Am
SPEECH
To the PEOPLE
Againſt the
PRETENDER
At the Publication of
Her Majeſty's Proclamation,
And upon the Vote of the
Honourable Houſe of Commons.
Be of good courage, and let us play the men
for our people, and for the cities of our God:
and the LORD do that which feemeth him
good. II. Sam. ch. 10. ver. 12.
Gloria
Fuimus. Troes, fuit Ilium, & ingens
Virg.
LONDON:
Printed, and to be Sold by FER D. BUR
LEIGH, in Amén-Corner, near Paters
nofter-Row, 17146
(Price Three Pence)
DIA.
11914-
Thomas
Ifist. Eng
14.
1-2% 44
40500
( 5 )
A
SPEECH
To the PEOPLE
Againſt the
PRETENDER
Gentlemen, Countrymen, and Britons.
OU have heard Her Ma-
Y
jeſty's Proclamation to appre-
hend the Pretender, if he
lands in her Majefty's Do-
minions. You know the Houfe of Com-
mons have voted the Sum of One Hun-
dred
ACT
(6.)
་་
dred Thouſand Pounds to whoever ſhall
feize him in thefe Kingdoms; And you
cannot be unacquainted with the many
undoubted Difcoveries of vaft Multi-
tudes Lifted in his Service both in Bri-
tain and Ireland; Nor can you be Igno-
rant of the Preparations which are now
making on the Side of France, nor of
the Ships and Forces which are drawing
together on that Coaft; which we have
from every part Attefted. All theſe
Things feming to tell us what an im-
mediate Danger is hanging over us, I
fhall beg leave to ſpeak a few Words to
you concerning the Danger of the Pre-
tender, and the Mifery which would
atrend us if ever He should become our
King,
I fhall not at prefent go about to per
fuade you to maintain your Rights and
Liberties, or to preferve your felves
and your Pofterity from being Slaves.
For indeed it would be needlefs and al-
together abfurd to pretend to offer any
thing in favour of Liberty to you, who
have been for thefe Six and Twenty
Years frugling with the greateſt Pow-
er's
(7)
ers of Europe to Preferve it. Every
Man has by Nature that Genuine
Love of Liberty implanted in him,
that nothing but the moft ftupid Educa-
tion, the having never heard of a Free
Common-wealth can ever make Men
tamely fubmit to Slavery. But to Us,
Our Families, our Religion, our preſent
Happineſs, and the Mifery of our neigh-
bouring Nations which have been op-
preffed by Tyranny, are all further Ar-
guments which oblige us to look on Ser-
vitude with the utmoft abhorrence, and
to Scorn to preſerve our Lives by fo
baſe a Condition: And I am perfwaded,
Britons, there is not a Man among you
but would deftroy the Traytor, who
fhould dare to own, that it was the
Liberties of his Country he defign'd to
fubvert. I fhall therefore at prefent
only endeavour to demonftrate to you
the Greatness of your Danger, and the
Shame with which you will be loaded
7
if
you are overcome by it; that there-
by you may have that Courage and Re-
folution kindled in you, which may
make you ready to meet any Hardſhips
you may ſhortly be forced to undergo
For
( 8 )
For if the only way to Preferve our Re-
ligion and Liberties be to ftand by our
Laws, and the Settlement of the Crown
in the Illuſtrious Houfe of Hannover, and
to oppoſe with Vigour the Attempts
which our Traytors at Home, or our
Enemies Abroad are now making to fix
the Pretender on the Throne of theſe
Realms; I am fure we need no other
Arguments, nor can have ftronger ones
than this, to move Us to be Refolute in
Supporting the Right of that Illuftrious
Houſe, tho' with the hazard of our
Lives, our Fortunes, and every thing
that is lefs dear to us than our Religion
and Liberties, the Happineſs of the pre-
fent Age, and the Safety of our Pofte-
vity,
The Queſtion at prefent, Country-
men, Is not whether we fhall have this
or that Prince to fit on the British
Throne, and Govern us according to
our Laws and Conftitution: But whe-
ther we ſhall prefer a Race of Princes
who will be tied by thofe Laws which
have been made fince the Revolution,
and whoſe Intereſt it muſt be to Main,
tain
(و)
tain thoſe Liberties which we then
afferted, and by which they will enjoy.
