I Cannot without some Envy, and a just Resentment against the opposite Conduct of others, reflect upon that Generosity and Tenderness, where with the Heads and Principal Members of a struggling Faction treat those who will undertake to hold a Pen in their Defence And the Behaviour of these Pattons is yet the more I laudable, because the Benefits they confer are almost gratis If any of their Labourers can scratch out a Pamphlet, they desire no more; There is no Question offered about the Wit, the Style, the Argument. Let a Pamphlet come out upon demand in a proper Juncture, you shall be welland certainly paid; you shall be paid before-hand, every one of the Party who is able to read and can spare a Shilling shall be a Subscriber: Several Thousands of each production shall be sent among their Friends through the Kingdom: The Work shall be reported admirable, sublime, unanswerable, shall serve to raise the sinking Cla-mours, B 2 mours, and confirm the Scandal of introducing Popery and the Pretender upon the QUEEN and Her Ministers.

Among the present Writers on that Side, I can recollect but Three of any great Distinction, which are the Flying-Post, Mr. Dunton, and the Author of the Crisis: The first of these seems to have been much sunk in Reputation since the sudden Retreat of the only true genuine Original Author Mr. Ridpath, who is celebrated by the Dutch Gazeteer, as One of the best Pens of England. Mr. Dunton hath been longer and more conversant in Books than any of the Three, as well as more voluminous in his Productions: However, having employ'd his Studies in so great a Variety of other Subjects, he hath I think but lately turned his Genius to Politicks. His famous Tract, Intituled, Neck or Nothing, must be allowed to be the shrewdest Piece, and written with most Spirit of any which hath appeared from that Side since the Change of the Ministry: It is indeed a most cutting Satire upon the Lord Treasurer and Lord Bolingbroke; and I wonder none of our Friends ever undertook to Answer it. I confess I was at first of the same Opinion with several good Judges, who from the Style and Manner supposed it to have issued from the sharp Pen of the E. of N-t-ng-m; and I am still apt to think it might receive his L—dsh-p's last Hand. The Third and Principal of this Triumvirate is the Author of the Crisis; who although he must yield to the Flying-Post in Knowledge of the World, and Skill in Politicks, and to Mr. Dunton in Keenness of Satire, and Variety of Reading, hath yet other Qualities enough to denominate him a Writer of a Superior Class to either, provided he would a little regard the Propriety and Disposition of his Words, consult the Grammatical Part, and get some Information in the Subject he intends to handle.

Omitting the generous Countenance and Encouragement that have been shewn to the Persons and Productions of the Two former Authors, I shall here only consider the great 3 great Favour conferred upon the last. It hath been advertised for several Months in the Englishman and other papers, that a Pamphlet, called, The Crisis, should be published at a proper Time, in order to open the Eyes of the Nation. It was proposed to be Printed by Subscription, price a Shilling. This was a little out of Form; For Subscriptions are usually begged only for Books of great Price, and such as are not likely to have a general Sale. Notice was likewise given of what this Pamphlet should contain; only an Extract from certain Acts of Parliament relating to the Succession, which at least must sink Nine-pence in the Shilling, and leave but Three-Pence for the Authors Political Reflections; so that nothing very wonderful or decisive could be reasonably expected from this performance. But a Work was to be done, a hearty Writer to be encouraged, and accordingly many Thousand Copies were bespoke: Neither could this be sufficient; for when we expected to have our Bundles delivered us, all was stopt; the Friends to the Cause sprang a new Project, and it was advertised that the Crisies could not appear till the Ladies had shewn their Zeal against the Pretendender as well as the Men; against the Pretender in the Bloom of his Youth, reported to be Handsome, and endued with an Understanding exactly of a Size to please the sex. I should be glad to have seen a printed List of the fair Subscribers prefixed to this Pamphlet; by which the Chevalier might know he was so far from pretending to a Monarchy here, that he could not so much as pretend to a Mistress.

At the destined Period, the first News we hear, is of a huge Train of Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen, and others, going to Sam. Buckley's the Publisher of the Crisis, to fetch home their Cargo's, in order to transmit them by Dozens, Scores, and Hundreds, into the several Counties, and thereby to prepare the Wills and Understandings of their Friends against the approaching Sessions. Ask any of them whether they have B2 4 have read it? they will answer, No; but they have sant it every where, and it will do a World of Good: It is a Pamphlet, and a Pamphlet they hear against the Ministry, talks of Slavery, France, and the Pretender; they Desire no more; It will settle the Wavring, confirm the Doubtful, instruct the Ignorant, inflame the Clamorous, though it never be once looked into. I am told, by those who are expert in the Trade. That the Author and Book-seller of this Twelve-peny Treatise, will be greater Gainers, than from one Edition of any Folio that hath been published these Twenty Years. What needy Writer would not sollicite to Work under such Masters, who will pay us before-hand, take off as much of our Ware as we please at our own Rates, and Trouble not them selves to examine either before or after they have bought it, whether it be Staple or no?

But in order to illustrate the implicite Munificence of these Noble Patrons, I cannot take a more effectual Method than by examining the Production it self; by which we shall easily find that it was never intended, further than from the Noise, the Bulk, and the Title of Crisis, to do any Service to the factious Cause. The entire Piece consists of a Title Page, a Dedication to the Clergy, a Preface, an Extract from certain Acts of Parliament, and about Ten Pages of dry Reflections on the Proceedings of the QUEEN and Her Servants; which his Coadjutors, the E— of N—t—ng—m, Mr. Dunton, and the Flying-Post, had long ago set before us in a much clearer Light.

