OBSERVATIONS ON THE LETTER Written by the Duke of Buckingham TO Sir THOMAS OSBORN, Upon the Reading of a Book, CALLED, The Present Interest OF ENGLAND STATED.  
Written in a Letter to a Friend.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1689.   

Observations on the Letter Written by the Duke of Buckingham to Sir Thomas Osborn, etc.  
SIR,  
SO soon as some indispensible Occasions would permit, I did at your instance, strictly peruse the Pamphlet, called, The Present Interest of England Stated; As also, the Letter directed to Sir Thomas Osborn in answer to it, and at your request, shall now give you my Sense of both.  
I find no Cause, by the Scope of the Letter, to believe otherwise of the Author, than according to his own Professions, that he really designs the Honour, Greatness and Prosperity of this Nation. An Honest and Honourable undertaking, the perfect discovery whereof, I wish may be pursued by Men of leisure, and put in practice by those of Power.  
I understand the Letter to agree fully with the Pamphlet, in all its Maxims relating to our Domestic Interest, not differing neither from our Foreign in any thing, save what relates to Holland, and therein likewise, not in all, but only in some Particulars, but in several of them; I observe also the Author of the Pamphlet, to be by the Letter exceedingly mistaken; for whereas it renders him so Biased with Affection to the Dutch, as makes him overlook the usefulness of Foreign Alliances. I cannot judge, but he grounds all he writes concerning Holland, upon the Safety and Benefit of England, insomuch as it seems strange to me, how a Person of that Candour and Ingenuity, as the Author of the Letter is, should be so far mistaken, as to insinuate to the World, that the Pamphlet he answereth, pleadeth  
First, For allowing all the Injuries and Wrongs done by the Hollanders to this Nation, (Page 5.)  
Secondly, For studying of their Interests, and loving of them; because they are Traders, though by being so, they take our Trade from us, (Page 5, 6.)  
And Thirdly, That their Parsimony is no good Reason for dislike of them, (Page 6.) As if all these were Arguments made use of by express words in that Book, when I do not find any Expressions relating to any of these Particulars, that do either in words say so much, or will in the least admit of any such Inferences or Conclusions; (although as to this Third, if there were any word to that purpose, it might be defended.) For all the Arguments made use of by the Pamphlet, against the destroying of the Hollanders, are either upon the account of Justice and Righteousness, (which establisheth a Nation) or clearly in reference to the Safety and Utility of this Kingdom both in Church and State, and not in the least, upon any particular Affection to the People of that Country, as the Letter doth insinuate the Pamphlet; being no otherwise concerned for them, than as it is, for preserving the Balance of Christendom in opposition of Popery and Slavery.  
I find the Pamphlets commending the Dutch for their Morals, (compared with the French, etc.) to be answered by objecting, that if the Author had lain but one night in any Inn of theirs, he would have been convinced of the contrary, which implieth, that he had never done it, or at least never told the World he had, and yet the Book justifies his opinion of them in affirming his experience, from having traveled their Countries; (Interest of England, Page 30.) and truly by his general knowledge of the Netherlands, he may well be supposed to have throughly done it; and granting so much, it consequently follows, that he must then have experienced their Inns; but if from Cozening and Cheating in Inns, Alehouses and Taverns, the measures of a People's Morals must be Calculated; I fear some other Countries, by high Reckon, false Measures, in Bottles, Pots and Cans, exceeding them, and tacitly allowed of, etc. will be found as faulty as they, and to lie (at least) equally with them, under the burden of that uncharitable Synecdoche, of blaming the whole for a part; for I can myself by experience, so far join with the Pamphlet in justifying of it, as to aver, That I never traveled in all my Life, in any Country so cheap as in theirs, and that no private Person doth otherwise, but either voluntarily, by being profuse, or carelessly in spending more than he needeth, in not keeping to his Ordinaries, but living at large; for their Rates by Land or Water, are so certain, that none can pay one more than another, and the like is in their Inns, for Ordinaries and Lodgings; insomuch that I have often wondered their great Trade and Populousness (which in all other places makes things dear) considered, I found living there so cheap as I did. But as no Number or Society of men, can be said to be perfectly good, or altogether evil; so the most just and certain Rule for applauding or condemning any Country, is not from a few Instances of a small part of it, but by way of Comparison with other Countries; and by that Standard, Holland cannot be found by much so bad as Popish Countries, where the Doctrines of the Jesuits (which hath more or less an influence upon most of their Religion) of good Intentions, Probability and Necessity, etc. and of their whole Church, of keeping no Faith with Heretics, etc. is inconsistent with honest Conversation, rendering them unfit even for one another's Society, there being no Fence against such Principles.  
The Cruelty at Amboina, is (I confess) to be had by all in Abhorrence; but since it was before we were born, that it was acted but by a few, and disowned, and not justified at home: That King James of Happy Memory, and his wise and excellent Council and Favourites, thought therefore not fit to revenge it; and that it hath since, by several Treaties, been buried and put in Oblivion; I question whether we ought still to remember it; but provided, that the constant Trade that the Popish Nations have (in all Ages down to our times) driven in Massacres and Cruel Tortering, and that with the applause and approbation of their chief Bishop and Church, as Italy, Savoy, France and Ireland do witness, may be remembered, I can be well pleased, that that single Act at Amboina, committed by a few Protestants condemned by the rest, and which is abhorred by the Principles of their Religion, may not be forgotten; and thereupon the whole designs of the Pamphlet and Letter, each severally considered, I cannot observe, that they differ in any Material Circumstance; but that both aim at the same end, the Honour, Greatness, Prosperity and Safety of this Nation, unless the first is too strait laced in the Rules of Honesty and Justice; believing (that though Interest rightly understood or mistaken, governs all the World yet) that that Precept of doing to others as we would have them to do to us, gives no latitude to any Country to destroy another, to the end to increase their own Trade or Greatness; for were it otherwise, nothing could be more for our Security against Invasions and the Profit of England, than to destroy in time the French in their Shipping, and thereby in their Maritime Commerce, before they are overgrown in Strength and Trade, in both, which from young Interlopers, they are in a short time too much increased, especially in our Newfoundland Fishery, where they have almost eaten us out, to the unspeakable prejudice of the Western Parts! though that Trade was once our greatest Nursery for Seamen, and might have been much more improved, and is of such a Nature, as the Dutch were not capable of doing us much prejudice in, or at least as they never attempted to do us any.  
The Letter reproves the Pamphlets inviting all Princes into the Triple League, scoffing at it as absurd; the League being now determined, and to evince the Error, gives this account of the League: That the French King being entered Flanders, with a very powerful Army, the Kings of England, Sweden, and the States of Holland, entered into a Confederacy, with design to force the French to make Peace upon such Terms as should be proposed by them, (and therein wisely to prevent the growing Greatness of France) and at the same time the Confederates made Articles amongst themselves, to help one another, in case any of them should be invaded for having made this League, either by the French King, the King of Spain, or any of their Allies, and upon the acceptance of the Articles proposed, the Confederates became their Guarranty or Sureties, for performance of them on both sides.  
