A LETTER to a Friend concerning the Present State of Affairs.  
THAT impatient inquisitiveness so natural to our Country-men, rises in most People with the Sap in the Spring, and in such an Age as ours, when Fleets and Armies must move at that Time, when Descents and Invasions are become familiar, and as duly to be expected as May, I must confess that Season seems naturally to rouse our thoughts and expectations, yet out of the common road I find you always possessed with an Octobtr Curiosity; I do not say I wonder at it, for to make use of a Country Comparison; it is not the richest Manure in Summer nor the April-showers, will bring the Fruit to perfection; previous to this must be the Autumnal Care, the well pruning the three, the cutting away the false, and useless branches, oppressed with which, the good ones cannot bear: Your Curiosity therefore I think well timed, I wish you had made no mistake in the Person that was to satisfy it. This is not only the proper season of enquiry after what has, and may be done, but I fear the last and only Opportunity given us to act in for our preservation, I wish it were as evident, as true, that now or never effectual means must be taken for the support of this Government, if these Kingdoms are to be rescued from Misery and Confusion.  
What is it can be called a public Calamity that we are not just falling into if not already in? Are we not engaged in a War with a potent foreign Enemy? Have we not a disputed Title at home, and no Agreement even in the Protestant part of the Royal Family amongst us? Are there not Taxes that rak up all the Wealth of the Nation? And is there not a management that squanders it as fast abroad? Is not our blood as well as money spent for others? And are not both managed with the like discretion? How tedious might a man be in the recital of our ill Circumstances? Have we not most dangerous Factions within ourselves? I mean not some for, others against, this Establishment, but I speak of the Division, not to say Treacheries amongst those that pretend they would support it, can there be Circumstances requiring a nicer judgement and Penetration, and what Eyes have we to see by, what Heads to determine with but those of Strangers, and almost we may say, what Hands to act by but the same? 'tis true we endeavour to save Holland by English, but I fear the project is to preserve England by Dutch; but above all the rest when the Disease is almost desperate we distrust the physician, the Nation is environed with Enemies and Dangers, and we are jealous( not without Reason) of our Ministers, and those that govern, the present King. All People begin to Consider him as a foreigner, and more so by inclination than by Birth, and the herd of Fools begin to look upon the Late King as a misled Man, yet an English-Man; but in a word to conclude with the worst of symptoms, they begin too, to compare the Deliverer with him from whom we are delivered, and to my grief, a few Words will too far justify these Fears and Mistrusts; was not the foundation of this Government reformation, is there any thing rectified? Was not the foundation of this Government mismanagement in others, yet is their any body punished? Was not the Motive to this Government Change, yet every thing is almost as it was? A great Revolution as it is called and nothing altered, the same Maxims of Government are asserted, and the same sort of People looked after to put them in execution; nay, to be more sure, many of the individual Persons are again employed: If there be any Alteration it is only in this, all the fine and hidden strokes in King Charles's Reign towards Arbitrary Power, are now( by the help of some foreign Talents) exposed to view in a broad Dutch Shape and Character.  
Tho' I know you expect plain dealing from me, yet these Truths may perhaps surprise you; prudent Men have hitherto been desirous to hid these things from the World, as it was and must still be the business of every thinking and honest man to preserve this Government, so the concealing what might lose us the Inclination, and Hearts of the People, was the duty of all well-wishers to it; but our Circumstances allow not of those managements now, too much of our own blood, of our wealth, has been spent in continued follies which cannot be longer kept secret. Our condition must now be truly stated, and fully known, that proper and speedy remedies may be applied.  
The Task you have imposed I fear is too big for me, every Year will make it more difficult to give true Idaea's of the present Circumstances of Affairs, or to offer to make Scheams, or lay down Methods for our future security, it is too evident our Dangers increase, and that our Enemies multiply; I wish we could believe the number of our Friends did not diminish, or that all those that appear such were true.  
