A JUST rebuk Of a late Unmannerly LIBEL, IN Defence of the COURT: entitled, Cursory Remarks upon some late Disloyal Proceedings, &c.  
LONDON: Printed in the Year, 1699.   

A JUST rebuk Of a late unmannerly Libel, in Defence of the Court: entitled, Cursory Remarks upon some late Disloyal Proceedings, &c.  
SIR,  
THE Author that has troubled the World with those Cursory Remarks, that you are pleased to desire my Opinion of, is ingeniously hinted at in yours, and saves me the expense of time, in making a Gazette Description of his Person or Employment. I am of your persuasion also, that he labours under the same Disease, that he makes other Men infected with, viz. The want of an Office to keep his Coach on the Wheels, and his two black Steeds from the Dog Kennel. At the beginning of the War he wrote himself into a Coach, and a Post of Three Hundred Pounds a Year; and the Peace being like to determine that Reward, he is Angling for another, by the successful Methods of Flattering the Court, and Abusing true English-men, under the Name of Pseudo Patriots, the never failing topics to advance sordid Parasites; but since I am of Opinion, that he will once more be brought upon his Marrowbones to make his Recantation, and pray Absolution in St. Stephen's Chapel; or else having served the Court to his own Ruin, they will lay him aside, and expose him to their last Rewards of Want and Beggary, as they have done by all the rest of their scribblers; I shall make no addition to his Misery, by reflecting on his Conduct, but leave him to be punished by the Idols he has worshipped, that the Sense of his own Folly, in fawning upon an Ungrateful Court, may reduce him to Reason, and teach others from his Rueful Example, that Men always abandon themselves, when they Desert the Interest of their Country, to support a Medley that know Men no longer, than they are the Cats Feet in the Monkey's hands, and burn their own Fingers to procure Advanges for those that hugged them into ruin; and therefore leaving the Author to the Fate of his Brethren, I shall proceed to examine his Remarks.  
Which he begins in the common Dialect of all Court Flatterers, by inveighing bitterly against feigned Fears and Dangers, and persuading Obedience to Authority, as a Christian Duty; which, in the design of Parasites, and Under-proppers of the Court, is nothing but advancing Absolute Authority, destroying coordinate Powers, reducing Freemen under the Yoke of Will and Pleasure; Playing the Old Game at Noddy o'er again, setting up the exploded Doctrine of Passive Obedience, ●… ew vampimg Hodge's Old Observators, Copying after Bp. B— Dr. Sh—k, Dr. H— s, and Heraclitus Ridens, and they want nothing but a King to countenance the Tory Project.  
Having laid this Foundation for an Arbitrary Structure in page. 3d. 4th. and 5th. he gives us a clawing Account of the Great and Invaluable Blessings that the King has conferred upon us, in delivering us from Popery and Slavery: In which he might have spared his pains, for is we are more sensible of it man of any the Tory party, so we are more truly thankful for it, than those that serve the Government because it serves them. We have already, in requital, given the King all we have to give. All the Rights of an English King, &c. And tho' the Cursory Sir Roger in his fulsome panegyrics, says The King has deserved more than England has to Give; yet we must be excused, that we dont Compliment away our Liberty also, for that is not ours to give, and hope it will never be in the power of any sort of Men to take it from us, under pretence of Loyalty and Duty, and give it to the King, that we are sure does not desire more than he has already; for those are the worst of his Enemies, that by making him greater than he ought to be, would make him nothing at all in the esteem of his People.  
page. the Sixth and Seventh, the Cursory Remarker gratifies his Spleen, in Ranking the Common Wealth Party with the Jacobites, and setting them up as United Enemies against the Government; which is so great a Contradiction, that nothing but a servile Drudge to the Court, and Absolute Authority, could be guilty of. The Instances he gives to prove his unwarrantable Assumptions, are as weak as ridiculous; for to make a Jacobite a Republican, or a Commonwealth's Man a Jacobite, to use his own words upon another occasion, is as great an Impossibility as to reconcile disagreeing Elements, or whiten the Skin of an Aethiopian. But I suppose the Author's pique is not against their Persons, but their Principles; and therefore Reviles the Works of the Honourable Mr. Sidney, the judicious Mr. Ludlow, and the unanswerable Mr. Harrington and Mr. Milton: And I hope, Sir, his Masters will Condemn him to the Punishment of answering those Elaborate Discourses of Government, and the Liberties and privileges of the Subject, for then he'l undergo the Fate of Salmasius, and the Government will save the charge of keeping up his Coach, there being enough of Mr. Milton's Scholars left to Vindicate that Noble cause, till they have Writ him to Death, as their Tutor did Salmasius. In page. the Eighth, his Character of a Patriot is very particular, and obliging; for, he says, 'tis to be always against the Court, and so every Honest Man ought to be, till they Reform, or Hands are changed for a better Administration, which yet I don't despair of, because I think it possible for a Good King to mend Mal-contrivances, tho' not easy for a Nation, so soon to return to that Power, which has cost three Kingdoms so much Blood and Treasure to throw off.  
