A French Conquest NEITHER DESIRABLE NOR PRACTICABLE. DEDICATED TO THE KING of ENGLAND. London: Printed by His MAJESTY's Servants. MDCXCIII. TO THE KING. SIR, NOtwithstanding You have been traduced by Your Enemies for having ill Designs upon the Nation, and that these Enemies have had too fatal a Success in spreading such improbable Suggestions (too fatal for their Native Country as well as for You, who are the Monarch of it;) yet I am so assured that Your Majesty jealously watches over the Glory, and Aims at the True Interest of Your Kingdoms, that I am confident a Discourse that proves a French Conquest of this Island, to be neither the Intention of Your Friends, nor Your Own, nor Practicable in itself, will not be an unacceptable Present. CONQUEST is a harsh Word, and it frightens weak Minds. And that YOU Yourself should Conquer, can be only wished for by such, as intent their own Interest more than Yours, in Your Restauration; who intent to live upon Prey, and would destroy half the Nation that They might have the better share of the Confiscations. But if that should be, yet the most remote surviving Relations of those that are Killed, or Executed, when that horrid Trial of Skill shall be over, will have a mind to the Estates of their Ancestors: And the Banished Outlaws will be ready to stir up any enterprizing Prince abroad, or such as are discontented at home, to give future Disturbances; So that these Kingdoms will be still continued under Convulsive Agonies. And, after all, I beg leave to say, That no Prince by Conquering, or, to speak more properly, Reducing, his Rebellious Subjects, can have any Title to take away the Laws, and Liberties of those that remained Faithful. I must confess, I am one of those that can never (as well for His, as Our sake) assist any King that has the Glorious Title of SUCCESSION, to debase it into the mean, hated, and precarious one of Conquest. But I think our own Hereditary and Equal Monarchy to be so much the most happy sort of Government, both for Prince and People, that I can very willingly run any hazard to settle things upon that Foundation. Come Home, Great Sir, to Restore our Trade, to Repair our Naval Reputation and Strength, to make Us the Umpires of Europe, to Deliver Us from Dutch Delusions to Preserve Our Church as Established by Law from being Debauched by Comprehension, to Settle Liberty of Conscience in a duly Elected PARLIAMENT, and to Establish all the Liberties of the English Subject. It is because I am confident these are Your Royal Resolutions, that I Wrote this short Discourse, and now Dedicate it to Your Majesty. The Subject is of that Importance to Your Affairs, that it deserved to have been better handled; and I desired some other Pens to have undertaken it, but Their Thoughts were otherwise employed: Yet though I am sensible I have not done it all the Justice They would, I think I may without Vanity say, I have made it plain beyond the Cavils, or at least reasonable Objections, of Your Adversaries, and I hope it may have some effect upon them. That God would Restore Your Majesty to Your Throne, and to the Hearts of all Your Subjects, is the unfeigned Prayer of, May it please Your Majesty, Your Majesty 's most Obedient, Loyal Subject, N. N. A French Conquest NEITHER Desirable nor Practicable. SINCE our Enemies, in some of their Pamphlets, and many of their Discourses, amongst several other things wherewith they falsely charge those whose sole Design is to restore the Ancient and Hereditary Monarchy, together with all those Securities we ever had, or are necessary for the Preservation of the English Liberties and Protestant Religion; I say, Since our Enemies, amongst other things, unjustly charge us with designing, or, at least, unwarily helping forward, a French Conquest, I have determined to show that such a Conquest is neither Desirable nor Practicable; that we are neither such Fools nor Knaves as to think of such fatal Projects against our Native Country. I shall endeavour to make out both the One and the Other plainly, but not elaborately, since Brevity and Perspicuity is more proper to disabuse the honest and (for whose Information I particularly writ, and who are most misled by these Insinuations) than long and artificial Harangues, wherein the Authors refine too much, or interlard too much Learning. I begin with the first Head of my Discourse, viz. That a French Conquest is not desirable. There is no sort of Men desire it. I know no body that would subject our Fortunes, our Liberties and Lives to the Power of France: They that urge it, don't believe we would. We lament the Taxes, the Imprisonments, the Plunderings, and the Pillaging of England; the Torturing against Law, and the Glenco-Massacre in Scotland, together with all the other Miseries that infest this Island; We would not bring more upon it; we would not depopulate it; we would not make it a Golgetha: And that the World may be convinced that none of the Jacobites desire a French Conquest, I shall show it contrary to the Interests and Inclinations of every Denomination of them to let the French have any footing here. It is almost a Jest to go about to prove the Whiggish Jacchites would not find their Account in a French Conquest. Can it be imagined, that Men who have been always struggling with their own Kings for more Liberty, and to have their Properties better guarded, who have been hitherto so jealous of the lowest Imitations of French Monarchy, should expect greater Securities under a Provincial French Government, or desire to become Subjects to a King whose own Natural Subjects they think are very hardly dealt with? As to the Jacobites of the Church of England, nothing can lie more cross to their Notions and Interest, than a French Conquest. Can it be believed that those who venture All to preserve every Gradation of the Royal Line, would convey over the Tenure of the Crown to one that has no Pretence of Right to it? Did they not oppose the Bill of Exclusion upon this Principle, That it is not in the Power of King and Parliament too to alter the Succession? Can they then give up the Interest of our English Monarches all at once? No, their Consciences will bid them oppose a French Conquest with the hazard and expense of the last Drop of their Blood: And their Interest will bid them do so too; for a French Conquest cannot be maintained here without so many Outlandish Roman Catholics, as will be a very indifferent Guard to the Church of England; and if the French King should be King of England, he must in mere Policy set up his own Religion here, if he did not think himself obliged in Conscience to do it. I come in the last place to the Roman Catholics, (of whom our Adversaries expect the World should believe any Figment, tho' never so monstrous and absurd;) and I must say, That those among them who, by reason of their Estates and Sense, will always govern the rest, are not so little read in our Histories, as to suppose, that, tho' such a Conquest did at present make for them, (as it really will not) it would be lasting. They are now convinced, that it is by becoming Englishmen, and not by running counter to the English Interest, that they must be happy; and they profess, that if we will once give them opportunity to show how well they love our Liberties, we shall see they place their Hopes in the Indulgence, they shall gain by the moderate and inoffensive Carriage of their own Party, and not on Foreign Dependencies. They know that the Revulse of all such Projects must extirpate Them and their Posterity together with the Foreigners; and they know we must be entirely rooted out, or we shall root out all Foreigners at last. I must do that Party still more Justice. I thought always they were neither Wisely nor Religiously used by us; that we ought not to punish any Man for mere Opinions, and that we ought not in good Sense to irritate Men into Treasons at Home, or Dependencies on Foreign Princes: This I always thought; but since the Misfortunes of His Majesty I have had Occasion to converse more freely with the Roman Catholics, and I must say, I have found amongst many of that Persuasion the same Sense of Liberty their Ancestors had, and our Old Papists who have transmitted to us our Magna Charta, Charta de Forresta, etc. I have found amongst so many of that Persuasion not only all the good Impressions of that Happiness we enjoy by our Constitution, but so particular a Detestation of all Thoughts of a French Conquest, that as I think no Death too cruel for any body that would promote it, so I am confident whoever can be proved designing it, would be found Guilty even by any Jury of Papists that can be summoned. There are possibly some Rom. Priests, that may endeavour to blow up the Laity to some unreasonable Hopes and Designs; but I am well satisfied a French Conquest is none of them, and besides the Laity of that Church begin to reflect upon the Folly of the Priests, when the King was here; and they now see, that the Priests are light Gentlemen without Families or Fortunes, and so can better shift in a Storm than the Laity can, which makes Ghostly Politics much out of fashion even with the Roman Catholics, that have Sense, Quality and Estates; and they will always govern the rest, in what concerns the security of their Persons and Estates. Cambden, though in many respects an excellent Historian, whether out of Bigotry to his own Church, or that he may enhance the Character of Queen Elizabeth, who made and promoted such severe Laws against both, never speaks favourably either of Puritan or Papist, and yet there drop from him Expressions, which show, although the Reformation was then so newly settled, and though the Papists were then more numerous than they are now; nay, though they were not many of them satisfied of the Legitimacy of Queen Elizabeth, yet the generality, and the most considerable Papists would not join in the Spanish Designs; and they blamed the hot-headedness