And now, this being the State of the Case, where the Absurdity or Bull lies, in making no distinction between the Triple League, and the Guarranty of the Peace, is beyond my apprehension; for the League, as is confessed, being made to induce (that is to force) the French King to a Peace, (the King of Spain) who was Invaded, standing in no need of Compulsion) and the Confederacy continuing for warranting of the said Agreement (which in effect is no less than an honest and prudent League, for keeping the French within tolerable Bounds and Limits) and for the assistance of each other against any that should endeavour to revenge this Confederacy; the Triple League seems to me (as it is confessed by the Letter itself, at the lower end of Page 15.) to be still in being, and the Expression to be as properly used as that of Guarranty, as being one and the same thing; for the Guarranty aiming at the same end the League doth, and being one Article of the Confederacy, the Triple League must be still in being, as well as the Guarranty: And surely, it was the last Session of Parliament thought so to be, when Money was desired for maintaining of it. But this, Sir, is not worth contending about, for the matter being clearly laid down by the Letter, the judgement of it is left to yourself.  
As I am no Statist, nor pretender to it, so it concerns not me to inquire further into the Articles agreed on by his Majesty with the Swede and Dutch, than is made public, nor in the least to attempt the Censuring any Action of State; (for that shall always be Foreign to me) but yet I presume I may without offence say, it doth not appear to me, as it doth to the Author of the Letter, that the Emperor and Princes of Germany, could not have been taken into the Triple League by the Confederates, without engaging to assist them upon occasion against the Turk; for as we find that it hath been ordinary for Princes to limit and proportion their Leagues, according to their Interests, so it is irrational to do otherwise. And it doth not follow, that because it is the Interest of the Emperor and Princes of Germany, to enter into a League with other Princes, for keeping the French King from unjustly encroaching upon his Neighbours, that therefore those Princes, contrary to their manifest Interest, should enter into a League with them against the Turk: But I Honour the Author of the Letter, for the care he expresseth to have for the prevention of War to this Nation, and for the rest and quiet of the poor People of England, (Page 9)  
The Pamphlet not being concerned in the complaint against those that blame the breach with Holland, because of the Triple League, I shall pass that over, agreeing fully with the Author, that Self-preservation is chief to be preferred, Salus Populi suprema Lex.  
The Author of the Letter, in his treating of the Interest of England, hath several Observations and Notions deserving consideration, which I shall reduce to these six Heads following.  
First, That our Increase in Power, since the time of Queen Elizabeth (of famous Memory) is not proportionable to the increase of the Dutch, (Page 12.)  
Secondly, That the Dutch, being so powerful at Sea as they now are, may, by joining with the French, (whenever they will agree upon it) endanger the Conquest of England; and keeping to themselves the most considerable parts in it for Trade, being Masters at Sea, provide for their own Security against the greatness of France, (Page 12.)  
Thirdly, That it is not Wisdom for any Nation to have its Safety depend upon the Prudence of another, as in relying upon its being against the Interest of Holland to Invade England, because they may mistake their Interest, (Page 12.)  
Fourthly, That a Conquest of England being made, the Dutch Government being more easy and indulging Trade, than the Arbitrary and Severe Regiment of France, as also their Religion concurring more with ours than that of France, the Trading Party of England would be likelier to close with the first than the latter; and for the like Reason should Holland be ever in danger of a Conquest by the Conjunction of England with France, they would rather choose to become part of the English Government, than submit to the Power of France: For that their joining with us, and therein making it as much our Interest to promote their Trade, as the Trade of any other Nation, may answer that Objection, That their fear of our obstructing their Trade, will make them averse to us, (Page 13.)  
Fifthly, That it is not probable, that the Dutch will ever agree to put themselves under the Dominion of the French, who will not trust them without such Advantages as may compel them to observe their Promises, as the other will never give them such a Power, lest they should make a corrupt use of it, (Page 14.)  
Sixthly, That considering the Situation and Constitutions of England, a Coalition with us would prove more acceptable and advantageous to them, than any Terms they can expect from the French; and that should we get no more than the Maritime Towns, and the French all the rest of the States Dominions, we should have no cause to repent our Bargain, (Page 14.)  
These Notions contain the substance of that part of the Letter which treats of the Interest of England; the first of which I must not at present deny, because the Auxiliary assistance which we have received from France, seems to make it good; yet the Story of 88 acquaints us, that the States in those times, with 35 Men of War, Blocked up Dunkirk, and the Duke of Parma's Navy in it, to the great Service of England; but it is certain, that all Nations will increase, or decline more or less, according as their Interest is pursued, and their Government suited to it, which happily is the Cause, why none can be said to have outdone the States of Holland (their low beginnings considered) in increase in Trade and Riches; but if Augmentation in Territories, and Power be a Crime, it is one that France is more guilty of than the United Netherlands, and aught therefore to be looked upon with a more jealous Eye; for the natural advantages that we have of the Dutch in the Situation of our Country, and the greatness of it; in the goodness and number of our Havens and Ports, to breed Seamen, and harbour Ships, are such, as appears to me to render it impossible for them, ever to become our Superiors at Sea (as is suggested by the Letter, Page 11.)  
As to the second Assertion, or Head, I must in that crave leave to descent, without granting the question (which is begged) that Holland, whilst in Liberty, might be under a likelihood of agreeing with France for the Conquest of England, the thing seeming to me to be morally impossible.  
First, From their want of People, especially fit for War, their Dominions being small, and furnished much with Strangers, and altogether with Traders, Circumstances which no Country must be under, that designs Foreign Conquests or Invasions.  
Secondly, From the Nature of their Government, in its being no more than an Union of several Absolute Sovereignties, for common Defence and Preservation, which is a Quality not fit for Acquisitions, in that the Difficulty in satisfying every concern upon the good Success of their Arms, and the many occasions that would arise from thence of Differences amongst them, renders it impracticable.  
Thirdly, From the Impossibility of the French, and their Agreement upon the Division of England; for that it is not to be imagined, but each of them would be jealous of the others Increase in Territories and Power, and that the States would have no more cause to presume upon their over-witting the French, in getting to themselves the most considerable places in it for Trade, (as is supposed by the Letter Page 12.) than the French in overreaching them, who have always been wise enough in Treaties: For that an increase in the French Monarchy would be more dangerous to the States, than the like in the States would be to them, who are already the others overmatch; and it cannot with reason but be supposed, that in the Division of England, the French would on the one hand have an Eye at supplying themselves with that they only want, for making them uncontrollable in the World, good Havens and Ports, and also on the other hand, that the Dutch would never yield unto that that would destroy them. But if England had reason to be jealous of France and Holland's Conjunction, in order to the Conquest of it, (as the Letter suggests:) I fear with the same reason France will be jealous of England's impatronizing Holland, as being as well unwilling to have the Dominion of the Seas so much undivided in the hands of any one Lord, as all the rest of Europe cannot check it, as we are to have the Dominion of the Land in the like kind under any other Lord or Prince.  
To the Third Assertion, I have not any thing to object in opposition, nothing being more ordinary in the World, than gross mistakes in the Interest of Countries, proceeding often from Passion, Revenge, and disordered Affections; yet this may be said in the Case, that the States were such great Masters in the knowledge of their Civil Interests, that none might have been Safelier trusted upon that account than they.  
To the Fourth Head or Assertion, I have only this to answer, That as it is natural for all Rational Creatures, of two Evils to choose the least, so supposing that the States being reduced to a necessity of parting with their own Government, will have the Election of their new Lords in their own Power; and taking it for granted, that they are Men of Conscience and Religion, I do fully agree with the Author of the Letter in his opinion, that they will in such Case choose rather the English, than the Severe Government of the French, unless the consideration (in their partial opinion) of who is best able to protect their Country, do not prevail with them, to trust the French King in point of Religion; but I very much question, whether it is not groundless to suppose, that any Nation being attacked by two great Monarches, will have the choice of their own Masters left to themselves, by a mutual Agreement betwixt those Monarches, without which it cannot be. But I highly esteem the Author of the Letter, for the true Sense he expresseth to have of the French Government, from which the Lord in Mercy deliver all other Countries.  
