Humanum est Errare, OR FALSE STEPS ON BOTH SIDES.  

First, On the Kings Part.  
I. THat the King did not declare his Judgement in Council, for Liberty of Conscience, at the same time that he professed himself a Roman Catholic, that so all Parties might have known, at once, what they had to Trust to; which would rather have excused his Popery, then have rendered it more Intolerable, nothing being more Popular at that time, than such a Liberty.  
II. That He did not try the Parliament He called at his coming to the Crown, upon the Penal Laws only, before He parted with it, for either He had gained the Liberty so far, without an hazard, or got a better Parliament to his mind, by parting with that upon a Point, that his Brother's severities had made very desirable in the Kingdom.  
III. That He did not choose to begin Liberty of Conscience by Parliament, rather than by Declaration; by Law then by Prerogative: for that way it could not have met with such exception; and the other might have served at last.  
iv That when it was given, and He was pleased with the acceptance it found, He did not immediately call a Parliament to confirm it, while that humer prevailed, and they who did not like it were ashamed to oppose it, and had not yet so much as form any secret Councils or Correspondencies against it.  
V That the Prince and Princess of Orange were not taken into that measure, which had been very easy, so early; and by their Concurring, that were next to the Crown, and of the Legal Religion of the Kingdom, there had been no place left for Jealousy or Contradiction, nor any one of moment enough to Head or Countenance a Defection. This way Popery might have had room enough in England, by leave, and her Children been preserved by suffering a larger security to others. For this method had begotten a good understanding between Us and Holland, and consequently between Us and the Confederates, who being mostly Catholic, would have been sure to have secured good terms here for those of their own Judgement; though, by their present Motions, it appears Interest may prevail with Princes of that Communion, more than their Religion; which we here have refused, at any rate, to believe.  
VI That the King would be drawn into such partial and unnecessary methods, as that of Closseting, the Ecclesiastical Commission, Regulating Corporations, and Imposing upon the Clergy the Reading his Declaration, that in the consequence of it, more than any thing, fired the Spirits of the People against his Government: All which, the early calling of a Parliament had prevented, and the ill effects of them, may truly be charged upon that fatal omission; as That, upon the Caution of the Ministers to venture themselves with a Parliament, though they knew at the same time, their Master could not be safe without one. Some think it is plain, that the reason of Closseting was from his unwillingness to part with the Sons of the Church of England, that were in his Service, if it had been possible to have kept them, and Liberty of Conscience together; and therefore they own him an Obligation, even there where they thought themselves disobliged by him. For the Ecclesiastical Court, without doubt he was told, it was the best way to check the Clergy from running down his Religion in their Pulpits, where no body might contradict them, lest by insensing the People against his Preswasion, they might come, by degrees, to incense them against his Person and Government: But a siegal course, had certainly done his business more effectually, and where the Authority had been clearer in the Judgement of the Law, the punishment had lain lighter on the minds of the People. For the Corporations, in his Time, it was but changing of men according to the power of the Charters. For the reading of his Declaration, his Friends would have People have the Charity to believe he meant no more than the best and spediest way of giving notice of a Parliament, thinking withal, that the popularity of the thing, would in great measure cure the Jealousies that were fomented against him, and make amends for the false Steps taken in the Interval of Parliament. But certainly it is never to be advised in any case of Importance, to try Experiments, but to do that which is Safest, where what we think is best, is too hazardous to effect. He that learns to fence with Swords, rather than foils, runs a danger greater than the Skill Merits.  
VII. That after He was persuaded to put the Bishops into the Tower, He did not discharge Them upon the Birth of the Prince of Wales, which had brought in the Church into the acknowledgement of him, and They, at that time of the day, the Nation with them. Over stout hurts no body but ones self.  
VIII. That Ireland was generally put out of Protestant and English Hands: It is true, it proves now his advantage, but that is by accident: It was certainly a false Step; though He might do it for fear of what has now befallen him, till he could see that He and his Friends were out of all hazard, It is certain that gave occasion to his Enemies, to run Division against him.  