of Parsons the Jesuit, etc. Read Cambden's Annals in English, Page 113, 114, and 115. and you will find that in the Rebellion of the North, (which was the first in her Reign,) though Chapine Vitelli, Marquis of Cotona, was sent over to Head Forces, which the Duke of Alva had promised the Rebels; and Nicholas Morton, a Priest, was sent at the same time by the Pope to denounce Queen Elizabeth a Heretic; yet most of the Papists sent the Letters they received from the Rebels, together with the Bearers of them, to the Queen. Page 125, 126. you may read Pope Pius' Bull against the Queen, and that the modester Papists misliked it, and were unwilling to bring Mischief upon themselves; nay, the beginning of the next Page tells you, they contemned it as a vain crack of Words. Page 218. the Papists express such dislike of Parson's fiery zeal against the Queen, that they thought themselves to have delivered him into the Magistrate's hands. Page 248. the Romans Catholics mislike the Notions, in Politics, of their Priests; and J. Bishop, a Man devoted to the Romish Church, writes against them, and against the Deposing Doctrine. Other passages might be quoted out of that History; but here are enough, and perhaps some will think too many, for whose purpose it makes more to render the Papists errand Monsters. Though, by reason that our Adversaries are likeliest to be believed against the Roman Catholics, and prejudice Our Cause by the general Prejudice that is against them, I have been the more particular about that Party; yet I thank God no Man is less liable to be proselyted to their Opinions in matters of Church-worship, than I am, or more loves, or will venture farther in all Times for the Characteristic Liberties of the English Subject; Liberties that I will defend, as far as in me lies, not only from all Foreign Powers, but from all Encroachments of our own Monarches too; though I must say at the same time, that I can distinguish between Liberty and Licentiousness, and like our own true and ancient Hereditary and equal Monarchy the best of all the several sorts of Government; and know also that there are many Prerogatives that are as necessary for the Protection of the People, as for the Safety and Grandeur of the Prince. The World is much mistaken in our Notions; I wish they would hear 'em from ourselves, who can best tell the Reasons of our Dissent from the present Government, and with what Designs, and how far we do, and will serve K. James; and they will find even the Non Swearers of the Church of England have in their Loyalty to Him a due regard to their Country likewise. By this frankness all Parties might come to understand one another better, and the late Experiments have made all those of the several Parties, that are for K. James wiser and more temperate than formerly; the Jacobites wish their own Disappointments had made the Williamites as much so; we know indeed they have made many of them wiser. We are so far from wishing the King of France should Conquer us, that we don't wish King James should. We will receive Him, we will help Him, as our Father, as our King; but Conqueror is not in the Language of our Loyalty. The Church of England have been ever thought to carry the Notions of Prerogative the highest; but I believe amongst the Non Swearing Clergy, there will not be found one St. As●ph, one Burnet; and we are hearty glad, that those who sit in the Two Houses ordered such a Stigma for such nauseous Flattery: And should the King be forced to reduce these Kingdoms by a high Hand, which many of the Jacobites are sure he is very unwilling to do, and we hope the Nation will be wiser than to put him to it; yet even then all the wise and influencing Jacobites will interpose, will keep him (if he should be inclined to do otherwise) from pursuing Revenge, and will tell him, that the end of Civil War must be attended with Moderation in the Conqueror; or otherwise he that is one day Victor by the Sword, may be vanquished the next by Jealousies. If he should unmercifully devour even his Rebellious Subjects, we ourselves should stand affrighted at him, as at a Polyphemus, and conclude he would feast upon us at last. Our Henry the Third had like to have lost himself by an intemperate use of his Victory over the Barons: And Edward the Second did lose himself by using extreme Rigours after his Victory at Burton upon Trent: Other instances of this sort may be found in our own Histories; and if we rightly consider the present State of Affairs, the Defection was very general, and upon the Account of Male Administration, and therefore the Pardon ought to be without Exceptions; and a Rectification of those Errors will restore the King to the Hearts of all his People, as well as his Kingdoms, without Effusion of Blood. They are State-Quacks, who only understand Phlebotomy. A good Physician will sweeten and compose the Mass of Humours, and by proper Lenitives quiet all our boiling Spirits, and correct the Temperament of the State into Obedience, without creating Faintnesses, or destroying our Vitals. This all the considerable Jacobites are now satisfied of, this is their Opinion. It is not the Title of the King that is the Dispute; then indeed Wise Kings have, after Victories, been severe, as our Henry VII. was; but the same Henry VII. was as Merciful in Flammock's Rebellion, tho' it was occasioned by collecting Taxes that were granted by Parliament. His Son also, Henry VIII. (who was a Prince of a high mind) when 30000 were in Arms in the Yorkshire Rebellion, which was upon account of what they thought Maladministration, pardoned every Man, and after quieted their minds by sending down a Book amongst them to explain his Intentions. It is by Mercy, and letting us see clearly into his Royal Heart, that our King, King JAMES, must establish his Throne; and even they who believe Passive Obedience, would not be active in the Destruction of their Country; and tho' they think the Church of England supports the Monarchy, yet now they are satisfied nothing less will secure their Church, than what makes our Liberties safe. You know there are others in his Interest, who will claim their Rights in a bolder manner yet; I bless God there are many of them, some of whom never touched with this Government, and others who have been so disappointed by its Ministers and Administration, that they no longer expect a Cure from the Prince of Orange's hands; you cannot think either the One or the Other of these desire to be a Conquered People, nor do I know any one Man that desires it. Indeed this Government has taken all Methods by Harrassing and Imprisonments, and such Taxes as must undo us, to make the Jacobites do some desperate thing: and if any thing would, such Usage would make us wish for a French Conquest, or any other Change of Torments; but nothing can make us wish for a French Conquest. They have not yet made us Rise, that they might have the Confiscation of our Fortunes, and du● King William Conqueror without control: I hope we shall never Rise, till we do it to the purpose, till the Nation rises with us; I hope we shall disappoint that Design of parcelling out our Inheritances amongst the sworn Vassals of the Prince of Orange, as Ireland (which could easily have been made to follow the Fortune of England at the beginning of this Revolution, had not this Project been in their Head) has been shared amongst them. I hope we shall disappoint them here by a wise and temperate Conduct. They care not what Slaughters, what Distresses, they bring upon, the Nation: but We would restore Peace and Plenty to it; and whatever our Enemies say (who have all along had a great Faculty of contriving Lies, and forming Hobgoblins) we love our Country, our Native Country too well to let any Uneasiness make us have one Thought, one Wish for a French Conquest. The Prince of Orange in his Declaration says, One of the Ends of his coming was to cover all Men from Persecution. He has kept that as well as the other parts; for he cannot but know that many of those who refuse the Oaths, do it out of Conscience, and how many (against whom no other Crime has been proved, but the refusal of those Oaths, and therefore in the sight of the Law guilty of none else) have had their Arms and Horses seized, have been hindered from following their Lawful Business, put to find unreasonable Bail, been laid up in loathsome Prisons, and been forced to pay most part, if not all their Incomes? If this is not Persecution, I know not what is; and I think he cannot but believe it is generally for Conscience-sake. Is not that Venerable Old Man Archbishop Sancroft, and several other Bishops and dignifyed Persons, who have shown a sufficient Concern for the Protestant Religion, and whose Loyalty was not so stupid (to use Dr. Sherlock's Epithet) but that they stood up for the Laws. Are not many of these Excellent Persons reduced to great straits and Poverty, because they have not supple time-serving-Providential Consciences? How many of the Inferior Clergy are sent to beg their Bread, who made it a point of Conscience to oppose the Irregularities of King James' Ministers, who, tho' they would have been, and are now willing to consent to Liberty of Conscience Parliamentarily settled, were not flexible to the Tricks set on foot by those designing Ministers? There has been already, I think, a sufficient Persecution of the Jacobites; but the Judges are commanded to set a greater forward still: however, that shall not provoke us to a rash Attempt, neither to hurt our selves nor our Country, neither to make King William's Title a Conquest, nor to think of a French Conquest. We cannot swear away our Allegiance, which we own to King James, as his Birth right, and which most of us have sworn to him; but if it had been thought fit to contrive an Oath, which should have expressed our Love of England, and our Abhorrence of a French Conquest, whatever Mulct had been laid upon the Refusal of