The Fifth Assertion, is a Supposition that the Dutch will have it in their choice, to trust the French or not, and in such Case I am of opinion with the Letter, that they will never do it, Spain, Lorraine, and the Protestants of France, being a sufficient warning to them; but as Affairs now stand, I very much fear they will not have the Election of it in their own hands.  
The Sixth Assertion, though as most weighty, deserveth most Consideration; yet for the first part of it, Whether England admitting the Dutch to a Coalition, would be of more advantage to them, than any Terms they can expect from the French. I will not dispute, but am much of belief, that the French Councils, considering that they want nothing to facilitate their universal design more than an Interest in the Northern Seas, where they might Harbour and Form a Navy, nourish and breed Seamen; and likewise considering, that the Maritime Towns of Holland, Zealand and Friezland, would signify nothing without Trade, but in danger of being swallowed up by the Sea, for want of Ability to maintain the Banks against it, nor Trade signify any thing without Liberty; they would soon find it necessary as to their Interest, to wave the French Principles for Arbitrary Government, and to leave the Dutch in a great measure of Freedom, relying only upon Citadels, for keeping them dependent upon them, and forcing them upon occasion to be useful to them, as judging that the best way to serve themselves of them, lest otherwise by Severity, they should provoke the dispersing the Inhabitants to Emden, Bremen, Hambourg, Lubeck and Dantzick, etc. the four first being Imperial Free Cities, and the latter the same under Poland; for Arbitrary Government, (that must be maintained by the Sword) and the idle Callings and rude manners of Soldiers, which are altogether inconsistent with, and Enemies to Trade and Commerce, will always cause Traders to change Bondage for Liberty, or at least in hopes of better Entertainment, one Country for another, as did the Subversion of the Florentine Government in that Country; and as they were preparing to do the like in Holland, when they feared the late Prince of Orange's overturning that State; for the Antipathy betwixt Merchants and Soldiers is such, that all Monarches of Trading Countries have ever held it their Interest, to keep their great Trading Towns free from a Mercenary Militia, and it is exceeding difficult, if not Morally impossible for a Prince to advance Trade to any great height, where the People are under the awe of a standing Military Power; and the French King seems to own the truth of this, in that finding the benefit of Commerce, he is even in France content that his Trading Cities should be freed from Soldiers, and more gently used than the rest of his Country; for so far as the Nature of his Arbitrary Government will permit, he studieth all manner of ways to advance Trade.  
As First, By totally prohibiting such Foreign Commodities and Manufactures, as his People are capable of making, sufficient to serve his Country, as train-oil, etc.  
Secondly, By burdening others with high Customs and Impositions, to the end to encourage his own Artisans and Seamen, thereby making the Trade of England thither very prejudicial to us, our Transportations hence being inconsiderable to our Importations thence; and as they improve in any Faculty, so they either Prohibit or Increase their Impositions, upon the Importation of the Foreign-made Commodities of that Faculty.  
And Thirdly, As an Encouragement to Trade, the French King hath lately declared the Exercise of Commerce in a Gentleman, to be no prejudice to his Quality, having also erected an Academy for breeding his Nobility to Sea Affairs, and teaching them the Art of Navigation, etc. All which may well Alarm England to a Jealousy of their Designs, as most dangerous to it, and to look upon the French, as those Rivals, whom (if hatred be lawful, as the Letter in this Case seems to make it) we ought most to hate; for should they once come to Vie with us in Trade or Naval strength, we should find them to exceed all that ever went before them, in Insolency, Injustice and Selfishness.  
And whether the second part of this Notion hath a good Foundation, which asserts, That should England get but the Sea Towns alone, leaving the rest of the States Dominions to the French, we should have no cause to repent our Bargain. I will not presume to judge, yet this I think considerable in the Case, that should the Inlands of the United Provinces, and with them all the Conquered places fall to the share of the French, as by the late published Proposals in Dutch (if true) they seem to pretend unto the Letter; then having thereby the command of the Rivers of Rhine and Mase, etc. together with Sluice, and the other Garrisons which shut up the Trade of Flanders and Brabant, they will have it in their Power to render all the parts of the Seventeen Provinces, which will remain to the Kings of England and Spain, of no more use to them, than they please to allow of.  
First, Because the Sea-Towns of the United Netherlands cannot be divided from the Inlands, from which they receive their nourishment, nor deprived of the use of their Rivers, by which they drive their Trades, without utter ruin to them, and making them thereby an intolerable Burden to their Masters.  
Secondly, Because the Spanish Netherlands will thereby be so environed, or rather beleaguered by the French Garrisons and Forces on all sides, as well towards Germany, Holland and Zealand, etc. as towards France; that having no means left them, for forming or maintaining an Army, (as any that know those Countries must confess) they will always be at the French King's Devotion, and when assaulted by him, without possibility of contributing any considerable assistance to their own Deliverance, or to make the Triple League of any use to them.  
Thirdly, Because such will be the enervated condition of the Spanish Netherlands, that the King of Spain will be necessitated, as not being able to maintain them longer than the French will permit him, either to quit them voluntarily, or (if he can obtain so much Favour) to make an exchange or Sale of them to the French King, who then having Flanders and Brabant, (which he hath so long thirsted after) and all the Rivers belonging to them in his own hands, will assuredly, for the advantage of himself, and his own Countries, even in times of Peace, so obstruct and hinder the Trade of the Maritime Towns of Holland, Zealand and Friezland, (if in the possession of any but himself) and in times of War totally shut them up by Land) as will restore Flanders and Brabant to their ancient Trade, and make a new Holland of them; which being in the hands of the French, will probably prove abundantly worse to England than the old, if large experience of Injuries and Injustices, committed in Trade by them against this Nation, may warrant a Conclusion; as by the Certificate under the Lord Ambassador Hollis his hand, (which I send you here enclosed) given upon an order of his Majesty's Privy-Council, Dated the 17th of April 1667. in the Case of Sir Francis Top and Company, doth for one instance sufficiently appear.  
Nay, such is the envious care of the French, that no Nation should Get or Thrive by them, that (as Mr. Samuel Fortrey, one of the Gentlemen of his Majesty's Privy-Chamber, reporteth in his Book Printed 1663. and Dedicated to King Charles the Second) not many years ago, they suspecting (through mistakes) that England had an advantage of them in their Trade for France, they were upon Counsels for Prohibiting all Trade with England, until upon a strict examination, they found, that whereas England vented of their Commodities into France, not to above the value of Ten hundred thousand pounds per Annum; France vented of theirs to the English Six and twenty hundred thousand Pounds; and then finding that they had Sixteen hundred thousand pounds' advantage in the Balance, they soon let fall their design, though yet not without burdening English Manufactures with New Impositions, in such manner, as might much hinder the vent of them in their Country. Mr. Fortrey in the aforementioned Book, doth not only recite the very Balance of Trade itself, which he affirms was presented to the French King, to show the advantage they have in their Trade with England; but also adds further, that hereby it may appear, how insensibly our Treasure will be Exhausted, and the Nation Beggared, whilst we carelessly neglect our own Interest, and Strangers abroad are diligent to make their advantage by us.  