In page. the Ninth, our Remarker seems very much grieved, that Men of Quality, and Consideration, should not be all born blind, and without Sense, of the Miseries the Community labour under from the present Administration; but let him afflict himself as he will, good Men of all Qualities will be apt to talk, and sometimes give those Men hard Words, that they see take such pains to deserve them, from which all our Remarker's Oratory cannot Defend or Absolve them; for by virtue of an old English Adage, losers have always Leave to speak; and he that's pinched hard will complain, tho' the hand be never so sacred that made him smart. Nor must private Persons escape the lash of our Author's scurrilous Pen; but to show he fights a Battle Royal, he strikes all that stand near him, ready to oppose his Arbitrary Notions, and would gag the mouths of all Mankind, except the Soldiery, whom he flatters for a Reason that cost their Disbanding, and which, in time, he must think to account for.  
The Author's Praemonition( as he calls it) being brought to a conclusion, he delivers himself of a wonderful Discovery, without one word of truth in the whole, viz. That there is a Union and Confederacy between the Old Jacobites, Republicans, Malcontented Murmurrers, and New Converts, to overthrow the Government. This Confederacy our Court Regrator calls the Mixture, and so treats them with all the usual Expressions of the Supreme Court of England, that it s no hard task to find out whom he means by the Members of Clubs and Cabals against the Government; but I shall not anticipate a Melius Inquirendum, nor pretend to know his thoughts, since the Province he has undertaken, in defending a Court that the whole Common-Wealth is sick and weary of, sufficiently assure me he can have no good Intention to the Community, in supporting a Medley that are contriving its ruin; as is apparently demonstrated in page. 15, 16 and 17, which he wholly employs in kerbing, restraining and damning the Power and Privileges of the People, and magnifying Monarchical Authority, equal, if not, superior, to the Power of God Almighty. What a Monster in Government does he make of the Power of the People, which we have so long Sweat, purged and Bled for? How contemptibly does he Redicult that memorable Saying, which is the Glory of this Age, and will be the Security of all that shall succeed it, viz. Did not we make him King, insinuating, that We gave away a Power we could not, nor ought not to keep, not knew how to manage: Nay, that there was no Thanks due for a Donative of Three Kingdoms, but that we were Obliged to his Majesty for Accepting it as a Debt due for our Deliverance and Protection: Tho' the villainy of this Romantick Assertion is easily exploded, by consulting the Terms on which the Trust was surrendered, and in his Fathering the Power of Disposing Crowns upon God Almighty, that the King might seem under no Obligation to the People.  
Censuring the proceedings of the Court he calls a Scandalous Crime, page. the Nineteenth, and pronounceth a Woe against it in his Preface; but forgets the Scandal is given by the Ministers, and consequently that he denounceth the Curse against his Masters, by whom our Offences come.  