IX. That He filled up the Vacancies in the Portsmouth Companies with Irish Soldiers▪ for though they were but four persons to each Company, and as much his Subjects, as the other, yet it crossed an humer that was for his Interest to indulge, at least at that time.  
X. That having by these things disobliged the Church of England, He did not do enough to engage the Whig and Fanatic to stand by him, but trimmed dangerously for himself: A little thing will serve to disengage a Party, but it must not be a small thing that will oblige and fix a Party in a new Interest.  
XI. That He was so long before He published his Expedient of letting the Parliament, Test remain. Next to his delay of a Parliament, his not telling us sooner, indeed as soon as his Friends say he resolved it, what he would allow us for our security, against the mischiefs that were feared from a Liberty to Roman Catholics, was the worst thing He could have done for his own Interest; It kept Thousands from joining with Him in that design of Liberty of Conscience, and made the Scrupelous a Property to his Enemies: which shows us, that resolutions to please the People, should neither be long in taking, nor long concealed when they are taken. If Princes once let the People lose their longing, they often miscarry, or their desires so languish that it is hard, if not impossible, to recover their Appetite.  
XII. That after He had heard of the Preparations in Holland, He did not then, at least, send an English Man, and a Protestant, to the States, both to find out the Design, whatever it cost, and if against him, to have deverted it by timely Memorials, and all that address, that such an Important thing could call for, at the Hand of an Honest, Diligent and Wise Man. A saying of his Brothers had been of use to him now, Don't lose a Sheep for a hal-fpenny worth of Tar: The Twentieth part of what it cost him to prepare an Opposition here, would have stopped them there, which instructs us, that good Husbandry, ill placed, is sometimes the dangerousest thing in the World.  
XIII. That the Parliament that was to have sat in November was suffered to be interrupted; and that the Charters that were Returned at last, had not been Restored when the Declaration for the Session of that Parliament was published, which teaches us, that it is equally dangerous to change, and to change too late; and perhaps something of both conspired to the King's fatality.  
XIIII. That he would never be persuaded to new moddle his Army, when all the World saw the influemes they were under, must render them useless and dangerous to him in a case of extremity. Had that Army had but new Officers, or had the old ones been changed in their commands, it had been impossible but the attempt against him must have proved vain and successless: Which shows us the Mischief of an unreasonable confidence; for he built his assurance upon private passion, or an opinion of Gratitude against interest and judgement, that could not but tell him that it was as easy catching Hares with Lobsters, as defending a cause by instruments that are hearty against it.  
XV. That upon notice of the Dutch Fleets passing by Dover, there were not some Light-horse and foot mounted dispatched westward to watch their motion, and obstruct their landing; than which, nothing is now allowed to have been more easy, and that a due reflection upon the action, would even then have given leisure enough to have thought of: But when the Army did march, it seems an error to many that He did not march with it, and that to Exeter itself, before any went into the Prince, but that he let them halt at Salisbury to take time to think better how to desert and betray him: which shows too much confidence, and yet not enough of resolution.  
XVI. That he did not Treat Earlier, when they were Humbler in their hopes, or not treat at all, but possess himself of the City of London, and let the Writs proceed for a Parliament, and put the invaders upon proving those impious Crimes, that could only rob him of the affections of his Subjects, and render him unworthy of reigning over them, and which, as we see now, must certainly have procured him the best of terms, by satisfing his jealous People, he was not guilty, and so turning the difficulty upon his Enemies: Or lastly, that he did not timely March off with that part of his Army that was willing to follow him, both of English, Scotch and Irish, for Scotland, which had secured that Kingdom as entirely to him, as Tirconel has done Ireland, and with the Forces of both Kingdoms, which it had been easy to join, have Treated, or Fought his way back again: But this plainly tells us, that when Men are disordered in their minds by ill success, they hardly choose what is best for themselves, and when they do so, it often happens, they press it too feebly to recover themselves. He thought all lost, and so He lost all upon that bottom; yet we must say, Peace and Plenty filled his short Reign, and that he fell by the faults of others rather then his own.   

Secondly, False Steps on the other Side.  
1. THat before the Prince of Orange ever undertook to Invade His Father, He did not make some Public Protest against his Conduct, in reference to the security of the Protestant Religion, and the Right of his Princess, and the rest of the Protestant Royal Blood: It is good to leave People without just excuse, as it is to accept only of just occasion of advantage.  