it, whoever had refused it would have been by us unpityed, tho' you had exacted the Mulct never so severely, for we are all satisfied a French Conquest is not desirable. That a French Conquest is contrary to the Inclinations and Interests of the several sorts of Jacobites, is a good Argument that it is not practicable. But now I fall upon my second Head, I presume I shall directly and irrefragably make out. I hat a French Conquest is not Practicable; and that, by showing, I. That a French Conquest is as little King James's Inclination as his Interest. II. That such a Conquest is palpably opposite to the Interest of all the Princes and States of Europe. And lastly, That to attempt a French Conquest of England, either for Himself or King James, is not the Interest of the King of France himself. I omit showing a French Conquest is against the Interest of King James, for I don't think it worth my while to prove that it is against a Man's Interest to have his Estate taken from him, and his Posterity destroyed. King James has a Child, that He believes, and you believe too (notwithstanding all the pains you take to be thought to believe that useful Flame of your pretended Imposture, which was at first taken up, and industriously promoted (like that of the Irish cutting the Throats of all the People of England and Scotland) to help forward this Revolution) to be a True PRINCE OF WALES; and at least, this innocent Child has not disobliged the King; and this is enough to make him take pity of the Nation, however Rebellious and Ungrateful we have been to him: But besides, he has several times since his Exile expressed himself in so pathetic and extenuating a Style concerning those Subjects that have used him so ill, that it would be almost incredible, if related; And tho' the Prince of Wales was dead, he retains even for the Princess of Orange such a Fatherly Affection, as plainly supersedes Royal Resentment; and I have heard one that was by say, That upon a Gentleman's mentioning, even upon occasion of Business, the Fault of the Princess of Orange, and that with all the Modesty imaginable, (and he must touch very tenderly upon that String who will make his Court to the King, tho' such virulent Pamphlets are Licenced here against Him), the King replied That the Princess of Orange had Natural Foundations of Good ness that Dr. Burnet and the Bishop of London can never destroy▪ And further, they who have been at S● Germane know with what Indignation the King treats althoughts of Restoring him by any other Method than by a great Concurrence of his own People. The King knows how obstinately the People of Britain, nay, many that are now his own Friends, would resist any other Method; and he knows that the Riches of a Country are the People of it: He would be Himself, and he would have his Son, the King of Great Britain; and he does not think it worth his while to be King of Trees, of Beasts, and a desolated Land, or to leave such a ruin'd Kingdom to his Son. When I weigh the good Inclinations of the King, and the barbarous Persecution and Misrepresentation he has met with, I am shaken with a double Agony: I compassionate His Wrongs, and am astonished at our Ingratitude, and that we would not once try whether the Things we complained of proceeded from His own Nature, or from those about him, whom the Prince of Orange had corrupted. The Scene of His and our Miseries is abundantly and admirably laid open in an excellent Book printed last Summer, called, Great Britain's Just Complaint; and if I would entertain the World upon that Subject, I must either transcribe what may be found in that Book, or relate the History of the same Matter of Fact, without doing the same Justice to the Cause of the King. That Great and Judicious Author has discovered the whole Mystery of Iniquity; How such Snares were laid for the King as an honest-minded Man could scarce escape; How willing the King was to redress our Grievances, when he found he had been in Mistakes, and this before he went away; How he continued in the same Mind when he was addressed to by some of his Subjects of Scotland, who had appeared most vigorously to resent those Mistakes, and this when he was under no Pressure in his Affairs. I will add no more to justify the Inclinations of the King, but beseech every body who reads this to read Great Britain's Just Complaint, which puts the Nation upon the best Method for us to know the Inclinations of our King. He advises, page 48. to resume that Treaty we so foolishly broke off and refused, and thereby to secure Religion and Property by those Concessions which our Sovereign is still ready to grant us. He goes on," Let us put it home to him, and lay it at his own Door; Let him have it in his choice to return by his People, if he pleases. Convince him, that his Protestant Subjects, upon securing their Religion and Liberties, will repair their former Errors, by contributing hearty towards his Restauration. And, as that Author says, if he declines to return upon a Protestant and English Foot, there is an end of the Controversy, and of all Disputes amongst Protestants; for Religion and Liberty will never be sacrificed by true Englishmen. And I will add to what he says, If no true Englishman join with him, whatever Forces they can transport upon us, neither can King James come home, nor can the French conquer us: But, God be praised, a great many true English men will join to bring home the King, tho' I know not one so bad an English man as would join in a French Conquest. But I come in the second place to show, That it is not the Interest of any of the Princes or States of Europe, that the French should make us a Conquest. The excellent Author of the abovenamed Great Britain's. Just Complaint has proved, that whether this Confederate War ends successfully or unsuccessfully, in all likelihood, and according to all the Rules of Policy, the Restauration of King James must in a short time follow upon the Determination of it: But it is my business to make it plain, That tho' it may be, and is the Interest of all Countries to have King James Restored at the conclusion of this War, yet it is not the Interest of any of them, that the French should conquer us, have our Kings their Vassals, or be Masters of our Ports. Would the Spaniard have the Channel shut up on both sides to Flanders? Would the Dutch have the English and Irish Ports managed by such select Committees, as the French would infallibly set up for Trade? And how long would the Dutch resist Ours and the French Power, united under one Absolute Monarch? Would not the Northern Crowns, and all the Princes of Germany, soon feel the Weight of such a Confluence of Strength? The Influence that such a Conquest would have upon all the States of Europe, be they never so remote, is at first sight so evident, that there is not one of them who would be an idle Spectator of our Ruin. Every body now knows the Danger their own House is in, when their Neighbor's on fire. Every little Politician knows how much Greatness depends upon Naval Preparations and Trade; therefore every body would be alarmed, every body in an Uproar, when they saw such Maritime Kingdoms as ours like to be made an Accession to the numerous Land-Forces of France. They are idle Brains, that dream of Universal Monarchies at this day; and tho' whole Kingdoms heretofore would not join in a Common Defence, whole Europe would now. However Ambitious the King of France may be, he can never think of so unwieldy a Project, in which he must not only encounter all England, all this Island, all these Three Kingdoms, but all Europe too. I come in the last place to show, That it is not the Interest of the K. of France to attempt to make us a Conquest, either for Himself or K. James. I would ask but two things to be granted me, which I think will be granted by most Men: The one is, That the King of France tolerably understands his own Interest; The other is, That he will follow it where he finds it. And now I shall proceed to prove, That it is not the Interest of France to attempt to make us a Conquest. The Unweildiness of the Project is one very good Reason against it. Less than One hundred thousand of his best Men cannot make us a Conquest, and keep us so; and he must only take Possession of the Land, and not expect to be Master of the People, by reason of our Religion; and whoever he sends to be his Lieutenant here, will be under great Temptation to revolt from him, and set up for himself, or become the First Subject of these Kingdoms, which we shall be willing to make him, and a greater Subject than France has, rather than not get rid of the Miseries of a Provincial, and be restored to our own Government. Consider how much danger the Absolute Power of France will run by a too free intercourse with the few surviving Britain's, who will acquaint so many of his Soldiers what were the Freedoms of our Land. Consider whether France can bear such an Evacuation as is necessary to Make and People us a Province. We believe that the Expulsion of the Hugonots let out too much of his People, too much of the Vital Blood of France: It did so doubtless, and a Plantation of our Island would endanger all he has upon the Continent. What Neighbour that envies him, would not be glad to see him make such an Experiment, would not neck the lucky Opportunity, and pull back all those Towns and Provinces, which he may now much more easily keep, than he can gain us? Would any Peace, any Leagues they can have with him, be Proof against such a promising Temptation? To attempt the Conquest of these Kingdoms would indeed be grasping at a prodigious Shadow, but he would not fail to lose a great deal of real Substance. The King of France is not such a Knight-Errant, he does not love to venture over much: He, like Julius Caesar, when he had attained the Empire, loves to make good what he gets, and is not like the Macedonian Rambler, greedy of difficult and bloody