And it is of no little consideration, that the French should so far Overvalue themselves, as to increase their Impositions upon Dutch Commodities, to a degree of Prohibiting them, and deny to the Dutch the like Power by theirs, as if they had a right to deal as they please towards other Nations, and yet none to do towards them (by way of Retaliation) any more than they shall think fit to give them leave to do; an overweening opinion of their own Greatness, which all Princes and States ought to be Jealous of, as not knowing where their Ambition will end.  
And besides these things thus instanced in, we have great cause to take notice, that as the effect of the implacable Hatred of the French to our Nation, they cannot forbear in their Writings, to express their Inveterate Malice against us, as that Book called, Le Politic de France, writ in the year 1669. and Dedicated to the French King, is a pregnant Testimony, where no better Epithets are allowed us, than being without Friends, without Faith, without Religion, without Honesty, without any Justice, of defying or provoking Natures, light or unconstant to the highest degree, Cruel, Impatient, Gluttons, Proud, Audacious and Covetous, proper for ready Execution and Assaults; but uncapable of managing a War with judgement. With other suchlike opprobrious and reproachful Expressions, besides a Method propounded to be observed in order to the Conquest of England, Page 158, 159, 160, 161. enough to raise a lawful Indignation in all true Englishmen, against such Insolent Slanderers, who by their Impudence, endeavour to impose their own Characters upon us, contrary to the known experience of the rest of the World.  
And now, Sir, I have no more to add, than (all Circumstances considered) my Agreement with the Pamphlet in this Principle, that while France is so Great as at present, it can in no kind be for the Safety of England to subvert Holland and Zealand, etc. which are properly called their Outguards or Works against all Invasions, and cannot be demolished, or in the hands of the French, without laying England Naked, or at least the more open to that Nation, and that nothing is more demonstrable, than that since the United Provinces cannot signify much without Freedom, they will under their own Government be of most use to all Christendom, (save France, who only wants them as a Qualification for threatening, instead of courting their Neighbours) in maintaining the general Balance of Europe, even as it was great Wisdom in the long Parliament (for the wickedest of men may have Worldly Prudence) to join with Holland in the preserving of Denmark, as necessary for the Balancing of Sweden, when Cromwell (in his time) in revenge of manifest Affronts and hatred, had designed the ruin of the Dane.  
And thus, Sir, having in Obedience to your Commands, given you freely my sense of the Pamphlet and Letter, without varying from the matter in either; as it is in them respectively stated, I hope you will pardon any thing wherein I may differ with you in Judgement or Opinion; for I have this for my Buckler, that what I have writ is Truth, and that I aim at nothing in it, but the true Interest of the King and Kingdom of England, and Protestant Religion, denying that any can have more Cordial Affection for them, than myself, who am etc.   

April 17. Anno 1669. According to the Printed Copy.  
IN Obedience to an Order of Council of the 16th. present, requiring my opinion, what is fit to be done for relief of Sir Francis Top and Company: I do humbly certify, that I have perused their Case, and find that they complain of great Losses and Damages sustained in the Year 1644. whilst they lived in St. Malo, from the French, by seizing their Goods in a time of Peace, in the very Harbours of France, whither they had brought those Goods in a way of Trading, and where by several Treaties then in force, and by the very Law of Nations, (which gives a Security to the Persons and Estates of all who reside Peaceably within the Dominions of any Prince or State) they ought to have been Safe and Free from all Arrests, the Owners not having done any thing whereby to Forfeit their Interest in them; which Course, if suffered, must needs be the Destruction of all Trade and Commerce between the two Kingdoms, as it is also very Dishonourable and Injurious to his Majesty, that the Public Faith should be broken to his Subjects, who Trade under his Protection, by virtue of the Treaties made between the two Crowns; and it is much to be feared, that the Proceed in France may become very prejudicial in this kind, to the whole Trading of the English Nation in that Kingdom, if nothing be done to stop this growing mischief: In regard this is not the single Case, where this course hath been put in practice, the like having been done several times to English Merchants at Roven, who are not yet free of the trouble; for a Capture at Sea, whether real, or pretended to have been made in 1616. by an English Privateer of a French Ship, belonging to one Delauziay, valued but at six thousand Livers. And whilst I had the Honour to serve his Majesty, as his Ambassador in France, two English Ships coming into Harbour at Marseille, when they had Landed their Goods, and paid all Duties, were seized upon, Ships and Goods, and notwithstanding all my Solicitations, would not be discharged: But some Months after, the War breaking out, were given to the East-India Company there, they pretending some Ships of theirs to have been formerly taken by the English. And now, as I hear at St. John de Liez, the same Usage is threatened, if not already begun, to our Merchants there, for the Reparation of the Widow de Lazin, for some Goods of her late Husbands, taken from her by the Parliament in 1643. So as all this makes me fearful it may come to be a constant Custom, if not prevented. I do therefore offer it as my humble Opinion, that all care should be taken for the prevention of it. And for this particular Case of Sir Francis Toppe's and Company, that in the first place a fair Application may be made to the French King, as well by his Ambassador here, as by his Majesty's Ambassador at Paris, for the just Satisfaction of the Petitioners, which may be hoped will prove effectual, and should it not, it will then be time for his Majesty to consider, what is further to be done for the Vindication of his own Honour, and the Protection of his Subjects.  
HOLLIS.   

THE WORLDS MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell, OR, A Short Political Discourse, SHOWING, That CROMWELL's Maladministration, (during his Four Years and Nine months' pretended Protectorship) laid the Foundation of our present Condition, in the Decay of TRADE.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1689.   

THE WORLDS MISTAKE IN Oliver Cromwell, etc.  
OF all the Sins that the Children of Men are guilty of, there is none that our corrupt Natures are more inclinable unto, than that of Idolatry, a Sin that may be towards Men so well as other Creatures and things: For as that which a Man unmeasurably relies, and sets his Heart upon, is called his God, even as that which he falls down before and worshippeth: So when one hath the Person of another in an excess of admiration, whether for Greatness or Richness, etc. which we are subject to adore, we are said to Idolise him; and therefore the wise Venetians, who, of all Men, are most Jealous of their Liberty, considering, that as the Nature of Man is not prone to any thing more than the Adoration of Men, so nothing is more Destructive to Freedom, have, for preventing the Mischiefs of it, made it Unlawful, even so much as to Mourn for their Duke at his Death: Intimating thereby, that their Felicity and Safety depends not upon the uncertain Thread of any one Man's Life, but upon the Virtue of their good Laws and Orders well executed, and that they can never want virtuous Persons to succeed: And how do such Principles in Men, led by little more than Morality, reprove those who have a great measure of Gospel-light, for their senseless Excess, in their adoring the remembrance of Cromwell? For as the Objects of Idolatry are Mistaken Creatures, or things proceeding sometimes from Self-love, so well as other Causes; So the undeserved Approbation and Applause, that Cromwell's Memory seems to have with his Adherents, amounting to little less than the Idolising of him, appears to me, to be the product of an excessive Veneration of Greatness, and a Selfish Partiality towards him; for that the more Honour is given to him, the more Praise they think will consequently redound to them who were his Favourites; and they fortify themselves herein, with the Credit they say he hath abroad, though there is little in that, because the opinion that Strangers have of him, may well be put upon the account of their Ignorance in the Affairs of England, which Travellers do find to be so great, even amongst Ministers of State, as is to be admired. And now as this Error in Idolising Oliver hath two Moral Evils in it, (besides the sin in itself:) The one a Reflection upon the present Times, as if the former were better than these. And the other the unjust Defrauding the Long Parliament of that which is due to them, to give it Idolatrously to him to whom it doth not belong; I esteem it a Duty incumbent upon me, to discover the Mistake. I am not insensible, that I shall by this, drawn the Envy of those upon me, who being Jealous of their Honour, will be angry for touching them in their Diana; but knowing myself clear from the Vices of Envying Virtue in any, how contrary soever he may be to me in Judgement, so well as from being unwilling to allow every one their due Commendations, I will cast myself upon Providence for the Success of this Paper; and in reference to Cromwell's Government, and the present times, make some Observations relating to both; and, in order thereunto, show,  
First, That the Original Cause of the low Condition that we are now (in relation to Trade) reduced unto, had its beginning in Oliver's time, and the Foundations of it laid, either by his ignorant mistaking the Interest of this Kingdom, or wilfully doing it, for the Advancement of his own particular Interest.  