II. That the Memorial the Marquis D' albaville was ordered to give into the States, and which, as late as it was, came to their Hands near a Month before the Prince Sailed for England, was not embraced and improved by the States, to that good Understanding and firm Alliance, that it gave a plain handle for; especially, since nothing else, seemed to have been the meaning of the States in Lending the Prince their Forces by Sea and Land, if they meant what they said in their Memorial they gave to all the Foreign Ministers at the Hague: Some think this might have proved a quicker, and therefore a better Security to Holland, than our present Friendship, and with much less Confusion and Consumption to us: Others are more malicious, and say, the Dutch had rather hazard all with France, than not spare us this King that was so near being One there, and that at any time the Dutch have the good nature, To take a Thorn out of their own Foot, to put into their Neighbours.  
III. That the Prince being Landed at Exeter He did not send then a Copy to the King of his Declaration, in order to satisfy Him of the Reasons and end of his coming; and for prevention of Blood, to have entreated Him to think of those legal Methods, by which the Grievancies complained of, might receive their proper redress: This had looked both just and decent, and thus Things would evidently have preceded all personal Interests: For hardly any body, but was on the side of a Reformation to a degree Just and Reasonable.  
iv That He stayed too long at Exeter, if He was not sure of gaining His point without Fight, for it was in the King's power to have Cut of all Intercourse between Him, and those He expected should join Him.  
V That He admitted of a Treaty at Hungerford, after taking no notice for three Weeks, that there was such a thing as a King in England, and refused One at Windsor, when the terms grew extremely on His side, and every thing lay nearer to a good accommodation; for four days could make no difference, if the thought of being King was not in his Head, and if it were, a Treaty could not be sincerely held upon other points.  
VI That the King was sent for back, when he was stopped, and that he was Dislodged, and let go after he returned: For he could not be sent for back, but as a King or Criminal; not as a King, for he was soon Dislodged by another's Command, and not as a Crimenal, it seems, for than he would not have been left at liberty to go away; which shows that they that sent for him back, did not know their Lesson, till Saturday night at Windsor; and that nothing is a better proof, that there was no Proof against him, about the matters usually suggested, then that He was let go so quietly and knowingly; as if all this great undertaking had not been to mend him, but to get him out of his Kingdom, though we were told, and therefore thought and expected other things.  
VII. That those Lawyer's that were against the Dispensing Power, out of mere Tenderness in Law Points, could give their opinion for Abdication, upon a constrained absence of the King, and after that, for his Deposition, and the Electiveness of the Crown, that They all know, and ever have asserted for Law, cannot be legally done by the Government of England; which Contradiction, over-throws all the Proceed of their Learned Predecessors, and sets the Law with its heels upwards.  
VIII. That the Prince should send his Secretary to the Judges, upon the opinion of private Lawyers, that the King's absence was an Abdication, peremtorily to forbid the Term which gives Judgement anticedent to the Resolution of the Convention, that the King's Retreat, was an Abdication, though at the same time the rest of the Government went on in the King's Name.  
IX. That the Convention did not in the first place, assert all Power was in the People of England, that They where the people of England, and what they did was the Agreement of the people of England; and upon that, assert their power to Make, Limit, Altar, Depose, and Punish Kings when they see Cause, and that in persuance of this power, they made the present Alteration; and that it was both lawful, and a duty to do what they had now done; else, whatever good may be got to the public, by the present Change, They that make it are obnoxious, and those that shall imitate it in after time, do it at their own peril.  
X. That They did not mend the Constitution, as well as seem to Restore it from its abuses, at least as to the Choice, Session and Power of Parliaments; such opportunities as this, seldom coming into the People's hands: Had we had our Annual Parliaments Settled, the Negative Voice Restrained, a Committee of Lords and Commons to be the Privy-Council, no Officers of the King to serve in Parliament, the Revenue Appropriated, all Eminent Offices had upon good Behaviour and Election of Members to Parliament secured, the Work might have deserved a better Character.  