Travels. Let the Designs of France be as vast as they will, their King is no Madman. Augustus and Tiberius (who were both skilful in Government) are thought by very sensible Men to have neglected Britain out of this wholesome State-Maxim That it was necessary to bond and moderate the Roman Empire. It is certain those two Emperors often thought of bounding the Roman Empire, and of bringing it into a tenable Compass; and it is plain, that mighty Empire was at last overthrown by its own Weight and Largeness. The Jurisdiction of France is of a prodigious growth for this Age, and if the King of France thinks of subduing such a brave and populous Country as we are, so united as we shall be, when we find only the French King's Interest at the bottom of the Plot, and so assisted as we shall be by all the Potentates of Europe for their own sakes, he will miscarry in the Enterprise, and France itself will tumble from its Height. It is a bolder Undertaking, than what is recorded of Alexander the Great; and though the King of France should overrun us, he would, like that Alexander, never be able to settle a Government amongst us, but his very Victories would shake his own. Let it be farther considered, That though the French have been successful in Wars near home, yet they have been unsuccessful in remote Undertake, where either the transporting by Sea, or the uneasiness of the passage by Land have rendered Succours hard and difficult to be sent. What rendered all their Attempts upon the Kingdom of Naples and Duchy of Milan ineffectual, but the difficulties they found in sending Supplies to Naples by Sea and to Milan over the rough Alps? In our King John's time Lewis, the then Dauphine of France, was invited over and sworn to by many of the Barons; But did not the difficulty of getting Supplies to maintain his footing at last utterly defeat all his Hopes? Would not our present Sailors carry their Ships to any part of the World, rather than let them be carried into France? Is there not think you one Great Man left, whose Fidelity to our own right Line, and whose Courage and Vigilance is equal to Hubert de Burgh's? Think you there is no Gallant Man, who would by a Sea-fight hinder the pouring in of fresh French Succours, when we saw they aimed at the Destruction of the Right of our Royal Family, and our own Rights? I am not over fond of the present Age, yet there are many Brave and Loyal Men in it, that would defeat any French Design that were injurious to our own legal Monarchy. But to come to our own Days; What enabled Spain to recover Catalonia in a great measure, and to pluck Messina in Sicily out of the present King of France's hands, when they were losing Ground in the confining Provinces, but the difficulty of sending Supplies to the one over the Pyrenean Mountains, and to the other by Sea? And it is remarkable, That the uncertainties alone of Wind and Wether rendered the suppling of Messina impracticable, even when the French were Masters of the Seas, and had routed the Spanish and Dutch Fleets, and killed the famous de Ruyter; How much more will the same uncertainties of Wind and Wether, joined with our brave Ships, and braver Seamen render us safe, and all such Designs as a French Conquest impracticable? Did not also this present King of France in our own Memories overrun like a violent Torrent the United Provinces, and possess himself of a great part of their Country, and yet was obliged to throw up all his Conquests? And for what Reason? Because there was the interposition of fifty or sixty Miles that was not his own, which might have hindered the sending Supplies, and will not the interposition of more Miles of a tempestuous and uncertain Sea, joined with the Rebuffs which will be given him by our Fleet, lay greater Rubs in his way, and oblige him at last to disgorge, tho' he should by surprise gain Ground upon us? What was it induced the Romans to maintain Fourscore thousand Men in Britain, and to secure their Frontiers in this Island, by the famous Walls of Adrian and Severus, as well as with such numerous Troops, against the Incursions of the Scots and Picts, who were confined within the little Country now called Scotland; when at the same time they were able to protect their Frontiers with less numerous Troops from the Insults of the Parthians and of the Germans (which then included all modern Germany to the North and East of the Danube and Rhine, the Northern Crowns, Poland, and better part of Muscovy) each of which Nations taken separately did possess Countries six times bigger than France at this day? Was it not because of the difficulty of sending Troops into Britain, occasioned by the uncertainty of Wind and Wether, tho' they were Masters of the Seas, and their Enemies had no Fleet to oppose them? What Reason then have the French to dream of the Conquest of our Island, when all its Inhabitants are united in one Monarchy and Government; when all Nations are now equalised as to Arms and Discipline of War, and when our Fleet, modestly speaking, is equal to any of our Neighbours? Would it be reasonable for them, with Forces less considerable than those of the Romans, with fewer Encouragements from the Advantage of Military Discipline and Arms (in which the Romans did far surpass their Enemies) and under many more Discouragements from our Fleet and otherwise, to attempt the Conquest of a People much more Great, Rich and Numerous, than the ancient Scots and Picts, who have the sense of Religion as well as Liberty, of all that is dear and valuable, to rouse and influence their Courages; especially when from all Histories Foreigners may learn this Lesson: That nothing less than an Annihilation can extinguish the sense of Religion, Honour, and Liberty in English Breasts? I think I have already shown, That it is not the Interest of France to attempt to make us a Conquest for themselves: And it is as easy to show, It is as little their Interest to make us Slaves to King James. I am resolved I will advance what will be thought a Paradox, viz. That there is no one Country so much concerned as France, that we should have good Securities for our Liberties under the Restauration; and if I am challenged on this Head, I can make this Paradox plain to every body's Understanding. I shall touch upon it briefly here. France is concerned to keep us from an Absolute Monarchy and Popery too, and that by reason of our Pretences upon that Kingdom. It would be the greatest Sol●ecism in the French Politics to make a King, that has such a Claim, entire Master of a People, who have such natural Courage, and that love Glory rather too immoderately, or to remove such a Shiboleth, as are our different Creeds. It is the Interest of France to promote and head our Discontents, and not to lay the People at the King's Mercy. They thought so formerly, and of late years. Did not Lewis mentioned, in my last Paragraph, before he departed this Realm, take care that Hen 3. should give his Oath, nay made him give it; That he would restore to the Barons of the Realm, and other his Subjects all their Rights and Privileges, for which the Discord began between King John and his People; Baker's Chronicle, P. 114? Did not their great Richelieu at the beginning of our late Civil Wars send Emissaries into Scotland to stir up the Male Contents, and that though we had so lately married a Daughter of France, and so lately had had a Quarrel with the Spaniard? Their Kings must be ready to assist the People, if their Rights are in real Danger; or, when we have lost our Rights, they may lose their Crowns. The Friendships of Neighbouring Princes seldom last long, seldom during their own Lives, and are more seldom transmitted to their Posterities. Many Reasons and Jealousies of State are falling in, which occasion frequent and unavoidable Breaches, and a King of England who is Absolute and Master of his Subjects may be troublesome and dangerous to France, and may revive our Old English Pretences to the most considerable Provinces, nay to the Crown of France its self. So that it will be prudent in the French King to let us alone with our old Quarrels between Prerogative and Privilege, and let our Ease be a check upon the Ambition of our Princes, when a daring and enterprising Spirit may be upon the Throne, one who may be willing to court Difficulties and Dangers, and try for what his Forefathers have possessed. The King of France is so far from designing a Conquest for himself, that he desires no Retribution for what King James his Misfortunes have cost him. And this I say from good Authority. And as for Conquering for King James, he too well knows his own Interest to think it so, to make us Slaves or Papists, or either of them. Of this you may read more in Great Britain's Just Complaint. I know how artful and indefatigable our Adversaries are, and that tho' a Man beats them out of all their strong holds, yet they will at last retire and betake themselves to those Arguments that they in their own minds know have no real weight; and I therefore foresee they will still endeavour to scare Men with the remembrance of all our former pretended Conquests; and for that reason, and that there may remain no umbrage, not even the least to imagine a French Conquest practicable, I will take every one of those Conquests into consideration, and handle them apart, that I may treat of them more distinctly: and I presume the Reflections I shall make upon them will show not only a vast difference between the Condition and Circumstances of those that are said to be our Conquerors, and the present French Power, and between the State of the British Affairs then, and what they are now, but also show a great disparity between the Interests that those Invaders proposed to themselves, and what the King of France can have at this day: So that whether in a genuine and strict sense they were Conquests or no, I hope to make it plain that they will in no wise overthrow the Positions I