The Liberty of the Subject he Treats as a Fiction, a Chimera, the Imposition of cunning Knaves upon Credulous Fools, and tells us there is no such thing in the World, page. the 20th and 21th, and that the pretence of Liberty, was but alluring Subjects from their Allegiance to the King, to conciliate them to the Tyranny of the Senate: And thus by shifting the Scene, excusing the Malefactors, and condemning the Innocent as malcontents, are we brought upon the Ridge of a Precipice, in expectation that our Enemies, will some time or other be so kind, to cast us down Head long, and free us from worse things that are coming upon us; for what true English man had not rather loose his Life than his Liberty, and entail a Vassalage upon his Posterity. The Enemies of Liberty, if they please, may still say our Fears are foolish; but there is no truer Symptom of the utter loss of that glorious Privelege, than advancing the power of the the Monarchy beyond its limited proportion. For tho whilst men are declaiming against the Sin of Rebellion, they commonly tell us 'tis better to suffer than to Sin; yet we should equally take care, that our suffering foolishly be not a greater Sin, than opposing the methods of our Ruin. Power, itis true, is of a Divine Original, but the Exercise of power is too often in the hands of such immoral Creatures, as tempt Men to say, they have no Souls that are kin to God Almighty; but are the Instruments and Agents of the Prince of Darkness. Thanks be to Heaven, we have a good King, that knows himself and his Interest; yet Men should take care they don't endeavour by straining the points of Prerogative and Obedience, led him into Temptation; and therefore I cannot but commend the Doctor, famed for Learning and Piety, quoted in Answer to a Letter, relating to the present Ministry, that delivered himself in a great Congregation in these Words. It is too often the Fault of Learned Men to flatter Princes; and we find the Translators of our Bible guilty in this matter, or they would not so grossly have Erred in that, where they Translate, who saith to a King thou art wicked; whereas in the Hebrew, it is, thou shalt say to a King, thou art wicked; that is, said the Doctor, if he be so, he should be  told of it; and this, Sir, would led any Man of less modesty, than him that covets to be thought worthy of your Friendship, into indecent raillery against our Cursory Remarker, for Flattering his Prince, and Defending ill Ministers that make ill times, and covering ill times, which continue and increase ill Ministers, which is our present Calamity.  
In page. the 22th, he Raves against an Intermixture of Interests against the Government, as if he were distracted, and had wholly mistaken his Hypothesis; for what he employs as arguments in behalf of the Ministry, is totally against them. A Single Interest might be corrupted or biased by false Principles; but where all Interests agree, and speak the same things, of necessity they must be true, and the Persons accused must be guilty. In such a Case, the general Voice of the People must be esteemed as the Voice of God. Nor is bringing the King in as a Party, or setting up an Intermixture of Interest as Enemies to his Majesty, any excuse for the Mismanagements and Abuses committed by his Ministers, for many a good Master may have ill Servants, and 'tis the King's misfortune to have too many, who have such Tricks in keeping Complaints from his ears, and representing the Persons grieved as professed Enemies to his Royalty, that 'tis almost impossible for any Complaints to reach him, but under such prejudices, as utterly destroy the Importance and Weight of the matter complained of; and by these nefarious Arts and Shifts the Ministry maintain their own Reputations with the King, and stifle all Complaints against them; which if his Majesty was acquainted with, he would no more keep such Men about him, than he would warm a Snake in his Bosom. We are now under a Distemper that was never heard of before in England. All for the King, and none for the Ministers, and it will be the wonder of Ages to come, as it is the Torment of this, to see ourselves ruined by a few Men, that have no Interest or panty in the Nation; of whom a pleasant Gentleman said the other day, That one Wherry would carry away all the King's Friends in the Ministry, if they were separated from their Employments. And there may be reason to believe it, if we again consider their politics, which shows them to be at their last shifts, and like Teague, who running too fast in a Race, had nothing to excuse his Faults, but that he run away with himself. So our Author's way of justifying the Court is to criminate the whole Nation. When the Church Party complain they are Jacobites. When the Dissenters complain they are Common Wealths Men; but this Disguise will e're long drop off, and things will appear as they are, to the shane and confusion of the Agressors and Maintainers.  
The generality of People that complain of Grievances, love their Houses well, tho' they do not Ride upon the Ridge of them, and have a greater respect for the King, than those that seem so much concerned for his Prerogative and Honour. We blame not the King, tho' we are called Mutineers, if we speak but one Semi-Vowel against the Ministers, for from Him only we expect Abuses will be remedied, who is not concerned in their Guilt. The King came in a Stranger among us, and was under a necessity of employing those whom he found in the Business of the State, and from such Plants as had been raised in the corrupt Soil of the late Reigns, no very good Fruit could be expected; and as their opportunities for Frauds were greater than any former Age ever produced, so they have made the best use of their Advantages, to cram their own Coffers by exhausting the Nation's Treasure.  