In order to obey you, I have resolved in the first place to examine impartially what has been writ of All hands in those Pamphlets seem most to deserve Consideration, my design is to side with Truth wherever I find it, and to expose all false Reasonings as far as I am able; and this way I hope I shall in some measure answer your expectation, and not be wholly unserviceable to those who desire to be prepared, honestly to stand by the true Interest of their Country in this Critical Moment either for its Settlement or ruin.  
The first Paper I shall consider has for Title, The Pretenc●s of the French Invasion Examined; it has at least the Approbation of a Secretary of State, being licenced by public Authority, and sent into the World with an Air almost of Infallibility. A Man presumes well of himself, that puts this in the Front of his Work,[ For the Information of the people of England.]  
I wish they were well informed, it is d●ngerous for them to be much longer in the dark, but whoever undertakes that great Task,( to inform the People) ought to be very candid in Matters of Fact, he is bound in Writing to those strict Rules of an Oath, the Truth, the whole Truth, and noth●●g but the Truth; all things asserted by him, must be as pl●in, as true, no positions laid down but what are undeniable, and the Consequences of them natural and easy, nothing must be made use of, either to palliate Matters of Fact, or to disguise them, neither should any the least Circumstance be concealed, rhetoric and Sophistical Argumentation are undeniable Proofs against any man that makes use of them that he designs not to inform, but abuse the People.  
If these Maxims I have laid down are true, I doubt not to make it appear, that this Author( whoever he be) is not less out of the way( tho' with the Authority of this Secretary) than an other, who not long ago had the Sanction of the other Office, for maintaining K. William's Title to the Crown, by Conquest.  
It were to be wished that those would not writ for a Cause, who betray in what they give the public, that in judgement and Opinion they are against it, nothing sure but a good Place could so guide the hand against the heart, which some men( with very nice Consciences) can hold in that Government whose very foundation they opposed at first and have always since been undermining.  
One would take the Author of this Pamphlet to be in such Circumstances, he declares for this Government, but whoever examines what he writes, will find he would give it a false bottom, that cannot support it, I think I shall be able to show that all his Arguments for it, are more conclusive the other way, whatever his Intentions are, I confess his Maxims and Arguments would inform me, that I were obliged in Conscience to help the Late King to his Crown again, or to let him take it at pleasure.  
To explain the Title of a Prince, to whom the People in the most solemn manner gave a Crown, and from whom he received it with this Expression, I thankfully accept, he makes such a Hodgpodge of Succession, Election and Conquest, that no man knows what he means, whether he be free-born, or a slave, if we were desirous to have a State breed, resembling that of St. Athanasius of all mankind, we should make choice of this Informer; all that I can conceive of his aim is this, that either he would make the plainest and most natural Title in the world doubtful, and unintelligible, or that out of his three incomprehensibles he would ma●e one Almighty.  
Give me leave to repeat to you what our great Champion undertakes for us; he engages to answer the pretended Motives of those that would endeavour the Restoration of the Late King, p. 2. l. 8. Now these he divides into Four Heads, 1. Repairing the Injury done to the Late King. 2. Delivering us from the Oppression we suffer under the Present King. 3. The settling the Government upon its own Basis. 4. Securing the Protestant Religion f●r all future Ages.  
I fear I make use of too gay a Simile for so solemn a Subject, but I think it would extremely suprise if a passionate Lover should endeavour to make his Court to his mistress, by going about to prove that she was not deformed or monstrous, that she was undeservedly censured in her Reputation, and that her Constitution was not ruined by scandalous Diseases; though all this were well made out, I believe the Phillis would not think her self much obliged to him for his pains.  
I cannot but conceive this pretended Lover of the State has done something like this, he begins by a supposition of all that could be Objected against the worst of Governments, and then pretends to show that such things are falsely laid to our Charge, what more injurious supposition can be hinted, than one Mans right is founded upon an Injury done to an other? What can be more reflecting than that a Prince should oppress a Nation, especially in our Case, when he pretends to the Merits of a Deliverer? What more dangerous insinuations than the subversion of a Government from its old Basis, and the National Religion endangered?  