XI. That They did not first determine the Disputable Elections before they went upon any thing of moment, there being near one Hundred, and some say, by very soul play, and that at no other time of day, things were carried more grossly: Debauching the Electors, Adjourning the Poles, suffering false Poles, Lords appearing to Influence the Elections; all which, former Parliaments thought Intolerable: But that which increases the error, they Chose a Speaker out of those that had the Disputable Elections, and of the worst sort too, being against the Choice of the People, and that Charter that they pretend to Restore: And they that know how much the Chair guides that House, and who it is that is in it, and his Circumstances, and by what Interest he came there, are ready to render it a Capital Blemish in the Convention itself.  
XII. That They proceeded to choose a new King, before they had proved the Crimes laid to the Charge of the old King, or without so much as giving him the Refusal upon the terms of Restoring or Amending of the ancient Constitution of the Realm, in Case he were not found guilty of those vile imputations; of which, as it makes People think him now clear, because he would not have been spared if he had been guilty; so they begin to esteem it the least piece of Justice to him, that he should not lose his Kingdoms because he has been accused falsely.  
XIII. That They Voted, he had broke Faith with his People, and did not prove in what, which leaves all in the dark: If his Breach of Faith, be Violating his Coronation Oath, that Breach cannot un-King him, unleass that Oath made him a King; and that, it did not, because he was King the very Minute his Brother died. He was so reputed in Scotland, where he was never Crowned, and his Brother acted as such, from the Death of his Father, and it was almost a Year after his Restoration, before he took the Oath: This is obvious to all, and but the natural consequence of an Hereditary Monarchy, where the King never dies.  
XIV. That They should make the Prince of Orange, King, without either Oath or Coronation, which in an Elected King, are the Seals and Sacraments of Kingship to the People, and without which, some question if there can be any Allegience due from them.  
XV. That the Prince, (considering his respectful terms to the King in his Declaration) would accept of such a Choice, without so much as inspecting the Right of the pretended Prince of Wales, because the aforesaid Declaration allows him to be such, till he be disproved, and since he is not so, every body will conclude him too young to be guilty of faults to the Nation, that can make him deserve to be Excluded, as now he is.  
XVI. That admitting there was no true Prince of Wales, he could let the flattery of the Convention carry him to overthrow the order of the Line, in setting his Wife and Sisters Right aside, after what he had said in his Declaration of the Title of his Princess being the great reason of his meddling so publicly in our English affairs. The danger of such a latitude is, that we teach the Instruments of our Ambition, what to do to our prejudice, when it is for their Interest or Revenge, by the same morals, that we use them to our advantage. But this is not all.  
XVII. That He would think of taking upon him the Kingship here, before he had Reduced or Secured the three Kingdoms from a Division of Interest, is as extraordinary; for by looking after that personal Dignity in England, he has left Scotland and Ireland naked; so that King James is beforehand with him in one, if not in both Kingdoms, by which neglect he has put the Labour Oar upon himself, and delayed his Affares to a dangerous aftergame: And this will in all probability quickly have its Effects here, and hath already now the News of his Arrival in jerland may be relied upon. For many that would have followed him all the World over, as Prince of Orange, their Protector from the danger of Popery, relish his affecting his Father's Crown very unpleasantly: and those that consider the Civil-Wars, it will immediately involve these Nations in, and the Desolation and Misery that must follow, as the Price of a new King, think they have an hard Bargain, without the Six Hundred and odd Thousand Pounds that they are to give the Dutch for helping them to it to save themselves; yet it, might have been a tolerable Rate for saving of three Kingdom, but too much of all conscience to hire any Man to take them away for himself.  
XVII. That the Convention should offer to sit without taking the Test, when that was the Jealoufie that was had of the King, as the fatalest thing that could befall the Government in his time: For it is reasonably argued, if the Convention had Power to make a King, they must have had Power enough to Constitute some Body to administer the Test, without which, if no legal Parliament could be held, nor no one Law be made, how a King can be chosen, is a question hard to be answered.  