The Clubs and Cabals that the Cursory Remarker so basely spits his Venom at, are known to be composed of Men of great parts and Integrity; and that they influence Superior Classes( which he uses as fine Words, to cover a foul meaning) is an Argument of their Probity, not of their Disparagement, tho' he suborns it to that wicked purpose; and whether they love and serve the King or not, may be better red in the Encomiums they give him, than in the sordid Reflections this Court Flatteter is pleased to make upon their ingenious and honest productions? For let him writhe and stretch that innocent Expression as far as he pleases, to make it speak his own ill intended Sense, 'tis no Disparagement to any mortal King, to say he is not fit to be trusted with what an Immortal Angel is not qualified for.  
Those bantering Doggeril rhymes, the Remarker has borrowed from a late bold Encomiaster, and those he has added of his own, concern not those he is pleased to call Clubbers, but fly at a Nobler Game; and therefore shall be answered when we draw towards a Conclusion. And for the story of the King of Ceilon, which he Redicules as a poor crawling Fancey, Ridiculous in its application, and unpardonable for its Wit, has more genuine Sense, and honest meaning in it, than can be found in all his Sixty six pages; and will not be lessened by a Fool's Laughing at what he wont understand.  
What Ridiculous Drollery does he make page. 29, about a very serious Question, The Power of the Sword, but in that he may be excused, for being unable to Answer the Position by Arguments ad Rem, he has the Confidence to divert his Reader, by laughing at all persuasions, but that of the Church of England, who, he knows, if they had a Sword to give, would not fail to put it into the hands of any Monarch, that would support their Ecclesiastical Tyranny. page. 30. he quarrels with the Pamphlet called Considerations upon the State of the Navy; and, pray Sir, consider what has enraged his Spleen? Why, it is, that those that are at the Charge should superintend the Affair, which all Men of common Sense will think so reasonable and Natural, that it cannot be denied or disputed; and yet this doughty Court Tool, that can see no mismanagement in the Court, has almost found out High Treason in that Sentence, and calls it Lurching from the King to bestow it upon the Parliament; Invading the King's Prerogative, and a thousand other Mormo's, that might Bugbear the Commons of England from Redressing Enormities in the Administration.  
The last position you set Sir, put our Author into a mighty Ferment; but what follows has made him boil over in Froth and Folly, viz. That Kings are accountable to their Subjects, and that upon Fore falture of their own free will and Power, they may proceed to a New Election, and place one more Righteous upon the Throne. This he calls, Opening a Tragical Schene, subverting the Government, spotting people with the Plague of Rebellion, and many other pretty Epithets that his Fancy abounds with, which, in effect, is but arraigning the Proceedings of the honourable Conventional Parliaments, in the case of the late King James the Second, to whom I refer him for a further answer.  
Having loaded the Worthy Gentlemen that he is pleased to call the Mixture, and Seditious Interpositors with Newgate Metephors, and running into Eternal Circulations of Feigning Fears and Jealousies, to Slander the Government; he proceeds to assign the Causes of all these misdemeanours in the Mixture, but first requires positive proofs against the Ministry, that they are guilty of mismanagements, and enriching themselves by Plundering the Nation, or else he says, all their Accusations like Sir H. D. C— It's Petition, will be looked upon as Ridiculous, Vexatious, and Scandalous. I wonder in what Cell the Author spends his time, that can find so many Egregious Faults among the Clubbers, and none among the Courtiers; but there are no sort of Men so blind, as those that will not see, and therefore if he has a Mind to inform himself, let him inquire at the Admiralty Office, why the Toloun Fleet was suffered to enter their Port, and our Fleet appointed Stations that they might be sure to miss them, or be kept in their Harbours for want of Sailing Orders, till the French were arrived in Safety. He may also, if his Leisure from Writing for the Government will permit him, inquire after the escape of Ponti's Squadron, and the causes of so many Merchants being ruined, by losing their Ships in the very chaps of the Channel, for want of Cruisers. From thence he may walk to the Victualling Office, and especially to that sty of Filthy Swine the Navy Office, who wallow in the mire of their own Wealth and Wickedness, and share the whole Office and profits, almost in one Family and Kindred. Here he may find the Father controller, one Son a Receiver, another Paymaster, a near Kinsman Cheque upon the Rest, and then there is like you'l say, to be very Saving doings for the public. From thence he may return to White-hall; the Offices at the Horse-Guards, and those in St. James's Park, and if he find in any one Barrel, better Herring than the rest, he will have greater luck than all the World beside. Here as 'tis printed by honest Mr. derby, he may find the spoil so great, that a Sweeper of an Office of twenty pounds per annum stipend, has in four years time arrived to an Estate of Six Thousand Pounds! and Clerks in Offices of Eighty pounds a Year Salary, that have purchased Twenty Thousand pounds Sterling: And in this proportion it s said to go generally through all the Offices in the Kingdom; and this management is laid with so great judgement, that the qualifications of a Person for an employment, is to have good Testimonals, that he understands the World; a soft Character for a Knave; and now I hope our Remarker will not complain for want of proof against the Managers.  