the Crown; Princes, who have been
ever Zealous in the Proteftant Religion,
and by whofe Means our Nation will
be fet at the Head of that Intereft. A
place which our Anceſtors have ever
gloried in! Or whether we fhall fubmit
our felves to a BOY who pretends to
be the Son of our Abdicated King, and
who has been bred within the Confines,
and under the Maxims of an Abfolute
and Uncontrollable Tyranny; who re-
ckoning himſelf excluded by the greateſt:
Injustice, must be filled with Revenge
whenever it is in his Power to execute
it; who will never think Himſelf o-
bliged by thofe Laws which, He will
fay, have been made by Rebels, but
will rather think it neceffary to de-
ftroy thoſe Parliaments which were the
Cauſe of his and his Father's Exile;
who has been Educated, and is zealous
in that Religion which ever thirsts for
the Blood of Proteftants, and who has
been. an Eye Witneſs of the Succefs of
Extirpating what they call Hereſy by
Dragoons and Gallies; who as with
B
¿
all
( 10 )
all theſe Qualifications He can never
hope to gain the Hearts of the People,
muft for an Age depend on the Power
of France to Support Him. In fhort,
Fellow-Citizens, Shall we be Subjects
to a Britiſh King? Or fhall we be
Slaves to one, who himſelf muſt be a
Slave to France.
1
And are there, ye Britons, Men a-
mong you of fuch Baſe and Ignominious
Characters as to be in fufpenfe on fuch
a Queſtion? If there are, they cannot
be Britons. It must be fome of thoſe
Norman Names by whom our Ifle has
been thus polluted.
"The Friends of the Pretender know too
well that, if it was thought He would
Reign after the manner I have de
fcrib'd, He would not have a Partizan
in Britain. And therefore they uſe their
utmoſt Endeavours to perfuade You that
it will be quite the reverfe; that his In-
tereft will lead him to make the Nation
over which he is King as Independant
as he can; that He will never ſubmit to
the Power of France, but will rather
chuſe
(11)
chuſe to render himſelf confiderable, by
holding the Ballance between the Pow-
ers of Europe, as our ancient Kings were
wont to do; that He will have his Fa-
thers misfortunes too freſh in his Memo-
ry, to fall into his Errours, and that for
theſe Reaſons, your Religion and Liber-
ties, and the Wealth and Glory of this
Nation will be in the greateſt Security
under Him.
But O! Ye, Men of Britain, be not
deluded by theſe empty Affurances. Let
it not be in the Power of thoſe who hate
you, when they fhall have drawn you
into your own Deſtruction, to laugh at
the cafinefs with which you believed
them. It has been the conftant Method
of thoſe, who have been the Enemies of
of our Laws and Conftitution, to deny
thoſe Deſigns, which it was for their
Purpoſe to conceal, and which, when it
was Time to throw afide the Mask, they
have juftified and approved. Have we
not very lately had Inftances in abun-
dance from theſe very People of this
monftrous Behaviour?
B 2
They
(12)
They pretend however to argue with
you, from his Intereft and Ambition.
But ye Men of Brittain, is it not his In-
tereft, is it not his Ambition to ſettle
himſelf upon the British Throne? And
will He not purfue thofe Means, by
which alone he can accomplish it? With
what Strength or Power can He attack
us, unleſs France Supports Him? Shall
the Duke of Lorrain affift Him? The
attempt would be ridiculous! Or can
He imagine there are no Protestants in
Brittain to refift him? Or are they fo
few and inconfiderable that his Party
will eafily fubdue them? Will the Pro-
teftant States of Europe fo forget their In-
tereft, as to think themſelves not con-
cerned to preſerve us: And will they
ever fuffer this Great and Mighty Na-
tion (which was always wont to be the
Bulwark of the Reformation) quietly
to fall into the Hands of a Popish King.
Whence then can He fecure himſelf a-
gainſt all theſe Difficulties. But by the
Affiftance of the French? And can ye
ever believe, that fo intereſted a Nation
will venture their Treafure and their
Arms
( 13 )
Arms, where they expect to reap no
Profit from them? And ſhould they in-
fift on the moſt extravagant Terms,
fhould they (not contented to be allow'd
in the quiet Poffeffion of the Port of
Dunkirk with a new Mouth to it) de-
mand Plimouth and Portsmouth, nay
Chatham it ſelf, the very Mouth of our
River, to be delivered into their Hands,
with what Face could the Pretender refuſe
it; to a Prince, who not only protected
his Father, and has educated and main-
tained Him; but who has once declared
Him King, who has already attempted
an Invaſion in his Favour, and by whofe
means alone he can ever hope to poffefs
his Kingdom? It is then the mode-
fty of the French, that we muſt con-
fide in. The Modeſty of whom
of One who at the Pyrenean Treaty
fwore, that He would never lay claim
to Spain; who afterwards promiſed by
a Treaty, to obferve the Partition; and
who by our late (Honourable!) Peace,
was obliged a Year ago to have demoliſh-
ed Dunkirk, and evacuate Placentia; of
Him, who for thefe many Years, has
been continually contriving the Ruin of
Qur
(14)
our Wealth and Liberty; and who has
for thefe laft Twenty Years fo felt the
Scourge of this mighty Nation on his
ambitious Deſigns, that He must be by
this Time thoroughly convinced, that
He can never build up that univerfal
Power in Europe, which has been the
conftant Aim of his Ambition, but on
the entire Subverfion of the Power and
Greatnefs of Britain.