Secondly, That his time, for the short continuance, had as much of Oppression and Injustice, as any former times.  
Thirdly and lastly, That he never in his later days, valued either Honour or Honesty, when they stood in the way of his Ambition; and that there is nothing to be admired in him (though so much Idolised) but that the Partiality of the World should make him so great a Favourite of Ignorance and Forgetfulness, as he seems to be.  
When this late Tyrant, or Protector, (as some call him) turned out the Long Parliament, the Kingdom was arrived at the highest pitch of Trade, Wealth and Honour, that it, in any Age, ever yet knew. The Trade appeared, by the great Sums offered then for the Customs and Excise, Nine hundred thousand Pounds a year being refused. The Riches of the Nation shown itself, in the high Value that Land and all our Native Commodities bore, which are the certain Marks of Opulency. Our Honour was made known to all the World, by a Conquering Navy, which had brought the Hollanders upon their Knees, to beg Peace of us upon our own Conditions, keeping all other Nations in awe. And besides these Advantages, the Public Stock was Five hundred thousand Pounds in ready Money, the value of Seven hundred thousand Pounds in Stores, and the whole Army in Advance, some Four, and none under Two Months; so that though there might be a Debt of near Five hundred thousand Pounds upon the Kingdom, he met with above twice the value in lieu of it.  
The Nation being in this flourishing and formidable Posture, Cromwell began his Usurpation, upon the greatest Advantages imaginable, having it in his power to have made Peace and profitable Leagues, in what manner he had pleased, with all our Neighbours, every one courting us then, and being ambitious of the Friendship of England; but, as if the Lord had infatuated and deprived him of common Sense and Reason, he neglected all our Golden Opportunities, misimproved the Victory God had given us over the United Natherlands, making Peace (without ever striking stroke) so soon as ever things come into his hands, upon equal Terms with them. And immediately after, contrary to our Interest, made an unjust War with Spain, and an Impolitic League with France, bringing the first thereby under, and making the latter too great for Christendom; and by that means, broke the Balance betwixt the two Crowns of Spain and France, which his Predecessors, the Long Parliament, had always wisely preserved.  
In this Dishonest War with Spain, he pretended, and endeavoured to impose a Belief upon the World, that he had nothing in his eye, but the Advancement of the Protestant Cause, and the Honour of this Nation; but his pretences were either fraudulent, or he was ignorant in Foreign Affairs (as I am apt to think, that he was not guilty of too much knowledge in them.) For he that had known any thing of the temper of the Popish Prelacy, and the French Court Policies, could not but see, that the way to increase or preserve the Reformed Interest in France, was by rendering the Protestants of necessary use to their King; for that longer than they were so, they could not be free from Persecution; and that the way to render them so, was by keeping the Balance betwixt Spain and France even, as that which would consequently make them useful to their King: But by overthrowing the balance in his War with Spain, and joining with France, he freed the French King from his Fears of Spain, enabled him to subdue all Factions at home, and thereby to bring himself into a condition of not standing in need of any of them; and from thence hath proceeded the Persecution that hath since been, and still is, in that Nation, against the Reformed there; so that Oliver, instead of advancing the Reformed Interest, hath by an Error in his Politics, been the Author of destroying it.  
The Honour and Advantage he propounded to this Nation, in his pulling down of Spain, had as ill a Foundation: For if true as was said, that we were to have had Ostend and Newport, so well as Dunkirk (when we could get them) they bore no proportion in any kind, to all the rest of the King of Spain's European Dominions, which must necessarily have fallen to the French King's share, because of their joining, and nearness to him, and remoteness from us; and the increasing the Greatness of so near a Neighbour, must have increased our future Dangers. But this Man, who through Ignorance is so strangely cried up in the World, was not guilty of this Error in State only, but committed as great a Solecism in his designing the Outing of the King of Denmark, and setting up of the King of Sweden: For had the Sweeds but got Copenhagen, (as in all probability, had Oliver lived, they would have done) they had wanted nothing of Consequence, but the Cities of Lubeck and Dantzick, (which by their then Potency they would easily have gained) of being Masters of the whole Baltic Sea on both sides, from the Sound or Mouth, down to the bottom of it; by which, together with all Denmark, Norway, and the Danes part of Holstein, which would consequently have been theirs (they then having, as they still have, the Land of Bremen) there would have been nothing, but the small Counties of Ouldenburg and East-Friezland, (which would easily have fallen into their mouths) betwixt them and the United Netherlands, whereby Sweden would on the one side to the North and North-East, have been as great, as France on the other, to the South and South-West; and they two able to have divided the Western Empire betwixt them.  
And whereas it had in all Ages been the Policies of the Northern States and Potentates, to keep the Dominion of the Baltic Sea divided amongst several petty Princes and States, that no one might be sole Master of it; because otherwise most of the necessary Commodities for Shipping, coming from thence and Norway, any one Lord of the whole, might lay up the Shipping of Europe by the walls, in shutting only of his Ports, and denying the Commodities of his Country to other States. Cromwell, contrary to this wise Maxim, endeavoured to put the whole Baltic Sea into the Sweeds hands, and undoubtedly had (though I suppose ignorantly) done it, if his death had not given them that succeeded him, the Long Parliament, an opportunity of prudently preventing it: For if he had understood the Importance of the Baltic Sea to this Nation, he could not have been so Impolitic, as to have projected so dangerous a design against his new Utopia, as giving the opening and shutting of it to any one Prince. I am not ignorant that this error is excused, by pretending that we were to have had Elsinore and Gronenburg Castle, (the first, the Town, upon the narrow entrance of the Baltic, called the Sound, where all Ships Ride, and pay T●●l to the King of Denmark; and the latter, the Fortress that defends both Town and Ships) by which we should have been Masters of the Sound, and consequently of the Baltic; but they that know those Countries, and how great a Prince the Sweed would have been, had he obtained all the rest, besides these two Babbles, must confess, we should have been at his Devotion, in our holding of any thing in his Countries: And further, if the dangerous consequence of setting up so great a Prince, had not been in the case, it had been against the Interest of England, to have had an Obligation upon us to maintain places so remote, against the Enmity of many States and Princes; and that for these Reasons:  
First, Because the ordinary Tolls of the Sound would not have defrayed half the charge; and to have taken more than the ordinary Tolls, we could not have done, without drawing a general Quarrel upon us, from most of the Princes and States of the Northern parts of Europe.  
