nothing 
 from me but that which he deferves from all mankind, the 
 utmoft refpedf, whenever he leaves me the power of flievving 
 it, confiftently with the regard I owe to truth, and to my own 
 necelTary defence. 
 
 He will not, I hope, think it inconfiftent with this rcfpe<5l 
 for his perfon, or with that which I have for fome of his 
 writings, if I cannot bring myfelf up to have the fame for 
 his " inquiry into the reafonsof the conduct of Great Britain ;" 
 or for his " Defence of this Enquiry." He appears to have a pa- 
 ternal fondnefs for the firfl; of thefe treatifes, which amounts 
 even to a partiality ; the more furprifing, becaufe it is found 
 in one who can boaft fo numerous and fo fur an offspring, 
 i fhould not have attempted to draw him out of r.n error, 
 which he feems to indulge with fo great a fatisfadion, if he 
 had not made it neceffary for me. Since he hath done fo, 1 
 will offer fome obfervations on the Enquiry itfelf, before I 
 come to the Defence. 
 
 The circumftance upon which he fcerns to triumph a 
 little, (that the Enquiry was not anfwered) he will permit me 
 to fay is often a very equivocal proof of the merit of a book. 
 The fime mouths, it feems, which pronounced the Enquiry to 
 be a mean and defpicable performance, " have more than 
 
 " once
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQ^UIRY, &c. 227 
 
 *' once exprcfTcd in print their earncfi: dcfire that fome able 
 " hand would anfwer it." From what mouths he took this, 
 I know not. But furely the teflimony of thofe v/ho dcfircd 
 fome able hand would anfwer what they judged to he mean 
 and defpicable, is an odd teftimony for him to quote ; fmce 
 it could proceed from nothing but a defign to ridicule him. 
 
 Tho the Enquiry was not anfwcrcd in form, yet I believe 
 that fevcral, perhaps all, the points on which his fyftem leaned, 
 were occafionally examined, and fufficiently refuted by you, 
 iMr. D'Anvers, and by others. If no more was done 1 take 
 the reafon to have been plainly this. The miniflerial air of 
 authority and information, affumcd in it, made even thofe, on 
 whom this air did not impofe, judge that it was prudent to 
 wait till time and events fhould open the fcene a little more ; 
 and as the fcene opened, they perceived that the Enquiry was 
 daily anfwered, in the moft ei^edual m,anner, to their hands; 
 fo that the author might have waited all his life, perhaps, for 
 fomething more of this fort, if he had not thought fit to feize 
 an opportunity of defending it, not more worthy liis notice, 
 than feveral others before given him ; and if mv refpc^t for 
 him, and my defire to fland fair in his opinion had not de- 
 termined me to make him a reply. 
 
 As to the effed: of the Enquiry, which he thinks fo confi- 
 derable, that it " awakened multitudes out of a dull and 
 <' languid ftate into life and vigor ; and that it was not found 
 " to procure flumbers either to thofe who liked it, or to thofe 
 " who didikcd it ;" 1, who was moft certainly one of thofe 
 who either liked or diiliktd it, can affirm with the greateft 
 truth, that if it did not procure me {lumbers, it did not keep 
 me awake. Some of the fadls advanced in it were ftrange 
 and furprifmg; but then they were deftitute of any proof, 
 
 G g 2 except
 
 228 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 except the ftrong affirmations of the author, and colledions of 
 circumftances fo extremely trivial, that they became burlefque 
 as foon as they were ferioiifly applied. A bare expofition of 
 any real danger from the pretender would have waked multi- 
 tudes into life and vigor, tho theEnquiry had never been written. 
 But 1 apprehend that fo may pages fpent on Wharton's ram- 
 bles, Ripperda's chit-chat, hear-fays of what one great man 
 writ concerning what another great man faid, three Mufco- 
 vite fhips coming to Spain, embarkations which were never 
 made, and armies which were never affembled, could have 
 no other effeft than to compofe multitudes into perfe6l tran- 
 quility, and to confirm the opinion of their fecurity on this ^ 
 head. Any furmifes of an engagement, on the emperor's 
 part, to affift Spain in the recovery of Gibraltar by force, could 
 provoke no indignation, whatever elfe it might provoke, nor 
 caufe any alarm. We knew Gibraltar to be impregnable to 
 the Spaniards, before Ripperda declared it to be fo; and 
 what affiftance the emperor could give them towards reducing 
 this place, unlefs he had in his fervice fome of Mr. Waller's 
 winged troops and Pegafean horfe, we were not able to dif- 
 cover. As to the emperor's real engagement in this article 
 towards Spain, and as to the engagements of Spain towards 
 the emperor, on the article of trading to the Weft-Indies, we 
 foon knew wliat they were; and with this knowledge our 
 alarm ceafcd. What was faid in the long difiertations, about 
 the Oftend company, caufed likewife little or no emotion in 
 us. Our intcrefc was plainly not that of principals, till the 
 Dutch had the addrefi to make us fo, by their acceflion to the 
 treaty of Hanover ; and the conduct of our own court, who 
 beheld, with fo much indifference, the rife and progrefs of 
 this company, had taught us to be indifferent about it. Thefe 
 confiderations, and many others which 1 omit, hindered the 
 Enquiry from having the ciic^i, which this gentleman's pa- 
 
 5 ternai
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQ^UIRY, &c. 229 
 
 ternal fondnefs makes him helie\e it had. The part, if I 
 may have leave to fay fo, was c er-a6tcd. But fiill I fee no 
 reafon that he has to be concerned, becaufe one way or other 
 the end of writing it was anfwercd. The Enquiry was the 
 booiv of a day, hke fome little animals on tlie hanks of the 
 river Hypanis, which came to life in the morning, fulfilled 
 all the ends of their creation, and died before night. 
 
 There is a point, on which the author and defender of 
 the Enquiry values himfelfand his book very much; i mean 
 the ftrid: regard to truth which he aflurcs us he obferved in 
 writing. Now, tho I am ready to agree that this author has 
 always a great regard to truth, yet I affirm that I could write 
 a book as big as the Enquiry, filled with nothing but demon- 
 ftrations of his errors in matters of fad. Too much confi- 
 dence in the informations he received, too much hafte in com- 
 pofing, and above all, that fire which is apt to over- heat the 
 imagination of polemical writers, muft have caufed thefe er- 
 rors. It is impoffible to account any other way, how a gentle- 
 man of nice honor, remarkable fincerity, and even exemplary 
 piety, inftead of making his propofitions conftantly the refult 
 of the evidence he found, upon a thorough examination, true, 
 fliould, through a whole book, have conftantly fuired his evi- 
 dence to a certain fet of propofitions ; and how fads and dates, 
 a^ ftubborn things as they are in the hands of other men, fliould 
 grow foft as wax under his touch. 
 
 But it is not my defign to enter into a difquifition of this 
 fort. It would fhew ill-nature, which 1 hope I have not ; and 
 it would be now of no ufe whatever. I mufi: however de- 
 fend myfelf, as unwilling as I am to offend him ; and there- 
 fore fince he contradidls what 1 faid, viz. that " he had been 
 *' given up in, every material article ot the Enquiry ;" I think 
 
 myfelf
 
 230 AN ANSWER TOTHE 
 
 obliged to prove it. " How eafy are fuch words as thefe," 
 jays our author, *' but how hard to fupport them ?" Now I 
 do affure him that thefe words, as far as they may be thought 
 harOi or impoUte, will at no time fall eafily from my ton ;ue 
 or pen ; but he will find that it is eafy for me, upon this oc- 
 cafion, to fupport them. I will confine myfelf to the four 
 threat points of danger, arifmg from the Vienna treaties, and 
 mentioned already. Let us iee whether he has been given up 
 in them or not. 
 
 According to the Enquiry, we were in danger of lofing 
 not only our Eaft and Weft-India trade, but many other 
 branches of the Britifh trade, by the privileges fuppofed to be 
 granted to the emperor's fubjefts, and from the enjoyment of 
 which privileges we are debarred. Nay, it was very ftrong- 
 ]y infinuated that even the ruin of Britain was involved m 
 this point. If this had been the cafe, and if the treaty of 
 Vienna had thus fettled the matter, there would have been 
 occafion for all the outcries which we meet with in the En- 
 quiry, and for ftill more. But our moft knowing merchants 
 gave up this point, as foon as they read and ccnfidercd the fe- 
 deral claufes ; and it is notorious, that the contrad:ing powers 
 declared, as foon as they heard of the objedion, that their 
 meaning was rot to give thefe privileges to the imperial- lub- 
 ledts above other nations ; and that they wou'd e-xplain the 
 text accordingly, if any ambiguity made it neceilaiy. But 
 in truth there was little or no ambiguity in the matter, except 
 what the reprefentations of it occafioned ; for without cnter- 
 in^y any deeper into it, let us obferve that the anfvvers which 
 this author gives to the objedlion, which he was forced, from 
 the not-^'riety of the thing, to make to himfelf, are evafive 
 and fallacious ; for fince the fame liberty of entering the Spa- 
 nifh ports in the Weft-Indies, in cafe of diftrefs by bad wea- 
 
 ther,
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQ^UIRY,&c. 231 
 
 tlier, or for refrcOimeiit, is granted to us by the treaty of 
 1670, as is granted to the imperial fubjedls by the treaty cf 
 Vienna, docs it follow that more is granted to them than to 
 us, becaufe the liberty granted to us hath ceafcd for many 
 vears ? It we have not made ufe ot the liberty, the fad: af- 
 firmed is nothing to the purpofe. li we have been denied it, 
 fuch denial is an infradion of the treaty of 1670, and proves 
 that we have had injuftice done us by the pradice of the Spa- 
 niards; but doth not help to prove that we have had any done 
 us by their concefllons to the emperor, with whom they may 
 keep this article, perhaps, as little as they have done with us, 
 and who is not likely to have the fame means of obliging them 
 to it as we have in our power, whenever we pleafe to employ 
 them. 
 
 How the eighth article of the treaty of Utrecht came to be 
 quoted, on this occaiion, is to me marvellous. That article 
 is made general to all nations ; but was particularly direded 
 againfl; the French, who, even at that time, continued to ob- 
 tain licences to fend fliips to trade in the South- Sea, as they had 
 done all the war. But the treaty of Utrecht confirms the 
 treaty of 1670; and the flipulation, that " no licence, or 
 <' any permiiiiion at all, fhall at any time be given to the French, 
 
 " or any other nation whatfoever to fail, traffic, &c. to 
 
 " the dominions fubjecl to the crown of Spain in America," 
 cannot furely be conflrued to deprive us of the right of going 
 into thofe parts, in the cafes allowed by the treaty of 1670. 
 This feems fo clear, that I may pronounce the gentleman given 
 up, on this head, by the moil: knowing merchants, and by 
 every man who can read and underlland what he reads. 
 
 But I may go farther; for it appears even from the fifth 
 article of the proviiionai treaty itfelf, which is faid to fecure 
 
 \19
 
 232 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 us from the dangerous engagements contained in the treaties 
 of Vienna, with relation to trade, that the king of Spain " never 
 '* underftood to grant, by the faid treaty, any privileges con- 
 " trary to the treaties confirmed above; nor to give to his im- 
 *' perial majefty any greater advantages than thofe enjoyed by 
 " other nations in their commerce; his imperial majefty adopt- 
 *' ing for his fubjeds the above-mentioned declaration, made in 
 *' the name of his catholic majefty." And it is very obferv^able 
 that this article feems to be inferted in the -treaty, merely upon 
 the furmifes of the minifters of France, Great-Britain and 
 Holland, who have pretended, as it is faid in the introduc- 
 tion to it, " that in the treaty of commerce, concluded at Vi- 
 *' enna on the firft of May, 1725 — there were divers claufes, 
 ** which clafhed with articles of feveral treaties of commerce, 
 <* anterior to the year 1725," &;c. 
 
 If therefore the natural fcnfe of the Vienna treaty itfelf, as 
 well as the declaration of their imperial and catholic majefties, 
 as foon as the cbjedion was firft ftarted, and their offer to re- 
 move any fuppofed ambiguity in this article of the Vienna 
 treaty, were not fufficient to fatisfy us ; what farther fatisfac- 
 tion fhali we receive by the provifional treaty, in cafe it (Lould 
 be accepted, which contains only the very fame declaration ? 
 
 But this hath been fufficiently explained already by your 
 
 correfpondent Raleigh. 
 
 As to the Oilend trade, he thinks that I myfelf cannot be 
 againft him, unlefs in the degreeof the importance of it. Now 
 this is the veiy point upon which he muft be given up, in 
 this cafe, if he is given up at all. I never heard that any man 
 was wild enough to affirm, that the trade carried on from 
 Oftend, Vv'as of no confequence whatever to us. But the 
 queflion is, whether that trade be of that degree of impor- 
 tance
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY,6cc. 233 
 
 tance to us, which he rcprcfcnts. He afks, " who of thofe I 
 "oppofehath declared again ft him in this ?" 1 anfvvcr, The very 
 perlon I quoted in the paiTage he had before his eyes, vvlien 
 he a^ked this queftion. He fays, in the Enquiry, " that our 
 " Eaft and VVeft-I;idia trade will be ruined by the Oftend com- 
 *' pany ; that they are fo already, in fome degree ; that the 
 " contagion will fpread to other branches; in ihort, that this 
 " trade will carry riches, firength, and naval power from us to 
 '' the Spanifh Netherlands." What fays Publroi.a? " The 
 " Oftend trade, about which fuch a noife hath been made," (he 
 muft mean by the enquirer, fince the enquirer made more 
 noife about it than all the other writers put tcjgether) " was more 
 " the concern of our neighbors, both by treaty and intereft, 
 *' than our own." I appeal now, in my turn ; and I appeal to 
 the enquirer himfelf Is not one of thefe reprefentations uiredlly 
 contrary to the other ? Does not Pubi.icola diminifli the 
 confequences of the Oftend trade to us, and treat it even 
 lightly ? Does not he magnify it, in the ftrongeft terms, and 
 make our all depend upon the obftrudlion of it ? Does not 
 PuBLicoLA, an author whom 1 oppofe, give him up ? 
 
 We are now come to the danger, much infifted upon in 
 the Enquiry % " of having Gibraltar wrefted out of our hands 
 *' by force, if it bepofTible, unlefs wewillbafely yield it up;" and 
 this danger is grounded on a fuppofed f mutual engagement 
 between the emperor and king of Spain, contained in a fecret 
 offenfive treaty. The writer of the Enquiry confcfles, *' that 
 *' the imperial refident read to fome of our minifters the words, 
 " which he faid were the contents of the article which his 
 " mafter had entered into, relating to Gibraltar ; the which 
 "implied, that his mafter had engaged to ufe his good offices 
 
 * Page c^-j. t Page 34, 35- 
 
 Vol. I. H h - *' for
 
 234 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 »' for the reftitution of Gibraltar." Now from hence, becaufe 
 this reiident read all that related to this point, and did not 
 iliew the whole treaty to us, any more than we thought our- 
 felves obliged to (lievv to the imperial minifters the treaties of 
 1721, which we made at Madrid with one of the parties 
 between whom we were at that time mediators, in the con- 
 ^refs at Cambray ; from hence, I fay, the writer I am anfwer- 
 ino- concludes that the truth of what he imputes to the emperor 
 flands confirmed : but this ofFenftve alliance hath appeared hi- 
 therto no where, except in his writings; and the article relat- 
 ing to Gibraltar, in the defenlive alliance between the emperor 
 and king of Spain, is furely as contrary as pofTible to all 
 that he hath advanced. By that article it appears, that the 
 Spaniards affirmed a promife on our part to reftore Gibraltar. 
 In conlideration of this promife, the emperor declares he will 
 not oppofe this reftitution, if it be made amicably ; that if it 
 be neceffiry, he will employ his good offices, and even his m.e- 
 diation, if the parties de/ire it. Till therefore the enquirer 
 can fhew another article between the contrafting powers in the 
 Vienna treaties, about Gibraltar, this mufl: be reputed the fole 
 article of that kind, and by conlequence a flat contradidion to 
 all that he hath faid on this occaflon ; fo that if his own 
 {ide do not give him up in this cafe, both they and he will be 
 criven up, I fear, in the opinion of every other man in Europe ; 
 to which I fhall add, iince the obfervation lies fairly in my 
 way, that every man, who knows any thing of the interefl of 
 Europe, knows it as much the intereft of the emperor, that 
 Britain fhould keep Gibraltar, as it is the intereft of one of our 
 allies, that we fhould lofe the pofl^eftion of this place; and yet 
 we have been taught, by fome profound ftatefmen, to appre- 
 hend the emperor's efforts to take it from us, and to rely cm 
 the affiftance of France to preferve it to us. 
 
 I HAVl
 
 DEFENCE OF THE E N Q^U I R Y, &c. 235 
 
 I HAVE refcrved to the lafl: the grcatclT: of all thofe dangers, 
 which are reprefented in the Enquiry ; and that is the danger 
 of the pretender. 
 
 It is there affirmed, * " that one cxprefs article of the al- 
 *' liance between the emperor and Spain, contained an obh- 
 *' gation in favor of the pretender, and a ftipulation to make 
 " the attempt for him in England, before opening the war in 
 " any other parts." Nay, this author was fo well informed 
 of all thefe proceedings, that he gives us the particular engage- 
 ments which the pretender, in return, took towards the em- 
 peror and Spain. All thefe things are aflerted in the ftrongeft 
 manner, as founded on *' pofitive intelligence ; on intelligence 
 *' from more than one perfon ; on undoubted intelligence, and 
 <' fuch as could be entirely depended on." Now I fufpe6l that 
 the enquirer would think me very impertinent, if I fliould 
 feem to queftion the authority of his intelligence ; and yet I 
 verily believe, that I have better reafons to do fo than he had 
 to depend upon it, when he writ the words I have quoted. 
 But we will wave faying any thing more on a point on which 
 it is proper for neither of us to fpeak plain. His good opinion 
 of the intelhgence communicated to him will not give it the 
 ftamp of infallibility; nor will my bad opinion deftroy its cre- 
 dit. The world will therefore judge, or rather has judged, 
 of the validity of what he does not explain, by the force or 
 weaknefs of the other circumftances which he enlarges upon ; 
 and by obferving whether the courfe of events hath juftified 
 this boafted intelligence or not. I have juft mentioned above 
 the chief of thefe circumftances ; and notvvithftanding the 
 great refpedt I have for this author, nothing fliall oblige me 
 to treat them more ferioully. 1 will fhew him, however, that 
 
 • Page 52. 
 
 H h 2 the
 
 236 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 the courfe of events hath deflroyed all the ufe he pretended to 
 make of thefe circumftances, and that it has contradicted, in- 
 ftead of confirming his intelligence. He fays, * " that the 
 *' vigorous refolutions taken, and the preparations and difpofi- 
 " tions made by Great Britain, fufpended the execution of 
 *' this defign. The Spaniards found themfelves obliged to 
 *' fend part of their fhips from Cadiz and St. Andero to the 
 
 " Weft-Indies, and the Mufcovite fhips returned home." 
 
 Very well 1 The event does not yet juflify the intelligence ; 
 but that is accounted for. The execution of the delign was 
 fufpended for the prefent. The delign went on then ; and 
 the preparations for an invafion by confequence. It muft have 
 been fo ; for we find in the Enquiry, f that the defign thus 
 fufpended was afterwards prevented by the appearance of a 
 Britifh fleet on the Spanifh coaft. Now let me defire you, 
 Mr. D'Anvers, to take the trouble of turning to Sir John 
 Jennings' letter, dated Augufi: 10, 1726, and made pub- 
 lic here ; in which you will find the Spaniards fo little pre- 
 pared to invade us, that when he came on their coaft, they 
 feemed to be in the greateft confternation, that all the troops 
 they could aflemble did not exceed three thoufand men, and 
 that- thefe were in very bad condition. 
 
 I ask now, is the intelligence of the enquirer, upon this 
 head, fupported by any thing but his own affirmation? Is it 
 not contradifted by the whole courfe of events ? Does there 
 appear the leaft' reafon to believe that he had a fure founda- 
 tion to build upon, when he made fuch bold aflertions, and 
 of fuch a nature ? The fecret ofFenfive treaty, which he talks 
 fo much of, has never appeared, nor any footf^eps of it ; and 
 many people are apt to believe that it never exifted any where 
 
 * Page 51. t Page ^y. 
 
 but
 
 DEFENCE OF THE E N Q_U I R Y, &c. 237 
 
 but in fome people's luxuriant fancy. Tiie fcveral treaties 
 made at Vienna in J 725, between the emperor and Spain, 
 have been Jong public ; and when it was obferved, lomc 
 where or other, that nothing was contained in thtm like what 
 the enquirer had afiertcd, the enquirer was given up. He was 
 faid to be miftaken. The article, in favor of the pretender, 
 was faid to be in fome other treaty ; and afterwards in no 
 formal treaty. It was not a treaty. It was an engagement. 
 This may be called, by fome ill-bred people, fhuffling: but 
 fure I am that it muft pafs for a dire6l giving up of this au- 
 thor; who will hnd, perhaps, if he pleafes to enquire into 
 the particulars of what pafled on this occafion, that the per- 
 fon who gave him thus up, had fome fliare in fetting him to 
 work. 
 
 After this, it is hardly worth notice, that the author of 
 the " Obfervations on the Conduct of Great-Britain" has given 
 him up likewife ; for the utmcft which this writer ventures 
 to fay, when he comes to fpeak of this engagement, afTerted 
 by the enquirer to be contained in an article of a treaty, is 
 this; " our apprehenlions were that there might be engagements 
 " in favor oi the pretender." Let the enquirer confider again, 
 whether I was in the wrong to advance, that he had been 
 given up, even by his own fide. 
 
 Having juftiiied what I prefumed to advance concerning; 
 the Enquiry, I come now to the Defence of it. 
 
 The gentleman begins this Defence by dating the cafe, fo^- 
 he calls it, as he did in the Enquiry ; and then he proceeds 
 to take notice of what hath followed fince the date of that 
 book ; that is to fay, he reprefents the matter in difpute, juft 
 as it fuits his purpofe; leaving out many things ncceOary to 
 
 fet
 
 238 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 fet the whole in a true light ; aflerting fome things, which 
 have been never proved ; and others, which I think never can 
 be proved; making what indnuations, drawing what conclu- 
 fions he thinks fit ; and in a word, begging the queftion in 
 ah-noft every hne. It is hard to conceive for what purpofe this 
 is done. The reafon given, 1 am fure, is not a good one ; 
 iince the principal fads and reafonings upon which the ftrength 
 of all that can be faid muft: be founded, are fo far from feem- 
 ing to be forgot, that they feem to be the only things remem- 
 bered, or thought of at this time, and are the common topicks 
 of almoft every converfation. There muft therefore be fome 
 other reafon for this method of proceeding ; and I can guefs 
 but one. This method may perhaps be thought proper to 
 -catch unwary readers, and to give a particular biafs to their 
 minds, with which they are to read and to judge of all that 
 follows. I could make ufe of the fame art ; and, without being 
 at much pains, draw up a ftate of the cafe very contrary to that 
 which he hath drawn, and at leaft as plaufible. But I think 
 the proceeding too unfair to copy after it. I have indeed no 
 reafon to do fo ; fince, very indifferent to all other confidera- 
 tions, I feek nothing in this difpute but the difcovery of the 
 truth : and therefore, as I will receive nothing but what is fup- 
 ported by the evidence of fad, and the force of argument, fo 
 I will not prefume to attempt impofing any thing, void of 
 both, upon others. Befides, this gentleman undertakes to 
 ^' confider what I have advanced, either againft any thing, in 
 " which he can be fuppofed to be concerned ; or upon any 
 " fubjed of debate, (ot this debate he means) which appears 
 •** to him to be of importance :" fo that if I am able to refute 
 all that he cbjeds to me, in the Defence of this Enquiry, I re- 
 fute all objedions, of any importance, to what I have faid in 
 my former letter to you ; and then I imagine that his ftate of 
 the cafe will do him no great honor, and his caufe little good. 
 
 The
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY, £cc. 239 
 
 The firft point on which I am attacked by the defender 
 of the Enquiry is, on the turn, Co he calls it, which I have 
 given to the very beginning of this whole fcene. He means 
 the Vienna alliance. 
 
 Let us fee therefore whether it is he or I, for one of us 
 may, perhaps, have done fo, who hath endeavored, in treat- 
 ing this fubjed, to turn every thing to the fervice of lonie 
 other caufe than that of truth. 
 
 In the Enquiry, he reprefented the Vienna alliance, as to 
 the manner, and as to the matter of it, to be one of the moft 
 aftoni/hing phaenomena which ever appeared in the political 
 world. What furprize to fee two princes, rivals almoft from 
 their infancy, '' two powers, that could hardly be kept within 
 " the bounds of common decency towards one another,, private- 
 " ly running into one another's arms," as he exprefles himlelf ? 
 What a furprize to fee the emperor abandon the mediation of 
 Great Britain and France; to the firft of whom he and his fa- 
 mily owed fo many obligations ; and to the lail: ot whom, in 
 conjunction with the firfl:, he owed the acquilition of Sicily, 
 and the other advantages of the quadruple alliance ? What a 
 furprize to fee Spain abandon this mediation, juft in the mo- 
 ment, as my adverfary has extremely well obferv^d, when the 
 interefts of the duke of Parma were in agitation; interefts. 
 which Spain had extremely at heart ; and in. the fupporting. 
 which, fhe had reafon to think herfelf fure of fuccefs againft 
 the emperor ; becaufe the mediators had taken ftcret engage- 
 ments with her to favor thefe interefls, by one of the treaties 
 made at Madrid in 1721 ? What a furprize to fee Spain do 
 this, and in doing it, not only forego the advantages which 
 tfe mediators had procured, and were to procure for her, in 
 many refpeds ; particularly, in that favorite point, the fuccef^ 
 
 fion
 
 240 AN ANSWERTO THE 
 
 iion of Don Cauos; but make fo bad a bargain for herfelf 
 at Vienna, that the emperor, according to this author, and 
 indeed I think according to the truth, " gained every thing, 
 '" and particularly the guaranty ©f his own luccellion ?" 
 
 All this, it mufl: be confcffed, appeared wonderful, and 
 excited a ilrong curiofity to know what were the fprings of fo 
 great, and, according to thefe reprefentations, fo fudden a re- 
 volution of counfcls and in'erefts. But here we were dropped. 
 The enquirer fpent much time, and took much pains to iliew 
 "S'hat did not occafion it ; but I have not obferved, that he 
 pretended to fhew what did j unlefs he meant, that we fhould 
 take, for caufes of it, thofe terrible deligns which he imputes 
 to the emperor and the king of Spain. Our miniflers, who 
 Teem t ) have forefeen fo little that France and Spain might 
 break, and that the negotiations then on foot might be 
 thrown into confufion, or take fome new courfe, by this rup- 
 ture, grew it feems prodigiouHy alert and fagacious afterwards. 
 They did not forefce what happened ; but they difcovered 
 flrange myfteries of iniquity concealed under this tranfadion, 
 when it had happened ; and thefe myfleries we find pom- 
 poufly un'olded in the Enquiry, with all the improvements 
 and embellishments which the author's luxuriant fancy could 
 beftow upon them. Now fuppofing thefe difcoveries to have 
 been real, the things fo difcovered can be looked upon no 
 othcrwife than as circumftances of the general meafure ; the 
 meafure, which the emperor and Spain took, of treating by 
 thcmfelves and for themfelves ; and therefore they wanted to 
 be accounted for as much as the meafure itfelf : but upon this 
 head, I fay, the en-quirer gave us no fatisfadion. Far from 
 explaining to us what might induce Spain to take fuch a refo- 
 hition, at that particular point of time, rather than at any 
 (Other, he did not afford us the leaft hint to guefs, why we 
 
 2 fhould
 
 DEFENCE OF TH E E N Q^U IR Y, &c. 24.1 
 
 fhoiild take it at all ; and yet fo ftrange an effed muft have 
 had fome very condderable caufe ; too confiderable certainly 
 to be abfoiutely a fecrct, and even beyond tho reach of con- 
 jecture. 
 
 This remarkable defcd was, I believe, felt by every per- 
 son who read the Enquiry ; and therefore in the progrefs of 
 the difpute, the writers of the fame fide thought it incum- 
 bent upon them to ailign fome caufe, which might appear 
 proportionable to fuch extraordinary effeds ; and which, at the 
 fame time, might not be inconliftent with what their great 
 mafter, the enquirer, had advanced. The tafk was not eafy ; 
 and indeed they have fucceeded accordingly. Some laid the 
 caufe of all in that inveterate rancor, which they fuppofed the 
 court of Spain to have conceived againft us, on two accounts; 
 the promife made by lord Stanhope about Gibraltar, and the 
 defeat of the Spanifli fleet in the Mediterranean. When this 
 was exploded, and I think it was fo as foon as examined, they 
 had recourfe to another fyftem ; a very ftrange one indeed : 
 for it declares that the emperor, France, and Great Britain, 
 the three contracting powers with Spain in the quadruple aU 
 liance, aded the moft perfidious part imaginable in that whole 
 proceeding ; fuch a part as FERDINA^D the catholic, or Lewis 
 the eleventh would have flartkd at. The fucceflion of Don 
 Carlos, was, it feems, * a point, which all the powers of 
 Europe ftrenuoufly oppofed; which the emperor, who had 
 already obtained his defires in the affair of Sicily, could not 
 be for ; to which the French were averfe ; which Great Bri- 
 tain had reafon to oppofe and prevent ; and which it was plain 
 that the Spaniards could never carry in a congrcfs, where every 
 party was an enemy to their intentions. SLircly nothing fo extra- 
 
 * Britifli Journal, Jan. 4. 
 
 Vol I, I i vagant, 
 
 o
 
 242 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 vacrant, nothing fo infolent as this was ever yet advanced ! If you, 
 Mr. D'Anvers, had prefumed even to insinuate any thing like 
 it, I beheve yoi4> would have been profecuted with all the feverity 
 poflible; and I am fure you would have been given up by all 
 your friends. Neither can I conceive how the enquirer, who is 
 fo zealous an aflertor of our honor in the obfervation of treaties, 
 could pafs by fuch an imputation as this, without darting his 
 thunder at the impious head who devifed the flander ; unlels 
 he thinks it an irremiflible fin to account for any thing in 
 contradidion to himfelf ; and a venial fault to accufe Great 
 Britain and France, as well as the emperor, of fomething worfe 
 than a violation of treaties ; even of making them with a de- 
 iign to break them ; and of obliging a prince, by long nego- 
 tiations, and by a war, to accept conditions, which they never 
 intended fhould be made good to him. 
 
 Amongst others, I prefumed, at laft, to account for this 
 great event upon principles which I believed to be true, not- 
 withftanding all that I read in the Enquiry; and which I ftill 
 believe to be true, notwithftanding all that is faid againft them, 
 in the defence of the Enquiry. 
 
 The defender begins with quoting two or three paffages, 
 which relate to the fending back the infanta, and the point of 
 the fole mediation, out of my letter to you ; and then, without 
 difproving the fa^ls, or fo much as mentioning the argument 
 grounded upon them, he pretends that the whole is hypothe- 
 tical ; and thinks it would be a full and fufficient reply to me, 
 to " frame a fcheme on the other fide, and to oppofe fuppofi- 
 " tion to fuppofition, and one arbitrary interpretation of ap- 
 ** pearances to another." After which he proceeds to frame fuch 
 a fcheme, partly on fadls, which he would have us believe 
 true, and partly, as he fays himfelf, from his own invention; 
 
 and
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUrRy,6cc. 243 
 
 and this he thinks proper to oppofe, in a ludicrous manner, to 
 the account I have given. 
 
 Now if it fliall appear, on examination, that I have built 
 upon undeniable fads, and have reafoned juO:ly, inftead of 
 building on fuppoiitions, and giving arbitrary interpretations 
 to ajjpearances, this author's fmartncfs will turn upon himfelf, 
 and, inftead of iliewing that I deferved no anfwer, he will only- 
 have iliewn that he was unable to give me a good one. 
 
 Let us enter into this examination. 
 
 I affirmed, and I do flill affirm, that from the death of the 
 duke ot Orleans, the Spanifli minifters were full of fears and 
 jealoufies about the completing the infanta's marriage with the 
 king of France. Neither do I find any thing urged in the 
 Defence of the Enquiry, to deftroy the credibility of this fa6l'. 
 Indeed, if it was proper to deicend into particulars of fo de- 
 licate a nature, it would not be at all difficult to demonftrate, 
 from a confjdcration of the change which was made in the 
 French miniflry, and of the difference of perfonal fituations, 
 interefts and views, that altho there never could have been 
 room for fuch fears and jealoufies as thefe, vi'hile the duke of 
 Orlfans had lived, yet there was great room for entertaining 
 them, under the admin iftration of his fucceffor. But this is 
 not all. Thele fears and jealoufies increafed and ftrengthencd 
 daily, in the minds oftheSpaniffi miniftcrs ; and if this author 
 pleafcs to enquire, I believe he will find, or elfe his prompters 
 deal very unfairly by him, that the delay and eXvufcs of the 
 court of France, about performing the ceremony of the Fian- 
 cialles, which Spain cxpeded fhou'd have been performed 
 foon after the time at which the duke of Orleans died, 
 confirmed, in the higheit degrecj the fufpicions already taken. 
 
 I i 3 The
 
 244 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 The ceremony of the Fiancialles would have fecured the mar- 
 riage. What other effed then could excufes and delays in this 
 affair produce, but that which 1 have mentioned ? 
 
 The Enquiry * fays, " that the refolution of the court of 
 *' France, relating to the infanta, did not come, no not in 
 <' fufpicion to Madrid, till March 8. N. S. 1724-5." If he 
 means the particular refolution of fending her back at fuch a 
 determinate time, that is nothing to the purpofe, how much 
 foever the affirmation might impofe, when it was made ule of 
 at firft, and before this matter had been fufficiently canvafled. 
 But if the refolution of fending the infanta back, at fome time 
 or other ; in plain tcrm.s, the refolution of not completing her 
 marriage with the king of France be meant : then, 1 fay, that I 
 might very juftly have fet this afiertion down in the lift of 
 thofe which are made in the book without a ftrift regard to 
 truth ; for it is undeniably true, that the Spanifh minifters m, 
 foreign courts, entertained this fufpicion above a year before 
 that time. It is equally true, that feveral months before that 
 time they fpoke of this raeafure, as a thing they expecfted ; 
 and I add, that feveral private perfons, at leaft, writ from Ma- 
 drid in the fame ftile, to their correfpondents in other coun- 
 tries. Of all this I am as fure, as I am fure I now hold a 
 pen in m^y hand ; or that a pamphlet, called " A Defence of 
 " the Enquiry," is now lying before me ; and therefore nei- 
 ther the authority of the Enquiry, nor any better authority 
 can perfuade me, that the fufpicion of a defign to fend the 
 infanta back from France, did not come to Madrid till March 
 1724-5 ; becaufe it would be abfurd to believe, that the mi- 
 nifters of that court were lefs informed or lefs jealous about 
 an affair of this importance, than private perfons; or that the 
 
 * Page I c 
 
 te'- 
 
 repeated
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY, £cc. 245 
 repeated advices, which mufl: have come from the Spanifh 
 minifters abroad, made no iniprciHon upon thole at home. 
 
 This fadl is, I think, pret:y well eftabHilied ; and the others 
 I am to mention will occalion no difpute. They are thcfe. The 
 Spaniards * iirf-1: took the refolution of throwing off the medi- 
 ation, and of treating at Vienna in November 1724 ; and Rip- 
 perda's full powers were figned, according to the Enquiry, on 
 the 2 2d ot that month; that is, about a year after the death 
 of the duke of Orleans. Soon after tJiis, the negotiation was 
 begun; but the treaties, in wliich it terminated, were not 
 iigned till the laftof April and the firft of May 1725. 
 
 These, I prefume, are fads, and not fuppofitions. Let 
 it now be conlidered how I argue upon them, and whether 
 my reafoning be nothing more than an arbitrary interpretatioa 
 of appearances, as the author of the Defence hath ra£hly pro- 
 nounced, but not ventured to attempt to prove. Tlie fum of 
 my argument is this. Since the Spaniards cxpeded that the in- 
 fanta would be, a little fooner or a little later, fent back from 
 France, they expeded to find themfelves, a little fooner, or a 
 httle later, obliged in honor to fhew a due refentment of this 
 affront, to fend back the princeffes of the houfe of Bourbon 
 from Spain, and to break off that correfpondence which had 
 fubfifted between the two courts, from Spain's accefllon to the 
 quadruple alliance, and Vv'hich had been io intimate, during 
 the hfe of the duke of Orleans. They could not forefee how 
 long this rupture might laft, becaufe they could not forefee 
 how foon a change would be made in the French miniftry, and 
 fatisfidlion be given them for this afiront ; but they could not 
 fail to forefee, that if this event lliould happen during the 
 
 * Enquiry, page 15, 
 
 congrefs
 
 246 AN ANSWERTO THE 
 
 congrefs of Cambray, fomething worfe than the affront would 
 follow, and they muft remain in the moft abandoned condi- 
 tion imaginable ; broke wirh one mediator ; not fure of the 
 other; the emperor in poffeill on of Sicily; and the reciprocal 
 condition, in favor of Don Carlos, not effe^^iually fecured 
 tw them. Thefe things are fo intimately and neceffarily tied 
 together, that 1 can as little difcover ho^^ it is pofTible to allow 
 the firil: 'a<3: which regards the fufpicions and expectations of 
 the Spaniards, and deny the confeqiiences which follow, as 
 1 can fee how it is pollible to contradict, with the ieaft ap- 
 pearance of reafon, a fad fo publicly known, fupported by 
 fo rnany circumflances, andjuftified byfo many conieqnences 
 as the firfl: is. The probable arguments empioyed in the De«» 
 fence, anu which, it may be pretended, wiU fcrve to prove 
 that tho the fa6t were true, and the fufpicion I have infiflied 
 on was entertained by the court of Madrid, yet that it did 
 not produce the effects of throwing Spain into the engagement 
 fhe took at Vienna, will be confidered prefently, 
 
 Thus far then, as we have a deduction of fadis, not of fup» 
 politions ; fo we have a thread of confequential arguments, 
 not a rhapfody of arbitrary interpretations of appearances. The 
 cale is fairly ftated, and no imaginary fcheme is offered to be 
 jrnpofed for truth. The probabiHty, which refults from this 
 ffate, js confirmed, and I think turned into certainty by the 
 event. By the ffate above-mentioned, it was probable that 
 Spain would take meafures, in time, againft the diffrefs to 
 which /he muft forefee that fhe flood expofed, Accordingly, 
 the Spaniards began to treat at Vienna before the Infanta was 
 fent from France, which U a facl al'owed on all hands, that 
 they might prepare for the wovh i and when J add, that they 
 (delayed concluding their treaty, or that the Qonclufion of their 
 
 treaty was delayed till what they feared happeriedj what do J 
 
 atfifm
 
 DEFENCE OF THE E N Q^U I R Y, &:c. 247 
 
 alTirni more than what my adverfary allows ? He had faid, at 
 firft, that the " treaty of peace was figned at Vienna, before 
 " what Spain feared irom France was known there." F]c has 
 correded that aflertion, and has faid, " that as the treaty of 
 " peace was agreed to at Vienna before what Spain feared from 
 " France was known at Vienna to have happened ; fo it was 
 '' figned before the refufal of Britain could be known there;" 
 that is, the refufal of the fole mediation. The iirft point then 
 is yielded to me. The Spaniards did not adually fign at 
 Vienna, till the news came thither, of the infanta's being 
 adually feat from France ; tho they had fettled and agreed 
 their terms with ■ the imperialifts, on the knowledge that fhe 
 would be fent away. On the fecond point, all that I urged, 
 as fad or argument, ftands in the fame force it did before ; 
 for I defire this author may not be indulged in a liberty I fhali 
 never take with him nor any one elfe, the liberty of carrying 
 my affirmations, by ftrained conftrudions, farther than the 
 plain and natural import of the terms 1 employ. 
 
 In oppolition to Publicola, I fhewed that the manner in 
 which he affirmed the treaty of Vienna to have been iigned 
 before the refufal of the mediation was known there, did not 
 refute Raleigh, on account of fome poffible circumflances 
 there mentioned. Now this author has been forced to leave 
 the proof, drawn from thofe poffible circumftances, jufl: as he 
 found it. " There is no proof," fays he, " but the bare pof- 
 " fibility here infifted on." I fay no more. The argumt-nt 
 is as ftrong againft him, as againft Publicola ; for even after 
 the advantages taken over Publicola, for not expreffing him- 
 felf clearly, this author has, for reafons eafy to be gueffcd, ex- 
 preffed himfelf in a manner liable to the fame objedion. *' The 
 *' peace was figned," he ftys, " before the refufal of Britain could 
 " be known." What 1 before it could be known by certain 
 
 and
 
 248 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 and direct intelligence, or before it could be known in form, 
 after the tedious round which this refolution was to take? 
 That is not explained ; and yet that was the fingle point on 
 which any thing could be faid to the purpofe. In fhort, we 
 purfued, with great fteadinefs, our wife maxims of neglecting 
 Spain, and of adhering clofely to France ; infomuch that thofe 
 who wifhed us no good, were perhaps heard, when they in- 
 finuated that, far from contributing to ward off a blow fb 
 much apprehended by Spain, we privately abetted France, in 
 her defign of breaking the match, and imagined by th 't mea- 
 fure, to eftablifli an irreconcilable quarrel between the two 
 courts The Spaniards, as well as the impefiaifis, had reafon 
 to believe, from our whole conduit, that we fhould not ac- 
 cept the Ible mediation, which had been offered to us ; and 
 was it then ftrange that the former, neglefted by us, provok- 
 ed by France, fliould prtfs the figning this treaty, without 
 waiting long for our anfwer ; or that the emperor, who got 
 fo much by the bargain, fliould confent to it? 
 
 FIaving been thus led to the affair of the fole mediation, 
 which I had hitherto omitted to fpeak of, in order to avoid 
 confuiion, I fliali confider it here, as far as this author has 
 made it neceffary for me. In my letter to you, Mr, iJ'AN- 
 VERs, I dwelt a good deal upon it. I placed it in every light, 
 and debated all the merits of the caufe, as well as I was able. 
 Now, if what I urged was abfurd and nothing to the purpofe, 
 this author fliould have ihewn, in general, that it did not de- 
 ferve a more particular anf.ver. If what I urged was clear and 
 ftrong, as fome people imagine it was, this author, who de- 
 clares himfelf, in every point, of a contrary opinion, fliould 
 have had the goodnefs to examine and refute my arguments. 
 Flow it happens I know not ; but this great mafter of polemi- 
 cal writing hath, in every inftance, upon this occaiion, avoided 
 
 to
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQJJIRY, &c. 249 
 
 to enter into the arguiiient. He hath dwelt on the outfide of 
 things, and hath generally cavilled at circumftanccs. 
 
 I HAVE jufl: now given a ftrong inftance of this; and I lay- 
 hold of the opportunity to tell this gentleman, that I am no 
 apologifl: for Spain, tho he endeavors to fix that charadlcr 
 upon mc by an innuendo, fo very fine, that I was for fomc 
 time at a lofs to find out his meaning. I neither founded to 
 arms againft the Spaniards, two years ago; nor am, at prefent, 
 an advocate for bearing their delays and their infuks. I nei- 
 ther aggravated, two years ago, the depredations and hoflilities 
 committed in the Weft-Indies by the Spaniards; *' " and thofe 
 *' violences, by which the whole commerce cf Jamaica hath 
 *' been well nigh deftroyed, and the trade of that ifiand re- 
 *' duced to a miferable condition;" nor do I now [oiten in their 
 favor, and call thefe outrages and lofTes by the gentle name 
 off " inconveniencies attending a ftatc of uncertainty." 
 
 But to return. Flaving given an inftance of this author's 
 cavilling at circumftanccs not material in the difpute, I fhall 
 now give fome inftances of his affirming over again, by way 
 of anfwer, what had been refuted before ; and when I have 
 done this, I fiiall have taken notice of all that he fays upon the 
 fubject of the fcle mediation. 
 
 First then he fays, that the knowledge of the negotiations 
 going on at Vienna was a juft rcafon to decline this offer, which 
 he fuppofes to have been a mere piece of mockery. But he 
 does not fo much as pretend to fiy a word, in anfwer to what 
 1 infifted upon, as an advantage in accepting this mediation, 
 even fuppoiing it olfered to us without any dcfign that we ffiould 
 
 * Enquiry, page 60. f Defence, page 13. 
 
 Vol. I. K k con-
 
 2=;o AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 concern ourfelves in it. He does not p'^tend fo much as to 
 controvert what I urged, to prove that the worfe opinion we 
 had oF the deligns carried on at Vienna, the more reaibn there 
 was to catch at this offer ot the mediation. 
 
 Secondly, he infifts, that we could not accept this media- 
 tion, with a due regard to our alhance with France; and he 
 luppolcSjthat thisreafon will be thought juft by *' all thofe who 
 " do not think the breach of faith, and the violation of treaties, 
 " miatters of no concern." Here again is another charitable in- 
 nuendo. But let it pafs. It would be eafy to ftrengthen all 
 that w^as faid on this fubjed, in my Letter to you, by fliewing 
 the difference between fuch a ftipulation as this of a joint me- 
 diation, and the covenants which princes and ftates enter into 
 with one another, about their mutual interefts. But there is 
 no need of it, lince this author, who thinks fit to infift on this 
 point, hath not thought fit to anfwer any one of the argu- 
 ments urged by me, to prove that France could not have com- 
 plained of us, if we had accepted this mediation; and yet 
 there were fome dilemma's laid down, which feemed to de- 
 ferve a folution. 
 
 Lastly, he pretends that I affirmed, againft the mofl: pub- 
 lic fads, and the plaineft appearances, what I faid to fhew 
 that our acceptance of the mediation muft have been agree- 
 able to France : and yet what I faid was founded on public 
 fafts, and the plaineft appearances ; which he has not touched, 
 becaufe he durft not deny them. It is really very ftrange, 
 that fo confiderable an author fhould continue to write, when 
 he can neither find out new arguments, nor anfwer the obje- 
 ^ions made to old ones. 
 
 Having
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQJUIRY, &c. 251 
 
 Having now difpatched the point of the fole mediation, it 
 remains that I fay fomething to thofe probable arguments, if 
 they dcferve that name, which I have civilly given them, by 
 which this gentleman pretends to deftroy what is, 1 think, 
 eftablifhed on the folid foundation of fadl and rcafon, concern- 
 ing the meafure taken in France after the death of the late 
 duke of Orleans, to break the match with the infanta, and 
 the confequence of that meafure, the throwing Spain into the 
 hands of the emperor. 
 
 Now the firfl: of thefe arguments is, that the court of Spain 
 did not mention this affront from France, as any inducement 
 to the tranfadion at Vienna ; and that any fuch mention 
 would have been inconfiftent with other declarations made to 
 Mr. Stanhope at Madrid. Very well. It is then an efia- 
 bliflied rule, that we are not to believe a court has motives for 
 their conduft, which motives they do not own, altho we have 
 the flrongefl reafons imaginable to believe fuch motives true. 
 Another rule, which this author would do well to eifablini at 
 the fame time, and which is founded on as much rcafon as 
 the former, is this ; that we are to believe all the motives which 
 a court thinks lit to give out, to account for their condu(5l, 
 altho we have the plaineft proofs imaginable that thefe motives 
 are falfe. Such logic as this was never introduced into poli- 
 tics, I believe, before; and I am perfuaded that you, Mr. 
 D'Anvers, will cxcufe me, if I Ipend no time in anfwerinnr 
 it. Let me defire you however, before i leave this argument, 
 to turn to the thirteenth and fourteenth pages of the Enquirv, 
 where you will find that the enquirer fays, the imperial mi- 
 nificrs at Cambray, at London and at Paris, talked the very 
 language, which the defi,ndcr of the Enquiry fays the Spa- 
 niards were always afhamcd to make ufc of *. Nav, the cn- 
 *' Page 19. 
 
 K k 2 , quirer
 
 2^2 AN A N S W E R TO T H E 
 
 quirer adds, that" upon the firR public news of the Vienna 
 '* tfcaiy at Maxirici, tnc 'difcoiines or m;niy were taught to 
 *' run that way, and to dwell upon that fame popular topic." 
 
 The fecond of thefd arguments is this. If the news cf 
 fendinp- back the infanta from France, and of Great Britain's 
 refufing the fole mediation, had both come to Madrid before 
 RippERDA was fent from thence; even this "could not have 
 " really been, and would not have been pretended to have been. 
 " the motive of what was afterwards done at Vienna." And' 
 why, pray? Beciufe when the news of our refufing the fole 
 mediation did come, the court of Spain acknowledged it to 
 be a reafonable proceeding. This, ycu fee, is built on the 
 principles laid down in the laft article, and deferves no far- 
 ther notice. But on the news coming to Madrid, that the 
 infanta was fent home, he confefles that the " court of Spain 
 *' might, by fuch circumftances, be induced to try what hono- 
 *■' rable terms the emperor would come to." This conceflion goes 
 farther than he is aware of; for I defire to know if it is realon- 
 able to believe that Spain would have treated with the empe- 
 ror, when the cafe had happened, why it is unreafonable to 
 believe that Spain did begin to treat with him on almoft a cer- 
 tain profpetft that the cafe would happen ; which is the great 
 point v/e have been contending about ? Ay, but Spain would 
 not have treated with the emperor to hurt Holland and Britain, 
 becaufe Spain had been hurt by France ; nor would the em- 
 peror have entered into a treaty to hurt them, who had no 
 part in the affront to Spain and never injured the emperor. 
 Again ; much lefs would the king of Spain fend a minifter to 
 Vienna to enter into and finifh treaties, which fhould hurt 
 other nations, upon a fufpicion that France would hereafter 
 affront him. I could m.ake feveral reflexions on fome cf the 
 expreffions in this place ; and on the turn, which the author 
 
 2 takes.
 
 D E F E N C E OF T H E E N Q^UI R Y, ^cc. 253 
 
 takcsj of putting Ionic very odd arguments into my mouth ; 
 and, what is ftdi more, into the mouths of the emperor and 
 the king of Sp:un. But I f)r'oear; and content myfeff vvitli 
 iaying two things, wliich will tffcctualJy blunt the point of ?Jl 
 the wit employed in this paragraph, and fully anfwer the 
 whole of what is faid farther upon tliis fuhjecl, in the Defence 
 of the Enquiry. 
 
 First then ; as far as I am from being, of pretending to 
 be, a nuiftcr in politics, which degree this writer feems to have 
 taken long ago, I never imagined that the affront, coniidered 
 merely as an affront, precipitated Spain into all the engage- 
 ments ilie took with the emperor; tho, by the way, he mi- 
 flakes very much, if he thinks, as he fays, that he may deny 
 new frefli refentm.ents to determine the conduct of princes, 
 exa(3:iy upon the lame grounds, as I have denied that old flale 
 refentments have this effed. What I imagined, what I faid, 
 and what I proved was, that this affront, confidered as a ne- 
 ceffary breach with France, at leaf}; for a time, would throw 
 Spain into fuch circumllances of diftref?, as flie was to pre- 
 vent by all poffible means ; and that therefore reafon of flate 
 determined in this cafe ; tho no doubt the affront, at the fame 
 time, provoked the Spaniards. Thus I am confident with 
 my felf; and the author might have fpared himfell the trouble 
 of writing this elaborate paragraph, if he had adverted to rny^ 
 fenfe, inifead of playing with my words. 
 
 Secondly; as to the emperor, our author is guilty of bcg- 
 ing the queftion; for the emperor will iniift, as he has in- 
 fifted, that his engagements were not engagements to injure 
 any body ; that he entered into no offenfive alliance ; and 
 that, when he exaded from Spain the guaranty of the Of!:end 
 trade, and of his fucceffion, he exaded the guaranty of no- 
 thing
 
 254 A N A N S W E R T O T H E 
 
 tiling but of that, which he judges he has an independent 
 right to eftablifh and fecure. As to Spain, it will be likewife 
 faid, that when his catholic majefty treated with the emperor, 
 he never meant to hurt other nations, but to fecure his own 
 interefts ; that if his guaranty of the Oftend trade hurts the 
 Dutch or us, he is forry for it ; but could no more avoid that 
 engagement than he could feveral others extremely difadvan- 
 tacreous to himfelf, and into which he was however obliged to 
 enter, becaufe he was obliged to purchafe the emperor's al- 
 liance at any rate : that theref re we mull not blame him, 
 who oppofed the eftablifliment of the Oftend company, whilPc 
 he could do it, without any fupport from us ; who never gave 
 his guaranty to it, till he was forced to do fo, by the ne- 
 ceffity of his affairs; into which neceflity he was falling for 
 above a year together, without feeing the hand of Britain once 
 ftretched forth to hinder it. Such anfwers as thefe would cer- 
 tainly be given; and, in the mouths of the imperialifts and 
 the Spaniards, they would be juft. 
 
 If, after all that has been faid, this gentleman is unable, 
 upon my notions, to account for the king of Spain's refolute 
 flying from the mediatorfliip of France, I am fure 'k is not my 
 fault. A few facrifices did indeed help to pacify Spain, and 
 to reconcile her to France ; and a few facrihces might, for 
 aught I know, have reconciled cur quarrels ; or, which is 
 better, have prevented them. But as no one can forefee now 
 when fuch facrifices will be made here; fo neither could Spain, 
 at the time when ihe fent to Vienna, forefee when fuch fa- 
 crifices would be made in France. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, and to conclude this tedious arti- 
 cle; if the way in which I have endeavored to account for 
 the relblution taken by Spain to abandon the mediation of 
 
 Cam bray,
 
 DEFENCE OF THE E iM Q^U I R Y, 8cc. 255 
 
 Cambray, and to treat at Vienna, be not right, I fliould be 
 glad to know what the right way is. No other, which this 
 gentleman, or any reafonable man will v^cnture to fiipport, 
 has been yet pointed out. But I apprehend the account I 
 have given to be a juft one ; becaufe it is built on fa6l and 
 reafon; becaufe the event hath, in every refpcdl, confirmed 
 it ; and becaufe it (hews not only why Spain broke with 
 France, and applied to the emperor ; but why Spain entered 
 into thefe new meafures, after the death of the duke of Or- 
 i*EANs, which it cannot be pretended flic ever thought of do- 
 ing, while that prince was alive. If now this account be a 
 jull one, many melancholy but ufeful truths refult from it. 
 
 But I need not j int out thefe things. The world will 
 difcover them, without Aiiy help of mine, and will judge how 
 well the Enquiry hath been vindicated, by the author and de- 
 fender of it upon this head. 
 
 The next point, upon which my reafonings and imputati- 
 ons are to be tried at his tribunal, is that ot Gibraltar ; and 
 here he fets out, by accufing me, not in terms indeed, but 
 in a manner almoft as plain, of lying, of dired:, premeditated 
 lying. I will keep my temper, tho a field large enough is 
 opened to me, and tho the provocation is not a little aggravat- 
 ed by the folemn air with which this accufition is brought, 
 by the pretences to patience and meeknefs and candor, and 
 by all the appeals to God with which my accufer hath, in 
 feveral parts of this treatife, endeavored to captivate the good 
 opinion of mankind, and to eftablifh his own reputation, that 
 he might make fure of ruining that of others. He calls to my 
 mind the charadler of Mopsus in Tasso's Aminta. 
 
 --di
 
 2^6 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 di quel Mopso 
 
 Ch' a ne la lingua melate parole, 
 E ne le labra lui amichevol ghigno, 
 
 __ _ _ -eil rafoio 
 Tien fotto il manto. 
 
 I WILL have the decency not to tranflate the verfes Into 
 cnglifh. 
 
 It is not neceflary that I fhould fiiy much about the jea- 
 loufies which this author feems to complain arofe at one time, 
 left Gibraltar would be given up or artfully betrayed into the 
 Spaniards hands ; nor about the vigorous defence of it, which 
 was made afterwards. Thus much however I will fay, that 
 when Sir John Jennings was called home, with all the troops 
 embarked on board his fquadron, juft before the iiege, and 
 even from the neighborhood of Gibraltar; when the Spaniards 
 were fuffered, under Sir Charles Wager's eyes, to tranfport 
 by fea many things neceflary for the attack of the place ; and 
 when it was known that the town wanted almoft every thing 
 neceflary for the defence of it, people flood a-gaze, and not 
 without reafon. The cries of the nation precipitated at laft 
 the fupplies, and the vigor of the garrifon made a glorious ufe 
 of them. 
 
 I COME now to the accufation brought againft me by this 
 writer. I laid, in my Letter to you, that the Spaniards ground 
 their prefent claim to the rcflitution of Gibraltar, on a " pri- 
 *' vate article in a treaty made with them in i 721, ftipiilating 
 -" the contents of a letter to be written by the late king, and on 
 " the letter written in purfuance of this article." This is the 
 fa6l. The accufation is, that there is no fuch article in the 
 
 treaty ;
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY,&c. 257 
 
 treaty ; and many words are employed to cut off all pretences 
 of excufe, and to pin the lie upon me. Now I dcfirc it may 
 be obfcrvcd, in the firfi: place, how very exad. and knowing a 
 critic this gentleman is; who, after pronouncing with fo much 
 emphafiis, that " he hath read the treaty himfelf, and finds no 
 *' one article belonging to it, which hath the lead relation to 
 " this fubjed:," proceeds to mention the treaty, and quotes a 
 wrong one. No man would have imagined that fuch a ftipu- 
 lation could have been fuppofed to be in the defenfive alliance 
 between Great Britain, France and Spain, of the thirteenth of 
 June, 1721, who had known that there was a diRinft pri- 
 vate treaty, of the fame date, between Great Britain and Spain. 
 But this, it feems, was a fecret to my accufer ; tho the treaty 
 had appeared printed in the fourth volume of Rousset's col- 
 lection, when he committed this miftake. It was of this 
 treaty I meant to fpeak; and the reafon why I exprefled my- 
 felf in that manner was this. I have had fome years by me 
 an cxtradt of this very treaty, which was long kept a great 
 fecret, and for the keeping of which fecret there is an exprefs 
 provifion in the fixth article of it. When the treaty became 
 public, I found that my extradl of the feveral articles was 
 £xad: ; and therefore I gave the more credit to the feparate ar« 
 tide, mentioned in the fame extrad:, as belonging to this treaty, 
 and flipulating the contents of a letter to be written by the 
 late king. The letter 1 never faw ; but the account I have 
 had of it by thofe who have read it, agrees with my extradl. 
 All this induced me to think, that there was fuch a feparate 
 and more private article, belonging to this private treaty; nor 
 was I at all furprifed to fee the treaty come abroad without 
 this article ; knowing full well that treaties often appear, when 
 
 the fecret articles belonging to them do no' This is a true 
 
 ftate of the cafe ; and will, I believe, fufficiently juR-Ty me 
 
 for what I writ. But I have not yet done with niy accufer. 
 
 Vol. I. L 1 Let
 
 258 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 Let it be, that no fuch private article, as I was led to fup— 
 pofe, does exift, or was ever executed. Will he venture to 
 fay that no fuch article was drawn up, as he exprefies him- 
 felf, about the treaty of pacification? Will he venture to deny 
 that if our minifters were afraid to fign fuch an article, and 
 therefore did not fign it, the reafon on which the Spaniards 
 were induced to recede from this point, was that fomething 
 equivalent fhould be done ; and that this fomething was his 
 late majefty's letter to the king of Spain ? I appeal, in my 
 turn, to the lowed: obferver, as well as the higheft, who hath 
 gone about to deceive mankind, this author or I ; this author, 
 who conceals from the world what he knows, or might know, 
 with all the means of information which he has in his power, 
 and what fets the matter in quite another light than he hath 
 reprelented it: or- I, who, having not the fame means of in- 
 formation, fell into an undeligned miftake ; which does not 
 alter the ftate of the cafe in favor of my argument, fince, if 
 the Spaniards accepted this letter, which was writ in lieu of 
 the article which was not figned, their pretenfions, and no- 
 thing but their pretenfions are under confideration here, will, 
 be flill the fame. 
 
 As to the letter itfelf, what I affirm about it is, that the 
 Spaniards pretend it is a pofitive engagement to reftore Gi- 
 braltar to them. That this fhould be allowed them, I am as 
 far from agreeing as this author can poflibly be ; but that 
 the letter is fufficient to keep up their pretenfions, I afiirm r 
 and that in faft they do keep up their pretenfions on this 
 foundation, is notorious. Was this gentleman to difpute the 
 point with the Spaniards, he might comment as much, and 
 diftinguifh as fubtiiy as he pleafed, on the terms of the letter t. 
 the others would infift, that it was given them as an engage- 
 ment ; that if they had not received it as fuch, they would 
 
 not
 
 DEFENCE OF THE EN QJJ IRY, Sec. 259 
 
 not have departed from the article ; and I doubt they would 
 be apt to iniinuatc, that we could not have found a more pro- 
 per cafuifl: than himfclf, to diftinguifli us out of our obliga- 
 tions, amongfl: their own fchoolmcn, or amongft all the fons 
 of Loyola. 
 
 To fpeak ferioufly ; it were to be wifhed extremely, that 
 the Spaniards had not had this color for perfifting in their de- 
 mand of Gibraltar, or that it had been by an exprefs and 
 clear flipulation taken from them ; fince it is certain, that the 
 right and polTcfTioa of Gibraltar is nothing lefs than afcer- 
 tained to Great Britain by the preliminarie-, as they ftand ; 
 " and confequently, that all claim of Spain to it again is not ex- 
 *' tinguifhed." 
 
 I contradift him in his own words, tho none of the pro- 
 pereft; and I will prove, in what I am going to fay, either 
 that he does not at all underftand the matter he talks fo magi- 
 fterially about, or that he attempts, in this inftance, to de- 
 ceive the world, by giving wrong interpretations to fomc 
 things, and by concealing others. 
 
 If then, altho the letter of the late king hath given the 
 Spaniards a pretence to claim Gibraltar, this claim is effcdlual- 
 ly barred, and even extinguiflied by the firft general words of 
 the fecond article of the preliminaries ; how comes it to pafs 
 that Gibraltar was not fpecifically mentioned, in order to pre- 
 vent any future chicane ? It will be faid, I know, that as the 
 king of Spain's acceffion to the quadruple alliance vacated any 
 promife which my lord Stanhope might have made ; fo the 
 king of Spain, by confenting to thefe preliminaries, has vacat- 
 ed any engagement of this kind, which the letter may be 
 fuppofed to contain ; and I, perhaps, fliall be quoted again as 
 
 L 1 2 " one,
 
 26o AN ANSWER TOTHE 
 
 " one, who muft neccilarily fee the f, rce of this argument." 
 But this author muft not judge of ray eye-fight by his own ; 
 for I fee a manifeft difference between the two cafes. My lord 
 Stanhope's promife is faid to have been condiiional ; all al- 
 low that it was verbal ; and I think it is allowed like wife, that 
 the late king never confirmed it. The fimple acceffion of 
 the king of Spain to the quadruple alliance, migiit therefore 
 be thought very juftly fufficient to put the matter, at that time, 
 out of all difpute, for the reafons given by me, and quoted by 
 this author. But when the preliminaries were to be fettled, 
 the king of Spain's claim to the reftitution of Gibraltar refted 
 on an engagement, or what he took for an engagement, en- 
 tered into by the late king, and under his majefty's own hand. 
 Befides, this engagement, or promife, whether valid or not 
 valid, had been iniifted upon as valid, in a formal treaty, and 
 had been made the foundation of the fecond article in the 
 defeniive alliance between the emperor and the king of Spain, 
 which relates to Gibraltar. It required therefore fomething 
 more to put an end to a claim founded in this manner, than 
 to a claim founded on any promife that my lord Stanhope 
 could make. Thefe confiderations could never efcape the 
 penetration of that moft able miniftcr, who negotiated the 
 preliminaries ; and therefore I conclude, firft, that the Spa- 
 niards would not confent that Gibraltar fhould be mentioned 
 fpeciiically in the fecond article ; and, in the next place, that 
 they could refufe to confent to it on no reafon whatever, 
 but this one, that their pretentions to Gibraltar would be kept 
 alive, if it was not mentioned fpecifically, notwithftanding 
 the general words fo much infifted upon by this writer. He 
 has not therefore anfwered my demand ; nor fhewn " in the 
 " preliminaries an article, which is indeed as exprefs and ef- 
 <' fedu.d a confirmation of our right to Gibraltar, as if the 
 *' v,'ord Gibraltar had been put into it." But he goes on, and 
 
 obferves,
 
 DEFENCE OF THE E N Q^U I R Y, &c. 261 
 
 obferves, *' that the latter part of this fecond article greatly 
 «' ftrengthens the former; becaufe it is tJicre ftipulatcd, that 
 <' if any thing fLa 1 have been altered with rcfpcd; to rights 
 " and pofleiTions, or not have been put in execution, the alte- 
 *' ration made, or the thing noi executed, is to be difcufled 
 <' in the congrels, and decided according to the tenor of the 
 '' faid treaties and conventions ;" that is, in his fenfe, accord- 
 ing to the tenor of the treaty of Utrecht, and of the quadru- 
 ple alliance; for he mentions no other, except that of Baden, 
 which hath nothing to do here. Now, fays he, " nothing, 
 " either as to the right of Great Britain to <^ Gibraltar, or to the 
 *' poireilion of it, hath been at all altered ; nor hath there 
 " been any non-execution, &c." From whence he infers, that 
 our right to Gibraltar is not included in this defcription of 
 points left to be difcufTed in the congrefs. But how could he 
 avoid feeing that he afiumes lor granted the very thing dif- 
 puted ? No alteration hath been made in " our right to 
 " Gibraltar, fays he ; therefore this right cannot be difcufTed." 
 An alteration hath been made in this right, fay the Spaniards, 
 by a private engagement taken with us in 1721; therefore 
 this alteration is to be dilcufled at the congrefs. Who doth 
 not fee, that whether this right fhall be found to have been 
 altered, and what the alteration imports, are by this prelimi- 
 nary to be difcufTed and decided at the congrefs ? 
 
 I th;nk, I have now fhewn what I undertook, and' what 
 this gentleman challenges me to fhew ; that is, I have fliewn 
 thofe general words in the preliminaries, upon which the Spa- 
 niards may found a pretence for reviving their demand of Gi- 
 braltar ; or, to fpeak more properly, fince they have never 
 ceaTd to make it, for continuing this demand. But 1 have 
 undertaken fomething more ; and therefore will proceed to 
 
 fliew
 
 262 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 fhew what this gentleman was ignorant of, or what he con- 
 cealed very unfairly, becaufe it is deciiive againft him. 
 
 I THINK he could hardly be ignorant that the fecond arti- 
 cle of the preliminaries, not only recalls the treaties of Utrecht 
 and Baden, and the quadruple alliance, as he quotes the ar- 
 ticle, but likewife all treaties and conventions which prece- 
 ded the year 1725; which latter words he does not quote. 
 Perhaps, he judged them unnecefTary. If he did fo, he was 
 much miftaken ; for by the fifth article of the treaty of i 72 r, 
 between Great Britain and Spain, it is declared, " that all the 
 *< prctenfions of both fides, touching afi^airs not expofed in the 
 " prefent treaty, and which pretcnfions are not comprehended 
 " in the fecond article of it," fhall be treated of in the future 
 congrefs ; which was at that time the congrefs at Cambray. 
 Now let it be obferved, that the affair of Gibraltar is not one 
 of the affairs expofed in this treaty. Let it be obferved alfo, 
 that the pretenfion of the Spaniards to Gibraltar, is not one 
 of the prctenfions comprehended in the fecond article of it; 
 and then let any man deny, if he can, that, in the intention 
 of Spain, thefe words were relative to the pretenfion, which 
 fhe acquired by the private engagement taken in the letter 
 fo often quoted. If the letter gave her a right, as (he infifis, 
 it gave her a pretenfion certainly to claim that right, and 
 this pretenfion is carelully preferved by the treaty of 1721. 
 I do not fay among other pretenfions; for I think I may 
 venture to fay, that ail other pretenfions are fpccified in the 
 treaty; even that relating to the free exercife of the Roman 
 catholic religion in Minorca : and therefore ihefe words feem 
 to have been fingly applied to the pretenfions of Spain on Gi- 
 braltar. Will not the Spaniards now infift, upon thele foun- 
 dations, that they enjoyed in 1721, a right to demand the 
 
 refiitu-
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY, &c. 263 
 
 reditu :ion of Ciibraltar, by virtue of conventions then made ; 
 and that tiie fecond article of the prc'iminarie prefer' es entire, 
 to all the contrading parties, whatever rights, as M'e:l as pof- 
 feffionSj they had by virtue of any treaty or conventions, ante- 
 cedent to the year 1725 ; and that therefore the firft general 
 words of the iecond preliminary preferve to them the right of 
 demanding tlie reftitution of Gibraltar, as a right acquired by- 
 conventions made before the year 1725 ; whiUt the lafl gene- 
 ral words of the fame preliminary article preferve this right as 
 an alteration made in the treaty of Utrecht, and in the qua- 
 druple alliance? 
 
 How little weight foever the defender of the Enquiry may 
 allow to thefe obfervations, which would 1 doubt have fbme 
 in a congrefs, yet he mufi: allow that they ought not to have 
 efcaped him, or to have been concealed by him ; fmce they 
 do certainly affeft the merits of the ciufe on which he has 
 fo pofitively pronounced judgment, without any regard to 
 them. But I am almoft ready to ask your pardon, Mr. D'An- 
 VERS, for faying fo much on this point, when there is another 
 more clear, and more deciiive ftill behind. Is it poflible our 
 author (liould never have heard of a certain public inftru- 
 ment, containing a declaration explanatory of the prelimina- 
 ries made by the French minifter at the Pardo, on the fourth 
 of March 1728, and accepted and confirmed by himfelf, and 
 by the Imperial, Britifh, Spanifh, and Dutch minifters on the 
 fixth of the fame month? If this inflrument hath ever fallen 
 into his hands, and it is in every body's elfe, did he never read 
 thefe words in it, " that all pretenlions, on all fides, fliall be 
 " produced, debated, and decided in the fame congrefs ?" The 
 difputes about contrabands, and other complaints made by the 
 Spaniards concerning the fliip prince Friideric, and the dif- 
 putes about the reftitution of prizes, which articles are taken 
 
 notica
 
 264 AN ANSWERTO THE 
 
 notice of in the introdudion to this inftrument, are, by par- 
 ticular claufes in it, referred to the difcuflion and decifion of 
 the congrefs. To what purpofe then were thefe general words 
 inferted? To what purpofe was it ftipulated that all preten- 
 lions whatfoever (among which the pretenfion of the Spani- 
 ards to the reftitution of Gibraltar mufl: neceffarily be inclu- 
 ded ; iince, whether ill or well founded, it is fiill a preten- 
 fion on their fide) fliall likewife be referred to the congrefs ; and 
 that his " Britannic majeily fhall be obliged to ftand to what 
 «' {hall be decided upon the whole?" But I forbear to prefs this 
 matter any farther upon the gentleman ; fince it would be, in 
 Ibme fort, like ftabbing him on the ground. 
 
 I proceed to the article of blocking up the galleons ; which 
 is the laft upon which I am attacked in the Defence of the 
 Enquiry. And here 1 niuft obferve again, that he is very far 
 from entering into a refutation of the arguments advanced by 
 me to prove, that feizing the galleons was a meaiure liable to 
 no objecftion, and in every refped: preferable to that of block- 
 ing them up. He obferves indeed, upon Mr. Hosier's letter, 
 that the trcafure had been taken from on board the galleons, 
 when our fquadron arrived before Porto Bello. Now, with- 
 out making any reHetftions on the intelligence brought from 
 on fliore to the admiral, and taking it for granted, that all 
 this treafure was in time removed out of his reach ; it will 
 flill be true, that this circumflance proves nothing in defence 
 of the meafure taken to block up the galleons, and not to 
 feize them ; fince whether they would have the riches on 
 board them or not, when Mr. Hosier fhould arrive, could 
 not be known when his inftruftions were drawn. If ail 
 thefe riches had been actually at Porto Belio, when he 
 came tliithcr, he would have had, in eiTed:, nothing more to 
 fay to the Spaniards, than what the orders they hid received 
 
 5 ^^^^
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQUIRY, &cc. 265 
 
 ten days before from old Spain imported ; which waSj that 
 they fhould fecure the money in the country. 
 