I must confess I little expected to see such weighty Charges against the Government, licenced by a Secretary of State; to say no more, especially when the Defence for it I think is so weak, that( to make use of the Authors own Expression at the bottom of the seventh page.) We ought to complain of such Conjurers, who raise the Sto●ms they cannot appease, and a Devil they cannot lay.  
First then, these are the Words he puts into the mouth of those that argue for the Establishment of the Late King, that The Late King was unjustly deprived of his Birth-right by his Subjects, who by Nature, and Oaths, were bound to defend him in the possession of it, and now that he comes to demand his own, all that ever were his Subjects, must either assist, or at least not oppose him, p. 2. l. 18.  
Now pray Sir, consider how he absolves Mankind from these ties, which he supposes Nature and Religion has imposed upon them.  
He begins this great Work thus, ( Let it be considered that all the Late King's Sufferings were owing to, and caused by the Councils of his Popish Priests, and the Bigots of that persuasion, Pr●testants were n●t the aggressors, he might have kept his possession to this day undisturbed, if he had not made such open and bold Attempts upon our Laws, Religion and Properties, so that he was the first and only cause of his own Sufferings; and why should Millions be involved in blood and ruin who are perfectly innocent of doing this injury, p. 2. l. 24.  
These few Lines, give us a taste of what we have to expect from his sincecerity, the Contradictions follow so close, and the false Reasonings are so evident, that one can suppose no reasonable aim in them, but giving up the Argument in the ten first Lines of his Plea, he ought to satisfy us that no wrong was done the Late King, and he concludes the first paragraph with this( that those that were innocent of doing him the Injury, should not in Justice be punished for it.)  
I cannot, I must confess, but imagine the Author is one that relies upon making use of this Argument, when it will be more proper than it is in this place, and so it runs much in his head.  
I must farther observe to you, it's something extraordinary that he who writes ( for the Information of the People of England) should let us know that all the Late King's Sufferings were owing to, and caused by his Popish Priests; and the Bigots of that persuasion, and then avers within three Lines, That he was the first and only Cause of his own Sufferings, with this notable Argument in conclusion, And why should Millions be involved in blood and ruin, who are perfectly innocent of doing this injury? To this last part I only appeal to the Authors own Conscience, how many Sermons he has approvingly assisted at, where the People have been  told from the Pulpit, that the Fire, Dutch War, and Plague, were just Punishments; nay that all the Plagues of Egypt were due to them and their Posterity, for the Injuries done to K. Charles the First.  
I suppose he might have a meaning, when he declares the Late King was misled and influenced by Popish Councils; it in some sort excuses him, and intimates a Remedy that might easily have been attained in a way natural to our Constitution, the removal of such its Advisers and Counsellors, which had it been practised in time, would have prevented those unfortunate Disputes, and might yet prevent others, if now thought of: But it is plain( though by chance in the next Line he declares him the first and sole Actor in his own Tragedy, that in the whole Course of his Treatise, he makes Kings unaccountable) and the people without any expedient sacrificed to perpetual Oppression, unless the Prince ceases of himself to oppress or govern; if so, in whatsoever, was a Force upon the Late King, by this principle he must confess an injury done to him, and who owns an injury done, cannot deny but that a reparation is required by divine and human Laws.  