Secondly, Because the Experience of all former times showeth us, that Foreign Acquisitions have ever been Chargeable and Prejudicial to the People of England; as Sir Robert Cotton makes it clearly appear, That not only all those Pieces of France, which belonged to us by rightful Succession; but also those we held by Conquest, were always great burdens to our Nation, and cause of much Poverty and Misery to the People. And it is not our Case alone, to be the worse for Conquests, (although more ours than other Countries, because of the Charge and uncertainty of the Winds and Weather in the Transportation of Succours and Relief by Sea, which contiguous Territories, which are upon the Main, are not subject to,) but the Case also of (I think I may say) all other Kingdoms. In France their Burdens and Oppressions have grown in all Ages, with the greatness of their Kings; Nay, even after their last Peace with Spain, by which they had given them Peace with all the World, besides many places in the Spanish Netherlands and Catalonia in to boot: Upon which the Poor People promised themselves (though vainly) ●n unquestionable abatement of Taxes; instead of that, they found their Pressures increased daily, and their King, though overgrownly Great and Rich himself, yet the People so Poor, that thousands are said to die in a plentiful year, for want of Bread to their Water, nothing being free there, but fresh Water and Air: For (except in some few privileged Places) wherever they have the Conveniency, by their Situation of Sea Water, (lest they should make use of the Benefit of that which God and Nature hath given them, for saving the charge of Salt,) every Family is forced to take so much Salt of the King at his own Rate, (which is above ten times the Price it is sold for to Strangers for Transportation) as is judged they may spend in a year; the Lord deliver all other Countries from their Example. In Sweden, that King, Court, and their Military Officers, are the better for their Conquests in Germany, Denmark, Russia, and some places anciently belonging to Poland, but the Commons the worse. Spain is undone, by the great number of People sent thence to the West-Indies, which hath depopulated the Country, France reaping more Benefit by keeping their People at home to Manufactures, than Spain doth by sending theirs abroad for Silver and Gold. And now, though by these Instances it may appear to be the Interest of the People of other Nations so well as ours, to live in Peace, without coveting Additions; yet it is more our true Interest, (because, by reason of our Situation, we have no need of Foreign Frontier Towns, our Ships well ordered, being better than other Princes bordering Garrisons) than any other Kingdoms, to neglect especially European Acquisition and Colonies, and apply ourselves,  
First, To the improving of our own Land, of which we have more than we have People to manage.  
Secondly, To the Increasing our Home and Foreign Trades, for which we have natural Advantages above any other Nation.  
Thirdly and Lastly, (By our Strength which Trade will increase) To make use of it, together with the helps that God and Nature hath given us in our Situation and otherwise, in keeping the Balance amongst our Neighbours: For if the Province of Holland, which is but Four hundred thousand Acres of Profitable Ground, is by the benefit of Trade able to do so much, as we experienced the last War; what might we do, if Trade were improved, who have much more Advantages for it than they have? I ascribe what was done by the Netherlands in the late War, to the Province of Holland; because, that though the Provinces are Seven in number, Holland's due proportion of all Charges, is 58⅓ in a hundred, to all the others 41⅔, of which 41⅔, Holland gets little more than 20 honestly paid them; insomuch, that it alone may be reckoned to bear four Fifths in an hundred, to one Fifth that all the other six bears: And how Prodigious a thing is it, that Holland, no bigger than as before mentioned, should be able to cope with England, Scotland and Ireland; and that though their Charges in the late War was abundantly greater than ours, yet by their good Management, to be so little the worse for it, that at the conclusion of the War, to have their Credits so high, that they could have commanded what Money they had pleased at Three in the Hundred, and all this by the mere additional Benefit of Trade and good Order; and how by Cromwell's indiscreet neglecting of Trade, and choosing War when he was in Peace, did he miss the true Interest of England, as by his ill-founded designs, he did the Interest of the Reformed Religion: For if he had succeeded in his unjust Invasion of the Spanish Territories in the West-indies, (as God seldom prospereth dishonest Undertake) it being intended for a State Acquisition, the Benefit would not have been diffusive, but chief to himself and Favourites, and prejudicial to the People in general, though at the Expense of their Substance, the Acquests would have been made: For had he met with so much Success in the gaining those Countries, and in them, that Plenty of Gold and Silver as he vainly hoped for, we should have been as unhappy in them (in the Depopulating of our Countries, by the loss of the multitude of People that must have been sent thither, and in impoverishing our Nations by the vast Charge of a continual War) as Spain is; and to no other end, than the making of him only Rich, able to Enslave the remaining People, and to make himself Absolute over them; for the preventing of which, in such Tyrants as Cromwell, surely Moses had an Eye, when he said, that they should not greatly multiply Silver and Gold. And thus, as Cromwell's designs must, to an impartial Judgement, appear to have been laid, some Dishonestly, others Impolitickly, and all contrary to the Interest of the Kingdom; so the Issue of them was damageable to the People of England: As,  
First, In his sudden making a Peace with Holland so soon as he got the Government, without those Advantages for Trade, as they who beat them did intent to have had, as their Due and just Satisfaction for their Charges in the War.  
Secondly, In his War with Spain, by the loss of that Beneficial Trade to our Nation, and giving it to the Hollanders, by whose hands we drove (during the War) the greatest part of that Trade which we had of it, with Five and twenty in the Hundred Profit to them, and as much Loss to us.  
Thirdly, By our Loss in that War with Spain, of 1500 English Ships, according as was reported to that Assemby, called, Richard's Parliament.  
Fourthly, In the Disgracefullest Defeat at Hispaniola that ever this Kingdom suffered in any Age or Time.  
Fifthly and Lastly, In spending the Great Public Stock he found, and yet leaving a vast Debt upon the Kingdom; as appeared by the Accounts brought into Richard's Assembly; which had (I believe) been yet much higher, but that they who under him managed the Affairs, were a sort of People who had been long Disciplined (before his time) to a Principle of Frugality, and against Cheating; though at Cozening the Poorer People, for their Master's Benefit, some of them were grown as Dexterous, as if they had been bred in the Court of Spain: For besides imposing Richard upon the People, after his Father's Death, by a Forged Title, according to the very Law they took to be in being, when, by his Assembly, they were ordered to bring in an Account of the Receipts and Payments of the Kingdom; they made about Sixty thousand Pounds spent in Intelligence, whereas it cost not above Three or Four thousand at most; and calculating the rest by these, it may well be concluded, that they were expert in their Trades.  