 The fingle point, infilled upon to juftify tliis mcafure, and 
 which the writer pronounces to be fufiicicnt, is that the con- 
 trary mcafure, that of feizing the galleons in port, with all 
 their treafure on board, if it had been pradicable, would "have 
 " put Europe into a flame, by putting all the proprietors of 
 *' thofe riches, whether French, Dutch or SpanilL, into the 
 *' greatefl uneafinefs." At the fame time, he allows that taking 
 thefe fhips, if they " had attempted, by force or Health, to 
 *' come out, had been reafonable." Sure I am it is enough to 
 fay in reply to this, that as to the uneafinefs which fuch a 
 feizure might have gi\'en the SpanifK proprietors, it deferved 
 no confideration ; that the French and Dutch proprietors 
 would have believed, or ought to have believed, their elfcds 
 as fecure in our hands, as in the hands of Spain ; ef['eclal!y in 
 a point of time, when they were, by treaty at leaft:, e!i- 
 gaged on our fide in oppofition to Spain ; and laftly, that 
 the diftindion between feizing the galleons at fea, or block- 
 ing them up in port, as if one was, and the other was not an 
 hoftility, is very manifeftly a diftindion without a difference ; 
 to prove which, I dare appeal to every man in Britain, whether 
 he would not eftcem the hoftility as great, and the infnlc 
 greater, if a Spanifli fquadron fhould block up Portfmouth, 
 than if it fhould cruize in the channel, and take our fiiips vx 
 fea. The gentleman cuts the difpute fliort, by referring us to 
 the obfervations on the condu6t of Great Britain ; and I fiiali 
 readily join iflue with him, by referring, on my fide^ to the 
 Craftfman Extraordinary, in which thefe obfervations are fuly 
 anfwered, and treated as they dcfu\'ed to be. 
 
 Vol. I. M m M.^vinq.
 
 ii 
 
 266 AN ANSWER TO THE 
 
 Having mentioned tlie galleons, our author could not avoid 
 taking feme notice of a que/lion I afl^ed, in anfvvering Publi- 
 coLA, and which he allows to be very material. His anfwers 
 to it defcrve a fliort relle(51ion or two. *' Since the galleons 
 «f are coming home, Jiath Spain renounced thofe defigns, which 
 " our fleet was fent to the Weft-Indies to prevent ?" Thus he 
 dates the queftion ; and his anfwer is, " Truly I can't tell ; 
 nor can any one in the v/orld, who is not in the fecrets of 
 the court of Spam." A little afterwards he afks the fame 
 queftion ; " Has the king of Spain renounced his proje<£is ?" 
 that is, thofe defigns which our fleet was fent to the Weft- 
 Indies to prevent ? His anfwer is, " Yes undoubtedly, as far as 
 " articles ratified by him can bind ; and as far as any con- 
 <* trad:ing powers can be bound by treaty to one another." Let 
 ns fee what is urged between the firft and the fecond aiking of 
 the fame queftion, to produce fuch a wide difi^erence in the 
 anfwers. The king of Spain hath ratified the preliminaries, 
 in confequence of which the fiege of Gibraltar is raifed. Or- 
 ders are fent to reftore the South-fea fhip ; and he has pro- 
 mifed, that the efteds of the galleons fhall be delivered. He 
 hath therefore renounced his projects by treaty ; but whether 
 he hath renounced them in his heart ; " whether he will go on 
 *' to 3.S. an open and honeft part," that is more than our author 
 can tell. It is more likewife than any one will defire, that he 
 or thofe, for whom he is an apologift, fhould pretend to tell, 
 or be anfvv^erable for. But let us fee what they are anfwer- 
 able for ; what has been really done by treaty ; whnt we have 
 obtained to make us fome amends for the rotting of our fhips ; 
 for the lofs of fo many thoufand lives, and for the depreda- 
 tions and hoftilities winch this author founded fo high for- 
 merly ; and which were carried on with redoubled vigor, dur-^ 
 ing the pacific blockade of the galleons— The cfteds of the 
 galleons are to be delivered. I congratulate the Dutch and 
 
 2 the
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQ^UIRY, Sec. 267 
 the French upon it ; but cfpecially the latter, who have fuch 
 immenfe wealth on board them. Our fhare is, I fear, a fmall 
 one ; too fmall to bear any proportion to the expence we have 
 been at, or the lofles we have fuftained. — Orders are fent to 
 reftore the South-Sea fhip ; but the claims of the Spaniards 
 cither on that fhip, or on any account, are preferved to them, 
 and referred to a congrefs, by whofe decifion we mufi: abide ; 
 and nothing is flipulated, which may fecure to our merchants 
 a juft recompence for the numberlefs feizures and captures of 
 their efFedsand fhips. — The fiege of Gibraltar is raifed ; but the 
 right to the poffeffion of that place hath not beeneiFedually put 
 beyond difpute. The obftinacy and the chicane of the Spa- 
 niards have prevailed fo far, that they preferve, even by the 
 preliminaries, a pretence for bringing this right to be decided 
 in the congrefs ; and I fliall be glad to hear what ally we have 
 there, on whofe good offices we can depend for fecuring to us 
 the right of poflefling, and the pofleilion of this important 
 
 place. Upon the whole, I am extremely forry to find, that 
 
 I was fo much in the right, when I advanced that no man 
 could fay, with truth, that the main things in difpute between 
 lis and Spain, were yielded to us before the return of the 
 galleons ; unlefs he reckoned our keeping Gibraltar, and I 
 might have added the procuring fatisfaction to our merchants, 
 not among the main things in difpute, but among thofc of 
 
 lefs importance. 1 fay very fmcercly, that I had much 
 
 rather have been refuted. 
 
 It appears, I think, from what h:ith been iaid, that the 
 author and defender of the Enquiry, has not only been given 
 up by his own fide, but even by himfclf, in fcvcral particu- 
 lars ; and feveral other points, wiiich were infifted upon in 
 the Enquiry, and have been dif})uted in other uritings, are 
 
 M m 2 e.thcr
 
 268 A N ANSWER TO T H E 
 
 tklier not mentioned at all in the Defence, or in fiicli a llgkt 
 manner as plainly fhevvs the author's confciourners that he 
 cannot fupport them, tho he is very unwilling to give them 
 entirely up: Co that the author gave a very partial title to Iiis 
 lad prodadion, which can be juftly called, at Left, a De- 
 fence only of fome points in the Enquiry, and is, more pro- 
 perly fpeaking, a " Recantation of it, with a few particular. 
 *' exceptions." 
 
 But now, Mr. D'Anvers, what fhall I fny to you in ex- 
 Gufe for fo many and fuch long letters ? The heft thing I can 
 fay, is to affure you, and I do it very folemnly, that I will 
 trouble you vvith no more of them. The gentleman, to whom 
 I have now replied, may enquire and defend, as much as he 
 pleafes, without any farther moieftation from me. When I 
 becran to write on this fubjed:, I meant nothing lefs than the 
 filiy ambition of having the laft word in a difpute. I faw, 
 like every other man, the public diftrefs. I thought I difcern^ 
 ed the true and original caufe of it. The affedaticn, which 
 1 obferved to turn us off from this fcent, fortiiied me in my 
 opinions, and determined me to examine what was alledged 
 acrainf!; them. I have done fo ; and if in doing it, I have 
 contributed in any clegree to open the eyes of my countrymen, 
 on their true, and on their miftaken interefts, I have obtained 
 the fole end which I have propofed to myfelf 1 love and 1 
 hate- I efteem and I defpife ; but in a cafe of this moment, I 
 fhould abhor myfelf, if any regard to perfons, any confide- 
 ration, except that of truth, had guided my hand in writing. 
 
 I BEGAN by afking pardon of tliis author for an injuftice 
 which I have done him through error, not malice ; and I fhall 
 conclude with affuring him, that upon whatever principle he 
 
 may
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ENQ^UIRY, Sec. 269 
 
 may have treated mc, as I think I did not deferve, I lay down 
 Twy refentment with my pen, and remain iu chriftian charity 
 with him. 
 
 I RETURN to the buiinefs of my low profcilion in life, and 
 if I was worthy to advife him, I would advife him to return 
 to that o[ his high calling; to feed the flock committed to his 
 charge. 'Hiat 1 may the more cffedually pcrfuade him to- 
 t d'Ce a refolution fo much for his own honor, and for the ad- 
 vantage of the church, I will exhort liim to it, in the words 
 of the apofloHcal conftitutions, with fome very little variation, 
 in order to render the pafTage more applicable. 
 
 Sit autcm epifcopus turpis 
 lucri non quaelitor, praefrrtim 
 de Gentilibus; malitque detri- 
 mentum capere, quam inferre. 
 Non fit avarus ; non maledi- 
 cus, non falfus teftis, non ira- 
 cundus, non contentiofus, non 
 negotiis, litibufque fccularibus 
 implicicus; non pro alio fpon- 
 for, aut in caufls pecuniariis 
 advocatus. Non ambitiofiis, 
 non duplicis fenlentiae, non 
 bilinguis; calumniae & mule- 
 dicentiaenon ciipidus auditor; 
 non hypocrita, fallaciis vanis 
 non u'.ens. Quia haec omnia 
 
 Deo 
 
 " Let a bifliop then not be 
 " fond of making jiis court 
 " for gain, and efpccially to 
 " the Gentiles. Let him ra- 
 '^ ther receive than do an in- 
 *' jury. Let him not be given 
 " to evil fpeaking, nor to bear 
 " falfe witness. Let him not 
 " be wratiiful nor contentious* 
 " Let him not be eng.io-ed in 
 <' the buiinefs and difputes of 
 " the world. Let him not be 
 " ready to anfvvcr for others. 
 " Let him not be the advo- 
 " cate of private iniereft in 
 *' public caufes. Let him not 
 " be ambitious, nor double- 
 " minded, nordoublc-toneucd. 
 " Let him ufc neitiier fniiula- 
 *' tion nor diiiimulation in h:& 
 
 " con-
 
 270 A N A N S W E R, Soc. 
 
 Deo funt iaimica, daemonibiis " condud ; nor vain and M- 
 ova.t2L. " lacious fophifms in his dif- 
 
 " courfe. For all tliefe things 
 Conftit. Apoflolic. lib. ii. " are hateful to God, and 
 cap. 6. *' pleafing to the devil. 
 
 I am. 
 
 Mr. D'Anvers, &c. 
 
 JOHN TROT.
 
 REMARKS 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Written in 1730,
 
 LETTER I. " 
 
 SIR, 
 
 I N C E the bufy fcene of the year is over at home, and 
 wc may perhaps wait feveral months before the fuccefs- 
 ful negotiations of France furnifh us with new hopes of 
 2- general pacification, and give you occafion to carry your 
 ^Peculations forward, it may be proper enough for you to caft 
 your eyes backwards, to reflect on your own condud, and 
 to call yourfelf to account before your own tribunal. 
 
 T AM fo much perfuaded of the integrity of your inten- 
 tions, that I do not in the leaft fufped you will think my 
 advice impertinent ,; and therefore I fhall attempt to lead your 
 thoughts on this fubjedl, by giving you an account of fome 
 parts of a converfation, at which I happened to be prefent very 
 lately. 
 
 Several of your papers and feveral of thofe which have 
 been written againft you, lay before a company, which often 
 meets, rather to live than to drink together ; according to that 
 diftindion which Tully makes to the advantage of his own 
 nation over the Greeks. They difpute without ftrifc, and ex- 
 
 * As the dedication and preface, that flood at the head of chcll- remarks, were 
 written by another and a very inferior hand, tiiey are therefore omitted here. 
 
 Vol. I. N n nmine
 
 274 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 amine as difpaffionately the events and the charadlers of the 
 prefent age, as they rcafon about thofe which are found in 
 liiftcry. When I came in, a gentleman was faying, that your 
 victories had been cheaply bought ; and that he had not feen 
 one champion, able to break a launce, enter the lifts againft 
 you ; upon which fome were ready to obferve the inconfi- 
 rtencies of human nature, and how hard it often proves to 
 hire men to avow and defend even that v/hich they are hired 
 to aft. Others were willing to hope that corruption had not - 
 fpread very wide, nor taken root very deep amongfl us. All 
 agreed, that if your papers could be fufpedled to be written 
 in oppofition to the prefent minifters, the feeble and low op- 
 pofition you have met with, would deferve to be looked upon 
 as a very melancholy fymptom for them ; fince it would de- 
 note that their caufe was deemed univerfally bad ; or that 
 their perfons were grown univerfally odious among men of 
 fenfe, ingenuity and knowledge. It would denote their guilt, 
 or their misfortune ; perhaps both. 
 
 Here one of the company interpofed, by obferving very 
 prudently, ' that any thing fo void of probability, as not to 
 
 * fall even under fufpicion, was unworthy of farther conlide- 
 ' ration. But, faid he, whatever particular views Mr. D'An^- 
 ' VERS may have had, one general eftecf, which I cannot ap- 
 
 * prove, has followed from his writings. We muft remember 
 ' that Vv'hen he began to publifh his weekly lucubrations, uni- 
 
 - ' verfal quiet prevailed, if not univerfal fatisfadlion ; for in 
 
 * what place, or at what time was the laft ever found ? Few 
 
 * people enquired ; fewer grumbled ; none clamored ; all ac- 
 
 * quiefced. Now the humor of the nation is altered. Every 
 
 * mm inquires with eagernefs, and examines with freedom. 
 
 * All orders of men are more intent than I ever obferved them 
 
 * to be on the courfc of public alTairs, and deliver their judg- 
 
 c ' ments
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 275 
 
 * ments with lefs referve upon the moft important. From this 
 
 * a teration, for which the Craftman is chiefly anfwerable, no 
 
 * good confcquence can, I think, proceed ; and it is vifible 
 
 * that feveral inconveniencies may.' 
 
 To this many of us could by no means afTent. We ap- 
 prehended that in a country, circumftanced like ours, and under 
 a government conftituted like ours, the people had a right to 
 be informed and to reafon about pubHc affairs ; that when 
 wife and honeft meafures are purfued, and the nation reaps 
 the advantage of them, the exercife of this right will always 
 be agreeable to the men in power; that, indeed, if weak 
 and wicked meafures are purfued, the men in power might 
 find the exercife of this right difagreeable, inconvenient, and 
 fometimes dangerous to them; but that, even in this cafe, there 
 would be no pretence for attempting to deprive the people of 
 this right, or for difcouraging the exercife of it : and that to 
 forbid men to complain, when they fuffer, would be an in- 
 ftance of tyranny but one degree below that which the tri- 
 umvirs gave, during the flaughter and terror of the profcrip- 
 tions, when by edid: they commanded all men to be merry 
 upon pain of death. 
 
 The perfon from whom we differed, brought us back to 
 the particular cafe of your writings, Mr. D'Anvers. He en- 
 deavored to fupport what he had fiid againft them in this 
 manner : 
 
 * There was no good reafon for railing this fpirit, which I 
 ' diflike, in the nation, when the Craftfman began to write, or 
 ' there was fuch a reafon. If there was none, why has he 
 
 * given fo much alarm ? If there w^as one, how has it come to 
 pafs that fo great an alarm has produced fo little effecl ? Will 
 
 N n 2 ' you 
 
 to 
 (
 
 276 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 « you fay that he had very good reafon to rouze this Tpirit, 
 ' but that it has hitherto had no opportunity of exerting it- 
 ' felf ? Or will you fay that his reafons were good and the 
 
 < opportunity fair, but that the minds of men, which have 
 
 * been convinced by the former, have not yet been determin- 
 ' ed to improve the latter ? I obferv^e on all thefe alterna- 
 
 * tives, that if there was no good and even prefling reafon to 
 
 * raife fuch a fpirit in the nation as I diflike, (becaufe I expert 
 
 * no national benefit, and I fear much inconveniency from it) 
 
 * Mr. D' An VERS has afted a very wicked part, and is little 
 ' better than a fower of fedition.— If there was fuch a reafon, 
 
 * but no fuch opportunity, he has aded a very weak part, and 
 ' is but a fhallow politician. — If there was fuch a reafon and 
 
 * fuch an opportunity, but no difpofition in the minds of men 
 ' to follow their convidion, you may excufe your favorite au- 
 
 < thor, perhaps, by alledging that the minds of men are in 
 ' the power of God alone ; but you will reprefent our natio- 
 
 * nal condition to be more defperate than I ever thought it, 
 ' or am yet willing to believe it.— Upon this fuppofition I af- 
 
 * firm that Mr. D'Anvers is not to be excufed, if he conti- 
 
 * nues to write ; for if he cannot raife this difpolition by per- 
 
 * fuaiion, what does he aim at farther ? I hope that he and 
 
 * you, who defend him, admire as much as I profefs to do 
 ' that divine faying of Plato : " We may endeavor to perfuade 
 *' our fellow-citizens ; but it is not lawful to force them even 
 " to that which is beft for them." 
 
 Whilst all this pailed, I took notice that an antient vene- 
 rable, gentleman fhewed more emotion, and greater impati- 
 ence than I remembered to have feen him ever exprefs before. 
 As foon as the other had concluded, he broke (ilence in the 
 following manner : 
 
 « You
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 277 
 
 * You have endeavored to prove, fir, that the Craftrmaii 
 < fliould not have begun to write; or at Jeafl: that Jie is inex- 
 
 * cufable for continuing. Now I not only differ from you, 
 
 * but I differ from you upon the very foundation on which 
 
 * you have cftabHfhed that whole argument. 
 
 ' The face of things was, I agree, as calm as you reprcfcnt 
 
 * it to have been, when myhoneft contemporary Caleb took 
 
 * up his pen. They were halcyon days truly. We wtre not 
 ' only quiet, but we feemed implicit, and dull uniformity of 
 
 * eternal affent prevailed in every place. I agree that, fince 
 ' that time, things are very much altered. A ferment, or fpi- 
 ' rit, call it which you plcafe, is railed ; but, I blefs God, it is 
 ' not the blind and furious fpirit of party. Jt is a fpirit, which 
 ' fprings from information and convidion, that has diffufed it- 
 ' felf not only to all orders of men, as you obferved, but to 
 ' men of all denominations. Even they who ad; againfl: it, 
 ' encourage it. You cannot call it toryifm, when fuch num- 
 ' bers of independent whigs avow it. To call it whigifm 
 ' would be improper likewife, when fo many tories concur in 
 ' it. He, who fliould call it jacobitifm, would be too abfurd 
 ' to deferve an anfwer. What is it then ? h is, I think, a re- 
 ' vival of the true old Englifh fpirit, which prevailed in the 
 
 * days of our fathers, and which muf!: alv/ays be national, 
 ' fincc it has no diredlion but to the national intereft ; *' eft jam 
 *' una vox omnium ; ' and I hope we fhall nertr have occafion 
 ' to add, " magis odio firmata quam praefidio." 
 
 ' This fpirit the Craftfraan has contributed to raife; and I 
 ' affirm, in my turn, that fuppofing him to liave no other rca- 
 
 * fon for raifing and fupporting it, than a general obfervation 
 
 * of the contrary temper into which the nation had fallen, he 
 
 * deferves the acknowledgments of every honefl man in Bri- 
 
 ' tain,
 
 278 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * tain, for the part he has aded. The difpute between us is 
 « thus reduced to one fingle propofi^iion ; and if I -prove this, 
 
 * all your reafoning, fir, falls of courfe to the ground. 
 
 The other affented; the ftate of the difpute was fixed ; and 
 the old gentleman proceeded in his argument to this effed:: 
 
 * Give me leave to borrow, upon this occafion, an image 
 ' which my lord Bacon employs, in one of his Efi'ays, upon 
 'another. A people, who will maintain their liberties, muft 
 ' pray for the blefiing of Judah, to avoid the fate of Iss achar, 
 
 * the greatefl: curfe which can befal them. Far from jogging 
 
 * on filently and tamely, like the afs between two burthens, 
 
 * fuch a people muft preferve fome of the fiercenefs of the lion, 
 
 * and even make their roar to be heard like his, whenever they 
 
 * are injured, or fo much as threatned. 
 
 * I DO not mean to recommendyourfeditious, rebellious fpirit, 
 
 * which will create a perpetual fcene of tumult and diforder, 
 *' and expofe every ftate to frequent and dangerous convulfi- 
 
 * ens. Neither would I be thought to approve even that po- 
 
 * pular peevifhnefs of temper, which fometimes prevails, fo as 
 < to difcompofe the harmony of the fevcral orders of govern- 
 
 * ment. But this I aflert, that liberty cannot be long fecure, 
 
 * in any country, unlefs a perpetual jealouf}? watches over it, 
 ' and a conftant determined refolution protcds it in the whole 
 
 * body of the nation. The principle muft be permanent and 
 
 * equal. Tlie exercife of it ougiit to be proportioned to the 
 
 * occafions. The hundred eyes of Argus were not always 
 
 * kept open ; but they were never all clofed. The Vv^hole body 
 
 * of a nation may be as jealous of their liberties, as a private 
 
 * man of his honor. They may be, at all times, animated by 
 ■* a generous refolution of defending thefe liberties at any 
 
 * rifque ;
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 279 
 
 rifque; as he may, at all times, feci in his heart the courage 
 o[ venturing his life to maintain his honor. But as there is 
 no neccllary confequcnce from this private charader to that 
 of a quarrelfome bully ; fo neither is there any neceffiry con- 
 
 * fequence from the public charader I have recommended to 
 
 * that of a fadtious, rebellious people. 
 
 ' Liberty is a tender plant, u'hich will not flouridi unlefs 
 
 * the genius of the foil be proper for it ; nor will any foil con- 
 
 * tinue to be fo long, vi^hich is not cultivated with inceflant 
 *' care. " Variae illudunt peftes ; mifchicfs of various kinds 
 *' abound ;"and there is nofeafon, in the revolution of the great 
 ' political year of government, when we can fiiy, with truth, 
 ' that liberty is entirely free from imm^cdiate or remote. 
 ' danger. 
 
 * In every kind of government fome powers mufl; be lodged 
 
 * in particular men, or particular bodies of men, for the good 
 ' order and prefervation of the whole community. The lines 
 
 * which circurafcribe thefe powers, are the bounds of fcpara- 
 
 * tion between the prerogatives of the prince, or other magi- 
 
 * ftrate, and the privileges of the people. Every ftep, which 
 
 * the prince, or magiffrate, makes beyond thefe bounds, is an 
 
 * encroachment on liberty, and every attempt towards making 
 ' fuch a ftep is a danger to liberty. 
 
 ' Thus we fee how great a truft is rcp.jfed in thofe to 
 
 * whom fuch powers are committed ; and if we look into the 
 
 * heart of man, we fliall foon difcover how great, tbo unavoid- 
 ' able a temptation is laid in their way. The love oF power is 
 
 * natural ; it is infatiable ; almoft conftantly whetted; and ^ 
 
 * never cloyed by poifefTion. If therefore all men will endea- 
 
 * vor.
 
 28o 1^ E M A R K S ON THE 
 
 * vor to encreafe their power, or at leaft to prolong and fecure 
 ^ the enjoyment of it, according to the uncertain meafure of 
 
 * their own paflions, and not according to the ftated propor- 
 ' tion of rcafon and of law ; and if neither one nor the other 
 
 * of thefe can be attempted without a danger to liberty ; it 
 
 * follows undeniably that, in the nature of things, the notion 
 
 * of a perpetual danger to liberty is infeparable from the very 
 
 * notion of government. 
 
 * That thefe principles are true, will appear evident from 
 ^ practice and experience, as well as from fpeculation. All 
 ^ forms of government fuppofe them to be fo ; and in fuch as 
 
 * are not ablolute monarchies we find the utmoft precautions, 
 
 < which their feveral inftitutions admit, taken againft this evil; 
 ' from hence that rotation of employments in commonwealths; 
 
 * the annual, or other more frequent elections of magiftrates ; 
 
 * and all thofe checks and controls, which the wifdom of le- 
 
 < giflators, prompted by experience, has invented. 
 
 * In perff(5l democracies thele precautions have been taken 
 
 * in the higheft degree ; and yet even there they have not been 
 ■* always efieclual. They were carried fo far in the Athenian 
 
 * form of government, that this people feemed more in dan- 
 
 * ger of falling into anarchy than tyranny ; and yet one of 
 ^ their magiilrates found means to become their tyrant, and 
 
 * to tranlmit this power to his fucceflbrs. 
 
 * In mixed governments, the danger muft ftill be greater. 
 ' Such a one we may juftly reckon that of Rome, as well dur- 
 "* ing the regal as republican flate; and furely no hiflory can 
 ^ be more fruitful in examples of the danger to which liberty 
 
 * Hands expofed ^rom the natural, and therefore conflant de- 
 
 1 ' fire
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 281 
 
 * fire of amplifying and maintaining power, than the Roman 
 '■ hiftory is, from the lad: of the kings to the firfl ot the emperors. 
 
 * A monarchy, limited like ours, may be placed, for aught 
 ' I know, as it has often been rtprefented, juft in the middle 
 ' point ; from whence a deviation kads on one iiand to ty- 
 ' ranny, and on the other to anarchy ; but fure I am that 
 
 * if we are iituated juft in the middle point, the leaft devia- 
 
 * tion is the more cautionally to be guarded againft. Liberty 
 
 * would be fafer, perhaps, if we inclined a little more than , we 
 
 * do to the popular fide. 
 
 * It may be faid, and I would anticipate the objedion, that 
 
 * if we are thus placed, our care ought to be exerted equally 
 
 * againfl deviations on either fide ; and that I am the more in 
 ^ the wrong to appear fo apprehenflve of thofe on one fide, 
 
 * and fo little apprehenfive of thofe on the other ; becaufe 
 
 * even our own hiftory might have fliewn us, that de- 
 
 * viations to the popular fide have cofi: us at leaft as dear as 
 
 < ever thofe to the other fide can be pretended to have done. 
 ^ But let it be confidered j 
 
 * First, that as far as thcfe national calamities, hinted at 
 
 < in the objection, have been the unavoidable confequences of 
 ' methods neceffary to fecure or retrieve liberty, it is infamous 
 
 * to repine at them, whatever they have coft, 
 
 * Secondly, that the cafes compared together, and fuppofed 
 
 * in this objedion to be equal, are not fo. I may fafcly appeal 
 <■ to every impartial reader of our hiftory, whether any truth 
 
 * he colleded from it ever ftruck him more ftrongly than this ; 
 
 * that when the difputes between the king and the people have 
 
 * been carried to fuch extremes, as to draw national calamities 
 
 Vol. i. O o ' after
 
 282 REMARKSONTHE 
 
 * after them, it has not been owing primarily to the obftinacy 
 
 < and weak management of the court, and is therefore unjuft- 
 
 < ly charged on the juft fpirit of liberty. In truth a fpirit of 
 
 * liberty will never deftroy a free conftitution ; a fpirit of fa- 
 
 * (ftion may. But 1 appeal again, whether thofe of our princes^ 
 
 * who have had fenfe and virtue enough to encourage the one,, 
 
 * have had any thing to fear from the other. 
 
 * Now if experience fhews, as I am perfuaded it does, that 
 
 * the prerogative and power of a prince will never be in any real 
 
 * danger when he invades, neither openly nor infidioufly, the 
 
 * liberties of his people ; the fame experience will fhew that the 
 
 * liberties of a people may be in very real danger, when, far 
 
 * from invading the prerogative and power of the prince, they 
 
 * fubmit to one, and are even fo good as to encreafe the other. 
 
 * The reafon of this difference is plain. A fpirit of fadtioa 
 
 * alone will be always too weak to cope with the legal power 
 
 * and authority of the crown ; and the fpirit of liberty, in the 
 
 * whole body of the people, which contradiftinguifhes this cafe. 
 
 * from the other, may be raifcd by the fear of lofing ; but can- 
 ' not be fo raifed by the hopes of acquiring. The fear is com- 
 ' mon to all ; the hope can only be particular to a few. The 
 
 * fear therefore may become a general principle of union ; the- 
 
 * hope cannot.- 
 
 * But if a national fpirit cannot be any other than a de- 
 ' fenGve, and therefore unprovoked, an harmlefs, inoffenlivc 
 ' fpirit ; that of a prince cannot, without due coertion, be kept 
 ' within tlie fame bounds ; for here the tables are turned ; and 
 ' the hope of acquiring, which can never be a common prin- 
 
 * ciple among the m.ultitude, to unite and carry them into action, 
 
 * becomes an almoft irrefiftible motive to the prince ; who, by 
 
 * yielding to it, indulges the mofl: powerful pallions of the foul ; 
 
 ' who
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 2^2 
 
 * who finds many to fliare the difficulties and dangers of the 
 
 * entcrprize with him j and who iliares the prize with none. 
 
 * Generally and abftradcdly fpcaking, therefore, as pub- 
 ^ lie hbeny is more expofed under mixed governments, than 
 
 * under perfedt democracies; fo is it more expofed under limit- 
 ^ ed monarchies than under any other form of mixed govern- 
 
 < ment. 
 
 * What encreafes the danger to liberty in this cafe is, that 
 ' the opportunity of invading it, which lies open to a fovereign 
 
 * prince, fuits almoft any character. The powers intrufted to 
 
 * other magiftrates, as in a commonwealth, are fubjed: to im- 
 
 * mediate controuls, the exercife of them is fubjcdt to future 
 
 * revifions, and is limited to a {liort time ; fo that if fuch ma- 
 
 * giftrates invade liberty, with any profped of luccefs, it can 
 
 * only happen, when they are able to compenfate for the difad- 
 
 * vantages of their political circumftances, by the greatnei^ of 
 
 * their perfonal qualifications, by fuperior underftanding and 
 « fuperior courage, by a great, if not a good charader, and 
 
 < by the appearance of virtue at leaft. Few men therefore are 
 
 * fit for fuch an undertaking. 
 
 * But the fovereign prince, who rules in a limited monar- 
 
 * chy, has an opportunity open to him for Hfe ; and fuch an 
 
 * opportunity as requires no extraordinary perfonal qualifica- 
 
 * tions. He may poffefs every vice or wcaknefs, which is op- 
 
 < pofed to the virtues, or appearances of virtue, requifite in the 
 
 * other cafe, and yet may deftroy the liberty of the braved 
 
 * people upon earth. The pretences for concealing his defigns, 
 
 * and the helps for carrying them on, which his fituation af- 
 « fords above that of any magiftrate in a commonwealth, will 
 
 * abundantly compenfate for the difad vantages arifing from his 
 
 O o 2 * perfonal
 
 284 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * perfonal character, and will fecure his fuccefs, if the people 
 
 * are brought, by artifice or accident, to grow remifs in watch- 
 
 * ing over their liberties. Every man is therefore fit for fuch 
 
 * an undertaking. If thefe general reflections evince that li- 
 
 * berty muft always be in fome degree of danger under every 
 « government ; and that this danger muft encreafe in propor- 
 
 * tion, as the chief powers of the ftate are entruftcd in fewer 
 
 * hands and for longer terms ; then liberty is always in fome 
 
 * degree of danger ; and that not the leaft, even under our 
 
 * excellent conftitution ; then the neceffity of keeping this jea- 
 ' lous fpirit, the true guardian of public liberty, always alive 
 
 * and adlive in this nation, is manifeft ; then the obfervation 
 
 * of our being fallen into the contrary temper is alone afufficient 
 ' reafon to juftify Mr. D'Anvers for joining his endeavors to 
 
 * awaken us from our political lethargy ; then, fir, my propo- 
 
 * fition is proved, and your reafoning falls to the ground. 
 
 This difcourfe furnifiied matter of much reflection to the 
 company ; fome obje(ftions were made ; fome doubts were 
 propofed ; and fome explanations afked for. I fliall not trouble 
 you with all thefe particulars, but fliall conclude m.y letter, by 
 relating to you in what manner the old gentleman replied, and 
 by his reply wound up the converfation of the evening. 
 
 * I believe, gentlemen, faid he, that we do not differ fo 
 
 * much as fome of you feem to imagine : for firft, tho I de- 
 ' fire the vefl'el of the commonwealth may fail fafely, yet I 
 
 * defire it may fail fmoothly too; and tho I muft think, till I 
 
 * hear better reafons to the contrary, that public liberty can- 
 ' not be fo eafi'y attacked, and may be more eafily defended, 
 ' in a perfedt democracy, or in a mixed republic, than in a 
 
 * limited monarchy ; yet will it not follow neceflarily from 
 
 * hence, as has been fuppofed, that I prefer the two firft to the 
 
 'laft
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 285 
 
 ' laft of thefe forms of government. On cither fide there are 
 compenfations ; and if Hberty may be better defended in tlie 
 former, yet dill it may be defended, and domeftic quiet is 
 perhaps better preferved in the latter. 
 
 * Secondlv, if J agree with the gentlemen who have in- 
 fifted fo much on the little reafon which there was in the late 
 reign, or is in the prcfent, to apprehend any encroachments 
 from the crown on the Britifli liberties ; thefe gentlemen 
 muft, I think, agree with me like wife that this will not al- 
 ter the cafe ; fubvert what I have endeavored to eftablifli ; 
 or derive any blame on thofe who have endeavored to revive 
 that public fpirit of watchfulncfs over all national intercfts, 
 which is the proper and true guardian of liberty, in an age 
 when that public fpirit has more than begun to fink and die 
 away. I hope there will be always men found to preach 
 this docflrine in feafon and out of feafon, as the apoflles 
 preached the gofpcl ; becaufe if this fpirit is not kept at all 
 times in vigor, it may fail us at feme particular time, wlien^ 
 we fhall want to exert it moft. In great and immediate 
 danger, the mofl: fluggifli centinel is alert ; but furely they 
 who, in times of apparent fecurity, excite us to be upon 
 our guard, do as real fervicc as they who animate us to our 
 defence when we are adually attacked; and the firft is, in^ 
 my opinion, that kind of fervicc of which we ftand the 
 moft in need. I confefs freely, that I fhould not apprehend 
 fo much danger to liberty in times of fufpicion, il I faw that 
 neither power could fubdue, nor artifice divert, nor pufilhi- 
 nimity oblige men to abandon this fpirit ; as I lliould appre- 
 hend in times of apparent fecurity, if I obferved it to be loft. 
 In a word, no laws, no orders of government can effecSual- 
 ly fecure liberty any longer than this fpirit prevails, and gives 
 them vigor ; and therefore you might argue as reafonably 
 3 * for
 
 286 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * for repealing any law, or abolifliing any cuftom, the mofl ad- 
 
 * vantageoiis to liberty, and which you cannot be fure of re- 
 
 * ftoring at your pleafure, becaufe you feel no immediate want 
 
 * of it ; as you have argued for letting this fpirit die away, 
 
 * which you cannot be fure of reviving at your pleafure, be- 
 
 * caufe you perceive no immediate occafion for the exercife of 
 
 * I HOPE that I have laid enough to give me a right to con- 
 
 * elude in this manner ; and if I was to defcend into particu- 
 
 * lar applications of the general truths which I have advanced, 
 
 * I think that no doubt whatever could remain in any of your 
 
 * minds, upon this fubje6l.' — After this, our company broke 
 up. If the fame fubjed: is refumed when they meet again, or 
 on any other, which 1 judge proper to be communicated to 
 jou, it is highl}? probable that you will hear again from 
 
 Your admirer, 
 
 friend and fervant, &c. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 287 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 S I R^ 
 
 TH E fame company hath met, and the fame fubjed: 
 hath been refumed ; fo that I think myfclf under aa 
 obh'gation of writing to you again. 
 
 The perfon who gave occafion to all that was faid in your 
 defence the other day, feemed very defirous that the conver- 
 fetion fhould be purfued at our laft meeting; and therefore 
 as foon as we fate down, he addreffed himfelf thus to the old 
 gentleman who had fought your battle. 
 
 * Sir, faid he. Town myfelf a good deal reconciled to the 
 ^ Craftfman by the difcourfe you held, when we were laft to- 
 
 * gether. That fome inconveniencies mufl: follow from keep- 
 
 * ing this fpirit of jealoufy and watchfulnefs always alive, feems 
 
 * to me very evident ; but I begin to think that this evil may 
 ' be neceflliry, in order to fecure us againft greater. Every 
 •* fyftem of human invention muft be liable to fome objedlions ; 
 *' and it would be chimerical in us to exped a form of govern- 
 
 * ment liable to none. Even theocracy was attended by fome 
 
 * real inconveniencies, according to the Jewifh hiftories ; and 
 *• neither the divine prefence in the tabernacle, nor the ambu- 
 '• lant oracle, which the pricft carried about with him, could 
 *' prefcrve intire purity in religion, or good order in the ftate,. 
 
 * We muft be content therefore to bear the difordcr I appre- 
 
 * hend from that ferment, which a perpetual jealoufy of the 
 
 * goi'ernors in the governed will keep up, rather than abandon 
 *^that fpirit, the life of which is the life of liberty. When the 
 
 ' jealoufy.'
 
 288 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 < jealoufy happens to be ill-placed, we may hope it will not 
 ' rife to any great and dangerous height. When it happens to 
 
 * be well grounded, it may have the good effed of dellroying 
 
 * a wicked minifler, of checking a bad, or of reclaiming a 
 
 * miiguided prince. 
 
 * You fee, fir, that my converlion is pretty far advanced ; 
 
 * and it you will pleafe to defcend into particular applications 
 '■ of the general dodrines you delivered, as you gave us reafou 
 
 * to hope that you would, it is very probable that the few 
 
 * doubts I have ftill may be removed. 
 
 The reft of the company feconded this requeft. The good 
 old gentleman yielded to our common defires, and fpoke to 
 the following effedt : 
 
 * The general truth I am to prove by particular examples is 
 
 * this : that liberty cannot be preferved long by any people, who 
 
 * do not preferve that watchful and jealous fpirit of liberty, on 
 
 * the neceflity of which I have infifted. If you are once con- 
 
 * vinced of this truth, you will know what opinion to enter- 
 
 * tain of thofe who endeavor to extinguifh this fpirit, and of 
 ' thofe who do all they can to keep it alive. 
 
 * There are two other general truths relative to this, which 
 
 * I fhall eftablifh likewife by particular examples, as I go along. 
 
 * One is this: that the fpirit of liberty, far from infplring 
 « that rafhnefs and undiftinguifhing fury which are peculiar to 
 
 * the fpirit of fadion, is flow to ad even again ft the worft 
 
 * princes, and exerts itfelf in favor of the beft with more efTed 
 
 * than any other fpirit whatever. 
 
 * The
 
 HISTORY OF E N G L A N D. 2P9 
 
 ' The lecond is this : that how flowly focver the fpirit of 
 
 * liberty may a6l in fufpicious times and againfl; incroaching 
 
 * governors ; yet if it be kept alive, it will aftcffedually fooncr 
 ' or later, tho under the greateft dlHidvantages, and againft 
 
 * the mofl: powerful oppofitionj in a word, in the moft def- 
 
 * perate cafes. 
 
 * The firfl; of thefe truths will recommend this fpirit to every 
 
 * good prince and honeft minifter. The other will encourage 
 
 * every man who is a friend to liberty, never to abandon the 
 
 * Ciufe through defpondency of fuccefs, as long as he fees this 
 
 * fpirit prevail, or even fubiift. 
 
 * Having fixed thefe principal points of view, let us pro- 
 
 * ceed : and tho I would not advife you to admit the works of 
 
 * Machiavel into your canon of political writings; yet fmce 
 
 < in them, as in other apocryphal books, many excellent things 
 
 * are interfperfed, let us begin by improving an hint taken from 
 
 * the difcourfes of the Italian fecretary on the firft decade of 
 
 * Livy. 
 
 ' He obferves that, of all governments, thofe are the beft, 
 
 < which by the natural effc&i of their original conflitutions are 
 
 * frequently renevv-ed or drawn back, as he explains his mean- 
 
 * ing, to their firft principles ; and that no government can be 
 
 * of a long duration, where this does not happen from time to 
 
 * time, either from the caufe juft mentioned, or from fome 
 ' accidental caufe. 
 
 ' The reafon is obvious. There muft be fome good in the 
 
 * firft principles of every government, or it could not fubfift 
 
 * at all ; much lefs could it make any progrefs. But this good 
 ^ degenerates, according to the natural courfc of things ; and 
 
 Vol. I. P p * govern-
 
 290 • REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * governments, like other mixed bodies, tend to diffoliition by 
 
 * the changes which are wrought in the feveral parts, and by 
 ' the un.iptnefs and difproportion, which refult from hence 
 
 * throughout the whole compofition, 
 
 * The moft effedual, and indeed the fole method of main- 
 
 < taining their health and prolonging their life, mufl therefore 
 
 * be to bring them back as near and as frequently as poffible 
 
 * to thofe principles, on which their profperity, ftrength and 
 
 * duration were originally founded. 
 
 * This change, or renewal of the ftate, hath been fometimes 
 
 < wrought by external caufes, as it happened at Rome, upon 
 
 * the invafion of the Gauls. The Romans had departed from 
 
 < their antient obfervances. The ceremonies of religion and 
 
 * the laws of juftice were neglededby them. An enemy, whom 
 ' they defpifed and provoked, conquered them. The impref- 
 
 * ilons made by this dreadful calamity brought them back to 
 
 * their firft inftitutions and to their primitive fpirit. They 
 
 < fprung up from this fecond original, as Livy calls it, wich 
 
 * new vigor, and rofe to greater fame, power and dignity than 
 
 * ever. 
 
 * But not to dwell on fuch examples, as point out to us ra- 
 
 * ther the punifhment of vice, than the means of reformation, 
 
 * let us obferve that this change, or renewal of the ftate, is 
 
 * oftener and better wrought by internal caufes. 
 
 ' Many excellent inftitutions were contrived in framing the 
 
 * Roman government, which ferved to maintain in force the 
 ' lirft principles of that political fyftem. Such were the regula- 
 ' tions about elections ; the laws againft bribery ; and many 
 
 * other written laws, or confirmed cuftoms. Such again was 
 
 * the
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 291 
 
 * the conFdtutlon of the fenate, in whom the niajcriy of the 
 
 * commonwealth relided, and whofe authority controlcd the 
 
 * licentioufncis of the people. Such was the eredion of that 
 
 * facredj tribunitial power, whofe prerogatives fcrved to clieck 
 
 * the ufurpations of the magiftrates, and who could ayeft with 
 
 * one word, even the proceedings of the fenate. Such was the 
 
 * office of the cenfors, whofe inquifitions and luftrations cor- 
 
 * reded abufcs, reformed manners, and purged the fenate it- 
 
 * felf of corrupt and unworthy members. 
 
 * These laws, thefe cuAoms, thefe different orders, con- 
 
 * trouling one another, and promoting the general good of the 
 
 * commonwealth, had great effect during fome centuries. But 
 
 * this effed could never have followed them at all, if the fpirit 
 
 * of liberty, which had enaded thefe laws, eftablifhed thefe 
 
 * cuftoms, and formed thefe orders, had not continued. The 
 
 * very beft laws are a dead letter, nay often a grievance, un- 
 
 * lefs they are ftrenuoufly and honeflly executed. They never 
 ' can be fo executed, unlefs the fpirit of them poflefs thofe to 
 
 * whom the execution of them is committed ; and it would 
 
 * be ridiculous to exped to find this fpirit in the magiftrates, 
 
 * and the feveral orders of the ftate, unlefs it appeared in the 
 ' body of the people, out of whom thefe magiftrates are chofen, 
 
 * and thefe orders compofed. 
 
 < The examples which Machiavel cites to ftiew, that the 
 
 * virtue of particular men among the Romans, did frequently 
 
 * draw that government back to it's original principles, are fo 
 
 * many proofs that the duration of liberty depends on keeping 
 ' the fpirit of it alive and warm. Such examples were frequent 
 
 * in Rome, whilft this fpirit ftourill:icd. As it decayed, thefe 
 
 * examples became more rare and failed at laft entirely. The 
 < old laws and cuftoms were, for the moft part, ftill in being. 
 
 Pp 2 * The
 
 292 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * The forms of elefting magiftrates, and of promulgating laws 
 
 * were in the main obferved. There was ftill a fenate. There 
 
 < were ftill cenfors and tribunes. But the fpirit of liberty being. 
 
 * ftifled by that of fadion and cabal, and the feveral orders of 
 
 * the government being tainted by the general corruption, 
 
 * thefe good laws and cuftoms remained without force, or 
 
 < were fiifpended, or were abrogated, or were perverted to 
 
 * ferve the purpofes of private ambition and avarice. 
 
 ' The time-ferving flatterers of princes and minifters have 
 
 * no point, amongft all the naufeous drudgery impofed on them, 
 
 * which they are obliged more to labor than that of reprefent- 
 
 * ing all the effeds of a fpirit of liberty as fo many effeds of a 
 
 < fpirit of fadion. Examples might be found, even without 
 
 * fearching long or looking far after them, when this hath been 
 ' done againft the public fenfe of a whole nation, and fome- 
 
 * times in favor of a cabal, neither numerous nor confiderable 
 « enough to be called a party. But ftill it will remain eter- 
 
 < nally true, that the fpirit of liberty and the fpirit of fadlion are 
 
 * not only different, but repugnant and incompatible : fo that 
 ' the life of either is the death of the other. 
 
 * We muft not imagine that the freedom of the Romans 
 
 < was loft, becaufe one party fought for the maintainance of 
 ' liberty ; another for the eftablifliment of tyranny ; and that 
 ' the latter prevailed. No. The fpirit of liberty was dead, 
 
 * and the fpirit of fadion had taken its place on both fides. As 
 
 * long as the former prevailed, a Roman facrifiiced his own, 
 
 * and therefore no doubt every other perfonal interefl:, to the 
 ' interefl of the commonwealth. When the latter fucceeded, 
 ' the intereft of the commonwealth was confidered no other- 
 
 * wife than in fubordination to that particular intereft which 
 
 < each perfon had efpoufcd. The principal men, inftead of 
 
 * making
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 293 
 
 < making their grandeur and glory confift, as they formerly 
 
 * had done, in that vvhieh the grandeur and glory of the coni- 
 
 * monwealth reflc6led on them, coniidered themfclves now as 
 
 * individuals, not as citizens, and each would iliine with his 
 
 * own Jight. To this purpofe alone they employed the com- 
 
 * mands they had ot armies, the governments of provinces, and 
 
 * the influence they acquired over the tribes at Rome, and 
 
 * over the allies and fubje6ls of the republic. Upon principles 
 
 * of the fame kind, inferior perfons attached themfelves to 
 
 * thcfe 3 and that zeal and induftry, nay that courage and 
 
 * magnanimity, which had been exerted formerly in the fervice 
 
 * of the commonwealth, were exerted by the fpirit of fadtion, 
 
 * for Marius, or Sylla ; for Caesar, or Pompey. 
 
 * It is plain, that the liberty of Rome would not have been 
 
 * irretrievably loft, the Caesar had finifhed the civil war with 
 
 * abfolute fuccefs, and was fettled in power, if the fpirit of li- 
 
 < berty had not been then loft in the whole body of the people ;, 
 
 * if the Romans had not been as ripe for flavery, as the Cap- 
 
 * padocians were fond of it ; for I think the Cappadocians 
 
 * were the people who deftred that a prince might be fet over 
 ' them, and refufed to be a free people. 
 
 * I cannot believe that thofe who murdered Caesar, took 
 fuch puerile meafures as Cicero, who was not let into the 
 fecret, pretended that they had taken, when he faw the con- 
 fequences of their adion. But in this they erred. They 
 killed their benefactor ; at leaft, he was fuch to the grcatcft 
 part of them ; and renewed the civil war, in order to reftore 
 liberty to a people, v.ho had loft the fpirit of liberty, and 
 who would not take it when it was offered to them. Even 
 in the fenate, Octavius had a party ; Anthony had a party ^ 
 hut the commonwealth had none. In fhortj the freeft people 
 
 f upon:
 
 294 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 < upon earth, by fuffering tliefpirit of liberty to decay, and that 
 
 * of fadlon to grow up, became flaves to Rich a fucccfilon of 
 
 * monfters, contuiued with very few exceptions from the reign 
 
 * of Augustus to the deftrudion of the empire, as God never 
 
 * ient in his wrath to execute vengeance on any other nation. 
 
 * Thus I have endeavored to illuflrate and confirm thefirft 
 
 * general propolition laid down, by a fummary application of 
 
 * it to the Roman ftory. I have not explained by what de- 
 
 * grees, and by what means one of thefe fpirits gradually de- 
 ^ cayed, and the other grew up. The fubjccS is fine, and the 
 
 * tafk would be pleafant; but it is unneceflary to our prefent 
 
 * purpofe. We fee enough at this time, if we fee that in the 
 
 * greateft revolution of the greatefl: government of the world, 
 
 * lofing the fpirit of liberty was the caufe, and lofing liberty 
 '' was the effed:. 
 
 * If now we bring thefe confideratlons home, we fliall find 
 
 * not only the firft general propofition, but the others relative 
 
 * to it, illuftrated and confirmed through the whole courfe of 
 
 < our annals. I fiiall make a dedudion of fome of thefe par- 
 « ticulars. To deduce them all would exceed my ftrength and 
 ' your patience. 
 
 Here one of our company interrupted the old gentleman's 
 difcourfe, by fiying that fince we were come to a kindof paufe, 
 he defired leave to make an obfervation, which he thought 
 pertinent and material, on what had been faid, before we 
 went into any new matter. * The difference and oppofition 
 
 * between a fpirit of liberty and a fpirit of fadion, continued 
 
 < he, hath been juftly flated. A fpirit of liberty \vi!l be al- 
 
 * ways and wholly concerned about national interefts, and very 
 ' indifferent about perfonal and private interefts. On the con- 
 
 * trary,
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 295 
 
 * trary, a fpirit of fadion will be always and wholly concerned 
 
 * about thele, and very indifferent about the others. When 
 
 * they appear therefore in their proper characters, they are di- 
 
 * flinguiilied as eafily as light and darknefs; and the danger I 
 
 * apprehend is over. 
 
 * But fa(5i:ion puts. on the mafk of liberty; and under this- 
 
 * flUfe appearance, difputes her being even with liberty herfelf, 
 
 * Now here, methinks, a great many dangers arife; the danger 
 
 * of miftaking when it is fo hard to diftinguiOi ; the danger of 
 
 * being bubbles and tools of flidion, whilil: we fancy ourfelves 
 
 * aflertors of public liberty ; the danger of continuing under 
 
 * this deluiion, till it is too late to prevent fuch mifchiefs as we 
 
 * never intended to bring on our country. The fpirit of fadlion 
 
 < may take, and I doubt not, hath often taken pofleilion of 
 ' numbers, who meant to entertain no other fpirit than that of 
 
 < liberty ; for numbers have not the difcernment of fpirits. 
 ' This pofTeilion may continue, and in fad, I believe it hath 
 
 * continued very often, till faction hath accompliflied, or fc- 
 
 * cured the accomplifhment of her ends. I made this obfer- 
 
 * vation, which refults naturally from what hath been faid, and 
 
 * infift upon it, becaufe if faction could not lie latent under 
 ' the mofl fpecious and popular pretences imaginable, there 
 
 * would be no great need of putting us on our guard againfl 
 
 * it ; and becaufe if it can lie thus latent and concealed, we 
 « may be expofed to the dangers I have mentioned, which fide 
 
 * foever of the queftion we take in political difputes. At this 
 ' time, to fpeak as I think, the cafe is fo clear on one fide, that 
 
 * no man who adheres to it, hath the leafl pretence left him to 
 
 * fay that he purfues the public interefl:, or is directed in his> 
 ' conduct by the generous, difinterefted fpirit of liberty. 
 
 I COULD)
 
 2o6 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 ' I COULD fupport my afierrion by many proofs, if it was 
 ^ neceflary in this company. One I will mention for its jQn- 
 
 * gularity ; and it is this. 
 
 * We have Ceen and heard, in a nation hitherto free, fuch 
 < maxims avowed and pleaded for, as are inconiiflent with all 
 ^ the notions of liberty. Corruption hath been defended, nay 
 
 * recommended, as a proper, a neceflary, and therefore a rea- 
 
 * fonable expedient of government; than which there is not, per- 
 
 * haps, any one propoiition more repugnant to the common fenfe 
 *' of mankind and to univerfal experience. Both of thefe demon- 
 
 * ftrate corruption to be the lafl: deadly fymptom of agonizing 
 « liberty. Both of them declare that a people abandoned to it, 
 ^ are abandoned to a reprobate fenfe, and are loft to all hopes 
 
 * of political falvation. 
 
 * The dependence of tlie icgiflative on the executive power 
 
 * hath been contended for by the fame perfons, under the fame 
 ^ direction; and yet nothing furely can be more evident than this; 
 
 * that in a conflitution like ours, the fafety of the whole de- 
 
 * pends on the ballance of the parts, and the ballance of the 
 ^ parts on their mutual independency on one another : agree- 
 
 * ably to which Thuanus makes Ferdinand fay, in anfwer 
 ' to the Caftilians, who prefTed him to take away the indepen- 
 « dency of the ftates of Arragon ; " AEquilibrio potentiae regni 
 ^^ regifque falutem publicam contineri; & fi contingeret ali- 
 ** quando alterum alteri praeponderare, proculdubio alterius 
 *' aut utriufque ruinam ex eo fecuturam; that the public fafety 
 ^' depends on the equal ballance of the power of the king, and 
 ''^' of the power of the kingdom ; and that if ev^er it fhould 
 *' happen that one outweighed the other, the ruin of one, or 
 ^^ of both, mufl undoubtedly follow\" 
 
 « On
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 297 
 
 ' On out fide then the mafk is pulled off. The weak \r\ny 
 
 * be ieduced to concur ; the ftrorigoli may be forced to. fub- 
 
 * mit ; but no man can be any longer deceived. 
 
 * On the other, it muft be acknowledged that the appear- 
 
 * a,nces are extremely fliir. True notions of liberty and good 
 
 * government are profefi'ed and purfued. Our griL\ances arc 
 
 * complained of; our dangers arc foretdd ; not only thofe 
 ' which all men feel or fee, but thofc which are more remote 
 
 * from obfervation. In fhort, the fpirit of liberty, fuch as it 
 
 * hath been defcribed, feems to breathe from this quarter, and 
 
 * to difFufe its influences over the nation. 
 
 * As I am a lover of my country and of liberty, I have re- 
 ' joiced in this I rejoice in it ftill ; and yet 1, confefs freely, 
 ' that I took fome umbrage at a pa}>cr, which came out not 
 
 * long ago. The defign and tendency of it feemed to me to 
 
 * flivor the caufe of a faction ; and of a fadion, however con- 
 
 * temptiblein its prefent ftate, always to be guarded againfl. The 
 
 * paper I mean is Fog's Journal of the fixth of June j v/here 
 
 * you have (cen a ridiculous fpeech, luppoied to be made by 
 ^ general Monk, and tranflated, as the author fays, from 
 ' Leti's hiffory of Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 ' If this wretched production had appeared in Mist's Jour- 
 ' nal, I fhould have felt neither furprize nor concern That 
 ' writer never wore fo much as the mask of liberty : and fbew- 
 
 * ed his game fo plainly, that whatever he got by faction, fa- 
 
 * dion could get nothing by him. But Fog, who writes in- 
 
 * comparably better, hath appeared to write with a much better 
 ' defagn. Thofe who are warmed in the national interefl:, 
 ■^ without regard to perfons, and independently of all fadions, 
 
 Vol. I. Q^q * have
 
 298 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * have made this judgment of him ; and therefore I was fur- 
 
 * prifed and concerned to find that he expofed himfelf even 
 
 * once, or in any degree, to the fame reproach that was fre- 
 ' quently and juftly made to his predeceflbr.' 
 
 - The gentleman's obfervation gave occalion to much dif- 
 courfe. Our old fage defired it might be remembered that he 
 had not undertaken the defence of every weekly writer, tho he 
 had undertaken yours, Mr. D'Anvers. ' The paper, conti- 
 
 * nued he, which hath been fo much mentioned, is a very filly 
 
 * paper, to whatever purpofe it was defigned. 
 
 * If it was defigned to infpire an horror of thofe miferies 
 
 * from which the reftoration delivered the nation, it was a very 
 
 * fuperfluous work at this time, when there is no real, or pre- 
 
 * tended difference of opinion upon that head amongft us. 
 ' Thofe who do not go to church upon the twenty-ninth of May, 
 
 * nor on any other day, will agree with thofe who do, in this 
 
 * point, upon better authority than that of Leti, and for better 
 ' reafons than thofe which are contained in the foolifh decla- 
 
 * mation attributed to Monk. 
 
 * If it was defioned to make us commemorate the reftoration 
 ' of the two brothers, Charles and James, as a national blef- 
 
 ^ fing in itfelf, and independently of the other confideration, 
 *■ the projed; was equally ridiculous. The flattery beftowed 
 
 * upon thefe princes, whilfl: they were in exile might pafs, and 
 
 * many things concurred to make it pafs. But to talk in the 
 
 * fame ftile to mankind at this time, when they have both fat 
 
 * on our throne, when fo many of us remember both what 
 ' they did, and what they would have done, is contemptible 
 
 * to the laft degree. 
 
 'If
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. -290 
 
 < If it was defigncd for more modern application, and to 
 
 * raife a fpirit amongfl: iis in flivor of the pretender, the pro- 
 ' jeft was too fooHHi to have been hatched at home. It miift 
 ' have been imported from abroad. What Jacobite can be 
 
 * fangiiine enough to hope tliat his caufe fhoiild revive, when 
 
 * he beholds the heroical king and queen, who fill our throne, 
 
 * aufpicious parents ef a numerous progeny of young heroes 
 
 * and heroines, rifing up to emulate their virtues, and to glad- 
 
 * den, like them, the Britidi nation. 
 
 ' This fingle confideration might be fufficient to damp the 
 
 * hopes of any Jacobite who lives at home, and is a witnels of 
 
 * all this glory. But however I fhall mention another, which 
 
 * ought to have it's weight likewife, and which will have more 
 ' perhaps amongfl: fome people. The fpirit of j-^cobitifm is 
 ' not only gone, but it will appear to be gone in fuch a man- 
 ' ner as to leave no room to apprehend its return ; if we re- 
 
 * fled that it hath died away, whilft all that could be done 
 
 * to keep it alive was doing by thofe who profeilld it, and by 
 
 * thofe who valued and recommended themfclves on their op- 
 
 * poflrion to all the effeds of it ; if we confider the numbers 
 
 * of people who have abandoned this intercft, notwithftand- 
 
 * ing the utmoft provocations to the contrary. 
 
 ' In fliort, I pcrfuade myfelf that if the pretender had no 
 
 * rival in the throne, inftead of having there one fo formida- 
 
 < ble as our moft auguft monarch, yet his way to the throne 
 
 * would not be more open to him. The whole bulk of the 
 
 < people hath been brought by the revolution, and by the pre- 
 
 * fent flttlement of the crown, to entertain principles which 
 ' very few of us defended in my younger days. The fafety 
 
 * and welfare of the nation are now the lirfl: and principal ob- 
 
 * jeds of regard. The regard to perfons and to families hath 
 
 Q q 2 * been
 
 3CO REMARKS ON THE 
 
 ' been reduced to the fecond place ; and it holds even that 
 ' but under the diredlion of the former. Can any man bc- 
 
 * lieve that a people brave enough to difpofe of their crown for 
 ' the grcateft national advantage, even when the throne was 
 
 * full, will ever difpofe of it as long as the fpirit of liberty re- 
 
 * mains amongft them, for the greateft national mifchief, if 
 
 * the throne fhould be empty ? 
 
 * There is but one defign more, which I can conceive to 
 « have given occafion to this filly paper; but one quarter 
 < more, from which it could poflibiy come : and thefe gueiles, 
 
 * perhaps, will not appear the leaft probable. Might it not 
 
 * be dcligned to inftil a jealoufy of jacobitifm, and to prejudice 
 
 * mankind againft all writings which thofe who are offended 
 
 * at them cannot anfwer?-— Might it not be defigned to fur- 
 
 * nifh the fpruce, pert orator, who ftrewed fome ot his flowers 
 
 * in the Daily Courant of the eleventh of June, with an hint, 
 
 * which he hath mofi: happily and modeftly improved ? ''Fog, 
 *' fays he, avows jacobitilm ; the Craftfman concurs in the 
 *' fame defign ; nay, every jacobite in England finks his ma- 
 ** fter's divine right in the popular topics of debts, taxes and 
 ** corruption." So that jacobitifm may now be imputed upon 
 
 * this authority, to ninety nine in an hundred ot the whole 
 
 * nation ; for ninety nine in an hundred do complain of debts, 
 '* taxes and corruption. I am fure there is arrogance and im- 
 
 * pertinence both in fuch an infinuation too grofs to be denied; 
 
 * whereas the Craftfman may defticy the whole proof brought 
 '* againft him of arrogance, by anfwering three Ally queftions 
 ■* in the negative. 
 
 * If this was the defign, 1 will be bold, for bold it may 
 ■* juftly feem, to fay that this expedient is, at Jeaft, as bungling 
 '■♦and likely -to prove as ineffedual, as any that have been pro- 
 
 4 * duced
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. -^or 
 
 * duced by the fame great genius who contrived it; for if \vc 
 
 * were incHned to behevc that the Craftfman, Fog, or any 
 
 * other perfon, carries on the meafures of fadion under the 
 
 * mask of Hberty ; fhoiild we beHeve it on the credit of thofe 
 
 * who oppofe them, and who are notoriouOy influenced to 
 
 * write, tho under fpecious pretences of promoting loyalty to 
 
 * the king, and an acquiefcence in his majefty's men fu res, yet 
 
 * in reaHty, for no other fervice than that of a fmall number 
 
 * of men j nay, ftridlly fpeaking, of a fingle man ? With 
 
 * what face can fuch writers impute fadion to any one living 
 
 * or dead? 
 
 ' Let them be afllired that we can examine and judge for 
 < ourfelves ; and that neither the Craftfman nor Fog would 
 
 * be able, if they went about it, to impofe upon us, any more 
 
 * than they themfelves have been able to do. 
 
 * The pretty author, I jufl: now mentioned, begins his efiay 
 
 * with airs of wit, and ends it with airs of wifdom. What 
 
 * pity is it that he fhould fjcceed in neither ? In his firfl: 
 
 * paragraph he reprefents the Craltlman, viith curious impro- 
 
 * priety, as a magician, who conjures up fpirits ; gs a dog, 
 
 * who barks at a diftance ; as a little infed:, who nibbles at a 
 
 * character : and my friend Caleb was all thefe things, it 
 
 * feems, at the fame inftant. After this fptcimen of writing, 
 
 * we may exped to fee him compared, in fome other produ- 
 
 * d'ion of the fame author, to a bird, and made to fly different 
 
 * ways and in difTcrent places at once. 
 
 ' But let us leave the wit and come to the wifdom ; which 
 
 * will bring us back to our fubjed". 
 
 »In
 
 302 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 ' In the laft paragraph of this elaborate piece, the autlior 
 < ftts the example of my lord Falkland and others before our 
 
 * eyes ; who ftrengthened, as he fays, the republican party fo 
 
 * long, *' that when they found out their defigns and forfook 
 *' them, it was too late to prevent them." After this, he calls 
 ' moft charitably on feveral well-meaning perfons to take 
 
 * warning ; for fome, whom he allows to be fuch, he thinks 
 
 * in danger of being drawn in to favor the purpofes of ihofe 
 
 * whom he calls oppofers of our government. 
 
 ' Behold this little Gamaliel in cathedra ! Obferve the 
 « fcholars he places at his feet for inftruclion ! " Rifum tenea- 
 " tis amici ?" Can the graveft of you forbear laughter? 
 
 * When we come to apply the general proportions laid 
 
 * down ftill more particularly to the EngliHi than we have 
 
 * done to the Roman hiftory, I fhall fhew you perhaps that 
 ' this author, like moft other fine men, treafures up in his me- 
 
 * mory the obfervations he meets with in hiftory, inftead of 
 
 * making his own upon the examination and comparifon of 
 ' the fads and charaders he finds there ; and that the exam- 
 
 * pie he hath chofen will come out again ft the very purpofe 
 
 * he hath applied it to. In the mean time, let us obferve that 
 ' the alarm, which hath been taken by fome of this company, 
 
 * and I fupoofe by others, at the publication of that ftupid 
 
 * paper in Fog's Journal, fhews how little reafon there is to 
 ' apprehend that thofe who are aduated by the fpirit of li- 
 
 * berty, and purfue the national in^ereft, fliould be impofed 
 ' upon by the fpirit of any fadion. 
 
 ' The fpirit of liberty is a jealous fpirit; and fadlion is equally 
 « the objed of it's jealoufy, whether the views of fadion be di- 
 
 * reded
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 303 
 
 * reded in favor of the crown, or againfl: it. I make this diftin- 
 
 * dlion here, tho I fhall have occafion to fpcak more fully upon 
 ' it hereafter, becaufe I perceive that we are apt to confine our 
 
 * idea of fa(Elion to fuch men and fuch meafures, as are in op- 
 
 * fition to the men in power, and to the meafures they take ; 
 ' ^vliercas in truth a number ot men in power, who exercifc 
 
 * it lolely for their own private advantage and fecurity, and 
 
 * who treat the nation as their firm, or rather as a country 
 ' under contribution to them, let them flielter thcmfclves 
 ' under what authority they pleafc, are as much a fadtion, as 
 '' any number of men, who nnder popular pretences endeavor 
 
 * to ruin, or at leall to diflurb the government, that they may 
 
 * raife themfelves. 
 
 ' If the /pirit of liberty were es:tlnguifhcd,as itisdifcouraged^ 
 ' the fpirit of fome fadlion or other would, no doubt, prevail ; 
 
 * but this would not fucceed under the mafk of liberty. There 
 ' would be, in fuch a cafe, no need of wearing this difguife. 
 
 * Men would avow fad:ion. I'hey would chufe that wliich 
 
 * fuited their intereil: beft : and indeed it would be of no sreat 
 
 * moment which they chofe. 
 
 * But if the fpirit of liberty, which begins to revive in this 
 
 * country, becomes prevalent, there will remain nothing to 
 ' fear from any fadlion whatever, whether masked, or un- 
 
 * masked. Whilft it is masked, and the inftruments or mem - 
 
 * bers of it purfue the national intercft, tho they intend ano- 
 
 * ther, the bad principle is however fo far produdive of good, 
 
 * and the caufe of virtue is fo far promoted by vice itfelf 
 
 * When it comes to be unmasked, and the inflruments or mem- 
 < bers of it are hurried by indifcretion, or forced by the courfe 
 
 * of events, as they muft be, to fhew their game, fadion is that 
 
 * moment difarmed. The diftindion marked, the fcparation 
 
 * follows 
 6
 
 304 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 * follows of conrfe ; and thofe who efpoufe the caufe of the 
 
 * nation will find themfelves doubly ftrengthened by the afii- 
 
 * fiance which faction gave them at one time, and by the op- 
 
 * pofition fhe makes to them at another. In fhort, gentlemen, 
 
 * the fpirit of jacobitifm may crawl about and skulk, in corners. 
 
 * The fpirit of the other fadlion may roll in gilded fpires, and 
 
 * with ereded crefls in every public place, and hifs and threaten 
 
 * and caft it's venom around ; but the fpirit of liberty, like the 
 ' divine rod of Aaron, will devour all the ferpents of the ma- 
 
 '■ sicians. 
 
 * I lee therefore no caufe to fear that we may be drawn in 
 ' to ferve the purpofes of faction, whilft we purfue the caufe 
 ^ of liberty ; and if we fuffered ourfelves to be drawn off 
 
 * from this purfuit by the jealoufy which one fadl ion endeavors 
 "* to give us of another, we fliould be arrant bubbles indeed. 
 
 * Fog is not to be defended for publifliing a paper liable every 
 
 * way to blame, and capable of no exciife ; but if he hath 
 
 * hurt any body by it, he hath hurt himftlf ; and the weight 
 
 * which is laid upon it by thofe on one fide, who perhaps 
 ^ writ it, is as ridiculous as the projed: of thofe who thought 
 
 * to advance the Jacobite caufe by it, if it came from that fide.' 
 
 Here the old gentleman broke off, and tho he was prefled 
 to refume the difcourfe he had begun, when this interruption 
 happened, he defired to be excufed, becaufe it was late, and 
 promifed to comply with our requeft upon fome other occa- 
 fion. If he keeps his word, as I am perfuaded he will, you 
 iliall hear again from, 
 
 SIR, yours, &c, 
 
 X, E T-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 305 
 
 L E T T E R III. 
 
 S I R, 
 
 OU R old gentleman having kept his word with the com- 
 pany, I defigned to have kept mine with you; but 
 fome bufinefs calling me into the country, I fend you a few 
 minutes of the converfations which have palTed, in hopes that 
 the fubjed; will not be left imperfed for as long a time as my 
 affairs may oblige me to be abfcnt. Throw thefe minutes in- 
 to what form and make what ufe of them you pleafe. They 
 are defigned to ferve an honeft caufe j the caufe of truth and 
 of liberty. You have efpoufed it ; and I hope will purine it. 
 
 You are able to do this with fuccefs, even in oppofition to 
 the moft plaulible writers ; and how much more . gainft the 
 curfory obfervator, who appeared in the Daily Courant, and 
 the London Journalifl; ? 
 
 I DO not fuppofe you will think it worth your while to fet 
 ferioufly about anfwering them ; but it may be worth while 
 BOW and then to fhew them how little they defcrve to be an- 
 fwercd. 
 
 They complain heavily of the prolixity and dulnefs of the 
 letters which you have publiflied. Might they not be tuight, 
 what they have already taught the world, that an effiy of two 
 or three columns may be longer than an effay of five or fix ? 
 Let them not carp at my words, fmce ihcy cannot miftake my 
 meaning. 
 
 Vol. L 11 r Might
 
 3o6 R E M A R K S O N T H K 
 
 Might they not be convinced that they are the leafl: com- 
 petent judges in the whole nation, of the duhiefs of others, for 
 this plain reafo^V;: that it is not in the cafe of dulnefs, as it is 
 in that of wit and learning ; in which he is the beft judge of 
 thefe qualities in others, who poffelles them himfelf in the moft 
 eminent degree ? 
 
 But there is a judge, before whom all produdions of this 
 fort are tried, and by whofe fentence alone they muft ftand, 
 or fall. This judge is the public ; and I am apt to think that 
 thefe authors may be informed of the fentence pronounced by 
 the public on your papers, Mr. D'Anvers, and on their own, 
 if they will take the trouble to enquire of MelHeurs Roberts, 
 Peele, and Francklin. 
 
 I AM even inclined to believe that they have enquired ; and 
 that, defpairing of fuccefs before this tribunal, they have ap- 
 pealed to another, where thofe whom the public rejedls, are 
 pretty fure of being received. 
 
 Sure I am that they cannot hope to fucceed any where elfe, 
 whiifl they found their merit on Billingfgate, falfe quotations, 
 grofs mifreprefentations, and an eternal begging of the que- 
 ftion. 
 
 That they are guilty of all thefe may be foon proved. I 
 will point out fome inftances ; as many as the hafte I am in 
 allows me time to mention. 
 
 The Curfory Obfervator accufes you and me (for thefe wri- 
 ters are pleafed to fuppofe us to be the fame perlbn who cor- 
 refponds with himfelf) of quoting falfly and applying foolifhly 
 in every cale, whilft he quotes falfly himfelf, and ridicules the 
 
 appli-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 307 
 
 application of what it is manifcfl:, he never read. I lis whole 
 charge is built on a lie and a blunder. 
 
 Machiavel is made, according to him, in one of my let- 
 ters, to fuppofe " that the firft deftrudion of Rome by the 
 " Gauls (and I never heard of a fecond) was a judgment from 
 " hea\'en on the people for their having departed from their 
 *' antient obfcrvances and religious ceremonies. — " With this 
 lie makes himfelf wonderfully merry ; and having heard that 
 Machiavel did not pafs for a very ftrong believer, he ridi- 
 cules the imputation of fuch a fuppofition to that great politician. 
 
 But let this fcribbler learn to read, before he blots any more 
 paper. Let him learn to fpeak of what is, or is not in books, 
 after he hath looked into thofe books, and not from his idle 
 imagination of what an author would, or would not° have 
 faid, agreeably to the character of the author, which his igno- 
 rance hath taken upon truft. 
 
 • My old gentleman never faid that Machiavel fuppofed 
 the deftruclion of Rome by the Gauls was a judgment from 
 heaven ; but he reckoned, amongft other particulars in wliich 
 the Romans had begun to degenerate, and to which they were 
 brought back by this great misfortune, that of negleding the 
 ceremonies of religion and the laws of juftice. Now Ma- 
 chiavel does fay this in cxprefs and ftrong terms, as this wri- 
 ter would have known, if he had confultcd the firft chapter 
 of the third book of his difcourfes on Livy. 
 