have been advancing. If any man has a mind to examine whether they were properly Conquests, he must consult our Antiquities, and those Treatises that are expressly written on that Subject, wherein he will find the Point warmly debated on both sides, and perhaps with more Heat than Judgement; I will refer this Enquirer to those Authors, and shall directly to consider our several Invaders. I will begin with Caesar's Invasion, which was the first of which we have any certain knowledge. Julius Caesar, who was then only an Officer of the Roman State, but had laid in his own Breast the Design of seizing upon that Empire, when he had subdued most part of the ancient Gallia, (which comprehends the modern France, Savoy, Switzerland, Germany on this side the Rhine, and the Spanish Netherlands,) and by a Potent Faction at Rome had obtained it of the Senate as his Province for many years, thought it necessary to add to the Glory of his Name some Attempt upon Countries beyond the end of the World, (for so was Britain in those days thought at Rome,) that so his dazzling Achievements might make his long intended purpose more easy: I mean, his Design of raising himself from a Servant to be Master of his Country. As to the Romans themselves, when they came first amongst us, their Power was united, entire, and so much too big for all our Neighbouring Countries, that they had given Law to every one of them before they had attempted Us, and we were divided into several petty Governments, who would not join in a common Defence. Give me leave now to set down, That the King of France is already at the Head of a Government, and needs not risk what he has, to make him Superior to those amongst whom he dwells. We are united under one Monarchy. There are many Princes confederate against France, that are very Powerful; and Neutral Princes enough to turn at any time the Scale: Nor is there, as I said, amongst all the Jacobites that I know, one Man who so little loves his own King and his own Country, as that he would not hazard his Life against the French, if they designed any thing in prejudice of our Rightful Monarch or his Posterity, or our Constitution itself. Can any Man think we have less sense of Liberty than the Irish, who yet had not a different Religion to caution them, as the Protestant Jacobites have here? Indeed some of us are (like them) sometimes wheedled into too early and undue Suspicions of the French, even by the Emissaries of the Prince of Orange; and if any body talks of governing England by French Power, I am sure they must be the Prince of Orange's Pensioners; and tho' the Prince of Orange himself is not good at Much, his Agents have the Art to foment Jealousies. Besides all this, there is a great disparity between the Times in which the Romans came hither, and now, by reason of our Skill in Military Affairs. I suppose few Englishmen will allow the French so much superior to us in the Art of War, as the Romans were to the naked Britain's. Our late Taxes have been very ill bestowed, if our Fleet does not hold the same Disproportion; and yet in those days, tho' the Romans were so long amongst us, and tho' they governed us in great part by our own Laws, and many of their Lieutenants rather taught us the exercise of, than took away our Liberties, nevertheless they never had (if our best Historians may be credited) the whole Land at any one time in Subjection; and tho' such Multitudes of the Britain's were slain, the Tribute the Romans got here cost them, in Massacres and Battles, more Men than France will ever be able to spend upon the Project of Conquering these Kingdoms. Most of what is recorded of the manner of the coming, and being here of the Romans, is handed down to us by their own Writers, with a naked and sedate Narration: but Cloistered Clergymen (who used themselves to write Hyperboles rather than precise Truths) being those from whom we have most of our Accounts of the Saxon Times, we must expect swelling and Legendary Reports; but that wherein I shall consider, to show the disparity between them and the French, and ours and those days, lies in a small Compass, and will be granted on all hands. The Quarrels of the Roman Empire had carried into France, under the Banners of Maximus (one of the Competitors for it) the Flower & Strength of Britain; and with the overthrow of Maximus by Theodosius, they either all perished, or seated themselves in Armorica. There was likewise another great Transplantation of the British Youth under Constantine; and at this time the Saxons were a very Warlike People, and so overcharged with Numbers, that they sent Multitudes abroad to fight for a Habitation. The Frame of their Government agreed very well with the British, and was very near what are at this day the Fundamentals of our Government: They were invited in, to preserve us from being overrun by the Scots and Picts, who were our Fellow-Islanders; and tho' I don't doubt the Saxons carried the Merit of their Successes against our Enemies further than became our Friends, yet I cannot imagine but that there was a more equal Incorporation of the British Stock than we can discover at this distance of time, and from such passionate Writers as are the Relators of what passed then. And, after all, it was want of Ships, and great Divisions amongst the Britain's, occasioned their Overthrow (for our Monarchy was not perfected, and, as Milton says very well, Vortigern was rather Chief, than sole King.) These were the Reasons why the Saxons so far mastered the Britain's; and yet the Saxons often ran a Risque of a final Extirpation. From this Account of the Saxon Invasion, the disparity is very obvious. I hearty lament the Loss of so much English Blood as has been spilt unnecessarily and unlawfully too, in these our deplorable Distractions, into which we have brought ourselves, by inviting over a Foreigner to rescue those Liberties, which he has (as we might well suppose he would) more trampled upon than all the Evil Councillors of King James. We would invite a Foreign Prince to do our own proper Work, instead of endeavouring Parliamentarily to redress our Grievances, or rescuing ourselves our Liberties by an English Insurrection, such a one as those whereby our Ancestors obtained the Confirmations of their Charters, and which often ended (as all Insurrections ought to do) without any real Prejudice to the Successive Monarchy, and which (let it be called now as Whiggish as they will, and those that were formerly were Popish) is more justifiable either to Prudence or Religion, than the Nobility, Gentlemen, and * Tho' the Prince of Orange's Declaration mentions Lords Spiritual, and some have raised a Scandal upon Archbishop Sancroft as if his hand was to the Invitation of him; I am well assured that neither that Right Reverend Prelate, nor his Fellow Sufferers ever engaged in that design of calling over the P. of Orange. Clergy, (who call themselves of the Church of England) their Invitation of a Foreign Prince, which (with all the Charity and Pity in the World for those who were inconsiderately misled, and are not so obstinate as to think with Catiline, That ill Deeds must be made safe with worse) I beg leave to say was Unnatural, and in despite of His Relative, and their Civil Duty. I say, I hearty lament the Loss of so much English Blood as has been unwarrantably thrown away in Ireland, at Sea, and in Flanders; and yet, God be praised, we have still left generous Youth enough to make us the Terror of all Ambitious Princes, if we would once again unite to take away all Disputes of Title by restoring our rightful and lawful King, and betake ourselves to negotiate in the Arbitration of Europe, rather than over hastily engage in Wars abroad, which Wars might be evidently proved destructive to this Nation; and, would it not too much lengthen this Discourse, would be no unuseful digression here, since our own woeful experience, from the time we have been hooked into this present Quarrel of Europe, which is more the Confederates than Ours, has made it so proper a Subject to be well considered of. I hope some Person or other will handle it in a Paper apart. But I must return to show the disparity between the British Affairs now, and when the Saxons came amongst us, and that with a respect to the French Nation; and I again bless God we are not yet drained by this Confederate Quarrel, we have hand over head engaged in, of all those Gallant Man, that should defend our Island. But farther, Have not the French a Land to live in? Is France so overstocked with People? has their Government any Affinity with ours? Have we any Fellow-Islanders, who are of a distinct Government that endeavour to destroy us? And lastly, Is not our Government resolved into a natural Monarchy, though, praised be God, it is a limited one? As for the Danes, though their Original is disputed, it is plain by all the Histories of those Times that they were Rovers and Robbers, that were to seek a Country to live in, and possibly might be another swarm of the Saxons; and it is observable that they were above Two hundred Years before they mastered this Land; and that the Reason they mastered us at last, was our want of Ships; and after they had been attacking us about Two hundred Years, they were entirely Massacred, Man, Woman and Child, all in less than Four and twenty Hours; and when Swain the Danish King (which was Two hundred twenty and four Years from the first entrance of the Danes) had forced King Ethelred into Normandy; Swain dying the next Year, and the Danish Army setting up Cannte or Knute his Son, the Saxon Nobility and States were in such Heart and Power, that they sent Messengers to Ethelred, Declaring they preferred none before their own Native Sovereign, If he would promise to Govern better than he had done; and accordingly upon his Promise to redress their Grievances, they repossessed him of his Throne, and continued it to his Son Edmond Ironsides I wish our