It is confessed, that Oliver's Peace and League with France, was upon Honourable Articles; but as the tottering Affairs of France then stood, much more could not have been sooner asked than had; For Mazerine being a Man of a large and subtle Wit, apprehending the Greatness of England at that time, which was then dreadful to the World, and the vast Advantages France would have in pulling down, by their help, of Spain, granted him, not only any thing for the present that he demanded, but disregarded also, even his Parties making their boasts of the awe he had him under, considering, that when Cromwell had helped him, to do his work, in bringing under the House of Austria, and therein casting the balance of Christendom on his side, he should afterwards have leisure to recover what then he seemed to part with: And though nothing is more ordinary than to hear Men brag, how Oliver vapoured over France, I do esteem Mazerine's complying with him, for his own ends, to be the Chief Piece of all his Ministry: For by that means only, and no other, is his Master become so great at this day, that no Factions at home can disturb his Peace, nor Powers abroad frighten him; which is more than any King of France, since Charles the Great, could say: And when his Neighbour Nations have (too late I fear) experienced his Greatness, they will find cause to Curse the Ignorance of Oliver's Politics; and therefore, when a true measure is taken of Cromwell, the approbation that he hath in the World, will not be found to have its Foundation in Sense or Reason, but proceeding from Ignorance and Atheism: From Ignorance, in those that take all that was done by him, as a Servant, and whilst under the direction of better Heads than his own, to be done by him alone: And from Atheism, in those that think every thing lawful that a Man doth, if it succeed to his Advancement. But they that shall take an impartial View of his Actions whilst he was a Single Person, and at liberty to make use of his own Parts without control, will find nothing worthy Commendations, but cause enough from thence to observe, that the Wisdom of his Masters, and not his own, must have been that by which he first moved; and to attribute his former Performances, whilst a Servant, (as is truly due) to the Judgement and Subtlety of the Long Parliament, under whose Conduct and Command he was. And now from Cromwell's neglecting to live in Peace, as if he had pleased he might have done with all the World, to the great Enriching of this Nation: The improvement of our Victory over Holland in his Peace with them; His being the Cause of the loss of our Spanish Trade during all his time; Of the loss of 1500 English Ships in that War; besides, by it, breaking the Balance of Europe; Of the Expense of the Public Stock and Stores he found, with the contracting a Debt of Nineteen hundred thousand Pounds, according to his own account, (which, for aught I know he left behind him, but am apt to think the Debt was not altogether so great, though made so to his Son Richard's Assembly, as a means to get the more Money from the Poorer People:) And last, Of the dishonourable overthrow we met with at Hispaniola, it may well be concluded, that he laid the Foundation of our present want of Trade, to what we formerly enjoyed; and that the reason why his Miscarriages were not sooner under observation, is, because our Stock of Wealth and Honour at his coming to the Government, being then unspeakably great, stifled their appearance, until having since had some unhappy additional Losses, they are now become discernible; as first Losses to a Merchant, who concealedly bears up under them, are afterwards discovered by the addition of Second Losses that sink him. When I contemplate these great Failings, I cannot but apprehend the sad Condition any People are in, whose Governor drives on a distinct contrary Interest to theirs; for doubtless Cromwell's overweening Care to secure his particular Interest, against His Majesty (than abroad) and the Long Parliament, whom he had turned out, with a prodigious Ambition of acquiring a glorious Name in the World, carried him on to all his Mistakes and Absurdities, to the irreparable Loss and Damage of this Famous Kingdom.  
To prove the Second Assertion, That Oliver's Time was full of Oppression and Injustice, I shall but instance in a few of many Particulars, and begin with John Lilburne, not that I think him in any kind one that deserved Favour or Respect, but that equal Justice is due to the worst so well as best Men, and that he comes first in order of time.  
First, John in 1649. was by Order of the then Parliament tried for his Life, with an intent (I believe) of taking him away; but the Jury not finding him Guilty, he was immediately, according to Law, generously set at Liberty by those that had quarrel enough against him. This Example in the Parliament, of keeping to the Laws in the Case of one who was a professed implacable Enemy to them, aught to have been copied by Cromwell; but on the contrary, to show that there was a difference betwixt his and his Predecessors (the Long Parliaments) Principles, when the Law had again upon a second Trial (occasioned by Oliver) cleared Lilburne, the Parliaments submitting to the Law was no Example to him; for, contrary to Law, he kept him in Prison, until he was so far spent in a Consumption, that he only turned him out to die.  
Secondly, Mr. Coneys Case is so Notorious, that it needs little more than naming: He was a Prisoner at Cromwell's Suit, and being brought to the Kings-Bench-Bar by a Habeas Corpus, had his Counsel taken from the Bar, and sent to the Tower for no other reason, than the pleading of their Clients Cause; an Act of Violence, that I believe the whole Story of England doth not parallel.  
Thirdly, Sir Henry Vain, above any one Person, was the Author of Oliver's Advancement, and did so long and cordially Espouse his Interest, that he prejudiced himself (in the opinion of some) by it; yet so ungrateful was this Monster of Ingratitude, that he studied to destroy him both in Life and Estate, because he could not adhere to him in his Perjury and Falseness. The occasion he took was this, He appointing a public Day of Humiliation, and seeking of God for him, invited all God's People in his Declaration, to offer him their Advice in the Weighty Affairs then upon his Shoulders: Sir Henry taking a Rise from hence, offered his Advice by a Treatise, called, The Healing Question; but Cromwell, angry at being taken at his word, Seized, Imprisoned, and endeavoured to proceed further against him, for doing only what he had invited him to do; and some may think, that Sir Henry suffered justly, for having known him so long, and yet would trust to any thing he said.  
Fourthly, In Richard's Assembly, certain Prisoners in the Tower, under the then Lieutenant, and some sent thence to Jersey, and other places beyond the Sea, complained of False Imprisonment. Their Gaoler was sent for, and being required to show by what Authority he kept those Persons in hold, produceth a Paper all under Oliver's own Hand, as followeth: Sir, I pray you Seize such and such Persons, and all others whom you shall judge dangerous Men; do it quickly, and you shall have a Warrant after you have done. The nature of this Warrant was by Richard's Assembly debated, and having first Richard's own Counsels Opinion in the Case, they Voted the Commitment of the Complainants to be Illegal, Unjust, and Tyrannical; and that first, because the Warrant by which they were Committed, was under the hand of the then (as they called him) Chief Magistrate, who by Law ought not to commit any by his own Warrant. Secondly, Because no Cause was shown in the Warrant. And Thirdly, (In the Case of those sent out of the reach of a Habeas Corpus, which in Law is a Banishment) Because no Englishman ought to be Banished by any less Authority than an Act of Parliament. And therefore, for these Reasons, they Voted farther, that the Prisoners should be set at Liberty without paying any Fees or Charges, but the turning out, and punishing the Lieutenant by the Assembly (for obeying so unjust a Warrant) was prevented by their sudden Dissolution.  
Fifthly, The Tyranny in the decimating a Party restored to common Privileges with all others, and the public Faith given for it, by a Law made to that end, by the then Powers in being, is sufficiently showed in the mentioning of it, only there is this aggravating Circumstance in it, That Cromwell, who was the principal Person in procuring that Law, when he thought it for his Advantage not to keep it, was the only Man for breaking it: But to the Honour of his first Assembly, next following, it may be remembered, that they no sooner came together, than like true Englishmen, who are always jealous of the Rights and Privileges of the People, damned the Act of Decimation, as an unjust and wicked breach of Faith.  
The third Assertion of Cromwell's knowing no Honesty, where he thought his particular Interest was concerned, is made good: First, (though therein he mistook his Interest) in his odious and unjust War with Spain, without the least provocations, merely out of an ambitious and covetous design of robbing that Prince of his Silver and Gold Mines, and because he judged it for his Credit to disguise his unlawful desires, he proceeded in it, by employing his Creatures in the City, to draw the Merchants to complain of Injuries done them by Spain, and to Petition for Reparations; but by a cross Providence, his Project had a contrary Success; for instead of answerin, his Seekings, the Merchants remonstrated to him, the great prejudice that a War with Spain would be to England; and shown, that that King had been so far from Injuring us, that he had done more for Compliance and preventing a breach with England, than ever he had done in favour of any other Nation. But when Oliver saw his Method would not take, he called the Remonstrators Malignants, and begun the War of his own accord, in which he was highly ingrateful in designing the ruin of that Prince, who all along had been most Faithful to his Party.  
Secondly, His Falseness and Ingratitude appeared Superlatively in turning out his Masters, who had not only advanced him, but made themselves the more odious by their partial Affection towards him, and in his doing it, with the breach of a Positive Negative Oath, taken once a year, when made a Counsellor of State, besides the breach of all other Engagements, Voluntary Imprecations, Protestations and Oaths, taken frequently upon all occasions in Discourse and Declarations; and yet further (when he had turned them out) and left them void of Protection, and exposed them to the Fury of the People, in pursuing them with false reproachful Declarations, enough to have stirred up the rude multitude to have destroyed them, wherever they had met them.  