 But I v/ill tell him fbmething more. This very Machia- 
 vel * hath written a whole chapter concerning the reli- 
 gion of the Romans ; in which he mentions that Rome 
 
 • * L. I. c. 11. 
 
 R r 2 was
 
 308 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 was more obliged to Numa than to Ronulus ; in which 
 he fhevvs that her grandeur and felicity were owing to her re~ 
 lioion ; nay, he afierts in general, that as rehgion raifes com- 
 monwealths, fo the contempt of it muft ruin them. *' Good 
 
 " Gods! is this talking like Machiavel ?" Why truly it is 
 
 thus that Machiavel talks ; and in talking thus he fliews more 
 learning and fenfe than the Obiervator is niafler of. 
 
 Cast your eye, Mr. D'Akvers, on the next paragraph; in 
 which this able perfon undertakes to prove from reafon, as 
 well as hiilory, a m.atter of fa6l. The fad is this : that the 
 deftrudion of Rome by the Gauls, was owing to the oppofi- 
 tion fet on foot to the meafures and perfon of the great and 
 much injured Camillus. 
 
 It was a great miftake, it feems, to mention this incident 
 in the Roman hiftory, in one of my letters. The Obfervator 
 fhall find that it was a greater blunder in him to dwell upon 
 
 it. 
 
 • 
 
 He knows as little of Livy as he does of Machiavel, or I 
 believe of any other good author. Let him turn to the Roman 
 hiftorian. He will find that Livy, in the tranfition which he 
 makes from the profecution of Camillus to the invafion of 
 the Gauls, fays *' that if there be any thing certain in human 
 «' affairs, Rome could not have been taken, if that citizen had 
 *' remained in it." But does he attribute the invafion of the 
 Gauls to this man's banifhment ? No. He attributes it to the 
 condu<a of three rafii and foolifli brothers, who were fent am- 
 bafladors to the Gauls, and who, by breaking the law of na- 
 tions, juftly provoked this people. He attributes it to the force 
 of a fadion, which prevailed to fcreen thefe criminals, and 
 expofed the ftate to ruin, rather than give them up to juftice. 
 
 Thus
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 309 
 
 Thus the fact ftands in liiftory. Let the Ohfervator now 
 coniuler whether it would be very difficult to make certain 
 appHcations of it, which he would not Hke. I doubt thefe 
 -applications would appear much more appolite than that which 
 is faid to be intended in his paper, of the charader of the 
 great and much injured Camillus. 
 
 He fucceeds, you fee, but ill, when he meddles with fadls; 
 and I do not find that he pretends much to reafoa. The reft 
 of his paper contains little more than fool, knave, libeller, in- 
 cendiary, &c. I fhall therefore take notice of but one thing 
 more ; and that is the advantage he would make of a miftake 
 in printing. 
 
 He muft have perceived, or he can perceive nothing, that 
 it was a miftake in printing. If the meaning of my letter had 
 been, that the Craftfman might deftroy the whole proof of 
 arrogance brought againft him, by anfwering in the negative 
 all the queftions afked in the paragraph referred to, it Ihould 
 have been faid " five filly quefiions ;" for they are five, not four; 
 but the truth is, that no regard was had to the two introdudory 
 queftions; and that the three main queftions which follow, 
 were alone meant. A writer muft be reduced very low, by 
 his caufe, or be very low in his chara6ler, who catches at fuch 
 an impertinent opportunity of being what he imagines fmart. 
 
 I fhould fay a word or two to the profound Mr. Osborne, 
 who hath been pleafed to let us know that he prekrs the ablo- 
 ?ute monarchy of Augustus to the free ftate of the Roman 
 commonwealth. He prefers likewife, I fuppofe, at kail his 
 difcourfe leads one to think fo, the violence, the treachery, 
 and the bloody mafi'acres, on which this abfolutc monarchy 
 was founded, to the civil difordcrs, which were occafioned by 
 
 cftabhih-
 
 310 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 eftablidiing and maintaining an equal commonwealth. I 
 flioiild defire him to compare the reigns of a Caligula, a 
 Nero, a Domitian, an FIeliogabalus, which had never 
 happened, if the ufurpation of Augustus had never happen- 
 ed, with the glorious fourth and fifth centuries of the republic 
 of Rome ; but I have not, at prefent, time for this. I hope 
 you, Mr. D'Anvers, will give him fome falutary corredlion 
 at vour leifure, and make him afliamed of having prophaned 
 the language of a free people in fo proftitute a manner, and 
 to fuch llaviih purpofes ! Advife him to learn better notions of 
 (Tovernment from Mr. Gordon's excellent difcourfes, prefixed 
 to his tranflation of Tacitus ; in which he will find his favo- 
 rite Augustus fet in a true light, and proved to be an infa- 
 mous tyrant, tho fomewhat more artful than his fucceffors. 
 He muft certainly acknowledge the obligation ; fince you can- 
 not be fufpeded of doing it on any account, but that of a 
 charitable difpofition towards him. If he was capable of im- 
 pofing on the dulleft Quidnunc in any cofFee-houfe, or of fe- 
 ducincr the mcft raw boy that ever eloped from fchool, you 
 might be fufpeded of fome farther and deeper defign ; but 
 when you write againft fo harmlefs a creature, your efforts 
 muft pafs, and ought to pafs, for the pure effeds of the moft 
 difinterefted, the moft refined charity. 
 
 Let me only alk the favor of you to touch three points, 
 amon"-!!: others, whenever you condcfcend to meddle with 
 fquire Osborne. One is to afiure him in my name, and, if 
 you pleafe, in your own, that a good minifter ought not to 
 be abufed ; nay more, that he who abufes him, is a rogue, a 
 rafcal, and an impudent (I had almoft faid, for I conform to 
 his dialed, a traiterous) fellow ; and might have juftified my- 
 fdf by the authority of a writer on Mr. Osi3orne's fide, who 
 talked of allegiance to miniftcrs : but let this important au- 
 
 2 thor
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 311 
 
 ihot know, at the fame time, that we defy him to make the 
 kait I'.le of thcfc conceiiions againfl: any one fentcnce, any one 
 word in any Craftfman that hath been pubHflied. 
 
 There are two other things, of which I defiire you hke- 
 wife to take notice. One is fcandaloufly impudent ; the other 
 • infamoufly unfiir. 
 
 When his patron is commended by any honeft man in 
 Britain, it it done moft certainly with a fneer. The" great man" 
 is an exprcilion, which hath undoubtedly occafioned mor5 
 fncers than this nation had feen in a century before ; but it is 
 fancy and impudent in Mr. Osborne to fuppofe that one, who 
 fpeaks of the king and royal family with all the rei]oe6l that is 
 due to them, means a fneer. 
 
 The other thing, which I delire you to take notice of, is 
 the malicious and mean comment made on an exprcflion in 
 my lafl: letter to you, where I called his prefent majcfty a for- 
 midable rival of the pretender. Mr. Osborne is pleafed, out 
 of the abundance of his loyalty, to refent this as an infult on 
 the king. Now tho, in flridnefs of fad: and propriety of 
 language, his majefty neither is a rival to any body, nor can 
 have a rival, being our rightful and lawful king, by the con- 
 fent of his people in parliament, the only good title to the 
 crown of thefe realms ; yet in preteniion there is a rivalry ; 
 and I may defy Mr. Osborne to give any other reafon for 
 keeping up fo large an army in times of peace. 
 
 You will obferve, Mr. D'Anvers, that the only defign of 
 this letter is to make fomc fhort obfervations on two filly pa- 
 pers which have been publifhed againfl my former letters to 
 
 you.
 
 312 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 you. You are now defired to apply the old gentleman's ge- 
 neral pofitions to the Englifh hiftory, from the minutes which 
 I have fent you, and which 1 believe will be as agreeable to 
 to the public, as it was to the company in which he deliver- 
 ed it. 
 
 I am, S I R, 
 
 Your friend and reader, &;c. 
 
 R E-
 
 REMARKS 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 HISTORY of ENGLAND. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 FE W nations have gone through more revolutions, few 
 governments have appeared more unfteady, or fluftu- 
 ated more between prerogative and privilege, than this 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 If we are freemen, it is becaufe the fpirit of liberty has been 
 never yet quite extinguifhed among us. 
 
 We have been furprifed, betrayed, forced, more than once, 
 into fituations little better than that of downright flavery. But 
 thefe ufurpation^ have not become fettlements. They have 
 difordered the frame, but not dcflroycd the principles of a 
 free government. Like cloudy mornings, they have foon 
 paiTed over, and the fun of liberty has broke out again with 
 double force, and double luftrc. 
 
 It muft be a pleafure to refledl on that uniformity of fpi- 
 rit, which created and has conflantly prefervcd, or retrieved 
 the original freedom of the Britifh and Saxon conflitutions. 
 Vot. I. S f I
 
 ^^3^4 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 I FEEL a fecret pride in thinking that I was born a Briton ; 
 when I confider that the Romans, thofe mafters of the world, 
 maintained their Hberty Httle more than feven centuries ; and 
 that Britain, which was a free nation above feventeen hundred 
 years ago, is fo at this hour. 
 
 However favage our Britifh anceftors may be reprefented 
 by the Romans, whom the luxury of Greece, and the effemi- 
 nacy of Afia had already corrupted, they certainly were a 
 people of fpirit and of fenfe ; who knew the ends of govern- 
 ment, and obliged their governors to purfue thofe ends. 
 
 Caesar himfelf acknowledges that they fought boldly for 
 their liberties, when he invaded them ; and there is good rea- 
 fon to believe, from his manner of writing and abrupt way of 
 leaving this ifland, that they gave him a warmer reception 
 than he is willing to own. 
 
 But to fpeak of them after an author, in whofe time they 
 were better known than they were by Caesar, or even by 
 Tacitus ; Dion Cassjus, when he is about to relate the ex- 
 pedition of Severus into Britain, fays '< that they held a great 
 " part of the government in their own power." 
 
 Their long refiftance againit the Saxons fhews their love of 
 civil liberty. 
 
 Their long refiftance againft the ufurpations of the church 
 of Rome, begun by Gregory, that flatterer of Phocas and 
 Brunehault, under pretence of converting the Saxons, fliews 
 their love of ecclefiaftical liberty. 
 
 Tho
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 315 
 
 Tho the Saxons fubmitted to the yoke of Rome, in mat- 
 ters of religion, they were far from giving up the freedom of 
 their Gothic inftitutions of government. 
 
 Cj^ 
 
 The Saxon heretogcs, that is, public generals, were chofcn 
 only to condu6l them in war, not to rule over them in war 
 and in peace. 
 
 These hcrctoges, among the German colonies, who fettled 
 in the countries they conquered, and founded new govern- 
 ments, became kings, and had trappings enough to fet off" 
 their majefty, and to enforce their authority ; but the fupreme 
 power centered in the mickiemote, or wittagenmote, compofed 
 of the king, the lords, and the Saxon freemen, that original 
 fketch of a Britifh parliament. 
 
 Here all important affairs were treated. The condud of 
 their kings was examined in it, and controuled by it. 
 
 The rights of the people in thofe days, mufl: have been 
 carried to a very great height ; iince they went hand in hand 
 with thofe of the church ; and fince a pofitive law declared 
 that if the king did not defend both, he fliould lofe even the 
 name of king. " Nee nomen regis in eo conftabit, verum no- 
 *' men regis perdit." 
 
 The principles of the Saxon commonwealth were there- 
 fore very democratical ; and thefe principles prevailed through 
 all fubfequent changes. 
 
 The Danes conquered the crown, but they wore it little ; 
 and the liberties of the Saxon freemen they never conquered ; 
 nor wrought any alteration in the conftitution of the government. 
 
 S f 2 TtLUS
 
 3i6 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Thus much it was thought neceffary to premife, concerning 
 the original conftitution of our government. We now come to 
 that period of hiftory, from whence we propofe to deduce our 
 following remarks. 
 
 I L L I A M, the Norman, is come down to us in hi- 
 ftory under the character of a conqueror ; and tho it 
 may be difputed whether he was ftriclly fo any more than feve- 
 ral other princes who have fupported their titles by their 
 fvvords, yet we may confels that he impofed many new laws 
 and cuftoms ; that he made very great alterations in the whole 
 model of government ; and that he, as well as his two fons, 
 ruled, upon many occafions, like abfolute^ not limited monarchs. 
 
 Yet neither he nor they could deftroy the old conftitution ; 
 becaufe neither he nor they could extinguifli the old fpirit of 
 liberty. 
 
 On the contrary, the Normans and other ftrangers, who 
 fettled here, were foon feized with it themfclves, inftead of in- 
 fpiring a fpirit of flavery into the Saxons. 
 
 They were originally of * Celtic, oi" Gothic extracftion, call 
 it which you pleafe, as well as the people they fubdued. They 
 came out of the fame northern hive ; and therefore they natu- 
 rally refumed the fpirit of their anceftors, when they came in- 
 to a country where it prevailed. 
 
 * We have thought fit to explain the expreflion in this place, tho we know the 
 word Celtic, as well as Scythian, hath been ufed in the fame large and general 
 fenie, which is made ufe of here ; and we could fhew, if fuch a trifle deferved it, 
 that by the Celtae antiquity did not always underftand the people inhabiting a part 
 of Gaul, notwithftanding the quotations out of Poly BiL's, Diodurus, &c. which 
 Jiave been urged, by way of cavil, againft us. 
 
 Stephen,
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 317 
 
 Stephen, the fourth king of this race, owed his crown to 
 the good will of the nation ; and he owed this good will to 
 the conceffions he made in favor of liberty. 
 
 John came to the crown after the death of his father Henry 
 the fecond, and his brother Richard the firfl, by the clecflion 
 of the people. His clcdors, indeed, found themfclvcs de- 
 ceived in their cxpedations ; for he governed in the moft ex- 
 travagant manner. But they foon made him feel whofe crea- 
 ture he was. The contefts between the laity and an ambitious 
 ufurping clergy ran very high at this time. John had made 
 his advantage of thefe divifions. But the {pirit of liberty pre- 
 vailed, and that of fiidion vaniflied before it. Men grew 
 afhamed of being the tools of private ambition, when public 
 fafety was at ftake. Thofe of the high church and thofe of 
 the low church united in one common caufe The king 
 bluftered and drew out his army ; but it was a Britifh army. 
 No v/onder therefore, if the king fubmitted, and Magna charta 
 was figncd. 
 
 It was ligned again by his fon and fuccefTor, Henry the 
 third, in full parliament, and with the greateft: folcmnity. The 
 people however abated nothing of their jealous, watchful fpi- 
 rit ; and it was well for liberty they did not. The long reign 
 of this prince was one continual ftruggle between him and 
 them. The iffue of this ftrug;2;le was favorable to the latter. 
 By exerting their flrength, they encreafed it under Henkv the 
 third. They loft no ground under I'dward the hrft, and 
 they gained a great deal under Edward the fecond. 
 
 Thus was the prclc-nt conRitution of our government form- 
 ing itfelf for about two centuries and an halt ; a rough build- 
 ing raiftd out of the demolitions which the Normans had 
 2 made,
 
 3i8 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 made, and upon the folid foundations laid by the Saxons. The 
 whole fabrick was cemented by the blood of our fathers ; for 
 the Britifh liberties are not the grants of princes. They are 
 original rights, conditions of original contrads, co-equal with 
 prerogative, and co-aeval with our government. As fuch, in 
 the days we fpeak of, they were claimed ; as fuch they were 
 aflerted by force of arms ; as fuch they were acknowledged j 
 and as fuch they were conftantly maintained afterwards by that 
 pertinacious fpirit, which no difficulties nor dangers could dif- 
 courage, nor any authority abate ; not even that of the pope, 
 as impudently as it was exercifed, and as fooHflily as it was re- 
 vered in thofe fuperftitious ages. 
 
 Had this fpirit relaxed in the courfe of fo many years, our 
 government muft have fettled in an abfolute monarchy, or 
 tyrannical ariftocracy. 
 
 The Norman kings, of imperious tempers, affumed great 
 power. The barons did the fame. The people groaned under 
 the oppreflion of both. This union was unnatural and could 
 not laft. The barons, enjoying a fort of feudatory fovereign- 
 ty, were often partners and fometimes ri\'als of the kings. 
 They had oppofite interefts, and they foon claflied. 
 
 Thus was the opportunity created of re-eftablifliing a more 
 equal free government than that which had prevailed after 
 the Norman invafion. 
 
 The kings, the barons and the clergy, not lefs ambitious 
 or avaritious than either of the others, had powerful means 
 of promoting their ufurpations. The commonalty had little 
 or no iTiare in the legiflature ; made no figure in the govern- 
 ment 5 and it is hard to conceive how they could a6t, as the 
 
 otliers.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 319 
 
 others might, and certainly did by particular concerts, to the 
 advancement of their particular interefts. 
 
 All thefe difadvantages were fuppHed by that fpirit of li- 
 berty, which diffufed itfelf through the wJiole mafs. Num- 
 bers were on the fide of the commons. In all difputes there- 
 fore it was necellary to apply to them. They made the pro- 
 per ufe of fuch conjundures. Whoever loft, they were fure 
 to be gainers ; for io they deemed themfclves, when they fuf- 
 fered all the hardships of war, and even laid down their lives 
 in the quarrel, if they left liberty more improved and better 
 fecured to their poftcrity. 
 
 By conceflions to the commons, our kings maintained 
 and extended their prerogatives over the barons. By efpoufing 
 the national intereft, the barons continued able to cope with 
 the crown, till they broke among themfclves. Nay, even the 
 church, notwithftanding that antient and clofe alliance between 
 fecular and ecclefiaftical tyranny, was forced, on fome few 
 occafions, to be a friend to the liberties of the people. 
 
 The king, the barons and the clergy were all, in reaHty, 
 enemies to public liberty. Their party were fo many factions 
 in the nation ; yet they all helped, in their turns, to eftablifh 
 liberty. 
 
 So true it is, that every thing, even the vices of mankind, 
 and the misfortunes of a country, will turn to the advantage of 
 liberty, where the fpirit of it is maintained in vigor ; as every 
 thing, even the good qualities of mankind and the profperity 
 of a country, may operate a contrary efTed, where this fpirit 
 is fufi'ered to decline. 
 
 As
 
 320 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 As lofing the fpirit of liberty loft the liberties of Rome, 
 even while the laws and conftitutions, made for the preferva- 
 tion of them, remained entire ; fo we fee that our anceftors, 
 by keeping this fpirit alive and warm, regained all the advan- 
 tages of a free government, tho a foreign invafion had deftroy- 
 ed them, in great meafure, and had impofed a very tyrannical 
 yoke on the nation. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 321 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 WE are now come to the reign of Edward the third. 
 We muft delire our readers to flop liere, and at the 
 reign of his fucceilbr a httle ; iince no reigns can turnifli us 
 with more memorable and pertinent examples, to fliew how 
 the fpirit of liberty exerts itfelf in favor of good princes ; how 
 ilow it is to a6l even againft the worft ; and yet how effedu- 
 ally it is able to ad, even in the moft defperate cafes. 
 
 Old Froissart fays, * that the Englifli had an opinion, 
 grounded on obfervations made from the days of good king 
 Arthur, that between two valiant and able princes in this 
 nation, there always intervenes a king " moins fuffifant de fens 
 " & de prouefle ; of lefs fenfe and courage." I fliall not 
 warrant the exadt truth of this obfervation. The proportion, 
 I fear, is much greater on the worft fide in all kingdoms. But 
 certainly Edward the third, whofe ftory gave occafion to 
 Froissart to broach this anecdote, ftands between his father 
 Edward the fecond, and his grandfon Richard the fecond, a 
 bright inftance of this truth, that *' great and good princes are 
 ** favorers of liberty, and find their account in promoting the 
 ^ fpirit of it ; whilft the weakeft and the worft princes chiefly 
 " afFedl abfolute power, and often meet with the fate they de- 
 " ferve for fuch attempts." 
 
 The former know that they have nothing to apprehend 
 
 from this fpirit ; and they wifely prefer the generous efforts of 
 
 good will and affedion to the rcludant compliances of fuch 
 
 as obey by force. 
 
 * Vol. i. c. 2. 
 
 Vol. I. ' T t The
 
 322 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 The latter, confcious that they are unable to lerd, endea- 
 vor to drive their people. Unworthy to be kings, they ftruggle 
 to be tyrants. 
 
 Few were the blemifhes which may be thought to tarnifh 
 the luftre of this reign of Ed^vard the third Few and iliort 
 were the ftruggles between him and his people ; for as he was 
 fierce and terrible to his enemies, he was amiable and indul- 
 gent to his fubjeils. He not only obferved the laws, but he 
 made the fenfe of the nation, in fome meafure, a law to him. 
 On this principle, in which, to a confidering mind, there will 
 appear as much wifdom as goodnefs, he removed a fon, nay 
 a favorite miftrefs from court. 
 
 Henry the fourth, if I miftake not, did fomething of the 
 fame kind ; and which of their fucceflbrs, after fuch examples, 
 could prefume to think it below his dignity to confult the in- 
 clination of his people, and make them the rule of his condud? 
 
 Under this great prince, the conftitiition of our parlia- 
 ments, and the vvhole frame of our government became re- 
 duced into a better form. A fpirit of liberty breathes in the 
 laws of this glorious king ; and the power and duty of par- 
 liaments are fct forth, in fome of them, with fiich terms as 
 would never have been paffed by a prince who had put the 
 leafl: pedantry, or the leaft foppery,, into his notions of kingfhip. 
 
 The fpirit of liberty was not idle in this reign, tho it had 
 little or no occafion of exercife againft the crown. The ufur- 
 pations of the church were many and grievous. They had 
 been long murmured againft j but a falfe refped for religion 
 had hitherto maintained them. This delufion began now to 
 be removed. Wickliffe arofe to difpel this magic charm ; 
 
 to
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 323 
 
 to undraw the veil of this pretended f:in(5iuary ; and to expofc 
 the horrors and trifles which lurked hcliind it, to public view, 
 indignation and contempt. The ax was now firft aimed at 
 the root of popery ; and prelates were taught the flrft IcHbns 
 of moderation. Parliaments fat and proceeded on bufinefs, 
 even on ecclefi:iftieal bufinefs, without the intervention of mi- 
 tres. There wa , I believe, one parliament held, to which 
 few or none of the prelates were fummoned ; in order, per- 
 haps, to teach them how little their concurrence was efiential 
 to give due weight to the counfels, or full authority to ilie 
 a6ls of parliament. 
 
 As this prince loved, inftead of hating, as he encouraged, 
 inftead of difcountenancing, the fpirit of liberty in his people ; 
 fo he was flrengthened and fupported by it in fuch a manner, 
 and in fuch circumftances as cannot be paralleled. 
 
 The nation had been miferably harraffed by civil wars and 
 oppreflions of various kinds, when he came to the crown. 
 The burthen of perfonal fervice, and the taxes raifcd to defend 
 the dominions which his predecefibrs held en the continent, 
 had exhaufted all degrees of people. This mifchief was fo 
 much refented by them, that foreign intereft and foreign coun- 
 fels niay be juftly reckoned among the principal caufes of all the 
 difputes, and even wars, between them and their former kings. 
 
 In this (ituation, and in this temper of mind was the nation, 
 when Edward the third, by laying claim to the crown, and 
 undertaking the conqueft of France, opened to his fubjeels tlie 
 terrible profped: of being worie than ever opprefled by the fime 
 grievances ; and yet his nobility and commonalty feconded 
 him in all thefe enterprizes, with fewer complaints than could 
 have been expeded. Thel'e men, fo apt to complain of griev- 
 
 T t 2 ances.
 
 324 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 ances^ and fo little patient under them, carried him triumph- 
 antly through all his wars abroad, tho they liruggled with 
 want, peftilence and famine at home. 
 
 What principle produced this wonderful change ? Did 
 hip;her notions of prerogative prevail ? Had the dodrines of a 
 flavifh fubmiflion at once poffelTed our anceftors ? By no 
 means. It was not the power, it was not the authority of the 
 king, which forced ; but it was the characler of the man,, 
 which invited to thefe compliances. The fpirit of liberty ex- 
 erted itfelf in favor of the patron of liberty. 
 
 A CORRUPT parliament, a degenerate nobility, a fervile 
 commonalty, will facrifice any thing to any prince ; to a Ri- 
 chard the fecond, or an Edward the third, equally and in- 
 difcriminately. But a free, a generous, a virtuous people, 
 fuch as we may boaft our anctflors were in thofe days, will 
 facrifice every thing, except liberty, to a prince like Edward 
 the third, and liberty is a facrifice which a prince like him 
 will never require at their hands. To him who would re- 
 quire it, they would facrifice nothing. Such a people may 
 be well governed with eafe ; and it ought to be hard to go- 
 vern them ill. They will do more for a prince whom they 
 love and efteem, than he has a right to exped from them. If 
 they do lefs for a prince whom they defpife or hate, they are 
 furely very excu fable. 
 
 In order to render this example ftill ftronger and more ufe- 
 ful, it may he proper to point out, befides his general chara- 
 der, fome of thofe particulars in the conduct of Edward the 
 third, which probably induced his people to facrifice their 
 eftates, and their lives too, fo chearfully in a caufe, to which, 
 under other princes, they had been lb averfe. 
 
 In
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 325 
 
 In the firft place, as his father Edward the fecond loft his 
 crown and his life, in the moft miferable manner, by fiilicring 
 himfelf to be governed by his minifters, and proted:ing them 
 from the relentments of the people ; fo his fon very early ex- 
 erted his own authority, and freed himfelf from the guardian- 
 fhip, or rather fubjeclion, of the queen and iMoRTiMER, who 
 had long opprefled the nation, and di/honored the young king 
 by their fcandalous conduit. 
 
 The next reafon feems to have been this : Tho he was mas:— 
 nihcent in his court, yet he hmited, with great care, the ex- 
 a(5lions of his purveyors, kept a fevere hand over them, and 
 liiffered no more to be levied on his people, than what the 
 neceiTary expence of his houfhold required. He faved for his 
 people, not for himfelf. 
 
 Thirdly, The taxes laid in his time, were laid for vifible 
 and important fervices, wherein the honor at leaft of the natioa. 
 was concerned ; which every man knew and approved. 
 
 Fourthly, The expenees were leftened by that double 
 ceconomy, which is fo rarely found, or even underftood. I 
 mean not only that inferior oeconomy, which condfts in the 
 management of the receipts and illucs of the public revenue ; 
 but that fuperior oeconomy, vviiich confifts in contriving the 
 great fchemes of negotiation and action. When the talents 
 for this oeconomy are wanting in thofe who govern, the pub- 
 lic pays for their want of genius ; and the prince's, or mini- 
 fter's errors, are fo many additional taxes on the people. When, 
 thefe talents are not wanting, the very reverfe happens. The 
 genius of the prince, or minifter, comes in aid of the public 
 charge. Much is faved j and art and management fupply it alL 
 
 Edward
 
 326 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Edward the third began his war againft France, in con- 
 junction with German alHes. He faw no better expedient 
 at that time. But as foon as fortune and intrigue had pro- 
 cured it for him, he took another, fl:iorter, cheaper, and more 
 effedual method. He fupported the earl of Monfort, com- 
 petitor with Charles of Blois, for the dutchy of Brittany. 
 " Avecques les Ailemans, 8c les Brabancons, fays Froissart, 
 *' il navoit riens fait, fors defpendre groffement; & I'avoit 
 *' ment & demene les {legneurs de Tempire, qui avoient prints 
 *' fon or & fon argent, ainfy quills avoient voulu, & riens fait. 
 ** Si defcendit a la requefte du comte joyeufement, &c " That 
 is " with the Germans and the Braban9ons, all he had been 
 " able to do was to fpend great fums of money. The princes of 
 *^ the empire, who had taken as much as they would of his gold 
 *' and his filver, and had done nothing for it, were accuftom- 
 ^' ed to ainufe him, and to tire him out. He condefcended 
 «' therefore to the requeft of the earl very joyfully." 
 
 Fifthly, It was not owing to his fuccefs that the people 
 had a good opinion of his enterprizes, and prornifed them- 
 felves an happy iffuc, how difficult, or dangerous foever thefe 
 enterprizes might appear. Their confidence was placed, and 
 very juftly, in thofe qualities, and that tenor of condu6l, which 
 they obferved in their king, and to which his prodigious fuc- 
 cefs was owing. Ko man contrived, prepared, refolved with 
 mere phkgm, or aded with greater fire ; the reverfe of his 
 fuccelior, who refolved rafhly, and executed irrefolutely. He 
 waited fometimes for opportunities, but he always improved 
 them when they happened ; and thofe accidents which go- 
 vern, or didate the meafures, and perpetually fliift the fiuduat- 
 in<T ichemes of weak governments, were bent by this great 
 prince to ferve the wifeft and moft ileady purpofes. 
 
 Sixth-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 327 
 
 Sixthly, If he drained away Tome of the national wcahh 
 by taxes, he redored it very amply again, by the great care 
 he took of extending and improving trade ; by which he 
 opened new mines of treafure ; aiid, for a few temporary con- 
 tributions, enriched his people to future generations. A prince, 
 who adds to the national ftock, has a right to fliare the ad- 
 vantage he procures, and may demand fupplics from his 
 people without blufliing. But a prince who lives a rent- 
 charge on the nation he governs, who fits on his throne, like 
 a monftrous drone in the middle of an hive, draining all the 
 combs of their honey, and neither making nor afliffing the 
 induftrious bees to make any ; fuch a prince, I fay, ought to 
 blufh at every grant he receives from a people, who never re- 
 ceived any benefit from him. The duke of Gloucester told 
 Richard the fecond, on his refloring Brefl to the duke of 
 Brittany, that he fhould have taken a town by his own valor 
 and condud, before he religned what his anceflors had left 
 him. Much to the fame purpofe might an opprefied people 
 juftly anfwer a craving prince. When you have increafed the 
 riches and advanced the profperity of the nation, you will 
 have fome right to make thefe demands upon us ; but till then 
 we fhall think that you have none. 
 
 LET-
 
 328 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 * ^~|~^ H E glorious fcene of government which difplayed 
 _|_ itfelf in the reign of Edward the third, was ftrange- 
 ly altered on the fucceflion of Richard the fecond ; a violent, 
 haughty, obftinate and weak prince; whofe reign, as one of 
 our hillorians obferves, " affords but little matter that may 
 *' lliine in hiftory ; and cannot boaft of any one great and di- 
 " ftinguifhed captain; any one memorable battle, or impor- 
 " tant fiege ; but prorogations of truces, abftinences, fufFer- 
 '* ances, patiences, tolerances were the language and amufe- 
 " ment of the times ; and treaties were all the while kept on 
 " foot for a perpetual peace ; treaties, fays he, hitherto fruit- 
 *' Jefs, illuibry and impracticable/' 
 
 It muft be confefled that the reins of government hung pretty 
 loofe in the hands of Edward the third, towards the latter 
 end of his reign ; from whence proceeded the growth of thofe 
 fadions which difturbed the beginning of his grand fon's reign. 
 Some part of this was owing, very probably, to the abufe of 
 Wickliffe's dodrines; more to the cruel treatment which the 
 inferior part of the commonalty received. The lords grew ty- 
 rants, and the commons rebels. But thefe commotions were 
 foon fuppreficd by the united force of the reft of the nation ; 
 much fooner, and with confequences lefs fatal than in other 
 countries, where rebellion and popular infurredions fecm to 
 have been the epiderrucal diftempers of that age. 
 
 * Mr. Francklin was taken up for printing this paper and the preceding one, 
 on the rtign of Edward the third ; but no farther profecution hath been yet 
 .commenced againft him on that account. 
 
 If
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 329 
 
 If the ipirit of faction was fooii quelled among the com- 
 mons, it prevailed openly, fcandaloully, and dangeroufly in 
 the court. Something of it might be difcerned, perhaps, 
 among the lords, who oppofed the court ; even in the duke of 
 Gloucester, the favorite of the people; in the duke of Lan- 
 caster, a wife prince, and who adled long the moderating 
 part; in Arundel and others. Nothing of it was to be ob- 
 ierved in the general proceedings of parliament, and in the 
 national conduct. 
 
 The juftnefs of the character given before of Richard the 
 fecond, difcovered itfelf very early in his a<5lions. He had a 
 brutality and a good opinion of himfelf; one of which might 
 have betrayed him into a difcovery of what it was his intereft 
 to conceal, if the other had not made him capable of doing 
 it, even on reflexion. Hence came thofe famous and foolifh 
 fayings of this prince, which hiftory has preferved, and which 
 gave his people timely warning what they had to expecl from 
 him. Of his commons he faid, " that flaves they were, and 
 *' flaves they fhould be." Upon an addrefs from parliament 
 to remove his chancellor and treafurer, his anfwer was, " that 
 " he would not remove, at their requeft, the meaneft fcullion 
 " out of his kitchen." 
 
 However, he found men, as all princes may eafily do, who 
 flattered him in his vices and follies ; fuch men, for inftancc, 
 as Nevil, Vere, Poole, Tressilian, and others ; who, to 
 faften him to themfelves, made the nation odious to him ; as 
 they made him odious to the nation by their rapine, their in- 
 folence, and by a weak adminiftration ; which expofed the 
 kingdom to be invaded by the Scots, and threatened and in- 
 fulted by the French. 
 
 Vol. I. U u During
 
 330 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 During all this time, parliaments met frequently, and gave 
 necefiary fupplies ; fome grievances they redreffcd ; but bore 
 the mal-adminiftration of the court fadion till the tenth year 
 of this king ; when they profecuted the favorites with great 
 iuftice ; with temper, and yet with vigor. They fpared no- 
 thing to provide for the defence of the kingdom by fea and 
 land ; and having put the adminiftration, for a time, into the 
 hands of perfons chofen by themfelves, ^ave the king fuch a 
 warning, as might have taught him to abandon a fa6lion, and 
 to throw himfelf on his people : but it proved in vain. His 
 favorite minifters perfuaded him that they fuffered for his 
 fake • that the aim of their enemies was to dethrone him by 
 difc^racing them ; and whilil: all the troubles of his reign were 
 due to his fupport of them, they made him believe that they 
 fuffered for executing his orders, and maintcnning his autho- 
 j-ity.— Nay, they reprefented to him that, by accufing the 
 counfellors, a man plainly fhews that he believes the fovereign 
 incapable of governing ; and that the readieft way to difcredit 
 a prince, is perfuading his fubjeds, that he makes ufe of ill 
 minifters — Thefe arguments and artifices, ridiculous as they 
 fcen), fuceeeded and had their effed: for fome time longer. 
 
 The deluded king entered into a clofer conjundion than 
 ever with his minifters. He took their iniquities on himfelf , 
 made their caufe his own ; was privy to their plots of poifon- 
 k)g their enemies y of packing juries ; of corrupting the judges 
 to give opinions againff law ; and to all that dirty v/ork which 
 they wanted, not he. Nay, by his encouragement they raifed 
 troops ; and a battle was fought in their quarrel ; but they 
 v/ere defeated, and the fourteenth parliament, called the won- 
 der-working parliament, having puniftied the judges and mi- 
 nifters with proper feverity, endeavored to reconcile the king 
 and his people. They gave him great fubfidiesj and renewed 
 their homage and fealty to him. Even
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. -?i 
 
 Even all this flill proved in vain. No experience was fuf- 
 ficient to reclaini Richard the fccond. He governed tyran- 
 nically at home, and took a wile, and bought a peace from 
 France. It is remarkable that the peace coll him four liun- 
 dred thoufand pounds, much more than he got by liis wife. 
 His favorite miniflers had before this lime, endeavored to per- 
 fuade him to give up Calais, and purchafe the fricndfliip of 
 France, to affift him againft the lords and others, wlio oppof- 
 ed him. This is not the laft, nor leaft inftance of condudl- 
 ing foreign affairs purely with regard to the intereft of mini- 
 fters, and without any to the honor and interefl of the nation. 
 
 The fadions among the great men were of double advan- 
 tage to the king for a time. 
 
 First, the body of the people, who fhewed themfelvcs fuf- 
 ficiently animated with a fpirit of liberty, grew cool in efpouf- 
 ing the quarrels of the lords, after they thought liberty fecur- 
 ed by the proceedings of parliament, in the tenth year of this 
 king; and tho many particular adions of violence, of treachery, 
 and of cruelty, were committed by Richard the fecond, they 
 bore all with the greateft patience for feveral years. 
 
 In the next place, thefe factions among the great men en- 
 abled the kmg to divide them, to play one againft the other • 
 and to build up his tyranny on the ruins of both. His uncle, 
 the duke of Gloucester, was bafely betrayed, and barba- 
 roufly murdered by him. He procured a packed parliament, 
 confifting of men impofcd on the fliires and towns by the 
 king's authority, wholly managed by court favorites, and 
 which bent all it's endeavors to deftroy the liberties and privi- 
 leges of the people. With the help of fuch a parliament, he 
 wreaked vengeance on thofe who had oppofed him ; got his 
 
 U u 2 autlio-
 
 332 RKMARKSONTHE 
 
 authority exalted above all law, and exercifed a mofl: cruel 
 tyranny. 
 
 The people ftill bore, and it is probable that the king, and 
 others as well as he, imagined that tliey would be obliged to 
 bear on, fince the whole legiflature united in their opprcffion. 
 But in this he was deceived. When the parliament took the 
 part of the people, the people followed the motions of parlia- 
 ment. When they had no hopes from parliament, they fol- 
 lowed the firft ftandard which was fet up againft the king. 
 The fame fpirit of liberty, which had been fo flow to asl 
 under fo many provocations, aded with the greatefl; vigor, 
 when it was leaft expedled. The king, at the head of an 
 army in Ireland, the duke of York at the head of another in 
 England, and the earl of Salisbury at the head of a third, 
 could do the king no fervice. The armies would not fight 
 for the king againft their country. The whole nation aban- 
 doned him, or a6led againft him. Some of his minifters were 
 hanged ; particularly thofe who had been the great inftru- 
 ments of taxing and oppreffing the people. He was, at length, 
 forced to refign, and to fubfcribe an inftrument vvith his own 
 hand, by which he confefled himfelf unworthy to govern the 
 kingdom any longer. This inftrument of refignation was not 
 only unanimoufty approved of in parliament, but articles of 
 accufation were ordered to be drawn up againft him, tojuftiiy 
 their refolution of depoftng him. Thefe articles were thirty- 
 five in number, fetting forth the particulars of his mifgovern- 
 ment j two of which are to this efted: : 
 
 *' That he had put the adminiftration of the public affairs 
 *^ in the hands of unexperienced and ill-defigning perfons, to. 
 '' the great damage of the people, who were loaded with ex- 
 *< ceffive taxes. 
 
 ** That
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 22'i 
 *' That in his negotiations with foreign princes, Jic hatl 
 *^ made ufe of fo many equivocations and fop.'iillries, that 
 " none would take his word any more." 
 
 It is very obfervabJc, that thefe extremities fell upon Ri- 
 chard thejTcCond, at a time when every thing feenied to con- 
 tribute to his fupportj in the excrcife of that arbitrary power 
 which he had r.ilumed. Thofe whom he had moft rcafon to 
 fear, were removed eitlier by violent death, or banifhmcnt ; 
 and others were fecured in his interefl by place?, or favors at 
 court. The great offices of the crown, and the magiflracy 
 of the whole kingdom, were put into fuch hands as were fit 
 for his defigns ; befides which, he had a parliament entirely 
 at his devotion: but all thefe adv^antageous circumftances 
 ferved only to prove that a prince can have no real fccurity 
 againft the juft refentments of an injured and cxafperated 
 nation; for, as Rapin obferves upon the fad cataftrophe of this 
 reign, and that of Edward the fecond ; " in fuch governments 
 " as that of England, all endeavors ufed by the king to make 
 '' himfelf abfolute, are but fo many fleps towards his own- 
 " downfal," 
 
 It is farther obfcrved by another eminent writer upon this 
 reign, which he juftly calls a reign of favorites, '* that the 
 " king in his diftrefs, faw himfelf forfaken by thofe whom he 
 ** fbould have forfaken before ; the very m.en, who had fo 
 *< much flattered him with their exceilivc love and loyalty ; 
 " and like thofe mean infeds, which live with a little warmthj-, 
 <' but fhrink at any change of weather, they who had con- 
 " tributed to all his errors in his profperity, tranfplanted their 
 *' zeal into the new funfhine, as foon as his fucceflbr demand- 
 " ed the crown," 
 
 LET-
 
 334 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 L E T T E R VII. 
 
 FROM the reigns of Edward the third, and Richard 
 the fecond, we fliall haften downwards, as faft as fome 
 neceflary obfervations will permit. Thofe of the princes of 
 York and Lancafter, form a period of more than eighty years, 
 which pafTed in foreign and civil wars, in frequent revolutions 
 of government, and in all thofe diforders which ufually ac- 
 company and follow fuch revolutions. 
 
 The party of Richard the fecond, even after the death of 
 that unhappy prince, broke out into open rebellion againft 
 Henry the fourth : but their efforts were vain. He held the 
 crown faft, which the parliament had given him ; and the 
 chief of his oppofers perifhed in their attempts. Happy had 
 it been, if they alone had fuffered ; but here we muft obferve 
 a neceffary and cruel con.fequence of fadion. As it oppref- 
 feth the whole community, if it fucceeds ; fo it often draws 
 oppreflion, not on itfelf alone, but on the whole community, 
 when it fails. The attempts to dethrone Henry the fourth, 
 juflified him, no doubt, in fupporting himfelf by a mihtary 
 force. They excufed him likewife, very probably, in the minds 
 of many, for governing with a fevere hand ; for doing feveral 
 illegal and tyrannical a6lions ; for invading the privileges of 
 parliament, at leafl: in the point of eledions ; and for obtain- 
 ing, by thefe means, frequent and heavy taxes on the people : 
 for as all this might appear the harder, becau/e it happened in 
 the reign of a king who had no title to his crown but the good 
 will of the people, and the free gift of parliament • io it might 
 appear, on the other hand, the lefs grievous, becaufe fome part 
 X)f it was rendered neceffary by the oppoiition which a faftion 
 1 made
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 335 
 
 made to a parliamentary eftablifliinent ; and bccaufe the reft 
 of it was reprcfented, perhaps, under that umbrage, to be fo 
 likewife, by the court logic of that age. 
 
 A PEOPLE may be perfuaded to bear patiently a great deal 
 of oppreflion, as long as they can be perluaded that they bear 
 it only to defend their own choice, and to maintain their own 
 a6ls ; but if they difcover this to be nothing more than a pre- 
 tence, by which fuch powers are kept up as are unneceffarv to 
 their fecurity, and dangerous to their liberty ; by which the 
 wealth ot the whole nation is drained into the coffers of a few j 
 and by which, in one word, they become expofed to ruin by 
 the very means which they took to avoid it ; it cannot be ex- 
 pected that they Vv'ill be patient very long. 
 
 It deferves particular notice, that altho Henry the fourth 
 was willing to fliew his clemency, at the beginning of his 
 reign, by infliciing a very flight puniOiment on the vi'icked 
 and hated minifters of the late king ; yet it being alledged im 
 their excufe, that Richard had compelled them to ad:, the 
 parliament took occafion from thence to pals an ad, by which 
 it was declared that, for the future, compuliion fliould be no 
 legal excufe to juftify adions contrary to law. The reafon- 
 ablenefs and expediency of this ad are very manifeft ; for it is 
 the indifpenfible duty of a good minifler, to difTuade his ma- 
 iler from all illegal meafures ; or, if he cannot prevail, to quit 
 his fervice, rather than fuffer himfelf to be made the inftru- 
 ment of them : and if the commands of the prince were to be- 
 allowed a fulTjcient juftiiication, the prerogative of doing no 
 wrong would be extended to minifters, and iwbody would be 
 left accountable for mal-adminiftration.
 
 336 PvEMARKS ON THE 
 
 In the fliort, but triumphant reign of Henrv the fifth, the 
 fpirit of fa6lion was awed ; and the fpirit of liberty had no 
 occafion of exerting itfelf, at leafl: with ftruggle and in any 
 fio-nal manner, under a prince juft, moderate and pious, ac- 
 cording to the rehgion of thofe times. 
 
 The reif^n of his fon was the reign of fadtion ; and it dif- 
 clofes an horrid fcene of iniquity, folly, raadnefs. The fcan- 
 dalous management of public affairs, which brought infinite 
 lofs and difhonor to the nation, gave real occafion, as well as 
 pretence, to commotions and infurredlions. The contempti- 
 ble charadler of the man who fat on the throne, revived the 
 hopes of the fadlion of York. The fadion of Lancafter took 
 the alarm. Mofl of the great and adiive men were attached 
 to one fide or to the other, by obligation, by refentment, by 
 hopes, or by fears. The national interefl: was funk, to the 
 fhame of the nation, in the particular interefl of two families. 
 
 In the civil wars, which happened a century and an half, 
 or two centuries before this time, the point in dilpute was how 
 the people fliould be governed. In thefe we are fpeaking of, 
 the point in difpute was who fhould govern. The firft was 
 worth contending for, and deferved all the blood which was 
 fhed in the quarrel. But this cannot be faid of the laft, which 
 ought always to be looked upon with great indifference ; ex- 
 cept in cafes, where it has fo immediate and necefiary a rela- 
 tion to the firft, that fecuring the firft depends, in a great 
 meafure, on fettling the laft. Such cafes have happened ; and 
 particular inftances may be eafily found ; but the contrary 
 cafes, where men have fought for governors, without regard to 
 government, are eafy to be found likewife; and that was plainly 
 the cafe of the two fadions of York and Lancafter. 
 
 ■ The
 
 Pr I S T O R Y OF ENGLAND. 337 
 
 The parliaments in thofe days fcemed to be in another 
 temper ; very little concerned who was king, and very much 
 to preferve the conAitution. In the many revolutions wiiicli 
 happened, each iidc would have the parliament for thenu 
 Whatever titles they fet up, they were glad to hold the crown 
 by the grant, or by the confirmation of' parliament. 'J1ie 
 parliament wifely complied, whoever prevailed. The chance 
 of war determined who fjiould be king; at one time Hpnry 
 the iixth, at another Edward the fourth, and the parliament 
 accordingly placed them on the throne, and fettled their 
 government. 
 
 There is another obfervation which ought to be made, be- 
 fore we leave this period of time. The reigns of Richard the 
 fecond, and Henry the fourth had fhewn the dangerous con- 
 fequences of that influence which the crown had obtained in 
 the eledions of members of parliament. The watchful fpirit 
 of liberty was foon alarmed, and prevailed to make fuch regu- 
 lations about eledions, and about the qualifications of the ele- 
 (Elors and the cleded, as feemcd at that time fufficient to pre- 
 vent this influence for the future. Thefe regulations appear 
 in feveral laws, made during the reigns of the three Lancaf-frian 
 princes ; and our elections proceed, in a great raeafure, upon 
 them to this very day. Thefe regulations have required and 
 mufi:, in the nature of things, r^^quire to be altered, as the 
 courfe of accidents, or the change of national circumftances 
 fhall fuggeft reafons for fo doing. But then fuch alterations 
 have been, and ought always to be contrived fo as to adapt 
 them belter, and to enforce them more ftrongly ; becaufe the 
 principle on which they are founded, can never vary, and is 
 fo effential to the prefervation of liberty, tliat if it be loft, and 
 if a practice in oppofition to it fliould ever pievail, the b.d- 
 lance of our government would be that moment loft, and th« 
 
 Vol. I. X X Entifti
 
 338 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Britiili conftitutioa left at the morcy of any ambitious prince, 
 or wicked minifler. 
 
 For this reafon, Mr. Rapin obferves very juftly, " that there 
 " are but two ways of depriving the Enghili of their Hberties ; 
 " either by laying afide parUaments, or bribing them." And 
 in another place he fays, " that the Englilh freedom will be 
 " at an end, whenever the court invades the free eledion of 
 *' parliaments." 
 
 It is necelTary to infift upon this obfervation a little ; be- 
 caufe it hath been ridiculed, tho dully, and great pains have 
 been taken to explode the dodlrine contained in it, which was 
 laid down in thefe words. " In a conftituticn like ours, the 
 " fafety of the whole depends on the ballance of the parts j and 
 " the ballance of the parts on their mutual independency on 
 *' each other." Thefe words, it feems, even with thofe of 
 Thuanus to explain them, convey no idea to the London 
 journalift ; but this will be found, as I apprehend, to be his 
 Lult, or his defecfl, not Oldcastle's, A man born without 
 tlie fenfe of hearing, or flopping his ears, and determined at 
 any rate not to hear, may be deaf to the voice of Stentor 
 him fell. 
 
 I SHALL not enter into any altercations with the London 
 Journalifl:, nor go out of the road to have the honor oT fjch 
 company. But when I meet him in my way, I fhall en- 
 counter him frankly, without the leafl: fear of being cruihcd 
 by the weight of his arguments ; or, which is more, b)' the 
 power of his patron. 
 
 To fay, like this author, that the " carrying on of bufinefs, 
 *' and maintaining government by powers abfolutely diftinCl, 
 
 " and
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 339 
 
 " and abfblutely independent, is a meer Utopian fcheme, mufl 
 *' proceed from ignorance, or folly." Have not po^^•e^s, nb- 
 folutely diftind and independent, been joined by federal uni- 
 ons ? Are no fuch examples to be found, e\ en at this day ? 
 Has not this been brought about by the very rcafon given to 
 prove that it can never happen ; bccaufe men figrec when they 
 fee realbn for agreement ; and they fi.e reafon for agreement, 
 when they lee their intered in agreeing? Osborne could not 
 be in earneft, when he let fuch fluff fall from his pen. He 
 meant to elude the argument, and to perplex his readers, or 
 he meant nothing. But this iball not pals The matter is 
 too important. He ihall be talked to as he defires, without 
 a metaphor ; and what has been advanced iLall be applied to 
 our government. 
 
 A KING of Great Britain is that fupreme magiftrate who 
 has a negative voice in the Icgillature, He is entruflcd with 
 the executive power, and feveral other powers and privileges, 
 which we call prerogative?, are annexed to this truft. The 
 two houfes of parliament have their rights and privileges ; 
 fome of which are common to both, otliers particular to each. 
 They prepare, they pafs bills, or they refufe to pafs fuch as are 
 fcnt to them. They addrcfs, reprefent, advife, remonftrate. 
 The fupreme judicature rehdes in the lords. The commons 
 are the grand inqueft of the nation, and to them it belongs 
 like wife to judge of national expences, and to give fupplies 
 accordingly. 
 
 If the leglOativc as well as the executive power, was wholly 
 in the king, as in fome countries, he would be abfolute ; if in 
 the lords, our government would be an ariflocracy ; if in the 
 commons, a democracy. It is this divifion of power, thcfe 
 
 X X 2 diiVmS:
 
 340 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 diftin(5l privileges attributed to the king, to the lords, and to 
 the commons, which conftitute a limited monarchy. 
 
 Again ; as they conftitute a limited monarchy, fo the wif- 
 dom of our government has provided, as far as human vvifdom 
 can provide for the prefervation of it, by this divifion of power, 
 and by thefe diftin6l privileges. If any one part of the three 
 which compole our government, fhould at any time ufurp 
 more power than the law gives, or make an ill ufe of a legal 
 power, the other two parts may, by uniting their ftrength, re- 
 duce this power into it's proper bounds, or corred: the abufe 
 of it ; nay, if at any time two of thefe parts /hould concur in 
 ajfurping, or abufing power, the weight of the third may, at 
 leaft, retard the mifchief, and give time and chance for pre- 
 venting it. 
 
 This is that ballance which has been fo much talked of, 
 and this is the ufe of it. Both are plain to common fenfe, and 
 to experience ; as will appear farther in the courfe of thefe re- 
 marks, where we fhaJl have occafion to ihew, how ©fren the 
 proper ufe of this ballance has faved our conftitution ; and to 
 what misfortunes we have been expofed by the negled, or im- 
 proper ufe of it. 
 
 Since this divifion of power, and thefe diftincl privileges 
 ■conftitute and maintain our government, it follows that the 
 confufion of them tends to deftroy it. This proportion is 
 therefore true ; that, in a conftitution like -ours, the fafety of 
 the whole depends on the ballance of the parts. Let us fee 
 whether it be true, that the ballance of the parts conlifts in 
 their mutual independency. 
 
 To
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 341 
 
 To ibeak ngain without any metaphor, tlie power, which 
 the Icveral parts of our government have of controHng and 
 checking one another, may be called a dependency on one 
 another, and may be argued for by thofe who want to throw 
 daiknefs round them, as the dependency oppofed to the inde- 
 pendency, mentioned in the proportion. But the fallacy !s 
 grofs. We have ihewn that this power of controul in each, 
 which refuks from the divifion of power amongO: all the parts 
 of our govTrnment, is ncceflary to the prefcrvation ot it: and 
 thus a fort of conftitutional dependency, if I may have leave 
 to exprefs myfdf ii^ that manner, is created among them ; but 
 this mutual dependency cannot be oppol'ed to the independency 
 pleaded for. On the contrary, this mutual dependency can- 
 not fubfift without fuch an independency ; for whenever this 
 independency is loft, the mutual dependency is that monient 
 changed into a particular, conftant dependency of one part 
 on two; or, which is ftill more unreafonable, of two parts 
 on one. The conftitutional dependency, as I have called it 
 for diftintflion's lake, confifts in this ; that the proceedings of 
 each part of the government, when they come forth into action 
 and affed the whole, are liable to be examined and controulcd 
 by the other parts. The independency pleaded for confiils in 
 this ; that the refolutions of each part, whicli dired: thefe pro- 
 ceedings, be taken independently and without any influence^ 
 dlred of indireft, on the others. Vv'ithout the firft, each par^ 
 would be at hoerty to attemj)t dcftroying the ballance, by 
 ufurping or abufing power ; but without the laft, there can. 
 be no ballance at all. I will illuftrate this, by fuppofnig a 
 prince, who claims and exercifes a right ot levying money 
 without confent of parliament. He could not be oppolld 
 eiledually, if the two houfes of parliament had not a riglit 
 to oppofe him, to call his miniftcis to account ; and to make 
 him feel that, far from being abfolute, he was under this con- 
 
 1 ftituticnal
 
 3+2 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 ftitutional dependency ; but he vvoujd not be opno'ed at all, 
 if the two hollies of parUament were under his influence, and 
 incapable of direding their proceedings irrdcpehdently of him. 
 One would be afhamed to inlift thus much on a point fo very 
 clear, if fome men were not lb hardened to all fenfe of fliame, 
 as to maintain the contrary ; and that there are men capable 
 of doing; this, is one of thofe melancholy fvmptoms which 
 characlerize the prefcnl age. I could almoft appeal to the 
 cool thoughts, and the private reflections of fome of thefe wri- 
 ters whether any thing can be more fcandalous than tlie tafk 
 they have undertaken. To fkreen their patrons, they endea- 
 vor to diftinguifli us out of our greateft national advantages ; 
 as was obferved in the cafe of Dunkirk. To reconcile the 
 minds of men to fuch meafures as their patrons may want, and 
 as no honeft man will take, they endeavor to demolifh the 
 very corner ftones on which the whole fiibrick of liberty refl:s. 
 Their iniquity, it muft be confefTed, is very fyftematical. 
 When they write for corruption, they write for the means. 
 When they write for the dependency of the parliament on the 
 court, they write for the end. Well might Oldcastle fay 
 of thefe writers, their patrons and abettors, " that the mafic 
 *« was pulled off on one fide." Let me conjure them, in the 
 name of mode%, to call themfelves whigs no longer. It is 
 time they fliould lay that appellation aflde, fince it will not 
 be hard to prove, from the general tenor of their writings, that 
 the max'ms they advance, the dodlrines they inculcate, and 
 the condud they recommend, lead to the deftrudlion of civil 
 liberty, as much as the political lelTons of Sibthorpe, Man- 
 waring, or archbifhop Laud himfelf They and their fol- 
 lowers declared themfelves diredlly againft liberty. To plead 
 for it was almoft blafphemy ; and to aflTert it little lefs than the 
 fm againft the holy Ghoft, according to the dodbines taught 
 by thofe divines. Such abfurdities made kw converts in thofe 
 
 days ;
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 34^ 
 
 days ; and the preachers of them would meet with the utmoft 
 contempt in thefe. But the writers, of whom wc now com- 
 plain, affecl to maintain the caufe of liberty, whilft tlity be- 
 tray it. They affert the principles of liberty in general, and 
 fometimes reafon upon them well enough ; but when they ap- 
 ply them to particular cafe.-, they prevaricate, evade, and ex- 
 ert all their poor endeavors to turn the cannon of liberty againll 
 herfclf The others had faenum in cornu. They put man- 
 kind on their guard again ft them, and were the true promoters 
 of all the milchief and confufion which followed, when the 
 nation run into the utmoft extremes, in oppolition to them, 
 Thefe men infinuatc themfehTs as friends to liberty. They are 
 looked upon as fuch by fome few perfons, who mean well to 
 liberty, even at this time ; and yet they arc almoft wholly em- 
 ployed in promoting that which is deftjuclive of liberty, and 
 inconfiftcnt with it, corruption and dependency. Laud and 
 the others endeavored openly to lop the branches and cut down 
 the tree ; but thefe men are privately poifoning the root of li- 
 berty. The power of the court, and the authority ot the law- 
 yers could not make the levying flup-money pal's for law, nor 
 prevail on the nation to bear it. But if it were poflible to fup- 
 pofe an houfe of commons as dependent as thefe lawyers, (and 
 they would be as dependent, if the doctrines which we oppofc 
 prevailed amongft tiiem) the nation might then be loaded with 
 taxes, opprefTed with debts, and reduced to the greateft mi- 
 fery by law. Our liberties, as well as our cftatcs, might be 
 taken from us. We might be legally undone. Thefe are 
 po/Tible confequenccs of fuch docfrincs. If they are not pro- 
 bable, we owe no thanks to the weekly preachers f.f them. 
 The nature of our prefent fettlement, which is built on the 
 foundation of liberty, the intcreft and honor of tlie prince now 
 on the throne, as well as of all his illuftrious pofterity, are our 
 
 fecurity 
 
 W
 
 344 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 fecurlty againft thefe dangers ; but ftill I fay, we owe no> 
 thanks to the writers on the fide of the miniftry. 
 
 I HAVE dwelt pretty much upon this point, to fliew wliat 
 is the real defign of thefe remarks ; and I will venture to add 
 that thofe perfons who oppofe fuch dodrines as we have been 
 oppofing, will appear at lafl: to be the trueft friends to his ma- 
 jefty king George, and the proteftant fucceflion ; which can 
 fubfift only upon thofe principles upon whick it was origj- 
 nally eftabliflied^ 
 
 L E '^ 
 
 Mr-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 3+5 
 
 L E T T E P. VIII. 
 
 IF the reign of Henry the fixth was a leign of fa6lion, 
 thofe of the houfc oi York were To likcwife. — The popu- 
 larity, bravery, cruelty, rafhncfs, uxorioufnefs, incontinence 
 of Edward the fourth ; in fhort, his good and his bad quahties 
 worked the different effedls of fupporting, exafpcrating and in- 
 creafing facflions. The charaders oi Henry the fixth's queen 
 and of the earl of Warwick, to mention no more of the prin- 
 cipal aftors on that bloody ftage, conlpired to maintain and 
 aggravate this national calamity. 
 
 In thefe lono; continued ftruo-g-Jcs, the whole nation be- 
 came involved, and the factions of York and Lancafter grow- 
 ing every day more animated and better dilciplined, we arc 
 not to wonder that they fought ufquc ad internecionem j 
 at lead, till the field of battle, the fcaffold, and fome theatres 
 of clandcftine murthers had left no man on one lide alive, 
 who was in a condition to oppofe or give jealoufy to the 
 other. But that which may very juflly raife our wonder, is 
 that Edward the fourth, having fecurcd to himfclf and his- 
 family the poilellion of the throne, by the murther of FIenrv 
 the fixth, and his fon, and by the total defeat of the whole 
 Lancafcrian party, fhould fuffer two new fatflions to be nurfed 
 up, which divided his own party, occalioned the murther of 
 his fons, and by eftablifliing the fliort-lived tyranny of his 
 brother, brouglit the earl of Richmond to the throne, and 
 funk for ever the houfe of York in that of Lancafter, 
 
 Edward the fourth's queen was the original caufeof all this 
 
 mifchief, and a principal fufferer herfelf in the courfc of it. 
 
 Vou I. Y y She
 
 346 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 She was refolved to govern at any rate ; and Rapin obfervesj. 
 *' that as her being queen gave her no manner of title to meddle 
 " with the affairs of the public, £he knew how to manage that 
 *< matter another way ; namely, by the influence fhe had , 
 *' over the king. Tho Edward often proved falfe to her, fhe 
 " bore it very patiently, and never fhewed her uneadnefs 
 " at it. Edward, charmed to find himfelf at liberty to pur- 
 *' fue his inclinations, without danger of continual reproaches, 
 " repaid her moderation with the moft obliging and condef- 
 *« cendincr behavior ; of which fhe knev/ how to make a good 
 " ufe." She maintained this afcendant over her hufband to 
 the laft, and for a little complaifance, which coft her nothing 
 in prefent, fhe purchafed a degree of power in the ftate, which 
 coft her dear in confequence, by alienating the affeftions of 
 the people from her hufband during his life, and ruining his 
 family afterwards, as I have hinted before.. 
 
 " Her aim was, according to Rapin, to fecure her power 
 *' during the king s life, and in cafe fhe furvived him, to make 
 *« fure of the government of the kingdom, in the name of the 
 " prince her fon, vv'hen he fhould come to be en the throne ; 
 " but by a fatality, not unufual to the beft-laid projeds, this 
 " very thing proved the occafion of her own, and her family's 
 *' ruin." 
 
 I CANNOT think, as Rapin feems to do, that her projed; 
 deferved to be ranked amongft thofe which are the beft laid. 
 It appears to be the narrow projedl of a woman, who had 
 cunning, infmuation, and the fpirit of intrigue, with much 
 pride and ambition ; but wanted that extenfive knowledge, 
 and that fuperior genius, fuch as Catherine of Medicis, and 
 our queen Elizabeth poffefted, which is neceflary to condud 
 fo "reat a defign as her paffion prompted her to undertake ; 
 
 for
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 34.7 
 
 for what was her project ? Was it to acquire an interefl in the 
 nation, by deferving well of it ? — Nothing lefs. It was fingly 
 this J to form a faction at court, by raifing her relations and 
 immediate dependents, which fliould be wJiolly her own, and 
 into whofe hands fhe might throw all the power and profit 
 which the king had to beftow. She had the good luck to 
 compafs this deiign, and triumphed, no doubt very wifely, in 
 her great fuccefs. Surrounded by her creatures, fhe looked 
 no farther than that circle, and cither took no notice of the 
 temper of the nation, or judged of it by the temper of the 
 court. But the rife of this faction immediately formed ano- 
 ther, and eftabliflied the dicStindion of anticnt and new nobi- 
 lity. The former had the true natural ftrength, which great 
 eftates in land and eftabliflied credit in the nation gave them. 
 The latter had no ftrength of their own, none but that ad- 
 ventitious ftrength, which arofc from employments and favor 
 at court. They brought nothing to court, which could make 
 the court amends for the envy and difcontent which their ele- 
 vation created. To fupply this, two things were done ; which 
 ferved, perhaps, to fortify the queen in her delufion, and 
 thereby made the ruin of her ambitious projeds the furer. All 
 thofe who were not in the good graces of her fa6tion, were 
 difgraced at court, and in effcd; banillicd from it. Nay they 
 were perfecuted by the power of it; as the duke of Clarence, 
 the king's own brother, was even to death. The names of 
 the parties of York and Lancaftcr might iubfifl: and be made 
 ufe of on proper occafions ; but in reality, the being for or 
 againft the party of the queen, was the fole diftinction which 
 prevailed; and even the friends of the houfe of York, whom 
 the queen did not affedl, were debarred from having the king's 
 ear, excepting only three of his old and moft faithful fervants, 
 who maintained themfelves againd her and her faction. I 
 mean Stafford duke of Buckingham, Hastings and Stanley. 
 
 Y y 2 Another
 
 34B R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 Another method which this queen took to ftrengthen her- 
 felf and her fadion, was by raking up money by illegal and 
 opprefiive means ; particularly by fetting prolecutions on foot 
 againft the rich men of the kingdom, feveral of whom were 
 arraigned of high treafon, and encouraging the judges to get 
 them found guilty at any rate. Habington obferves in his 
 hiftory of this king, " that as their wealth was the principal 
 " evidence againft them, tho their perfbns were acquitted, 
 ** their eftates were found guilty." 
 
 The fame hiftorian obferves farther, '' that the memory of 
 *' thefe carriages hithertofore, in a bufinefs that concerned the 
 *' life of a man reputed innocent, drew the world into much 
 *' fear that he would now decline to rigor. Neither was the 
 " king totally excufed, altho this cruel avarice was laid to the 
 *' queen, who having a numerous iffue and kindred, by favor 
 '' raifed up to the higheft titles, was almoft neceflitated, for 
 *' fupportance of their honors, to rack the kingdom." 
 
 Edward feemed fenfible before his death, of the mifchie- 
 vous confequences which this condudl, and the clafhing of two 
 fadlions might produce. He endeavored to prevent them, by 
 " reconciling the two parties ; a poor expedient ! as Ra- 
 " PIN juftly obferves, which could not eafily produce the efFedt 
 *' he expeded." 
 
 The duke of Gloucester, who concealed his defign till 
 his brother's death, took advantage of thefe fadions. He 
 made his court publickly to the queen, and held a private 
 correfpondence with the oppofite party. Nay, he found means, 
 by fomenting it, to raife a third for himfelf. 
 
 I HAVE
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 349 
 
 I HAVE dwelt the longer in this place, on the ftrangc turns 
 and cruel eflecls offadllon ; becaiife 1 believe, no example can 
 be produced out of any hiftory, which fets them in a flronger 
 light ; and bccaufe this period of time affording but fmall 
 matter to recommend the fpirit of liberty, which had little to 
 do in the tranfadions of it, I imagine that pointing out the 
 fatal confcquenccs of the contrary f[)irit, which then prevailed, 
 may anfwer the fame end, as cxpofing of vice is frequently the 
 ftrcngeft recommendation of virtue. 
 
 But we muft not imagine, notvvithflanding all the con- 
 trary appearances in this period, that the fpirit of liberty was 
 abfolutely extinguilLed. Tho that flame was lofl, for the 
 moft part, in the conflant glare of fadion, yet it was ftill 
 alive ; and by living, preferved the conflitution of our govern- 
 ment durinp- the whole courfe of thefe civil wars. 
 
 o 
 
 If we look clofely into thefe fcenes of confufion, we may 
 difcover many particular inftances of the operations of this 
 fpirit. Such were the difHculties and delays oppofed to the 
 grant of tonnage and poundage, for nine years together ; and 
 the many reftricTiions added to this grant, when it was at laft 
 obtained by Edward the fourth. Other inftances to the fame 
 purpofe might be quoted ; but we chufe to inlift on a more 
 general obfervation, already mentioned by us, which runs 
 through the whole period, and is fo ftrongly vouched by hi- 
 ftory as to admit of no cavil. 
 
 The obfervation we are going to make, contains a memo- 
 rable exception to this propofition, which is but too generally 
 true, that the fpirit of liberty and the fpirit of faction are in- 
 compatible, and cannot long fubfift together. The virtue of 
 our anceftors made this exception j and if it hath been remem- 
 bered
 
 350 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 bered to their flianie, that they funk the national intereft in 
 the particular interell: of two famiUes j it ought to be remem- 
 bered to their honor, that they did fo in this fingle point only, 
 who fhould reign, and in no other. We took notice, in a 
 former paper, that upon every revolution, each fide engaged 
 the parliament for them, and that whoever prevailed, the par- 
 liament wifely complied. This condud, which lafted from 
 Richard the fecond down to Richard the third, preferved 
 our liberties ; but it could not have been purfued, nor could 
 our liberties by confequence have been preferved, if the fpirit 
 of liberty had not been latent in tlie hearts of thofe very men 
 who feem to breathe nothing but faction. How could it have 
 happened that the fole title of conqueft was ever eftablifhed in 
 fo many revolutions brought about by the fword, if the acftors 
 in them had not been ftrongly affeded with a love and reve- 
 rence for the free conftitution of our government ? The princes 
 of York and Lancafter themielves were willing, nay delirous 
 to have a parliamentary confirm-ation of their titles, real or 
 pretended. But how came they to be (o defirous o^ it ? How 
 came they to think it necelTary ? The cafe is plain. The 
 temper of their parties and of their armies begot this neceffity. 
 The fpirit of liberty prevailed enough in the whole body of 
 the nation, out of which thefe parties and armies were com- 
 pofed, to preferve the principles of public freedom, tho not 
 enough to preferve the pubHc peace -—Each iide contended to 
 have a king of their own party ; but neither £de would have 
 a tyrant. — They ficrificed their lives to faction ; but Vvould 
 not give up their liberties.— The victorious armies led their 
 kings to the foot of the throne j but carried them no farther. 
 
 The author of the Short hiftory of landing armies obferves 
 that, " in all the wars of York and Lancafter, whatever party 
 «^ prevailed, we do not £nd they ever attempted to keep up a 
 
 *' ftand-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 351 
 
 " ftanding army. Such was the virtue of thofe times, fays 
 " he, that they would rather run the hazard of forfeiting- their 
 " heads and eftates to the rage of the oppofitc party, than cer- 
 " tainly enflave their country, tho they themfclvcs were to be the 
 *< tyrants."-— This remark is jull:, as far as it goes ; and it goes 
 as far as that author wanted to carry it ; but it is not fo full, 
 nor carried fo far as hiftory will warrant. That the princes, 
 who obtained the crown by their armies, did not attempt to 
 govern by their armies afterwards, is moft true, and may re- 
 fled: fome honor on thofe princes, and on the heads of their 
 parties. But there is fomething more than this remarkable in the 
 condud of thofe times ; for even in the heat of vi6lory, in the 
 raptures of a fuccefsful revolution, and before the armies could 
 be disbanded, we fee thefc princes obliged to afcend the fteps- 
 of the throne in fuch manner, and under fuch conditions, as 
 the parliament thought fit to prefcribe, and as were not al- 
 ways agreeable to them. This, I am fure, refleds great ho- 
 nor on the parliaments, who were adors in the laft fcenes of 
 all thefe revolutions; and on the armies, who contented them- 
 felves to become fpedators in fuch conjundures.-— We will take 
 the firft example which prefents itfelf in thefe wars. 
 
 The duke of Lancaster was at the head of an army of 
 fixty thoufand men, when he came to the crown. The 
 proclamation which he publifhed the very day he was crowned, 
 fhevved how very unwilling he was to feem to hold his; crown 
 purely by right of eledion. He would gladly have fet up that 
 of conquefl: ; or a title derived from Richard the fecond's 
 refignation ; or a title by blood ; or any title but the true 
 one. Notwithftanding this, he was obliged, when nothing 
 could have obliged him but the fenfe of his own party and 
 army, to fubmit to as formal an eledion as ever was made. 
 The two houfes took notice of the blind claim of right 
 
 which
 
 352 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 which he entered. They chofe him to be king, upon the 
 queftion put to them, after having given their negative to the 
 duke of York, to his fons, and to others, who were feverally 
 propofed in the fame manner to them. They feem induftri- 
 oufly to have contrived and purfued, on this occafion, a me- 
 thod of proceeding as oppofite as poflible to the views and in- 
 chnation of this prince, whofe army attended him, and whofe 
 rival was his prifoner. 
 