English Nobility and Gentry would now send Messengers to lay before the King all the maladministrations of his Ministers, and what are the proper Securities against all such maladministrations for the future; and I am confident the King will receive such a Message very kindly, nay I know from very good Authority he would, and that he is willing to give mankind all reasonable Satisfaction. Here I must observe also, That there still remained amongst us distinct and quarrelling petty Governments, (for the Saxon Heptarchy was not entirely wrought up into a Natural Monarchy,) and yet Edmond Ironside had totally routed Canute, had it not been for that Traitor Edrick, who at the Battle of Alf●rd by some Wiles detained Edmond from pursuing him, which Edrick (as an Example to Traitors) was afterward put to Death by Canute. I have another Remark that I would set down concerning the Danish Matters, which is, That the Citizens and Nobility of London stuck by Edmond Ironside, but the Sherlockian-Providential-Archbishops, Abbots, and some of the Noblemen elected the Conqueror Canute; as some Bishops and too many of our Nobles have done the Prince of Orange. I am sorry that the Citizens of London have not more unanimously stuck to their Natural and Rightful Monarch; but I hope they will yet have an Opportunity to redeem their Reputation, and that they will then unanimously call back their King, that they may blot out the Gild of their too general Defection; and tho' too many have joined with the present Usurpation, yet there are many worthy Citizens that have retained their Ancient Loyalty during all this Revolution; and the Number of those who how see their Error daily increaseth. I have digressed a little by repeating some Things, which are not altogether so pertinent to my main Design; and since I am turned Story-Teller, I will put down the Reason why Canute put Edrick to Death, which was for slaying the Lord's Anointed, Edmond Ironside; and that, though Edmond was Canute's Enemy, and yet Canute himself made away the Brother and Children of Edmond, either of which had a better Right to be the Lord's Anointed in England, than Canute had himself. This was such a piece of Justica, as it is now of Religion for our Conquerors, William and Mary to keep with Solemnity the 30th. of Jan. and 29th. of May. But though he was guilty of this Mockery in point of private Justice, yet in relation to the Constitution of England he commanded the Observation of the Ancient Saxon Laws (which were afterwards called the Laws of Edward the Confessor) and at a Convention of Danes at Oxford, it was agreed on between both Parties to revive and keep those Laws. I think our present Conquerors have not revived many of our good Old, or made many New advantageous Laws for us. It is by Unreasonable Fines, Arbitrary Imprisonments, Pressing men contrary to Law, etc. (against all which Things the P. of O. his own Declaration inveighed, and our Bill of Rights provided) that they maintain their Conquest. These are their Methods, instead of granting the Judge's Bill, the Bill for * I have it from a good hand, That the Prince of Orange, a little before he refused the Triennial Bill, had in some Discourse this Expression, I hear they think I will pass the Triennial Bill; but I promise them, the Crown shall be ne'er the worse for my wearing it. Triennial Parliaments, and the Bill for Mines; these are their Methods, instead of courting the Love of those they call their Subjects. I will add no more about the Danish Invasion, but that their Empire here lasted not many years, and that their Kings who ruled us made this the Seat of their Dominions. Let us now compare things with respect to the Danish Invasion, and the present posture of Affairs. I must again say, the French are not a roving People, that live by Pillage, and that are destitute of a Dwelling; nor would they be willing to engage in a War of such Continuance; nor would their Monarch change the situation of his Palace; nor can he spare from guarding his Frontiers such an A●my as would be necessary to keep us in quiet, tho' we were subdued by a sudden Fight; nor are we unprovided with Ships, tho' I must confess I fear the Prince of Orange has not taken so much care of our Fleet, as Mr. Pepies Memoires lately put forth has proved King JAMES did; which shows King JAMES understood and prosecuted the True English Interest, and is a sufficient Confutation of that scandalous Aspersion their celebrated Dr. King casts upon His Majesty. His expressions bespeak the King's Inclinations to let the Fleet of England sink, and the Ships rot: But Mr. Pepys has proved the contrary with a witness, and appeals to the Books and Men that are now in the Admiralty and Navy Offices. By this you may guests at the Sincerity of Dr. King in other particulars. King JAMES, without Taxes repaired and added to our Navy, and augmented its Stores: but the Vote which declares the Sense of the House of Commons to be, That the Commission of the Admiralty should not be filled with Men experienced in Sea-Affairs, (tho' it look like a Jest) was well enough calculated for the Humour of this Prince, who is willing to put the Nation under an absolute Necessity of maintaining a vast standing Army; though a Pamphlet written and dispersed at the beginning of the last Sessions, by the wiser Williamites themselves, called, The Interest or State of Parties, had so evidently made it out, That the Natural and only Defence of England depended upon its Wooden Walls; and spoke broadly of the Insufficiency of the present Lords of the Admiralty. I suppose too, that they who occasioned our not making use last Summer of our Victory at Sea (which even those who would fright us with the French Power, say was gained by a part only of our Fleet inferior in Number and Quality to the French, who attacked them) and since have got Russel discharged from being Admiral, instead of being rewarded with an Earldom and Garter for that Victory; which did indeed destroy many of the French Ships, tho' it was not the greatest Victory that ever the Sun saw, (as Dr. Tillotson phrased it) and yet it is the only time that we have not (by reason of our preposterous Management) come off with loss and shame: I say, These Men know how much better King William is pleased with Land-Forces than tarpaulins; but how little Care soever has been taken of our Ships, whatever Dangers the Prince of Orange would expose us to hereafter, that he may rule us more arbitrarily during his own Time, yet the Nation will find out his Designs, feel their own Strength, know whereon their own Safety depends, time enough to hinder his, or a French Conquest, tho' they will at the same time perceive it necessary to call home that Prince whose Claim is indisputed, and whose coming home upon such Concessions as we want, and He is ready to grant, will swallow up all F●ctions. They will e'er long perceive it necessary to call him home ●pon such Securities, even to secure their own Interests. All Remains of 〈◊〉 p●●t● Governments are at an 〈◊〉, and since Printing has been in the World, the French and all Nations so well know how vindicative of their Liberties the English have always been, that they will have but little mind to make us a Province. I have already intimated how unsafe it would be for the Absolute Power of France at home, to let their Soldiers hear from the surviving Britain's what were our Freedoms; and it would be yet much more unsafe for the French Lieutenants to agree to the Observation of our Laws. But I will hasten to the Norman Conquest. Before any body takes it for granted that William the First was a Conqueror, I wish they would read the First Part of the Historical Discourse of the Uniformity of the Government of England, written by Mr. Nathanael Bacon, and the latter-end of the third Part of Mr. Will. Prynne's Historical Vindication of the Fundamental Liberties of English Freemen, together with all those Authors these two Writers refer to. But I resolved at first to wave examining whether we have ever in a proper and strict sense been conquered or no; and therefore must fall directly upon comparing those and our Times, and the Pretences of the Duke of Normandy, and what the French can have upon us. I can find but one thing that has any show of likeness with our present Circumstances; and that is, Harold was an Usurper, and had broke the Protestation he had formerly made to Duke William, as much as the P. of Orange has his Declaration to the People of England; and truly if any thing can facilitate a French Conquest, and if the Times did not exceedingly differ in other respects, the Breaches we have made upon the Lineal Succession, and the Impotencies, Irregularities, and Exactions of the present Government might make way for it: But those things that made a Conquest feasible then, and are not in our present Case, are very many. The Normans came from Norway and Denmark, which Places were surchaged with People; and there was no Project so improbable, in which their Leaders could not easily engage them. The Religion of the Normans, and the Inhabitants of Britain, was the same. The Conqueror had many Pretences of Title: Edward the Confessor's Will, the Donation of the Pope, who also gave him a Consecrated Banner, an Agnus of Gold, and one of the Hairs of St. Peter. Besides his Titles, here were several Normans within this Land, who helped him; he had been here himself to view our Land, and make a Party, as his own Speech intimates; the than King of France helped him in his Acquest: So did the Emperor Henry the Fourth; he likewise came and lived among us, and stipulated at his own Coronation to defend the Holy Church of God, and the Rectors of the same; to govern the universal People subject to him justly; to establish equal Laws, and see them duly executed. Nor did be (as the Judicious Samuel Daniel well observes) ever claim any Power by Conquest, but as a regular Prince submitted himself