Now Sir we shall soon come to the point, there is a pretty word in fashion, ( Abdication) a word of wonderful efficacy, it settles a world of tender Consciences. The Late King has Abdicated, and those Men, p. 3. l. 22. ( obliged before( as he says himself) by all sacred and civil ties to venture their Lives for his support) become in a moment the last of Villains, if they assist him in the least, if they lift up their hands they must sight against him: This indeed is the Corner-stone of the whole fabric, the only expedient our Author and his Party have to make their Passive Obedience, and Loyalty consistent with a place under King William; no wonder this is laboured for so often in the same page., p. 3. l. 14. We did not make the Throne vacant, p. 3. l. 20. He left us in Anarchy, and we provided for ourselves in the best manner such a Conjuncture would allow, p. 3. l. 31. Somebody must govern, when he would not, p. 5. l. 2. We did not force him to go away in Disguise. I must confess this were Abdication well proved. But when we come to put this Term in plain English,( deserting the Throne, and quitting the Government) and to consider of it we shall find the matter of fact was not so, nay our Author himself( as I shall show you when I come to repeat his words) is pleased to tell us directly, p. 3. l. 10. the Late King did not desert his Throne, and to lay it down for a fundamental, that it was not in his power to renounce the Government, p. 4. l. 2.  
I must take the liberty to say there is nothing so Priest like, and unbecoming Men of Honour, Integrity and Reason, as upon this occasion to dodge about and cover equivocating Loyalty with this Notion of Abdication, even Sherlock's well-bred Doctrine, I prefer to this of complying with what God is pleased to bless and prosper, long may that Argument continue for us, but of all men I should think we were the most unfortunate if our Establishment were built upon either of these Foundations, if so I fear the Late King if ever he return, will soon convince us he did not Abdicate, and if he take a seasonable opportunity, how many will see the guiding hand of Providence in it. Upon the first Article we lose our Author and his Legions, upon the second the Doctor and the Tribe of Levi, and who not; for who would resist the Will of the Almighty declared in favour of a Prince who had the better of the Lay. The Groom-Porter follows the Church, and then all's lost.  
But we must give the Author thanks he has quoted such opinions for our just Title to the Crown that all good men must respect pag. 3. lin. 4. We did not( says he) make the Throne vacant, but the late Arch-bishop and other Peers at Guild-Hall, believed he had left it voided or else they would not without his consent have seized on the Administration of the Government; the late Arch-bishop thought he had left it voided, and this Arch-bishop thinks it well fitted, how can a Son of the Church have any scruples?  
But it so falls out the late Arch-bishop is now of another mind, and this Arch-bishop may change his mind as our Episcopal Secretary has changed his mind, notwithstanding, what Sir John Denham said of a Saint, I may apply upon this occasion ( yet the Church stands uninfected) I wish I could find the Government were like to stand unshaken too, as that seems in danger, I shall endeavour to show that our Undertaker and his Disciples are building contrary to Scripture and sense, upon sandy Foundations, and to prove it true from his own Maxims and his Self-contradictions. I take this Author to be a Master-workman, tho' I believe he came in at the last hour for he writes with authority, is supported by authority, and the public authority that is given to him makes me apt to confounded the Secretary with the Author, but this I am sure of, had I voted against the Vacancy of the Throne, had I voted against the Abdication, or if I now pretended to be a Friend to King William and his Establishment, I would have refused my Name to the countenance of this Paper, as to the most idle piece of Sophistry that ever ventured to show itself in public.  
To convince you of what I have said, that his Arguments are directly opposite to his Profession and the present Establishment, I must desire you to observe these passages( p. 3. l. 22.) I will not inquire now whether these Subjects who are so zealous for his return were not bound to do more than they did to keep him in the Throne while he had it; and afterwards( he went away while a Treaty was on foot, and nothing but a Treaty can restore him fairly, which he never yet offered, p. 4. last Lines, We did not force him to go away in Disguise, and if he will force himself upon us again by French Dragoons and Irish Cut-throats, we may and must oppose him.  