 Again ; to take another example from the latter end of 
 thefe wars. The battle of Northampton being won, and 
 Henry the fixth taken, the duke of York haftens out of Ire- 
 land to put himfelf at the head of his party and his army. 
 The parliament meets. The duke aiTerts his undoubted right 
 by defcent to the crown, which he demands as due to him, 
 without any interpofition of parliament. He fhews the ut- 
 moft, and even an indecent impatience to take pofTeillon of 
 it. He is fupported by his own party. He is oppofed by 
 others. But the matter is by all fubmitted to the debate and 
 deciiion ol parliament. The debate itfelf mufl: have been 
 grievous enough to a prince fo fond of a crown, and {o much 
 warmed with the notion of his hereditary right. Biit the de- 
 ciiion of this affair mufl have wounded him to the quick. So 
 little regard was paid to his right, that he was forced to con- 
 tent himfelf with leaving the crown on the head of Henry 
 the lixth during that prince's life, and not to have the prof- 
 ped: of fucceeding to it, till after that prince's deceafe ; which, 
 •by the way, was a point of the lefs value to him, becaufe he 
 was older than Henry the fixth, and could not hope to be 
 the better for it, according to the courfe of nature. He fub- 
 mitted to all thefe mortifications ; and a very judicious histo- 
 rian attributes his fnbmiiTion to his moderation; but 1 beheve 
 ithofe who fully confider his former condud", and his pa/Tion- 
 
 ate
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 35.5 
 
 ate behavior at this time, will hardly fiibfcribe to fuch a judg- 
 ment. His fubmiirion, like that of Henry the fourth, in the 
 cale before-cited, was a fubmiflion, wliich the temper of his 
 party rendered necefi'ary. They would not force the refolu- 
 tions of the two houfes ; and why the two houfes would go 
 no farther in his favor, at that jundlure, miglit calily be ac- 
 counted for, it this were a proper place for that difquifition. — 
 After tix battle of Wakefield, where the duke of York was 
 killed, and that of St. Alban's, where the earl of Warwick 
 was beaten, the faction of York were determined, by the dan- 
 gers they had run, and by the lofies they had fuftained, to 
 balance no longer, but to fet the crown on the head of the 
 earl of March; and yet they proceeded no othcrwife than 
 under the authority of parliament, which had ratified the agree- 
 ment n-jade between the late duke of York: and Henry the 
 fixth. By one article of this agreement it was ftipulated, that 
 if king Henry broke it in any point, the crown and royal 
 dignity fliould immediately devolve on the duke of York, if 
 alive ; or, in failure of him, on his next heir. The earl of 
 Warwick therefore, in a hind of military afi'embly, (for a part 
 of the army, at leafi, was there) proceeded to the elc<flion of 
 Edward the fourth ; but he proceeded on this foundation. 
 The great efiorts made to break this agreement and to defeat 
 the effe6l of it, by king Henry's queen, and the Lancafirian 
 ])aity, were interpreted, and not without color, as fo many 
 intradions of it. By confcquence, Fdward tlie fourth had 
 an immediate right to tlie crown, by virtue of the ad: of par- 
 liament made in confirmation of this convention, which acl 
 and convention were produced by Warwkk, who caufed 
 them to be publickly read. The proceeding or tiii^^afiembly, 
 Vvhich hath a tumultuous air in hiflory, u'as therefore in reali- 
 ty a proclamation of a king, made by autliority of parliam.ent, 
 and not of an elcclion of a kinir, without that authority. 
 \'oi,. I. Z z Let
 
 354 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Let us conclude, that if the fprtrit of f.i6lion hath, on feme 
 cccafions, prevailed over the fpirit of liberty, fo far as to de- 
 feat and even pervert the deiigns of the latter ; the fpirit of 
 liberty hath likewife revived, in it's turn, on other occafions, 
 and prevented the confunimation of that mifery which fa- 
 ction would naturally and of courfe have produced. Let us 
 conclude that all ftanding armies, for whatfoever purpofe in- 
 ftituted, or in whatfoever habit cloathed, may be eafily made 
 the inftruments of fadion ; becaufe a body of men feparated, 
 in many refpe^ls, from the reft of the nation, conftrained to 
 different cufloms, and in fome meafure fubjedled to different 
 laws, may be eafily perfuaded that they have a different in- 
 tereft. Let us conclude that thcfe cafuifts in red, are the moft 
 dangerous in this refpecft, that having fvvords by their fides,, 
 they are able at once to cut thofe gordian knots which otherss 
 muft untie by degrees. But let us conclude, at the fame time, 
 that if a fpirit of liberty be kept up in a free nation, it will 
 be kept up in the army of that nation ; and that when it is 
 thus kept up, tho the fpirit of fadtion may do great hurt, it 
 cannot complete the public ruin. We fee the truth of this 
 obfervation exemplified near three centuries ago ; and let us 
 remember with gratitude, that the fame truth was again con-- 
 firmcd to us no longer ago than two and forty years. 
 
 LET
 
 H I S T O R Y O F E N G L A N D. 355 
 
 L E T T E R IX 
 
 ON E of the hidorians of Biitanny, if I remember right, 
 and I think it is Argent re, fays the people of that 
 dutchy grew fo much tired with the difputes between Charles 
 of Blois and the Monforts, that the two parties agreed, juft 
 before a battle, to make an end of the qviarrel at once, by 
 taking off that prince, againft whom the fortune of the day 
 fliould declare itfelf.— Our anceftors were very far from fol- 
 lowing this example ; but they feized the opportunity which 
 was prefented to them, after Richard the third had ufurped the 
 throne, and murdered his nephews, of abolifhing tyranny, and 
 extinguifhing fadion. 
 
 The princes of York and Lancaster butchered one ano- 
 ther in fuch a manner, that the right of the former centered 
 in Elizabeth, eldeft daughter of Edward the fourth, and 
 the preteniions of the latter were allowed, by the whole Lan- 
 caftrian party, to belong to the earl of Richmond. — This was 
 the date of the families. 
 
 The faction of York detefled Richapd for his r.^jrpation 
 and cruelties.— -The fadion of Lancaftcr hattd him for his 
 name ; and neither the great qualities which he really had, 
 nor the good qualities which he affeded, could reconcile man- 
 kind to his barbarity.-— ^1 his was the temper of the nation. 
 
 The opportunity thus formed, was improved by the uni- 
 verllil concurrence, which a fpirit of liberty and a regard to 
 the public good, independent of party, infpired. The fadion 
 
 Z z 2 of
 
 156 R E M A R K S O N THE 
 
 oi York became vviUinfr to receive a klncrof the houfe of Lan— 
 cafter ; and the party of Lancafler a queen of the houfe of 
 YnrW All parties labored to unite the two rofes ; and fadioii; 
 ■as bent, in this fortunate conjunclurcj to extirpate fac- 
 
 York 
 itfelf w 
 tion 
 
 The depofition of Richard, and the advancement oP the 
 earl of Richmond to the throne, upon this exprefs condition 
 that he fhould marry the princefs Elizabeth, were purfued^ 
 with fuccefs, even when Richard thought himfelf mofl fe- 
 cure ; when the parHament had been obliged to confirm his 
 ufurpation ; to declare the children of Edward baftards ; and 
 to attaint the earl of Richmond, 
 
 What a fcene oi national peace and profperity was opened', 
 by this revolution and new fettlement ! But how, loon was it' 
 fhifted ? How loon were the wife and honeil views of the 
 many defeated by the cunning and iniquity of the few?-— - 
 Hei«jry the feventh, a creature of the people, if ever any 
 prince was fuch, had been raifed to the throne, in order to cut, 
 up the roots of fadion; to reftore public tranquillity ; and to 
 ellabliih a legal government on-the ruins of tyranny. ---Fie did 
 the very re verfe of all this. His reign and that of his foiv 
 have been two of the feverefl:, under which our country hath .. 
 groaned lince the conqueft ; and yet, in the fe very reigns, the 
 foundations of liberty were laid much broader and f-ironger- 
 than ever,— How this came about, it muft be ufeful, and per- 
 haps it may be entertaining,, to conlider. 
 
 Henry the feventh, who would have been glad a little be- 
 fore to have affared himfelf of the crown on any terms, grew 
 difficult as foon as had obtained it. He durfl not avow a title 
 by conqueft; but he evaded the appearances of a parliamen- 
 tary
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 357 
 
 Ciry title very induftiioully, and made the ceremony of his 
 coronation precede tic meeting of his parliament. He evaded, 
 in the fame manner, the appearances of any communicatioiT 
 of right from the priiiccfs Elizabeth, by deferring his mar- 
 riage till an a6t had pafi'ed to fettle the crown on him and 
 his poflerity, without any mention of the.houfe of York. In 
 fhort, his whole /kill, credit and power were employed 10 get 
 the a£t of fettlement fo generally and fo anibigiioufly penned, 
 as to leave him room to aflert afterwards a right inherent in 
 himfelf, and independent of the authority of parliament. Nay, 
 he went farther; for, in the bull of confirmation, which he 
 obtained from the pope, and in which he affeded to have all: 
 forts of titles enumerated, he took particular care to have that 
 cf.conqueft inferted. 
 
 Such a condud gave fufficient reafon for alarm ; but we 
 do not find that it was taken. The tyrant was dead, and the 
 new eftabliflimcnt was made. The nation was overjoyed;, 
 and the work of liberty was done by halves. The new king 
 found a compliance with .all his meafjres, as new kings gene- 
 rally do. But little refleclion was made, perhaps, at that 
 time, on thefe proceedings of the court ; or if a jufi: refledion 
 was made, we may eafily believe that it was foon flifled by 
 that adulation, which reprefents the moft ncceliliry precauti- 
 ons, the molf jufl: complaints, and the afTertion ot the cleartft 
 rights as proofs of difaftedion. 
 
 The whole courfe of. Henrv the fevenih's reign was an-, 
 fv/crable to thefe bcirinnin^s : and he feems to have eftabliOicd i 
 himfelf in the power of purfuing principles of government, . 
 evidently repugnant to thofe upon which he had been raifcd 
 to the throne, before the nation was well aware of what he 
 intended. He planted faction anew, and v/as the true caufe 
 
 of.
 
 25^ REMARKS ON THE 
 
 of all the diftuibances which followed from it, and which l>e- 
 gaii even in the firft year of his reign. Many of the York 
 party had fignalized themfelves in his caufe. All of them 
 fubmitted to his government ; and that fmall branch of this 
 party, which had fupported Richard the third, was too in- 
 conliderable to hurt him ; but he foon made it confiderable, 
 by driving almoft the whole York p.-arty into that intereft, 
 ** He Iiad conceived, fays Rapin, fo mortal an hatred for the 
 " whole houfe of York, that he let ilip no opportunity to 
 *' humble the Yorkifls ; behaving always towards them not as 
 " a juft king, but like the head of a party." 
 
 That fome of his miniflers, of the Lancaflrian party, might 
 find their private account in fuch a mealure, and facrifice to 
 it both the interell: of their mafter and their country, is obvi- 
 ous enough ; but how the king, who was certainly an able 
 man, could prefer dividing, inffead of uniting his people in 
 affection and obedience, would appear very marvellous, if ex- 
 perience had not taught us that men of the greatefl genius 
 fall fometimes into the fame errors, as men of the leaft genius 
 would be apt to commit in the fame circumflanccs.- -How 
 this happens we are not, in this place, to enquire. 
 
 Henry the fcventh proceeded as he had been fuifered to fct 
 out, and eftablilhed by degrees, and thofe not flow, a power 
 almofl; abfolute. His jealoufy, his pride, and his infatiable 
 fordid avarice had their full fwing. He became hated even 
 by his own party, and might very probably have loft his 
 crown, if many circumftances, both at home and abrod, had 
 not confpired in his favor, and if he had not improved tlieni 
 all with the utinoft ability of council and dexterity of manage- 
 ment. The chief of til efe circumftances, and it well deferves 
 to be remarked, was this,— -they who ventured their eilates 
 
 and
 
 rr I S T O R Y O F E N G L A NMl 359 
 
 and lives in fevcral infurredions againft him, and they who 
 privately fomented thefe infiirrccftions, infleiid of unitini2; on a 
 national principle, and bending tlicir endeavors to a reforma- 
 tion of government, united on a principle of facftion: for the 
 king's behavior had revived this (pirir, us we obferved above ; 
 "but ftill this fpirit, tho revived, had not attained it's former 
 flrength. The nation in general was tired of fadion ; dread- 
 ed a relapfe into the confcquenccs of it, and would not engnge 
 for a SiMNF.L, a Warbeck, or even a real prince of the houfe 
 ot York. A national coolnefs on one fide, and vigilance and 
 vigor on the king's part, defeated all thefe cntcrprizes as flifl; 
 as they were formed. Every one of thefe defeats gave Henry 
 additional ftrength and increafe of reputation, which is Rrength 
 in it's efFeds. Thus it happened in this cafe ; and thus it hath 
 happened in many others. By making an ill ufe of his power, 
 the king was the real author of all the diforders in the ftate, 
 and of all the attempts againft his government ; and yet, the 
 better to pi event fuch diforders, and to refift fuch attempts^ 
 farther powers were intrufted to him. Becaule he had govern-^ 
 ed ill, it was put in his power to govern worfc ; and liberty 
 was undermined, for fear it fliould be overthrown. It hatli 
 fared Ibmetimes with monarchy as with the church of Rome. 
 Both have arcquired greater wealth and power by the abufe of 
 what they had, and mankind have been egregioufly the bub- 
 bles of both. 
 
 We muft not however conclude that this king made force 
 the fole, tho he made it the principal expedient of his govern- 
 ment. He was wife enough to confider that his court was 
 not the nation ; and that howev^er he might command with a 
 nod in one, he mufl: captivate, at leafl in fome degree, the 
 good will of mankind, to make himfelf fecure of being long 
 obeyed in the other ; nay more, that he muft make his people 
 
 c fome
 
 360 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 fome amends tor the oppreffions which his avarice particularly 
 expofed them to fuffer. For thefe reafons, as he ftrained his 
 prerogative on fome occalions very high, lb he let it down 
 again upon others ; and ajffeded to fhew to his parliaments 
 much condefccnfion, notvvithftanding his pride, as well as 
 much communication of counfels, notvvithftanding his referve. 
 
 • To attribute to this Soloaion of Great Britain the fole me 
 lit of the laws made in his time, as fome have done, feems un- 
 reafonab'e ; but it was certainly great merit in him, and we 
 may add rare merit, inftead of oppoiing, or refufing;, conflant- 
 ly to remunerate his people, by promoting and pafling of 
 " good laws, which evermore were his retribution for treafure." 
 Thefe are my lord Bacon's words, and better than his cannot 
 be found to expreis the general charader of the laws which 
 the wifdom of thofe times produced. " J'licy were deep and 
 *' not vulgar ; not made upon the fpur of a particular cc- 
 " cafion for the prcfent; but out of providence of the future, 
 '< to make the eflare of the people flill more and more happ)', 
 ^' after the manner of the legiOators in antient and heroical 
 '* times. "—-Flusbandry, manufa<3:ures, general commerce, and 
 increafc of ufcful people were carefully attended to, and con- 
 fiderably advanced ; fo that whilft the weight of taxes and 
 the vexations of Empson, Dudley, and their fubordinate har- 
 pies were feverely felt, every man felt hkewife the particular 
 benefit whicii he received in the general advantages procured to 
 •the nation. Thefe drops of manna, which fed irom tlie throne, 
 foftencd the murmurs of the people. They could iiot make 
 the king beloved, but they made him lefs hated; and the 
 middle and lower ranks of men, v-^-lio lelt ii.fs the rigor ol his 
 government, fe't more immediately the cftG^is. of his care and 
 his wifdom. 
 
 We
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 361 
 
 Wr will not refine f) much as to fay that the commons 
 were patient under the prcllbres ci th's reign, becaule they 
 forefavv the confequcnces of tliofe meafurcs which the king 
 took to IcH'cn tlie power of his nobihty. He did not, per- 
 haps, liinifclt difcern thefe confequcnces in their full extent ; 
 but furcly if tliis part of his condu(ft was poHtic, it was no lefs 
 popular at that time ; fince the fame exorbitant power of the 
 peers, which had been fo formidable to the crown, had not 
 been Icfs opprcflive to the commons. The weight of perfo- 
 nal ferv'ice had been terribly felt, during the wars of York and 
 Lancafter ; and the obligation of that tenure had, no doubt, 
 contributed to prolong them. The tenant thereforCj, who 
 found this fervice commuted into a rent, could not but think 
 his condition mended, and be extremely pleafed with this al- 
 teration, tho he did not fee the confequcnces of the other j 
 which, by opening a way to the lords to alienate their lands, 
 opened a way to the commons to increafe their property, and 
 confequently their power in the ftate; as may be very eafily 
 obfcrved in the fucceeding reigns. 
 
 Vol. L a a a LET-
 
 362 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 E T T E R X. 
 
 ENRY the eighth came to the crown with very great 
 advantages. Whatever obje6lions had been made to his 
 Cither's title, there remained no pretence of objeding to his ; 
 and if any pretence had remained, the difpofition to make ufe 
 of it would not have been found. The nation was grown 
 weary of fadlion ; fond of tranquillity ; and every day more 
 
 and more attentive to the arts oi peace. The prerogative had 
 
 teen extended wide and carried high ; and the means em- 
 ployed to acquire and maintain this authority, had been efta- 
 
 bliilied by a reign of twenty-four years. The treafures which 
 
 Henry the feventh had accumulated and left to his fon, were 
 immenfe ; and in leaving him thefe treafures, he left him that 
 which was more valuable than all of them. He left him an 
 opportunity of gaining the affedions of his people, on his ac- 
 ceffion to the throne, by putting a ftop to that public rapine 
 which had been fo long exercifed ; and by difgracing and 
 punifhing thofe who had been the principal inftruments of it. 
 Henry the eighth feized the opportunity and improved it. He 
 confirmed, in the firft moments of his reign, that pardon 
 which his father had granted in the laft of his life, and when 
 he could hope for no farther profit by not pardoning. He in- 
 vited, by proclamation, fuch as had been wronged to complain, 
 and promifed them fatisfadion. 
 
 If Henry the eighth had been avaritious, or weak enough 
 to prefer wealth to popularity, he would have obferved ano- 
 ther condu6i. He would have thought thofe men fitted to 
 ferve him, who had fignalized theiiifelves mod: in fleecing 
 
 2 the
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 363 
 
 the people; and without any regard to their ahih'ty in pi tying 
 the game of (latefmcn, lie would have chofcn tliein jnirely for 
 their /kill in packing the cards. Empson and Dvdluy would 
 have continued in power, and have rifen in favor. But he 
 was too wile, or too honeftly counfellcd in thefc beginnings 
 of Jns government, to purfuc fuch meafures ^^r to employ 
 fuch minifters. He kept fomc in his council, wlio were of 
 approved abilities ; but far from loading his own adminiflra- 
 tion with the principal guilt of the former ; far from grieving 
 and provoking his people, by countenancing the niofl: hated, 
 and the moft jufl:ly hated, men of the whc;lc kingdom, he 
 threw thofe criminals out of the flmduary of the court, and 
 expofed them to that national vengeance, under the weicrht of 
 which they perifhed.— The manner in which their lives were 
 taken away, feems liable to great objedlion, and I would not 
 be thought to approve it ; for a fpirit of liberty can never ap- 
 prove fuch proceedings even againfl: the worfl and the mofl 
 giTilty of men, as may be applied to deftroy the beft and the 
 mofl innocent. All I mean to commend is the wifdom of 
 Henry the eighth, in abandoning thefe minifters ; in gaining 
 the affedlions of his fubjeds ; and in making fuch impreilions 
 of gratitude on their minds, as lafkd long and were of fervice 
 to liim, even when he opprefled the people in liis turn. 
 
 Vanity and prefumption were reigning qualities in the 
 charader of this prince. The firfl betrayed him into conti- 
 nual errors. The lall: made him perfirt in them. Pride is 
 obferved to defeat it's own end, by bringing the man who 
 feeks efteem and reverence, into contempt. Vanity, felf-fufH- 
 ciency, prefumption, the oiTspring of pride, have much the 
 fame efTccl ; finee no one is fo liable to be deceived and go- 
 verned, as he who imagines that he is capable of neither. 
 
 A a a 2 The
 
 36+ REMARKSONTHE 
 
 The charaders of the princes and popes of this age, ren- 
 dered the fcene of foreign affairs very important. Henry the 
 eighth was happy enough to have no intereft of his own 
 abroad worth engaging him in the broils of the continent. He 
 was free from guaranties of foreign dominions, and from all 
 engagements to foreign princes, which could in the leaft en- 
 cumber him. In this ftate he might have kept himfelf with 
 equal dignity and advantage. He might have increafed his 
 ftrength, whilft other princes wafted theirs. He might have 
 been applied to as the mediator, or arbitrator of the chriftian 
 world J and have found his account in all the wars and nego- 
 tiations, without being a party in them. — He did the very 
 contrary. A rofe, bleffed by the pope; an emperor ferving in 
 liis army, and taking his pay ; a whimfical proje6t of con- 
 quefts never deftgned to be made, and impoffible to be kept, 
 if they had been made, were fufficient to draw him into the 
 moft extravagant engagements, in which he always played 
 gold againft counters with allies, who generally played coun- 
 ters againft gold. His engagements of this kind, became 
 numberlefs, frequently inconfiftent, and fo very ralhi and un- 
 advifed, that whilft his aim, or his pretence, was to keep a 
 ballance between the great powers of Europe, he more than 
 once aflifted the ftrongeft to opprefs the weakeft.— The fpring 
 of all this ftrange condudl lay in the private interefts and paf- 
 fions of WoLSEY, who became his lirft minifter very early, 
 and was his favorite earlier. If Henry the eighth negotiated 
 perpetually, and was perpetually the bubble of thofe with 
 whom and for whom he negotiated, this happened chiefly 
 becaufe he was, in the firft place, the bubble of his minifter. — 
 Woi.sey's avarice was fed and his ambition flattered bv the 
 emperor ; by the court of France ; and by that ot Rome, in 
 their turns. He fupported himfelf, in great meafure, at home 
 by the opinion of his credit abroad ; and his mafter's favor to 
 
 him
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 365 
 
 him was flrengtlicned by the art of thofe whom he ferved at 
 his mafter's and his country's expencc. In fhort, the fuc- 
 cefs, or difappointment of his private fchemes, were the hinges 
 on which the wliole poHcy of this nation turned for twenty 
 years ; and the groflefl: mifmanagcment, obftinately purfued, 
 by the minifter, in the midft of univerfal difapprobation, was 
 fandified by the king. 
 
 The king, no doubt, thought himfelf as infalHble in the 
 choice of men as in the choice of meafure« ; and therefore 
 when he had once given liis confidence to Wolsey, no mat- 
 ter by what inducements, his prefumption fkrecned the mini- 
 fter from his fufpicion. 
 
 It was eafy for Wolsey to keep his mafter from hearken- 
 ing to particular advice, or to the general voice of the people; 
 becaufe it was eafy to perfuade him that he wanted no advice; 
 that he could not be deceived, tho his people might ; and 
 perhaps, that it was unbecoming a great prince to alter his 
 meafures, or withdraw his favor, on the clamors ot the public. 
 At the fame time, we may fairly fuppofe (for the monuments 
 of hiflory v/illjuftify us in fuppofing) that the butcher's fon 
 was not fuch a bungler, nor rendered by a low education fo 
 void of nddrefs, as not to know how to infinuare without the, 
 air of advifing ; and liow to receive all his own fuggeilions 
 back from his niaftcr, in the flylc of orders, with the utmoli 
 demonrtration of imphcit fubmiilion to his judgment, and ab-. 
 folute rcliGfnation to his will. 
 
 But however bliwd the king might be, the eyes of the 
 people continued open to his and their true intereft. The 
 difcontent srevv general ; and to this o-eneral difcontent were 
 owing the principal difficulties v.liich Hlnry the e'ghth met 
 
 with.
 
 ',66 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 with, during the firft half of his reign. As much complaifance 
 
 as he had been ufed to find in his parlian^ents, he durft not al- 
 ways demand money of them, for the fupport ot his enterprizes. 
 His miniRer (con put him upon the expedient of raifing it by 
 his own authority. But thefe attempts were refented warmly, 
 and oppofed fo fturdily, even when the rough name of a tax 
 was changed into the fofter found of a benevolence, that the 
 kino- was obliged to retract ; to compound ; to excufe himfelf; 
 to difavow his minifler ; and to pardon all thofe who had been 
 concerned in particular infurredionSj from a fear of one which 
 misht become univerfal. 
 
 No prince could be more firmly feated on his throne. No 
 prince could b.e lefs framed to brook oppoiition. No prince 
 could be lefs fufceptible of fear. And yet to this point of di- 
 ftrefs did Henry the eighth bring himfelf, by trufling his fir ft 
 niinifter too much, and regarding the fenfe of his people too 
 little.- --All orders of men concurred on thefe occafions ; and 
 the merchants fignalized themfelves. Neither the flattery, nor 
 the menaces of WoLSEY could prevail on them to be filent, 
 when they felt that -their own and the national interefts were 
 facrificed'or negleded, at every turn. Much lefs could they 
 be cozened fo far as to expofe their fortunes in trade, the 
 only fortunes which merchants acquired in thofe days, in order 
 to conceal the blunder of a minifter, or to ftop the clamor 
 a^ainft him. We find a remarkable inftance of this beha- 
 vior of the merchants in the year 1528; when the commerce 
 of the Low countries, on which our woollen trade depended 
 nrincipally at that time, was interrupted by a war with the 
 emperor, which evidently took it's rife from no other motive 
 than a pique of the minifter. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 367 
 
 The ill fuccefs of thcfc illegal methods, obliged the king 
 to have recoiirfc to his parliament : but his parliament thought 
 like his people; and the oppofition given in the houfc of com- 
 mons was fuch as became the reprefentativc body of the na- 
 tion. That which happened in the year 1523, is worthy of 
 particular obfcrvation. It was not grounded only on the ex- 
 orbitancy of the fum demanded, but likcwife on the nature of 
 the iervice for which the demand was made. As high as 
 prerogative was carried at this time, and as undifputcd a point 
 as the power of tlie crown to make war or peace might be ; 
 yet it is undeniable that the commons would not give money, 
 without knowing how it was to be employed ; and that they 
 proportioned their grants to the judgment they made of the 
 reafonablenefs or unreafonablenefs of the employment de- 
 
 figned. WoLSEY, the moft infolent minifter our nation had 
 
 feen at that time, was however fo far from objeding to this 
 method of proceeding in the houfe of commons, that he open- 
 ed to that houfe, in a long difcourfe, the rcafons of the king's 
 meafures, as he affected to call his own meafures ; and endea- 
 vored to prove the neceffiry of fupporting them. Nay, when 
 neither his rhetoric could perfuade, nor his authority influence, 
 he oifered to debate the whole matter, and to anfwer the ob- 
 jections of thofe who oppofed the king's defires. The houfe 
 rejeded his offer; obferved their forms; maintained their dig- 
 nity. They dilapproved a war, wantonly undertaken, and in 
 which the interefls of the nation wt re not concerned. They 
 flKnved however their regard to the king, l)v giving fomc part 
 of the fubfidy, and their regard to the kingdom, by refufiag, 
 to the iaft, to give the whole. 
 
 As for the miniflcr, he received tlie mortification which he 
 deferved. — Thcfe frequent oppolitions, on the part of the people 
 and the parliauient, were really made to the miniller. Henry 
 
 the
 
 368 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 the eighth Teemed, on fonie occafioas, to defire tluit they 
 nioiild be fo underftood, even before Wolsey's favor bei^an to 
 be in its wain ; and yet we fl:iall have no reafon to be furprif- 
 cd, if we confider the true charat^ler of this prince, that thefe 
 very oppofitions prepared his mind for receiving thofe lefTons 
 which WoLSEY was ready to give him, againft liberty, and in 
 favor of arbitrary power.— A wicked miniAer, who neither 
 gains, nor deferves to gain, the good will of a nation, muR 
 fecure and will endeavor to revenge hirnfelf, by pcrfuading his 
 niafler to neg'ed: it. Force and corruption being the fole 
 means, by which he can maintain his power, and preferve his 
 ill-gotten wealth, it is neceffary for him that the prince whom 
 he ferves, fhould look upon thofe as the fole e.xpedients by 
 which government can be fupported. Wolsey purfued this 
 abominable fcheme. " He looked upon the king's fubie^fls, 
 " fays Rapin, as fo many flaves ; and unfortunately for them, 
 " he infpired the king by degrees with the fame principles ; 
 " and infinuated to him, that he ought to confider the par- 
 *' liament only as an inftrument to execute his will."— Thefe 
 were the feeds he fowed, which fell on a rank foil, and pro- 
 duced in the latter half of Henry's reign, fuch bitter fruit as 
 this nation never tafted before, nor fince. — Wolsey had been 
 the fcandal and the fcourge of his country, whilfl: he lived 5 
 and he continued to be fo even in the grave. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 369 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 THE divorce of Henry the eighth and Cathf.rine of 
 Arragon begins a new and moil memorable aera in the 
 general hiftory of England ; and indeed of all Europe. It is the 
 beginning likewife of a new period in the particular reign of 
 which we are fpeaking — A king, who had been till now the 
 great afTertor of the authority of the pope, and the great de- 
 fender of the dodrine of the church of Rome, undertakes to 
 deftroy the former in his dominions, and gives feveral incura- 
 ble wounds to the latter. — A king, whofe whole attention had 
 been employed abroad, and in whofe time " there was no 
 *' treaty and almoft conventicle in Chriftendom, wherein he 
 ** had not his particular agent and interefl," as my lord Her- 
 bert exprelTes himfelf, becomes wholly taken up with dome- 
 flic affairs ; and if he looks abroad, during the refl: of his life, 
 it is chiefly on account of what paffes at home.— He, who 
 had connived at feditions and pardoned infurredions, grows 
 impatient of the leaft contradiction.— He, who had often com- 
 pounded with his parliaments, and fubmitted to them on many 
 occaflons, didates all their proceedings ; and the voice of the 
 law is little elfe than the eccho of the voice of the king.- —In 
 fhort J he, who had been led, amufed, governed by his mi- 
 nifter, drives, over-bears, tyrannizes ; butchers his fervants and 
 his wives, his commons and his nobiUty. 
 
 When Henry the eighth firft engaged in tlie afiair of the 
 divorce, he could not forefee the confequcnces of it ; bccaufe he 
 certainly did not cxped the difficulties which gave occafion to 
 them. He went on during the two firfl years, in the beatea 
 
 Vol. I. B b b road.
 
 37a REMARKS ON THE 
 
 road, by which fo many others had gone before to the fame 
 end ; and he feemed to have no view befides that of employing 
 the authority of one pope to undo what the authority of another 
 pope had done. Nay, after Cranmer had began open to other 
 views to him, he feemed flill to cling to Rome, refolved to fuc- 
 ceed any way ; but defirous to fucceed that way. — Happy was it 
 that he took his meafures no better, and that he was no better 
 
 ferved on this occaiion than on many others ! He fuffered 
 
 himfelf to be amufed by Clement the feventb, the leaft fcru- 
 pulous man alive ; and who would have divorced him, or 
 have done any other pontifical job for him, if the league form- 
 ed to reduce the emperor's power in Italy had fucceeded. But 
 the emperor's power there continuing to prevail, the pope 
 concluded his treaty with this prince on the moft advantage- 
 ous terms. He obtained that favorite point, for which he 
 would have facrificed not only the interefts of Henry the 
 eighth, but even thofe of the papacy itfelf. I mean the re- 
 erlablirhment of the family of Medicis on the ruins of the 
 Florentine liberty. The lols of Genoa, the total deftrudion 
 of the French army in the kingdom of Naples, and feveral 
 other confiderations induced Francis the firft to make his 
 peace with the emperor likewife, and to fubmit to the treaty 
 of Canibray, 
 
 Thus did Henry the eighth find himfelf at once difap- 
 pointed in the expectations he had been made to entertain 
 from the court of Rome, and deftitute of all foreign afliftance;. 
 Francis being the only ally, of whom he could avail himfelf 
 to influence the councils of Rome, in oppofition to the em- 
 peror. 
 
 In this ftate of affain, Henry relbrted to that which will 
 hQ always the beft and fureil referv.e of a king of Great Britain ; 
 
 the.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 371 
 
 the inclinations, and affections of his people. He had not 
 the trouble of difpoiing them, for he found them already dif- 
 pofed to his purpofcs. The {pirir, railed by Wickliffe about 
 two centuries before, againft the ufurpatioas of the pope and 
 the clergy, was ftill alive. The fufferings of the Lollards, as 
 his followers were called, had not abated it. The art of 
 printing had been propagated ; and the late fuccefs of Luther 
 had encouraged it. There were multitudes therefore, in all 
 parts of the kingdom, who defired a complete reformation 
 of the church, both in dodrine and in difcipline. Others 
 again were content that the papal authority, grievous in it's 
 nature, and fcandalous in it's exercife, as well as the extrava- 
 gant power and impertinent immunities of the clergy, fhould 
 be taken away. But they meant to go no farther. Many 
 would not go even fo far as this ; but were ftill flaves to all 
 their prejudices ; and remained in the midft of this defcdion, 
 attached to the pope, as well as to the corrupted dodrine, and 
 the depraved difcipline of the church. 
 
 Whilst the divorce was follicited at Rome, and the pro- 
 ceedings relating to it were carried on by the diredion, and 
 under the authority of the pope, it was the king's affair; it 
 was the affair of his miniflers. But when it appeared impra- 
 dicable in this method, and Henry refolvcd, in order to ac- 
 complish it in another, to deliver himfelf and his people from 
 the yoke of Rome; the affair of the divorce became a natio- 
 nal affair, and the caufe of the king became the caufe of his 
 fubjeds. As he proceeded in it, he was encouraged to pro- 
 ceed. The concurrence of his people grew every day more 
 general, and he was fupported with the greateft warmth. He 
 foon held the clergy at his mercy, and the popifli party was 
 broken and terrified, if not entirely cruHied. 
 
 B b b 2 During
 
 372 REMARKS O N T H E 
 
 During this eager purfuit after ccclefiaftical liberty, a power 
 very dangerous to civil liberty was ered:cd. We obferved be- 
 fore that the prerogative had been carried higli, and extended 
 wide in the reign ot Henry the eighth, who obtained much by 
 law, and obtained more by his manner of conftruing and exe- 
 cuting the law. His fon, parting with none of his authority, 
 and improving the conjundure fo as to acquire a great deal 
 more, acquired fo much at laff, that the power of the crown 
 exceeded by far that proportion, which is coniifient with the 
 fecurity of public liberty and private prop'crty. It is true, 
 indeed, that he always took care to have the law on his fide; 
 and would neither venture on the exercife of adls of power 
 again ft it, or without it. His experience in the form.er part 
 of his reign, had taught him the danger of fuch a condud: ; 
 and, in the latter part, he had no occafion to purfue it. The 
 opinion of the nation went along with him now ; and, as ex- 
 orbitant as his demands frequently were, his parliaments refuf- 
 ed him nothing. At one time, they gave up to him, in a 
 great degree, the legiHative authority ; and his proclamations 
 were made, under fome reftridions, equivalent to ads of par- 
 liament. At another time, they afcribed to him a fort cf 
 infallibility ; and letters patent, under the great feal, were made 
 necelTary to determine the articles of faith, which men were 
 to believe fully, and the dodrines, rites and ceremonies, which 
 they were to obferve and pradice, under feveral penalties.-— 
 The fufpicious ftate of affairs abroad was amplified to give a 
 pretence to one of thefe laws ; and the confufed ftate of re- 
 ligion at home, and the clafhing of parties about it, might 
 afford Ibme color to the other. The truth is, that any pre- 
 tence ferved, at this time, to grant whatever the king delired ; 
 a ftronger inftance of which cannot be imagined than that of 
 the fubiidy, obtained in the year 154-0. Henry had got im- 
 menfe riches by the firft and fecond fuppreffion of monafteries, 
 
 A
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 373 
 
 A principal inducement to the Jail:, which was likewife the 
 grcateft, was this ; that tlic i<Ling might be enabled, without 
 taxing the people, to defend thcni againll: fuch invaiions, as 
 the court had been pleafed to fuppofe ; and v, ith the rumors 
 of which the nation liad been purpofely alarmed. Thefc in- 
 vafions did not happen. Henry continued in peace with afl 
 his neighbours : and jet, the very next year, he not only ac- 
 cepted from tlic clergy of the province of Canterbury, with 
 the approbation of parliament, a grant of the fifth part of their 
 revenue ; but he demanded a fubiidy likewife of the houfe of 
 commons. So extravajj^ant a demand could not but meet >vith 
 Tome oppofition. The fubfidy however was granted in as 
 hirge a proportion, as if the nation had been engaged in a 
 dangerous war. The reafons for granting it were almofl; bur- 
 lefque. Jt was afErmed, by the king's party, that he had laid 
 out vaft funis in fecuring the coafls ; and that the keeping his 
 fubjeds in peace and plenty cofl him more than the moil bur- 
 
 thenfome war, Thus a precedent was made of converting 
 
 into ordinary aids of the government thofe heavy taxes, which 
 ought never to be felt by the people, unlefs upon the moft 
 extraordinary occafions. That they ought to be laid in time 
 of war, neither was, nor ever could be doubted. That they 
 were equally neceffary in time of peace, was nov/ eflablilhed. 
 by the logic of the court ; and we may be fure that the argu- 
 ment would have been urged with ftill more force and effect:, 
 if the nation had f^illen, by the management of the courtiers, 
 in that age, into fuch a fituation as could neither be called 
 properly a flate of war, or a ftate of peace. 
 
 The abfolute power which Henry the eighth exercifed 
 over the purfes, lives, Hbertics and confciences of his people^ 
 was due to the intire influence which he had gained over 
 die parliament j and tliis dependency of the two houles on 
 
 tkft:
 
 374 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 the king did, in effeft, eftablifli tyranny by law. If we look 
 
 for the true caufe of this dependency, we fball find it, as 
 Rapin hath very judicioiifly obfcrved, in thofe divifions of the 
 nation, concerning religion, which I have mentioned above. 
 
 The party, which oppofed all reformation, by a bigotted 
 
 attachment to the difcipline, as well as dodrine of the church 
 of Rome, furnifhed the king with as many pretences for 
 grafping at power, and fqueezing money out of his people, as 
 
 •ambition could wifli, or profufion require. The other two 
 
 parties concurred with the king, and went together to a cer- 
 tain point ; that is, to throw off the papal yoke, and to leffen 
 the power of the clergy. But here they feparated, and went 
 different ways; one to carry the reformation forward, and the 
 other to ftop it where it then flood ; whiift the king feemed 
 
 to keep in a middle way between them both. Sometimes, 
 
 he feemed to favor thofe whofe principles led them to an in- 
 tire reformarion ; and he touched the dodlrine, tho with a 
 
 gentler hand than the difcipline of the church, Sometimes 
 
 he appeared zealous for the dodirine, and even for fome part 
 of the difcipline ; and the manner in which he often executed 
 that bloody ftatute, the law of fix articles, would incline one 
 to think that he joined to his political confiderations a tin- 
 dure of religious prejudice on thefe heads. But however that 
 was, certain it is that the hopes which each of thefe two par- 
 ties entertained of the king, and the fears which they enter- 
 tained of one another, occafioned their continual bidding for 
 him, if I may be allowed to ufe fuch an expreffion. This 
 emulation formed then, what it always muft form, the moft 
 dangerous conjundure to which liberty can be expofed. When 
 the motives of contending parties are founded on private am- 
 bition and avarice, the danger is great. How much greater 
 muft it be, when thefe motives are founded on religion Ijke- 
 wiic ; when the heads and hearts of both fides are heated 
 
 even
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 3-5 
 
 even to enthufiafm ; when this fpirit mingles itfcIF with the 
 fpiric of fiidion ; (6 that fome through folly, and fomc through 
 knavery, are ready to facrifice pubhc hbcrty to their particu- 
 lar fchemcs of religion ? 
 
 In fuch circumftances as thefc was this nation, when Henry 
 the eighth died ; and if he hid left a fon and fuccedor, of 
 full age, and bold and cnterprizing like himfelf, our liberties 
 
 had been irretrievably loft, according to all appearances. 
 
 Henry the eighth, by applying to his parliaments for the ex- 
 traordinary powers which he exercifcd, and by taking thefe 
 powers for fuch terms, and under fuch reftridions as the par- 
 liament impofed, owned indeed fufficiently that they did not 
 belong of right to the crown. He owned likewife, in effed:, 
 more than any prince who went before him, how abfolutely 
 the difpofition of the crown of England belongs to the people 
 of England, by procuring fo many different and oppofite fet- 
 tlements of it to be made in parliament, and yet tyranny was 
 adually eftablifhed. The freedom of our government might 
 fiorifti in fpeculation ; but certainly it did not fub^ft in practice, 
 — In the cafe therefore fuppofed above, our fore-fathers would 
 very foon have found how fatal it is, in any circumftances, bv 
 any means, or under any pretences, to admit incroachments on 
 the conftitution; and how vain it is, when thefe incroach- 
 ments are once admitted, for the fervice of fome prefent turn, 
 to prefcribe limitations to the exercife or duration of them. 
 
 But providence direded the courfe of things better, and 
 broke thofe fhackles which we had forged for ourfelves. A. 
 minority followed this turbulent reign ; the government was 
 weak ; the governors divided ; and the temper of the people 
 fuch, as made it prvdent to footh them. This the duke of 
 
 Somerset
 
 376 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 Somerset did out of inclination, and the duke of Northum- 
 berland out of policy. To the former we owe not only the 
 complete eftablifhrnent of the church of England on the ruins 
 of popery, but the firfl: and great fleps which were made to 
 reftore a free government. In the very firfl: year of his admi- 
 mftration, feveral adls which had pafled in the reign of Henry 
 the eighth, and in fom.e preceding reigns, grievous to the 
 people, and deftrudive of liberty, were repealed ; and among 
 others that abfurd act, which gave to proclamations the force 
 of laws. The law of the fix articles was likewife repealed. 
 Others were explained, and feveral new laws were made in fa- 
 vor of civil, as well as ecclefiaftical liberty ; both of which got 
 ib much ftrength, in the reign of Edward the fixth, that they 
 were able to ftand the fhort but violent fiiock of queen Mary's 
 reign. This princefs lived long enough to confirm, not to de- 
 flroy, our religion by perfecution. The ill-concerted infur- 
 redion of Wyat gave ftrength to the fadion which prevailed 
 at court, and difcouraged, for fome time, all oppofition; nay, 
 the methods taken to influence the eledions, and to gain by 
 corruption the members who were chofen, were carried on fo 
 openly, that the price for which each man fold himfelf, was 
 publickly known. No wonder then if the papal authority 
 was reftored, and the queen's marriage with Philip the fe- 
 Gond approved. But this ftate of things could not lafl: long, 
 nor was the nation difpofed to bear a continual facrifice of her 
 intereft to Rome and Spain. 
 
 The parliament, corrupt as it was, began to revolt again ft 
 the court. The fpirit of liberty revived ; and that fpirit, and 
 the fpirit of reformation in religion, had made more progrefs 
 than was readily perceived. This progrefs had been made 
 principally among the commons -, and therefore, tho the g.u- 
 
 thority
 
 HIST OR Y O F E N G L A N D. 377 
 
 thority of the crown, of the council, and of the great lords 
 kept up other appearances, yet there was a fecret fire burn- 
 ing, which muft and would have broke out. The effeds ot 
 the caufesj laid in the reign of Henry the fcventh, began 
 now to appear. The hinds of the nobility were leffcned, and 
 thofeofthe commons increafed. Trade had been encouraged 
 for feveral years. We fee that fome care had been taken of 
 it, even in the troublefome times of Edward the fourth, and 
 very much was done towards the advancement of it in the 
 reigns of Henry the fcventh and Henry the eighth. The 
 Weft-Indies had been difcovered about half a century before ; 
 and part of the immenfe treafures, which flowed from thence 
 into Europe, began to increafe the profits ; and, increafing 
 the profits, to increafe the induftry of our merchants. Henry 
 the eighth had fold a very great part of the church lands at 
 low prices, on purpofe to engage the body of the nation in 
 one common intereft againft the Romifli clergy. The com- 
 mons had made their ufe of this ftrain of policy, and had got 
 into very great eftates in lands, by thefe as well as by other 
 means : fo that the king, the lords and the church, who had 
 formerly held fo great an overballance of property in land, 
 had now little more than one third of the whole belonging to 
 them ; the confequences of which were not forefeen by queen 
 Mary ; neither did fhe live long enough to feel them in any 
 great degree. They did not efcapc the penetration of her 
 fiftcr. She forefaw them, and the great glory and happinefs 
 of her reign may juflly be attributed to this firfl: principle ; 
 that file had the wifdom to difcern not only the adlual alte- 
 ration, which was already made, but the growing alteration, 
 which would every day increafe in the ftate of property ; 
 that fhe accommodated at once the whole fyftem of her govern- 
 ment to this great change ; and inftead of depending upon 
 Vol. I. C c c expe-
 
 378 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 expedients, which were now no longer of feafon, chofe the 
 fole expedient that remained, for making herfelf and her 
 people happy ; which was to place the whole ftrength and fe- 
 curity of her government in the afFedions of her people, and 
 in her fuperior credit with them. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 379 
 
 L E T T E R XII. 
 
 WE have now brought thefe remarks on the EngHfh 
 hiftory not only down to times little remote from our 
 own, but to a period, when the monarchy fettled on a nevv^ 
 foundation ; upon which it {\i\\ continues and refts more firm- 
 ly than ever at this hour. The obfervations therefore, which 
 remain to be made, in order to illuftrate what hath been ad- 
 vanced, concerning the fpirit of liberty and the fpirit of fa- 
 ction, will for thefe reafons be the more appofite, the more 
 affeding, and by confequence the more ufeful ; but, for thefe 
 very reafons likewife, it is probable that they will become the 
 occafions of louder complaints, and of more impertinent cla- 
 mor. We fhall be fincerely forry for this ; becaufe we look 
 
 on the alarm, which hath been taken at our endeavors to re- 
 vive the fpirit, and to confirm and propagate the .dodlirines of 
 liberty, in a country where liberty is ftill avowed, and under 
 a government eftablifiied on the principles of liberty, as a 
 moft fufpicious and melancholy fymptom. Out the ftrongcr 
 this iymptom appears, the more incumbent we fhall think it 
 upon us to purfue the honeft defign, to which we have devot- 
 ed ourfelves with conftancy and vigor. 
 
 The fhamelcfs crew, who write againfl: their country, as 
 they would write againfl: their God, for hire, fhall have liltic 
 regard from us. Tne fcandalous licence with which they 
 have prefumed to draw odious parallels, and the impudence 
 with which they have imputed thefe parallels to u?, have bt-cn 
 abundantly cxpofcd already. The icw, the very few thino;s, 
 which they have allcdged in point of fad:, or argument, have 
 
 C c c 2 been
 
 -8o R K M A R K S ON THE 
 
 been often anfwered ; perhaps too often, conlidcring how little 
 weight they carried with them, and how little impreffion they 
 were capable of making on the underftanding even of thofe, 
 who had other reafons for inclining to that Iide of the 
 queftion. The ribaldry which thefe fcribblers employ, hath 
 been and will continue to be defpifcd, not anfwered. It can- 
 not be expedled that we flioiild take notice of every httle, 
 frivolous, childifh declamation, which appears in public, how- 
 ever fome perfons may demean themfelves by pretending to 
 admire them. The menaces, affededly and infolently thrown 
 out on one fide, and the flattery, fervilely offered on the other, 
 are equally objeds of our contempt; and if we take a litde 
 notice of the former, once for all, before we proceed any far- 
 ther in thefe remarks, it is purely becaufe we cannot under- 
 ftand them to be the language of thefe writers. When they 
 talk in this ftyle, they fpeak the language of him who guides 
 their pens, and who is known to reward their labors. To him 
 therefore it may not be improper to addrefs ourfelves in the fol- 
 lowing; manner. 
 
 " The perfons, whom you threaten, (ir, neither value your 
 *'. favor, nor fear your anger. Whenever you attempt any 
 " ad of power againfl: any of them, you fhall find that you 
 *' have to do with men who know they have not offended the 
 *= law ; and therefore trufl they have not offended the king ; 
 " who know they are fafe, as long as the laws and liberties of 
 *' their country are fo ; and who are fo little defirous of be- 
 *' ing fafe any longer, that they would be the firft to bury 
 « themfelves in the ruins of the Britifh conftitution, if you, 
 " or any minifter as defperate as you, fhould be able to de- 
 " ftroy it. But let us afk, on this occafion, what you are, 
 " who thus prefume to threaten ? — Are you not one, whofe 
 " meafure of folly and iniquity is full -, who can neither hold, 
 
 2 " nor
 
 HISTORY OF E N G L A N D. 3S1 
 
 " nor quit his power with impunity ; and over whofe head 
 " the long-gathering cloud of national vengeance is ready to 
 *' burft ?— Is it not time for you, fir, inftead of threatening to 
 " attack others, to confider howfoon you may be attacked 
 *' yourfelf?— -Plow many crimes may be charged upon you 
 *' and yours, which almoft every man can prove ; and how 
 " many more are ready to ftart into light, as foon as the 
 " power, by which you now conceal them, fliall determine ? 
 
 u When next you meditate revenge on your adverfaries, 
 
 '' remember this truth : the laws muft be deftroyed before 
 *' they can fuffer, or you efcapc/' 
 
 Let us now return to our fubjetl. In the early days of our 
 
 government, after the Norman invafion, the commons of Eng- 
 land were rather formidable in their colle6livc,than confiderable 
 in their reprefentative body ; by their numbers in extraordi- 
 nary emergencies, rather than by their weight in the ordinary 
 courfe of government. Jn later days, they began to acquire 
 fome of this weight by degrees. They reprefcnted grievances ; 
 they gave, or refufed fubfidies ; and they exercifed, in a regu- 
 lar, fenatorial manner, the powers lodged in them by the 
 conilitution ; but flili they did not obtain the intirc weight, 
 till they were w^holly emancipated ; and th.ey were not fo till 
 the great change, which we are fpeaking ol, happened. Be- 
 fore this time, they had too much of the dependency of te- 
 nants, and the king, the nobility and the clergy had too 
 much of the fii pcriority of landlords. This dependency of 
 the commons added to that, which the crown frequently found 
 means of creating, cither by influencing their eledions, or by 
 corrupting their reprefcntatives, notwithftanding all the pro- 
 vifions made againit it, which we have touched in a * former 
 
 * Sec the Craftfman, N" 225. 
 
 paper.
 
 3S2 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 paper, kept this part of the legiflature in fuch a ftate, as made 
 it unable fully to anfwer the end of it's inftitution ; and the 
 fyftem of our government was by confequencc, in this refpe^l, 
 dcfedive. 
 
 Could Henry the feventh have found means, as he redu- 
 ced the nobility lower, to have hindered the commons from 
 rifing higher ; could he have opened a way to the diminution 
 of the property of the lords, and have prevented that increafe 
 of the fame property amongfl: the commons, to which, on the 
 contrary, he gave occafion, and which time and accidents 
 confpired to bring about; the ballance of this government 
 would have been totally loft, tho the outward forms of it had 
 been preferved. Our liberty would have been loft by con- 
 fequencc ; and our king"?, with an houfe of lords and an houfe 
 of commons, and all the appearances of limited monarchs, 
 mi^ht have been as arbitrary as thofe princes are, who govern 
 countries, where no fuch conftitution prevails. The reafon 
 of this will appear plain to thofe who remember what hath 
 been obferved, in fome of our former papers, that a depen- 
 dent exercife of the powers, lodged in the two houfes of par- 
 liament, will endanger, and may, more efteftually than any 
 other expedient, deftroy liberty ; and that the prefervation of 
 our freedoni is no way to be fecured but by a free and inde- 
 pendent exercife of thefe powers. Now fuch an exercife could 
 not have continued, much lefs have been improved, if Henry 
 the feventh had been able, at the fame time, to weaken his no- 
 bilitv, and to keep his commons from acquiring new ftrength. 
 But tins was impradlicab'e. At leaft, it was not attempted. 
 Henry the feventh haftencd to the cure of that evil which 
 prefttd him moft, the power of the nobility, as his fon foon 
 afterwards effedually reduced the exorbitant power of the 
 clercry • and in pulling down thefe powers, which, as they 
 
 were
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 383 
 
 were confHtuted and had been excrcifed, hurt the crown more 
 than they ferved the people, thcfe princes became the inAru- 
 ments of railing another pow cr, which is the bcft, if not the 
 fole effedual barrier agaiiifl ufurpations of iJkgal, and abufes 
 of legal prerogatives ; and which, at the fame time, can never 
 be applied to do any real hurt to the crown, unlefs in cafes 
 where it is bent and forced to do this hurt by the crown itfeif, 
 in the firft place, againft the natural tendency and diredion of 
 it. 
 
 This increafe of the property of the commons, by taking 
 ofF from them a conflant dependency of one fort, and by ren- 
 dering them Icfs obnoxious to an occafional dependency of 
 another, gave greater dignity, and added greater weight in 
 the ballance of government, to their reprefcntative body. The 
 houfe of commons became more powerful, without the attri- 
 bution of any new powers, and purely by the different man- 
 ner in which their independency, the eifedl of their property, 
 enabled them to exercife the fame powers, which they en- 
 joyed before. A concert with a few great lords, and a few- 
 leading prelates, was now no longer fuiUcient to guide the 
 fenfe of parliament, and to eftabhfh the meafures of govern- 
 ment ; no, not even in cafes, where this concert might be ex- 
 tended to fome of the commons themfelves. Intiigue and 
 cabal became unnecefTary, when the national intereft was wife- 
 ly purfued ; and ineffe(5lual, when it was not. The way was 
 open to gain the parliament, by gaining the nation ; but to 
 impofe on the nation, by gaining the parliament was hard ; 
 for the weight without doors determined, in thofe davs, the 
 weight within. The fime caufes, which rendered the houfe 
 of commons more condderable to tlie court, to the nobility, 
 to the clergy, to the commons themfelves, rendered likewife 
 the whole body ol: the commons of more importance to th.olc 
 
 who
 
 384 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 who were cholen to reprefent them. Befides which, the fre- 
 quency of new eledions, which was deemed an advantage, as 
 long as the fervice was deemed an honorable burthen, gave 
 the nation frequent opportunities of modelling the reprefenta- 
 tive body, according to the interefts and inclinations of the 
 colleftive body. From hence it followed, that that credit and 
 influence in the nation, which can only be acquired and pre- 
 ferved by adhering to the national interefl-, became the folc 
 means of maintaining a lafting credit and influence in the houfe 
 of comnions ; upon which the harmony of government, and 
 the happinefs of prince and people depended more than ever. 
 
 Thus were we brought back, in times very diftant and in 
 circumflances very different, to the principles of government, 
 which had prevailed amongft our Saxon ancefliors, before they 
 left Germany. Whatever particular pre-eminencies, or powers, 
 were vefted in the principal men, the great affairs of ftate 
 
 were diredled by the whole body of the nation. De mino- 
 
 ribus principes, de majoribus omnes. 
 
 Such were the natural effeds of this new fettlement ; and 
 thus our limited monarchy became capable of as much per- 
 fedlion, as wifdom and favorable accidents can communicate 
 to any human infl:itution ; for can we raife our ideas of this 
 kind of perfedlion higher than ordering the diftribution of pro- 
 perty and power in fuch a manner, that the privileges of the 
 people and the prerogative of the crown cannot be taken away, 
 unlefs with their own confent, or by their own fault ? Now to 
 this point of perfection was the conftitution of our government 
 brought, and farther it could not be brought ; becaufe it is 
 impoflible to fecure either prince or people againft themfelves, 
 or againft the effeds of their own condud. 
 
 One
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 38.; 
 
 One part of what hath been faid upon this fubjed: will not, 
 I think, be difputed. The other, perh;ips, may feem a para- 
 dox • and a fcttlement, which rendered our government more 
 democratical, will not be readily allowed to have been advan- 
 tageous to the crown, tho it muft be allowed to have been fo 
 to the people. Let us examine therefore whether it was real- 
 ly fo, or not. 
 
 In all limited monarchies, and we are not f[x;aking of any 
 other, the power of preferving thefe limitations mull: be placed 
 fomewherc. The queftion therefore is, whether it can be 
 placed more advantageouHy, even for the crown as well as 
 the people, than in the whole body of the nation. 
 
 Whilst the commons had not property enough to have any 
 iliare in this power, the fole check, which could be oppofed 
 to the incroachments of the crown, was the power of the ba- 
 rons and of the clergy. But thefe two orders of men had 
 their particular interefts, frequently oppoflte to each other and 
 to thole of the people, as well as to thofe of the crown ; fo 
 that they were not only very incapable of forming a fecure 
 barrier to liberty, but their power became Terrible and dan- 
 gerous to the crown itfelf They flided eafily into fadion. 
 They often incroached on the prince's authority, whilft they 
 refifted his incroachments, real or pretended, on their own 
 privileges ; and under the plaufible veil of law, or gofpel, pri- 
 vate ambition had a greater fhare than public liberty in their con- 
 tefts. It is true, that during thefe contefts, Magna Charta was 
 ligned and confirmed ; and the condition of the people, in point 
 of liberty, very much improved. But this was the accidental 
 effcd of the conttfts between the kings, the barons and the 
 clergy, as we have remarked in fpeaking oi thofe times, and not 
 the natural eHcct of the property and power, lodged in the ba- 
 
 ■N 
 
 Vol. L D d d rons J
 
 386 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 rons and the clergy. The commons were courted by all fides^ 
 becaufe they were wanted by all. Had they been bubbles enough 
 to look on the nobility and clergy as the proper guardians ot 
 libertyj and to have adhered to them accordingly, they might 
 indeed have avoided being {laves to their kings, but they would 
 have rendered both their kings and themfelves little lefs thart 
 ilaves to their temporal and fpiritual lords. 
 
 After the reigns of Edward the firft, and Edward the 
 third, power came to be better poized, and our government 
 took a more regular form. The prerogatives of our kings, 
 and the privileges of our nobility, the authority and immunity 
 of the church, and the rights of the people were more afcer- 
 tained ; and yet, after this time, the fame obfervations will 
 hold good in a very great degree. It is certain that the vaft 
 over-ballance of property and power, which ftill continued 
 in the nobility and clergy, inftead of preventing, foftening, 
 or fhortening the calamities which followed, helped to form- 
 and maintain thofe Inflions, which began, renewed, fomented' 
 the civil wars of York and Lancaftcr, as well as the wicked' 
 condud of Richard the fccond, and the weak condu6t of 
 Henry the fixth. Redrefs of grievances and fufficient fecu- 
 rity againfl them for the future might have fatislied the people,, 
 if they had been left to themfelves ; but nothing lefs than re- 
 volutions of government could fatisfy the fadions, into which 
 the great men were divided, and into which they divided the 
 nation, by their influence over the people, and by the advan- 
 tages which tlie ill condud of the Yorkiffs and Laneaftrians' 
 gave to each other. 
 
 Thus we fee how unfafely tor the crown, as well as infe- 
 curely for the people, that property and power, which is ne- 
 cciTary to preferve the limitations of our monarchy, was placed 
 
 before
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 3^87 
 
 before the time, when that great cliange in the one and the 
 other happened, which makes the fubjcd: of this diicourfc. 
 But as foon as this change did Iiappen, the crown was no lon- 
 ger expofcd to the fame mifchicls. 
 
 When the h'ttle power, which Henry the fourth of France 
 had in the town of Rochelle, was objcded to him, he made 
 an anfwer worthy of his heroic fpirit. " I do, faid he, all I 
 " defirc to do there, in doing nothing but what I ought."— 
 This moderation of temper is, in all governments, the beft, 
 and, in limited monarchies, the only fure and durable foun- 
 dation of power. By preventing jealoufy in the people of the 
 prince, it takes away all advantage againft his government 
 from fadion ; and the more watchful the people are over their 
 liberties, the more fenfib]e will they be of this moderation, and 
 the more grateful for it. Fadion proceeds always without 
 reafon ; but it can hardly ever fucceed without pretence, and 
 fufficient pretence will hardly be found under fuch a govern- 
 ment. 
 
 When a prince, who manifefls this moderation of temper, 
 purfues the true interell: of his people, and fuffers no other in- 
 tereft to come into any degree of competition with it, far from 
 being the objedl of their jealoufy, he will be the principal ob- 
 jed of their afJcdion ; and if he joins to this charader of 
 goodnefs that of ability, he will be the principal objed of their 
 confidence likewife. Thefe are the flrongcft chains, by which 
 a people can be bound to their prince ; eafier indeed, but far 
 Wronger than thofe of adamant, by which Dionvsius the 
 elder boafted that he had fecured the tyranny of Syracufe to 
 his fon ; force, fear, a multitude of troops, and a guard of 
 ten thoufand barbarians. A prince, who eftabliilies his go- 
 vernment on the principles of affedion, hath every thing to 
 
 D d d 2 hope
 
 388 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 hape and nothing to fear from his people. A prince, who 
 eftablifhes his government on any other principles, ads in con- 
 tradidion to the very end of his inftitution. What objection 
 therefore could be made, even on the part of the crown, to a 
 fettlement of property and power, which put the guardianfhip 
 of liberty into fuch hands as never did, nor ever will invade 
 the prerogative and authority of the crown, whilll they are 
 employed to thofe purpofes, /or which alone they were intruft- 
 ed ? It is confefled that if a prince fhould attempt to eftablifh 
 his government on any other principle than thele; if he fliould 
 chuie to depend rather on deceiving, corrupting, or forcing 
 his people, than on gaining their affedlion and confidence ; 
 he might feel the weight of their property and power very 
 heavy in the fcale againft him. But then it muft be confef- 
 fed likewife that, in fuch a cafe, this oppofition of the people 
 would be juft ; and that the prince, not the people, would be 
 anfwerable to himfelf and his family, to God and to man, for 
 all the ill confequenees which might follow. 
 
 We hope that we have faid nothing, in order to fhew the 
 excellency of our conftitution, as it fettled about the time of 
 queen Elizabeth, which is not agreeable to reafon ; and fure 
 we are that the truth of thefe general propoiitions will be con- 
 firmed by the particular examples which are to follow. — The 
 reign of queen hLiZAEEFH will be one continued proof that 
 the power of prtferving the limitations of a monarchy cannot 
 be placed better, for a good and wife prince, than in the 
 whole body of the people ; and that the fpirit of liberty will 
 give greater ftrength, as well as procure greater eafe, to the 
 government of fuch a prince, than any ablblute monarch can 
 hope to find in the moft abjeil fpirit, which principles of 
 blind fubmilfion and pafiive obedience nre capable of infpir- 
 ing.-— The reigns immediately fucceeding this, will be one 
 
 con-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 389 
 
 continued proof, that whenever the power of the people hath 
 been exercifed againft the crown, it hath been owing prima- 
 rily to the weak, management and obftinacy of the court, and 
 to the unhappy choice which thofc princes made of governing 
 by fadlions, in oppolition to the fenfe and intereft of the nation. 
 From whence it will follow, that the great calamities which 
 befel our country, in the middle of the laft century, are un- 
 juftly charged on the fpirit of liberty, or on the nature of the 
 Britiih conftitution of government. 
 
 LET-
 
 390 
 
 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 THERE is no part of our annals, nor perhaps of the 
 annals of any other country, which deferves to be more 
 ftudied, or to be oftner called to remembrance both by thofe 
 who govern, and by thofe who are governed, than the reign 
 of queen Elizabeth. W^ fhall not however defcend into all 
 the obfervations which it affords ; nor even into all thofe which, 
 might properly ferve to our prefent purpofe. 
 
 In fome * papers we made a few remarks on this reign, 
 and on that of king James the firft. We apprehend that the 
 contrafte between them appeared very flrong on that occa- 
 sion. This contrafte will probably appear ftill much ftronger, 
 and by confequence be the more inflrudive, when thofe re- 
 marks and thefe we arc going to make come to center in one 
 iingle point; to fhew that the condud: of queen Elizabeth, 
 under great difad vantages, produced all the good effedts, 
 which prince or people could defire ; becauie it was wifely 
 fuited to the nature of our government : whereas the conduct 
 of king James the firft, who had many and great advantages 
 which his predecefTor wanted, made his reign grievous to the 
 people, uneafy to himfelf, and accefTory to thofe misfortunes 
 which befel his fon ; becaufe it was ill-fuited to the nature ^^ 
 our government, and founded on principles deftruclive of li- 
 berty. 
 
 Few princes, no, not even her cotemporary Henry the 
 fourth of France, have been ever raifed to a throne under more 
 
 * See the Crafcfman. N° J37, 138, 139, 
 
 dif-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 391 
 
 cliiadvantageoiis circiimftanccs, or have been furroundcd in it 
 
 with more complicated difficulties than queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Let us take a general furvcy of them. 
 
 The divifion and animolity of parties had been carried to 
 the height of religious rage. The cruelty of queen Mary's 
 reign, in which much proteftant blood had been fhed, and 
 even that of her fifter with difficulty fpared, rendered of courfe 
 the perfecuting fide more defperate, and the other more exaf- 
 perated. It is hard to imagine that queen Elizabeth liad 
 been able to cultivate many perfonal attachments to herfelf, 
 before fhe came to the crown ; except that of fir William; 
 Cecil, afterwards lord Burleigh, and perhaps one or two> 
 more. Her imprifonment for a time, and the great conftrainr 
 under which flie lived, during her fifter's whole reign, gave 
 her little opportunity for it; and the jealous eye, with which. 
 Gardiner and other ecclefiaftical zealots obferved her con- 
 dud, made it dangerous to attempt it. 
 
 In general, the proteftants defired her fucceffion ; and the 
 papifts feared it. But the former were under opprcffion, and 
 even a kind of profcription. The latter had the whole autho- 
 rity of the church and the fl:ate in their hands, in this king- 
 dom ; and that of Ireland, bigotted to popery and prone to 
 
 rebellion, was at their devotion. The proteftants themfelves 
 
 were divided, and thofe who meant equally a reformation, 
 fell into the utmoft afperity againfl: each other, concerning the: 
 manner of making it, and the point to which it ought to be 
 carried, on account of religion as well as of policy. 
 
 In this divided flate, and intl;e ferment which fuch diviiions 
 muft ncceffiarily caule, queen Elizabeth found the people, 
 whom fhe came to govern. Surely, a more nice and peri- 
 lous.
 
 392 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 lous ftate can hardly be imagined ; efpecially for her, who was 
 led by inclination and determined by particular circumftances 
 of intereft to eftablilh the reformation ; that is, to declare for 
 the weakeft, tho not the leaf!: numerous party. 
 
 It is obferved, I think by Nathaniel Bacon in his hifio- 
 rical and political difcourfes, that the methods taken by Henry 
 the feventh to accumulate treafure, made a rich king indeed, 
 but did not inrich the crown. His fon had feveral opportuni- 
 ties of doing both; inftead of which he impoverifhed himfelf, 
 the crown, and the people, by all the methods which the 
 nioft wanton profufion could invent. He exhaufted the wealth 
 of the nation. He did more. He debafed the coin, by ming- 
 lino- it with copper, and loaded the public with debts. Thefe 
 a^ain were conliderably increafed in the reign of Edward 
 the iixth. Qiieen Mary was fo far from diminiOiing them, 
 that one of the principal complaints againft her adminiftra- 
 tion, next to the cruelty flie exercifed, was the great didipa- 
 tion of the revenue, occafioned by her reftitutions to the church, 
 and by her new foundations of monafteries. — In this low, in- 
 cumbered ftate queen Elizabeth found the revenues of the 
 crown, and the wealth of the nation. 
 
 Her iituation abroad was ftill worfe than her Situation at 
 home. Calais, and the other Englifh polTeffions in Picardy, 
 had been loft in a quarrel, where the interefl of England had 
 no concern. For the fake of Spain, we had war with France. 
 The war with Scotland flill continued ; and queen Elizabeth 
 had no one ally, on whofe ailiftance fhe could depend. 
 
 Such diftrefied Situations are rare ; and when they have 
 happened, they have been oiten rendered lefs difficult in rea- 
 lity, than in. appearance, by fome particular circumdances 
 
 4 which
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 393 
 
 which have attended them. But when Elizabeth began her 
 reign, no fuch circumftances exifted in her favor. On the 
 contrary, ahiioft every circumflancc aggravated her diftrefs. 
 The thrones of France and Spain were Idled neitlicr by old 
 men, worn out with age and cares ; nor by weak men, un- 
 equal to their rank and bufincfs ; nor by children, under the 
 tuition of regents. Henry the feeond reigned in France; 
 Philip the feeond in Spain ; princes, in the vigor of their age; 
 of great ambition ; of great talents ; and feconded by the ableft 
 minifters and generals in Europe. The French monarchy had 
 been growing up from the time of Lewis the eleventh, to- 
 wards that fulncfs of power and affluence of wealth, at which 
 the Spanifli monarchy was already arrived. Both thefe princes 
 were, by bigotry and by policy, attached to the court of 
 Rome ; implacable enemies to the reformation; and fuch by 
 confequencc to queen Elizabeth. Henry the feeond had a 
 firther reafon for being fo. He grafped, in his ambitious 
 views, the crown of England, as well as that of Scotland; and 
 looked on queen Elizabeth as the ufurper of a right, belong- 
 ing to his daughter in law. Philip, indeed, kept fome faint 
 and affedtd meafures with Elizabeth, as long as he appre- 
 hended the union of fo many crowns in the houfe of Valois : 
 but this apprehenfion was foon at an end ; and even his fliews 
 of friendfhip with it. Henry the feeond, and his eldeft fon, 
 Francis the feeond, died in about two years. The deaths ot 
 thefe princes did^ perhaps, diminifli the difficulties and dan- 
 gers to which queen Elizabeth flood expofed on one hand ;, 
 but then they increafed thefe difliculties and dangers on the 
 other; fince they took off all rcflraint from Philip in purfi.'it 
 of his enterprizes againft her. His life lafled almofl: as long 
 as hers, and his inveterate enmity as long as his life. 
 
 Vol. I. E e e Ano-
 
 394 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 Another fource, from which difficulties and dangers were 
 inceffantly ariling to queen Elizabeth, lay in the cbjedlions 
 which the papifts made to her title, on a principle of religion ; 
 and which were but too really, tho indirediy, abetted by fome 
 proterlants, on a principle of faction. ---Whilft difputes about 
 the fuccellion to the crown were confined to England, and 
 turned on maxims of our own growth, if I may ufe that expref- 
 lion, we have feen how little regard was paid to the titles, 
 and to the pretended divine, indefeafable right of princes. 
 But when foreign nations came to be interefted in the fuccef- 
 iion of our crown, they reafoned and they proceeded on other 
 notions ; not on thofe which both cuftom and law had efta- 
 blifhed here. 
 
 The attacks of this kind, made on queen Elizabeth, were 
 the more grievous to her, becaufe they not only united the 
 Roman-catholic powers againfl: her ; but they made the divi- 
 sions wider and more irreconcileable at home, where fhe 
 placed the chief flrength and fecurity of her government. 
 
 Mary queen of Scotland, was a pretender, neither abjured 
 in England, nor difavowed and unfupported in other coun- 
 tries. Sovereign of one part of the ifland, fhe had a power- 
 ful party in the other ; wife of the dauphin, and after that 
 queen of France; encouraged and aflifted by her uncles, who 
 poffeiled more then regal power in that kingdom ; by Spain, 
 and by the whole popifh intereft ; fhe was juftly formidable to 
 
 queen Elizabeth, as long as fhe lived. Another circuni- 
 
 jflance made her fo ftill more. The fuccefs of the reformation 
 feemed to increafe the zeal of thofe who continued in the 
 communion of the church of Rome. The influence of the 
 court of Rome became conlequently ftronger at this point of 
 
 I time.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 395 
 
 time. It appeared both in France and in England too as 
 powerful, tho not as luccefjful, here at Icaft, ai it had ap- 
 peared in the eleventh century, in the d^ys of the brave, buc 
 unfortunate emperor, Henry the fourth, and of that infolent 
 
 fri?.r, Giu-GORY the feeenth. Even this circumdancc may 
 
 juftly feem to have been inforeed by another ; by the cftabliHi- 
 ment of the order of jcfuits. This order, the offs-pring of a 
 mad Spaniard, has had the principal honor, tho other relicri- 
 ous orders have endeavored to fliare it, of giving to the po'-'C 
 an authority like that which was exercifed by the king of the 
 affaflins, or the old man of the mountain, as he is called by 
 fome of the French hiftorians ; an authority, which proved 
 f-Jtal to Henry the third, and Henry the fourth of France • 
 and v/hich had like to have proved fo to queen Elizabeth,, 
 and even to her (ucceflbr. 
 