to the Orders of the Kingdom, desirous rather to have his Testamentary Title (however weak) to make good his Succession, than his Sword; and tho' the Style of Conqueror by the flattery of the Times was after given him, he shown by all the Course of his Government he assumed it not, introducing none of those Alterations (which followed) by Violence, but by a mild gathering upon the disposition of the State, and the Occasions offered, and that by way of Reformation. These are the words of Daniel, page 36. Now I come to compare, I must once more repeat, That France has no occasion to send forth Droves of People; and the Religion of France will make the People of England resist a French Conquest to all Extremity: And if King James would sell his Kingdoms (as some ridiculously have suggested) the People of England would hardly be brought to make good the Bargain; and the Pope's Gift would as little influence our Minds, tho' he should send with the Arms of France all the Relics of Rome. We have, indeed, many French amongst us; but I think no one Man fears they will assist their own King in such an Adventure; They are so far from that, that they have not been (which I am sorry to say) GRATEFUL to King James, who gave them Protection and Relief, when they came hither in Distress. And I have already proved, That it is not the Interest of any Prince abroad to join our Three Kingdoms to the French Territories; And I believe, if the King of France should promise to protect the Protestant Church of God, and the Rectors of the same; to govern the universal People subject to him justly, to establish equal Laws, and to see them duly executed; we should not take his Word; nor would his own Subjects be well pleased. It is King William only, that is allowed to have a Religion for his several Dominions; that may be a Synod-of-Dort-Presbyterian in Holland, an Episcopalian in England, of the Kirk in Scotland, and a downright Favourer of Popery in Ireland, as is apparent by the Limerick Treaty, and the Pamphlet put out by the Irish Gentlemen, concerning the Proceed of their late Parliament, and the Depositi●●● that are before the House of Lords. I have told over our former Conquests somewhat tediously, and will add very little about them; however, I desire the Reader will reflect, That the Neighbouring Princes, because they did not animadvert how much Greatness consisted in Naval Preparations and Trade, and because we had not begun to make a Figure in either, never thought themselves so much concerned, as all the Potentates of Europe will now, what becomes of us None of our Neighbours ever helped Us formerly, some of 'em did our Invaders. Let the Reader farther reflect, that it was not necessary for any of our former Invaders to make such a total Subversion of all our Laws, as it will now be for the French King, and consequently Composition and Treaties more easily succeeded Battles. The former Alterations rather meliorated, than overthrew our Constitution. They bundled up and refined our By-Laws into National Statutes, and introduced Forms where the Methods of Justice seemed less articulate. And lastly, Let it be considered, though there are great Divisions amongst us; some few for keeping the Prince of Orange; others for restoring the King, and several for something that they have not yet licked into Form; yet all Persons that make the respective Parties of these Divisions, will all of 'em join together to obstruct a French Conquest. There will be such Divisions whenever Men will commit Violence upon the natural and ancient Constitution, and I must confess these Divisions are the most fatal Symtom that attends our distempered State, and may, and will certainly subject us (though not to a French Conquest) to great Calamities and Devastations, unless we restore the King. I suppose I have sufficiently proved a French Conquest to be neither Desirable nor Practicable, yet God knows what infinite Mischiefs we may have brought upon ourselves by reviving a sort of Quarrel which, by the Mercy of God, has been so long extinguished. A Dispute for Title, which has in the days of our Forefathers had so fatal an Effect, which has so dismally wounded our State, and is left bleeding in the Histories of so many Reigns. Because you shall not think I aggravate the Calamities, that were occasioned by the Contention of the Two Roses, I will only transribe some Passages out of Trussel, who is a chaste and cautelous Writer, and it cannot be supposed his History was written to serve a Jacobite-Turn. Page 257. he says, There were in the Quarrel of the Two Roses, Fourscore Princes of the Blood destroyed, and twice as many Natives slain, as were lost in the Two Conquests of France. Pag. 260. he says, In the Battle of Townton there were killed Thirty five thousand ninety and one Englishmen, and of Strangers One thousand seven hundred forty five, beside Two hundred and thirty slain the Day before at Ferry-bridge. In his last Page his Words are these: The total of private Soldiers that perished in these Civil Wars, and suffered Punishment of immature Death for taking part of the one side or the other, was Fourscore thousand nine hundred ninety and eight Persons, besides Kings 2. Prince 1. Duke's 10. Marquesses 2. Earls 21. Viscounts 2. Lords 27. Lord Prior 1. Judge 1. Knights 139. Esquires 441. The Number of the Gentry is uncertainly reported, and therefore Trussel omits them, but says; That for the most part they are included in the Number of private Soldiers set down to be slain, to which he says you must add the Number of Six hundred and thirty and eight, (the total of all the Persons not therein accounted,) and then there appeareth in all to be slain Fourscore five thousand six hundred twenty eight Christians, and most of this Nation, not to be repeated (says the Historian) without grief, nor remembered without Deprecation, that the like may never happen more. He concludes his History with this Saying— Pan una Triumphis innumeris potior. The whole History of that Quarrel sets before us such apposite Lessons for our Times, that I wish all who love England would seriously read and ponder it. It is time to draw to a Conclusion, I am not willing to prophesy the Destruction of my Country, and I beseech God Almighty to incline our Hearts to the Things that belong unto our Peace; to our Peace in this World, and to our everlasting Peace in the World to come. I beseech God to incline the Prince of Orange not to forfeit an eternal weight of Glory for a momentary Crown, which has nothing of good in it, if it is not got by the Acts of Goodness. God grant that he may consider it as a more valuable Character to be a Virtuous and a Christian Prince, than a Romantic Hero; and God grant that he may be so Wise, that his Days may not end in Tragedy, I wish he would review his own Declaration and the Memorial of the States, and that he would pursue those excellent Ends, for which he came, for which the States said they lent their Ships, and which King James would have complied with, and is ready to comply with still. The King is willing to secure the Liberties of England and the Protestant Religion, and had not the Confederates made their Quarrel ●●●ult by giving way to an unnatural Ambition in the Prince of Orange, and dispossessing King James (whilst they pretended they form this Confederacy to repair the Injuries done to them by the French.)— K. JAMES, the injured King JAMES, would have checked the Growth of France, and kept Namur and Mons. He was far from a French League, and would have performed the part of a true Guarrantee; for either the King would have prevented France coming before them, by reminding their King of the Treaty of N●miguen, or our Arms would have had, doubtless, success when we had Justice on our side, and the Wishes and Prayers of all Englishmen joined with the undertaking of our rightful indisputed King. How far he was from a French League, how unwilling to think ill of the Pr. of Orange, and how unwilling to be too much beholding to France, his disbelief of all the Advices of d'Avaux, and of many of his Friends, his Answer to Bonrepos, and his refusal to the last of any French Assistance sufficiently witness; and as much as he has been beholding to France during his Troubles, I am satisfied that even in his exiled State he thinks himself (as King of England) so naturally the Arbiter of Europe, that he will mediate, as soon as his Affairs a little more recover his Figure a reasonable Peace for it. But the KING needs not much solicit it, for I am satisfied the King of France is willing to come into such a Peace, upon Condition that the King's Restauration may be one of the Terms of it, and that he will not be brought to make Peace upon any other Terms; so that 〈◊〉 Restauration of King JAMES would give a happy Issue to the Troubles of Europe, and our own, which our Experience (after all the Blood and Treasure spilt and spent to humble France) may show us will be the only Expedient to save us from the Power we have so much envied; and this we may learn from King William's own Speeches to these two last Sessions of Parliament; for he does not only make the obtaining an Honourable Peace from France to the Confederates (instead of our Conquest of France) the Bounds of his Hopes in this War, but allows the Growth of France during this War so much, as to increase his Style from the Great Power of France, (which were the words of his Speech Michaelmas was Twelvemonths) to the Excessive Power of France, in his Speech of the last Sessions. This very Consideration should move us. But farther. Into what Shambles are all the Parts of Flanders the Rhine, Catalonia, and Piedmont turned? What Slaughter-Houses may be erected in the unhappy Isle of Britain? Unhappy, because she will blind herself against her own true Interest and only Cure. Our Taxes grow heavy, but we have paid our Blood, but we must pour it out yet more plentifully, before this Reckoning