Another shift to support his Masters Credits, shows all Complainants as Men that want Places, and therefore Revile and slander the present Ministry, in hopes to make Room for themselves. And possibly there may be some such Men in the World, but they are none of those we desire should have Offices; but such only, as are duly qualified in respect of their Parts and Principle for the Service of the Commonweal; that have in both the late Reigns distinguished themselves to be solely in the Interest of their Country, and lie under no temptation by the meanness of their Circumstances, to enrich themselves by Ruining the Nation; of which his Majesty has greater choice than any Prince in Europe, and can never change so often, but a supply will increase on his hands, till his number is completed with Men fearing God, and hating Covetousness; which are now as rare to be found at Court, as a phoenix in England, which was never heard of, but in the Deserts of Arabia. In the mean time His Majesty is very safe in making Alterations, till he is blessed with such a Ministry as is above described; because 'tis impossible to find worse than he has already. He has began that good work, but still one thing seems not only necessary, but in order to a thorough Reformation of Absolute Necessity, and that is, to cleans all his Offices so perfectly, as not to leave one Soul in them, that may Taint, or misled the New ones, into the old. tract of Ignorance, Infidelity, or Deceit, which I know, Sir, would be a great Satisfaction to yourself, and to all true Hearted English Men.  
Our Remarker's next Design is, to persuade the World that Disbanding the Army, was to expose the Nation to Eminent danger, but it's easy to be perceived, that under that pretence he is only Flattering the Author of the Ballancing-Letter, who being in a money Post, might consider and Reward it as a Service to the Government, as he did the Author of King Arthur, for assisting His Majesty's Enemies with such Arguments against his Title, as neither the Balancer nor the Poetical Medicastrian Knight, will ever be able to Answer or atone for. And the Remarkers saying, the Quiet of His Majesties Subjects prevailed upon his judgement, is a bolder exposition on the Text than the Original will allow; for if His Majesty had not been absolutely of opinion, That the Bill was reasonable, and the end of it for the Advantage of his People, he would never have given it the Royal Assent, for we allow what the Author says in another place, that He is not to be hectored into a Compliance against his judgement; but the Work is done, and a Glorious thing it was on both sides.  
If we for fear of such Alarms,  
Had kept up Standing Forces,  
It had been well for those in Arms,  
But ill for Country Inns and Farms,  
To 've kept both Men and Horses.  
Liberty and Property, Freedom of Speech, and not fearing the Face of Men in the cause of our Country, are great Motes in the Eyes of this pedantic scribbler; and he has no way to rub them out, and clear his Eye Sight for the ampler Vindication of his Pay-masters, but by scandalising the brave Asserters of our Priveleges, as a Pack of Factious and impoverished Intermedlers, that are striving to enrich themselves, by shouldering into Offices, and Places of Trust and Profit; whereas he wholly mistakes the Case, for the pretence that other men are their Rivals, and would jostle them out of Favour and Authority, are but the Artifices of the Courtiers, to keep what they have engrossed; and seeing themselves attacked like common Criminals, cry out with the Mob, Stop 'em, Stop 'em, as if others, and not themselves were the Malefactors, when the Noise is only raised to divert the Pursuers, while the true Offenders may escape Apprehending, and being brought to Justice. This has been of great Service to our Mismanagers hitherto; but to use his own Words, The cunning will not always be crowned with success. A Day of Reckoning is coming, and then it will appear, that the Balance was not held in upright hands, nor the Court, nor depending Offices, the honestest places in Christendom; and therefore no Crime to seek an employment, if there were no other Reason for it, than to disposess those that have ill treated us too long already.  