XVIII. That They did not proceed to Act as a Convention still, but hastily Metamorphized themselves into a Parliament; since if public necessity justifies the greater, the lesser matters cannot be Criminal: If they may put out one King and put in an other, they may doubtless give Money to support him, as a Convention: So that there could be no reason to make that change in point of necessity, because necessity gives Sanction to all they do as a Convention, and that a Parliament so made, cannot rise higher than a Convention: Some therefore look upon it as the effect of fear in the present predominant Party, that they dare not trust the People already with an other Choice, after making them hope they should have a Parliament in April; which is a weakness that should not have been shown, and a Dipposaintment that ought not to have been given to so many Country Gentlemen, that had reserved themselv●s for a Parliament. Moreover, it is hotly argued by divers persons, that a Convention is an exterordinary thing, but a Parliament a legal and customary Thing; The one an effect of necessity, and makes bold with Forms for Essential safety, the Other a regular part of the Constitution; but that a Convention has no more power to make itself a Parliament, than the King has to make himself a Cons; table, or the Spanish Friar had, to turn a couple of Capons into a couple of Charps, that he might not break Lent at an English man's Table: Others think this such a strain and violence upon the Constitution, that the Laws made by it, will hardly be obeyed, especially about Money: They say the Parliament, or Legislative Capacity, is as much invaded, as the Throne, and that it looks like a Confederacy of the present Possessors of both, upon the Nation, to keep out, with the King, the Gentlemen of it from their Privilege and Birthright, lest on a new Choice, They should take new measures, and change the present Politics.  
XIX. That They should begin their Session with giving this new King an Arbitrary Power of Imprisoning of the Subject's persons, against the Reason of the Law of Habeas Corpus, which evidently was, That no pretence of State Emergency should make that inroad upon the fundamental right of the Subject, in that it was not a benefit granted by Law, but by Law only Declared, and Confirmed against the Encroachments of ill times upon the Original Contract. But this Law plainly admits, that that Law for Habeas Corpus may be against the safety of the Government, which is granting the Point to those that oppose the passing of it, and to such as have wished it Repealed upon the same pretence. That which follows upon this, must be, that either a Parliament be always sitting, or the Prince have power in Intervals, or that the Government be exposed, if such a breach, as is hereby made, be allowed to be at any time necessary: But that which agrivates the attempt, our Fears made it one of the greatest of the Crimes that the King was to have been guilty of, that he would for the same reason endeavour to shake such a Privilege and Jewel of the People.  
XX. That in reviving the Revenue, that dropped, with the Abdication of the King, they did not Apropriate what they continued, as well as let fall the Chimny-Money, and additional Customs on Sugar and Tobacco; since there cannot be a better security to the People's Freedoms, then assigning the uses to which they give their Money, and making it very penal to misapply it.  
XXI. That They committed Sir James Smith, for Bailing the Popish Lawyer, that was not committed by Parliament, nor for Treason, nor upon any Suggestion or Charge upon Oath, which in the opinion of some able Lawyers, is expressly against the Right of the Subject, and Law of the Land: Even a just Punishment may be unjustly executed.  
XXII. That They should have no more Regard to the Princes Public Faith in his Declaration, of Indulging Papists themselves that will live quietly, than to make a Law to Banish them out of Town, which is the way to provoke Mischief, if they are capable of doing any, and to be sure, the Severest of all Injuries, in that it deprives so many Hundred People of the lower sort, of the means of getting Bread for their poor Families; and which makes the whole Undertaking, a Jest, we are all at the same time to be Guarded by Papists, of almost all other Nations.  
XXIII. That they should force him to take a Coronation Oath against his Declaration to the Kingdom, for if by this Oath he is not obliged to Persecute Dissenters, which I much question, it is certain they are left out of his Oath, for he Swears only to the Church, and by the late Principles of government there is no Tie where there is no Contract.  