 Such were tlie difficulties and dangers which encompaffed 
 this princcfs. The fituation of England, in her time, rcfem- 
 bled that of a town powerfully befieged without, and expofcd 
 to treachery and fedition within. That a town, in fuch cir- 
 eumftances, fhould defend itfelf, and even force the enemy, 
 by it's own fcrength, to raife the fiege, hardly falls within the 
 bounds of probability. But that all this fliould happen, and 
 the inhabitants feel none of the inconveniencies of a lonor -ind 
 obftinate fiege, nay, that they fhould grow opulent durino- 
 the continuance of it, and find themfelves at lafl: better able 
 to offend the enemy than they were at firft to defend their 
 walls, feems an adventure of fome extravagant romance. But 
 it conveys a true image of this reign,— Unallicd and alone, 
 queen Elizabeth maintained a glorious and ii:ccef..ful war 
 againft the greateft power and the richefl: potentate in Europe. 
 She diffrefTed him in the Weft-Indies. She infulted him in 
 Spain. She took from him the empire of the f^a. She fix d 
 
 E e c 2 it
 
 396 REMARKSONTHE 
 
 it in herfelE She rendered all the projeds of univerfal mo- 
 narchy vain ; and {hook to the foundations the mofi: exorbi- 
 tant power which ever diftiirbcd the peace, or threatened the 
 liberties of Europe. She lupported the opprefled people of 
 the Netherlands, againft the tyranny of their prince. She fup- 
 ported the proteflant fubjects of France, againft Catherine 
 of Medicis and her fons, thofe execrable butchers of their 
 people. She fupported the kings of France, Henry the third 
 and fourth, againft the ambition of the princes of the houfe 
 of Lorraine, and the rebellious league of their popifli fubjeds. 
 She, who feemed to have every thing to fear in the beginning 
 of her reign, became in the progrefs of it terrible to her ene- 
 mies. The pretender to her crown loft her own. The Eng- 
 iifh, who appeared at lirft fo favorable to the queen of Scot- 
 land, became at laft as defirous to facrifice the life of that 
 unfortunate princefs to the fecurity of queen Elizabeth. 
 Whilft war, confuiion, and the miferies which attend them, 
 raged in the dominions of thofe who bent their aim at the di- 
 fturbance of her government; fhe preferved her fubje(fls in 
 peace and in plenty. Whilft the glory of the nation was car- 
 ried high by atchievements in war ; the riches and the ftrength 
 of it were raifed by the arts of peace to fuch a degree, as for- 
 mer acres had never feen, and as we of this age feel in the con- 
 fequences.— Well therefore might my lord Bacon, fpeaking 
 of queen Elizabeth, fay, * " as for her government, I affure 
 *' myfelf I fhall not exceed, if I do affirm that this part of 
 " the ifland never had forty-five years of better times ; and 
 " yet not through the calmnefs of the feafon, but through the 
 ■*' wifdom of her regiment." 
 
 Having made thefe remarks on the difficulties and on the 
 fuccefs which attended queen Elizabeth ; it is time to con- 
 
 * Advancement of learning, lib. i. 
 
 fider
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 397 
 
 iidcr the caufe, vvliich produced the ftiipendous effcdls of her 
 reign. Now tliis caufe is, I think, very plain. She was wife 
 enough to fee clearly into the nature of that government, at 
 the head of which Hie was placed ; and to know that * " the 
 *' fupremc head of fuch a government owes a fupreme fervice to 
 *' the whole." She was wife enough to know that to be power- 
 ful, fhe mufl: either ufurp on her people, deceive them, or 
 gain them. The two firft, flie faw, were hard, dangerous 
 and dishonorable. The laft, fhe faw, was eafy, fafe and glo- 
 rious. Her head and her heart concurred to determine her 
 choice. She made herfelf very foon the moft popular perfon 
 in the kingdom. In her reign, the fenfe of the court, the 
 fenfe of the parliament and the fenfe of the people were the 
 fame ; and whenever fhe exerted her own ftrength, fhe exert- 
 ed the whole ftrength of the nation. Nothino; fhe afked was 
 ever refufed by parliament j becaufe fhe afked nothing which 
 would have been refufed by the people. She threw herfelf fo 
 intirely on the aiTedions of her fubjeils, that flie feemed to 
 decline all other tenure of the crown. At leafl, fhe was not 
 very folicitous about clearing her title to it by defcent. An 
 adl, declaring her right according to the order of fuccefhon 
 fettled in parliament thirty-five Henrv the eighth contented 
 her ; and flie negledVed the precaution, which her fidcr had 
 taken, in getting the ad, which excluded them both from 
 the crown, repealed, as far as it related to herfelf The par- 
 ticular reafons of her condud, in this cafe, might perhaps be 
 guefTed at with more probability than they have been ; but 
 certainly one general reafon outvv'cighed them all in the mind 
 of this heroical princefs. She knew that however the lubtkty 
 of lawyers and political cafuifts might influence opinions, no- 
 thing but her own condudl could give her the hearts of her 
 
 * See Nath. Bacon's hift. and pol. Jiilourr:. 
 
 people.
 
 39^ R E M A R K S O N THE 
 
 people. Thefe (lie deemed her great feciirity. Thefe flie ac-* 
 quired ; and the litrle glofTes, which might have been put on 
 her title, flie defpifed. The being not only tied, but knit to 
 her people was her aim ; and (lie purfued this great point of 
 view on all occafions ; the leaft, as well as the greateft ; and 
 even on thofe, where {he thought it necelTary to refule or to 
 reprimand. Nature, as well as art, fitted her for this condudt. 
 She had dignity without pride. She was affable, without 
 finking into low familiarity ; and when fhe courted her people, 
 fhe courted them like a queen. This popularity was fome- 
 times carried fo far, both in her manners, and in her exprefii- 
 ons, that her enemies have endeavored to make it pafs for 
 grofs and fulf^me affedation , and for fuch, indeed, it ought 
 to have pafi^ed if it had gone alone. It might have fhocked, 
 inftead of alluring, if it had not been feconded by every adion 
 of her life, and contradided by none.— Let us now confider 
 therefore, in fome inftances, what that condud: was, which 
 convinced her people lb intirely of her goodnefs and her wif- 
 dom ; and which procured her fuch large returns of gratitude, 
 of duty, of affedtion and zeal. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 399 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 AF I R S T and eflcntial condition, towards obtaining the 
 love and confidence of a free people, is to be neither 
 feared nor defpifed by them. Queen Elizabeth was, at no 
 time, in any danger of the latter ; and fhc foon put hcrfelf 
 above all the fufpicions, which might have expofed her to the 
 former. The only difference between her and her parliament, 
 which carried any pafiion or iinkindnefs with it, happened in 
 the ninth year of her reign. It was founded on the appre- 
 henfions of the dangers which would arife after her death, if 
 the fucceflion was not fixed during her life. But we do not 
 find the leaft infinuation of any jealoufy of her government ; 
 tho the heat of both houfes, at that moment, was too great 
 to hav^e concealed any uneafinefs, which had lain at their 
 hearts. That fhe was fond enough of her prerogative is cer- 
 tain ; but then fhe took care that it fhould never be grievous ; 
 or that if it was fo, on fome occafions, to particular perfons, 
 it fhould appear, by the occafions themfelves, and by the 
 manner of exercifing it, fpecious to the public. The prero- 
 gative certainly run high in thofe days. Fler grandfather had 
 raifed it by cunning, and her father by violence. The power 
 of the privy council in civil affairs, and the cenforian power 
 of the ftar-chamber in criminal affairs, as my lord Bacon 
 very properly fliles it, took too much of the pleas of the 
 crown and of the common pleas out of their proper channels, 
 and * " fcrved rather to fcare men from doing wrong, than to 
 *' do any man right." But the exercife of thelc powers 
 
 Bag. hid. and pol. difc. 
 
 having
 
 4CO R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 having continued in four preceding reigns, the people were 
 accuftomed to it ; and care being taken to give no flagrant 
 occafion of clamor againft it, we are not to wonder if it was 
 borne, without oppofition or murmur, in a reign as popular as 
 this. 
 
 The high- com miflion court, that we may quote another 
 inftance, had no doubt very extraordinary powers. The bi- 
 fhops, who held the principal fway in it, exercifed by thefe 
 means two very great authorities at the fame time ; one, as 
 ordinaries in their diocefes ; the other, as judges in this court ; 
 fo that they might fine and imprifon, as well as excommuni- 
 cate and deprive. Now, it is not very probable, that the par- 
 liament, who thought the firfl: of thefe powers too much, as 
 may be feen by the attempts made againft it, in the twenty- 
 eighth year of this reign, were very well plcafed to fee the fe- 
 cond in the fame hands. However, the fteadinefs of the queen, 
 in maintaining this part of the prerogative, which had been 
 giv'Cn her, was the lefs unpopular, on account of the unfettled 
 ftate of religion at this time ; of the great moderation of the 
 bifhops in thefe early days of the reformation ; and of the 
 prudent manner, in which the jurifdi(flion of the,high-com- 
 mi/iion court was executed. 
 
 The cffeds of a bare-faced prerogative are not the moft 
 dangerous to liberty, for this reafon ; becaufe they are open ; 
 becaufe th.e alarm they give is commonly greater than the 
 progrefs they make ; and whilft a particular man or two are 
 
 crufhcd by them, a whole nation is put on its guard. The 
 
 moft dangerous attacks on liberty are thofe which furprize, or 
 undermine ; which are owing to powers, given under pre- 
 tence ot fome urgent neceflity; to powers, popular and rea- 
 fonable, perhaps, at firft ; but fuch as ought not to become 
 
 fettled
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 401 
 
 fettled and confirmed by a long exercife ; and yet are render- 
 ed perpetual by art and management ; and, in a great degree, 
 by the nature of thefe powers themfelves. Examples of this 
 kind, might be produced from the Spanifli and other hiflo- 
 ries. But queen Elizabeth was far from fctting any fuch 
 examples. She fhewed her moderation, in defiring no fufpi- 
 cious powers, as well as in the exercife of her prerogative ; 
 and this moderation was the more remarkable, becaufe no 
 prince ever had the pretence of necefllty to urge on Wronger 
 appearances. Her whole reign may be almoll: called a ftate 
 of defenfive and ofFenfive war, in England, as well as in Ire- 
 land ; in the Indies, as well as in Europe. She ventured to 
 go through this ftate, if it was a venture, without the help of 
 a ftanding army. The people of England had feen none, 
 from the days of Richard the fecond; and this cautious queen 
 might perhaps imagine, that the example of his reign and 
 thofe of other countries, where ftanding armies were efta- 
 bllfhed, would beget jealoufies in the minds of her people, 
 and diminifh that affedion, which fhe efteemed and found to 
 be the greateft fecurity of her perfon, and the greatcfl: ftrength 
 of her government. Whenever flie wanted troops, her fub- 
 jecfls flocked to her ftandard ; and her reign affords moft il- 
 luftrious proofs, that all the ends of fecurity, and of glory too, 
 may be anfwercd in this ifland, without the charge and dan- 
 ger of the expedient jufl: mentioned. 
 
 This aflertion will not be contradi(5led by thofe, who re- 
 colled in how many places, and on how many occalions, her 
 forces fought and conquered the beft difciplined veteran troops 
 in Europe. Other examples might be brought to f]iew how 
 careful queen Elizabeth was to avoid every thing which 
 might give the leaf! umbrage to her people. But we have faid 
 enough on this head. Let us proceed to another. 
 
 Vol. I. F f f The
 
 402 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 The condud £he held, with refpedl to parties, deferves to 
 be remarked ; becaufe the moderation, the wifdom, and the 
 equity, which flie fhewed in it, contributed very much to cool 
 the ferment in the beginning of her reign ; by which ihe had 
 time to captivate the good will of her people ; to fettle her 
 government ; to eftablifh her authority ; and even to change 
 the national religion, with little contradidion, and without 
 any difturbance. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the indignities fhe had fuffered,and 
 all the dangers fhe had run, before her acceflion, feveral per- 
 fons were reftored, and not a man was attainted in her firft 
 parliament The fteps I have mentioned being once made, 
 fhe flood on firmer ground, and had lefs to fear from the fpi- 
 rit of fadion. This clemency once fhewn, {he could, more 
 fafely and with greater reafon, exercife feverity, when the pre- 
 fervation ot the public peace made it necelTary. 
 
 The peace of the kingdom was the ftandard, to which flie 
 proportioned her condudh She was far from cafting herfell 
 with precipitation and violence even into that party which 
 (he favored, and on which alone fhe refolved to depend. She 
 was far from inflaming their fpirits againft the adverfe party ; 
 and farther ftill from pufhing any fort of men, puritans, and 
 even papifts, intodefpair; or provoking them to deferve pu- 
 nifhment, that fhe might have a pretence to inflid it. She 
 purfued her own fcheme fteadily ; but fhe purfued it gradual- 
 ly ; and accompanied it with all the artful circumftances which 
 could foften the minds of men, and induce thofe, who were 
 the moft averfe to her meafures, to bear them, at lead pati- 
 ently. On thefe principles fhe proceeded, in the whole courfe 
 of her reign. 
 
 To
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 403 
 
 To the papifts fhe ufed great lenity ; till the bull of Pius 
 Quint us, and the rebelHon, and other attempts, confequent 
 upon it, obliged her to procure new laws, and execute more 
 rigor. Yet even then ihe diftinguiflied * " papifts in con- 
 " fcicnce from papifls in fadion." She made the fame dif- 
 tin^lion with regard to the puritans. " Their zeal was not 
 " condemned; only their violence was fometimes cenfured ;" 
 until they attempted to fet up their own difcipline, in oppofi- 
 tion to that which had been eflabliflied by national authority ; 
 until their motives appeared to be '' no more zeal, no more 
 " confcience, fays fecretary Walsingham, but meer fadlicn 
 " and divifion." 
 
 Thus cautious and fteady was the condu6l of queen Eliza- 
 beth towards parties ; fteady to the principle, and therefore 
 varied in the application, as the behavior of parties towards 
 her government varied ; not as fuccefs abroad, or the change 
 oi' fervants at home, might have influenctd that of a prince 
 of inferior abilities. What has been fiid relates to parties in 
 the nation ; for as to parties at court, the conduct of this 
 queen, tho diredled to the fame general end, feenis to have 
 been different. In the nation fhe chofe one party She ren- 
 dered the fyftem of that party, the fyflem of the whole. By 
 this eftabliiliment, the other parties became fo many factions; 
 and by the'^ondu(5l we have defcribed, fhe defeated and dif- 
 armed thefe factions. At court, fhe countenanced and per- 
 haps fomented the pnrtics, which different charad:eis, and dif- 
 ferent intercfts created. But however that was, (he found 
 means to attach them all to herfelf ; and fhe found tiiis bene- 
 fit by keeping her ear open to them all, that the truth could 
 not be concealed from her by the moft powerful cjf her mini- 
 
 * Wai.singham's letter. 
 
 F f f 2 flers J
 
 .1(74 R ^ M ARKS 0;sr THE 
 
 ilcrs • as we have explained in a former letter, upon this fub- 
 jeft. On her accefTion to the throne, £he retained thirteen of 
 her {ifter's counfellors, and ballanced them by no more than 
 eight ot her own religion. " On thofe, as well as on all others, 
 ^' which Ihe afterwards admitted into the rniniflry, fiys Camh- 
 '* DEv, Ilie bcftowed her favors with fo much caution, and fo 
 " little diftindion, as to prevent either party from gaining the 
 " afcendent over her ; whereby fhe remained miftrels of her- 
 " felf, and preferved both their affedions and her own power 
 " and authority intire." 
 
 The favors, by which flie diftinguiflied the earls of Lei- 
 cester and Essex, are not exceptions, in the courfe of fo 
 long a reign, fufficient to deftroy the truth of this general 
 obfervation. Befides, both thefe lords felt the weight of her 
 diipleafure, nay one of them, the rigor of her juftice, when 
 they prelumcd too much on her favor, and fwerved from their 
 duty. The iiiiguLir confidence which fhe placed in Cecil 
 and fome others of her minifters, cannot be quoted in oppo- 
 firion to it ; for il fhe diftinguifhed them, it was rather by the 
 labors, than the favors fhe heaped on them. She fupported 
 them indeed againfi: their enemies ; but then the merit of thefe 
 men was far from being problematical. Their works teftiiied 
 daily for them, in bold and well concerted enterprizes; in wife, 
 and well-condu6tcd negotiations. The people reaped the be- 
 nefit of their fervices, as well as the prince. They were juf- 
 tihed in the nation, as well as fupported at court. In fhort, 
 by this difcernment of fpirits, by this fkilful management of 
 parties, without the help of military force, unlefs in adual re- 
 bellions, queen Elizabeth preferved her people in tranquility; 
 tho there palled not an hour in her whole reign, without fome 
 intrigue againll her life, and the public peace. 
 
 This
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 405 
 
 This moderation, in afliimlng and cxerciiing power, might 
 have been illuftrated more, and evinced againft all the little 
 cavils made, and to be made, if we had not avoided too great 
 prolixity. But it is time to haftcn to the confideration of (ome 
 other parts of her condudl:. 
 
 QuF.EN Elizabeth was accufed of avarice by her enemies ; 
 and perhaps fhe was fo by fome of her friends. Among that 
 hungry crew, which attends all courts for the loaves and the 
 fifhes, fhe could not efcape this charge. But furely, the na- 
 tion had reafoii to applaud her frugality. Her grandfather 
 hoarded up riches. Her father diffipated them. The confe- 
 quence under both thefe princes was, that every flight occa- 
 iion became a fufficient pretence to afk for fubfidies; nav, they 
 were afked and granted too, when even the flightcft occafion 
 did not exifl. They were afked by Henry the feventh for 
 wars which he never intended to make ; and by Henry 
 the eighth for refifting invafions which were never deligncd 
 againfi him. Thus was the nation equally oppreflcd by the 
 avarice of one, and by the profufion of the other. 
 
 Blt queen Elizabeth neither hoarded up, nor lavifhed 
 avv'ay ; and it is juftly to be queftioned whether any example 
 of a prudent oeconomy in private life, can be produced equal 
 to that which ihe praclifcd in the whole management of her 
 affairs. The f-unous Burleigh ufed to fay, that " he never 
 <• cared to fee the treafury fwell like a difordered fplcen, when 
 " the other parts of the common- wealth were in a confump- 
 <' ticn ;" and his miftrefs thought that '< money, in the pockets 
 " of her fubjeds, was better placed than in her own exche- 
 <' quer." Surely, thefe maxims were wife, as well as popu- 
 lar. If a prince amafles wealth, to hoard it up, like Hknkv 
 the feventh, it is ufelefs to himfelf, and lofl; to the public. If 
 
 he
 
 4o6 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 he fquanders it away, like Henry the eighth, he will enrich 
 particular men, and impoverifli the ftate. But whilft thefe 
 treafures remain in the purfe of the fubje6t, they circulate in 
 commerce ; they increafe the common ftock ; and they in- 
 creafe by confequence the riches of a prince like queen Eliza- 
 beth ; for to fuch a prince this purfe will be always open. 
 
 As immenfe as the expences were, which fhe found herfelf 
 obliged to make from the moment fhe afcended the throne, 
 fhe received nothing in taxes from her people till the fixth year 
 of her reign. The taxes then given, were given by way oi 
 retribution ; which was generally the method in her time. In 
 former reigns, the people granted aids, not without a general 
 communication at leafl: of the ufes, to which they were to be 
 applied ; but often without, a fufficient afTurance that they 
 fhould be fo applied. In this reign that method of proceed- 
 ing was inverted. 
 
 The prince in the world who dcfervcd to be trufted mofi:, 
 deiired to be fo the leafl. The aids which fhe had from her 
 people, were not fo properly grants, as reimburfements of 
 
 money, advanced for national fervices. And what fervices ? 
 
 For eftablifliing the protefrant religion ; for defending Eng- 
 land ; for refcuing Scotland ; for carrying on a fuccefsful war 
 againfl: an opulent and potent enemy ; for afTifling the fubjeds 
 and even the kings of France; for fupporting the people of 
 the Netherlands ; for refining the debafed coin ; for paying all 
 the debts, and refloring the credit of the crown ; for provid- 
 ing ammunition at home, which before this time we had been 
 always obliged to purchafe abroad ; for improving both home 
 and foreign trade ; for rebuilding and augmenting tl^e navy j 
 and for doing a^l this, without any burthenfome impofition on 
 the people ; as the parliament more than once acknowledged. 
 
 It
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 407 
 
 It was To much a maxim of queen Elizabeth, to fave for the 
 pubhc, not for hcrfclf ^ and to mcafure her riches by the riches 
 of the nation, not by the treafures (he had in her coffers j that 
 file rchifcd fupplies oflxTcd, and remitted payments of fuppHes 
 granted, when ilie found that flie was able to carry on the 
 pubhc fervice without them. The two great principles of that 
 oeconotijy, which enabled her to do fo much for her people, 
 and to opprefs them fo little, feem to have been thefe. Firfl:, 
 file made the mo(^ of her revenues ; not by tormenting, and 
 racking her fubjedis, like Henry the feventh, but by keeping 
 a flri6t hand over her officers, and hindering them from en- 
 riching themfelves, either by direft fraud, or by a clindeftine 
 management, which may be juflly termed indired: fraud, and 
 
 is often more pernicious than the other. Secondly, (he pra- 
 
 ctiftd that fuperior oeconomy, of which we have fpoken in a 
 former paper, with the utniofl ability. What could be done 
 by wifdom, or courage, fhe never atte/iipted by money ; nor 
 expeded that her fubjec^s fliould buy her out of difficulties. 
 Strong at home, fhe affeded little to lean on foreign help. As 
 her alliance was often courted, and fhe feldom courted that of 
 others, it was in her power, and fhe took the advantage, to 
 engage in no expencc, but fuch as the intereft of her king- 
 dom rendered immediately necefTary. To this intereft alone 
 Hie proportioned her expence. This was the fo'e rule of her 
 conduct. The Hugenots, whom flie a f lifted in their fn({ war, 
 made their peace without her, and afTifted to retake from her 
 the places fhe had bargained for with them ; yet flie helped 
 them, in the wars which followed, with her troops, her fhips, 
 and her money. The Dutch had given h.er no caufe to com- 
 plain of their behavior. Yet when France abandoned them at 
 the treaty of Vervins, and they had no fupport but hers re- 
 maining, fhe made a new bargain with them, and leflcned 
 
 her
 
 4o8 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 her own charge ; becaufe (he knew they were able, at that 
 time, to fupply the deficiency. 
 
 In all thefe expence?, jfhe was careful neither to flarve nor 
 overfeed the caufe, while it lafted ; and fhe frequently ftipula- 
 ted a repayment ; which /he might exaft afterwards, if Die 
 found reafon fo to do ; or which fhe might remit, and there- 
 by create a fecond obligation to her, if fhe found her account 
 in fuch an inftance of generofity. Queen Elizabeth was not 
 only thus frugal for her people, but perpetually attentive to the 
 methods of enriching them. In the very firft parliament 
 which fhe held, amid ft the moft important affairs ; fuch as 
 the fettlement of the crown on her own head ; the change of 
 religion, and the eftablifhment of the church, regulations for 
 the improvement of trade, and increafe of fhipping were not 
 forgot. 
 
 We might purfue the fame obfervation through the whole 
 courfe of her reign, both in parliament, and out of it ; and 
 fhew, in numberlefs inftances, how ihe rofe to the higheft, and 
 defcended even to the loweft circumftances, which in any de- 
 gree affeded the trade and navigation of her fubje61s. We 
 might fliew the advantages fhe took, in thefe refpeds, not only 
 of the faults committed by other governments, but of the mis- 
 fortunes of other countries. In a word, we might {hew how 
 war itfelf, one of the grcateft public calamities, inftead ofim- 
 poverifhing, became a fource of riches to this nation, by the 
 manner in which fhe made it. 
 
 But thefe particulars would carry us beyond the bounds we 
 have prefcribed to ourfelves. In general, it will not be de- 
 nied that, befide the fpirit of induftry, which exercifed itfelf 
 
 at
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 409 
 
 at home, queen Elizabeth raifcd and puflied to the higheft 
 degree, by the protection and encouragement flie gave, a fpi- 
 rit of difcovering new countries ; making new fettlements ; 
 and opening new veins of trade. The force of this hrft im- 
 preflionhaslaftcd longamongft us. Commerce has thrived under 
 ncgled:s and difcouragement. Jt has fubfifled under oppref-' 
 iions and obftrudions ; and the fpirit of it is not yet extin- 
 guiflied by that of ftockjobbing ; tho the fpirit of ftockjobbing 
 be to that of trade, what the fpirit of hidion is to that of li- 
 berty. The tendency of both is to advance the interefi: of a 
 few v/orllilefs individuals, at the expence of the whole com- 
 munity. The confequence of both, if ever they prevail to the 
 ruin of trade and liberty, muft be, that the harpies will ftarve 
 in the midft of imaginary wealth ; and that the children of 
 fadlion, like the iron race of Cadmus, will deftroy one ano- 
 ther. 
 
 Before queen Elizabeth's reign, the commerce of England 
 was confined and poor. In her reign, it extended itfelf over 
 all the known, and even into the unknown parts of the world. 
 We traded to the north, and opened our pafTage into Muf- 
 covy. We carried our merchandife up the Duina, down the 
 Volga, and a-crofs the Cafpian fea into Perfia. 
 
 Our merchants vifited the coafls of Africa ; all the coun- 
 tries of the Grand Seignior ; and following the tracks of the 
 Venetians into the Eaft- Indies, they foon followed the Portu- 
 guefe thither by the cape of Good Hope. They went thither 
 through the South Sea, and failed round the world. In the 
 Weft-Indies, they not only traded, but eftablifhed themfelves, 
 in fpight of all the power of Spain. 
 
 Vol. I. G g g Be-
 
 410 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Before queen Elizabeth's reign, the fleet of England was 
 ib inconliderable, that even in the days of her father, if I 
 niiftake not, we were forced to borrow, or hire fhips of Ham- 
 burgh, Lubcc, Dantzick, and other places. 
 
 In her reign, it foon grew to fuch a number and flrength, 
 that it became terrible to the greatefl: maritime powers of 
 Europe. 
 
 On fuch foundations were the riches and power of this 
 kingdom laid by queen Elizabeth ; and thefe were fome of 
 the means £he employed to gain the affediions of her fubjedSa 
 Can we be furprifed if fhe fucceeded ? 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 411 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 iU E E N Elizabeth fucceedcd in gaining the affcdions 
 ^^ of her fubjcdls, not only by the conduct which fhe held 
 at home, but by that which flie held in the management of 
 the national intereft abroad. 
 
 We have endeavored to explain fome particulars of the for- 
 mer. It remains that we give the leaft imperfedl ideas we are 
 able of the latter, and that we apply the whole great example 
 of this reign, to confirm the doctrines we have advanced. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth could not have eftablifhed and preferved, 
 as flie did, the tranquillity of her people in the midfi: of di- 
 flurbance, nor their fecurity in the midft of danger, if flie had 
 not taken fome fhare in the general affairs of Europe. She 
 took therefore fuch a fhare as the interefl of England neccfla- 
 rily required at that time ; and fhe conduced herfelf in the 
 management of it with wifdom and addrefs fuperior to any of 
 her predecefTors. 
 
 Her fifter had been rendered by bigotry an egregious bubble 
 to the court of Rome. Perfuaded by her hufband, and de- 
 ceived by her miniflers, fhe was fo likevvife very fatally in the 
 quarrel, which broke out between France and Spain. The 
 parliament, in afTcnting to her mariiage with a foreign prince, 
 had impofed fuch conditions, as were judged fufficicnt to pre- 
 ferve the conftitution of the government, and the indepen- 
 dency of the kingdom. 
 
 G g g 2 Philip
 
 412 R K M A R K S ON T H E 
 
 Philip had fworn to the obfervation of thefe conditions.' 
 Such of them, as he had not either time, or opportunity, or 
 temptation to break, were obferved ; but the others proved 
 too weak to hold him. Thus, for inftance, we do not find thiat 
 he enriched hinifelf at the expence of England. He is faid, 
 on the contrary, to have brought hither very great treafures ; 
 and his father had trufted the diflfibution of an immenfe fum 
 to Gardiner: fo ihat if he bribed the nation, it was with his 
 own money, not theirs ; but he engaged the nation in a war 
 with France, becaufe France broke with Spain ; notwithftand- 
 ing the exprefs condition made by parliament, * '' that the 
 *' match fliou'd not at all derogate from the league lately con- 
 " eluded betwixt the queen of England and the king of 
 *' France, but the peace fhould remain inviolate between the 
 *' Englifh and the French." 
 
 This facrifice of the national to a foreign interefl: coft us 
 Calais ; a conqucft, which the French looked upon as a com- 
 penfation for near two hundred other places, which they were 
 obliged by the treaty of Cambray, to giv^e up to Philip. Bou- 
 logne had been facrificed in the preceding reign, not to a fo- 
 reign interefl, but to that of the minifter, Dudley earl of 
 Warwick, afterwards duke of Northumberland. The people 
 were willing and able to affert their right, and to defend their 
 pofTeflion ; but the fituation of the minifter, and the fchemes 
 of private interefl:, which he was. carrying on at home, re- 
 quired that he fhould avoid, at any rate, a war, even a defen- 
 iive war. In fhort Boulogne, for which France had engaged 
 to give two millions, was delivered up for four hundred thou- 
 fand crowns; and the very fame minifter, who had oppofed 
 with violence all the public confiderations, urged by the pro- 
 
 * Cambden. 
 
 tedor
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ^i^ 
 
 tedor for yielding this place, yielded it to purchafc a treaty 
 neccflary ior himfelf, detrimental and dilLonorable to the na- 
 tion. 
 
 We have faid enough, in a former letter, concerning the 
 wild condudl of HfeNRY the eighth in foreign aftairs ; and 
 there is no need of going any faithcr back, 'i'hefc examples 
 are fufficient to flievv the oppofition between that of queen 
 Elizabeth and that of her predeceflbrs. She was neither de- 
 ceived, like them, by her miniflers ; nor betrayed by her paf- 
 iions, to ferve any other interefl; at the expence of England. 
 
 It would be caiy to prove, from many inflances, how care- 
 ful fhe was to avoid every thing, which might even warp the 
 fteady tenor of her conduit in this refpe6l. As long as fhe 
 had no real interefl: diftincfl from that of the country fhe go- 
 verned, flie knew that no fiditious intereft could be impofed 
 on her. She kept herfelf therefore clear of any fuch real inte- 
 refl:, and thought that the crown of England deferved her fole, 
 her undivided care. 
 
 Much -has been faid of her behavior in all the treaties of 
 marriage propofed to her. We fliall not engage in that dif- 
 quiiltion. But this, we think, cannot be controverted ; that 
 if ever fhe was in earnefb refolved to marry, fhe was fo when 
 the articles of marriage between her and the duke of Anjou 
 were figned. It is hardly pofFiblc, as Rapin obferves, to ac- 
 count for her conduct on this occafion by any other princi- 
 ple. Now upon this fuppofition, what motive could deter- 
 mine her to break this match in fo abrupt a manner ? The rea- 
 fons urged by Cambden, and other writers in general, prove 
 too much. They fcrve rather to prove that (he fhould not 
 have entered into thefe engagements at all, than to accotint for 
 
 her
 
 414 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 her breaking them as flie did. But among the reafons, on 
 which Walsingham infifted, v^hen he was fent into France 
 upon this occafion, we may obferve one in particular, found- 
 ed on a lad, which happened after the figning of the articles ; 
 and which accounts for the queen's condu6t in this cafe agree- 
 ably to principles, on which flie proceeded in all others. The 
 duke of Anjou had accepted the fovereignty of the low coun- 
 tries. By this ftep, he had engaged himfelf in a war with 
 Spain ; and the queen would not, on his account, engage her 
 people in it, * " defiring nothing more than that by this mar- 
 " riage the realm might be preferved in peace and tranquil- 
 <* lity. 
 
 She might incline to marry this prince, under all the limi- 
 tations and referves contained in the articles, whilft he had no 
 dominions on the Continent ; and yet ftart backwards and re- 
 folve to break the match, as foon as fhe faw him actually pof- 
 feffed of the fovereignty of the Lov/ Countries. 
 
 Nay, if we fhould fuppofe, againft hiflorical probability, 
 that fhe never defigned to confummate her marriage, tlio flie 
 entered into articles, yet there will ftill remain no reafonable 
 way of accounting for the fudden refolution fhe took of break- 
 ing at this precife point of time ; unlefs we fuppofcf, that flie 
 thought this fcafon the flrongeft and the moft unanfwerabie 
 of all thofe which could be urged in excufe of a meafure liable 
 to feveral objtdions, and fome very inconvenient contingen- 
 cies. 
 
 There were few things, which flie had more at heart than 
 refcuing the Netherlands from the Spanifli yoke ; and there 
 
 2 
 
 • Cambden. 
 
 was
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 415 
 
 was nothing in the vvliolc extent of foreign affairs, to which 
 fhe gave greater attention. Even at t!iis time, fhe fupph'ed the 
 duke of Anjou with very conliderable funis, for the lupport of 
 his entcrprize; and about four years afterwards, fhe elpoufed 
 more openly the caufe of thefe provinces, by niaking a treaty 
 with the States, and by fending an army to their afFiflance. 
 But as fhe would not marry a prince who was their fovereign, 
 fo fhe would not accept this fovereigntv, when it was offered 
 diredly to her. She periifled in avoiding an engagement, 
 which might in it's confequence carry her farther than the in- 
 tereff of England required ; or oblige her to make greater ef- 
 forts than were confillent with that eafy and floriihing ffate, 
 in. which (he refolved to preferve her own people. 
 
 Much more might be faid ; but this may fufEce to fhewr 
 what the firft and fundamental principle was, by which queen 
 Elizabeth o-overned herfelf in all foreign affairs. She con- 
 lidered the intcreft of no kingdom, no ilate, nor people, no 
 not even the general intereft of the reformation, as zealous a 
 proteffant as fhe was, nor the prefervation of a ballance of 
 power in Europe, as great an heroine as (he was, in any other 
 light than relatively to the intereft of England. She airifted, 
 or oppofed, fhe defended, or attacked, juff as this intereff di- 
 reAed ; and the degree, to which it was concerned, was the 
 exa6t and conflant meafure to which flie proportioned her good, 
 and her ill offices, her friend/hip, and her enmity. She uas 
 diverted from this principle of conduft neilhcr by weaknefs,, 
 nor ftrength of mind ; neither by fear, nor hope ; neither by 
 puiillaniniity, nor courage ; neither by moderation, nor am- 
 bition. 
 
 We may conclude this head, by venturing to aflirm that, 
 in the whole courfe of her reign, there was not a penny of 
 
 Englifbi
 
 4i6 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Englifli money fpent, nor a drop of Englifli blood fpilt, ex- 
 cept where it was necefiary to keep off from this nation feme 
 real, viftble difadvantage. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth's poHcy was deep ; and the means fhe 
 employed were often very fecret ; but the ends to which this 
 policy and thefe means are dirccled, were never equivocal. 
 Let us now defcend into fome particular inftances of the wif- 
 dom and addrefs, with which fhe purfued this great principle. 
 
 These particulars may be reduced properly, we think, un- 
 der two general heads. The firft is this ; fhe watched the 
 *' ebbs and flows of the power and interefl: of Europe ; the vi- 
 *' ciiTitudes and flu6luations in the affairs of peace and war." 
 We ufe the words of a * late writer, but fhall make a very diffe- 
 rent application of them. 
 
 This uncertain, varied, fliifring fcene was fo far from being 
 the caufe of bad meafures, or the excufe for bad fuccefs, at 
 the time we are fpeaking of, that it was the very fource from 
 whence queen Elizabeth derived thofe opportunities, which 
 fhe improved fo glorioufly. A weaker council than hers might 
 have been puzzled, and weaker heads might have been turned 
 by fo confufed a ftate of affairs. Unable to fleer fleadily through 
 fo many diflicu'ties, every current would have carried fuch 
 men along with it. Every blaft of v/ind would have driven 
 them before it. Perpetually toffed about, at the mercy of 
 every event, they muft have lived from day to day, or irom 
 hour to hour. 
 
 If the kingdom had efcaped intire deflru6lion in this for- 
 lorn condition, it muft have been by miracle, and without any 
 
 * Vide obfervations on the writings of the Craftfman 
 
 o 
 
 merit
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 417 
 
 merit on the part of thofe who governed ; but this intirc dc- 
 ftruftion would much more probably have followed, after a 
 long feries of calamities ; without any other excufe on their 
 part, than that of charging the cataftrophe to the account of 
 fortune, the common fcapc-goat of unfkilful minifters. 
 
 The condu6l and tlie luccefs of queen Elizabeth and her 
 minifters were very different. She managed France, until fhe 
 had taken fuch meafures, as left her lefs to fear from Scotland ; 
 and fhe managed Spain, until flic had nothing left to fear from 
 France. 
 
 She knew what deligns Henry the fecond built on the pre- 
 tenfions of his daughter-in-law, Mary queen of Scotland ; and 
 no one, who coniiders the hiftory of this time, nay, even as he 
 finds it deduced by Rapin himfelf, will be of his mind, that 
 file expedied to " enjoy great tranquility by the peace," which 
 fhe made foon after her accellion to the throne, with France 
 and Scotland. 
 
 But the making this treaty gave her time, which was of the 
 utmoft importance to her to gain, abroad as well as at home, 
 in the beginning of her reign. The manner in which flie 
 made it, gave her reputation likewife; and fhe was wife enough 
 to know of what real advantage reputation is, and how much 
 that of a prince depends on the firfl: fteps he makes in govern- 
 ment. 
 
 She pradifed in this negotiation a rule, which ilie obfcrved 
 to the laft. How much foever Philip refented her proceed- 
 ings at home, it v/as plain he could not abandon, at that time, 
 her interefts abroad. The point of honor, drawn from the 
 conlideration that England had entered into the war for the 
 
 Vol. I. H h h fake
 
 4iS R E M ARKS ON THE 
 
 fake of Spain, did not probably weigh much with him ; but 
 the pretenfions of France gave him a juft alarm ; and the fame 
 rcafjns, which are faid to have induced him to fave her Hie, 
 when fhe was princcfs, ftood in force to make him fu|)port her, 
 now fhe was queen, againft the power oi: France. Notwith- 
 llandinCT this plaulible coniideration, queen Elizabeth refolved 
 to treat fjr herfeif, and by hcrfelf. " She was of opinion, fiys 
 " Cambden, that it would not redound to the honor of Eng- 
 *' land, or herfeif, to be reduced to the neceility ot lupporting 
 *' her interefls by a dependence on Spain." She exerted the fame 
 fpirit, and behaved herfeif with the fame dignity, on a very re- 
 markable occafion, and in a very nice conjundure, at the lat- 
 ter end o{ her reign ; at the treaty of Vervins. 
 
 She defpifed the oilers made her by Henry the fourth. She 
 refolved to continue the war, and to lupport alone the ftates oi 
 the Low Countries, rather than tofuifer the man in the world, 
 who had the greatefl obligations to her, to treat for her.— -- 
 True it is, that flie had reafon to be diflatished with his beha 
 vior ; but beiides that, the good underftanding between this 
 prince and Philip the fecond being promoted by the court 
 of Rome; it is pollible queen Elizabeth might think fuch 
 negotiators, as were devoted to that court, not quite fo proper 
 to be trul^ed with the interefls of her kingdom. 
 
 As foon as Henry the fecond was dead, and his fon Fran- 
 cis the fecond, a young and in every fenfe a weak prince, was 
 on the throne of France, fhe adled with iefs referve and cau- 
 tion. The treaty, which had been privately negotiated before 
 with the malecontents ot Scotland, was now figned ; her army 
 marched to their afHftance ; the French were driven out of 
 that k ngdom ; the reformation was folemnly and legally efta- 
 hlifhcd there ; and queen Elizabeth was the avowed defen- 
 der
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 419 
 
 der of the liberties, privileges, and religion of the ScotiOi na- 
 tion. Francis the fecond lived a very fhort time, and died 
 
 without leaving any children. The fear therefore of an union 
 of the crowns of England and Scotland with that of France, 
 terrified Philip the fecond no longer. Qiieen Elizaerth had 
 therefore the more to fear. The court of France had flill the 
 fame bigotry, and the fame hatred to her ; tho not the fime 
 pretcnlions. The court of Spain could be now no more re- 
 ftrained, by any political confidcration, from purfuing thofc de- 
 figns again ft her, even in conjundion with France, which no 
 other confideration had hitherto retarded. 
 
 The projedls formed and the engagements taken between 
 thefe powers, at the congrefs at Bayonne, were not abfolute 
 fecrets. She felt the effeds of them every day, in confpiracies 
 againfl: her government, and even her life. Too weak to de- 
 fend hcrfelf by force on fo many fides, fhe defended herfelf by 
 fcratagem ; improved every incident; and took fome advan- 
 tage of every turn. She contented herfelf to countermine the 
 intrigues of the courts of Rome, of France, and of Spain. 
 With the firfl: iTie kept no meafures, becaufe flie could have 
 no war. With the two laft fhe kept all meafures to prevent 
 one. Tho queen Elizabeth's whole reign was properly a 
 ftate of war, and there was no point of time in it, where fhe 
 was free from all attacks, private as well as public, indired; as 
 well as dire6l; yet the firll: twenty-five years of her reign may 
 be faid, in one fenfe, to have been neither a flate of war, nor 
 a ftate of peace ; becaufe both i'ldes prctendv.d to look on the 
 treaties of peace as fubfifting ; and either difivowed, or excuf- 
 ed the hoftiHtics reciprocally committed, not confrantly, but 
 occafionally committed. It flic had fallen into this ftate from 
 that of a fettled peace, difentanglcd from all pretenfions, either 
 of her own upon others, or of others upon her, there would be 
 
 H h h 2 no
 
 420 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 no occafion to admire her conduct. But that fhe iliould be 
 able, when fhe neither had, nor conld have a fettled, fecure 
 peace with her neighbors, to ftand (o long on the ilippery 
 verge of war, and avoid the necellity of engaging directly in 
 it, tiil fhe was in a condition of doing fo with fuccefs, is juft- 
 
 iy matter of the greatefl: admiration. If flie had only aimed 
 
 to keep off the evil day, it might at laft have come upon her 
 with a double weight of misfortune. If. (lie had only gained 
 time to prolong fufpence, flie might have lofl opportunities ; 
 wafted her flrength ; tired, jaded and exhaiifled her people. 
 But this was far from being the cafe. She was in this fiate by 
 good, not by bad, policy ; and fhe made the ufe fhe deiigned 
 of it. She diiappointed, divided, and weakened her enemies. 
 She prepared the opportunities which fhe afterwards improved. 
 She united, animated, and enriched her people ; and, as diffi- 
 cult as that may feem to be for a prince in fuch a ficuation, 
 fhe maintained her own dignity, and fupported the honor of 
 
 the nation. To exemplify all thefe particulars, would be to 
 
 write her hiftory ; but it is neceflliry to fiy fomething upon 
 
 them. 
 
 Of the two powers abroad, from whom alone fhe had any 
 thing to apprehend, and with whom fhe was principally con- 
 cerned, France gave her the leafl: and the Ihorteft trouble. 
 Charles the ninth came a minor to the crown. Two fa<fii- 
 ons, drunk with religious enthufiafm, and headed by men of 
 the moft defperate ambition, defolated the kingdom. The 
 queen mother blew up the flames flrfl: ; and tried in vain after- 
 wards to extinguifh them, by a deluge of blood. Qiieen Eli- 
 zabeth, who had probably encouraged the famous confpiracy 
 of Amboife, which broke cut juft before the death of Francis 
 the fecond, continued to abet and fupport the proteftant 
 party ; but ftill fubordinately to fuch meafures, as her fitua- 
 
 tion.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 42r 
 
 tion, relatively to Scotland, or Ireland, or Spain, obliged her 
 to keep with Charles the ninth. Thefe meafurcs were fomc- 
 times jfuch, and even after the mafllicre of St. Bartholomew, 
 as the zeal of the Huguenots could hardly forgive her. Bit 
 (liQ went wifely and fteadily on to her own purpofes. 
 
 *' Non ponebat cnim rumores ante fiilutem." 
 
 When Henry the third came to the crown, and the league 
 vi'as once formed, the crown of France wanted her afTiftancc, 
 and had it ; and as powerful as the princes of the houfc ot 
 Lorraine were, they could give her little open difturbance; 
 inilels they prevailed in their wicked, and almofl chimerical 
 projects in France. With thefe princes, and their faction there- 
 fore flie never kept any meafures ; as they never kept any with 
 her. As politic a prince as Philip the fecond is efteemed to 
 have been, he was amiifed by the regard which queen Eliza- 
 beth afFeded fometimes for his perfon, and always for the 
 treaties fubiifting between them ; and he loft the opportunities 
 in which he might have attacked her Vv'ith advantage. The flow 
 councils of Spain, and the flower execution of them, produced, 
 opportunities, which her fagacity and vigor improved. The 
 fupport (he gave to the Huguenots made the Spaniards afraid 
 of provoking her, by too hafty and direct attacks, to give the 
 fame fupport to the people of the I,ow Countries, She turned 
 their game againft them, and aded in the Low Countries in 
 the fame manner as they adcd in Mand, and even in Eng- 
 land ; but with better effedfc. From the year 1577 ^e began 
 to favor this revolt ; and in the year '5^5 fhe made a formal 
 treaty with the States. Such of thefe meafures as could be 
 concealed, fhe concealed. Such of them as could not be con- 
 cealed, fhe excufed, or endeavored to juftify and reconcile with 
 the treaties betv/een Spain and England. 
 
 As
 
 422 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 As the time (he gained, and the diverfions fhe gave by this 
 management, put it quite out of the power of France, and 
 made Spain lefs able to hurt her ; fo they alone put it in her 
 power to fettle her government, and to do all the great things 
 at home, of which we have fpoken in other papers *. We 
 fhall not repeat them here ; but fliall conclude this head by 
 obferving, in an example or two, how flie maintained her own 
 dignity in ether cafes, belides that of treating, which is taken 
 notice of above, and how ihe fupported the honor of the na- 
 tion, and the intereils of her fubjeds. 
 
 During the time flie was the moft careful to avoid a war 
 with Spain, and had the mofl reafon to be fo ; even in the 
 year 1568, whilft thofe revolutions, which broke out foon 
 afterwards, were preparing, fhe would not fuffer the leaft in- 
 jury to be offered to any of her fubjed:s with impunity. Some 
 vedels and effeds, belonging to an Englifli merchant, had been 
 feized by the Spaniards m tlie Weft-Indies. She did not make 
 war upon this ; but fhe foon found and feized an opportunity 
 of refenting the infult. She laid her hands on very great fums 
 of money, claimed indeed by Genoefe merchants, but fent to 
 the Low Countries, and deiigned, no doubt, ior the Spanifh 
 fervice there. The duke of Alva feized, in return, the per- 
 fons and effeds of the fubjeds of England ; and ihe imme- 
 diately made reprifals on thofe of the Flemmings. What com- 
 poiidon was made with the Genoefe does not, I think, ap- 
 pear ; but as the feizure was to the difappointment and lofs of 
 Spain, fo the compofition was probably to the advantage of 
 England ; fince, at this very time, queen Elizabeth difcharged 
 the debts contradcd by her father and brother to foreigners. 
 As to the effeds of the Netherlands, fhe returned the over- 
 
 * Vid. the firft fcven volumes of the Crafcfman, printed for R. P'rancklint. 
 
 plus
 
 ■f ) 
 
 FIISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 plus of the value, after having repaid to her own fubjccis I'lC 
 full amount ot their lofTcs. She carved for her people ; and 
 would not leave it to a difpute, what reparation they fliould 
 have ; much lefs whether they fliould have any reparation, or 
 not. 
 
 Such a condu6l as this, which flie held, even whilft flic kept 
 meafures with Spain, and avoided a war, foretold what might 
 be expelled from her, and what flie adually performed, when 
 fhe thought it no longer expedient to keep the fame meafures. 
 But this will come, with other reflexions, more properly under 
 the next general head ; to which we think that the particular 
 inftances of queen Elizabeth's wifdom and addrefs, in the 
 management of foreign affairs, may be reduced. 
 
 LET-
 
 424 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 IF queen Elizabeth confidered every former interefl: rela- 
 tively to the intereft of England, fhe conlidered likewife 
 every meafure to be taken in foreign affairs relatively to the 
 fituation of England. This we eftabhfh as the fecond gene- 
 ral head, to which the particular inftances of her wifdom and 
 addrefs, in the management of foreign affairs, may be proper- 
 ly reduced. 
 
 She confidered herfelf as queen of a country cut off from 
 the Continent, and feparated by the fea from all other coun- 
 tries, except Scotland. Her condud therefore towards Scot- 
 land was very different, in many refpedts, from that, which fhe 
 held towards every other nation.— A due obfervation of thefe 
 different principles, on which queen Elizabeth proceeded in 
 the divided ffate of our ifland, may ferve to fet, in a ftronger 
 and clearer light, that iingle principle which remains to be 
 followed in our united ftate. 
 
 The fituation of an ifland affords great advantages, when 
 
 CD O ' 
 
 they are wifely improved ; and when they are negkdied, as 
 great difadvantages may refult from this very fituation. — The 
 reign, now before us, is a glorious and unanfwerable proof that 
 the halcyon days, fo much boafied of, and fo feldom found, 
 days of profperity, as well as peace, may be enjoyed in an 
 ifland, whilff all the neighbouring continent is filled with 
 alarms, and even laid wafte by war. But our ov/n hifforics 
 will fhew us likewife, how an ifland may approach, as it were, 
 too near the continent, and be fatally drawn into that great 
 
 2 vortex.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 425 
 
 vortex. Left vvc fhoiild ramble too widely in the large field 
 which opens itfclf, let us confine our reflexions to Tome of 
 thofe different means and objects, either of defence, or offence, 
 which nature, improved hy art, prefents to people who inha- 
 bit iflands, or to people who inhabit the continent, accord- 
 ing to their dilljrent fituations. A powerful navy is ot indif- 
 penfihle necefrity to the former of thcfe. Without it, they 
 muft be poor and expofed. With it, they may be rich and 
 fecure. Barriers of fortified towns, and great ftanding armies 
 are of the fame neceffity to the latter. Witliout this fecurity, 
 they lie open to every inroad, and at the mercy of every neigh- 
 bor. With it, they may be fafe from foreign danger, and 
 even terrible to thofe who live round them. But then, as the 
 fca is a barrier of no expence, and as a m;]ritimc force carries 
 no domeftic danger along with ir, but enriches the commu- 
 nity it defends, lo a fortified barrier, and a regular army, 
 which are necefliiry to fecure a natioii fituate on the conti- 
 nent againft foreign danger, carry great domeftic inconveni- 
 encies, and even dangers too, along with them. Both of them, 
 like armor, too heavv to be borne, wafte the ftrength of thofe 
 who are covered by them ; and an army, like a fword, which 
 recoils on the blow, may wound the conftitution it was meant 
 to defend. But farther : as particular families, by uniting to- 
 gether, formed larger focieties, for their common defence, and 
 gave rife to the kingdoms, and ftatcs, which have appeared in 
 the world ; fo thefe larger focieties have, ever fince, found it 
 necefTary, or advantageous, to unite together in various man- 
 ners ; fometimes by an entire union, or an incorporation of 
 different people into one body politic ; fometimes by a par- 
 tial, or foederal union of diftin^l ftates in one common caufe; 
 and at all times by alliances, made on particular occafions, and 
 fuggeftcd by a real or fetming conformity of interefts. This 
 occafional union, by alliances with other ftates, of which alone 
 Vol. L J i i w.e
 
 426 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 we are to fpeak in this place, is fo neceffary to all the nations 
 on the continent, that even the moft powerful cannot fiibfill: 
 without it ; and thofe who manage it beft, are accounted 
 wifeft. Their feveral intercfts are the objects of their allian- 
 ces ; and as the former are fubjed: to change, the latter mud 
 vary with them. Such variations, whether occafioned by the 
 courfe of accidents, or by the paiTions of men, tho made by a 
 few, will aflfedl many ; becaule there always are, and always 
 muft be, fyftems of alliances fubfifting among thefe nations ; 
 and therefore, as a change in fome of the parts of one fyftem 
 neceflarily requires a change in all the reft ; fo the alteration 
 of one fyftem neceftarily requires an alteration of the others.' 
 
 Thus are they always toft^ed from peace to war, and from 
 war to peace. Perpetual negotiation is the life and foul of 
 their governments. Their well-being, nay their fafety at 
 home, requires that they fliould be always bufy abroad. It is 
 neceflary for them to be mediators, arbitrators, or, which is 
 infinitely worfe, guaranties ; to be contracting parties in preli- 
 minary, provifional, or explanatory treaties ; in defenfive, or 
 offenfivc alliances ; by which means they get over daily difii- 
 culties, by the multiplication of lafting incumbrances. 
 
 The interfering and clafhing of their rights and pretenfions, 
 and the various obligations, by which they ftand bound to- one 
 another, appear to be and are the immediate caufes of all thefe 
 difputes and contentions. But the principal and remote caufe 
 arifes from the proximity and other circumftances of their fitua- 
 tions. That necellity, or advantage, which gave occafion to 
 the original engagements, has maintained and multiplied them 
 fince ; and the laft would not be reafonable, if the firft had 
 not been neceffary. 
 
 H£RE
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 427 
 
 Here then arifes an eflential difference between thofc ob- 
 jecfls, which are proper to tlie policy of an iiliind, and thole 
 which are fo to the poHcy of the continent ; a difference frreat- 
 ]y to tlie advantage of the former ; the circumftanccs c-fwhofe 
 lituation not requiring fo conftant and intimate an union with 
 other itates, either for defence or offence, render unneceffiry 
 a great part of tlie engagements which prove fuch heavy and 
 lafting incumbrances on the latter. 
 
 An ifland under one government, advantageouHy fituated, 
 rich in itfelf, richer by it's commerce, can have no neceility, 
 in. the ordinary courfe of affairs, to take up the pohcy of the 
 continent ; to enter into the fyftem of alliances we have been 
 fpeaking of ; or, in ffiort, to ad any other part than that of a 
 friendly neighbor and a fair trader. If an extraordinary cri- 
 lis happens on the continent, which may endanger the iafety 
 even of thofe who are feparated from it, fuch as we fawat the 
 beginning of the prefent century, felf-prcfer\'iition will no doubt 
 determine men, as it ought, to unite by flrider alHanccs with 
 thofe powers with whom they are occafionaily united by a 
 more immediate intereft ; but even in this calb, neither will 
 felf- prefer vation require, nor good policy fuffer, that fuch a 
 people fhould enter deep into the quarrels, or involve them- 
 felves intricately, much lefs continually, in the political fchemes 
 of the continent. VVe pafs over offenfive cafes, becaufe it is 
 manifeft that the people of an ifiand can have no intereft in 
 making foreign acquifitions ; and that therefore it would be 
 abfurd in them to fpend their blood and treafure in acquiring 
 only for others ; or to attack any farther than is necefiary to 
 defend. 
 
 We confine ourfclvcs to the cafe of defence before-mention- 
 ed i and upon that we fay, a people on the continent may 
 
 I i i 2 have
 
 428 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 have reafon to engage as deeply in defence of another country^ 
 as if they defended the walls of their own towns, or the doors 
 of their own houfes ; becaufe another country may be the fole 
 barrier of their own. But this can never be leafonably done 
 by the people of an ifland, who have another, and a better 
 barrier than any the continent can form for them. Such a 
 people are to look on their engagements with other countries, 
 as on outworks caft up in hafte, which may ferve to defeat a 
 weak attack, or to delay and difappoint a ftrong one. But it 
 would be the height of folly in them, even in one of thofe 
 extraordinary conjunclures, which v/e now fuppofe, to lay the 
 whole ftrefs of their defence here ; to fpend their ftrength im- 
 properly ; and to forego thoie advantages which nature has 
 given them. 
 
 The nations on the continent mio;ht teach them another 
 lefTon. They are careful to employ every advantage of their 
 fituation ; a river; a lake; a ridge of mountains; and fliall 
 the inhabitants of an ifland negledl the iea ? Shall they do by 
 choice ail which other nations are obliged to do by neceflity ? 
 Surely not, and if at any time fuch a condud can be proved 
 necefiary to certain purpofes, we think it will refult from this 
 proof, that fuch purpofes fliould be laid afide, not that fuch 
 meafures fhould be purfued. 
 
 These refledlions, with othei-s of the fame kind, prefent- 
 themfelves naturally to thofe who confider the condu6t of queea 
 Elizabeth, and the events of her reign. We may therefore 
 conclude that they were, at leaff, fome of the principles of her 
 government. 
 
 How fhe formed, or rather how fhe proteded, and aided a 
 party, already formed in Scotland, on principles of religion 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 4.29 
 and liberty, has been obfcrved ; as well as the fuccefs of this 
 meafurej by which the troops of France were driven out of 
 that kingdom, and the influence of France on the government 
 was either removed, or guarded againft. To maintain and 
 improve this advantage, was the great affair of her life. Eng- 
 land was, with refped: to Scotland, like a kingdom on the - 
 continent, and queen Elizabeth employed, with refpedl to 
 Scotland,, all the policy of the continent. 
 
 We find her bufy on that fide in almoft every page of her 
 hiftory ; almoft always negotiating, and always intriguing. A 
 friend, an enemy, a mediatrix, an umpire, a guarantee, Ihe played. 
 every part, which might keep others from hurting Scotland,. and 
 Scotland from hurting her. Her armies were at all times- 
 ready to nurch,. and her fleets to fail thither. As flrid: an 
 oeconomy as fhe pradlifcd every where elfe, fhe was profufe 
 there ; but her profufion turned to account, and therefore de- 
 ferves another name. There may be fuch fchemes, fuch ma- 
 nagement, and fuch fuccefs, as may render even the fmalleil 
 expence, profufion ; but thofe of queen Elizabeth were fufii- 
 cient to jufiity the greateft. The fecret fervice of her reigti 
 was private in tranfa(3:ion and public in effeifl ; not equally in- 
 fcrutable in both. 
 
 About the fourteenth year of her reign, fhe had brought 
 the affairs of Scotland to fuch a pafs, that fhe feemed to have, 
 nothing to fear from that quarter. The plots, in favor of queen 
 Mary, had been difcovered ; the infurredlions defeated ; and. 
 the duke of Norfolk executed in England. In Scotland, the 
 fame party was broken. The earl of Morton, a man abfo- 
 lutely devoted to queen Elizabeth, was regent ; the caftle 
 of Edinburgh was taken ; the civil war was finifhed with com- 
 plete fuccefs ; and fhe enjoyed great tranquillity ; becaufe, ac- 
 cording
 
 430 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 cording to Rapin's obfervation, {he could now be cMily attack- 
 ed by fea ; that is, (he had now the whole advantage of an 
 iiland. 
 
 This happy ftate did not continue long without interrup- 
 tion. Morton loft, and reaffumed his power, was difgraced, 
 profecuted, and at laft beheaded. King James had taken 
 very young the government of this kingdom ; and young, as 
 well as old, was governed by his favorites. The party of his 
 mother in Scotland did not indeed rife again, fo as to give 
 queen Elizabeth any umbrage. But his general charader, and 
 his behavior on fome particular occafions, the character of his 
 favorites, and the intrigues they were known to carry on, ob- 
 liged her to reaflume, if fhe had ever laid it afide, and to pur- 
 fue her antient condu6l towards Scotland. She purfued it to 
 the end of her reign : and altho king Ja\4es, when he had 
 more experience, and was better advifed, kept Tuch meafures 
 with her, as were necefiary to fecure and to facilitate his fuccef- 
 fion ; yet this wife queen continued to give quite another at- 
 tention to the affairs of Scotland, than ibe gave to thofe of 
 any other country ; or would have given to thefe, if Scotland 
 had been divided from England by the fea. 
 
 It is impoffible to make thefe refledions, and not to rfefled:, 
 at the fame time, on that happy change which the union ot 
 the two kinsdoms has brought about. We are now one na- 
 tion under one government ; and muft therefore always have 
 one common intereft ; the fame friends, the fame foes, the fame 
 principles of fecurity, and of danger. It is by confequence now 
 in our power, to take the intire advantage of our {ituation ; an 
 advantage, which would make us ample amends for feveral 
 which we want, and which fome of our neighbors poilefs ; an 
 advantage which, confbntly attended to, and wifely improved, 
 
 would
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 431 
 
 would phice the Britifli nation in fuch circumdances of hap- 
 pinefs and glory, as* tlie grcatcrt empires could never boaft. 
 Far from being alarmed at e\'ery morion on the ccntiricnt ; 
 far from being opprelkd for the iupport of foreign fehemes j 
 we might enjoy the fecureft peace, and the moft unenvied 
 plenty. Far from courting, or purchaflng the alliances of 
 other nations, we might fee them luing for ours. Far from be- 
 ing hated or defpifed, for involving ourfelves in all the little 
 wrangles of the continent, we might be loved and ref|-)e6ted 
 by all thofe who maintain the juft ballance of Europe, and be 
 formidable to thofe alone who fheuld endeavor to break it. 
 
 Having made thefe few refledlions on that part of queen 
 Elizabeth's policy which regarded Scotland, it is necefTary 
 that we fhould fay fomething of that which regarded the na- 
 tions on the continent Now with thefe it is plain flie took 
 the fewefl: engagements fhe poflibly could, and fhuned as in- 
 duftrioufly the occafions of mingling her interefts and counfels- 
 with theirs, as fhe fought the occafions of mingling both with 
 thofe of Scotland. 
 
 We believe, upon very good grounds, that periods of four 
 or five years might be pointed out, in which this nation has 
 been a party to more treaties than were made by queen Eli- 
 zabeth in the courfe of forty-five years ; and yet we prefume 
 it will not be eafy to fhew, that this nation had more immi- 
 nent dangers to avoid and more formidable powers to refifi ; 
 or that fuch ends were attained with greater glory and fuccefs 
 at thefe, or any other periods., than in the reign of queen Eli- 
 zabeth. Let us defcend into fome particulars. 
 
 With the northern crowns fhe kept in terms of amity, 
 and good correfpondence ; and had fome negotiations with that 
 4 ofi"
 
 432 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 of Denmark, concerning the interefts of her fubjeds in trade. 
 The fame interefts drew her into negotiations with the Mufco- 
 vite, andfhe found means to condud them to her great ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 The fettlement made in Germany, a httle before the ab- 
 dication of Charles the fifth, continued. The proteftants 
 were quiet there, and defirous to remain fo. The general 
 intereft of rehgion did not call upon her to look that way ; 
 and it is evident, by the whole condud; of her reign, that fhe 
 thought the particular interefts of her kingdom very little con- 
 scerned in thofe of the empire. 
 
 ;How attentive foever fhe might be to penetrate into the 
 councils of the court ot Rome, and to trace the intrigues of 
 the Vatican from their fource ; ftie bore no part whatever in 
 the affairs of Italy. 
 
 In fhort, as all the meafures fhe took in foreign afiairs were 
 confidered relatively to the iituation of England, fhe had no- 
 thinp^ to do in the much greateft part of the bufinefs of the 
 continent ; and fhe was fo far from entring into engagements 
 by treaty, that flie was fcarce ever concerned in negotiations 
 about it. In France, Spain and the Low Countries Ihe had 
 more to do ; but even there the part fhe took was ftridly no 
 more than the fecurity and welfare of her own kingdoms re- 
 quired ; and fhe aded it in no other manner than was Suit- 
 able to the fituation oi^ England. 
 
 The ftate of Scotland, of Ireland, and for fome time of 
 England itfelf, gave her juft reafon to apprehend that the 
 French, or Spaniards, or both, might get footing there. Each 
 of thefe had, at different times, preteniioiis of their own to 
 
 her
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 433 
 
 her crown. The cn.ufe of Makv queen of Scotland nfForded 
 them, for a long time, both pretence and oj:!portunity ; and 
 the united force of the Roman- c?.thohc party was, at all times, 
 ready to fupport their entcrprifcs. Spain was the greatell ma- 
 ritime power in Europe, and able to attempt the invafion of 
 England, even when queen Elizadeth had been above thirty 
 years on the throne, and had raifed licr navy from the low 
 condition in which fhe found it. In a word, the whole coa(i^, 
 from the ftreight of Gibraltar almod: to Jutland, belons^ed to 
 France and Spain. Such circumftances formed a conjunclurc, 
 wherein ihefe two powers had advantages againit her, which 
 they could have had in no other ; and if fhe was obliged to 
 a6l towards them in a different manner from what flie did to- 
 wards the other powers of the continent, it was becaufe fhe 
 flood expofed to lofe, at leaft in part, with refped to them, 
 the advantages of her fituation. 
 
 IIov/ fhe a6led towards them, has been obferved already. 
 She amufed them and eluded their defigns, by the moft artful 
 feries of management. She fought no alliances againft them 
 u'ith other nations ; and tho fhe did not fail to abet and fup- 
 port the infurredlions of their fubjects, yet even with thefe fhe 
 was cautious of entering into engagcmer.ts by treaty. She did 
 it with the Huguenots by a treaty figned in 1562, which the 
 vidame of Chartres had negotiated. The fuccefs of the treaty, 
 and the ungrateful behavior of the Huguenots to her, con- 
 firmed her in the principle of depending little on allies, and 
 much on herfclf. She chofe rather to aflifl when aiul v.-hcre 
 fhe thought lit, and to aihfl gratis, than to be tied down to 
 the confequences of conftant obligations, for the Hotional ad- 
 vantage of reciprocal cncnacmentis. 
 
 JD t) 
 
 Vol, I. K 1< k
 
 434- REMARKS ON THE. 
 
 JN the year 1577 (he began to take fo intimate a concern 
 in the aftairs of the Low Countries, that the mofl: important 
 counfcls and refolutions of thofe ftates were communicated to 
 her; and fhe lent them an hundred thoufand pounds ; yet it 
 does not feeni probable, that fhe entered fo foon into a for- 
 mal alliance with them, tho fuch an alliance be mentioned 
 by Meteren, as well as Cambden, and inferted from the 
 former in the collection of treaties. 
 
 In the year 1 5 8 5 the clouds gathered on every fide, and 
 threatened queen Elizabeth with that terrible ftorm, part of 
 which fell upon her, and part of which fhe averted. She 
 beheld Philip mafter of Portugal as well as Spain. She be- 
 held the duke of Guife growing apace to be mafter of France. 
 She faw thefe two princes clofely united by principles, \\hich 
 might continue in force long enough to complete her ruin. 
 She faw the Low Countries almoil: quite reduced by thearmsof 
 Spain ; and the proteftants o[ France in the utmoll: danger of 
 being fo by the league. Dangers from Ireland, and dangers 
 from Scotland impended over her. 
 
 In fuch a crifis, more terrible, as vvc apprehend, tlian any 
 which has threatened this nation fince that time, what was 
 the condud: ot our heroic queen ? Did fhe immediately pre- 
 pare to oppofe thefe dangers, by making alliances on the con- 
 tinent ? Did flie purchafe accedions to thefe alliances ?- Did 
 ilie raife armies, and pay fubfidies abroad ? Did fhe give gua- 
 ranties to every prince and flate who aflced them ; and, in 
 order to ward againft one danger, fow the feeds of many ? By 
 no means. She fent indeed fir Thomas Eodlev, to the kinji 
 of Denmark, as well as to the landgrave of HefTe, and other 
 -proteftant princes of the empire, " to procure a league for 
 
 '' de-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 435 
 
 *' defence of their religion," fays Cambden. But this league 
 does not appear, nor any other cflccH: of thcfe negotiations. 
 " As file was very faring of her money, it is likely," fays Ra- 
 riN, " that llic did not employ the mol-1: proper means to 
 " bring the princes of Germany into her interefts." She fecur- 
 ed herfelf by a great deal of management on the fide of 
 Scotland. She aflllkd the king of Navarre, and the prince 
 of Conde, with money and fliips ; and the fole treaty fho 
 made on the continent was that with the flates of the Low 
 Countries, concluded the tenth of Auguft 15 85 at Nonefuch. 
 Her chief dependence was upon her own ability and courage ; 
 upon the affe(5lion and zeal ol her people. Neither failed 
 her. Sure of being attacked, ihe began the attack. Wiiilll: 
 Cavendish pillaged the coafts of Chili and Peru, fhe fent 
 Drakf, to the coafts of Spain, with orders to burn all the 
 Spanifli fhips he fliould meet. Her orders were executed with 
 the fpirit v.ith which they were given. More than an hun- 
 dred veflels, loaded with provilion and ammunition, Averc 
 burnt at Gibraltar. The Spanifli admiral was infulted at th.c 
 mouth of the Tagus, and the Spaniards were taken, or de- 
 ftroyed, even under his eyes ; an infamy fo great, that the 
 iufFering of it was fcarce in example before that tim:. The 
 riches coming from the Indies to Spain, fell into the hands of 
 the Englifli. The projeds of PiiiLir were difappointed in the 
 year 1587 j and when the invaflon was attempted in the vear 
 1588, his army was blocked up in the ports of the Low Couii- 
 tries, and his invincible armada was beat, fcattcrcd and de- 
 firoy ed . 
 
 We ha\'e now gone through ail we propofe to fay a^ this 
 time, concerning the conduct of queen ELiz,\i!F/n!, boih at 
 home and abroad ; concerning that condutfl, v\h'ch, by con- 
 vincing lier [^eonle of her goodnefs and her wifdoKi, pi-ocured 
 
 K k k 2 from
 
 436 R I'. M ARKS ON THE 
 
 from them thofe large returns of gratitude, of duty, of affe- 
 ciion and zeal, the fole foundations on which fhe refted her 
 authority and her fecurity ; and the fole foundations on which 
 they can be refted, fuitably to the nature of our government. 
 The limitations, necelTary to render monarchy confident with 
 public liberty, muft be many and great ; for which reafon it 
 has been objeifted to them, that they took off from that 
 weight of authority and retrained that fulnefs of power, which 
 are many times neceffary to be exerted, even for the good of 
 the whole community. If this objedion was well founded, it 
 would be a fufficient anfwer, to fay that a few accidental in- 
 conveniencies, which may happen, and which may be recom- 
 penced too, in government, deferve not to be prevented, at the 
 expence of leaving liberty perpetually expofed. But the reign 
 of queen Elizabeth proves, beyond contradiction, that a 
 prince like her will enjoy, at tiie head of the freeft people on 
 earth, all the authority, and all the power neceffary to promote 
 the joint fecurity, profperity and glory of prince and people. 
 So that all the objedions which can be raifed on this iide to 
 the Briti/li conftitution of government, will center here ; that 
 it has not provided for ftren^thenin? and enlarfrinj: the autho- 
 rity and pov/er of a weak or a wicked prince. 
 
 A PRiNCK who never fcparates the intereffs juft mentioned, 
 and who purfues them wifely, wLl have abfolute power in the 
 mofi limited monarchy. A prince who fcparates thefe inte- 
 rcfts, turns government itfclf into fadion ; and the fj^irit of 
 liberty will rife againft him. An arbitrary government is 
 fuitcd to any charader. A free government requires a great, 
 at leaft, a good one. In the former, all kinds and degrees of 
 power are in the prince, or flow from him. In the latter, his 
 powers are limited and confined. When he wants to encreafe, 
 or extend them, he muft derive the faculty of doing {o from 
 
 his
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 437 
 
 his people ; and from hence it follows, that as long as fuch a 
 confliturion remains entire and iincorriipted, the profperity, 
 nay the eafe, and even the fecurity of the government, will 
 depend on the difpofition of the people towards the prince ; as 
 the difpofition of the people will always depend on the beha- 
 vior of the prince towards the people. Queen Elizabeth faw 
 thefe truths in all their force. She was both willinc; and able 
 to proportion her condud: to them. She never felt therefore 
 any want of power. She was fupported by the fpirit of li- 
 berty ; and (he overcame that of fad:ion. Some of her fuc- 
 ceilbrs either did not fee thefe truths in all their force, or were: 
 unable to proportion their condudl to them. Thefe princes, 
 therefore felt the limitations of our monarchy like fliackles up- 
 on them. The fpirit of liberty either oppofed, or did not fup- 
 port them ; and they nurfcd up a fpirit of faftion to the ruini 
 •of themfelves, of their families, and almod: of the nation^ 
 
 L E T-
 
 438 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 ^' I ^ H E fcene we are now going to open will appear vaftly 
 
 _|_ different from that which we jufi clofed. Inftead of 
 
 an uninterrupted, plealing harmony of government, we fliali 
 meet with a perpetual, jarring difTonance ; inftead of fuccefs 
 and glory abroad, difappointment and contempt ; inftead of 
 fatisfadlion, profperity and union at home, difcontent, diftrefs, 
 and at laft civil v/ar will prefent themfelves to us in all their 
 horrors. 
 
 To confider this melancholy change, and to fliew from 
 v/hence it proceeded, whether from the prince, or from the 
 people, is our prefent bufinefs. That it was brought about 
 and carried on by fa6lion, muft not be denied. The fole 
 queftion will therefore be, which was the fadious fide ? Now 
 to determine this, we need only enquire, which fide was for 
 ufurping on the other ; which was ior prcferviiig and wliich 
 for altering the eftabliflied conflitution of government. On 
 this point the queftion will turn ; for in a country of liberty, 
 in a limited monarchy, whatever fome perfons may think, or 
 deftre to have believed, it is certain that there may be fadion 
 for the crown, as well as againft the crown. The reafon is 
 plain. There may be confpiracies againft liberty, as well as 
 againft prerogative. Private intereft may fcreen or defend a 
 bad adminiftration, as well as attack cr undermine a good 
 one. In ftiort, confpiring againft any one part of the con- 
 flitution, in favor of another, or perverting, to the fupport cA 
 national grievances, the very mean?, which were inftituted to 
 
 redrefs
 
 HISTORY O I' E N G L A N D. 439 
 
 redrcis them, are dcilrudive of the whole frame of fuch a 
 government, and arc the proper charaderiflics of faction. 
 