Ambition, Envy, Pride, and Vanity, which the Mercenary Remarker complains of among Mal-contents, and Place-mongers, are the Epidemical Diseases of the Court, and he should first have attempted upon the Irregular Constitution of his Patrons, before he had posted up his Bills for the Cure of other people of the Real Fears, and Jealousies, that an Extravagant management has brought us under. How like Children do they treat us, and as if the Foolishest of angry Old Women had been their Teachers, they beat us till we are forced to complain; beat us for complaining, and then stop our Mouths, that our Injuries and their Injustice might be concealed from such as would Pity and Relieve us. They call us Ambitious, because we desire they should be honest: Envious, because we desire Abuses should be Rectified: Proud, because we can't lie still when we are trampled on: And Vain, because we can't fall in Love with Slavery, and become Vassals to a set of as Vain, Proud, Envious, and Ambitious, Self-conceited mimics, as England e're produced, or honest Men were plagued with.  
Excluding Members that having Offices at Court, of Trust and Profit, the House of Commons may not think fit to serve in that Honourable Station, he says, looks with a very Arbritary Countenance upon all the Gentry of England, and Arraigns their Justice, and Integrity, to think an Officer can Corrupt or bias them from their Duty and Affection to their Country. This is a Right Court Turn, and such as was never Intended by the Author of Considerations upon the choice of a Speaker, which he Mistakes for a Confutation of the Ballancing-Letter; who Urges it as an Argument against a great Minister, being made Speaker of the House of Commons, and says, 'tis natural to believe, he will use the same Arts to keep his Office, as he did to get it: And if it be considered, how several Members of our late Parliaments, got into the most advantageous places of profit; whom the Court would not have seen, nor the Country felt, had they not been first Members; it must be granted, that they were advanced, not by serving the Nation, but the Court, and therefore ought to be kept out for the Future; and tho' our Remarker Rails hearty against supposing there are Parties, and Factions in the House of Commons; yet the Author of the Considerations aforesaid, tells you this Distinction of Court and Country Party there, is not groundless or ill meant: For if ever a Parliament was without such a Distinction, it was when a Court was without such Ministers; who instead of serving the Government, serve themselves upon it, at the expense of their Masters Honour, and by impoverishing their Country; and therefore the Distinction is necessary, and must preserve the Honour of our ancient Constituton of Government, till it may flourish under the Influence of a Parliament; in which, none, or few, who have gainful Offices, shall be Members of the House of Commons; and a Bill to that purpose was accordingly preferred, and if it wants effect, it is the Lords doing, and wonderful in our Eyes.  
Sending home the Dutch Guards, he calls an Act of Heinous ingratitude, and Dishonourable to the Nation, and seems to be in a perk of Fears, lest we should have occasion for their Assistance, and be denied it; but by what logic he will make it Ingratitude, I can't imagine; for if I employ Men to do a Job of Work, and I pay 'em when they have done, no further obligation lies upon me. soldiery is now become a Trade, and the State employing them as Mercenary Journey-men, for a Week, a Year, or longer, may discharge those Stipendaries, when they have no further occasion for their Service; which our Remarker, and the rest of his Arbitrary Upholders, may take for his Answer, unless he will have it in the Measures of a late true English Poet.  
'Tis true w'ave sent away the Dutch,  
Those mighty Son's of Slaughter,  
And England ought to wish all such,  
As at their marching off think much;  
Were forced to follow after.  
The Hogan Troops dishonoured thus,  
As your Invective shows it,  
In sorry Rags without a Sons,  
Came to relieve themselves, not us,  
And all the Kingdom knows it.  
Nor, If an Invasion should happen, is there so much danger, as is pretended; for as English Men know the benefit of their Liberties, so will they venture as freely for them; especially when what they defend is not only their own, but the just Rights of all Mankind, and will preserve their Posterity from being Puppy-Dogs, when they follow the Eternal Counsel of God, as Zuinglius calls it. If thou mayst be Free, use it rather, and seek only to continue his Servants, and their own Men, this entitles them to a higher assistance: For omnibus honestam Libertatem quaerentibus( and which is a better propugnantibus) Deus proesto est: And God himself will own such a cause as this.  
FINIS.