Here our Author you see takes occasion to accuse the Late Kings Friends and Subjects, for not defending him in the Throne while he was in possession of it, had it been my design to dissuade mankind from endeavouring to restore the Late King to the Throne. I should have thought a great while, before I had found out this strong Argument against it, that Englishmen had neglected their duty in not venturing their Lives for his preservation in it, but this Critical Informer has so nice a distinction, that he can tell you to a moment when you may fight for, and against the same person; though I take him to be a great Judge of the proper season, methods and ways, p. 5. l. 5. of transferring Allegiance, yet I must say he is a little forgetful of his premises, and not over exact in his argumentation; never man had so just a Title to much Wit, by having so little Memory: He forgets that but few lines before in the same half page., p. 3. l. 3. he has absolved the Prince of Orange and those that joined with him, from any designs against the Rights of the Late King, ( Now but defensive Arms( says he) were taken up by some few, and by a foreign Prince only to cover their heads, while the Grievances were fairly redressed, not to take away his Rights but to secure our own, nor did the Prince of Orange, or these Gentlemen divest or deprive him of his Throne) How then could any man be faulty in not defending what was never attacked, how could men think of fighting against such Lambs, that only took up defensive Arms to cover their heads while Grievances were fairly redressed, it was being of opinion with the Author that made them slip this opportunity he says they should have laid hold of, believing a Son-in-Law and Daughter came not to invade a Fathers Right but to secure their own. You see Sir how dexterously this Master of true reasoning has accused and justified in a breath. There is this farther to be said for their excuse if they had or ought to have had the will, they wanted the power, which will appear when we come to consider the Charge our Author makes against the Late King, the first Article of which is for disbanding the Army.  
But how shall these Gentlemen be persuaded( allowing they lay under an Obligation to have ventured their Lives for the preservation of the late King in the Throne) that it is now the most horrid of attempts a mortal sin in them, to endeavour his restitution to it, I must confess, I think no body but this Author, who writes with more than poetic licence in his Prose, would attempt the demonstration, and in my opinion he makes it out backward, as Witches say the Lords-Prayer.  
It is undeniable he confesses such a Right and Title in the late King, at the time of the Prince of Oranges Landing, that his Subjects might and should have defended by Arms, or else they deserved not his reproaches for their Neglect, the late King must then have forfeited that Right by some Act of his own since, or the Right must remain in him, and Subjects are under an obligation, or at least have a liberty to endeavour to procure him his Right, wherefore any attempt for him upon this Foundation, I am sure can neither be Treason against Reason or Religion.  
Now Sir we must consider what the Author pretends the late King has done since, that can alter the Case thus from one extreme to another.  
In this same mysterious page. he begins his Charge contained in these Articles, p. 3. l. 9. ( he disbanded his Army, dissolved his Government, and as much as in him lay attempted to desert the Throne) it is plain that the only colour and pretence of Argument in this Rethorical piece of Forgism, is comprised as I have said before in this single word Abdication, but how unfortunate is it for men of tender Consciences, that when all mankind were prepared to receive this informing Paper licenced by our sole Secretaay, as no less than the sense of Church and State, they should find infallibility so soon contradicting itself, for in the compass of twenty lines he in direct words tells us, as I mentioned before, that King James did not Abdicate, that the late King could not Abdicate, there can be no greater proof a man did not do a thing, than that he attempted in vain to do it, p. 3. l. 10.( And as much as in him lay attempted to desert the Throne, and in express words he says he could not do it, Now when a King and Queen are declared, submitted to, and owned by Oaths, and all other Methods required, in such a Case the King is not at liberty to give up his powers, and the protection of us, p. 4. l. 2. So that by his own Confession this first and last Article of our Creed is only false in fact and in possibility, and this darling Word and Notion, by which alone a Loyal Man, or a Church-man can reconcile his Conscience to our Government our Author has himself destroyed, but some Commentators will accuse me of not having minded a passage, p. 3. l. 29. which does run thus, ( a man may leave his Right when he pleases but may not take it again at his pleasure, especially not by force, and this most especially as to sovereign power): I must again repeat the Words last quoted, p. 4. l. 2. Now when a King and Queen are declared and owned by Oaths, &c. the King is not at liberty to give up his power and protection of us: if it were not for these last Words in the first Paragraph, most especially as to sovereign power, one would think he had forgot he was speaking of a King owned by Oaths, taken I believe by our Author himself, which by his way of reasoning I wonder he can absolve himself from. I cannot but confess I am not able to reconcile these Texts, but finding something so Sublime and Orthodox in the whole Treatise, I acquiesce and say no more, lest a doubt in this case, should make me pass for an Enemy to the Church.  