But fhould you (as they would per-
fuade you) fit ftill, and let the Preten-
der peaceably afcend the Throne, how
would your Religion, and Civil Rights
be thereby fecured? He would fwear to
preferve them: And did not his Father
fwear? We are not ignorant, ye Men of
Britain, that thofe of that Religion, do
not hold unlawful the moft horrid and
moft detefted Crimes, if they but ferve
to ftrengthen and enlarge the Domini
ons of their bloody Church. Were not
the Protestants thofe who preferved the
preſent Grand Monarch on his Throne,
and had He not engaged. Himſelf by the
Edict of Nantz, to fecure to them the
Free Exerciſe of their Religion: And
how
!
( 15 )
how have they been rewarded, and how
has He obſerved that Edi&?
But our Enemies urge, that the Pre
tender can never forget his Fathers mif
fortunes, and therefore will never fol-
low his Fathers fteps. And I am afraid,
Country-men, this would prove true,
but not after the manner that they would
make you believe: I fear we fhall feel, if
ever He comes hither, that He will ne-
ver forget his Fathers Exile: And I que-
ftion not, but were He once fettled here,
He would fo remember his Fathers
misfortunes, as never to attempt (as
his Father did) to alter our Laws and
Conſtitution without an Army that
He was fure would fupport Him; and
He would never again truft the Deftru-
ction of the Proteftant Religion, to Pro-
teftant Souldiers. He will have learnt
from the French, that the Cauſe of his
Fathers Ruin, was his not accepting
foon enough their Protection, on the
Conditions they required, and being
unwilling to ſubmit Himſelf entirely to
be a Vaffal and Viceroy to France. And
is it poffible to imagine, that He, will
pre-
(16)
f
{
pretend to make Difficulties in Treating,
when He remembers that his Father loft
a Kingdom, of which He was already
poffeft, by not yielding in Time to
their Demands; and that himſelf has
no Profpect of ever gaining a Crown
but by their Affiftance.. No, Coun-
try-men, it is much more probable,
He will confent to any Terms that
will fettle Him upon our Throne, and
fix his Government here by a ſtanding
Army of Papists: And then if He fol
lows his Education, his Paffion and his
Religion, He will root up, if poffible,
the very Memory of our Liberties and
Religion This, Fellow Citizens, is
what we are to look for,, if the Preten-
der ever gets Poffeffion of this King-
dom. And what else can we expect
from one, who has been bred up by the
Jefuites, the falfeft and moſt inveterate
of all our Enemies, and with the In-
ftructions of an Italian Mother, and in
a Country where is exercifed the great-
eft Tyranny, both in Religion and Ci-
vil Government. with the greateſt Suc-
cefs; and where they are accuſtomed
to
(17)
to talk of a limited Prince, with the
utmoft Scorn and Contempt?
Let not the Partizans of the Preten-
der, Ye Britons, perfwade you tamely
to accept of fuch a Prince. Let them
not affright you with falfe Notions of
Injuſtice; and make you out of a weak
Compaffion for one Perfon who is juſt-
ly excluded, be cruel to your Selves,
your Country and your Pofterity. For
what Right can they pretend this Youth
to have, but that which his Father could
leave Him? And (not to mention the
Grounds you have to believe He is but
a pretended Son), did not his Father
abdicate his Crown? Did He not de-
clare, He would no longer be our King,
by taking upon Him the Power of a
Tyrant? Did He not affume to Him-
felf an Authority to diſpenſe with thoſe
Laws, which He had fworn to obſerve,
and which was the Condition upon
which He was crowned, and upon which
we were fworn to obey Him? It is not
unjuft, Country-men, it is not unjuft,
to defend our Lives and Eſtates from a
Robber, or our Country from an Inva-
C
}
der:
(18)
der: And what is a Tyrant? Worfe
than theſe; He is, one whom we have
trufted, and who has betrayed us; He
is, a Father who has endeavoured to de-
ſtroy his Children. That it fhould ever
enter into the the Minds of Rational
Creatures to fufpect, that it was not
juſt for Men to defend the common
Rights of Men! And that there fhould
ever be found any fo inhuman, as to
think it a Crime, for a Man to hazard
his Life to preſerve his Country from
Slavery and Oppreffion! Has their been
ever before a Nation or Time fo barba-
rous, in which it has not been rather
eſteemed the moft glorious of all Vir-
tues?