XXIV. Lastly, That such Men are Chief in the present Ministry that have been the Tools of the Monarchy, in the worst of Times and Practices; which, as the ingenious Author of the Equivolent, says, must disrelish the best of things that are done; Liquor naturally tastes of an impure Cask, and that Water cannot be clear, that comes through a foul Channel. It is boldly affirmed, by divers Persons, that some of them were in the Black-Heath Project, and promoted a French League soon after: Corrupted Parliaments, and Desolved such as would not be Corrupted, as the two last at Westminister, and that at Oxford: That They turned the Scale against the Protestant Interest, in the time of the Popish Plot; and prevented the Exclusion, which they seem now so Fond of in an after Game: That they Violated Elections, and Invented the Dissolution of Charters; and that it was this conduct that adjourned the Deliverance of the Nation, and laid the Foundation of the Protestant Plot, that succeeded presently upon it, which cost the pious Lord Russel, the brave Sidney, and the rest their Lives, and the Nation all the Confusion and Misery that followed it. They further say, that Pol. was a employed in the Bloody Expedition in the West: That Tre. Sentenced the aforesaid noble Lord against his Conscience, to Death: That Pow. gave his opinion for the dispensing Power, fineing that Gallant Peer, my Lord Devonshire: That Hol. and Leu. were always high Tory Lawyers, and King's Council against those that Suffered upon the Protestant Plot; and the first of them always Council to the absent King: And after so large a Profession of having only to do with clean Men, to take as foul as they have left, stumbles those that were very zealous for the present work; who begin already to say, It is all a personal business, and the time of our Deliverance is not yet come: And for the Sons of the Church, that are truly so, they see their error, and will touch no more; while Others that foresaw all this, Laugh in their Sleeves, and cry, did not we tell you so? did not we tell you it would be as you see it is?   

The Author's Observation.  
THe Observation upon all this, is not hard to make, though it be very trist to do it, viz. that a Protestant Party, in the very exercise of Reformation, through their Fears of Popery, should give such occasion to Papists too Expose them, and Triumph over them and their Religion, all the World over, by falling into the very Errors, they charge upon the Papists, as that Intolerable part of their Religion and Policy, that they pretend to have done all This to be safe from, and think it a sufficient excuse and defence for the Irregular and violent Methods they have taken for their security, that it was to avoid such pernicious Principles, as yet they are unhappily fallen themselves into; certainly it is one of the greatest of Judgements that can come upon mankind. For example;  
We say, they are for Deposing of Kings, and therefore not to be endured by Kings, however, never to be trusted by them, and we do the same thing ourselves.  
We say, they hold that Popes can Absolve Subjests of their Allegiance to Excommunicated or Heretical Kings, in abhorrance of which doctrine the Oath of Allegience and Supremacy were made, at least the latter, in the time of King James the first, by the Style of damnable Positions; and yet we do worss, for instead of waiting the Pope's Excommunication and Absolution, without any civil Process, or legal Censure against our own King, we undertake to Absolve ourselves of our Allegience to him; which indeed is a much shorter and easier way of being rid of Kings, when ever it comes in our heads not to like them: So that the question between us and the Papists, upon the present Fact, is not whether it be lawful to Depose Kings, and Absolve Subjects of their Allegiance, but whether the Pope or we are to do it?  
We challenge them, with daring to do any thing that advances the Interest of mother Church? while we show ourselves as bold to break all order and obligation for the preservation of the Protestant Religion.  
We lay to the Jesuits charge and morals, the doing of certain ills, to prevent suspected ones, and what have not we actually done to secure ourselves against our own Fears and Jealousies, of what would become of us, if King James had continued to reign over us.  
We think them not fit to be trusted, if yet fit to live in Society, because we say, they hold that Faith is not to be kept with Heretics, and yet at the same time, we have broke ours, after the worst manner, with our own King, upon that very Principle.  
We charge them with the Absurdity of Transubstantiation in Religion, and practise it ourselves, in an higher nature, in Government, where Mysteries are less allowable; for with an HOC EST PARLIAMENTUM, The Convention is a Parliament, and the conversion is at least as soon, as it is at hoc est corpus meum, in their Sacrament, and as truly too, but with this difference, that in our Conversion, the thing changes itself, but in theirs, it cannot be done without the help of a Priest; which makes ours the greater Mystery of the two. Let us remember who it was called theirs an Hocus pocus: I would not be so prophain with our Politics.  
In short, we accuse them of putting the King upon the Dispensing Power, and we dispense with Oaths here, and all the Laws in Scotland against Dissenters from the Church, in a late Declaration, that are as severe as ours, and as indispensible.  