Now Sir as to the other Paragraph mentioned p. 4. last Line( He went away while a Treaty was on f●ot, and nothing but a Treaty can restore him fairly, which he never yet desired, we did not force him to go away in Disguise, and if he will force himself upon us again by French Dragoons and Irish Cut-throats, we may and must oppose him.)  
I own that the Author for once has dealt plainly with us, and made such a discovery of himself and Party, that nothing but predestinated blindness can hinder us from a through Knowledge of him and his Followers, if a Treaty may restore him fairly, and that our Author justly blames him for not having hitherto offered it, sure the natural consequence is that whenever he offers one it will be unfair not to receive it. Now the business the late King has to Treat about, is only the Crown, of which he is to demand Restitution, to Address to the Present King for his Kingdom and his Sceptre, would in my mind be an extraordinary Application, who if he thought himself at liberty to take them, will hardly conceive himself obliged to restore them: This Author's Eloquence will not persuade him to it; besides he forgets he has declared p. 4 l. 2. the present King is too far engaged, and that no King is at liberty to give up his power and the protection of Nations, is he then to treat with the People? Shall he too apply to them, who are guilty of Treason if they listen, and are only to be hanged, drawn and quartered, if they have any Correspondence with him? Where then( to make use of the fashionable Word, and to speak like a States-man) are the first Paces to be made towards this great Negotiation? I think it must be begun with, and ended by our Author, for I find no body else will, or dare meddle with it; but he having the approbation of the Government in writing about it, cannot sure be reprehended by the Government if he engages in the Treaty. He will no doubt, when he brings back the late King fairly, make very good Conditions, for those that were the occasion of his going. But I am Block-head enough to think, that as a Well-wisher to the present Establishment( either in respect of King or People) the Author was under no necessity of starting this Notion of a Treaty, the result of which must be either, that the present King is to resign his Kingdoms, or that the People are to take back their Old One, and for his Reputation( in my poor thoughts) he could suffer in nothing more, than in mentioning a thing so frivolous and unpracticable: The rehearsal does not give us such a Turn of State in the Fate of the Kings of Brentford.  
For the other part of the Text( we did not force him to go away in Disguise) though what he would insinuate be but a weak and false support to the beloved Abdication,( as I shall endeavour to show in my next Letter if not this Post) yet as he has happened to word it, I agree with him entirely, we did not indeed force the King away in Disguise, but forced him away publicly, attended with the Prince of Orange's Guards in great Solemnity.  
If I am obliged to be tedious in my Observations, it is because never Man in so narrow a Compass gave such repeated occasions ( if he will force himself upon us again by French Dragoons and Irish Cut-throats, says our Author, we may and must oppose him, what then, he may come whenever he thinks fit, with Swedes, Danes, and Polanders, and be hearty welcome; or if he pleases to come alone when R. 
Reymond  is mayor, and K. 
Killegreu  Admiral, and T. 
Trevor  Chancellor, and S. 
Seymor  Treasurer, without any Change in the Secretaries Office, I doubt not he will be received with all imaginable Marks of Loyalty and Affection, though French Dragoons and Irish Cut-throats are sure to follow.  
I must take the liberty to repeat two or three more of his Sentences upon this Head, you have engaged me at your peril and must have patience, the Nation serves you as a great Example( finally, p. 5. l. 5. There is no injury to any but himself, and those who run into voluntary Exile with him by his being cut of possession. The Monarchy, the Law, the Church and Property are all in better Estate than in his Time, and all these with innumerable private Persons must be irreparably injured by his Return in a Hostile manner) our Author one would think had been frighted as K. J— the First was in his Mothers Belly with a Sword; he hates War and Tumult, and by no means would have the late King return in a Hostile manner, Drums and Trumpets, Canons and Bombs are his aversion, but for Treaties and all other amicable Methods of bringing him back, those he often mentions with great satisfaction, yet notwithstanding he tells us, the Monarchy, the Law, the Church, and Property, are all in a better Estate than in his Time; if so, why any Treaty? What is it we should Treat for?  