Let them not, Ye Men of Brittain,
let them not diſcourage you in ſo noble
a Purfüit, when you are fupported by
fo juſt a Cauſe, when you are hitherto
rewarded with fuch glorious Success;
And when you have Reaſon to expect
the Affiftance of all the Proteftant Pow-
ers of Europe, who look on your Deſtru
tion, as the Ruin of the Reformation.
Shall
(19)
Shall we who have adhered with the
greateſt Firmneſs and Bravery to our
Rights, Liberties, and Religion, and
have Preferved them for theſe Six and
Twenty Years, at laft, when they
ftand in the greateft need of our Cou-
rage and Refolution,bafely defert them?
Shall we loſe the Fruits of all our Vi-
Atories for want of Virtue to purſue
them? Shall We, who have ever over-
thrown the Troops of France in Battle,
tamely ſubmit to any Viceroy they ſhall
fend us? Where are the Battles of
Hochfted and Ramilies and Oudenard;
Where that Glory in which a fev. Years
ago this Nation appear'd amo; the
States of Europe? Are they for tten?
Are theſe the Fruits we are to re
them? To fee ourſelves Slav to a
Subject and Vaffal of France; to ſee our
Streets fill'd with the Blood of thofe
Glorious Patriots, who have hitherto fo
bravely maintain'd our Liberties; and
to fee thoſe true Chriftians, who will
not Renounce their Religion, nor em,
brace that impious Idolatry, flaming in
the publick Places of our Cities, We,
C 3
who
> from
(20)
AX
who were once the Terror of our Ene-
mies; who were at the Head of the
Confederacy in Europe, against the Uni
verfal Monarchy that was attempted!
Shall we live and fee our felves the firft
that are Devoured by that Ambitious
Tyrant? Does it not raife your Indig-
nation, ye Britons, when ye behold the
Trophies in Westminster-Hall, the En-
figns of your former Greatnefs, to think
that you are now in Danger of becom-
ing Subjects to thofe whom You had
before trampled on; Of having your
Country Ravaged, and your Cities De-
ftroyed by thofe, whom you, when
you could have Conquered, Spared;
And of being Treated with Contempt
by thoſe who once Trembled at your
Name?
Let us but fhow ourſelves and the
Standards which we wrefted from them,
and when they call to mind their for
mer Diftafters, they will turn their
Backs and not dare to withstand us.
We have received from our Anceſtors
Laws and Liberties, which they often
purchas'd with their Blood; And let
Us
t. j
(21)
1
Us not be fo Degenerate as to tranſmit
Slavery and Tyranny to our Pofterity.
Let it not be ever ſaid that a few de-
ſpicable Traytors at Home, and thoſe
Enemies whom We had Triumph'd
over Abroad, were able to accompli th
the Ruin of this Mighty Nation. No-
My Countrymen, let us fpend the laſt
drop of our Blood, before we fubmit
to fuch Reproachful Terms. What is
Death if compar'd to a Life led with
Shame and Ignominy? How much
more will it become a Man and a Bri-
ton, to Die with Glory in defending the
Liberty of his Country, than to live
beneath an Inglorious Slavery.
I fpeak not this, Fellow Citizens,
that I am in any ways apprehenſive you
will be flack in withstanding whate-
ver Powers fhall prefume to Invade
you; But becauſe I fee, and I believe
every one here fees what we have at
prefent to apprehend, and how nearly
we are threatned; and becauſe I know
that in Men of true Courage, the great-
er Danger ftands before them, and the
greater Shame they fee in not fur-
"mounting
{
( 22 )
mounting it, the greater Valour and
Refolution it raifes in them to bear up
againft it. For I muft fay, ye Men of
Britain, if we, who have been the Glo-
ry of Europe, and the Delight of all
Men, fhould now either through Fear
or Remiſneſs fuffer the Pretender to
afcend the British Throne and fubdue
Us, we ſhould become the Scorn of the
prefent Age, and be Curfed by our
Pofterity.
A
FINIS.