We say, they would have taken away the Test, or had a Parliament without taking it; and we have taken away the King, and made an Other, without taking it ourselves.  
We feared they would by such a Parliament, Repeal our Habeas Corpus Act, and get Martial Law established upon English Men, and alas! we have prevented them, for we have Suspended the one, and Voted the other already: After this, what can we say for ourselves? O, but it is a Parliament has done it, and that a Protestant Parliament too! but that makes it the worse, that a Parliament, and a Protestant Parliament too, should do that which a Popish King was put by his Right for fear he should do: That such things are done, does our business with reproach, and makes dangerous Precedents for ill-times to come. Holes once made in Government, seldom grow less; They that follow will-make them wider. Parliaments are but the Attorneys of the People, their members are called so, and no Man employs his Attorney to give away his natural and essential Privileges; such these are thought to be, by knowing Men, with which they have been so free. Nor can we tell where they will stop; for if the circumstances of their present King, grow more and more desperate, they that have dipped so deep with him, and for him, will stick at nothing for their own sakes: They give largely, and may well do so, for they give to themselves, Since it is to save themselves from the condition of answering for what they have done: Upon this foot they stand, and they would have the disposal of all our Estates to support it; and who can blame them for it, or will excuse us if we shall pay it: They to be safe, as well as powerful, must do any thing that he would have them; the most miserable state, doubtless, any poor Country can be reduced to, when a number of Men that have the credit of a Representative, are through fear or advantage obliged, at any rate, to uphold the personal and indirect Interest of the Possessor of that Crown.  
We complained that Father Peter was against Law taken into the Council (though doing it could only hurt the Papists) and we can admit Mounsieur Benting into it, that is a Foreigner, and Vnnaturalized, and such a Superior Favourite, that the Other could not more disturb the Clergy, than this Gentleman has the misfortune, by a Behaviour that looks like Insolent, to disgust the English Nobility and Gentry. His bespeaking Qualities I am a Stranger to: I hear he does as he is bid, as other Favourites use to do; but Englishmen naturally done't love Gavestons.  
But we were very angry with Will Chifinch's Cabinet, as believing it had the direction of all our Affairs, though recommended under the Authority of more visible and allowed Councils; but we can securely suffer the Dutch Cabinet, consisting of Mons. Benting and the Five Commissioners from Holland, that are the present Court Springs, that move all our Councils both in and out of Parliament, who, alas, have only the honour of putting off their Ware, and do in effect but stand Gossips to their measures: It is indeed pretended they are come upon an Errand of Congratulation of the happy success of the Prince and Princess, against their Father (which is the second exploit and pledge of their morality of late in that kind) but in reality they are shut in upon the Secret, and thither it is this King so often DIVES out of sight of the English Nobility and Gentry, that he makes to wait his return, without, as humbly, as the Footmen can do at White-Hall the rising of the Council: Nor is it to be thought, but Dutch Men must be Dutch Men in business; They are made with a contrary Bias to England, and always move with advantage to Holland, that has quite an other Interest than ours; for both seek the same thing for differing ends. That Country, whatever we are miserably couzoned to believe, is more our Ri●al then France itself, who can have no end upon us, but not to help her Enemies; whereas Holland has a direct, natural and essential reason of State to lessen us; and this Interest that will not lie, will quickly teach us, notwithstanding the pretty notions of Union that at present govern us. When I see either Country leave off Trade, or love Religion more than Trade, I will believe the Union possible; till then, we that see Towns and Provinces under the same Government, pinching and envying one another, must have more Speculation than Judgement, to think that Holland and England can meet in an Interest, and consequently, that a Dutch Cabinet will never govern us to our advantage. But by all these Steps we are to learn this, that the Public is still to be submitted to private Ends, by which means the People are put off from their common Interest, and our natural Antidote is turned into a National Poison: A condition our Sins have brought us into, and God alone, upon the deepest and sincerest Repentance can deliver us from: And I beseech him, upon my bended Knees, to give us the one, and save us, (O Lord save us) from the other, for Jesus Christ's sake, thy Son, and our blessed Saviour, Amen.  
FINES