But Oh the Church! that Word seems more terrible to me than all the others just now mentioned; I think the very Name of it has frighted above half the Nation out of their senses for these three years last past; for my part, I meddle not with it, and wish it so settled and undisturbed, that it may not be so much as talked of more. As to our Law and Property, which justly take the next place, I confess the Expectations raised by the Prince of Orange's Declaration are not answered, and I must own some Pamphlets writ by the other Party( which I have promised to speak impartially of, and to Treat as fair Enemies) have made me doubt whether they be in much better Estate than they were; this Sir we shall afterwards consider of. But for Monarchy, that sort of Monarchy our Author means, and Explains in the Ninth page., Hereditary and Successive Monarchy, how that comes to be in a better Estate by an Election of a foreign Prince into the Throne, actually in possession of the supreme Power of another State, and this done by the solemn choice of the People, and the Suffrages of both Houses of Parliament, by which choice, not only the late King's Title and his pretended Sons is laid aside, but also the Princess of Denmark postponed, who I suppose has not Abdicated; how this confirms and puts Hereditary Successive Monarchy into a better Estate, I confess I cannot apprehended: I say no more now as to this part, but beg Pardon of the Author for speaking to that last, he puts first. I hope I shall not be Censured of ill breeding, or disrepect to Monarchy, in giving precedency to the Church, whatever be the Rank of Law and Property.  
I have the ill Fortune to be able to agree with no part of his Paragraph: This allowing an injury done to the late King upon all occasions, and these Treaties by which he may seek to be fairly restored, all this together I confess would not please me, were I at the Head of the present Government; but his Argument in my Opinion is most false upon his own premises, ( there is no injury do●e,( says our Author) to any but himself,, and th●se who run into voluntary Exile with him by his being out of possession): Now by his leave, if there be an injury done to him, I think the injury very general, done to the whole Nation, who should have a feeling in any injury done to their rightful King; a King that has his Crown injuriously taken away from him, sometime or other will find a Party that will endeavour to redress that injury by Arms, and Civil intestine War in consequence will prove an injury, the whole and every part of the Nation will sufficiently suffer by, besides the damage happens not alone to those he calls( voluntary Exiles) which if an injury be done the late King, I shall esteem honourable Martyrs for a justifiable Loyalty, but to all others who live by just scruples, debarred from public employments, and exposed as several have been to the payment of double Taxes and other inconveniences.  
As yet you see I have but endeavoured to show you the false Argumentation of the Author, and have only brought his own Arguments against his own beloved Notion, though they sufficiently ridicule it. Yet Sir you must allow me to give you my own thoughts about this Abdication, I shall endeavour to show you in my next Letter, that all discourse about it, is vain and impertinent, and no way to the purpose as to the present Establishment. What a sputter and pains are here taken to avoid the Confession of this Notorious Truth, that the People of England,( having an opportunity given them by the Prince of Orange freely to assemble) bestowed the Crown upon him forfeited by the late King; many reasonable Motives inclined them to this choice, and this not the least prevailing Consideration, that from a Prince who had expressed such a care and concern for theit Laws, Constitution and Liberty, when a foreigner, it was reasonable to expect a most tender regard to them when chosen King. As doubtless the Body of the Nation went upon just and reasonable Grounds, as the ends were reasonable, so the steps towards it were in my opinion in the utmost form of Justice, Equity and Prudence, and exactly adjusted to those ends, except in so far as they were biased by the Author and his Party: But this I am sure of, and shall endeavour to make undeniably plain in my next, that those who will not own this Opinion, are Vipers nursed in the bosom of the Government, that will destroy it when ever they are warmed into sufficient power to act with safety, complying with, at least acting for a Government a Man must disavow, makes him appear in my mind the lowest and most vile of Knaves; but this Excuse is to be made for some in Employment amongst us, that they seem prest into the service, though they have frankly owned their Opinion, and declared for Months together in the face of the World, their dislike to our Government; indeed if it be of absolute necessity for the welfare of a Government established as ours, that those be employed to support it, who were Ministers in the preceding Reign, or have opposed it to their utmost, and cannot, or will not, as we, own it rightful and lawful, as the Notion seems contrary to common prudence, so let the Principle be contrary to common sense, and a better foundation cannot be found than a Tory Abdication for a Government to cheat itself by, or for Knaves to furnish themselves with pretences; but as I pretend to a sincerity, shall as little spare my friends as adversaries; I only wait to see the Election, so much talked of, the Popish Convert, reconverted in Holland, chosen at the request of the Whiggs, for their Champion, to support the Protestant Religion, and the Liberties of England; I only stay I say, to see this known Enemy of France thus sanctified, and then adopted by them, boldly to declared in the behalf of my Friends and Brethren the Whiggs, that of all Parties of Men that ever the World produced, they deserve the pference for folly a●d knavery.  