 On whicli fide fa<5iion, tlius defined, is likely to be f)nnd 
 the oheneft, and to ad: the moft effedually, we fliall not flay 
 to examine here. They, who have read the firfl of thefe let- 
 ters, may remember what is there f^iid, to fliew the diflcrence 
 betvi'een the motives and the means, which a prince hath of 
 ufurping on his people ; and thofe which the people have of 
 encroaching on their prince. We fliall only obferve, to our 
 prefent purpoiir, that as he, who confines his notions of fa- 
 (ftion to oppofitions made to the crown, reafjns, in an abfo- 
 lute menarchy, in favor of the conftitution ; fo he, who con- 
 fines them thus, reafons, in a limited monarchy, again fl: the 
 conftitution ; is weak enough to deceive hin^ifeif, or wicked 
 enough to attempt deceiving others ; and, in either cafe, is 
 
 thus tar a betrayer of public liberty. On fuch principles as 
 
 thefe w^e faid, in our lafl: paper, that government itfelf might 
 be turned into fadion ; and that fome of queen Elizabeth's 
 fuccelTors had nurfed up a fpirit of fadion, to the ruin of 
 
 themfeives, of their flimilies, and almoft of the nation. We 
 
 prefume that this v.'ill appear, in the courfe oi our enquiries, 
 to be undeniably true ; and that there will be as little room, to 
 doubt whether the fadious condud of the court, in the reigns 
 of king James and king Charles the fiift, gave a rife to all 
 the ftruggles between them and their people, as there is room 
 to deny that the deftrudion of our conftitution in church and 
 fl:ate, wars the dreadful confequence of tliefe ftruggles. The 
 fpirit of liberty and the. Britifli conftitution of governmentj 
 whofe caufe we are pleading, and whole caufe we are loriy 
 there fliould be fo much occalicn to plead, will therefore, we 
 hope, remain clear of all imputations. 
 
 Wf.
 
 440 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 Wr, wifli that this juftice could be done without opening 
 wounds which are hardly yet intirely healed, and without ar- 
 raigning the condudl of princes, whofe memories have been 
 jield in great veneration by many worthy perfons : but lince 
 this cannot be ; nay, fince the opening of thefe wounds may 
 contribute to the more effedual healing of them ; and fince 
 arraigning the condud: of thefe princes hath been rendered the 
 more neceflary by the accounts which have been given of it, 
 and by the principles on which it hath been defended ; we 
 muft fpeak with the fame liberty ©f them, as we have ufed m 
 fpeaking of thofe who reigned before them. 
 
 The AEgyptians paid fo much refpedl to their veryiimited 
 monarchs, that when they meant to warn thefe princes againft 
 particular vices, they commended them for oppofite virtues. 
 We cannot perfuade ourfelves that this method of reformings 
 or inftruding, by panegyric, the ufual and moft deadly poifon 
 of other princes, had a good effedl on thofe of AEgypt. But 
 however this might be, when thefe princes were dead, notwith- 
 ftanding the refped: fhewn to them living *, they underwent 
 the fame trial as the cuftom of the kingdom had eftablifhed 
 for all private perfons, and funeral honors were equally denied 
 to them, and to the meaneft and mofl: guilty of their fubjeds, 
 when their memories were condemned, on a folemn and ftridt 
 examination of the condud they had held in life. 
 
 Tho we propofe to enquire with all this freedom ; and tho 
 we are perfnaded that the refult of thefe enquiries will be a 
 confirmation of what hath been advanced by us ; yet are we 
 very far from admitting many of the objedions which have 
 bctn made to the condud of king J/^mes and king Charles 
 
 * DioDoR. Sic. 1. 2. c. 3- 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 441 
 
 the firft. Much Icfs do we approve thofe cruel infinuations 
 againft them, which are to be found in fevcral invcdi\cs, not 
 hiftories, di6lated by a fpirit of fadion, not by the fpirit of 
 liberty. The fpirit of liberty reflects on the errors of princes 
 with forrow, not with triumph, and is unwilling to aggravate 
 what it wifhes had never happened.-— In the temper which 
 this fpirit infpires therefore, we fliall proceed. We fhall dwell 
 on no fads, but fuch as we think uncontroverted ; and fliall 
 make no refledions, nor draw any confequences from them, 
 but fuch as arife naturally and without the Icaft force.— -The 
 truth would not be fo evident, as we prefume it is in this cafe, 
 if any thing more v^^as neceflary to the illuftration of it. 
 
 Amongst the many advantages which king James had, on 
 his acceflion to the throne of England, we might very jullly 
 reckon the recent example of his predeceflbr. Her penetra- 
 tion difcovercd the confequences of that great change in the 
 ballance of property, of which we have fpoken in letters XI 
 and XII ; and £he accommodated at once the whole lyflem of 
 
 her government to it, as we have there obferved. Whatever 
 
 doubts fhe might have entertained, concerning the fucccfs of 
 her own meafures, before fhe had experienced the happy cfFeds 
 of them, king James could reafonably entertain none. Expe- 
 rience, as well as reafon, pointed out to him the fole principle, 
 on which he could eftablifh his government with advantage, 
 or even with fafety ; and queen Elizabeth's reign had every 
 year afforded him frefli proofs that this principle of government, 
 which is eafy in the purfuit, is effedual in the end to all the 
 purpofes which a good man and a juft prince can defire to 
 obtain. But king James paid as little regard to her example, 
 as he did to her memory. In the laft refped, he was inde- 
 cent. In the other unwife. He boafted moll: ridiculoufly of 
 an influence which he never had over her councils. Happy 
 Vol, I. L 1 1 would
 
 442 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 would it have been for him, for his family, and for this whole 
 nation, if her example had really had a due influence over his 
 conduct ; or, at lealt, if his example had obtained lefs influ- 
 ence over the conduit of his fucceflbr.— Fraught with learn- 
 ino-, not with knowledge ; ignorant of the true principles of 
 government ; more a ftranger to our conftitution by his no- 
 tions and his habits of thinking, than to our country by his 
 birth • obftinate, tho not Iteady ; mifled by felf-opinion, and 
 confirmed in error by fuperlative pedantry, king James the 
 lirft feemed to expedl the love, and to demand the obedience 
 of his fubjedls, purely becaufe the crown had dropt on his 
 head. Whereas queen Elizabeth feemed, both by her decla- 
 rations and her adions, to think herfelf intitled to the firft, 
 and fecure of the laft, for no other reafon than this ; becaufe 
 {he wore the crown to the greateft advantage of her people. 
 Her good fenfe taught her what he had not found in his books ; 
 that the ties between prince and people are not the fame with 
 thofe between particular perfons in private life. Thefe per- 
 fons converfe and live familiarly together. Natural fympa- 
 thies therefore, more ealily to be felt than defcribed, may- 
 unite them without the motives of gratitude, or expediation. 
 Thofe common good offices, which the heart alone fuggefls, 
 are often fufficient to maintain fuch unions ; and a man, who 
 is neither a faint, nor a hero, may hope to find and keep a 
 friend. But public, or political, or ftate-friendfhip, by which 
 we mean an intimate and affeclionate union between the go- 
 vernors and the governed, cannot be contracted without gra- 
 titude, or expedation, nor maintained without both. If it 
 could ; if fubjeds were attached to their prince by a kind of 
 inftind, as hard to be accounted for, and yet as prevalent as 
 the fympathies we have mentioned ; the affertors of the divine 
 rjoht of prince?, and of the univerfal obedience due to thenij 
 would have had long ago a more plaufible argument than they 
 
 have
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 44.3 
 
 have yet produced, in favor of their dod:rincs. Tiiey would 
 have been able to flop the mouths of all gainfayers ; even of 
 him who required a miracle to become their convert ; and 
 who refolved never to believe that flavery was of divine inflitu- 
 tion, till he beheld " fubjcdis born with bunches on their backs, 
 " like camels, and kings with combs on their heads like cocks ;" 
 from which marks it might be colleded that the former were 
 deiigned to labor and to fuffer, and the latter to ftrut and to 
 crow. But till fome fuch miracle is wrought, or the inflindl fup- 
 pofed above is born with men, we think it will remain true that 
 the union we fpeak of, between prince and people, neither can, 
 nor ought to fublift on any other terms, thnn thofe of good 
 government on one part, and of gratitude and expcdation on 
 the other.— This union may be, and hath been, maintained 
 by abfolute princes with their people ; bccaufe it is not im- 
 poflible that an abfolute prince ihould be a wife and good 
 man ; and becaufe fome fuch there have been. But here lies 
 a difference. The abfolute monarch may exert the whole 
 power of the ftate. He may govern cafily, fifely, and with 
 all other advantages, tho he neglecfls to cultivate this union ; 
 or, which is worfe, tho he breaks it. But the cafe of a limit- 
 ed monarch is not the fame, for the reafons which we touched 
 upon, at the end of our lail: letter. It is therefore the imme- 
 diate, the perfonal, the higheft intereft of fuch a prince, as it 
 is the duty of every prince, to contrad: this union, and to 
 maintain it inviolate. The wifdom of our conftitution hath 
 made it fo ; and, in making it: fo, hath imitated that divine 
 Vi^fdom, which appears in the conftitution of the moral world. 
 In this, it may be eaftly proved from a confideration of the 
 circumftances in which we ftand as individuals, that the ge- 
 neral good of fociety is the particular intereft of every member. 
 Our Creator defigned therefore that we fhould promote this 
 general good. It is by confequence cur duty to do fo ; and 
 
 L 1 1 2 every
 
 444 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 every man, who believes a wife, all-directing mind, and who 
 knows that proportioning of means to ends is eflential to wif- 
 
 dom, muft fubfcribe to this opinion. And yet, determined 
 
 by falfe appearances of good, or attracted by the force of im- 
 mediate objedls, men may, and they frequendy do, imagine 
 that they purfue their particular and feparate intereft, whilfl: 
 they neglecfl, or ad: againft, the general and common intereft 
 of fociety. 
 
 In like manner, king James the firft, and thofe princes who 
 have trod in his fteps, imagined no doubt that they purfued a 
 particular, feparate intereft of their own, whilft they neglect- 
 ed an union with their people, and even made fuch an union 
 impracticable, by tranfgrefling, in pretenfions and in fad, the 
 bounds which our conftitution prefcribed to them. But the 
 miftake is equal in both cafes ; for in both cafes, intereft and 
 duty remain indivifibly united, however they may be feparat- 
 ed in opinion ; and he who fins againft one, fins moft cer- 
 tainly againft the other ; tho the natural confequences of his 
 adions do not appear immediately, nor on every occafion, to 
 follow. 
 
 These confequences followed in a fignal and terrible man- 
 ner upon the occaiions which we have mentioned, and into 
 the particulars of which we fhall defcend fom.e other time. 
 Thefe examples therefore are complete. The caufes and the 
 effeds come together under one view ; and if we carry our 
 obfervations forward to later times, we fhall fee eaufes of the 
 lame kind laid again, and producing effeds of the fame na- 
 ture ; effeds always proportionable to them ; fometimes jea- 
 loufy, difcontent, tumult ; fometimes open refiftance, and 
 depofition of the prince ; for tho, in all thefe cafes, the people 
 liave fuff'ered, as well as the prince ; yet in fome, the prince 
 
 alone
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 445 
 
 alone hath been undone ; and thus, by an equal diftribution 
 of juflicc, the principal fhare of the common calamity hath 
 fallen on him, without whom no part of it could have hap- 
 pened. 
 
 Tho thefe general refledions, which we have premifed, may 
 appear long to fomc of our readers, and may feem too nearly 
 allied to reflcdlions already made ; yet we hope for indulgence, 
 on account of the importance of the matter. It mufl furely be 
 of ufe to explain very clearly, and very fully, from whence 
 the weaknefs of our government, at fome times, and the dif- 
 orders and revolutions of it at others, have proceeded fince that 
 aera, when our liberties became better fecured, and our con- 
 flitution capable of greater improvements, by a new fettlement 
 of the ballance of property and power. No point hath been 
 more miftaken. None hath been more artfully mifreprefented.. 
 
 LET-
 
 446 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 LETTER XVIir. 
 
 WE have obferved already of how great advantage the 
 example of queen Elizabeth might have been to king 
 James the firft. It might have taught him to ftruggle through 
 the moft intricate difficulties. But he had none fuch to en- 
 counter, till he created them by his own management. On 
 
 the contrary, his acceflion to the throne of England was ac- 
 companied with all the favorable circumftances of eafe and 
 iecurity, which were neceflary to form a conjundure proper 
 for him ; fo that with abilities, much inferior to thofe of his 
 predecefTor, he might have reigned as glorioufly abroad, and 
 
 as happily at home. Many of the difficulties and dangers 
 
 which furrounded her, were perfonal to her. They arofe from 
 her birth; from her title ; and from that which Mary queen 
 of Scotland pretended. They therefore ceafed with her. Many 
 others fhe had conquered by a wife and fteady adminiftration. 
 Many had been worn out by length of time ; and many had 
 been fo changed by the courfe of events, that king James was 
 fafe, where Ihe was moft in danger ; and ftrong, where fhe 
 was weakeft.— His title was not contefted ; nor any oppofi- 
 tion, either open or fecret, given to his fucceffion. They who 
 had founded fo high the right of his mother, could not re- 
 fufe to acknowledge the fame right in him ; and the reft of the 
 nation fubmitted to it; for how little regard focver many of 
 them might pay to this right in their hearts, or how great fu- 
 fpicion foever of his future condud might be juftly infufed into 
 them by his palt behavior, the people would hive a king, and 
 there was no other prince, in Vvhom the proteftant intereft 
 
 could unite at that time. That riddle of a plot, in which fir 
 
 Walter
 
 HISTORY or ENGLAND. 447 
 
 Walter Raleigh was inrclvcd, dots not deferve to be men- 
 tioned, as an exception to the national unanimity we fpeak of. 
 
 True it is that, in otiier rcfneds, the nation was flir from 
 
 being united, cither by a conformity of opmion, or by an acqui- 
 efcence of thofe who differed from the eflabhiliment.— It v/as^ 
 no doubt, a fevere misfortune, and fueh it continues to this 
 very hour, that the great and glorious work of the reforma- 
 tion, being carried on at different times, and in different 
 places, was carried on hkcwife without a general concert. The 
 feveral churches reformed themfelves, according to the diffe- 
 rent circumftanccs they were in, and according to the diffe- 
 rent characters of the icw, who led the many in each of them. 
 The feparation of them all from the church of Rome was in- 
 tire ; but, in fome, it was thought proper to reform ; in others, 
 to alter the whole model ; in fome, many things were retain- 
 ed, which had been in pradlice before the reformation ; in 
 others, a total oppoiltion to every inftance of conformity with 
 the church ol Rome feemed to be the fole ftandard of chrif- 
 tian purity.- -This variety of opinions and eftabliOiments 
 amongft the reformed was a great evil in itfelf ; but this evil 
 was aggravated by a circumftance of the moft fatal confe- 
 quence. The reformers, and efpccially thofe who came lat- 
 eft, as our excellent Mr. Hooker * obferves, by enforcing too * 
 peremptorily their particular modes of reformation, brought the 
 people in many cafes to receive and refpeft, as divine laws, 
 even thofe orders and that difcipline, which expediency or 
 other political motives had fuggefted. Now, the natural ten- 
 dency of this perfualion was not only to render all compre- 
 henfion, or reconciliation amongft the reformed churches im- 
 pradicable ; but to make the divifions, in any particular 
 ehurch, incurable. Thus, when queen Elizabeth com- 
 
 * Eccl. polity, pref. 
 
 plcted.
 
 448 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 pleted that eftabllfhment of a church, which Edward the fixth 
 had begun, many diffented from it ; and the fcruples of pri- 
 vate confcience were pleaded againft fubmifHon to the pubHc 
 
 authority of the ftate. If regard had been paid to all who 
 
 petitioned the queen, or admonifhed the parliament, in the 
 heat of thefe times, it feems probable that no eftablifhment at 
 all could have been made ; and if none had been made, an 
 eccleliaftical anarchy muft have enfued. — How far the num- 
 ber of feparatifts might have been lefTened by more compli- 
 ances with the learned and moderate amongfl: them, for fuch 
 there certainly were, we fhall neither prefume to determine, 
 nor go about to enquire. It is fufficient for our prefent pur- 
 pofe to obferve, that altho thefe leeds of difturbance had been 
 fowed before the acceffion of kipg James ; yet no difturbance 
 had happened, nor was any likely to happen at that time. 
 The meafures which had been purfued, and the temper 
 which hnd been oblerved in tuetn Elizabeth's reign, tend- 
 ed to diminifli the religious oppofition by a flow, a gentle, 
 and for that very reafon an eftedlua] progreflion ; and, in 
 the mean while, to prevent fuch confequcnces of it as might 
 
 diforder or weaken the government. By the laws which 
 
 were made, the feveral diflcnting fedls were difcouraged and 
 .kept in awe ; but by the execution of thefe laws, they 
 were not exafperated. They were punifhed, not provoked. 
 They fe!t the weight of the government, as often as they at- 
 tempted to difturb it, but they never felt the oppreilion of 
 party ; and when they were treated like factions, they had 
 not the pretence to complain that they were treated fo by a 
 fadion.— Upon this foot there was even room to hope, that 
 when the firfl fire of thefe mens zeal was fpent, reafonable 
 terms of union with the eflabliflied church might be accepted 
 by fuch of them as were not intoxicated with fanaticifm. 
 Such as thefe were friends to order, tho they difputed about 
 
 it,
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 449 
 
 it, and could have the lefs pretence to rejcdl with obftinacy 
 that which had been fettled by queen Hi.iZABtTH, becaufo 
 they knew that their own difcipHne had been eftabliflicd where 
 it prevailed, as the church of England had been by the fu- 
 preme authority ; that it had been made a Jaw of the 
 country ; that the people had been bound by oath to the main- 
 tenance of it; and that Calvin himfelf had been a moft ri- 
 gorous exador of conformity to it.— If fuch as thefe had been 
 once incorporated with the eftabliflied church, the remaining 
 fedlaries would have been of little moment, either for num- 
 bers, or reputation ; and the very means, which were proper to 
 gain thcfc, were likewife the moft effedual to hinder the in- 
 creafe of them, and of the other fedlaries in the mean time.--- 
 Upon the whole matter, we think it very plain that king James 
 the firft, befides the advantage of coming to the crown, after 
 all the difficulties and dangers of completing the reformation, 
 and eftablilliing a new church were over, had an eafy and fe- 
 cure opportunity of preventing any bad confequenccs, which 
 might be apprehended from the divifions of his proteftant fub- 
 jc6ts ; and that the improvement of this opportunity, confirted 
 in giving neither alarm to tlie vveli-aillded, nor pretence to 
 the fadlious. 
 
 The defigns of the Roman-catholic-party, againft the con- 
 ftitution in church and ftate, were carried on with as much 
 rage, but not with as much ftrength as ever. The hydra- 
 heads, which fprouted continually out of that body in the 
 former reign, had been lopt fo often, that they appeared more 
 rarely ; and if the venom of that principle which produced 
 them, was not abated ; yet many of the fprings, which fed and 
 nouriflied it, were cxhaufted. The Guises, Mary queen of 
 Scotlmd, Philip the fecond, were dead. The reformation 
 was eflablifhed ; not only in outward form, but in the hearts 
 
 Vol. L M m m of
 
 450 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 of men. It was grown up to be a part, and a favorite part, 
 of the conftitution. The fpirit of liberty had blended our civil 
 and re'.igious rights together, and was become equally jealous 
 of both. Let us add, for we may add it with great juftice, 
 that the church of England was, by the fobricty, vi'ifdom and 
 fand:ity of her inftitution, eftablifhed on a rock ; that this 
 rock was defended by the greateft number of excellent men, 
 which any chriftian church could boaft of: and from all this 
 let us conclude, that as fhe was able to redft the attacks of 
 thofe fec^s, which private conceit, miftaken zeal, fome cnthu- 
 fiafm, and perhaps fome fadion had nurfed up in her own 
 bofom ; fo {he was better able than any other proteftant church 
 to defend herfelf, and the ftate too, againfc the fallacies, the 
 fedudions, and the violence of Rome. The policy of this 
 court faw it, and ncg!ed:ed nothing to prevent the confequen- 
 ces. Seminaries had been erc6led at Doway and other places 
 abroad, for the education of Englifh youth in popery. Gre- 
 gory the thirteenth had given the dired:ion of that, which was 
 ereded at Rome, to the Jefults ; and upon that occalion thefc 
 incendiaries crept into England. If we may believe fome ac- 
 counts, they mingled themfelves amongft the clergy of the 
 church of England and the puritan minifters. That they took 
 all methods to foment our divifions is probable ; and that they 
 were not m.en, who would ftick at any, may be certainly col- 
 lected from that account of their condud here, and of the do- 
 drines they taught, which is contained in the complaints ex- 
 hibited againft them by the reft of the * popifh clergy. 
 
 Thus was the fpirit of the church and court of Rome kept 
 up here, even at the time of the acceflion of king James ; a 
 fpirit, which might ferve to bring about an aflaffination, or 
 
 * Thuan. lib. 126. 
 
 any
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 451 
 
 any barbarous and defpcrate ftroke, like that of the giin- 
 povvder-treafon, which a few cnthuhalb were capable of exe- 
 cuting • but not to fubvert the reformation, and introduce 
 popery anew. The efforts of this party now were like tlielaft 
 convuKions of a flrong body, mortally wounded ; frightful to 
 behold ; fufficient to hurt others ; but tokens of death, not 
 fymptoiiis of recovery. — King James had it therefore in his 
 power to keep down with eafe a party, which queen Eliza- 
 beth had fubdued with pain ; and wJiatever imprcfiion the 
 bloody defigns they had often iormed, and fometimcs brought 
 to eiTedt, might make on his mind ; certain it was, and the 
 event made that certainty undeniable, that no degree of fa- 
 vor to them, except the utmofl:, could effectually fecure him 
 againft their attempts ; and that the leaft degree of favor fhewn, 
 or encouragement given them, would be produ6live of the 
 greateft national mifchief. 
 
 We have dwelt the longer on thefe points of religious divi- 
 jfions, becaufe we think a clear and jufi: notion of them abfo- 
 lutely necefTary to fix a right opinion, concerning one of the 
 principal caufes, which were laid in this reign, of all the na- 
 tional calamities that followed.— We fhall mention the other 
 advantages which attended king James the firft, as briefly as 
 vv'e can ; not becaufe they were fmall, for, on the contrary, 
 they were exceedingly great ; but becaufe they are more noto- 
 rious, and have no need of being fo much developed, in order 
 to be made fenfible. 
 
 Thus, for inflance, the different condition in v/hich he 
 found the navy, the commerce, and the wealth of the nation, 
 as well as the revenues of the crown, fVom that in which queen 
 Elizabeth had found them all at lier accefiion, is known in 
 general by every one who harh dipt into liidorv. Without 
 
 M m m 2 enter -
 
 452 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 entering into more particulars therefore than we have done 
 akeady, we may venture to conclude that he reaped the bene- 
 fit of her oeconomy, and was a rich, as well as a powerful 
 king. We know very well that when the feffion ot parlia- 
 ment was opened by commifTion in 1610, by the earls of 
 Suffolk and Salisbury, one of the reafons urged, for de- 
 manding money of the commons, was grounded on a debt of 
 queen Elizabf/ph, which was faid to have abforbed three 
 hundred fifty thoufand pounds, due on the laft fubfidics grant- 
 ed to her. If this i'a.d: was true, all that refulted from i^ is ; 
 firft, that queen Elizabeth left a mortgage on the lands of 
 the crown, and money enough to difcharge it ; fecondly, that 
 king James parted with his money to recover his lands ; and 
 we fhall not oppofe any perfon, who will charitably believe 
 that this prince would have paid the debts of his predecelTor, 
 tho they had not l^een thu^ fecurcd, out of the money flie left 
 in her coffers ; bccaufe to have done otherwife, would have 
 been a manifcft violation of all the rules of religion, honor and 
 common morality. But we much doubt whether even this 
 averment of the lords, who opened the feflion, will have any 
 great weight, when it Ihall be confidered that their whole 
 difcourfe was too minifterial to be fincere ; and that fome ot 
 the reafons, by which they accounted for the king's want ot 
 money, fuch, for inftance, as the charge of protecting his wife 
 and children from being robbed on the road to London, were 
 really burlefque. 
 
 The advantages which this prince had in the fituation of 
 foreign affairs, both at his accellion to the throne, and during 
 the gr^atcft part of his reign, were remarkably great ; and we 
 doubt whether it is pofiible to find more than one conjuncture 
 equally favorable fince that time, — Philip the third was on the 
 tktone of Spain ; a prince of fmali capacity, and lefs applica- 
 
 4 tion J
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 4.^;^ 
 
 tlon ; governed by his favorite, and his favorite dctcricd by 
 the people. Before the end of king James's reigti he died ; 
 and Philip the fourth, his fon, fucceeded ; a youth ot iixteea 
 years old, and governed as abfolutely by Olivarez, as his fa- 
 ther had been by the duke of Lerma. The declenfion of the 
 Spanifli monarchy haftened on apace, under thefe princes. It 
 is fud that Philip the third refufed to fupport the Roman- 
 catholic partyj in the beginning of the reign of king James ; 
 which is the more probable, on account ot the early and pre- 
 cipitate fteps made by this prince, towards a peace with Spain. 
 The defeat of don John d'Aqjjila in Ireland, and the intire 
 redudlion of Tyrone, which happened a little before the death 
 of queen Elizabeth, difcouraged the Spaniards from making 
 any more attempts of that kind. They turned their eyes from 
 thefe illands to the continent ; to the Low Countries and to 
 Germany, where they continued, during the courfe oi many 
 years, to confurae their remains of ftrength, in abetting the 
 ambitious projeds of that branch of the houfe of Auitria. 
 
 As king James had nothing to apprehend from the enmity 
 of Spain, io he was fecure of the friendfhip of France. Henry 
 the fourth was now eftabliOied on that throne. He was in 
 peace indeed with Spain, but intended not to be fo long. We 
 are very flir from believing that this prince could feriouily en- 
 tertain fo chimerical a projedlas that of making an intire new 
 fettlement of Europe, by dividing it into fifteen ftates, which. 
 Parefixe and other authors have related, upon the faith of the 
 compilers of Sully's memoirs; but, without doubt, he had* 
 (Treat views, of checking the ambition, and reducing the powec 
 of the houfe of Auftria. It was therefore his intcrefl: to live 
 well with the king of Great Britain ; and accordingly he fent. 
 the marquis of RosNY, afterwards duke of Sully, to renew 
 the treaties with king James, as foon almofl as this prince was- 
 
 ftiated*
 
 45+ R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 feated on the throne of England. When Henry the fourth 
 was ftabbed by Ravaillac, a minority followed in France, 
 and the counfels of that court were, for many years, chiefly 
 employed about their own affairs : fo that nothing could hap- 
 pen on that fide, even after this great change, to give the leaft 
 difturbance to king James. 
 
 The flates of the Low Countries were no longer in the fame 
 diftreffed condition. Their comm.onwealth had taken form ; 
 their naval force was increafing ; and their commerce extend- 
 ing itlelf every day. Oftend kept the Spanifh forces at bay 
 for more than three years ; and when Spinola made himfelf 
 mafter of that heap of ruins, the Dutch thought themfelves 
 fufficicntly recompenfed by the acquilition which they had 
 made, in the mean time, of Sluyce and other important places. 
 The truce of eight montlis between Spain and the States was 
 figned in 1607. It was prolonged afterwards; and in the 
 year 1609, the truce of twelve years was concluded at Ant- 
 werp ; by which the king of Spain was forced to acknowledge 
 the liberty and independency of the United Provinces. Thus 
 was that commonwealth eftabliflied, to be a great and lafting 
 acceflicn of ftrength to the proteftant intereft ; and king James 
 might have reaped the benefit of an ufeful alliance, where queen 
 Elizabeth had no other advantage than that of defending the 
 opprelled, and diverting the forces of a common enemy. 
 
 The affairs of the North, indeed, were in great confuiion 
 about the fame time. The crown of Sweden belonged to Si- 
 GisMUND in courfe of dcfcent ; but Sigismund was a papifr, 
 and king of Poland. For both thefe reafons, he had been ex- 
 cluded, and his uncle Charles preferred to the throne by the 
 ftates of Sweden ; who provided, by the a&. of fettlement, not 
 cnly that their kings fhould be ol the religion of the country, 
 
 but
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 455 
 
 but that none of the princes of the royal family Hioiild accept 
 another crown, nor any foreign dominions. Their experience, 
 it fcems, had fliewn them the neceility of fuch linntations. 
 This gave occafion to thofe long and cruel wars, which fol- 
 lowed between Sweden and Poland. Others fucceeded be- 
 tween Sweden and Denmark ; but the fcene of them all was 
 fo remote, and the interefts of this country fo ablohitely un- 
 concerned in the events of them, that he, who fliould have 
 advifed king James to take any part in them, would have 
 pafTed, in thofe days, for a very bad politician. 
 
 The indolent Rodolphus flept on the throne of the empire 
 till the year 1614. His brother Matthias fucceeded him; 
 and their coufin Ferdinand fucceeded Matthias. During 
 the reign of Rodolphus, there were troubles in Hungary, in 
 Tranfilvania, in Bohemia, and in feveral parts of the empire. 
 Moft of them were caufed, all of them were fomented, by re- 
 ligious diviiions During the reign of Matthias, thefe troubles 
 increafed. They grew up to maturity, as the accefTion of 
 Ferdinand to the empire approached. The Bohemians, long 
 opprelTed, and long provoked, took arms at laft in 161 8. 
 Many caufcs confpired to render all accommodation impradli- 
 cable. Amongft the principal were the dcfigns, which all the 
 branches of the houfe of Auftria had laid and begun to exe- 
 cute againft liberty and the proteftant religion in Germany ; the 
 character of Ferdinand, violent, cruel, a bigot, tho artful ; 
 and, to Ipeak impartially, the ambition of Trederx, elcdor 
 Palatine If this ambition had been the fole motive to engage 
 king James in thcfe quarrels, we muft think that he could not 
 have anfwcred to his own people the engaging in them, as po- 
 pular as the Palatine, his wife, and his caufe were in England. 
 But thefe quarrels were of another importance. Frederic loft 
 not only the crown of Bohemin, but his own patrimony. The 
 
 1 pro-
 
 456 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 proteftant religion, and the liberty of Germany were well nigh 
 facrificed to the bigotry and ambition of the emperor ; fo that 
 the intereft of this nation, as well as the king's family intereft, 
 was very much concerned to prevent thefe confequences ; and 
 yet, even upon this foot, we mufl: likcwife think that it would 
 not have been long popular in thofe days, when the memory 
 of queen Elizabeth's policy was frefh in the minds of men, 
 to have maintained great armies on the continent, and to have 
 fed with fubfidies fo many hungry princes, who had, at lead 
 in the beginning, nothing lefs at heart than the common in- 
 tereft. 
 
 This difficult and dangerous fituatlon of affairs on the con- 
 tinent, in which we allow that king James ought to have taken 
 fome part, may be thought, perhaps, to form an exception to 
 what hath been faid, concerning thofe circumftances of ad- 
 vantao-e, of eafe, and fecurity, which accompanied the reign 
 of this prince; but there will be room to think fo no longer, 
 when it fhall be confidered that king James had time and 
 means to prepare for this critical conjund:ure. The diftrefs in 
 foreio^n affairs began with queen Elizabeth's reign; and fhe 
 was in danger abroad, before fhe was fettled on her throne at 
 home ; but he had reigned near eighteen years before any 
 thino; happened on the continent, which could give him a juft 
 occafion of a6ling vigoroufly in that fcene. Befides, when this 
 occaiion did happen, he had it in his power to have aded 
 with great glory to himfelf, and effedually for the fervice of 
 thofe whom it was his intereft to fupport, without taking any 
 other part than that which becomes a king of England, in op- 
 pofttion to that which becomes a prince on the continent, and 
 agreeably to the principles of his predeceffor's conduct. This 
 will appear evidently true, when we come to confider the part 
 he did take; and we ftaall infift upon it the rather, bccaufe 
 
 we
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 457 
 
 we obferve with how much afFedation the cafe we are now 
 fpeaking of, hath been quoted as parallel to the prefcnt iituation of 
 affairs ; and how impertinctitly it hath been taken for granted, 
 that king James the iirll: was condemned in his own time, and 
 hath been condemned fincc, for not doing what thcfe time- 
 ferving politicians recommend ; that is, for entangling him- 
 felf in the affairs of the empire, as if he had been a prince of 
 the empire ; and for not ading on every appearance of danger, 
 or even of inconveniency to any little ftate of Germany, in luch 
 a manner as is agreeable neither to the intereft, nor Iituation cf 
 our ifland. 
 
 What hath been faid may be fuffiicient to fhew how few 
 the difficulties were, compared with the advantages, which 
 king James had to encounter both at home and abroad ; and 
 how fortunate a conjundlure was prepared for him by the wif- 
 dom of his predeceflbr, and by an happy combination of cir- 
 
 cumftances. What ufe he made of thefe advantages, what 
 
 condudl he held, and what confequences it had, mufl: be the 
 fubjecl of another difcourfe. 
 
 Vol. I. N n n I. B T-
 
 45:8^ REMARKS ON THE 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 BY what hath been faid, in former letters, we think it ap- 
 pears, that from the time our conftitution fettled on the 
 foundation on which it remains ftill, there hath been not only 
 no pofTibidity of governing this nation with ftrength and dig- 
 nity, without the concurrence of the people in their reprefen- 
 tative body, nor with eafe and fafety without their concurrence 
 in their colleftive body ; but that this concurrence hath de- 
 pended, and does and muft always depend, on the union of 
 interefl and aftedion between the king and his fubjedls. 
 
 We beg leave to repeat that queen Elizabeth faw this to 
 be a fure, and the only fure principle, on which fhe could 
 eftablifl:! her government under Inch a conftitution ; that fhe 
 very wifely took the government on the terms of the confti- 
 tution, and the conftitution as flie found it ; that inftead of 
 ftruo&linfy throu2;h trouble and danger to bend the conftitution 
 to any particular notions or views of her own, fhe accommo- 
 dated her notions, her views, and her whole charader to it. — 
 Let us obferve,. by the way, that this is no more than what 
 every prince ought to do ;. and what every free people will 
 expedl and exadt too, if need be, that he fhould do. He is. 
 made for their fakes, not they for his. He is railed to main- 
 tain, not to alter the conftitution. 
 
 Nov/ king James begun and continued, through the whole 
 courfe of his reign, to govern without any regard to this prin- 
 ciple ; nay, in abfolute defiance of it. He chofe other expe- 
 dients of gcvernmentj and trufted to h many broken reeds* 
 
 With-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 459 
 
 Without any talents to procure the eftccm, he awakened the 
 jcaloufy and never courted the good will of his people; but, 
 inftead of it, endeavored to inftil into their minds what was 
 rooted in his own, a very good opinion of himfclf, and a very 
 mean opinion of them. He endeavored to [x-rfuade men, who 
 felt that the balance of property was on their iide, and that 
 they held a great fliarc of the fupreme power in their hands, 
 that tho they had this property, yet they had no right, or a 
 very precarious one, to this power. He meant, by the force 
 of new-flingled opinions, to attach the nation to him, as queen 
 Elizabeth had done by the ties of affcdion and confidence ; 
 or he meant to govern without the concurrence of the nation ; 
 or he meant nothing. The firfl: was chimerical, the fccond 
 
 was wicked, and the third was flupid. Elizabeth had been 
 
 jealous of her prerogative, but moderate in the exercife of it. 
 Wifer [ames imagined that the higher he carried ir, and the 
 more rigoroufly he exerted it, the more ftrongly he fhould be 
 feated in his throne. He miftook the weisht for the ftrensth 
 of a fcepter ; and did not confider that it is never lb likely to 
 flip, or to be wrenched out of a prince's hands, as when it is 
 heavieft. He never refledled that prerogative is of the nature 
 of a fpring, which by much flraining will certainly relax and 
 often break ; that in one cafe it becomes of little, and in the 
 other of no ufe at all. 
 
 As abfurd as the notions and principles of government were, 
 hy which king James hoped to eftablifli his authority, he 
 found numbers to adopt them ; for numbers are at all times 
 liable to be deceived, ready to be tempted, and prone to be 
 
 corrupted. New fyftems of law and policy were not only 
 
 received, but propagated. Some men were heated by oppofi- 
 tion. Others were educated in prejudice. The plaineft rights 
 of the people were called in queftion. Tlic leaft juftihable 
 
 N n II 2 pre-
 
 460 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 pretenfions of the crown were eftabliflied as true axioms of go- 
 vernment, and certain principles of the Englifh conftitution. 
 What father Paul obferves to have happened in the church, 
 happened here in the ftate. Our court, like that of Rome, 
 by affirming and denying boldly, and by infixing perempto- 
 rily, brought many things to be received as certain, which had 
 been never proved, and many others to be looked on as pro- 
 blematical, which had been often demonftrated. Thus were 
 thofe divilions created, which could alone render the others 
 fatal. Difputes about the ufe of the furplice, or the crofs in 
 baptifm, would not have unfheathed all the fwords in the na- 
 tion. Puritanifm neither did, nor could make fuch deadly 
 wounds ; but when they were once made, puritanifm feftered 
 in the fore, and rendered them mortal. King James conjur- 
 ed up, by ufing tricks of government, that florm in which his 
 fuccefTor perifhed. His fuccefTor, for we will finifh the fketch 
 we have begun, a religious and a juft prince, came a party- 
 man to the throne. His prejudices, corafirmed by habit, for- 
 tified by the flattery of his courtiers, and provoked by the op- 
 polition which his father and he met with, carried him to con- 
 tinue an invafion on the people's rights, whilft he imagined 
 himfelf only concerned in the defence of his own. The fa- 
 dion of the court tainted the nation, and gave life and ftrength, 
 if it did not give being, to the fadions in the ftate. ]f the fpi- 
 rit of liberty could have prevailed in time againft the firfl:, 
 there had been no danger from the others. But the long and 
 obftinate reiiftance of the firft gave time and opportunity, and 
 even affiftance to the others to extinguifh this fpirit. Cava- 
 liers and Roundheads divided the nation, like Yorkifts and Lan- 
 caftrians. No other option was left at laft. To reconcile 
 thefe difputes by treaty became impracticable, when neither 
 fide would trufl the other. To terminate them by the fvvord, 
 was to fight, not for preferving the conftitution, but for the 
 
 maaner
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 461 
 
 mamier of deflroying it. Tlie conftitutioii might have been 
 deftroyed, under pretence oi prerogative. It was deftroycd un- 
 der pretence ot liberty. Wc might iiave falkn under abfolute 
 monarchy. We fell into abfolute anarchy. The fum ol- all 
 is this. We were destroyed by fadion ; but fat^ion prevailed 
 at court near forty years before it prevailed among! l the people. 
 It was the original principle on one fide. It was an accident 
 on the other. Churchmen and royalilts attacked the conftitu- 
 tion. Puritans and commonwealths- men, and, above all, a motely 
 race of precife knaves and enthufiaftic madmen ruined it. But 
 the laft could never have happened, if the firft had not ; and 
 whoever will difpafTionately trace the caufes of that deteflable 
 civil war, will find them laid in the condud: of king J.-wies the~ 
 iirfl:, as early as his acceffion to the throne of England. 
 
 Having given this general idea of the two reigns whichi 
 followed that of queen Elizabeth, it is time to examine whe- 
 ther this idea of them can be fupported by a feries of uneon- 
 troverted fa<£ls. Let us defcend into fome particulars. 
 
 " A PRINCE, that is invited, or comes newly to a kingdom," 
 fays Wilson, " muft have his chariot wheels fmooth fliod ;" 
 and furely if ever prince had motives and an opportunity to 
 render himfelf popular, king James had both. Essex, South- 
 ampton and others, even Cecil, a principal minifter of the 
 late queen, had held a correfpondence with him, for their own* 
 private intereft ; but the millions who fubmlttcd to h's ac- 
 ceillon, fubmitted to it upon truft, and were determined by" 
 the nature of the conjundu re, not by any knowledge of the 
 perfons who compofed this new royal family. It was not 
 therefore enough for them to be placed in and about the throne.. 
 Their true inrerefl; required that the hearts of the people fhould. 
 be gained to them ; and that popularity fhould fupply that 
 
 fgiriCi
 
 462 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 fpirit in their favor, which feldom fails to operate in favor of 
 thofe princes, who are born and bred amongft the people they 
 are to govern. The opportunity of doing this lay fairly be- 
 fore king James. He was received with tranfports of joy, and 
 
 all ranks of men made their court to him. If he looked on 
 
 this national behavior, for fo it was, to be the effed of a defire 
 in the people to endear themfelves to him, and to unite clofe- 
 ly with him ; this fhould have fuggefted to his mind the eafe 
 with which he might acquire popularity, by improving the 
 difpofition, and captivate the good will of a people, fo defir- 
 ous to be pleafed with their king. If he looked on this na- 
 tional behavior as the effedt of levity, inconftancy and love of 
 change, it (hould have taught him to apprehend how foon 
 this honey-moon would pafs away ; how foon the ftream of 
 popular favor might turn againft him ; and how foon they, 
 who feemed to have forgot queen Elizabeth, might return to 
 
 regret her. But that which a Scotfman foretold, happened. 
 
 This behavior of the Englifli fpoiled a good king ; or made a 
 bad king worfe. It was natural for a vain man to believe 
 what his flatterers told him, and what he, his own greateft 
 flatterer, told himfelf ; that thefe applaufes and tranfports of 
 the people were due to his eminent merit, and were an ho- 
 mage paid for the honor he did them in accepting their crown. 
 —He took therefore much flate. He did not indeed make 
 his journey, as Henrv the feventh made his entry into London, 
 in a dofe chariot ; but he forbid by proclamation the con- 
 courfe of the people to him. * " He difpcrfed them with 
 " frowns, that we may not fay with curfes." — Such different 
 turns of thought can vanity infpire. Some will be refpe^led, 
 like eaftern monarchs, unfeen within the flirine of their court. 
 Others grow fond of public triumphs ; delight in r/oify accla- 
 
 * Wilson. 
 
 mations ;
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 463 
 
 mations ; and are pleafed to drive, like Indian pngods, over a 
 proflrate crowd. 
 
 As much as king James neglcdcd to gain the pubhc, even 
 at the cheap price of affabiHty, he funk into low famiHarity 
 with his favorites, and was profufe of riches and honors to 
 particular men. He beftowed, at firfl: on a few, and after- 
 wards on one man, that affcdion which he had promifcd the 
 whole nation, in fome of the plaufible, common-place dif- 
 courfes which he held at certain times. There is no need 
 of mentioning the particular inftances of a profufion he ac- 
 knowledged himfelf. The eftates he gave to his courtiers im- 
 poverifhed the crown ; and, as it always happens, the people 
 were forced to pay for thofe very grants, at which they mur- 
 mured. Honors he beftowed in fo lavifh a manner, and with 
 fo little diftindion, that they ceafed, in fome fenfe, to be ho- 
 nors. To know the Britidi nobility, it was become almofi; 
 neceffary to have nomenclators, like thofe who attended the 
 candidates at Rome, to tell them the names of the citizens. 
 The jeft went fo far, that an advertifement of * " an art to 
 ** help weak memories to a competent knowledge of the names 
 '* of the nobility," was parted up at Paul's. 
 
 Thus king James began, and thus he continued his reign-. 
 That experience, which he faid, in his firft fpeech to his par- 
 liament, would teach him not to be fo eafily and lightly 
 moved in granting, taught him nothing. What a contrafte 
 does this condudl make with the affability of queen Eliza- 
 beth ; with the oeconomy and referve (lie ufed, in difpofing 
 of her treafure, and in conferring honors ?— But king Jamf'-. 
 flood, in need of helps, to the want of \A'hich flie was fuperior. 
 
 A
 
 464 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 " A good government, fays one of our writers, makes a good 
 '' people." When a prince hath turned the fpirit of a nation 
 in his favor, he need not be folicitous about gaining particular 
 men ; but when he hath turned this fpirit againft him, he mud 
 employ all arts, even the loweft, to detach particular men 
 from the body of the people, and to make them ad by mo- 
 tives of private intereft againft the public fenfe. This is fa- 
 dion; and therefore whenever a court is induftrious to feduce, 
 to inveigle, to corrupt particular men, we may fecurely con- 
 clude, without waiting for any other fign, that fuch an admi- 
 
 niftration ftands on a fadious, not on a national bottom. 
 
 But to return to king James. 
 
 Whilst he negledled the affedlion and fought the reverence 
 of the public, he loft one, and was difappointed of the other. 
 His private and his public charader both fell into contempt. 
 Learning was the part upon which he valued himfelf. This 
 he ajffeded more than became a king, and broached, on every 
 occafion, in fuch a manner as would have mifbecome a fchool- 
 mafter. His pedantry was too much even for the age in which 
 he lived. It would be tedious to quote the part he took in 
 the conference at Hampton Court ; and in the theological 
 wrangles between the Gomarifts and Arminians ; or to go 
 about to prove, by fome inftances, what appeared in all his 
 words and actions ; what is univerfally allowed ; and what 
 
 the unkingly volume he left behind him teftifies Let us only 
 
 obferve, that the ridicule which arofe from hence, and which 
 fixed on him, was juft ; becaufe the merit of a chief governor 
 is wifely to fuper-intend the whole, and not to {hine in any 
 inferior clafs ; becaufe different and, in fome cafes perhaps, 
 oppolite talents, both natural and acquired, are neceffary to 
 move, and to regulate the movements of the machine of go- 
 vernment 3 in Ihort, becaufe as a good adjutant may make 
 
 a
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 465 
 
 a very bad general ; fo a great reader, and writer too, may 
 be a very ignorant king. 
 
 There were many other circumftances, which concurred 
 to lefi'en this prince in the eyes of his lubjeds and of all man- 
 kind ; as we fhall have occafion to obferve frequently in the 
 
 courfe of thcfe remarks. In the mean time, we fhall obferve 
 
 here, that the flatc he affefted, and the pompous titles he was 
 fond of, ferved to render his pufilanimity, which, with his 
 vanity, made up the main of his cbarader, more confpicuous, 
 
 and his perfon by confequence more contemptible. The ho- 
 
 ftilities between the Englifli and Spaniards continued, when 
 queen Elizabeth died. This great queen, not content to 
 have done herfelf and her fubjeds juflice, on many fignal oc- 
 cafions, put it likewife into their power to do themfelvcs ju- 
 ftice, by granting letters of reprifal on the fubjedls of Spain. 
 King James was fo fond of peace, that is, fo afraid of war, 
 that without flaying to be folicited on this head, or to be com- 
 plimented on his acceflion to the throne by the king of Spain, 
 he revoked thefe letters in a few weeks after he came into Eng- 
 land. He difarmed his fubjeds, before he had provided for 
 their better fecurity. He flopt them in the courfe of doing 
 themfelves juftice, before he was fure of obtaining reparation 
 for their paft lofles. The imprefTions which fuch a proceed- 
 ing muft make on the niinds of a trading people, arc eafily 
 felt. He, who had revoked thefe letters in fuch a manner, 
 was not likely to grant them on any other occafion. What 
 protedion therefore, and much lefs what encouragement to 
 trade could be expeded from a prince, wlio began his reign 
 by facrilicing this, the moft valuable intereft of his people, to 
 a foreign and hoftile nation ; to the mean arts of falfe policy, 
 
 and even to his fears? Again: one of the firft embnfiics 
 
 which king James fent abroad, was that of the earl of IIert^ 
 Vol, I. Goo ford
 
 466 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 FORD to Bruflels. A Dutch man of war meeting the fhip 
 which carried the ambaflador, refufed to ftrike * ; and having 
 offered this affront to the united croffcs, which had never been 
 offered to that of St. Georgr, went off with impunity. It is 
 faid that the ambaffador hindered the captain from afferting 
 the honor of the Britifh flag. But two things are certain ; 
 one, that queen Elizabeth would have feverely punifhed her 
 officer, and have exacted ample reparation from the States 
 General; the other, that king James did neither. This com- 
 monwealth had been railed by queen Elizabeth, and was 
 ftill in want of the fupport of England. The fovereignty of 
 her ftate had not been yet acknowledged by any of the powers 
 of Europe. How much the pacific temper of king James was 
 capable of bearing had not yet become fo apparent, as he made 
 it in the courfe of his reign. F"rom all which it is eafy to 
 colledt, that if he had demanded fatisfadion, he muft and 
 
 * N. B. This faft ftands in hiftory, as it is here related ; but having looked in- 
 to fir William Monson's naval trafts, we find it differently told He fays no- 
 thing of ftriking, or not ftriking the flag -, but confelTes that an affront was ofi'ered 
 by two Dutch men of war. He adds, that he fent for the captains on board his 
 fhip ; that he threatned to right himfelf upon them -, but that he difmiffed them at 
 the intreaty of my lord Hertford, on their excufing themfelves, and promifing 
 to punidi the off^enders. How feverely thefe offenders were punifhed may be col- 
 leded from hence. " One of thefe captains," fays fir William Monson, " was 
 '■ he, who fince that time committed a foul murder upon his majefty's fubjedts in 
 " Ireland, that were under proteftion." — If we had no other proofs of the indig- 
 nities offered to our nation by the Dutch, from the time of the accefTion of king 
 Jam£s the firft, than the memorials of this gentleman, they would be fufficient. 
 He complains of thefe indignities very much, and mentions feveral. In this very 
 tradl he affirms that the Hollanders took and burnt our fhips, and murdered our 
 men for trading to the ports of Flanders, whilfh they fuffered their own country- 
 men, even in our fight, to trade thither. The truth is, that our nation was infult- 
 ed with impunity, during this pacific reign, not only in Europe, but in every other 
 part of the world ; not only by the Dutch, but by other nations ; and that our go- 
 vernment fell from the higheft efteem into the loweft contempt. If therefore the 
 inftance we have quoted fhould be difputed, on the reprefentation of this fact by 
 fir William Monsom, an hundred others, and feveral of thera more flagrant, 
 might be foon produced. 
 
 would
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 467 
 
 would have received it. But the good prince was afraid, 
 where no fear was, and bore difhonorabJy what he might have 
 refcnted fafely ; nay, what he ought to liave refcnted in any 
 circumftances, and at any hazard. We are not to wonder if 
 fo poor a conduct as this foon brought king James into con- 
 tempt, mingled with indignation, amongft a people, eagerly 
 bent on commerce, and in whom high notions of honor and a 
 gallant fpirit had been infufed, by the example of queen Eli- 
 zabeth, and encouraged during the whole courfe of a long 
 reign. 
 
 These things, and feveral others of the fame kind, which 
 I omit, might however have been borne. The ridicule might 
 have appeared lefs in the eyes of men accuftomed to it. The 
 other faults might have been excufed, or foftened at Icaft, by 
 kopes of amendment. But there are fome things behind, which 
 no excufe would alleviate, nor any patience endure. We fliall 
 now bring them forward, and fhall fpeak of them under three 
 
 heads. The pretenfions fet up, and the attempts made 
 
 againft the freedom of this conftitution. The management 
 
 of parties. — The conduct of our national interefts abroad,, 
 againft the fenfc of the nation. 
 
 O o o 2 LET-
 
 468 R E M A R K S O N THE 
 
 1. E T T E R XX. 
 
 Fundamental principle, on which king James affeded 
 to eftabhfh his authority, was that of an hereditary 
 right to the crown. This facred right, according to the po- 
 litical creed which he impofed, was not to be contefted, much 
 lefs to be fet afide ; and yet this facred right was a mcer chi- 
 maera ; contradidled by the general tenor of cuftom from the 
 Norman invafion to his time ; by the declared fenfe of his 
 immediate predeceffors ; by many folemn proceedings of par- 
 liament ; and by the exprefs terms of law.— Two families (for 
 the race of Plantagenet was grafted on the Norman race, 
 and they may be reckoned properly as one) had furnifhed, 
 indeed, all our kings ; but this conftituted no hereditary right. 
 When a prince of the royal family, but in a degree remote 
 from the fucceflion, comes to the crown, in prejudice of the 
 next heir, hereditary right is violated as really as it would be, 
 if an abfolute ftranger to this family fucceeded. Such a prince 
 may have another, and we think a better right ; that, for in- 
 ftance, which is derived from a fettlement of the crown, made 
 by the authority of parliament ; but to fay he hath an heredi- 
 tary right, is the grofleft abufe of words imaginable. This 
 we think fo plain, that we fhould be afliamed to go about to 
 prove it ; and yet there are men, in this age of paradoxes, 
 either dull enough, or proftitute enough, to affert hereditary 
 a-ight, even in the cafe above-mentioned. 
 
 Our kings of the Norman race, were fo far from fucceed- 
 ing as next heirs to one another, and in a regular courfe of 
 defcent, that no inftance can be produced of the next heir's 
 
 fuc-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 469 
 
 fucceeding, which is not preceded and followed by inftanccs 
 
 of the next heir's being fct afide. Thus Edward the firfl 
 
 fucceedcd his father Henry the third ; but his father Hlnry 
 the third and his grandfither John had both been raifed ro 
 the throne, in plain defiance of hereditary right ; the right of 
 Arthur, nephew to John, and the right of Arthur's lifter, 
 coufin-german to Henry.— Edward the fecond fucceeded his 
 father Edward the firft ; but Edward the third depofed Ed- 
 ward the fecond; the parliament renounced all allegiance ro 
 him ; and Edward the third held the crown by a parliamen- 
 tary title, as much as William the third. — If we go up higher 
 than this aera, or defcend lower, we fhall find the examples 
 uniform. Examples, fufficient to countenance this pretenlion 
 of hereditary right to the crown of England, are to be found 
 no where. — But we haften to king James ; who raifed, or, if 
 you pleafe, revived this pretenfion, fo needlefly for himfelf, 
 and fo very unprofitably for his pofterity. 
 
 The Britifh race began in Henry the feventh ; and from 
 him alone king James derived that right, which lie aiTerted 
 in fuch pompous terms ; that undoubted right to the throne, 
 as he called it in his firft fpecch to parliament, which God, by 
 birthright and lineal defcent, had in fulnefs of time, provided 
 for him. Now furely, if ever any prince came to the crown 
 without the leaft color of hereditary right, it was Henry the 
 feventh. He had no pretence to it, even as heir of the houfe 
 of Lancafter. His wife might have fome, as heir of the hou/e 
 of York ; tho her hereditary title was not free from objcdions, 
 which the charader of Edward the fourth rendered probable ; 
 but the title of his wife had no regard paid to it either bv him, 
 or the parliament, in making this new fctrlemcnt. He gain- 
 ed the crown by the good will of the people. He kept it by 
 
 the
 
 470 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 the confirmation of parliament, and by his own ability. The 
 notional union of the two rofes was a much better expedient 
 for quiet than foundation of right. It took place in Henry 
 the eighth ; it was continued in his fuccelfors j and this nation 
 was willing it fhould continue in king James and his family. 
 But neither Henry the eighth, nor his fon Edward the fixth, 
 who might have done fo with much better grace, laid the fame 
 ftrefs on hereditary right as king James did. One of them 
 had rccourfe to parliament on every occafion, where the fuc- 
 ceflion to the crown was concerned ; and the other made no 
 fcruple of giving the crown by will to his coufin, in prejudice 
 of his lifter's right. This right, however, fuch as it was, pre- 
 vailed ; but the authority of parliament was called in aid by 
 Mary, to remove the objedion of illegitimacy, which lay 
 againft it. Elizabeth had fo Httle concern about hereditary 
 right, that flie neither held, nor defired to hold her crown by 
 any other tenure than the ftatute of the thirty-fifth of her fa- 
 ther's reign. In the thirteenth of her own reign, fhe declared 
 it by law high treafon, during her life, and a praemunire, 
 after her deceafe, to deny the power of parliament, in limiting 
 and binding the defcent and inheritance of the crown, or the 
 claims to it j and whatever private motives there were for put- 
 ing to death Mary, queen of Scotland, her claiming a right, 
 in oppofition to an ad: of parliament, was the foundation of 
 the public proceedings againft her. 
 
 Such examples, as we have quoted, ought to have fome 
 weight with king James. A prince, who had worn the crown 
 of Scotland, under fo many rtftraints, and in fo great penury, 
 might have contented himfelf, one would think, to hold that 
 of England, whofe penfioner he had been, by the fame tenure, 
 and to eftablifti his authority on the fame principles that had 
 
 I con-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 471 
 
 contented the bcft and greateft of his predcccfibrs ; but his 
 dellgns were as bad as tho/e of the very worft princes who 
 went before him. 
 
 Happily for Great Britain, he wanted the capacity of 
 Henry the feventh; the refolution of Henry the eighth ; and 
 the favorable opportunities which they had the luck to find, 
 or the art to contrive, of raifing prerogative, acquiring wealth, 
 and encroaching on liberty. 
 
 We obferved, in difcourfing on the reign of Henry the 
 fcventh, that he had laid the foundations of an exorbitant 
 power, before the nation was well aware of what he intend- 
 ed.— King [ames, on the contrary, fliewed his whole game 
 from the firft. Befides the pleafure, which his vanity found 
 in boafting of an abfolute, independent right to the crown, 
 inherent in himfelf, he imagined that the transition would be 
 eafy, and fo indeed it proved amongft many, from this to fome 
 other ufeful apophthegms. He hoped to get, and he did get, 
 an aft of recognition of his right of fuccefTion ; for we can- 
 not perfuade ourfelves, with Rapin, that he was indifferent 
 on this point : and tho this a6l, as well as the oath of fupre- 
 macy, which had been eftabliflied long before, and that of 
 allegiance, which was cftablifhed foon after, is in itfelf, as it 
 hath proved in effeft, but a feeble prop to fupport the pre- 
 tence of hereditary right ; yet king James certainly looked on 
 it as an admiilion of his claim, and meant a real advantage, 
 where the parliament very probably meant nothing more than 
 a compliment.— -This prince brought with him the true fpirit 
 of a mifHonary ; and, by preaching a new dodrine, endea- 
 vored to eftablifh a new power. From the notion of inde- 
 pendent right was deduced the notion of independent autho- 
 riry J a right fuperior to law ; an authority unbounded by it; 
 
 a
 
 472 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 a right, which could not be proved ; an authority, which 
 iTiio;ht not be defined.— The inference from both thefe was 
 obvious. This independent king muft be accountable to 
 God alone. He could not be accountable to man. 
 
 If this excellent fyflem of policy could have been generally 
 impofed, his facred majefty might have battened, with great eafe 
 and delight, in the full funHiine of arbitrary power ; and that 
 he fliould fucceed in impofing it, his own vanity and the fer~ 
 vile flattery of his minifters had made him to expeft. True 
 it is, that the language he held was not fo plain, nor the ef- 
 forts he made fo dired: and violent, in the beginning of his 
 reign, as they grew foon afterwards ; but yet, if we confider 
 the multitude of his proclamations ; the nature of fome ; the 
 fl:ile of all ; the obedience he exaded to them ; the adls of 
 power which he exercifed ; thofe which he eflayed ; and 
 many other particulars of his conduct, which for brevity we 
 omit ; we muft of courfe conclude, that he thought himfelf 
 fure, at that time, of laying the foundations, fince he pre- 
 pared to ere6l fo great a fuperftrufture. He was deceived. 
 Inftead of making his impofitions pafs on the people, he only 
 awakened their jealoufy. He had, in his own age, and he 
 hath, in ours, the demerit of beginning aftruggle between pre- 
 rogative and privilege ; and of eftablifliing a fort of warfare 
 between the prince and the people. But the fpirit of liberty 
 b:i filed a^l his defigns. The fpirit of liberty was not enervat- 
 ed by luxury in thofe days. It was not only alive, but vigo- 
 rous and adlive. It rofe in the nation, as that of fadion rofe 
 at court. The farne principle wiiich complied with queen 
 lii.iZABiiTH, relifted king James. The oppolition began as 
 foon as the invafion ; and tyranny was, at leaft, nipt in the 
 bud. 
 
 King
 
 H I S TO RY OF ENGLAND. 473 
 
 King James made one attempt, indeed, in the beginning 
 of his reign, which bid fairer for fiiccefs than any ot thofe 
 which he made afterwards ; and which, if it liad fiiccecdcd, 
 would have done the great work of his reign, by means more 
 filent and more dangerous ; more (bfc in appearance, and more 
 deadly in effect. We mean the attempt he made on the pri- 
 vileges of the houfe of commons, in the cafe oi eledions. In the 
 proclamation for calHng his firft parliament, he afiumed a new 
 and unjuftifiable prerogative, by his manner ol prcfcribing to 
 the eIed:ors and to the defied ; and by fubjedting both to fc- 
 vere penalties, if they failed, not only againft the laws and 
 ftatutes, but againft the purport, effed: and true meaning of 
 his proclamation. In the courfe of the feffion, he endeavored 
 to put this prerogative in execution, by iniifting firft, that the 
 commons fliould confer with the lords ; and when this was re- 
 fufed, that they fhould confer with the judges, on the merits 
 of an elecflion and return for the county of Buckingham, which 
 they had already heard and decided. If the king had pre- 
 vailed in this attempt of garbling the houfe of commons, he 
 would have prevailed very probably in that which he made 
 fome time afterwards, of imprifoning and punifliing the mem- 
 bers of it. Thus he might have intimidated tholb by (3ne 
 prerogative, whom he cou'd not exclude by the other. Such 
 an influence as muft have refultcd from hence, joined to that 
 which the executive power gives unavoidably to every king, 
 would foon have rendered the houfe of eomm.ons as depen- 
 dent upon him, as the houfe of lords at that time appeared 
 to be; for ifmopiey gets money, vvhicli will not, Vv'c luppofe, 
 be denied in this (iockjobbing age, it is no Ic.'s true, and per- 
 haps no Icfs vifihle, that influence begets influence. Now we 
 apprehend that, in this cafe, the barrier of liberty had been 
 totally dtftroycd, and that king James would have virtualiy 
 been in pofleflion of arbitrary power ; for whether the will of 
 Vol. i. P p p 'iu;
 
 474 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 the prince becomes a law, by force of prerogative, and indepen- 
 dently of parliament ; or whether it is made fo, upon every 
 occaiion, by the concurrence of parliament, arbitrary power is 
 alike eftabhflied. The only difterence lies here. Every de- 
 gree of this power, which is obtained without parliament, is 
 obtained againft the forms, as well as againft the fpirit of the 
 conflitution ; and muft therefore be obtained with difficulty, 
 and pofiefTed with danger. Whereas in the other method of ob- 
 taining and exercifing this power, by and with parliament, if 
 it can be obtained at all, the progrefs is eafy and fliort ; and 
 the pofleflion of it is fo far from being dangerous, that liberty 
 is difarmed, as well as opprefled, by this method ; that part 
 of the conftitution, which was inftituted to oppofe the en- 
 croachments of the crown, the mal-adminiftration of men in 
 power, and every other grievance, being influenced to abet 
 thefe encroachments, to fupport this mal-adminiftration, and 
 even to concur in impofing the grievances. National con- 
 currence can be acquired only by a good prince, and for good 
 purpofes ; bccaufe public good alone can be a national motive. 
 But king James was not ignorant that private good may be 
 rendered a fuperior motive to particular men, and that it is 
 morally poflible to make even parliaments fubfervient to the 
 vvorft purpofes of a court. Richard the fecond, by influen- 
 cing the eledions, and queen Mary, by corrupting the mem- 
 bers, had created fuch a dependence of the parliament on the 
 court, that tlie firft had well nigh eftablifhed, in fpight of all 
 other op})oiition, his abfolute power ; and that the latter was 
 able to fubvert what her father and her brother had done ; to 
 govern with the utmoft cruelty ; and to facrifice the interefts 
 of the nation to thofe of a hufband, whom fhe took againft the 
 general inclination of her people.— If therefore king James 
 could have created the fame dependence, he might have pro- 
 mifcd himfelf the fame fuccefs. hie might have governed in 
 
 great
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 475 
 
 great quiet and fafety, with the concurrence of j^arliamcnr, 
 tyrannically at home, and ignominioufly abroad. He might 
 have beggared the nation, as he beggared himfelF, and have 
 given an abfohite dominion over both to one infoJcnt and in- 
 capable minifter. But this concurrence could not be obtain- 
 ed ; becaufe the dependence of parliaments upon the kiii<^ 
 could not be created. By aflerting their privileges, thcv pre- 
 vented any dircd: and open influence of the crown. Had king' 
 James been rich, and it was in his power to have been fo ; had 
 luxury and the offspring of luxury, corruption, both which he 
 introduced, prevailed in the body of the people, an indired: 
 and private influence might have been tftablifhed ; this nation 
 might have been enflaved by the lenft beloved and moft-defpif- 
 ed of all her kings. But the king continued poor, and the 
 nation honeft; this indirect and private influence was either 
 not attempted, or attempted without effed ; and we are per- 
 fuaded that no advocate for it could have been found, even in 
 this reign, or the next. There were men wicked enough to 
 afcribe fuch powers to the king, as would have deflroycd 
 effed:ually the powers of parliament; bat there was no man 
 abfurd, as well as wicked enough, to allow thofe powers wh'ch 
 are given to parliament by the conftitution, and to argue lor 
 an expedient, which muft of courfe render them ine^ cctual, 
 or pervert them to purpofes oppofite to thc^fe for which they 
 were inflituted. Tiius liberty was prefcrvtd, by preferving the 
 independency of parliaments. The proceedings of the com- 
 mons, in the whole couife of the affair we have mentioned,. 
 were extremely moderate. They went farther, not only in- 
 expreflions and outward demonftrations of refpecl and fubmif- 
 fion, but in real compliances, than could have been expeded, 
 or that was perhaps flriftly right ; and when an expedient was 
 fallen upon to draw the king, with fomc reputation, out of 
 the contefl, they gave way to it, altho by admitting a writ 
 
 P p p 2 for
 
 476 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 for the elcdlion of a member, in the room of one whofe ele- 
 ction they had allowed, they fuffered a precedent to be efta- 
 bHfhed, which might be turned againfl them. But the fpirit 
 ot liberty, tho eafily alarmed, is flow to refent even great pro- 
 vocations, and to act with violence, even againft the word 
 princes. Repeated injuries, imminent and extreme danger 
 can alone bring things to fuch a pafs ; and no king of this 
 nation was ever diftreffed by his people, without receiving fre- 
 quent warnings, as well as accumulating infupportable griev- 
 ances. Kiilg James felt fome part of this diftrefs in procefs of 
 time. He defer ved it perhaps already. The commons how- 
 ever contented themfelves in an addrefs to him, to aflert their 
 privileges, and to complain of this invafion of them, amongfl 
 other grievances.— -The proceedings of parliament were carried 
 on in fubfequent feiTions, with the fame moderation and tem- 
 per. In that which followed the difcovery of the gunpowder 
 treafon, the oath of allegiance was impofed ; and this pledge 
 of fidelity, for the future, was the fole hardfliip, for fuch the 
 court ol Rome and a great number of that communion 
 efteemed it, which the Roman- catholic party drew on them- 
 felves by fo execrable an attempt. The parliament complied, 
 on this occafion, with the king, probably againll their own 
 fentiments ; fince nothing could be more different than his 
 notions and theirs, concerning the condud: to be held with 
 papifts, and even concerning popery itfelf; and fince the fa- 
 vor he fhewed, not to fay the court he made to this party, 
 had already created greit uneafinefs, and began to be a moft 
 
 unpopular part of his government. He had no war on his 
 
 hands, and his revenues were at leaf! as confiderable as thofe of 
 the late queen. The commons however gave him one of the 
 greateil: lupplies which had ever been given in parliament ; and 
 upon this occalion it may not be improper to obferve, in con- 
 firmation of what "we have advanced already, that the natu- 
 3 ■ ral
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 477 
 
 ral bent of the people, to live well with their kings, is To 
 ftrong, that parliaments under no other influence than tliis, 
 will negledl nothing to gain them ; nay, that a prince like king 
 James, difliked, diftruftcd, defpifed, may prevail on his parlia- 
 ment, for a time, and till all hopes of gaining him are lofr, 
 to do as well as bear in his favor, what would not be attempt- 
 ed in a better reign, nor fucceed, perhaps, ii it was attempted. 
 
 His defign of uniting the two kingdoms of England and 
 Scotland failed. It was too great an undertaking for fo bad a 
 workman. We muft think that the general arguments againft 
 it were grounded on prejudice ; on hdfe and narrow notions. 
 But there were other reafons, drawn from the jealoufies of that 
 time, and from the conduct of the king, who had beforehand 
 declared all the poft-nati, or perfons born fince his acceflion 
 to the Englifh throne, naturalized in the two kingdoms ; and 
 thefe were, without doubt, the true reafons which prevailed 
 againft the union. — The next time the parliament affembled, 
 to proceed on buflnefs, was in the year 16 10, and by that 
 time the general difcontent of the nation began to fhew itfelf 
 in loud and univerfal murmurs. Some monopolies, the rigid 
 and impolitic proceedings of the high- com miffion court and 
 ftar-chamber, and many other caufes, combined to raife them. 
 But no particular grievance either had, or defervcd to have, fo 
 great an effe^l as the continual endeavors which were ufed to 
 eftablifli practices and principles, abfolutely deftru6livc of the 
 general conftitution of the Englifh government.-— Such was 
 the attempt made by Bancroft, archbifhop of Canterbury, 
 when he prefented the twenty-five articles, comn^only called 
 Articuli cleri, and petitioned the king to grant prohibitions 
 upon them.-— Such again were the b'ooks publiflied by Cowel 
 and Blackwood, averting that the king is neither bound by 
 the laws, nor by his coronation-oath ; that he hath a' right to 
 
 * ■ * • ' make
 
 478 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 make laws and impofe taxes, without the confent of parlia- 
 ment ; and that the nation was reduced to a ftate of flavery 
 
 by the Norman conqueft. Such, to conclude this head, were 
 
 the many a6ts which the king himfelf had done, and the many 
 declarations which he had made ; nay, fuch was the declara- 
 tion he made in this very parliament, when he affirmed that 
 alcho " all kings, who are not tyrants, or perjured, will bound 
 " themfelves within the limits of their laws ; yet as it is blaf- 
 '* phemy to difpute what God may do, fo it is fedition in fub- 
 ** jeds to difpute what a king may do in the height of his power.'* 
 — Thefe dodtrines were new, ungrateful and fhocking to 
 EngHfh ears ; yet the parliament kept in temper, and bore 
 fuch language from this fearful, bullying prince, as the fierceft 
 of his predeceflbrs, fince Richard the fccoud, had never pre- 
 fumed to hold. They took no notice of Bancroft, nor pur- 
 fued any farther meafures againfl: Cowel and Blackwood, 
 after thefe libels had been called in by proclamation, and the 
 reading of them had been forbid. Nay, there was a fubfidy 
 granted in this very feffion, with as little pretence as there had 
 been for granting the former. — All this temper, fubmiffion 
 and generofiity of the parliament were lofl: on the king. They 
 would not connive at grievances, nor facrihce liberty ; and 
 thofe were the only terms, upon which an union with him was 
 to be obtained. — From the year 1610 to 1614, he held no 
 parliament ; and it is evident, that he would never have called 
 another, if his minifters could have fupplied his profu{ion by 
 all the illegal and oppreffive means, which they ufed to raiie 
 money on the people, and which we forbear to enumerate, 
 becaufe the mofl partial writers, who have endeavored to ex- 
 tufe them, have not prefumed to deny them.-— Even under 
 this neceility, he did not take the refolution of calling a new 
 parliament, till he was prevailed on by his favorite, Somerset, 
 who had formed a fcheme foY influencing the eledions, and, at 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 479 
 
 the head of feveral other undertakers, flattered himfclf and 
 his mafter, that he could get fuch members ehofen, " * as 
 " fliould comply folely to the king's defires." But this pro- 
 |e6l proved abortive. '♦ The Englidi freedom cannot be loft," 
 fays WjLSON ; and may his faying prove true to all future ge- 
 nerations! " by a few bafe and tame fpirits, that would un- 
 " make themfelves and their pofterity, to aggrandize one man." 
 It happened to king Jamks, as it happened to his fon. Dif- 
 grace at court proved a recommendation in the country ; and 
 the faces which appeared in this new parliament, made thC 
 countenance of the court to droop. 
 