is over; if we will not return to our Wits and our Duty, Civil Distractions will overtake us; Foreigners both on the one and the other side will be poured in upon us, and we shall become the Cockpit of the World; and though all the Jacobites abhor a French Conquest, and so does the King too, yet if the Nation will not come to such a Temper as to restore him without their Help, the KING's Friends cannot be blamed for being willing to admit of such a moderate Number of French, or any other Forces, as may be necessary to cover Them, when they come to him, till they get together, and as may give them Opportunity to rise. We had rather the Nation looked so directly towards Him, as that there should be no occasion for One Man in Arms to come with Him. We had rather, He had much rather, nay the King of France declares, HE had rather his Restauration should be wholly owing to his own Subjects. We will never agree that he should bring such a Force as may give any the least just Jealousy, that either He or France design to Conquer; and he is perfectly resolved to come in that manner that shall be agreed to by such Friends of his, as the World must allow to be Men of Honour, regardful of the British Rights, and of the Protestant Religion. With such Men he will adjust the Manner and Time of his coming. They will see, that his coming shall be safe to all those dear Concerns for which we have so often struggled; and the Measures and Condescensions such, as that they may answer to God and Men their engaging in his Quarrel. Can any Man of Sense believe that the Earl of Middleton; who could never during his whole Ministry be drawn into any one irregular step, would go over upon any other Errand? That Great Man is known to understand his Duty to his Country as well as his Prince, and thinks he ought at the same time to be the Minister of both, and his Affection and Firmness to Protestancy was never once suspected: He will neither betray our Laws, nor his own Religion's; nor will he, to do the King but Justice, be tempted to either; for all that we have misliked in the King's Measures abroad, has proceeded from Misr●presentations from hence; and my Lord Middleton is so fraughted with the genuine Interest as well as Sense of these Nations that the most inveterate of our Enemies will have hereafter no Opportunities to clamour and exasperate. This is a Truth which in a short time will want no Vouchers. The future Acts of State that come from that Court will prove he has discoursed many of the Leading Men, and compromised the Grievances of all Parties. And whereas some of the Prince of Orange's Ministers have declared what great Expectations they have from the Quarrels at St. Germains, I can assure them they will be deceived in their Hopes; for there is so good an Understanding between my Lord Middleton and those who had before entire Credit with the King, that they don't only personally agree, but concur in Sentiments relating to the British Affairs; which is a ●ull Evidence that what we misliked there cannot be charged upon the Disposition of the King, nor upon the depraved Tempers of those about him (as even some of his Friends were apt to suspect) but proceeded merely from their want of a True State of these Nations, and the knowledge of what would satisfy us, till the Eart of Middleton went thither Every day will make this Truth plainer than other. I cannot but wish, that all Men would so avowedly own their Mistake, would so willingly sit down under our Ancient, Legal, Limited, and Hereditary Monarchy, would so openly tell their D●ssatisfactions, and what they think Proportionate Securities, so fairly state the Differences between the Crown and People, so unanimously express their Willingness to Re-establish the Old and Natural Frame of our Government, that it might be advisable that we might advise him wholly to depend upon his British Subjects. I like neither French, nor Dutch, nor Irish upon our Island, though I cannot be afraid of any such Numbers of either, or all, as will be much out-numbred by those of our Fellow-Subjects and Fellow Islanders, who resolve to repair to the King as soon as he is landed. Oh▪ 〈◊〉 that we would recant our Mistakes! that we would repent of our Folly! that we would yet let our Moderation, our Civil and Christian Moderation, be known unto all Men! Oh! that a nice Security for the Church of England, as the National Church (and best Church too, as I think) as nice a Security for our (English Libe●ties, and Liberty of Conscience, were our only Aims! that Party and Picque Faction and Friendsh●p● Fears and Fancies, did not predominate neither on the, One nor the Other Party! 〈◊〉 at the Ends, and not the Forms of Things were what we 〈◊〉 ●ord that our Afflictions would make us Wise! then the King would as little need as he wishes to bring any Foreign Force. See you any end of your Troubles? Is your Deliverer a fit Instrument for so great a Work? Do his Measures hold any resemblance with his and your Pretences? Are his ministers, G●●r— n. and Not— m, Tr—r, Roch— r, and Say— r, Ren— augh, G G —y, Blanvel— t, and Convert-reconverted Sund— d, (behind the Curtain;) together with his Creature Br— n, (that indefatigable Secretary to all Turns, and to the High Commission Court, that Assistant to the sour Popish Bishops, ready Evidence, and industrious Informer;) and Con— by, of whose Merits in Ireland the Parliament here took so much notice, that he is since taken into the Privy Council of England, for his undoubted Integrity, and unheard-of Abilities; with the long Roll of such sort of Men, (though his sinking Game has forced him to call some lately into his Councils, who have not yet lost their Reputation with the People) fit Guardians for that Liberty and Property which you so justly value? Think seriously, Ought the People of England to trust these Men, or have they reason to trust one another, even in the business of that Master they pretend to serve? Awaken out of your Dreams; Get rid of your Phantasins; Consider as Men; Act as Lovers of your Country; Rescue your Rights; Restore you KING, who will confirm those Rights with solid Securities; Do your own Work, that After Ages may pity your Mistakes, and give Allowance for your Resentment; and that You and your children's Children may be happy. I beseech the God of Order, That He will produce it out of our Confusions; That the King may have what is due to Him, and that we may have what is as much due to us; and that the King and People may both praise the Almighty for his Mercies to this Land, this miserable and sinful Land. Let the Sense of our Miseries, our Faults, and our Duty, stir us up. Let the sad Example of former Times exhort us. Let us, I say, CALL HOME THE KING, with an exact Security to the Church of England, as the National Church, and with such solid Securities for our Liberties, as may make all other Religions harmless Opinions, tho' we allow them a fair and impartial Liberty; And yet let us not so hamper the Crown, that it will not be able to protect us from our Enemies and one another; Let us not say, That the hands of the Nation are bound, and that it cannot call home the King; For if all those who plainly see that we shall be undone under this Usurpation; and likewise that it is impossible this Government should stand (though it shills about now it is in an ill taking) would upon these Terms join with those who are for the Restauration of King James, as well in the English Army, as all over the Nation, from the sad prospect they have of the Ruin of that Liberty (the mistaken Jealousy and Care of which, was the only Motive that hurried them into what they did) all the Force the Prince of Orange has would soon dissolve, and he must be glad to return again, and spend all his time at the Loo (which our English Money is making so fine a Retreat) and at the Hague; which is the very worst, I call God to witness, that I ever wished him. I am conscious I have not, in all the parts of this Discourse, written with that brevity, which I designed at the beginning of it, and may possibly be guilty of some Redundancies, Tautologies, and Repetitions, as well in other places, as I have in my Remarks upon our former Invasions inserted some passages, which crossed my way, though they were rather applicable to our present times, than suitable to the Thread of my Discourse. When a Man writes Things of this Nature, he is willing to be rid of them as fast as they are finished, though they may not be so correct; and notwithstanding the Critics (for whose: either praise or diversion I never scribble) may find many Faults with them, I have set down Things, as I am persuaded in my own Mind, and as I have heard them discoursed by the considerable and influencing Jacobites of the several Denominations; though I must Answer for my unskilful and careless clothing and ranging their Thoughts; I hope I have generally kept in sight of my Text; and I suppose also have upon the whole made good what I undertook to prove, viz. That a French Conquest is neither desirable nor practicable. If it is unsuitable to the Interests and Inclinations of the several sorts of Jacobites, and contrary to the King's Inclinations, and the Interests of all our Neighbours; and the very Attempt of it, either for himself, or King James, contrary to the King of France's Interest; if the Condition and Circumstances of the French Power to make a Conquest and Interest in such an Experiment, and that of our former Invaders and the State of the British Affairs now and what they were then, so very much differ; I think we may infer, That a French Conquest is neither desirable nor practicable; and that it is as weak to suppose France can or will conquer us, as it is to believe we shall sack Paris, and conquer France, with the Prince of Orange at the Head of the British Forces, who we see with Them, and all the Confederate-strength, has so indifferently passed his Campaigns in Flanders. FINIS.