I would be glad to know what Government there is or can be in Nature, that I will not find authority for and against, in this one comprehensive page.: This Author I dare engage( provided it suits with his interest, and that of his Party) will find some piece of Gospel or Law, to satisfy his and their Consciences in all Circumstances, and at all Times (& factum valet quod fieri non debuit) will enable him to writ such another Treatise for the next ensuing Government, unless perhaps this may serve the turn, though indeed he will tell us in the New Piece, that we ought to have fought more obstinately for our King while he was in the Throne, but are obliged( lest we make innocent people suffer by a War) to submit to any Government that provides but an honest and able Secretary of State, fit, like Atlas alone to support the politic World.  
I was going to conclude, and like to have forgotten our Author in his greatest Glory( where he appears indeed like the great Man I always took him for) raising Money without Parliament, giving Pensions to Kings, and restoring forfeited Estates ( if it be pleaded, that he who was born to a Kingdom, really wants subsistence; I reply, that if he would seek the Peace of Christendom, and of his late Subjects, he might by a fair Treaty set on foot, not only restore the Exiles, but have a sufficient and Honourable Maintenance from this Government): A Man would be well suppled with Matter, that had only these few Lines to Examine, but I shall leave large Gleanings for others, and only desire you to consider how kind a Friend our Author is to the Friends of this Government, and how fierce a Foe to the Enemies of it. Every day we see Jacobites handing about Declarations where no body is pardonned, not those they pretend they would pardon; and here our Author promises to all those that have been accessary to the blood spilled in Ireland, and cause of all the Taxes the Nation has groaned under, and above all, the Authors perhaps and Advisers of all those violent Attempts against our Religion, Constitution and Laws, by which all Liberty, Sacred and Civil, was endangered. I say, to these Men he is pleased to offer their Estates, whenever grown weary of unsuccessful Rebellion, they shall think fit to accept of them, If any thing could wean a Thinking Man from a government to which Principle and Assection inclined him, it were the thoughts of what our Author proposes; it seems strange, that a Friend to this Government should think it reasonable that those( who are declared by himself in his Pamphlet, to Act for Rome and France in reality) though they use the late KING's Name, should by all means have their Estates restored them again, forfeited by Act of Parliament, when those that side with King William upon a National Bottom, for the support of the Established Religion and Government, are exposed to the Mercy of an injured King,( as he himself styles him all along) and have nothing to trust to, but the good Nature of Priests and jesuits in success, or the Care that may be taken for them in the Treaty so often mentioned in this Paper, to be carried on I suppose by those in that Secretaries Office who licenced it.  
I shall now Conclude this tedious Letter, which will make you less impatient for my next, with this melancholy Reflection upon the whole, that I fear this Author, and many others like him, are empowered to Act for us, just as he Writes for us.  
FINIS.