 From this time began that condudl, on the part of the court, 
 and on the part of the parliament, which continued to be held, 
 with very fatal uniformity, till it ended in a civil war. That 
 the people had reafon to be jealous of the defigns of the court, 
 hath appeared and will appear ftill more flagrantly in the fe- 
 quel ; but that the court had at this time, nay even in the 
 month of May 1640, when king Charles diffolved the laft 
 parliament he had it in his power to dilTolve, any reafon to be 
 jealous of the parliament, or the people, we deny ; and are 
 able to juftify our denial by fad and authority ; even the au- 
 thority of my lord Clarendon. But the father and the 
 
 fon, and efpecialiy the former, having no end in calling their 
 parliaments but to get money from their people, and to evade 
 rather than refufe, the rcdrefs of grievances ; the art of the 
 court was conflantly employed, under pretence of the urgency 
 of affairs, and in the parliament of 161 4, without any pre- 
 tence at all, to get the fubfidies firfl: difpatched. The com- 
 mons, on the other lide, who knew for what they were called 
 together, and who expecled that little time would be allov/cd tliem 
 
 * Wilson. 
 
 to
 
 480 REMARKSONTHE 
 
 to enquire into mal-adminiftration and to reprefent grievances, 
 when they had once given the money, infifted for the moft 
 part, tor there happened occafions, in which they did not in- 
 fift, that the coniiJeration of grievances fhould precede, or at 
 leafl: go an equal pace with that of the fupply. This was the 
 rock on which fo many parhaments fplit. This alone occa- 
 fioned the diflblution of that we are fpeaking of, and made 
 king James refolve, tho he could not fupport his refolution to 
 the end of his reign, to govern by his prerogative alone, and 
 without the afliftance of his parliament ; that is, to avow ab- 
 Iblute power. 
 
 LET-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 481 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 IN our laft difcourfe, concerning the pretenfions fct up, and 
 the attempts made by king James againft the freedom ot 
 the Englidi conftitution, we carried the(c remarks dovvn to the 
 year ibi^. We chofe to flop there, becaufe it feems to be 
 the very diametrical point of oppoiition, or a point very near to 
 that, between the government of this prince and the go- 
 verment of queen Elizabeth, which we have fo largely 
 
 infifted upon. The diftrufl: between him and his people 
 
 was now entirely formed. His ofteniive and their dtfen- 
 five pretenfions were now fully explained. An union ot 
 affedion between him and his people, which the latter ftill 
 defired and had long courted, was now grown defperate. An 
 union, unworthy of a free people, a fadious union between the 
 parliament and the court, founded in the dependence and fub- 
 mifTion of the former, and fo much affeded by the latter, 
 was after many trials become evidently impradicable The 
 king, as he had managed affliirs, could never govern with par- 
 liament, nor without it ; and thofe powers, which are defigii- 
 ed to be mutual helps, were turned to be mutual clogs on 
 one another, ; not by any deviation on the fide of the people, 
 or of their reprefentatives, from the true line of government ; 
 but by a manifeft and almoft continual deviation trom it, on 
 the fide of the crown. 
 
 Thus were thofe great diforders in government and that 
 national confulion raifed, which in a few years more deflroy- 
 ed the whole conPiitution. In ihori, that melancholy fceiie, 
 which had been preparing ever fince ihe acceflion of king 
 James, Wiis opened about this tinie, and continued open with 
 
 Vol. I. Q^ q q lew
 
 482 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 few variations, every one of v/hich was for the worfe, till that 
 tragedy began, wherein the nobleft as well as the nieaneft 
 blood in the nation was fhed fo profufely, and with the be- 
 ginning of which we purpofe to conclude thefe remarks. 
 
 We have charged the whole, and we think very juftly, to 
 the account of king James ; who attempted to govern Eng- 
 land by foreign, not by Englifh maxims ; nay, by fuch as he 
 was unable to govern his own country. Sure we are, that no 
 part of it can be laid to the conftitution, or people of Eng- 
 land. The conftitution was the fame in his time as in the 
 time of aueen Elizabeth; and the peoj?!e claimed under him, 
 no other privileges, nor powers, than they had enjoyed under 
 her. It was his fault, not theirs, if by treading in the fame 
 path, which had kept them united with her, they were divid- 
 ed from him. Thefe are points, on which we think it pro- 
 per to iniift a little more in this place, in order to caft a greater 
 light on the particulars which follow, and to avoid any prolix 
 repetitions, when we come to wind up the whole. 
 
 King James had opened the parliament, which met in 
 1614, by afking money for the portion and other expences 
 of his daughter's marriage to the elector Palatine, and pro- 
 mifed the commons leave and leifure to enquire into grievan- 
 ces, vt/hen they had complied with this demand ; but diftrufl, 
 the bane of all harmony, prevailed amongfl: them, as it is plain 
 even from this conditional promife that it prevailed with him, 
 and they rcfolved to begin the work of the fellion by a repre- 
 fentation of grievances. 
 
 A PRINCIPAL article in this roll was the growth of popery, 
 encouraged no doubt by feveral paflliges in the condud: of king 
 Jame<^, and particularly by two ; his employing not only ful- 
 
 pedled.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ^S^ 
 
 peeled, but known Roman-catholics, in offices of the highefi: 
 triifl; and confequencc ; and his avowed dcfign of marrying 
 his fon to fome princefs of that rch'gion Shall we fay, in the 
 ftile of king James, that it was prcfumjnion in the commons 
 to meddle in fuch deep matters of flatc ? Shall we not rather 
 think it was prefumption in the prince to determine a matter 
 of this importance to the public welfare, to the prcfent and to 
 future generations, without the advice, nay ngainft the opi- 
 nion of the great council of the nation ? ijhall we not rather 
 applaud the wifdom and forefight, as well as the virtue of 
 thofe men, who difcovered the fruit in the feed ; whole minds 
 foreboded all the mifchievous confequences of fuch an alliance, 
 and who did their utmoft to prevent the true, original caufe 
 of our greateft misfortunes ? 
 
 Under another head of grievances, complained of at this 
 time, were the monopolies, and many illegal cxadiions of 
 money from the people. The parliament had the more rcafon 
 to lofe no time, and to fpare no endeavors in putting a ftop 
 to thefe encroachments on liberty, becaufe the longer they 
 lafted, the more familiar they grew. The court improved in 
 the pradice ot them. The people, v.ho fubmitted to them 
 by force, might have been brought to fiibmit to them by cu- 
 ftom, end the king might become able in time to fupply his 
 wants without the affiftance of parliament ; a cafe almoft .is 
 defperate as that of his being able to fupply them when, in 
 what manner, and in what proportions he thought fit, by the 
 affiftance of parlian.ent. We fay almoft as defperate, on the 
 principles touched in our laft letter ; for, in the firrt place, if 
 king James could have hipplicd his wants without parlia- 
 ments, he would certainly have cal ed none, and the condi- 
 tion of this nation had been worfe than that of Spain, of 
 France, and of otl:er nations, whofe examples have been ab- 
 
 Q^q q 2 furd y
 
 484 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 furdiy enough quoted, to juftify thefe arbitrary methods of 
 railing money, and to induce mankind to fubmit to them, 
 in France, for inftance, the people muft fuffer ; but they 
 may complain. Their mouths are open ; that is, their par- 
 liaments may reprefent, and even remonftrate ; nay, they 
 have gone fo far, as to refufe with fi^ccefs to rcgifter and give 
 the neceilary forms of a law to an edi6l of the prince, which 
 they judged oppreflive to the people. But if king James had 
 prevailed, he would have governed without even thefe fhadows 
 of a parliament. The people muft have fuffered and could 
 not have complained. Their fole mouth, the mouth of par- 
 liament, would have been ftopped, and redrefs of grievances 
 being no longer attainable by the applications cl their repre- 
 fentative body, which would have no longer exiftcd, they muft 
 have fubmitted tamely and filently, or have fought a remedy 
 in their colledivc body, which can only a6k by refiftance and 
 force. This fituation would have been bad enough, God 
 knows ; yet not fo bad as the other ; for, in the fecond place, 
 if the parliament had been made dependent on the crown, no 
 matter by what kind of influence ; vvhether by the diftribu- 
 tion of honors, the tranflation of bifliops, the corrupting the 
 eltdlors and the eleded, or the other methods kiiig James 
 took, the mouth of the people had not been ftopped indeed ; 
 but it had been formed to fpeak another language than that of 
 the heart The pecp'e muft have fuiTered, and the parlia- 
 ment muft have rejoiced. — If tliey had felt an increasing load 
 of debt, the parliament muft have tcftified o^reat fatisfadion at 
 the diminution of it. — If they had felt thedecay of trade, and 
 the growth of national poverty, the parliament muft have 
 bo.ifl.ed of the wealth and ftorifhing ftate of the kingdom. --- 
 If they had fcen the intereft and honor of the nation, as they 
 faw it too often, ncgleded or ficrificcd, the parliament muft 
 have exulted in the triumphs of both.-— In ft:iort, fuch a de- 
 
 pcnaing
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 485. 
 
 pending parliament mufl: not only have connived at the griev- 
 ances ol: their country, but have fandified them too. They 
 muft not only have borne the rod, but have kilTed it too ; not 
 only the rod of their prince, but the rod of fome upUart mini- 
 ftcr, who owed his elevation to his diflionor, and his favor to 
 his fhame.— But as the integrity of parliament fecured the na- 
 tion from any danger of this kind; fo the neceilities of the 
 king were the great lecurity againfi: any danger of the other. — 
 Was the parliament therefore to blame, who oppofcd ftrenu- 
 oufly every innovation fet on foo:, to lelTen this fecurity ? 
 
 A THIRD grievance, which the parliament dcfired to have 
 redrefied, was that incredible waftc, which kiiig James made 
 of the revenues of the crown. Theie revenues were, at that 
 time, fo much more than fufficient for all the ordinary occa- 
 iions of the government, that queen Elizaeeth, who had fa 
 many extraordinary occafions of expence, who paid fo many 
 old debts, without contracting new, and atchieved luch gh)ri- 
 ous enterprizes abroad, as well as at home, did not receive in 
 grants from her people above * four millions in more than forty 
 years.— If king James, who had no extraordinary occafions of 
 expence, who paid no debts, who atchieved no glorious enter- 
 prizes any where, had neither afked money, nor raifed it with- 
 out afking, the fquandering his revenue had not probably come 
 under debate in parliam.ent ; but, fince he expected that the 
 people fliould provide for his debts, and fapply his neceilities,. 
 it was juft that the reprefentativcs of the people flioulJ exa- 
 mine how they were contra&d. The immenle efiates, which 
 were made in thefe days at court, the known corruption not 
 
 * We do not want to be told that the value of money was very different a: that 
 time from what it is now ; but the we admit of the highefl calciiLitions, this fnm 
 will appear fiirprinngiy fmall ior fo many years, when compared with the profufion 
 and extravagance o! ibme latter reigns. 
 
 only
 
 486 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 only of inferior agents, but of principal minifters, and even of 
 thofe who were at the head of the treafury, made fuch an ex- 
 amination the more necefTary, and provoked and excited the 
 more to it. The houfe of commons would have thought that 
 they had betrayed their truft, if they had neglected fo impor- 
 tant a part of it. By the proceedings, as well as declara- 
 tions of the parliaments in thefe times, it is plain that they 
 thought they had not an arbitrary, but only a conditional 
 power, over the purfe of the nation, tho the firings of it were 
 in their hands ; that they were to tax the people in no greater 
 proportion than was flri^lly necelTary to fupport the honor and 
 intereft of the nation, and the dignity of the crown ; that 
 they could make no judgment concerning this proportion, if 
 they had not a full communication of the nature of the fer- 
 vice, for which extraordinary aids were demanded; and if they 
 did not examine before they granted thefe aids, how the ordi- 
 nary revenues and any precedent, extraordinary grants had 
 been appHcd. Such maxims as thefe will not be condemned, 
 we prefume. They have been always profefled and frequent- 
 ly purfued, from the time we fpeak of, down to the age in 
 which we live. Since the reign of king William the third, 
 our princes have indeed flood on a different foot. They have 
 had a diflind: revenue afligned to them for their particular ufe. 
 The annual expences and the debts of the nation have been 
 feparately provided for by parliament ; and yet not only the 
 management and application of thefe annual grants, but alfo 
 the immenfe property of the creditors of the public have 
 been left to tlie crown, as the management and application 
 of thofe revenues were, which belonged properly to the crown, 
 and bv deiiciencics, on which the crown, not the nation, u as 
 immediately affedted. It is no wonder therefore if our par- 
 liaments have thought themfelves obliged, fince this great al- 
 teration, fometimes by committees, and fometimes by extra- 
 ordinary
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 487 
 
 ordinary commillions, to infped: more narrowly into revenues, 
 which are l-lill managed by the officers oF the crovvn, thothev 
 make no longer any part of the eftate of the crown ; and wc 
 perfuade ourleh'es that no honeft man would be forry, if the 
 vvifdom oi our prefent reprefcntatives Hiould think ht to make 
 any inquifitions of the fame nature ; but even before this ake- 
 ration, before the fettlement of a civil lift, and when our 
 princes ftood on the fame foot as King James the iirft, with 
 refped: to their private and public revenue, the maxims wc 
 fpeak of were purfucd on many occafions, and always with 
 the univerfal applaufe of the people. In tl^.e reign of king 
 Charles the fecond, for inftancc, our whig-patriots endea- 
 vored not only to detcd and puniOi frauds and abufes, by 
 enquiries into the management of the public money, but to 
 prevent them likewife, by appropriating what they gave to 
 the ufes for which it was given ; and thus much we think 
 may fuffice, to clear the condud: of the parliament of 16 14 
 from any imputations on this head. 
 
 Let us mention, in this place, one grievance more, which 
 we have touched upon in another. A former parliament had 
 taken fome notice of it, and this parliament would probably 
 have taken more, if the king had allowed them time. The 
 dodlrines which eftablifhed the unbounded and ineffable pre- 
 rogative of the king ; which reduced the privileges of parlia- 
 ment to be no longer an antient and undoubted right and in- 
 heritance, but derived them from the permiflion and tolera- 
 tion of the crown, and declared them liable to be retrenched 
 at the will of the prince ; and which by neceffary-confequcnce 
 changed at once the nature of the EngliOi conftitution, from 
 that of a free to that of an arbitrary government • all thefe do- 
 ftrines, we fay, or the principle^, on which they were eftablifh- 
 ed, had been already [ublicly and frequently aftertcd by king 
 
 James, 
 
 3
 
 488 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 James. They were the language of the court ; and a party 
 liad been formed in ths nation, who made profeffion of them. 
 They were maintained in converfation. They were pleaded 
 for in print ; and they became foon afterwards the difgrace 
 and prophanation of the pulpit. 
 
 We have foraetimes compared, in our thoughts, thefe ufur- 
 
 pations of king James over the privileges oi his people to thofe 
 
 of the popes, which gave that prince fo much offence, over 
 
 the rights of the emperors, and indeed over the civil rights of 
 
 mankind. Charlemagne had made thefe priefts princes. 
 
 They continued for about two hundred and fixty years, to 
 
 fubmit, in the main, to thofe rules, which the imperial con- 
 
 ftitutions and ecclefiaftical cuftoms had eftablifhed ; after 
 
 which they ftarted, at once, out of thefe bounds. They would 
 
 be limited pontiffs no longer, but arbitrary high priefts, like 
 
 the dairo of Japan, fomething more than human, and civil as 
 
 well as ecclefiaftical tyrants. Tliey fcorned to go to tyranny 
 
 by decrees, but carried their ufurpations at one leap to the 
 
 vitmoft pitch of extravagance. Alexander the fecond denied 
 
 the right of the emperors to chufe, or to confirm the election 
 
 of a pope. His fucceffor took the inveftitures from them. 
 
 Henry the fourth aflerted the imperial rights, in oppofition 
 
 to this invafion ; but Gregory the feventh afterted in oppo- 
 
 iition to him, that Rome was the capital of the world ; that 
 
 the pope was independent of all powers on earth ; that kings 
 
 and emperors were liable to be depofed by the plenitude of his 
 
 authority. The pope was believed by many, on his word ; 
 
 and there were more, who found their private account in 
 
 iireming to believe him. Fadions were raifcd to maintain 
 
 thefe principles. They were confecrated by the church. They 
 
 prevailed in thofe days. More than hvc centuries were not 
 
 iiifiicicnt to abolilli the practice, and more than fix have not 
 
 been
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 489 
 
 been fufEcient to extirpate the principle. True it is, tliat thefe 
 popes had feveral advantages, which king James had not; and, 
 amongft: others, the minority of Henry the fourth at the 
 time when they began this monftrous iifurpation ; whereas 
 when king James fet up his pretenfions, and tallv^d, and writ 
 of prerogative, in terms as ridiculous and full of as much 
 bombaft: as thofe which the briefs and other pubhc ads ofHiL- 
 DEBRAND Contained, the commons oi England were grown up 
 to a full maturity of property and power. Shall we condemn 
 them for endeavoring to prefcrve the principles of liberty, that 
 they might preferve the fpirit ; of it and by prcfervmg the 
 Ipirit, deferve and fecure the continuance oi (o great a blef- 
 fing ? Should an Englifh parliament have fat quiet and {ilent, 
 in humble dependence on the prince, whilfl: flavery in fpecu- 
 lation, as wel as pradtice, was making fuch large advances ; 
 whilft the laws of the land, the laws of nature, and thofe of 
 God himfclf were perverted to impofe a yoke of bafe and fer- 
 vile prejudices on the underftandings and confcicnces of man- 
 kind ? VV'e think not. Sure we are that our parliaments have 
 been always watchful to cenfure and explode, in time, fuch 
 do6lrines as might, even by indudion and confequence, weaken 
 the foundation of liberty. The inflances ol this kind are fo 
 well known, and fome of them fo recent, that we need not 
 quote them. But, in order to juflify ftill farther the fenfe and 
 condudl of our forefathers, let us appeal even to the prefent 
 fenfe of mankind. We all know that there are mercenary 
 and abandoned wretches amongft us, who have dared to plead 
 for a dependence of the parliament on the crown ; not for that 
 dependence of the feveral parts of the government on one 
 another, v/hich our'conftitution hath formed, and on the pre- 
 lervation of which the freedom of our p-overnment intirelv 
 refts; but for the moft indired, the moft iniquitous, as well 
 Vol I. R r r as
 
 490 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 as dangerous dependence imaginable ; for a dependence, to be 
 created by corruption, which muft always produce effetls as 
 infamous as its caufe. Corruption, we fay, hath been defend- 
 ed, nay, recommended, for we will repeat the affertion, as a 
 neceflfary expedient of government The reprefentation of the 
 country by the independent gentlemen of tlie country, hath 
 been faucily and aukwardly ridiculed ; as if a bill, to prevent 
 all perfons, who have neither places nor penfions, from fitting 
 in parliament, was proper to be paffed, and thofe falutary laws, 
 which are in force for preventing perfons who have places and 
 penfions from fitting there, were as proper to be repealed. 
 Nay, thefe incendiaries, who go about to deftroy our confti- 
 tution, have not blufhed in the fime breath to admit that 
 ftanding armies have been generally the inftruments of over- 
 turning free governments, and to affirm that a ffanding army 
 is neceflary to be kept up in ours ; if you afk them againll 
 whom, they anfvver you very frankly, againft the people ; if 
 you afk them why, they anfwer you with the fame franknefs, 
 becaufe of the levity and inconftancy of the people. This is 
 the evil ; an army is the remedy. Our army is not defigned, 
 according to thefe dodors of flavery, agaiuft the enemies of the 
 nation, but againft the nation. We are confident that the 
 prefent army is incapable of being employed to fuch purpofes, 
 and abhors an imputation, which might have been juifly caft 
 on Cromwell's army, but is very unjuftly infinuated againft 
 the prefent. 
 
 Now let us fuppofe that the time was come, when the par- 
 hament fliould think fit to ccnfure and put a ftop to the in- 
 fluence of fuch writings as thefe ; would any honeft man, if 
 he laid his hand upon his heart, difipprove their proceedings? 
 On the contrary, would not every man, who wiOied that the 
 
 con-
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 491 
 
 cjnftitution of this government niiglit be prcfcrved, applniid 
 fuch meafurcs nnd blcfs the rcprefcntatives of his country for 
 their zeal againfl: the betrayers of it ? 
 
 Upon the whole matter, we tliink it very j'bin that the 
 alarm, which was taken at the propagation of thcfe infamous 
 doctrines, in the reign of king |amks the fiifl:, is abund.uitly 
 juflilicd not only by the examples of other parliaments, but by 
 the general fenle of mankind in all ages. 
 
 Whenever the fundamentals of a free government are at- 
 tacked, or any other fchemes, ruinous to the general intcrtft 
 of a nation, are purfued ; the beft fervice that can be done to 
 fuch a nation, and even to the prince, is to conm-.ence an early 
 and vigorous oppofition to them ; for the event will always 
 ihew, as we fhall foon fee in the prefcnt cafe, that thofe who 
 form an oppofition in this manner, are the trucl^ friends to 
 both, however they may be fligmatized at firfl: with odious 
 names, which belong more properly to thofe who throw the 
 dirt at them. 
 
 If the oppofition begin late, or be carried on more faintly, 
 than the exigency requires, the tvil will grow ; nay it will 
 grow the more by fuch an oppofition, till it becomes a* length 
 too inveterate for the ordinary methods of cure ; and when- 
 ever that happens ; whenever ufurpations on national liberty 
 are grown too flrong to be checked by thefe ordinarv m^thod"^, 
 the people are reduced to this alternative : They niufl cither 
 fubmit to flavery and beggary, the worft of all political evils; 
 or they mufl: endeavor to prevent the impending milchief by 
 open force and rcfiftance, which is an evil but one degree lefs 
 eligible than the other. But when the oppofition is begun 
 
 R r r 2 carlv
 
 492 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 eirly and carried on vigoroily, there is tinic to obtain redrefs 
 of grievances, and put a flop to fuch ufurpations by thofc 
 gentle and fate methods, which their conftitution hath pro- 
 vided J methods, which may and hiive often proved fatal to 
 wicked minifters, but can never prove fatal to the prince him- 
 
 feli. He is never in danger but when thefe methods, which 
 
 all arbitrary courts diflike, are too long delayed. 
 
 The mofl: plaufible objedion to fuch proceedings, and by 
 which well-meaning men are frequently made the bubbles of 
 thofe who have the worft defigns, arifes from a falfe notion of 
 moderation. True political moderation conlifts in not oppo- 
 (ing the meafures of government, except when great and na- 
 tional intereils are at flake ; and when that is the cafe, m op- 
 poling them with luch a degree of warmth, as is adequate to 
 the nature of the evil, to the circumftances of danger attend- 
 ing it, and even to thofe of opportunity. To oppofe upon 
 any other foot ; to oppofe things which are not blame-worthy, 
 or which are of no material confequence to the national inte- 
 reft, with fuch violence as may diforder the harmony of go- 
 vernment, is certainly fatlion ; but it is likewife fadlion, and 
 fadlion of the worft kind, either not to oppofe at all, or not 
 to oppofe in earneft, when points of the greateft importance 
 to the nation are concerned. 
 
 The truth oi all this reafoning will be confirmed by what 
 remains to be faid of king James and king Charles the firft. 
 
 If there had not been an early and honeft oppoiition, in 
 
 defence of national liberty, againft king James, his reign 
 would have fufficed to eftablifli him in the feat of arbitrary 
 
 power. If the oppofition had been more generally backed 
 
 with the weight of the nation in due time ; if the court had 
 
 not
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 49 
 
 rot been able to divide men againfl: their general intercff, 
 x.)pon principles of prerogative and liberty, king Jamils mufl: 
 have complied in time ; the conflitutioa woulti iiavc been 
 refetrled on its right foundation ; his family would have been 
 prefcrvcd ; all our nationnl calamities would have been pre- 
 vented ; and the fins of the court might have been expiated 
 
 by the punilbment of one or two of the miniftcrs. But a 
 
 prerogative party having been nurfed up fiom the beginning, 
 and gained llrength in the whole courfe of king James's 
 reign, the ftrength of the nation was divided, and the con- 
 teft continued h long between the king and the people, that 
 refeniment and paffion and prejudice and iaction took place 
 on all fides. The foft and gentle methods of cure, which 
 our conilitutian had provided, became impraclicablc, A 
 provolccd people fought their remedy in refinance. A civil 
 war followed. The Englifh government was fubverted, in- 
 ftead of being reformed. 
 
 What hath been laid will ferve to juftify the condu<ft of 
 the parliament, as well as the general alarm, which the 
 nation had taken in 1614. Thefe were the crimes, the hei- 
 nous, unpardonable crimes, for which king James dilfolved 
 this parliament, with fo much indignation, after they had 
 fat but a few weeks, and had not tim.e given them to pa(s 
 even one law. Thefe were the crimes, for which he confin- 
 ed to the Tower and other prifons, and punifhed in other 
 ways, fo many of the moft adive members. Laftiv, thefe 
 were the crimes, which made him rcfolvc, what he had be- 
 fore attempted, to govern without parliament.-— -The parti- 
 cular confequences of thefe meafiires will appear in our next 
 let'er, when we come to conlider his condud: ot our na- 
 tional interefls abroad, againH: the fenfe of the nation ; 
 
 in
 
 494 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 in which period of time, the foreign affairs are fo intermixed 
 with parliamentary and domeftic affairs, that we (hall not 
 divide them, but fpeak of them together, having firft very 
 briefly made our obfervations on his management of par- 
 ties. 
 
 LET-
 
 I 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 495 
 
 LETTER XXII 
 
 N letter XVIII, we have fpoken of the ftate of parties at 
 ^^ the accellion of king [ames. We are now to make our 
 oblervations on his management of them. It is neceffary we 
 fliould do this, in order to give a complete and juft idea of his 
 government ; and yet fo much hath been faid on the fuhjcft 
 by writers of all denominations, and even by ourfches, that 
 there remains but very little to be added, either for curioiity, 
 or inflrudion. 
 
 We might obferve how he drew himfelf into fome trouble, 
 if-not danger, and expofed himfelf to the necefTity ot lliedding 
 fome blood, in the very firft months of his reign, by cfpouf- 
 ing the pafllons of a party ; by difgracing and profcribing 
 men, who had no crime at that time towards him but their 
 attachment to the late queen ; by avowing the caufe of the 
 earl of Essex, whofe defigns had been, no doubt, as treafon- 
 able, at leaf!:, and as chimerical too, as thofe into which he 
 drove Grey, Cobham and Raleigh, or which were imputed 
 to them. 
 
 Several other anecdotes, concerning fadions at court and 
 parties in the nation, might be colleded and remarked upon. 
 Ikit we fhall pafs them over, and confine ourfelves to obferve, 
 in a very few inftances, how he adapted his particular manage- 
 ment of parties to the general and main defign ot his policy ; 
 what frrength he acquired ; v^hat Arength he loft by tliis con 
 dud ; and what contefts he entailed on poftcrity. 
 
 TlIERP
 
 496 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 There were no parties, at this time, in the nation, but 
 fuch as were formed on religious differences ; and it had been 
 a great objedt of the policy of queen Elizabeth, to keep all 
 parties within thofe bounds. We know the maxims on which 
 {he proceeded, by a letter of fir Francis Walsimgham, writ 
 exprefly on this fubjedt. She thought that " confciences were 
 '' not to be forced, but won and reduced by truth, time, in- 
 " firudion and perfuaiion ; and that caufes of confcience 
 " lofe their nature, when they exceed their bounds and grow 
 
 " matter of faction." By keeping to thefe maxims, llie fuc- 
 
 ceeded. The parties in the church made none in the ftate. 
 They were obliged to live in due fubjedion to laws, wifely 
 made and moderately exercifed. They were never punifhed, 
 whilft they continued in this fubjedion, much lefs were they 
 provoked or encouraged to go out of it. The powers of the 
 church were applied to the fupport of the eftablifhment, not 
 rendered fubfervient to any fadious defigns of the court ; and 
 eccleliaftical violence was retrained from confirming the ob- 
 fliinacy of thofe who diffented, by perfecution of them, cr 
 from increafing their numbers, by perfecution of others. 
 
 Directly oppofite to this condud was that of king [amfs. 
 
 In hafle to fhew his parts, he had a conference between 
 
 the bifhops and the puritan niiniflers at Hampton- court, in a 
 few months after his acceflion ; where he made himfelf a 
 principal party in the difpute. His courtiers flattered him, 
 and archbifliop Whitgift, who died foon afterwards, and 
 probably doated then, declared himfelf " verily perfuadcd that 
 *' the king fpake by the fpirit of God." But furely fuch a con- 
 fidence, however it might frighten and filence, could neither 
 inftrud, nor perfuade ; and the king was fo far from trulting, 
 like his predeceflbr, to the force of truth and the aid of time, 
 that in this very conference he threatened to employ another 
 
 kind
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 497 
 
 kind of force, if he did not meet with compliance in a time to 
 be limited. The bifhops were at firft to admonifli paternally 
 and to confer amicably ; but left they flioiild not fuccced by 
 preaching, writing and living men into conformity, the fo'e 
 means they ought to defire ; or, if they dcfired others, the folc 
 means they ought to be fuffered to employ, they were to have 
 
 recourfe to compulfton afterwards. The fame fpirit reigned 
 
 in the firft fpeech which this prince made to his parliament ; 
 for there he not only malTed together, imprudently as well as 
 iinjuftly, all the diflenters from the eftablifhed church, under 
 the general denomination of puritans and novelills, but he 
 declared them all " infulferable in any well-governed com- 
 " mon-wealth :" fo that he put them all out of his protection, 
 even tho they confined themfelves within thofe bounds, to 
 which caufes of confcience may reafonably extend, and pro- 
 fcribed them for their opinions, not their practices. 
 
 On thefe principles he proceeded, and what we have faid 
 here may fuffice, upon this head, for his whole reign.-— -The 
 confequence of this condud: was that thofe fedls, who were 
 not dangerous at firft, became fo at lafl. They became fo^ 
 in fome degree, from the moment the declarations we have 
 mentioned were made : for nothing is found more true in na- 
 ture and experience than this ; that they who are oppred'cd by 
 governments, will endeavor to change them ; and that he who 
 makes himfelf terrible to multitudes, will have multitudes tj 
 fear. But this was not all. As he made thefe feCls his ene- 
 mies, fo he gave them great advantages of popularity a''d 
 flrength. The firft of thefe advantao-es, which we iball take 
 
 CD D ' 
 
 notice of, arofe from the great indulgence he fhewcd to the 
 Roman catholics, and the favorable fentimcnts of that reli- 
 gion, which he exprefTed on all private, and many public oc- 
 caiions. We need not defcend into the particular inftances ; 
 Vol. L S ff for
 
 49^ R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 for tho we give liitle credit to Deageant's memoirs in gene- 
 ral, and none to what he fays of a letter, written by king 
 Tames to the pope, acknowledging him vicar ot Christ and 
 htad of the church ; yet is there a multitude of other proofs, 
 too notorious and too well fupported to be denied. — We think 
 it plain, upon the whole matter, that feveral paffages in his 
 condud, both before and after his coming into England, were 
 unworthy of a proteflant king at any time, and were equally 
 impolitic at this time, when the zeal of papifts to attack, and 
 of proteftants to defend the reformation was at the higheft 
 pitch ; and when even the leafl condefcenlion on either fide, 
 would have been thought little lefs than apoftacy. Fear for 
 his perfon, and little notions of policy were probably the mo- 
 tives, which determined this part of his condudl: ; but what- 
 ever the motives were, the erfe6t was certainly this. He made 
 the caufe of the court to pafs amongft: many for the caufe of 
 popery ; and it was not hard by confcquence for the puri- 
 tans, who were opprefled by the court, to make their caufe 
 pafs for that of the reformation. We are far from thinking 
 that this was properly the cafe on either fide ; but the appear- 
 ances were firong enough to fix fach prejudices in the minds 
 of men, already prepared by jealoufy and fufpicion. This 
 advantage, fo foolifhiy given, operated ftrongly againft the 
 court, both in this reign and the next. In this it was applied 
 to no ill purpofts. In the next, it was very wickedly im- 
 proved ; but they who gave it firft, and who continued to give 
 it afterwards, are iuftly to be reputed the accomplices of thofe 
 who improved it fo wickedly, how much foever they ftood in 
 oppofition to one another. 
 
 A SECOND advantage of popularity and Arength, which king 
 James gave to the puritans, was this: He ranked amongfl: 
 their party, nay he drove into that party, as much as he was 
 
 able
 
 H I S T O R Y O F E N G L A N D. 499 
 
 able by fevcre ufage, all thofe who ftood up in defence even 
 of civil liberty. The averlion wiiich lie cxprclfcd to the pu- 
 ritans, formed a kind of league between him and the warmeft 
 of the eftabliflied clergy ; and when thcfe were once become 
 a court party, we are not to wonder if others grew as warm 
 as thefe, and if the greateft part of that body of men united 
 in a caufe which flattered their paflions, and opened the road 
 of preferment to them. No king no bifliop, was the language 
 of the court. No bifhop no king, was that of the churcli. 
 Had the monarchy and the hierarchy been attacked, this unit- 
 ed zeal in a common caufe would have been commendable 
 and fuccefsful too ; for the nation was not now, nor for a long 
 time afterwards, fo difl:empered, that any fridion could raife 
 it's head with efled: againil the jufi: prerogative of the crown 
 and the eftablifhcd rights of the church. But the truth re- 
 quires we fliould fay, that this union was formed to offend 
 and invade, and to extend both beyond the bounds prcfcribcd 
 to them by the Englifli conflitution. It was great blindncfs 
 in the clergy not to fee that to enlarge the bottom of tiie court, 
 they narrowed their own ; that they fixed a center of union, 
 wherein all their divided enemies would meet and unite with 
 many, who were then friends to the church, but might come, 
 as it happened afterwards, from being againft the clergy to be 
 againft the church itfelf It was a great misfortune to the na- 
 tion, that the clergy did not lee thefe truths in time ; fince if 
 they had fecn them, they might have been happy inflrumtnts 
 of preventing that mifchief which followed foon after the tin".e 
 we fpeak of, and that divilion of interefls between the crown 
 and the people, which was created by king James, and hath 
 proved fo fatal to his poflerity.--- But to return.— -By a cop.- 
 trary conduct, by efpoufing and ianclilying the pri[iciplcs and 
 by promoting the meafures ol king [aah:?, the clergy became 
 p:u-t of the fadlion of the court, and fliarcd very unjuflly the 
 
 S f f 2 im-
 
 SCO R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 imputation of favoring popery, but very juflly that of advanc- 
 ing tyranny. This was a fecond advantage, vhich king James 
 gave to the puritans. He varnifhed their caufe with popula- 
 rity, and he increafed their numbers. He made puritans in 
 his time, as Janfenifts have been fince made in France, and 
 Jacobites in Britain, by calling men fo and by treating them as 
 
 luch. They mufh have been fharp fighted, indeed, of whom 
 
 my lord Clarendon fpeaks, and who could difcern " the re- 
 '' bellion contriving from, if not before, the death of queen 
 *' Elizabeth ;" but they mufl; be quite blind, who do not 
 difcern the feeds of rebellion fowing in every part of the con- 
 duvfl of king James, and particularly in this which we have 
 now touched j the management of parties.. 
 
 These evils were aggravated, and the confequences of them 
 were precipitated by his conducing our national interefts 
 abroad againft the fenfe of the nation. 
 
 During the firfi: period, into which we divide this reigoj 
 that is, to the year 1614, king James meddled little, and, to 
 fay the truth, had little occafion to meddle in foreign affairs. 
 
 The treaty which he made with Spain in 1604, had been 
 
 much cenfured, and iir C. Cornwallis, in a letter to the lord 
 Cranburne, afierts *' that England never loft fuch an opportu- 
 " nity of winning honor and wealth unto it, as by relinquifhi- 
 " ing the war againft an exhaufted kingdom and a prince 
 " held in little veneration for fuffering himfelf to be wholly 
 " governed by a man generally hated." This treaty, how- 
 ever, was not probably fo bad as it had been reprefented, and 
 the commerce opened with Spain became a fource of inex- 
 hauftible riches to our nation ; but ftill there was fomething 
 prepoilerous and mean in the condudl of king James abroad, 
 even whilft he had fo little to do there, and fo fafe a part to 
 
 ad.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 501 
 
 aft. He courted that very power, tlie power of Spain, whom 
 queen Elizabeth liad broke, and who would have courted 
 him, if he had known how to put fo much as dignity in his 
 proceedings. He difobhged the Dutch, whofc power had 
 been raifcd by queen Elizabeth, ami who muft liavc conti- 
 nued to depend on him, if he had known how to be cither 
 a friend, or an enemy ; and yet he bore moft ignominioufly 
 from this very people the greatefl; injuries and affronts imagi- 
 nable. He had neither the courage to chaftife this infant ftate, 
 nor the fenfe to protedl it. Their treaty with their old ma- 
 kers, the Spaniards, began in the year 1607 ; was continued 
 in 1608; and ended in 1609, in a truce of twelve years. 
 During the whole courfe of this long negotiation, king James 
 fliewed his partiality in favor of the Spaniards ; and tho he 
 figned, about this time, two treaties with the States as fove- 
 reigns ; yet he made no fcruple, upon fome occafions, of de- 
 claring them rebels. The death of the duke of Cleves, and 
 
 the difputes about that fucceffion, prefented to Henry the 
 fourth an opportunity he waited for ; and he was ready, 
 when Ravaillac ftabbed him, to attack the houfe of Auftria, 
 whofe power in Germany began once more to give imibrage, 
 tho Rodolphus the fecond was ftill on the imperial throne. 
 King James left his troops with the Dutch, notwithftanding 
 the truce. They were employed in this quarrel •. and we can- 
 not think him to blame for taking no farther part in the hofti- 
 lities. His views were, and they ought to have been, at this 
 time, and in this refpedl, very different from thofe of that he- 
 roical king of France. But in the new fcene of German af- 
 fairs, which opened a few years afterwards, and which con- 
 tinued, during the lad: period of his reign, that is, from the 
 year 16 14, nothing could be more fcandalous than his taking 
 
 no part at all, except his taking the part he did take. Tln't 
 
 lis fhould have made himfeJf a principal in that terrible war,. 
 
 whichi
 
 502 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 which broke out in Germany in 1618, and which lafted thirty 
 years, we cannot perfuade ourfelves ; neither do we believe 
 that any man, who does not take up his opinions on truft, but 
 examines this intricate and perplexed part of the hiftory of the 
 laft century with care, will be of another mind ; and yet king 
 James mufl: have made himfelf a principal in this war, if he 
 had engaged in it, as he was advifed by fome to engage, and 
 as he hath been blamed by many for not engaging. — The cen- 
 fures, under which he hath pafled on this occafion, would 
 have been jufter, if thofe who have made them, had diftin- 
 guiflied better between the patrimony of his children, by de- 
 fending the Palatinate, and promoting their grandeur, by fe- 
 conding their ambition ; between contributing to fupport the 
 proteflant intereft abroad, and taking on his flioulders a load, 
 which it was neither reafonable nor pofTible that he fhould 
 bear ; between that condud", which he ought to have held, as 
 king of this ifland, and that which he might have been ob- 
 liged to hold, if his dominions had lain on the continent. Our 
 writings will not pafs, we believe, for apologies in favor of 
 king James ; and yet we fliall explain this point a little lefs to 
 his difadvantage, perhaps, than it hath been ufually taken. 
 
 If king James had followed the advice of thofe who would 
 have had him enter into an immediate war to maintain the 
 eledor Palatine on the throne of Bohemia, he muft have ex- 
 haufted and ruined this nation to fupport it. He muft have 
 furniflied fubfidies to Bethlem Gabor and the prince of An- 
 fpach ; he muft have fed the war in Hungary ; fomented the 
 revolt in Auftria ; paid the army of the princes of the union; 
 oppoftd the duke of Bavaria in Bohemia, and Spinola in the 
 
 Palatinate. Let us conlider in oppolition to whom, and in 
 
 concert with whom, he muft have carried on this vaft under- 
 taking. — On one fide, the whole popifh intereft in the empire 
 
 X was
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 903 
 
 was clofc]}' united, and the caufc of Ferdinand was the com- 
 mon caule of the party. The popifh intcreft, out of the em- 
 pire, confpired in the fame caufe. The king of Poland ailift- 
 ed the emperor in Hungary. Troops from Italy and a great 
 army Irom the Netherlands acled for him in Germany. The 
 purfe of the pope and that of the king of Spain were open to 
 him. Even France, who ought in good policy to have oppof- 
 ed the houfe of Auftria, was induced, by the bigotry of her 
 court and, perhaps, by the private intereft of LuiNts, to de- 
 clare for the emperor againft the king of Bohemia.-— On the 
 other fide, the proteftant intereft, in the empire, was far from 
 being clofely united, and farther ftill from making the caufc 
 of Frederic the common caufe of the party. Even the 
 princes of the union had different views ; many of them lean- 
 ed to the emperor ; none of them could be intirely depended 
 upon ; and the eledor of Saxony, the moft powerful of the 
 proteftant princes of the empire, was fo far from uniting with 
 the others, that he was firft privately, and afterwards openly, 
 but all along very fteadily on the fide of Ferdinand. Out 
 oi the empire, fjme affiftance might have been expected from 
 the king of Denmark and the Dutch ; but even their accef 
 lion muft have been purchafed ; at leaft, it muft have been 
 made ufeful, at the expence of Britain. What other allies 
 could king James have hoped for; and who can fee, without 
 fmiling, in that godly prelate, archbifhop Abbot's letter to fir 
 Robert Naunton, the name of the duke of BouiHon, to- 
 gether with Tremouille, a rich prince in France, mentioned 
 upon fuch an occafion ?---Short and imperfed: as the account 
 we have given is, thofe who know the ftate of Europe at 
 the time we fpeak of, know that it is true j and if we were 
 to look no farther than the reprcfentations made by Juliana of 
 Naffau to her fon, againft his accepting the crown of Bohemia, 
 vvc fhould difcover in them, with the true and final reafor.s 
 
 why
 
 504 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 why king James did not aflift Frederic at all, unanfwerable 
 reafons why he ought not to have taken upon him the Bohe- 
 mian quarrel in the manner he muft have taken it, if he had 
 taken it upon him at that tiir^e. That king James fhould have 
 prepared for this florm, which was long in gathering ; that he 
 fhould have labored to unite and to fortify the proteftants of 
 Germany^ before it happened ; and to comfort and fuccour 
 and protect them, after it happened ; that he had many fair 
 opportunities of doing this, without engaging farther than the 
 intereft of Britain allowed ; and that he negledied them all, 
 
 we admit, and are able to fliew. He might have put him- 
 
 felf on fuch a foot in Europe, as to have mediated at leaft, 
 which was the only part he attempted to a61:, fuccefsfully for 
 the Bohemians, and to have fcreened his fon- in-law from the 
 vengeance of the emperor, and the ambition of the duke of 
 Bavaria. But he put himfelf on fuch a foot, and he acquired 
 fuch a character, that he had no credit among the proteftants, 
 nor much influence over his fon-in-law, and that the Roman- 
 catholic party, fure of amufing him, neglecfted and defpifed 
 him. He might have declined taking the Bohemian quarrel 
 upon him, and yet not have made his court to the emperor 
 and the king of Spain, by difavowing and condemning Fre- 
 deric, and even by fuffering them not only to drive this 
 prince out of Bohemia, but to take the Palatinate from him 
 and his family, and give a wound, almoft mortal, to the 
 whtile proteftant caufe in Germany. Nay, he did worfe. By 
 foolifli embaflies and ridiculous negotiations, he gave time and 
 furniflied advantages, which could not have been had without 
 his aflifrance, to the popifh party. By the fame means he 
 checked, he weakened, he difcouraged, and more than once 
 difarmed the proteftant party. In fhort, not only the princi- 
 ples of his condud were wrong, but the meafures of it com- 
 pofcd fuch a feries of blunders as we feldom find in hiftory ; 
 
 becaufe
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 505 
 
 bccaufc it is hardly poiliblc, in the courfe of nature, tliat fuch 
 characters, in fuch lituations, fliould appear above once in a 
 century. 
 
 It may be objeded, perhaps, by fomc of the writers, who 
 adorn and inftrud the prefent age, that king James was uni- 
 verfally and julTily condemned for not taking the Bohemian 
 quarrel upon him, as well as for not defending the Palatinate; 
 and that he muft have purfued, in the lafl: cafe, the fune mca- 
 fures as we think him juftified for not purfuing in the former. 
 We fhall not refute this objedion by fhewing, as it would be 
 eaiy for iis to do, in various particulars, the prodigious diffe- 
 rence between the two cafes ; the infuperable difficulties he 
 would have encountered in one, and the many facilities he 
 would have had in the other. The dedudion would be too 
 long and extenfive for the narrow limits of thefc eflays. But 
 we fhall content ourfelves with making two obfervations, fufR- 
 cient to fatisfy any reafonable man, and which will fhew, at 
 the fame time, what different notions of the part this nation 
 ought to take in foreign affairs, were entertained by our fore- 
 fathers, from thofe, which we, their wifer offspring, have pur- 
 fued. When king James took the refolution of calling the 
 parlian:ient, which fat in 1621, the battle of Prague was loft, 
 and Bohemia too with it. The * affedions of the people were 
 raifed, but it was for the recovery of the Palatinate ; and in 
 this point the fenfe of the parliament went along with the af- 
 fedions of the people. On the other point, the fenfe of the 
 parliament hod not been exprefkd, there having been no par- 
 liament held from the year 16 14 till this time. But what 
 this fenfe would have been, may be eafily colleded, from the 
 advice given in the petition and remonftrance of the commons 
 
 * See Rusri. coll. 
 
 Vol. I. T t t at
 
 5o6 R li M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 at this time. As zealous as tliey were to engage even in a war, 
 for recovering the Palatinate, they were not enough tranf- 
 ported by their zeal, or enough biailed in favor of any foreign 
 intereft, to forget the true intereft of Britain. They advifed 
 "the kino; to a war : but they advifed him not to reft upon a 
 war in thofe parts only, which would confume his treafure and 
 difcourage his people. They advifed that the bent of this war 
 might be againft that prince, the king of Spain, whofe armies 
 and treafures had iirft diverted and fmce maintained the war 
 in the Palatinate. On which lide now was the fenfe of the 
 nation ; and how impertinent are they who have quoted this 
 fenfe, to authorize our taking part in every German quarrel, 
 by paying fubfidies, maintaining armies, and involving our- 
 felves in all the affairs of the continent ? How monftrous is 
 the abfurdity and impudence of * thofe who have aflerted that 
 the cafe of the people of the Palatinate, invaded by a power- 
 ful enemy, who pretended to nothing lefs than the conqueft 
 of them, is parallel to that of the people of Hanover, invaded 
 by no body, and over whom no foreign power pretends to any 
 dominion I— The parliament pointed out to king James a mea- 
 fure effectual for fupporting the proteftant intereft abroad ; but 
 fuch a meafure as this nation might purfue by exerting her na- 
 tural ftrength.— The power of Spain fupportcd the emperor 
 and the popifh league ; an army of Spain conquered the Pa- 
 latinate ; and yet the artifices of that court deluded king James 
 to fuch a degree, that he dreamed of recovering the patrimony 
 of his children by the good offices of the Spaniards, and was 
 incapable of purfuing in earneft, any other meafures, even at 
 the time when Spingla was ftripping them of this patri- 
 mony, and reducing them to feek their bread in another 
 country. To this dependence in Spain he facrificed not 
 only them, but his own honor, the affedion of his fub- 
 * Sec obfervations on the prefent ftate of affairs. 
 
 jeds,
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 507 
 
 jecls, the profpcrity of his kingdoms, and the fccurity of the 
 proteflant religion. It was this magic charm, which the par- 
 liament endeavored in vain to diilblve, by prtfling him to a 
 war with Spain, which his maritime force could have carried 
 on principally ; which would have flopped that fource from 
 whence the popifh party in Germany derived fo many fup- 
 plics ; and which would Iiave rendered the proteftant party, 
 by confequence, a more equal match for the emperor.— But this 
 was not the fole wife and honert: view, which the parliament 
 propofed, by pointing out and infifting on this meafure. There 
 was another, which touched them more nearly, and which 
 they had more at heart. We fhall mention it in our next 
 difcourfe, and it will lead us from our obfervations on this 
 reign to thofe few on the next, with which we intend to clofe, 
 at leaft for the prefent, all our remarks on the hiftory of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 T 1 1 2 LET-
 
 5o8 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 L E T T E R XXIIL 
 
 ANOTHER object, befides recovering the Palatinate, 
 which the parliament had in view, when they prefled 
 king James to break with Spain, was preventino; the marriage 
 of the prince of Wales to the infanta. He had been bantered 
 and abufed by the Spaniards, when he treated a marriage be- 
 tween his eldeft fon, prince Henry, and Anne of Auftria ; 
 and yet no fooner did the duke of Lerma, in the year 1616, 
 make fome overtures of marrying the infanta Mary, fecond 
 daughter of Philip the third, to prince Charles, but this So- 
 lomon of ours catched at the biit which was thrown out to 
 him, and hung faft on the hook for feven years together. 
 
 The fcheme of farther ufurpations in Germany was already 
 laid by the houfe of Auftria ; and the characfter of Ferdi- 
 nand, who was to fucceed Matthias, and who did fucceed 
 him three years afterwards, gave hopes of pufhing thefe ufur- 
 pations with vigor and advantage. — The part of Spain had 
 been great in promoting thefe defigns. It was effential to their 
 fuccefs that it fhould be fo likewife in the execution of them. 
 No oppofition, of any moment, was to be apprehended from 
 France, where the principles of defpotifm and of bigot-popery 
 prevailed more than ever, and who had concluded, in the 
 year 1615, a double marriage with Spain. The truce of 
 twelve years, made with the Dutch in 1609, would enable 
 the Spaniards to fupport the popi/li league from the low coun- 
 tries, as in all cafes they might do from Italy ; and if they 
 could keep the king of Great Britain from diverting the forces 
 of Spain in the mean time, there was reafon to hope that thefe 
 
 6 united
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 509 
 
 united powers might conquer both the Palatinates, as well as 
 Bohemia, and break the force of the protcflant league in Ger- 
 many, before the expiration of the truce and the renewal of 
 the war with the united provinces of the low countries fhould 
 create another diverfion.— This was a principal part of the 
 plan laid by the houfe of Auftria and the other roman catho- 
 lic princes, for opprelling the proteftants and invading the li- 
 berties of Germany. To the eternal infamy of king James, 
 
 it fucceeded even beyond the hopes of thofc who laid it. 
 
 The hints which Djgdy gave him in the very beginning of this 
 negotiation, might have put him on his guard, and a thoufand 
 things, which happened in the courfe of it, would have unde- 
 ceived, provoked and determined any other man. His pre- 
 furaption, his fear, and, above all, his perverfe fyftem of po- 
 licy, prevented any effeds of thefe kinds. We forbear enter- 
 ing into the particulars of what he did for Spain; ot what he 
 fuffered Spain to do ; and of all the indignities, which he 
 received from every branch of the houfe of Auftria, dur- 
 incr thefe tranfadions. Moft of them have been obferved, 
 and are fufficiently known ; and it would be an unneceflar)' 
 work to point out fome few inftances more, which have not 
 been, perhaps, taken notice of, or explained as much as they 
 deferved. We fliall fpare ourfelves and our readers this dif- 
 agreeable recolledion, and only obferve in general the plan 
 upon which king James appears to have aded ; as we have 
 obferved what the plan was of thofe who made fo fatal an ufe 
 of his weaknefs. His filly pride could not be fatisfied, unlefs 
 he matched his fon with a daughter of Spain, or France. He 
 had been difappointed formerly on that fide, and lately on this. 
 He was refolved at any rate not to be difappointed a third 
 time. The immenfe fum which had been promifed for the in- 
 fanta's portion, tempted him the more, becaufc for feveral 
 years he would call no parliament to grant him fupplies, and 
 
 he
 
 5IO REMARKS ON THE 
 
 he found it hard to raife them, even in fmall proportions, with- 
 out a parHament. He imagined vainly, that this alliance with 
 Spain would give him great confideration abroad ; and wicked- 
 ly, that it would afford him means of raifing and extending 
 his prerogative at home. He faw the mifchiefs which accrued 
 to the proteflant interefl: abroad, either as immediate, or as 
 remote e£Fe6ls of his condudl ; either in confequence of what 
 he did, or in confequence of Vv^hat he negleded ; and we are 
 willing to believe that he felt, in fome degree, thofe which 
 fell on the family into which he had married his daughter. 
 But the interefl: of the proteftants in general touched him 
 little. Abroad, as well as at home, he chofe rather by con- 
 defcenfions and fubmiflions to court his enemies, than to unite 
 his friends among one another, and to attach them to himfelf. 
 In his zeal for the imaginary rights of princes, he could not 
 forgive the elector Palatinate for taking arms againfl: the em- 
 peror ; and whilft he looked on him as a rebel, forgot that he 
 was his fon. If he remembered it at any time, and felt any 
 concern, the fentiment was furely very faint ; fince we find 
 that the diftant and uncertain profpedt of making fome toler- 
 able compofition for this unhappy prince, by the interceflion 
 of Spain, was always fufficient to calm his paternal folicitude. 
 He faw, without doubt, at leafl: during the life of Philip the 
 third, who did not die till the year 1621, that Spain was not 
 much in earncft to give him the infanta j but he feemed re- 
 folved to overcome all difficulties, and to determine the coun- 
 cils of Spain, and even of Rome, in his favor, by dint of con- 
 ceflions. The truth is, he went fo far in his conce/Iions at 
 lafl:, that thefe councils feemed to be determined. Thofe of 
 Spain, at leaft, were fo mofl: certainly in the year 1623, even 
 before the voyage of the prince into Spain ; and the articles 
 fworn to both by him when he was there, and by his father 
 here, amounted to little lefs than a dired eftabliihment of 
 
 popery.
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 51c 
 
 popery. That this charge is juft will, we think, appear evi^ 
 dent, when it {h;ill be remembered, without cntcrinor into 
 more particulars, that by thcfe articles the king and prince of 
 Wales engaged for the fufpenfion, and even abrogation of all 
 laws made againft Roman catholics ; that they engaged never 
 to confent to the making any new laws of the fame kind ; 
 and that, as the children to be born of this marriige were to 
 be educated by their mother, till ten years of age, in compli- 
 ance with the king of Spain's demands ; fo the prince was 
 prevailed on to promife that he would lengthen this term till 
 twelve years, according to the defirc of the pope. 
 
 Thus was king James amufed till the beginning of the year 
 1623, when the Upper palatinate and the dignity of clecflor 
 were taken from Frederic and conferred on the duke of Ba- 
 varia, by the diet of Ratifbon : or, to fpeak more properly, by 
 the prerogative of Ferdinand, who aftcd in the diet as dog- 
 matically and as abfolutely as king James endeavored to adl in 
 his parliaments. When this point was gained by amufing 
 king James, and the proteftant intereft was broken in Ger- 
 many ; the next point was to be carried by concluding with 
 him and making the match on fuch terms, as might fecure an 
 immediate toleration, and open the profped: of a future efla- 
 
 blifhment of popery in this kingdom. The parliament of 
 
 1621 beheld part of this fcene, and apprehended, upon very 
 juft grounds, the fequel. They faw the fatal confequences of 
 the negotiation, whilft it was in fufpence, and they dreaded 
 thofe which would follow the conclufion of it. To flop the 
 firft, and to prevent the laft, there was but one expedient ; the 
 forcing king James into a war, for recovering the palatinate. 
 This they endeavored with all their might ; but he meant no- 
 thing lefs, and had called a parliament purely to get money 
 from his people, on pretence of a war he was refolved not 
 
 to
 
 512 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 to make; Some money he got by this trick ; but when he 
 had fquandered it away in trifling negotiations and a ridicu- 
 lous fhew of war, he could get no more : fo that this parHa- 
 ment ended as others had done, and even with greater diffatif- 
 fadion between the king and the people, both on account of his 
 condudling foreign affairs againft the interefl: and ienfe of the 
 nation, and of his attacking more openly than ever the privileges 
 of parliament. The parliament remonftrated, petitioned, pro- 
 tefted. The king diflolved the parliament in a rage; impri- 
 foned feveral members of the houfe of commons, and even 
 fome of the houfe of lords. He refumed his projed: of govern- 
 ing without parliaments, lince he could not govern as ill as he 
 had a mind to govern with them. But this projed- was not 
 purfued above two years ; for what his parliament could not 
 obtain from him, an unworthy favorite did obtain. Motives 
 of private intereft, and perhaps of a worfe nature, m.ade that 
 great turn in affairs, which fo many motives of a public na- 
 ture and of national intereft had never been able to make. In 
 fhort, a cabal at court prevailed on this prince to alter his 
 condud in thole very points, on which the parliament, fe- 
 conded by the clamors of the whole nation, had been never 
 able to prevail. ---We fhall not attempt to guefs, as many have 
 done, at the fecret reafons, which determined Buckingham, 
 nor at thofe by which he determined the prince of Wales to 
 undertake the romantic and, in every light, ridiculous journey 
 into Spain, to carry the treaty of marriage to a concluflon ; 
 then to break it off again in fo abrupt and ungracious a man- 
 ner ; and to become fo earneft for engaging in a war with 
 Spain. Whatever thefe reafons were, the reafon given for 
 breaking the match was not the true one. The reftitution 
 of the Palatinate had been very cooly preffed, not to fw 
 neglcded, even whilft the prince was at Madrid ; and yet after 
 he came from thence, the king of Spain had figned an ad, by 
 
 which
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 513 
 
 which he engaged for this reftitution : fo that on tlic principles 
 on which this negotiation had been conducted, there fecincd 
 to be no reafon For breaking it ofl' given by Spain at the time 
 when it was broken. But the parHament wliich king Jamk> 
 called upon this occaiion, proceeded like the laH", on other 
 principles than the court had done, and was therefore, very con - 
 fiftently with thefe principles, ready to fcize the opportunity 
 offered, by adviling the king to break the match, and enter 
 into a war for recovering the Palatinate, and by giving hint 
 very large fupplies for this purpofe.— We cannot, upon this 
 occafion, fubfcribe to the cenfure pafTed by my lord Claren- 
 don, how much foever we efteem his hiftory, and honor the 
 memory of that noble hiftorian ; for in the firfl: place, the fup- 
 plies given by this laft parliament of king James, were not 
 only very large, as we have juft now faid, but they were fuch 
 as the king was contented with, and thanked the parliament 
 for, in his anfwer to the fpeaker of the houfc ot commons. Se- 
 condly, we cannot agree that it was the parliament, properly 
 fpcaking, who prevailed on the king, and engaged him in the 
 war. The parliament advifed him to it indeed ; but nothing 
 can be more manifefl: than this, even by my lord Clarendon's 
 own account, that the meafure was refolved on before, and that 
 it was the meafure of the prince and of Buckingham, which 
 the king, however unwillingly, adopted. The parliament in 
 truth did no more than advife him to break a treaty which he 
 had already broken; and thofe who reflect on precedent paf- 
 fages, will eafily concur with us, that if this had not been the 
 cafe, it would not have been in the power of the parliament 
 to break the match ; much lefs to engage the king in the war. 
 Thirdly, if fubfequent parliaments did not fupport thofe great 
 mountains of promifes, as they are called, v/hich this parlia- 
 ment raifed, we fliall venture to affirm that it was the fault of 
 the court, not of the parliaments. 
 
 Vol, I. U u u This
 
 51+ REMARKS ON THE 
 
 This laft article requires to be fet in a very clear light, be- 
 caufe it opens to us a iburce of caufes, from whence a great 
 part of the mifchiets, which followed in ihe next reign, arofe ; 
 or by which, at leaf!:, they were aggravated and precipitated. 
 
 Firft, therciore, we obferve that the meafures of the court 
 
 were fo foolifhly taken for pufhing the war, that if parlia- 
 OiCnts had given by millions, and given with as little ftint in 
 thofe days, as they have given fince, their grants muft have 
 been ineffedual to any good purpofe. Juft before the death 
 of king James, an army had been railed for the Palatinate 
 war, under the command of the famous Mansfeldt. The 
 French iirft and the Dutch afterwards refufed paflage to thefe 
 troops, or even to fuffer them to land. The cry of the court 
 was loud againft the perfidy of France, as it had been againft 
 the emperor and Spain in their turns. This will be always the 
 cafe, when filly minillers bungle themfelves into difficulties, of 
 which others make their profit ; or when they knavifhly en- 
 gage a national quarrel for fome private, indired: intereft, and 
 inflame the people to refent imaginary injuries. But the truth 
 is, that king James had nobody to blame but himfelf, when 
 he took general and ambiguous anfwers for fufficient engage- 
 ments, and did not fee that France would refufe paflage to> 
 thcfe troops for the fame reafons as made her decline enteringj, 
 at that time, into a league againft the houfe of Auftria. 
 
 . Another blunder committed about the fame time^ by 
 this wife king, and that wife minifter, his fcholar, Bucking- 
 ham, muft be mentioned. He was to take pofleffion of Fran- 
 kendal, v/hich had been depofited in the hands of the infanta 
 Isabella. The infanta agreed to yield the place to him, 
 and to give paflage to his troops, who were to compofe the 
 garrifon, according to her engagements; but refufed to anfwer 
 for their pafl^ige over the lands of the empire, to which fhe. 
 
 was
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 515 
 
 was not engaged. Then, and not till then, he made this dif- 
 covery in geography, that his troops mufl: march over the lands 
 of the empire to get from the Low Countries into the Palati- 
 nate. Such blunders as thefe were fufficient to difgull the 
 parliaments ot that age, and to make them backward in fup- 
 plying a war thus managed. Much more rcafon had they to 
 be fo, when they faw the fame managers and the fame ma- 
 nagement continue in the next reign. This difguft at the 
 management of the war, however, would not have produced 
 fo many fatal confequences, if it had flood alone. But we 
 obferve, in the fecond place, that the parliaments, which met 
 after the accefTion of king Charles, became incenfed, as they 
 difcovered more and more that the account given by the duke 
 of Buckingham, in the reign of king James, and on which 
 the refolutions of that parliament had been taken, was falfe in 
 almofl: every point. A fyflem of lies drefled up to deceive the 
 nation, and impofed on the parliament, could neither remain 
 imdifcovered, nor efcape the refentment and indignation it de- 
 ferved, when difcovered. Befides, that parliament and the 
 nation too, when they exprefled fo much joy at the brcacli 
 with Spain, flattered themfelves that, by preventing the mar- 
 riage with the infanta, ihey had prevented all the dangers, 
 whicii they apprehended from that marriage; whereas it ap- 
 peared foon afterwards that they flood expofed to the very fame 
 dangers by the marriage concluded with France ; nay, to 
 greater ; fince the education of the children by the mother, 
 that is in popery, had been confined to ten years by the for- 
 mer treaty, and was extended to thirteen by the latter. In 
 fliort, it cannot be denied, and my lord Clarendon owns, 
 that as the infolenceof Buckingham caufed the vi^arwith Spain, 
 fo his lull: and his vanity alone threw the nation into another 
 with France. Spain was courted firft without rcafon, and affront- 
 ed afterwards without provocation. Ships were lent to the 
 
 U u u 2 kincT
 
 5i6 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 king of France ngainfl: his proteftant fubjcds ; and the perfe- 
 cution of his protertant fubjed:s was made the pretence of a 
 rupture with him. Thus was the nation led from one extra- 
 vagant project to another, at an immenfe charge, with great 
 diminution of honor and infinite lofs to trade, by the igno- 
 rance, private intereft, and pailion of one man. The conduft 
 therefore of the parHament, who attacked this man, was per- 
 fcdly confiftent with the condud: of that parliament, who had 
 fo much applauded him ; and one cannot obferve without 
 aftonifhment the flip made by the noble hiftorian we have juft 
 quoted, when he affirms that the fame men who had ap- 
 plauded him, attacked him, without imputing the leaft crime 
 to him, that was not as much known when they applauded 
 him, as when they attacked him. Now it is plain that many 
 of the crimes imputed to him, in the reign of king Charles, 
 when he was attacked, could not be known, and that many 
 others had not been even committed in the reign of king 
 James, when he was, upon one fingle occafion, applauded. 
 
 To the difgufts taken at the management of foreign affairs, 
 mufi: be added thofe which were daily given by the court in 
 the management of domeflic affairs. Real, not imaginary, 
 grievances arofe and were continued in every part of the ad- 
 miniftration. Some of thefe king Charles, like his father^ 
 was obftinately bent to maintain, and his right of impofing 
 them was afferted. Others were difguifed and excufed rather 
 than defended ; but in redreffmg even thefe, he (hewed fuch 
 a reludance, that he complied without obliging, and increafed 
 the difguft of his people, even whilfl: he granted their requefts. 
 We have faid in a former difcourfe, that king Charles came 
 a partyman to the throne, and that he continued an invalion 
 on the people's rights, whilft he imagined himfelf only con- 
 cerned in the defence of his own. In advancing this propo- 
 
 fition,
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 517 
 
 fitlon, wc were far from meaning a compliment at the ex- 
 pence oi truth. We avow it as an opinion we have formed 
 on reading the relations publiflied on all fides, and to which, 
 it feems to us, that all the authentic anecdotes of thofc times 
 may be reconciled. This prince had fucked in with his milk 
 thofc abfurd principles of government, which his father was fo 
 induftrious and, unhappily for king and people, (o fuc- 
 cefsf ul in propagating. He found them cfpoufed, as true prin- 
 ciples both of religion and policy, by a whole party in the na- 
 tion, whom he efteemed friends to the conftitution in clnirch 
 and ftate. He found them oppofed by a party, whom he 
 looked on indifcriminately as enemies to the church and to 
 monarchy. Can we wonder that he grew zealous in a caufe, 
 which he underftood to concern him fo nearly, and in which 
 he faw fo many men, who had not the fame intcreft, and 
 might therefore be fuppofed to ad; on a principle or confcience 
 equally zealous ? Let any one, who hath been deeply and long 
 engaged in the contefls of party, afk him felt on cool retleclion, 
 whether prejudices, concerning men and things, have not 
 grown up and ftrengthened with him, and obtained an un- 
 controulable influence over his condud. We dare appeal to 
 the inward fentiments of every fuch perfon. With this habi- 
 tual biafs upon him king Charles came to the throne ; and, 
 to complete the misfortune, he had given all his conlidence to 
 a mad man. An honeft minifter mioht have fhewn him how 
 wrong his meafures were; a wife-one how ill-timed, Bulkt 
 INGHAM was incapable of either. The violence and haugliti- 
 nefs of his temper confirmed his mafler in the purfuit of thcfe 
 meafures ; and the character of the firfi miniffer became that 
 of the adminiftration. Other circumflances, which often hap- 
 pen, happened likewife in this cafe. The miniflcr was uni- 
 verfally hated ^ the kiiag was not. To fupport the miniflcr, it 
 
 was
 
 5i8 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 was necefTary that the prerogative fhould be ftrained, and vio- 
 lent and unpopular means fhould be employed. To fuppcrt 
 the government, nothing of this fort was necefTary. Nay, the 
 very contrary meafures were necefTary to reconcile the king to 
 his people, and to ftop in time that alienation of their minds 
 from him, which began even then to appear. In this diffe- 
 rence of interefts, thofe of the crown were facrificed to thofe 
 of the minifter. King Charles, who had encouraged par- 
 liamentary profecutions, in his father's reign, would not fufTer 
 them in his own. He difTolved his parliaments and broke al- 
 moft all the k\v ties of union, which remained between him- 
 felf and the nation, that he might fcreen fome of the moft 
 unworthy men who ever difTerved a prince, or difhonored a 
 
 court. Before the death of Buckingham, irreparable mif- 
 
 chief was done. " The diftemper of the nation was fo uni- 
 *' verfal," according to my lord Clarendon, " that all wife 
 *^ men looked upon it as the predidion of the deftruftion and 
 *' difTolution that would follow." This prediction was foon 
 verified. The king executed what he had often thrcatned. 
 Parliaments were laid afide. The very mention of them was 
 forbid ; and he continued to govern without any for twelve 
 years. During this interval, the diftemper lurked indeed ; 
 but it grew more malignant ; and if a national ferenity appear- 
 ed about the time when the king went into Scotland, it ap- 
 peared juft when the poifon worked moft efTeftually and be- 
 gan to feize the heart. Jealoufies about religion and liberty 
 were now at their height. The former, as far as they alreded 
 the king and his proteftant minifters, were ill-founded ; but for 
 that very reafon, it would have been eafy to cure them ; and 
 af they had been cured in time, as we think, on my lord Cla- 
 r.endon's authority, that nothing could have led the Scotch na- 
 tion into rebellion, fo are we perfuaded that a great motive 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 519 
 
 and fpur to the rebellion in England would Iiave been taken, 
 away. The latter were certainly but too well founded. The 
 king had, in a manner, renounced the conftitution ; and in- 
 ftead of governing with the affiilance and concurrence of a 
 parliament, he governed by illegal a6ls of power, which the 
 council, the ftar-chamber and the high conuiiillion cxxrcifcd. 
 —-There was lomething ftill more dangerous to liberty in pra- 
 ctice. Not only the government was carried on without law,, 
 or againft law, but the judges were become the inflruments 
 of arbitrary power, and that law, which fhould have been the 
 protedion of property, was rendered, by their corrupt inter- 
 pretations of it, fo great a grievance that " the foundations of 
 " right were, to the apprehenfion and underftanding of wife 
 *' men," fays my lord Clarendon, " never more in danger 
 <' to be deflroyed." 
 
 Whilst things were in this fituation here, king CuARLEa 
 lighted up another fire in Scotland, by refuming the projeA 
 of modelling that church, which king James had begun. 
 Archbifhop Laud, who had neither temper nor knowledge- 
 of the world enough to be intrufted with the government of 
 a private college, conducted this enterprize and precipitated 
 the public ruin. The puritans of England foon united in a. 
 common caufe with the puritans of Scotland ; and the armv, 
 which the latter had raifed, marched into England. Many of 
 thofe who had appeared againft the court, and even fome of 
 thofe who were on the fide of the court, favored, in different 
 manners, the Scots, and hoped to apply this force and to im- 
 prov^e this incident fo as to reftrain the prerogati\e withinj 
 known, perhaps narrower bounds, and to flrengthen the bar- 
 riers of public liberty. That this might have been brought: 
 
 about, and that the civil war which foUowed, might have been 
 
 prevented,,
 
 520 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 prevented, appeared very manifeftly in the temper and proceed- 
 ings of the parliament, which met in April 1640, when all 
 had been done, which could be done, to deftroy the con- 
 ftitution ; for if the king had been able to continue to go- 
 vern without parliaments, the conftitution had been deftroy- 
 ed ; and when calling a parliament was viiibly the effedl of 
 neceflity and fear, not choice, the parliament, which was 
 called, fliewed wonderful order and fobriety in their whole 
 behavior. If fome paflion had appeared in their debates, it 
 might have been well excufed in an houfe of commons af- 
 fembled at fuch a time ; and yet fcarce an angry word was 
 thrown out. The few, that efcaped from fome, were either 
 filently difliked, or openly disapproved. The king, even in 
 this crifis of affairs, preferved the fame carriage he had for- 
 merly ufed towards them, and fhewed too plainly that he re- 
 garded them only as tax-layers. In a word, about a month 
 after their meeting, he diffolved them, and as focn as he had 
 diflblved them, he repented, but he repented too late, of his 
 rafhnefs. Well might he repent ; for the velTel was now full, 
 
 and this laft drop made the waters of bitternefs overflow. 
 
 Here we draw the curtain, and put an end to our remarks, 
 by obferving, firfl, that if the fpirit of liberty had once relax- 
 ed in the fpace of almoft forty years, liberty mufl: have been 
 fwallowed up by prerogative ; fecondly, that after thefe long 
 contefts between the king and the people, and when the lat- 
 ter had received the utmoft provocations, the fpirit of liberty 
 was not tranfported into any excels ; determined to defend 
 the people, but unwilling to offend the king. The king, and 
 he alone could have done it, forced the affairs of the nation, 
 as he had put his own long before, into the hands of a fadion. 
 The true friends of the conflitution were divided ; and di- 
 vided, were too weak to prevail on either iide. The fpirit 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 521 
 
 of fadion, not the fpirit of liberty, is anfwcrabic foi all 
 which followed ; and who is anfwerable for reducing the 
 contefl: on both fides, to be the conteft of fadlion may, we 
 think, be fufficiently colledled from what hath been faid in 
 thefe difcourfes. 
 