Thirdly, His want of Honour, so well as Honesty, appeareth yet further, in that having, by a long Series of a seeming pious Deportment, gained, by his Dissimulation, good thoughts in his Masters, the Long Parliament, and by his Spiritual Gifts, wound himself into so good an opinion with the Soldiers, (Men generally of plain Breeding, that knew little besides their Military Trade, and Religious Exercises) that he could impose, in Matters of Business, what Belief he pleased upon them; he made use of the Credit he had with each, to abuse both, by many vile Practices for making himself Popular, & the Parliament and Army odious to one another; and because the Artifices he used are too many to enumerate, I shall but instance in some few; As his sly complaining Insinuations against the Army to the Parliament, and against them to the Army: His being the chief Cause of the Parliaments giving Rewards to his Creatures, and then whispering Complaints amongst his Officers of their ill Husbandry. His obstructing the House in their business, by long drawling Speeches, and other ways, and then complaining of them to his Soldiers, that he could not get them to do any thing that was good: His giving fair words to every one, without keeping promise with any, except for his own Advantage, & then excusing all with Forgetfulness: And his deserting his Major Generals in their Decimations, crying out most against them himself, when he only had set them at work, because questioned by his Assembly, is not to be forgotten, etc. I would not be understood to remember any thing here, in Favour of the Long Parliament, for what might be Wicked in him, might be Just as to them; And though, if what he did, had been for the Restauration of his Majesty, he might have been excused, yet being for his own Single Advancement, it is unpardonable, and leaves him a Person to be truly admired for nothing but Apostasy and Ambition, and exceeding Tiberius in Dissimulation. I am not ignorant, that some think it matter of praise in him, that he kept us in Peace Four years and nine months; but that hath little in it, his Majesty having done the like, almost double his time, since his Return, with one fifth part of that number of Soldiers which he commanded; though he hath also had the trouble of pressing, and sometimes forcing Uniformity in Religion, which he found under several Forms; whereas Oliver kept the Nation purposely divided in Opinions, and himself of no declared Judgement, as the securest way of engaging all several Persuasions equally to him; which Artifice, together with his leaving the Church Lands alienated as he found them, were all the true Principles of Policy that I know of, which he kept unto. The Honesty of these Principles, I refer to the judgement of every Man's Conscience; but if we may judge of things by Experience and Success, they seem to have been very happy in the World; For in comparing the Condition of the Protestant Countries at present, to what they were in times of Popery, we shall find them abundantly more considerable now than formerly; for in taking a true Survey of the Reformed Dominions, we shall discover them to bear no proportion at all in largeness, to the Popish, and that there is nothing that keeps the Balance betwixt the two Parties, but the Advantage that the first hath, in being free from the Bondage of the Church of Rome, and the latters being under it; For as the Church of Rome's Mercies are (by their Principles) Cruelties, so had they power answerable to the natural Richness of the Soil of their Countries, and extent of their Territories, they would long e'er this have swallowed up the Protestant Churches, and made Bonfires of their Members; but as God, in his Mercy and Wisdom, hath by his overruling Hand of Providence, preserved his Church; so for the Romish Churches Inability to effect that which they have Will and Malice enough to carry them on to do, there are these natural Reasons.  
First, There being generally of the Popish Countries, above one Moiety belonging to Churchmen, Monks, Friars and Nuns, who, like Drones, spend the Fat of the Land, without contributing any thing to the good of Mankind, renders them much the less considerable.  
Secondly, Marriage being forbidden to all these Sorts and Orders, occasions great want of People every where, (they being uncapable of any Children but those of Darkness) except in France, which is an extraordinary Case, proceeding partly by not being so subject to Rome, as other Countries of that belief are; but especially from the Multitude of Protestants that are among them.  
Thirdly, The blind Devotion of these People, carrying them on to vast Expenses, in the Building and richly adorning of many needless and superfluous Churches, Chapels and Crosses, etc. with the making chargeable Presents by the better, and Pilgrimages by the meaner sort, to their Idols, keeps all degrees under.  
Fourthly, The many Holidays, upon which the labouring Man is forbidden to work, adds much to their Poverty.  
But Fifthly and Lastly, The vast number of Being Friars, who living Idly, and purely upon the Sweat of other men's Brows, without taking any labour themselves, makes it impossible for the lower sort of People, who think they are bound in Conscience to relieve them, ever to get above a mean Condition. Now whosoever shall seriously weigh and ponder these Circumstances, under which the Popish Country's lie, and consider the Reformeds' Advantage in being free from them, must confess it the less wonder, that the Evangelical Princes and States, with their small Dominions, compared to the others Great, are able to bear up against them; and now as the Alienation of Church-lands, the turning out the Romish Vermin, the Priests, Monks, Friars and Nuns, (who devour all Countries wherever they come) and freedom from the Popish Imposition upon Conscience, hath mightily increased the Greatness of the Protestant Princes and States, to what they anciently were, and the not doing the same in the Popish Countries, keeps those Princes under; so, even amongst the Reformed, where the Church-lands are most alienated, and Liberty of Conscience most given, they prosper most, as in Holland, and some parts of Germany, with other places. And I dare undertake to be a Prophet in this, That if ever any Protestant Country should be so far forsaken of the Lord, as to be suffered to turn unto Popery, these Observations will be made good in their visible loss of the Splendour, Riches, Power and Greatness, that they now know.  
Had Cromwell been a Person of an open profane Life, his Actions had been less Scandalous; but having been a Professor of Religion, they are not to be pleaded for; neither can it be consistent with Religion, to palliate them which have been of so much offence, and (as may be feared) made so many Atheists in the World: And I cannot but stand amazed, when I hear him extolled by some, not ignorant of his Practices, knowing in Religion, and (as I hope) fearing God.  
Now I will suppose, I may be suspected to have been injured or disobliged by Oliver; but I can with Truth affirm, I never received either Good or Evil from him in all my Life, more than in Common with the whole Kingdom (which I think may be allowed to render me the more a Competent Judge in his Case,) and that I am so far from being moved unto this, out of any quarrel to him, that, as I have here mentioned, some few of many Injustices and State-errors, that he was guilty of in his short time, if I were conscious of any thing more, during his Protectorship, worthy applause, than I have here mentioned, I should not envy it him, but freely remember it; and if any think I have not said enough on his behalf, and too much to his disadvantage, I have this for my Buckler, that I wish I could have said more for him, and had known less against him; professing, that besides what I have here hinted, I am wholly ignorant of any one Action in all his Four years and nine months' time, done either Wisely, Vertuoussy, or for the Interest of this Kingdom; and therefore that I am none of his Admirers, I ought to be pardoned by my Readers.  
Much more might be said upon this Subject, but this may suffice to show, that if Mazerine (at the hearing of Oliver's death) thought he had then reason for calling him a Fortunate Fool, if he were now living he would find more Cause for it, Cromwell's Lot, as to Reputation, having been exceedingly much greater since his Death, than whilst he was in the World: And that from forgetfulness of his Impolitic Government, (from whose Entrance we may date the Commencement of our Trade's decay,) And (through want of Memory) in men's giving to him the Cause of our former Wealth and Prosperity, which truly belonged to others. But what Opinion soever Mazerine may have had of Oliver, he was without all peradventure a Person of more than ordinary Wit, and no otherwise a Fool than as he wanted Honesty, no Man being wise but an Honest Man.  
FINIS.