 Vol. I. X X X LET-
 
 ^t:,T.2 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 L E T T E R XXIV. 
 
 S I R, 
 
 SINCE you have gone through the tafk, whic h )u \iv\- 
 dertook at my delire, and have carried your remarks on 
 the hiftory of England, as far as you judge them neceffary at 
 this time, I think myfelf obliged to return you thanks for your 
 trouble, and to fay fomething to you, concerning the clamor 
 raifed and the condud: held upon this occaiion, by thofe, who, 
 not content with the merit of being your adverfaries, have de- 
 clared themfelves fuch at lafl: to the very being of the Britifh 
 conftitution, and to the principles on which the prefent efta- 
 blifhment is built, and on which alone it can ftand fecure. 
 
 Before I left the town, nay as foon as my firft letter to 
 you appeared, the whole pofTe of minifterial fcribblers was 
 fummoned. Their numbers were augmented ; perhaps their 
 penfions. Their ftrength, indeed, continued much the fame ; 
 but their fury redoubled. At my return to London, I am 
 informed that thefe weekly fvvarms have continued to buz 
 about ever fince ; that the infedls have been difperfed by every 
 flap of your pen ; but, that, like true infects, they have ftill 
 gathered again and renewed their din.-— I fay, that I am in- 
 iormed of this.; becaufe, among other circumftances, which 
 compofe the eafe and quiet of a country life, we are fure of 
 not being infefted thereby thefe 'mighty fwarms of little crea- 
 tures. As their lives are flioit, the extent in which they 
 ramble, is narrow, and few of them take their flight beyond 
 the bills of mortahty. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 523 
 
 The manner in which thefe writers have fupportcd the dif- 
 pute between you and them, and the explanations to which 
 they have been pufhed, confirm all the lufpicions which it 
 was natural to entertain, when i'o great an alarm was taken 
 at the firfl direcl avowal of an attempt to revive the fpirit 
 of liberty, and to recall to the minds of men the true notions 
 of the Britifli conftitution. They were fo earneft to difcourac^e 
 the profecution of fuch a defign ; they were fo eager to find 
 fault, where fo little fault was to be found, that they catched 
 at every word, in which they imagined the leafl; flip had been 
 made, tho the fubjecft would not have been affcdtd, nor the 
 merits of the caufe have been altered, if thefe flips had been 
 real, and had proceeded from my ignorance, as the objections 
 proceeded from theirs. 
 
 I SHOULD not fo much as mention this, if it was not ne- 
 ceflary to (hew that your real crime, as well as mine, towards 
 the perfons, who encourage and dired thefe authors, is our 
 ftarting the fubjedl, not our manner of treating it. Their 
 anger appeared, the clamor of their party was raifed, and all 
 the powers of fcurrility and calumny were called forth to their 
 aid, before any of thofe pretences were found out, which they 
 afterwards fb meanly and fo immorally employed againft us. 
 To prove this beyond the contradiction of any man of fenfe 
 and candor, it will be only neceflary to appeal to the whole 
 fcope of my firfl letters to you, which raifed the ftorm ; for 
 what do thofe letters contain befides general and inoft'enfive 
 reflcdions on the nature of liberty and c>f fadtion, and on the 
 necefiity of keeping the fpirit of liberty alive and adive, even 
 in times of apparent fecurity ? Your writings were juftified, 
 indeed, in thefe letters ; but fo they had been in- ethers, and on 
 many precedent occafions. The charge of Jacobitifm W2.s re- 
 futed, indeed, with the contempt it deferved, and factious 
 
 X X X 2 defigns
 
 52+ REMARKS ON THE 
 
 defigns of another kind were pointed out ; but fadious deiigns 
 had been imputed to the fame perfons before and upon the 
 fame grounds. It remains then that this nev/ alarm was taken, 
 as I juft now faid, at the general defign of thofe papers ; and 
 if that was fufficient to give fuch an alarm, fure I am that 
 you are more than juftified for all you writ before this difpute 
 begun, and for all you have pubHflied in the courfe of it. 
 
 The old gentleman, who defended you in the former let- 
 ters, thought you deferved the acknowledgments of every ho- 
 neft man for attempting to revive this fpirit, even fuppofing 
 you to have no other reafon than your obfervation that a con- 
 trary temper prevailed. How much is this reafon inforced, 
 how much more do you deferve the acknowledgments of every 
 honeft man, if it is become evident not only that a fupine tem- 
 per, contrary to the activity of this fpirit had prevailed ; but 
 that a contrary fpirit hath been raifed, and that principles, de- 
 ftrudtive of all liberty, and particularly adapted to deftroy 
 that of the Britidi govern rnent, are avowed, taught and pro- 
 pagated ? If I pronounced too haftily, in my fecond letter, 
 that the maik was pulled off, furely we may now fay, upon 
 knowledge, not belief, that the mafk is fallen off from your 
 adverfaries in the fcuffle. I {hall not repeat what is faid in 
 your difcourfes, nor add any thing to them. You have there 
 quoted the doctrines of flavery. You have fhewed the direcl 
 and indirecft tendency of them all; and you have remarked 
 that fome of them have been taught even by thofe who have 
 in the fame breath admitted the confequences of them. No- 
 thing lefs therefore than a conftant and vigorous oppofition, of 
 which you have fet us the example, will be able to flop the 
 progrefs of thofe pernicious do6lrines. The principles which 
 king James the firfl eftabliflied, were not more abfurd tlian 
 theie. Their tendency was more obvious j but, for that rea- 
 fon,
 
 HISTORY OF E N G L A N D. 525 
 
 fon, they were lefs dangerous. If thofe principles prevailed 
 very far by time and encouragement, and had like to have 
 prevailed farther ; why fliould not thcfe have the fame, or 
 greater fuccefs ? It may be faid, perhaps, that the authority 
 of the crown helped the progrefs (;i the former, which is not 
 our prcfent cafe. To this diAindion I fhall fubmit very readi- 
 ly ; but if thefe principles have gained Ibme ground already, 
 and that they have gained lonie cannot be denied, without 
 this authority to inforce them; is there not realon to fear that 
 they may gain more, and is not every degree they gain a de- 
 gree more of danger to this conftitution of government ? Sur&- 
 ]y, fir, there can remain no doubt in the breaft of any man, 
 who hath given the leafl: attention to the dilputes between you 
 and your adverHiries, whether they or you are on the fide oi 
 liberty ; and therefore it is an aggravation of their guilr, that 
 they have endeavored to make your writings pafs for an oppo- 
 fition to the prefent happy eftablifhment, and their caufe for 
 that of the crown. You and 1 have fufhcicntly declared our- 
 felves, and anfwered them, on the firfl: head. If they had 
 been able to produce an inflance, where, departing from your 
 fubjedt, you had given occafion to draw any odious parallel, 
 the intention of drawing fuch a parallel might, with fome co- 
 lor, have been imputed to you ; but fince they have not been 
 able to do this, and have been defied to do it, the reproach 
 and infamy of making fuch parallels, as well as the fcanda- 
 Jous immorality of imputing them to others, mull: lie at their 
 
 door. Let us fee how well their pretenfions are fup ported on 
 
 the fecond head, and whether we cannot prove, without any 
 forced conflrudions of their words, or arbitrary interpretations 
 of their meaning, that the open and fecrct abettors of thefe 
 writers are either enemies of the prefent cftablilhmcnt, or have 
 ibme private interefl more at heart than the true interefl of 
 tJjis cfiablifhment. 
 
 This
 
 526 REMARKS ON T H E 
 
 This eftablifliment is founded on the principles of liberty;" 
 tTu the very principles you have maintained. It was made by 
 the people of Great Britain, to (ecure the polTeflion of their li- 
 berty, as well as their religion; Had contrary principles pre- 
 vailed ; either thofe which tend to fubvert the conftitution, by 
 railing prerogative, and which were juftly objeded to fome of 
 the tories formerly ; or thofe which tend to fubvert it, by 
 undermining liberty, and which are as jufily objected to fome 
 of the whigs now ; this elfablifliment could never have been 
 made. Who are enemies and who are friends thererore to 
 public liberty and to the prefent eftablifliment ? Are you their 
 enemy, who defend not only the general principles of Hberty, 
 but the particular principles and the particular ends, on which 
 and for which this eftablifliment was made ? Are your adver- 
 faries friends to either, when they only feem to admit fome 
 general notions of liberty, that they may promote with greater 
 efFe6l, on particular occalions, the doctrines of flavery ; and 
 when they endeavor to deHroy the principles and to defeat the 
 ends of the prefent eftablifliment ? The revolution and the ads 
 of fcttlement have fecured us againft the dangers which U'ere 
 formerly apprehended from prerogative. To what purpofe are 
 meafures and principles of policy daily pleaded for, which 
 would expofe us to greater dangers than thefe ? Why are fuch 
 inceftant pains taken to fliew by what means liberty may be 
 underm.ined and our conftitution deftroyed even now, after all 
 we have done and all we have fuffered to fecure one, and to 
 improve the other? I fhall not give particular anfwers to thefe 
 queftions J nor offer to aflign the private intereft, v^hich the 
 perfons, who are guilty of this, may have at heart ; for I will, 
 upon no occafion, even feem to follow the example of your 
 adverfaries ; nor prefume to deliver my fufpicions ; tho real 
 and well-grounded, as the intentions of other men. This 
 alone I will repeat 3 that they who argue and hire others to 
 
 argue
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 527 
 
 -argue in this manner, do in fad: promote fonic intereft, which 
 is repugnant to the ends for which the people of this nation 
 eftabhflied the proteftant fucceflion and the prefent fcttlemcnt 
 of the crown. They have not yet attacked the rehgion, but 
 they manifeftly attack the hbcrty of their country ; and as 
 much as thefe two are interwoven together, tlio it be true that 
 whenever our rcHgion is in danger, our civil liberty muft be 
 fo likewife ; yet it is as true that religion may be fafe and civil 
 liberty in danger. 
 
 I HAVE nothing more to add upon this head, before I pro- 
 ceed to that which fhall conclude my letter, except my de- 
 fires that you will perfift, and my hopes that you will fucceed 
 in the caufe you have undertaken ; the caufe of your country, 
 the caufe of truth and of liberty. The means you employ are 
 thofe of argument and pcrfuafion ; the lawful, and the fole 
 lawful means, which can be employed to rouze an indolent, 
 to inform a deceived, to reclaim a corrupt, or to reconcile a 
 divided people. Let the fadious continue to aficrt, as they 
 have had already the impudence and the folly to do, in one 
 of their minifterial pamphlets, that the faults they are pleafed 
 to afcribe to the people of Great Britain * render an army 
 neceflary. Inftead of endeavoring to perfuade and to win, let 
 them endeavor to force and corrupt their countrymen. The 
 fpirit of liberty abhors fuch means, and the caufe of liberty 
 would be difhonored by them. If this nation was as corrupt 
 and depraved as it is faid to be by thofe who do their utmolf 
 to corrupt and deprave it; if our country was in that declin- 
 ing ftate, and the freedom of our government as near it's pe- 
 riod as they afHrm, there would remain no part for any ho- 
 neft man to take, except that of fitting filently down and pe- 
 
 * See obfervations on the prdent flate of affairs, 
 
 rifli-
 
 528 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 rilliing in the common iLipwreck : but furely this is not yet 
 our cafe, unlefs we are induced to believe it fo ; unlefs we 
 make our ruin irretrievable by ftruggling no longer againft it. 
 There are men, many, we think, who have not bowed the knee 
 to. Baal, nor vvorfliipped the brazen image. We may there- 
 fore hope that there is flil) a blelling in ftore for us. In all 
 event?, Air. D'anvers, you are hire of one advantage, which 
 no violence, no injuftice can take from you ; the inward fati^- 
 faclion of having ferved your country, to the utmoft of your 
 power, by thofe lawful means which the conftitution of it's 
 government allows, and by no othersv 
 
 If I hear in that retreat, to which age, the circumflances of 
 fortune, and, above all, the temper of my mind determine me, 
 that you fucceed, 1 {hall rejoice in the common joy. If I hear 
 that you fail, my concern for you will be loft in the common 
 calamity. 
 
 The article with which I propofe to conclude my letter, 
 is of fuch a nature that I cannot omit it, on this occafion, with 
 any regard to truth, juftice, honor, and the fentiments of a 
 moft reafonable indignation. The writers, who are employed 
 againft you, have received, with an unlimited commiflion to 
 rail, particular inftrudions to dired: their Billingfgate chiefly 
 at two gentlemen. The art of blackening charaders, by pri- 
 vate clofet-whiipers, hath been always pradifed, when power 
 and confidence have been given to the infolent and the bafe. 
 Perhaps it may have been thought proper, at this time, to 
 confirm the effed of fuch infinuations by an eccho from the 
 prefs ; and to prevent a general national clamor from found- 
 ing in fome ears, by raifing an artificial clamor round about 
 them : but whatever the defign may have been, fure I am that 
 this ftrain of malice could not have been employed againft men, 
 
 who
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 529 
 
 jvko value it lefs, or who hold in greater contempt both the 
 contrivance and the contrivers. This they may do, bccaiife 
 tiiey are falfcly and malicioufly accufed ; but he, who is the 
 objed: of a jult clamor and of national hatred, and who can- 
 not turn his eyes on himfelf, without confefFing to himfelf that 
 he is a principal caufe of the grievances of his country, muft 
 tremble at a clamor which he knows ought, and which he hath, 
 reafon to fear will, fooner or later, prevail againft him. 
 
 The calumny againft one of the gentlemen, mentioned' 
 above, is confined to two heads ; that he hath left his friends 
 and party, and that he is urged to oppofe the minifter by the- 
 ftings of difappointed ambition. How ridiculous is the charge,, 
 and on whom can fuch ftuff impofe? Hath he changed his no- 
 tions of right and wrong in matters of government ? Hath he- 
 renounced the principles of good policy, which he formerly 
 profefTed ? His greateft enemy is defied to fhew that he hath ; 
 and yet^ unlels this can be fhewn, nothing can be more im- 
 pertinent, or more filly, than the imputation of leaving his- 
 friends and party. If he purfues the fame general principles' 
 of conduft, with which he firft fet out, and is in oppofition; 
 now to fome few of thofe, with whom he concurred then, thty 
 have left him, becaufe they have left the principles they pro- 
 fefTed. He left neither. For inftance, he inveighs againft 
 public profufion and private corruption. He combats both 
 with a conftant infkxibility, which might have done honor to. 
 a Roman citizen, in the beft times of that commonwealth. 
 Hath he left f.is friends in doing this ? No ; they who oppofe 
 him in it> have left both him and virtue ; and fuch men, tho' 
 they have fometimes had the honor to concur with him, could: 
 never be his friends. 
 
 Vol. h Y y y Is.
 
 530 R E M A R K S O N T H E 
 
 Is the latter part of the charge better founded ? Is it not a 
 manifeft begging of the queftion, and a begging of it on the 
 Icaft probable fide ? He afliftcd a minifter to rife to power. He 
 oppofes this minifter in power. Ergo, Spight and refentment 
 are his motives. May not the abufe, which he apprehends this 
 minifter makes of his power, may not meafiires, which he 
 fears are wicked, knowcj are v/eak, and fees obftinately pur- 
 fued, be his motives ? May not dangerous ambition, infatiable 
 avarice and infolent behavior be his provocations ? May not 
 this gentknnan think himfeif the more obhged to -contribute to 
 this minifter's fall, for having contributed fo much to his ele- 
 vation ? Let me afk farther, whom we fhall fooneft fufpeifl to 
 have been adluated by fentiments of private intereft ? the per- 
 ibn accufed, or his accufer ? Whofe circumftances moft de- 
 manded, whofe family moft required an increafe of wealth 
 and fortune ; thofe of the accufed, or thofe of the accufer ? 
 Who hath given greater proofs of avarice to gather, and profu- 
 iion to fquander ; the accufed, or the accufer ? In whom have 
 we feen ftronger evidences of that vindictive temper, which 
 prompts to perfonal fpight and refentment ; in the accufed or 
 the accufer ?— If we may form any judgment of the gentle- 
 man accufed, there is not the leaft color of reafon to fuppofe 
 that his oppoiition proceeds from a f]3irit of ambition, or a de- 
 fign of pulhing himfeif into the adminiftration. He hath al- 
 ready poflefted two very conftderable employments in the ftate j 
 one of which he voluntarily laid down, as by his condudt in 
 parliament, againft fome meafures of the court, he forced the 
 minifters to take the other away, having behaved with unlpot- 
 ed integrity in both ; and if I am rightly informed of his re- 
 folution by thofe who feem to know him very well, it will 
 hardly be ever in the power of the greateft man in England, or 
 of the beft friend he h^as m the world, to perfuade him to ac- 
 cept of a third There is an ambition, with which thefe 
 
 3 fpreaders
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 531 
 
 fpreaders ot calumny and their mafters are intircly unacquaint- 
 ed ; the ambition o[ doing good and the receiving the reward 
 in tame. He, who hath this ambition, can never be difap- 
 pointed in the other; and il any man, in our age and country, 
 hath reafon to be iatished with his fuccefs in the purfuic of 
 this ambition, it is- the gentleman of whom we fpcak. 
 
 Whenever the defamation, which hath been difplayed 
 againft the other gentleman is examined with the leaft know- 
 ledge of fads, or the leaft impartiality of judgment, it will 
 appear equally falfc, and perhaps flill more fcandalous ; for, 
 in this cafe, the flanderers take an ungenerous and mean ad- 
 vantage, which they have not in the other ; the advantage, 
 which his fingular lituaticn gives them. They, who would 
 have declined a conteft with him, whilft he was in a condi- 
 tion to anfwer for himfelf, have not blufhed to declaim againll 
 him in another condition. They have experienced, in his cafe, 
 that the unfortunate are not friendlefs. They may live, per- 
 haps, to experience, in their own, that the guilty are fo. 
 
 Another advantage, which thefe flanderers take againft this> 
 gentleman, arilcs from the various fcenes of life, through 
 which he hath pafTed ; fome diftant in place ; fome fecrct in 
 their nature. Here calumny hath more room to aflert, and 
 innocence lefs opportunity to defend. Common honeftv, in. 
 fome cafes, and even decency, in others, fhut the mouth ot 
 the man who carries thefe qualities about him ; and even 
 more in his own caufe than in that of another perfon ; but ca- 
 lumny is fubjed to none of thefe controuls ; and we fpeak on 
 our own knowledge, when we affirm that, in the prclent cafe,, 
 the falfe imputations, which the accufers bring, are fcreencd. 
 from abfolute detedion by nothing but the honor of the ac- 
 cufed. 
 
 y y y 2 Let
 
 532 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 Let us take notice of fome of the crimes, (for crimes 
 and heinous crimes they would be, if the fads were, in 
 any degree, true) which are laid to the charge of this gen- 
 tleman. 
 
 His ingratitude and treachery to the late duke of Marlbo- 
 rough and the earl of Godolphin ftand firft in the roll. I 
 believe no man acknowledges more fincerely than he the fu- 
 perior merit of thefe two illuftrious men, or wifhes more ar- 
 •dently that they were now alive, and had the conduft of the 
 iiffairs of Great Britain ; but I know no obligation of grati- 
 tude or honor, which he lay under to continue in their admi- 
 niftration, when the meafures of it were altered. They might 
 have reafons, perhaps good reafons, for altering their meafures. 
 He could have none in point of honor, whatever he might 
 have had in point of intereft, for complying with that alte- 
 ration. Some of the enemies of this gentleman came into the 
 world on fuch a foot, that they might think it preferment to 
 be the creatures of any men in power. He who came into 
 it upon another foot, was the friend, but not the creature of 
 thefe great men, and he hath had the fatisfadlion of proving 
 himfeU luch on different occadons and without oftentation, 
 at leaft to one of them, at a time, when the creatures of great 
 men ufualjy renounce them ; at a time, when they could do 
 him neither good nor hurt. That he came to court, on the 
 call of the late queen, in oppolition to them, and exerted 
 himfelf in her fervice, when they ferved her no longer, will 
 not be objeded to him by any man, who thinks more allegi- 
 ance due to the prince than to the minifter. If the prefent 
 minifter hath a mind to avow a contrary dodrine, he hath 
 my confent ; but then let thofe who engage with him, re- 
 member on what terms they engage. On the fame falfe 
 
 principle is another accufation brought. This gentleman had 
 
 no
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. s^^ 
 
 no patron, or patronefs, but the late queen. lie neither projed- 
 cd, nor procured the difgrace of her laft miniflcr, nor knew 
 that it was refolved, whatever he might fufpccft, till he heard 
 from herfelf that it was fo. Much more might be faid on 
 this article ; but we chufe to pals it over for many reafons, and, 
 among others, for this ; that whilft \ve defend the living, we 
 are unwilling to fay any thing which might be drawn by 
 thefe flanderers into an infult on the dead. 
 
 The lafl charge of ingratitude, brought againft this gentle- 
 man, is hard to be aniwered ferioully. 1 hus much how- 
 ever fhall be faid truly and ferioufly. He acknowledges, with 
 the deepeft fenfe of gratitude poflible, the clemency and good- 
 nefs of his late majefty ; but fure he hath reafon, if ever man 
 had reafon, to difclaim all obligation to the minifter. The 
 mercy of the late king was extended to him unafked and un- 
 earned. What followed many years afterwards, in part of his 
 majefty 's gracious intentions, was due folely to the king. That 
 they were not fulfilled, was due folely to the minifter. His 
 ambition, his caufelefs jealoufy and private intereft continued 
 a fort of profcription, with much cruelty to the perfon con- 
 cerned, and little regard to the declarations which his royal 
 mafter had been pleafed fo frequently to make. 
 
 That this gentleman was engaged in the caufc of the pre- 
 tender, is true. That he ferved him unfaithfully, is falfc. He 
 never entered into thefe engagements, or any commerce with 
 him, till he had been attainted, and cut off from the body of 
 his majefty 's fubjeds. He never had any commerce, cither 
 dire6l or indirect, which v/as inconllftent with thefe engage- 
 ments, whilft he continued in them ; and lince he was out of 
 their), he hath had no commerce, either direct or indirect, in 
 favor of that caufe. On fuch an occafion as this it is decent, 
 
 not
 
 534 REMARKS ON THE, &c. 
 
 not arrogant to challenge all mankind. I do it therefore, in 
 the behalf of this gentleman, to produce one fingle proof, in 
 contradidtion of any one of thefe general affirmations. For 
 the truth of fome, I may appeal even to thofe, who have been 
 in the fervice of his late, and are in that of his prefent majefty ; 
 and particularly to a noble lord *, who by the poft he was in, 
 when moft of thefe tranfadions pafTed, muft have had the beft 
 opportunities of knowing the truth of them, and by whofe 
 teftimony I am willing that the gentleman I defend fhould 
 ftand or fall ; a decifion to which, I am fure, he will himfelf 
 be ready to fubmit his life, and, what is more, his honor. 
 
 I MAKE you no excufe for the length of my letter. The 
 juftice I have done, or endeavored to do, to thofe, who have 
 been vilely calumniated, and particularly on the occafion of 
 your writings and of mine, will be a fufficient excufe of itfelf. 
 
 * The late marflial earl of Stair. 
 
 I am, SIR, &c.
 
 A FINAL 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 Craftsman's Vindication; 
 
 A N D T O 
 
 All the libels, which have come, or may come 
 from the fame quarter again ft the perfon laft 
 mentioned in the Craftfinan of the twenty-fecond 
 of May 1 731;
 
 A FINAL 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REMARKS, &c 
 
 IT is impofTible to have read the papers, which have been 
 publifhed againft the writings of the Craftfman, and not 
 have obferved that one principal point hath been labored 
 with conftant application, and fometimes with a little art. 
 The point I mean hath been this ; to make all the difputes 
 about national affairs, and our moft important interefts, to 
 pafs for nothing more than cavils, which have been raifcd by 
 the pique and refentment of one man, and by the iniquity and 
 dangerous defigns of another. Nothing, which could be faid 
 or done to inculcate this belief, hath been neglected. The 
 fame charges have been repeated almoll: every week, and the 
 public hath been modeftly defired to pay no regard to unde- 
 niable fadls, to unanfwered and unanfwcrable arguments, be- 
 caufe thefe facts and thefe arguments were liippofed, by the 
 minifterial writers, to come Irom men, to whom thefe hire- 
 lings afcribed, againft all probability, the worft motives, and 
 vvhofe charaders they endeavored to blacken without proof 
 Surely this proceeding rendered it ncccftary, at Icaft not ini- 
 VoL. I.. Z z z jiropcr,
 
 538 A FINAL ANSWER TO 
 
 proper, at the end of thofe remarks, which were to conclude 
 the colleftion of the Craftfman, to fay fomething concerning 
 the perfons, who had been fo particularly attacked on ac- 
 count of the part which they, who railed at them, were 
 pleafed to fuppofe that thefe gentlemen had in the writings 
 contained in that colledion. This, I fay, was neceffary j at 
 leaft proper ; not in order to raife a fpirit, as it is impertinent- 
 ly fuggefted in the libel which lies before me ; but to refute 
 calumny, and to remove at leafi: fbme of thofe prejudices, 
 which had been raifed, or renewed, on the occafion of thefe 
 writings, and which were employed to weaken the effedl of 
 them ; an effed:, which may be faid with truth to have been 
 aimed at the noble pair of brothers ; fince it keeps up a na- 
 tional fpirit of enquiry and watchfulnefs, which it is the inte- 
 reft of thefe perfons, as it hath been their endeavor, to ftifle ; 
 and which it is the interefl: of every other man in Britain to 
 preferve in himfelf, and to nourifh in others ; an effed:, which 
 cannot be faid, without the greateft untruth, to have been 
 aimed againfl the prefent fettlement ; fince the higheft info- 
 lence, which can be offered to his majefty, is to attempt to 
 blend his intereft and his caufe with thofe of his unworthy fer- 
 vants, as the tools of thefe unworthy fervants are every day 
 employed to do, and probably at his majefty's expence. 
 
 Something was faid therefore by the Craftfman, in his jour- 
 nal of the twenty- fecond of May, to the purpofe I have men- 
 tioned. If he went out of his way, (for he ought moll cer- 
 tainly to confine himfelf to things, and meddle with per- 
 fons as little as pofTible) he went out of it on great provoca- 
 tion. He carried truth and reafon along with him ; and he 
 ufed a moderation and a decency, to which his adverfaries are 
 ftran2:ers. 
 
 To
 
 THE REMARKS, &«.. r-Q 
 
 To fet this matter in a full light, kt u? confidcr what h:r 
 faid ; let us confidcr how lie hath been anfwered ; and, by 
 fairly comparing both, let us put the whole merits of this caufe 
 upon one fliort but dccifive iliuc. Jt will be time afterwards 
 to make a few obfervations on the clamor railed ; on the rea- 
 fons and defigns of it ; in a word, to deted: the mean arti- 
 fice and fiHy expedients, to which the two honorable patrons 
 of the remarkcr are reduced. In doing this, i fliall neither 
 afFeft to declaim, nor to inveigh, tho 1 have before me an in- 
 exhauftible fund of matter for both, and the law of retaliation 
 to bear me out. As I am perfuaded the men I have to do 
 with, can raife no pa/lion in the pcrfon concerned, fo have I 
 
 no need of endeavoring to raife the paflions of others. But 
 
 to proceed. 
 
 The Craftfman took notice of thofe accufitions which are 
 brought againft the gentleman he mentions in the fecond place. 
 — 1 meddle not with the defence of the other, which hath 
 been undertaken by an abler pen.— Some of thefe he anfwered 
 in general only ; and yet he anfwered them as particularly as 
 he ought to have done for reafons of honor, which are touched 
 upon by him, and which fhall be a little more opened by me. 
 
 But there were other points, not at all affeded by thefe 
 reafons, on which no explanation was neceffary to be given 
 by the accufed, and on which the Craftfman had a right to 
 demand proofs from the accufers. They were points of a 
 more determined nature ; fuch as admitted of no different 
 conflrudions ; fuch as could not be altered by circumftanccs. 
 They were of a more public nature ; fuch as the men, who 
 brought the accufations, mufl have it in their power to 
 prove, if they were true ; and fuch therefore as mufl: be falfc, 
 
 Z z z 2 if
 
 540 A F I N A L A N S W E R T O 
 
 if the men, who brought the accufations, were not able and 
 ready to prove them. 
 
 On thefe the Craftfman infifted. He affirmed propofitlons 
 directly contrary to the accufations brought. He appealed to 
 unqueftionable authority for the truth of what he affirmed ; 
 and to one in particular, which fhould have been treated with 
 more refped: by the remarker, iince it will outweigh, at home 
 and abroad, a thoufand fuch authorities as thofe of his pa- 
 trons. He challenged all mankind to produce one iingle 
 proof, in contradiction of any one of the general affirmations. 
 
 Was there any thing unfair, or indecent in this proceeding? 
 "Was there any thing in it, which could provoke the choler of 
 thofe, who are friends to truth and juftice ? If they, who 
 brought thefe accufations, had been fuch, an opportunity was 
 prefented to them of convicfling the guilty man at the very tri- 
 bunal before which his caufe had been pleaded. By produc- 
 ing proof on thefe heads, they had it in their power to con- 
 demn him upon all the reft ; and if this part of the charge was 
 made good, the opinion of mankind would have been fairly 
 enough decided as to the other. 
 
 Issue being joined therefore in this manner, the accufed 
 perfon muft be found guilty of all the crimes kid to his 
 charge ; or his accufers muft be found guilty of flander, of 
 calumny, and of the worft fort of aftaffination. 
 
 Thus the Craftfman left the matter. — Let us fee what hath 
 been faid in anfvver to him. 
 
 I PASS over the many fcurrilous produdions of thofe week- 
 ly minifterial fcolds, who are hired to call names, and are 
 
 capable
 
 T H E R E M A R K S, Sec. 541 
 
 capable of little more. The elaborate libel, intitlcd " Remarks 
 " on the Craftfman's vindication," Icems to be the utmoft effort 
 of their and their patron s collcded flrcngth ; and tho I have 
 waited feveral days to fee if they had any more fcnndal to throw 
 out, yet I never doubted an inftant from what quarter this re- 
 markable piece came into the world. 
 
 The whole pamphlet is one continued invedive, and de- 
 ferves no more to be called Remarks on the Craftfman, or art 
 anfvver to him, than the railing and raving and throwing 
 of filth by a madman deferve to be called an anfwer to thofe 
 who unwarily pafs too near his cell. All that malice could 
 ever invent, or the credulity of parties, inflamed by oppofition^ 
 receive, is affcmbled. Truth is difguifed by mifrcprcfntation, 
 and even many things which the noble pair know to be filfe,, 
 are affirmed as true. 
 
 But you will a{k, perhaps, whether the challenge is not ac- 
 cepted, and whether proofs are not brought to contradict the 
 plain and pofitive affirmations made by the Craftfman ? 1 an- 
 fwer, the challenge is accepted, and the remarker affijres us 
 that he hath brought proof in numerous inftanccs ngainft thefc 
 affirmations ; which is the more generous, hecaufc the CraJtf- 
 man exaded but one fmgle proof in contradidion of any of 
 them^ 
 
 The firfl: of thefe affirmations was, that the gentleman con- 
 cerned never entered into engagements, or any commerce with 
 the pretender, till he had been attainted and cut off from tiic 
 
 body of his majefly's fubje<fls. Let us examine the fads, 
 
 which we find fcattercd up and down in the remarks, which 
 may be applied to prove, in oppofition to this affirmaiion,, 
 what hath been fo often afferted, that dns gentleman was a. 
 
 zealoua.
 
 542- A F I N A L A N S W E R T O 
 
 zealous jacobite and an agent of the pretender, even in the 
 reign oi the late queen. 
 
 The firft fad of this kind is this. He left the kingdom. 
 His high treafon, among other crimes, was confefTed by his 
 fhameful flight. 
 
 FLad the libeller proved this high treafon, I might agree 
 that the gentleman's leaving his country was a confequence ; 
 but I can never admit that it is a proof of his guilt. Could 
 no other reafon for leaving his country be given, except h's 
 guilt, his leaving his country would be a ftrong prefumption 
 againft him. But many other reafons will foon occur to thofe 
 who remember the paflages of that time ; and reafons there are 
 of a more private nature flill, which would be very far, to 
 fay no more, from reflecting diflionor on a ftep, which is 
 called, by thefe foul-mouthed advocates of power, fhameful 
 and ignominious. One thing it may be proper to afliire them 
 of, that they may pretend to miflake the Craftfman, and to 
 mifapply his words no more. It is this. The gentleman never 
 declined a conteft with the two honorable patrons of this libel. 
 One of them was, in thofe days, below his notice ; and he 
 never found, upon trial, that he had reafon to apprehend be- 
 ing foiled by the other. But we muft not yet difmifs this ar- 
 ticle. 
 
 If the proof we are examining proved any thing, it would 
 prove too much. If to decline, in certain circumftances, a 
 trial ; if to go into voluntary exile, either before a trial, or 
 even after condemnation, were abfolute proofs of guilt, the 
 condud: of many greater and better men than the perfon now 
 accufed would deferve our cenfure, and that of calumniators, 
 as vile as thefe libellers, would merit oxir approbation. Me- 
 
 TELLUS
 
 T H E R E M A R K S, fee. 543 
 
 TELLus aiid RuTiLiu-s mud be condemned. Apuleius and 
 Apicius muft be judified. 
 
 This fort of proof therefore not appearing fufficient to make 
 good the charge, tliat this gentleman was engaged with the 
 pretender before his attainder, great pains are taken, and much 
 rhetoric is employed to fhew, what we fliall not prefume to con- 
 tradidl, that he ought not to have engaged in that caufe after 
 his attainder. Neither did the Craftfman infift on this circum- 
 ftance as a defence of the perfon accufed. He fixed this date 
 of the engagements mentioned, in contradidion to thofe who 
 had falfely affirmed that thefc engagements were much more 
 antient. But he neither urged it as a defence, nor pleaded it 
 as an excufe ; and yet I am perfuaded that this very circum- 
 ftance had fome weight with his late majefty, when that ex- 
 cellent prince, the mildnefs of whofe temper, and the clemency 
 of whofe nature, would have rendered him amiable in the 
 moft private ftation, and made him almoft adorable in that 
 great elevation, to which the providence of God had raifed 
 him ; when that excellent prince, I fay, was pleafed, on his 
 own motion, and without any application from the perfon here 
 fpoken of, to extend his prefent, and promife his future favor 
 to him. 
 
 Tho the Craftfman did neither fiy nor intend what has 
 been objeded by the remarker to him, yet he might perhaps 
 mean fomething more than hath been obferved ; and if he 
 did mean it, he meant to inculcate, upon this occafion, a veiy 
 ufeful, general truth. I>et us grant that the man, who en- 
 gages againft his country, even when he has been opprelfed in 
 it, or driven out of it by violence, is not to be defended ; 
 that thefe are occafions, wherein we ought to kifs the rod, 
 which fcourges us, and reverence that authority, which we 
 
 3 think
 
 544 AFINALANSWERTO 
 
 think has been unjiiftly exercifed againft us. But then let it 
 be granted likewile, that human paflions are fo ftrong, and 
 human reafon fo weak, that men, who fufFer perfecution or 
 •who imagine they fufter it, are feldom able to keep within 
 thefe bounds ol heroical moderation. They will be apt to 
 feize the opportunities which may be offered, of refifting, or 
 of attempting to repair the injuries done them. They will 
 flatter themfelves, that they do not vow their revenge againft 
 the people, the innocent and colle6live body of their country- 
 men, nor go about to fubvert the conftitution of the govern- 
 ment. They will perfuade others, nay they will perfuade 
 themfelves, that they do not feek revenge, but redrels ; nor 
 aim to deftroy the law, which punifhes, but to prevent the 
 abufeofit, which perfecutes. Thus will men, who adlually 
 fuffer, be apt to reafon ; and if the cafe be common to num- 
 bers, they will be apt to proceed from reafoning on fuch prin- 
 ciples, to a6l upon them. Wife governments therefore have 
 been careful to diftinguifli between punifliment and perfecu- 
 tion ; have never fiiffered the former, however juft, neceflary, 
 or fevere, to carry the leaft appearance of the latter. Lud- 
 low was juftly punifhed. My lord Clarendon, whom the 
 remarker hath fo ftrangely yoaked with the regicide, was un- 
 juftly, ungratefully and cruelly perfecuted. We may pro- 
 nounce, without uncharitablenefs, that the former would have 
 taken any opportunity of fubverting a fecond time the confti- 
 tution of his country ; not from refentment alone, but from 
 principle. The latter would have been moved by no refent- 
 ments to difturb that frame of government, which he had con- 
 tributed fo much to reftore. The former example therefore 
 hath nothing to do in this place ; and if I admit the latter, it 
 will only ferve to fliew us how men fhould a6t, not how they 
 do adr. It will be one example of virtue, oppofed to innu- 
 merable inflances of frailty. Innumerable, indeed, are the in- 
 
 ftances
 
 T H E R E M A R K S, &c. 545 
 
 fiances of men in all ages, who, having been driven out ol 
 their country by violence, have endeavored, even by violence, 
 to return to it. This is the general and known coiirfe of nature; 
 depraved indeed, but human: and fmce it is fo ; it' we allow 
 that they, who difturb a go\-ernment, bccaufe they think them- 
 felves perfccuted, deferve no excufe, we mufl: allow that thole, 
 who give occafion to this difturbancc by perfccution, deferve 
 very little. 
 
 I HOPE I may deferve fome for this digreflion, into which 
 the remarker led me ; and I return to my fubjeft, by faying 
 that neither the Craftfman hath pretended, nor do I here pre- 
 tend, to evcufe the engagements which this gentleman took, 
 after his attainder, and which his late majefiy fo gracioufly 
 pardoned ; but that his taking thefe engagements, after his at- 
 tainder, is no proof that he was under them before ; and that 
 his going out of the kingdom, in the late king's reign, is no 
 proof that he was a zealous Jacobite, and an agent of the pre- 
 tender in the late queen's reign. 
 
 The libeller, finding himfelf unable to make this charge 
 good, kifens the charge that he may fuit his proof to it. If 
 he cannot prove that the gentleman was in the interefts of the 
 pretender, befora his attainder, he will prove at Icafl: that he 
 had a llrong propenfion to thofe interefls ; and how does he 
 prove even this ? Heaficrts that in the year 1702, this gentle- 
 man was **one of the virtuous one hundred and feventeen, who 
 " gave their votes to throw out the bill for fettling the protcftant 
 " fuccefllon, &c." Falfe and impudent affertion ! A few pages 
 before he pretends to have the journal book of the houfeot com- 
 mons before him. Had he it before him now ? If he had, how 
 can he afFum, in direft contradidion to it ? If he had not, how 
 could he venture to affirm any thing, concerning this matter ? 
 
 Vol. I. 4 A The
 
 546 AFINAL ANSWER TO 
 
 The bill for fettling the proteftant fucceflion, in the prcfcn 
 royal family, paffed the houfe of commons in the month of 
 May 1701, not in 1702; and it palled nemine contradi- 
 cente, to bring in a bill " for the farther fccurity of his majefty's 
 *' perfon and the fucceflion of the crown in the proteftant line, 
 *' and extlnguifliing the hopes of the pretended prince of Wales, 
 *' and all other pretenders, and their open and fecret abettors." 
 This bill was accordingly brought in, and the perfons who, by 
 order of the houfe, prepared and brought it in, were iir Charles 
 Hedges and one mr. St. John. In the progreis of this bill 
 through the houfe, it appears that there were fome debates 
 and divifions about particular claufes and amendments ; but 
 the bill was paffed wi.hout any divifion : fo infamoufly falfe 
 is the aflertion made by this libeller, that there was no divi- 
 fion of an hundred and feventeen, or of any other number, for 
 throwing out either the bill which fettled the fucceflion ; or 
 the bill, which was made for the farther fecurity of it. There 
 ■was a divifion indeed, oFan hundred and feventeen againfl" an 
 hundred and eighteen, upon aclaufeadded by the lords to a bill 
 for inlarging the time for taking the oath of abjuration, &c. 
 and this happened in the year i 702; but what relation hath this 
 fad: to the fad' aflerted ? Whether the gentleman voted againft 
 this claufe, or not, I am unable to fay ; and it is to no pur- 
 pofeto enquire; for the claufe regarded only fuch perfons as 
 had negleded to take the abjuration oath in time, and pro- 
 vided that if fuch perfons had forfeited any office, bene- 
 fice, &c. to which any other perfons had been preferred, 
 the former fhould not be reftored by taking the advantage 
 of this ad. J f this pretended proof is not another inftance of 
 the vileft; calumniation, the libeller himfelf confefles that the 
 Craftfman's challenge was properly made ; and that there is 
 not one proof in the world againft his general affirmations. 
 
 Another
 
 THE REMARKS, &c, 547 
 
 Another facl, which is advanced and mod: pathetically 
 declaimed upon, for rcafons not hard to be difcovcrcd, is lit^e- 
 wile applied to maintain the fame charge. " This gentleman," 
 lays the libeller, " had the impudence to oppofe his prelent 
 
 " mcft facred majcfly, when he demanded a writ of ri^ht 
 
 " The writ of fummons to parliament. He afterwards caufed 
 *' the clecflor of Hanover's minifler to be forbid the court, for 
 " no other crime than having denimdcd that writ." And did 
 this gentleman oppofe this writ ? Nay, did any other fervant 
 of the late queen oppofe it? Falfe and impudent is the afler- 
 tion. It was ordered to be made out the very day * it was de- 
 manded. If the minii1:er, who demanded the writ, was for- 
 bid the court, was this gentleman the caufe of it ? Is every 
 difigreeable circumftance to be afcribcd to him in an affair, 
 which was too important not to be laid, by the proper mini- 
 fler, that is by the chancellor, not the fecretary, before her 
 late majefly and her council ; and in which it may be fuppof- 
 ed that her majefty's refcntments were alone fuflieient to deter- 
 mine fuch a resolution ? Eefidcs, if the minifter received the 
 affront mentioned, was it iingly and abftrncledly for demand- 
 ing the writ ; or was it founded on the manner of demand- 
 ing, and on many other circumftances, fome exprcffed and 
 fome hinted at in the letters, writ foon afterwards by the late 
 queen to her late eleftoral highnefs the princefs Sophia and to 
 his prefent majefty, which lie before me in the printed annals 
 of queen Annb's reign ? Was the reception, given by his late 
 majefty, then eledlor, to the minirter, who made this de- 
 mand, at his return home, fuch a one as fhewed his majcfty's 
 approbation of this meafure, and his difapprobation of what 
 had happened here upon it .''—I fay no more, 
 
 * Vide annals of the reign of queen An.'^e. 
 
 4 A 2 We
 
 548 A F I N A L A NS W E R T O 
 
 We have now gone through all I can find in this Hbel, 
 which feems not fo much as to aim at making good the hrft 
 head of accufation, on which the Craftfman made his chal- 
 lenge. 
 
 *o' 
 
 On the fecond head, the Craftfman affirmed that the " fame 
 " gentleman never had any commerce, either dired: or indired", 
 " inconfiftent with the engagements he took after his attain- 
 *' der, whilft he continued in them." Now, this affirmation, 
 inftead of being difproved, is evaded. " It is foreign to me," 
 
 fays the remarker— -Is it fo ? Have not all his fcribbling af- 
 
 fociates charged this gentleman over and over for being trea- 
 cherous to the pretender ; for being engaged with him ; and at 
 the fame time a fpy and a partifan, fuch is the language they 
 ufe, of the late king ? Is not the flat contradiftion given to this 
 lie a part of the challenge made by the Craftfman ? Hath not 
 this libeller accepted the challenge ? Hath he not called it a 
 weak, a fooliilT, and a flavifh defence ? May he evade it after 
 all his boarting ? Is he not bound to make it good in every 
 part, or to own the charge of calumny, which I make on him, 
 on the whole fcribbling crew, and on thofe who pay them ? 
 What he, or they will own, I neither know nor care. What 
 the public will determine is evident. 
 
 On a third head of accufation againft this gentleman, the 
 Craftfman affirmed, that fince he was " out of the engagements 
 " laft mentioned, he hath had no commerce, cither direft or in- 
 ** dired, in favor of that caufe." Now, upon this head, tho 
 the accufation be not given up in terms, yet is it as Httle main- 
 tained, or fupported by proof as the laft. The libeller, in- 
 deed, calls the gentleman a leviathan of treafbn ; difplays the 
 terrible dangers which would have attended the reinftating 
 him J prefumes to call it a libel on the late king's memory to 
 4 %
 
 THE R E M A R K S, &c. 549 
 
 fay that he had fuch intentions ; and yet dares not deny dui 
 his niajcfty fignified his having fuch intention^. In ihort, with 
 much bombaft, he makes the panegyric of hi< patron, for de- 
 feating theie intentions. 1 fhall not condefccnd to make one 
 fingle remark on this rapfody of fcurriHty and adulation. Such 
 poilon carries it's antidote along with it into the world j and 
 no man will be at a lofs to judge whether public or private 
 motives determined the fervant, in this cafe, to defeat the in- 
 tentions of the mafter. Which ever they were, he, who can 
 believe that the gentleman fo often mentioned has upon him 
 any of that obligation, which the Craftfman difclaims for him, 
 deferves to be pitied ; and he, who can bring himlelt up to 
 affirm it, deferves to be defpifed. But before I leave this ar- 
 ticle, it may not be improper, nor unfeafonable to enquire, by 
 what criterion good fubjcds to his majefty and faithful friends 
 to the prefent eftablifhment are to be diftinguiilicd and known. 
 Are all thofe to be reputed fuch, who aliumed the greateft 
 
 zeal for the proteftant fucceffion formerly? This cannot be ;. 
 
 for many of the tories have this title ; and all, .who ever wore 
 that name, are profcribed by the fyflem we have advanced. — 
 Are all thefc to be reputed fuch, who were alike zealous for 
 the proteftant fucceflion, and who have befides made confiant 
 
 profeffion of the principles of whiggifm ? This cannot be 
 
 neither ; fince many fuch as thefe are daily ftigmatized with- 
 the reproachful names of malcontents and incendaries ; and 
 fince endeavors are ufed, by falfe deductions and by arbitrary 
 interpretations, to prove them enemies to the government, and 
 
 iaeffed: arrant traitors. What is this criterion then ? I am 
 
 able to difcover but one, and it is this ; being lor, or being 
 againfl the noble pair of brothers, the two honorable patrons 
 of the remarker. Without the merit of approving their con- 
 dud:, no man is to be reputed a faithful fubjed, or a friend 
 to his country. With this merit, and with that of a blind 
 
 fub-
 
 550 A F I N A L A N S WE R T O 
 
 fubmifiion, even they, who have been the mort: obnoxious, 
 may be received ; and they, v^'ho have been called enemies to 
 the government, as loudly as any others, may be inroUed 
 among it's friends. This practice of endeavoring to confine 
 the intereft of the government to as narrow a bottom as that 
 of two minifters, has been of late moft audacioufly purfued. 
 It has been faid in direct terms * that " if his late 
 *' majefty had put the adminiflration into any other hands, 
 *' he wguld have been unjufl to thofe brave men who had 
 *' done and fuffcred much to ferve him ; and that he would 
 *' not have deferved to wear the crov/n, if he had not em- 
 " ployed the men whom he did employ."— Here, again, 
 there might be room for fonie particular refleftions, if I was 
 <iifpofed to make them. But I avoid this invidious part as 
 much as my fubjeft will allow me to do ; and fhall therefore 
 content myf^lf with deliring thefe bold writers, their infped;- 
 -ors and patrons, to confider what the neccflary confequences 
 of fuch portions are. If they dare to atTert that his late ma- 
 jefty would have been unjuft ; that he would not have deferv- 
 ed to wear the crown, if he had not employed the men he 
 did employ ; what might they not aflert if his prefent majefty 
 fliould, at any time, think fit, in his great wifdom and good- 
 nefs to his people, to remove fome of thofe very men, whom 
 his royal father did employ ? The affertion is not even ex- 
 tended to party. It would have been flill indecent if it had. 
 But it is confined to a certain number of particular men ; as 
 if the zeal for the proteftant fuccefllon in the prefent royal fa- 
 mily had not been directed, as it moft certainly was, to the 
 national advantage ; but had been intended, as to be fure it 
 was not, for the advantage of particular men, and to perpe- 
 tuate the adminiftration in a private family. This is fuch lan- 
 guage, as I believe was never held before, and as no man would, 
 
 * X.ondon Journal., May 15, 1731. 
 
 prefume
 
 THE REMARKS, 5<c. 55.1 
 
 prtTumc to Jiold now, if the encouragement to it did not pro- 
 ceed From thok, by whom it fhould be difcounccaanccd and 
 puniilied. 
 
 There is another fad, \\hich I muft not omit to take no- 
 tice of in this place ; becaufe, tho it is not one of thofe on 
 which the Craftfman made his challenge, yet it hath been 
 pofitively aflerted by him, and half of it at Icaft as pofitivcly 
 denied by the remarker. 
 
 The Craftfman faid *' that the mercy of the late king 
 «' was extended to the gentleman we fpeak of, unafked and 
 " unearned." That it was unearned the remarker thinks pro- 
 bable ; and in thinking fo he gives the lie to all his fellow- 
 fcribblers, who have fo often affirmed the contrary. That it 
 was unafked, he fays, is a downright falfhood. He hath the 
 journal-book of the houfe of commons before him ; and 
 there he finds " that the houfe was acquainted, by his late ma- 
 »' jefty's command, in April 1725, that this gentleman had, 
 " about kven. years before, made his humble application and 
 «< fubmiifion, &c. which his majefty fo far accepted as to give 
 " encouragement to hope for feme future mark of his majedy's 
 " favor and goodnefs."- '-In this he exults; but here again 
 the effrontery and falftiood which he charges on others, will 
 recoil on himfelf. Who drew this minifterial mcffage I know- 
 not ; nor how far the ftile of it may be necefiliry, according 
 to the forms ufual on fuch occafions ; but the remarker might 
 have known, if he had confulttd even his patrons, that his 
 majefty 's mercy had been extended to this gentleman two years 
 before the feven there mentioned ; and that his mercy did not 
 conlift in encouragement to hope for fome future mark of his 
 majefty's favor and goodnefs, but in a gracious and ablblute 
 promife of his favor in the full extent, which the circumftances 
 *■ of
 
 552 A FINAL ANSWER TO 
 
 of that gentleman required. I may be the more bold in af- 
 firming this fa6t, becaufe the noble lord, * who deHvered the 
 meflage I quote, is ftill alive, as fome other perfons are, to 
 whom his late majefty was pleafed to own that this mefllige 
 had been delivered by his order, and to exprefs his gracious 
 intentions conformably to it. — But to proceed. 
 
 It appears moft undeniably, that of the three heads, on 
 which the Craftfman gave, and the remarker accepted the 
 challenge, the remarker hath fliewn himfelf unable to prove 
 the firft by any true fa6ls, and hath fcandaloufly attempted to 
 do it by falfe ones ; that he hath given up the fecond ; and that 
 he hath not fo much as attempted to prove the third. 
 
 Let us afk now, fhall men, thus plainly convid:ed of ca- 
 lumny on acculations brought fo often and charged fo peremp- 
 torily by them, expedl belief, when they endeavor to defame 
 in any other cafe ? Shall they, who are convidled of accufing 
 falfcly in cafes, which are plain in their nature, where no 
 proof can be wanting, and where no pretence can be alledged 
 for not producing it, expert that the public fhould condemn 
 any man, and cfpecially a man who is under fo many cir- 
 cumftanccs of difadvantage, peculiar to his fingular and un- 
 exampled fituation, becaufe they affirm him guilty in cafes, 
 which are intricate in their nature, and where reafons of ho- 
 nor, of prudence and of decency may all concur to impofe 
 filence ? How often have the noble pair defended themfelves, 
 and been defended by others, on this principle ; that no man 
 ought to charge another, unlefs he is able and ready to prove 
 the charge ? How often have they called for proof on this 
 principle, and triumphed that it was not immediately brought ? 
 
 * The prefeiit earl of Wikcbelsea. 
 
 Now,
 
 THE REMARKS, &c. 553 
 
 Now, altho this defence may not be fufficicnt in every cafe, 
 where matters of prefcnt tranfadion arc concerned and wliere 
 the perfons attacked are in adiial pofTcfFion oi tl-.e grcateft 
 power ; yet furely it may be thought, with reaf hi, to be a 
 fufficient defence, when matters long ago tranfaded, and long 
 ago ccnfured too, are concerned ; when the perfons, who at- 
 tack, are in adlual poffeilion of tlic greatcrt pciwer ; and the 
 perfon, who is attacked, hath none of thofe offenfive, or de- 
 fenfive weapons at his command, which power furniflies in fo 
 abundant a manner. 
 
 The remarker thinks that no " reafons of honor, prudence, or 
 " decency ought to fhut the mouth of innocence ; that fhamc 
 *' and guilt alone are filent in the day of enquiry"-— When this 
 day of enquiry is to come, and who is to be the fubjed of it, 
 I know not ; but let him learn that there are many cidcs, 
 wherein it is not honefl:, and many others may occur wherein 
 it is not prudent, to fliy all that might be faid either in de- 
 fence or in excufe ; that is, when the defence or excufe of 
 ourfelves muft affedt others, not concerned in the debate. In 
 fuch cafes the moft innocent will rather bear the imputation 
 of imaginary crimes, by keeping filence, than be guilty of a 
 real crime, by breaking it ; and to carry this as far as it can be 
 carried, inffances might be produced of men, who have died, 
 rather than accufe others, vvhofe blood was thirfted after more 
 than theirs. 
 
 Much hath been faid, and great complaints have been 
 made, of the torture, as it is called in this libel, given to ano- 
 ther gentleman's aclions. If, by this, be meant ranficking 
 into all the private and public pafTages of his life, and wrelf- 
 ing every one into a crime ; far be it from me to approve in 
 his cafe, what I abhor this libeller for doing in the cafe of ano- 
 
 VoL. I. 4 B thcr.
 
 554 AFINALANSWER TO 
 
 then But is it really fo ? Have we {een accufations of trea*- 
 chery and ingratitude towards feveral, who are dead, and to-- 
 wards any, who are living, infifted upon, in the former cafe ? 
 Has it been reproached to the patrons of the remarker, that 
 they vi^ormed out of power a perfon, to whom they were near- 
 ly allied and ought to have been firmly attached by gratitude 
 and friendfliip ? Aad yet is that a fubjeA, which affords no- 
 thino' to be faid ? Are there no Gircumftancc5> which might be 
 ao-frravated at leaft ? Are there no ftrong colors, which miglit 
 be laid ? Even I fhould not be at a lofs to do it, if 1 thought 
 it fair to do it ; if I thought it honeft to pufh any man to a 
 filence, of which I might take a feeming advantage, or to a 
 neceflity of juftifying or excufing himfelf by faying what, fup- 
 pofmg him innocent, he ought not to fay. Are there no fa6rs 
 relating to former tranfadions of great importance not com- 
 monly known, and yet not abfolutely fecrets, which remain 
 ftill unmentioned ? — In fhort, is it not apparent that there are 
 men, who accufe, indeed, wh-en the immediate fubje6t of de- 
 bate leads, and provokes them neceffarily and unwillingly to 
 it, whilft there are others, who wait for no fuch neceffity, but 
 accufe meerly todefamCo. 
 
 It would be tedious, not difficult, to go through this whole 
 inventive ; to deny with truth many things, which are falfely 
 affirmed ; and, by. giving. a juft turn to others,, to fet them in 
 a very different light from that wherein the author expofss 
 them to public view; to explain what he perplexes ; to diftin- 
 guiOi what he confounds. But- 1 fhallnot take this taik upon 
 me, for the realbns I have given, and for others which I am 
 going to give. 
 
 As to the condu£i, which the perfon, againff • whom fuch 
 torrents, of. ribaldry are poured forth, , held .towards thofe wlio 
 
 were
 
 THE REMARKS, &c. 555 
 
 uerc at the head of aftairs, whilft he was in buf.nefi, KhM 
 ITy add to what l>a.h been faid already, what nomano can- 
 dor will deny ; that the heat and an.mofity, wh.eh pupctual 
 clefts and frquenttnms of party raile, have earr.c-d many, 
 pe an the pedbn wl>o is blamed, pcthaps the perfons who 
 E r him. Jo do what, in any other frtuat.on or tender o^ 
 mind, they would carefully avoid : m a word that the jult 
 man hath been, on fueh oecafions, fometimesunjuft^ the good- 
 matured n'an U-natured ; and the friendly man unfr.endly. 
 Few here are. I fear, who eould with a fafe eon.c.enee take 
 ™ the fiTft ftone upon fueh a trial. Few there are. who are 
 bfamelefs But here is the difference. The juft, the good- 
 ritm^d he friendly man returns to the eharafter out of wh.eh 
 ftlrfed The ulljuft. the ill-natured, '1- -m t.endly man 
 „erfifts The firft refleds with forrow on what tbc la t re 
 Si with triumph ; and whilft one wiO^es undone what he 
 heat of party car ied him to do, the other is g ad of the ex 
 cuf o pa y, fueh as it is, to indulge the -eioufnefs of ^n 
 ownn2re,^and to repeat unjuft. ill-natured and unfncudl/ 
 aflions to the living and even to the dead. 
 
 • There is an example before us, which may ferve to illu- 
 flraTe\XtI have faid.-Grcat advantage is taken of a memo- 
 ^atfert to the late queen, by the late earl of Ox.o.t, .v^iere n 
 manv hard refledions are made on others; but the liardclt oi 
 " o'n li:: perfon here referred to. He is painted m the wo^ft 
 
 colors, and aceufed to theq"^="°f'^';S^^^'^'^,tt the aeeufa- 
 I defcend into the particulars, I might fliew that the ae^U 
 tions were groundlefs, and point out, perhaps, the un "It 
 auLof fufpieions which were taken - -el las the mo«ve, 
 to the writing that memorial, which I wifli had .n«'" ''^=" 
 Written for a^eafon very difterent from that which tlie re- 
 marker would be ready to aft.git. but I Ihall a 
 
 4 B 2
 
 S^6 A FINAL ANSWER TQ 
 
 into any fuch particulars, nor give a double advantage to tlie- 
 malicious, who would be juft as well pleafed to have any 
 handle given them by the living, of inveighing againft the 
 dead, as they are ready to feize, on every occafion, that which 
 was given them, fo many years ago, by one, who is now dead,, 
 of inveighing againft the living. 
 
 The perfons, who had the honor toferve the late queen, in 
 the laft period of her life, have been thefe twenty years the, 
 fubjedis of great clamor. If the differences which happened 
 amongft them fo long ago, gave in fome meafure, as 1 appre- 
 hend that they did, both occafion and force to this clamor, 
 it would be ftrange condud}-, indeed, in thofe of them who 
 remain alive, and in the relations and friends of thofe of them 
 who are dead, to preferve the ipirit of difference,, and to af- 
 £ft in reviving this clamor. 
 
 The day will come, when authentic hiftorywill relate the 
 paffages of thofe times, without regard to the partial views of 
 any party, or the particular defence of any man. Till this 
 day does come, every one muft decide, or fufpend his judg- 
 ment, as he fees reafon to do; and they, who may fuffer by 
 thefe judgments, muft bear it with that temper and refped,, 
 which is due from every private man to public cenfures ; nay, 
 even to public prejudices. 
 
 But what hath all this to do with the charaders and con^ 
 dud: of the noble pair ? Suppofe the mien in power,, two reigns 
 ago, to have been angels- of darknefs, will it follow that the 
 two honorable patrons of the remarker are angels of light ? 
 What then is the m.eaning of fo great a clamor, affededly 
 raifed on fo ilender an occafion as the Craftfman of the twenty- - 
 fccond.of May ga'/e ^ wherein little was faid, and that little 
 
 with.
 
 THE REMARKS, &c. 557 
 
 with much moderation, after much provocation ? Why are Co 
 many pens employed, and fo great pains taken, to divert the 
 attention of the pubhc from prcfent to part tranfailions ; from 
 
 national confidcrations to pcrfonal altercations? The real(jn 
 
 is obvious ; and no other reafon in nature can be ailigned. 
 The noble pair have been hard pufhed, on their management 
 of public affairs, both at home and abroad. Not only their 
 errors have been pointed out ; grofs palpable errors ; but a long 
 feries of error; a v\'hole fyftem oi cool, deliberate, condu61ed, de- 
 fended, cxpenfive error hath been laid open to public view. 
 What 1 believe never to have happened before, hath happened on 
 thefe occafiions. The noble pair have been admonifhed in time, 
 and flievvn the precipice, into which, whoever led, they were 
 both falling. 1 he confequences of their meafurcs have been 
 foretold as early as pofTible, and evenwhiift the caufes was lay- 
 ing. Surely this condudl, on the part of their adverfaries, fa- 
 vors more of public fpirit than of private refentment ; and yet, 
 when they have taken ad\'antage of it, they have ftopt fhort 
 and triumphed in their efcape, as they did in the cafe of the 
 Irifh recruits. Thefe very admonitions, which gave them time- 
 and opportunity to do fo, have been modeftly attributed to 
 private refentment alone ; tho nothing can be more maniteR- 
 than this ; t.iat private refentment would have found its ac- 
 count better in iilence, would have preferred accufations to 
 admonitions, and would have waited longer to have ftruck. 
 more hon.e. 
 
 Sometimes, inftead of flopping fhort, they have gone on, 
 anfvvering for and being anfvvered for, till the events have ju- 
 ftitied the predidions ; till the inconveniencies, difadvanrages 
 and difficulties, againft which the noble pair had been warned 
 in vain, have followed and increafed upon them ; till even 
 ^eir apologifts have been forced to allow fom.e errors, and till 
 
 they
 
 558 A FI N A L A NS WER TO 
 
 they themfelves have confefled their boafted fyftem to be 
 wrong, by changing it, and by boafting of the change. Even 
 after all this, they have complained of clamor ; and they ftill 
 complain, as if there had never been the leaft occafion for it 
 given by them. — How their new fchemesare planned, and how 
 they will be purfued ; whether thefe able men have failed hi- 
 therto, becaufe they fet out on miftaken principles of policy, 
 or whether they have failed for want of Ikill to condud: the 
 righteft, we fliall foon fee. 
 
 But thefe are not the only circumftances, which have borne, 
 
 and ftill bear hard upon them. In the courfe of thefe and 
 
 other difputes, it feems to have been plainly and fully proved, 
 that fuch principles have been eftablifhed, and fuch dodrines 
 have been taught by the minifterial writers, as tend manifeftly 
 to deftroy the freedom of the Britifh government. Such are, 
 the dependency, I mean the corrupt dependency, of parlia- 
 ments on the crown ; the neceffity of ftanding armies, not- 
 withftanding the danger of them to liberty ; and fome other 
 points, which I need not recapitulate. It is fufficiently known 
 how much, and with how much reafon, the far greater part 
 of mankind have been alarmed at thefe attempts ; which, if 
 they fucceed, muft hurt not only the inferior and temporary 
 interefts, but the greateft and mofl: permanent political inte- 
 reft, which a Briton can have at heart ; that of the conftitu- 
 tion of this government. 
 
 As thefe things have been objeded ftrongly on one fide, fo 
 endeavors have been ufed on the other, to difguife and to pal- 
 liate them, or to evade the confequences drawn from them. But 
 thefe endeavors have not fucceeded. How, indeed, fhould 
 they fucceed ? As well might thofe, who make them, cxpedl to 
 pcrfuade mankind that flavery and beggary are preferable to 
 
 liberty
 
 THE REMARKS, &c. 559 
 
 liberty and wealth, as to make the world believe that thcfc 
 blefiings can be prcfcrved to Britain by the very means, by 
 which they have been loft in fo many other free countries. 
 
 Since this therefore cannot be impofed ; fince the minds of 
 men cannot be convinced of fuch abfurditics, they muft be 
 diverted, if poHible, from the fiibjedl. A new cry is therefore 
 raifed, or an old one rather is revived. Difpiites, which in- 
 flamed the minds of men, whilft the affairs they relate to 
 were tranfacfling, and the conflict of parties was the moft fierce, 
 are renewed at a time, when they can be of no benefit to the 
 public, and when the fime motives of party fubfirt no lona;er. 
 One man, in particular, is made the fubjecl of new invcdive. 
 Nothing, which malice can fuggefl:,and ill nature and ill man- 
 ners utter, is omitted to render his perfon odious, and to re- 
 prefent his defigns as dangerous. In the fame breath, we are 
 told that this odious, this dangerous man is endeavoring to 
 come into power once more. He ftands again " a candidate for 
 «' grace and trufl. He would again adminifier the public, aban- 
 "don it's allies, and facrifice it's honor. Nothing will fitisfy 
 "< him but the power, which he once abufed and would again 
 <^ abufe ; the trufts, which he once betrayed and would agam 
 *' betray." Thefe are reprefented, with equal mcdefty and fair- 
 nefs, to be his requefts ; and the hero of the remarker, that 
 is the remarker's paymafter, who adminifters the public fo 
 righteoufly ; who never abandoned it's allies ; neither the em- 
 peror nor France ; who never iacrificed it's honor to one, nor 
 it's interefl: to both ; who never abufed his power, nor be- 
 trayed his truft, through ambition, through pride, tlirough pri- 
 vate intereft, or private pique ; this perlbn is applauded for 
 his oppofition to luch requefls, for his jufi: and fatal difcern- 
 ment. 
 
 What:
 
 56o A FINAL ANSWER TO 
 
 What fatality there may be in his difcernment, I know 
 not ; but furely there is a fatality, which attends thofe who 
 indulge themfelves in fpeaking and writing, \^hout any re- 
 gard to truth. How could it happen elfe that the remarket 
 fhould fo egregioufly contradi6i; himfelf, and deftroy in his 
 fortieth page the whole drift of his thirty-ninth ? This bold 
 and rafh fcribbler takes upon him to marfhal and to characte- 
 rize infolently the friends of the man he rails at. If I was not 
 of that number myfelf, I fhould probably fay more on the 
 fubje6t. This however I am under an obligation to fay ; that 
 the friends of this gentleman mufl: be fuch to his perfon. They 
 cannot be fo to his power. That he takes it as the greateft 
 compliment, which can be made to him, to have a lympathy 
 of nature and a conformity of principles and defigns with them 
 attributed to him ; that he thinks their friendfbip an honor to 
 him ; fuch an honor as the warmeft of his enemies have caufe 
 to envy, and do envy ; fuch an honor as the higheft of his 
 enemies would be heartily proud to obtain, and have not been 
 able to obtain. 
 
 The friends now of this gentleman, whom he is fometimes 
 faid to lead, and who are fometimes faid to employ him as 
 their tool, jufl: as it fuits the prefent purpofe of fcandal to fay; 
 thefc very friends, it feems, the very men, who defend him, 
 *' would never raife him above his prefent low condition, nor 
 " make him the partner of their fuccefs."—.— However they may 
 employ him, the remarker and his patrons know how they 
 
 mean to reward him. Since this is the cafe, iince they know 
 
 it to be fo ; for what reafon, in the name of wonder, is all 
 
 this buftle made about fo inlignificant a tool ? Why fo many 
 
 endeavors to raife a jealoufy, and give an alarm, as if this 
 
 man was aiming again at power ? Why fo much merit af- 
 
 xribed to the noble pair, for keeping him out of it } His 
 
 7 own
 
 T H E R E M A R K S, &c. 561 
 
 own friends would not raifc him to it. --How ridiculous then 
 is the afte(!l:ation of his enemies, who value thcnifclvcs on their 
 oppofition to him ? 
 
 Let the noble pair fland or fall by their own merits, or 
 demerits, I dare anfwer to them and to the world, upon better 
 foundations than thofe of the remarkets laying, that their con- 
 nuance in power will never break the fpirit of this man, nor 
 their fall from it e:s>:cite his ambition. His ambition, whatever 
 may have been faid or thought about it, hath been long fmcc 
 dead. A man mull: be dead himfclf, who is utterly infenii- 
 b!e of all that happens, either to the public or to himfelf ; 
 but he who fecks nothing but retreat, and that fiability of 
 htuation, which is elTcntial to the quiet of it, hath furtly no 
 ambition. Now that this is the cafe, and hath been long the 
 cafe of the gentleman, concerning whom 1 fpeak, I know to 
 be true, and I affirm boldly. He never had the \{:a{\j I lay 
 more, he never would have the greateft obligations to any coun- 
 try, except his own ; and yet fo defirous was this man of reft 
 and quiet, that he was contented to enjoy them where for- 
 tune had prefentcd them to him. A li'tle franknefs mio-hr 
 have kept him abroad all his life, without complaint. Much 
 art has been employed to confine him at home, and to teazc- 
 him there. If forgetting all former perfecutions, he refented 
 the lafl:, would he be much to blame ? 
 
 I AM not confcious of having faid, in this paper, a word 
 againfl the truth ; and I am fure that I have the fime truth 
 on my fide, when I aflcrt that this man, whom the libeller 
 reprefcnts to be lo turbulent, fo outragious,. and of fuch per- 
 tinacious ambition, however he might have been willino; for- 
 merly to have had the obligation to the noble pair, of enjoy- 
 ing, by their afllftance, the lull mcafurc of his late majcdy's. 
 
 Vol I. 4. G 
 
 ITt
 
 562 AFINALANSVVERTO 
 
 intended goodnefs, would decline with fcorn, after all that 
 has pafTed, to be reinftated in his former fituation, at the in- 
 tolerable expence of having the leaft appearance of an obliga- 
 tion to them. Neither they, nor their advocates, can be half 
 fo folllcitous to keep him out of power, and even out of a 
 ftate of afpiring after power, as he is determined againft the 
 firft, and indifferent about the lafL 
 
 I AM fenfible that all this may appear a little improbable to 
 the perfons I oppofe. It will be hard for them to conceive 
 that the man, who has once tafted power, can ever renounce 
 it in earneft. No wonder they /liould think in this manner. 
 Thofe who find nothing in themfelves to refl upon with fatis- 
 fadlion, mufl: lean on power, on riches, or both, and on other 
 external objeds. Nay, thofe who have of the two vices am- 
 bition and avarice, the meaneft in the moft eminent degree • 
 and who would be glad to quit their power, and to retire with 
 their gains, may be afraid to quit it, becaufethey have abufed 
 it. They may be fo miferable as to fee no fecurity out of 
 power, nor any other in it, except that precarious, that tem- 
 porary fecurity, which is the laft and ufeful refuge of defpe- 
 rate men ; the continuing the fame violences to maintain, by 
 which they acquired their power ; the keeping up of dilTenti- 
 ons, and the embroiling of affairs; thofe noble arts, by which 
 they rofe. 
 
 But there are men in the world, who know that there is 
 fomething in life better than power, and riches ; and fuch men 
 may prefer the low condition, as it is called by the remarker 
 of one man, to the high condition of another. There are men 
 who fee that dignity may be difgraced, and who feel that dif- 
 grace may be dignified. Of this number is the gentleman 
 whom I have undertaken to defend ; who poffeffes his foul 
 
 4 without
 
 THE RE M A R K S, f:c. 56^ 
 
 without liopcs or fears, and enjoys his retreat without any de- 
 hres beyond it. In that retreat, he is obedient to the laws, 
 dutiful to his prince, and true to his oaths. If he tails in thefe 
 refpccls, let him be publicly attacked; let public vengeance 
 purfue and overtake him; let the nobic pair indulge for once 
 their paflions in a juft caufe. If they have no complaint.^, of 
 this nature, to make againfl; him, from whence docs this par- 
 ticular animofity proceed ? Have they complaints of any ether 
 kind to make, and of a private nature ? If they have, why is 
 the public troubled on this account ?-— I hope the remarker's 
 mafk is now taken off; that the true drift oF all this perfonal 
 railing is enough expofed ; and that the attention of mankind 
 will be brought back to thofe more important fubjeds, which 
 have been already ftarted, and to thofe which every day may 
 furuifli. 
 
 After what has been here faid, the gentleman, in whofe 
 defence I have appeared, can have no reafon of honor to 
 enter, by himfelf, or his friends, into thefe altercations ; and if 
 my opinion can prevail, fliould thefe libellers continue to fcold, 
 and to call names, they fliould be left to do it, without re- 
 proof, or notice. The anfwer now given fliould rtand as a 
 " Final anfwer to all they have faid, and to all they may think 
 " fit to fay hereafter." 
 
 End of the First Volume.
 
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