In Popish Countries, when some Impostor cries out, A Miracle! it is not done with a Hope or Intention of converting Hereticks, but confirming the deinded Vulgar in their Errors; and so the Cry goes round without examining into the Cheat. Thus the Whigs among us give about the Cry, A Pamphlet! A Pamphlet! The Crisis! The Crisis! not with a View of convincing their 5 their Adversaries, but to raise the Spirits of their Friends, recall their Stragglers, and unite their Numbers by Sound and Impudence, as Bees assemble and cling together by the Noise of Brass.

That no other Effect could be imagined or hoped for, by the Publication of this timely Treatise, will be manifest, from some obvious Reflections upon the several Parts of it; wherein the Follies, the Falshoods, or the Absurdities, appear so frequent, that they may boldly contend for Number with the Lines.

When the Hawker holds this Pamphlet towards you, the first Words you perceive are, The Crisis: Or, A Discourse, &c. The Interpreter of Suidas gives Four Translations of the Word Crisis; any of which may be as properly applied to this Author's Letter to the Bayliff of Stockbridge. Next, what he calls A Discourse, consists only of Two Pages, Prefixed to Twenty two more, which contain Extracts from Acts of Parliament; For as to the Twelve last Pages, they are provided for by themselves in the Title under the Name of Some Seasonable Remarks on the Danger of a Popish Successor. Another Circumstance worthy of our Information in the Title-Page, is, That the Crown hath been settled by previous Acts. I never heard of any Act of Parliament that was not previous to what it enacted, unless those Two by which the Earl of Strafford and Sir John Fenwich lost their Heads, may pass for Exceptions. A Discourse, representing from the most Authentick Records. He hath borrowed this Expression from some Writer, who probaly understood the Words, but this Gentleman hath altogether misapplied them; and under Favour, he is wholly mistaken; for a Heap of Extracts, from several Acts of Parliament, cannot be called a Discourse: neither do I believe, he Copied them from the most Authentick Records, which as I take it are lodged in the Tower, but out of some common printed Copy. I grant there is nothing Material in all this, further than to shew 6 shew the Generosity of our Adversaries in encouraging a Writer, who cannot furnish out so much as a Title-Page with Propriety or common Sense.

Next follows the Dedication to the Ciergy of the Church of England, wherein the Modesty and the Meaning of the first Paragraphs are hardly to be matched. He tells them, he hath made a Comment upon the Acts of Settlement, which he lays before them, and conjures them to recommend in their Writings and Discourses to their Fellow-Subjects; and he does all this, out of a just Deference to their great Power and Influence. This is the right Whig-Scheme of directing the Clergy what to Preach. The Archbishop of Canterbury's Jurisdiction extends no further than over his own Province; but the Author of the Crisis, constitutes himself Viear-General over the whole Clergy of the Church of England. The Bishops in their Letters or Speeches to their own Clergy proceed no further than to Exhortation; but this Writer conjures the whole Clergy of the Church to recommend his Comment upon the Laws of the Land in their Writings and Discourses. I would fain know, who made him a Commentator upon the Laws of the Land; after which it will be time enough to ask him, by what Authority he directs the Clergy to recommend his Comments from the Pulpit or the Press?

He tells the Clergy there are two Circumstances which place the Minds of the People under their Direction; the first Circumstance is their Education; the second Circumstance is the Tenths of our Lands. This last, according to the Latin Phrase, is spoken ad invidiam; for he knows well enough, they have not a Twentieth: But if you take it his own way, the Landlord has nine Parts in ten of the People's Minds under his Direction. Upon this Rock the Author before us is perpetually splitting, as often as he ventures out beyond the narrow Bounds of his Literature. He has a confused Remembrance of Words since he left the University, but has lost half their Meaning, and puts them 7 them together with no Regard but to their Cadence; as I remember a Fellow nailed up Maps in a Gentleman's Closet, some sideling, others upside down, the better to adjust them to the Pannels.

I am sensible it is of little Consequence to their Cause, whether this Defender of it understands Grammar or no; And is what he would fain say, discovered him to be a Well-willer to Reason or Truth, I would be ready to make large Allowances. But when with great Difficulty I descry a Composition of Rancor and Falshood, intermixed with plausible Nonsense; I feel a struggle between Contempt and Indignation, at seeing the Character of a Censor, a Guardian, an English-man, a Commentator on the Laws, an Instructor of the Clergy, assumed by a Child of Obscurity, without one single Qualification to support them.

This Writer, who either affects, or is commanded of late to Copy after the B—p of S—r—m, hath, out of the Pregnancy of his Invention, found out an old Way of insinuating the proffest Reflections under the Appearances of Admonitions; and is so judicious a Follower of the Prelate, that he taxes the Clergy for enflaming their People with Apprehensions of Danger to them and THEIR Constitution, from Men who are Innocent of such Designs. When he must needs confess, the whole Design of his Pamphlet is to enslave the People with Apprehensions of Danger from the present Ministry, whom we believe to be at least as innocent Men as the last.

What shall I say to a Pamphlet, where the Malice and Falshood of every Line would require an Answer, and where the Dulness and Absurdities will not deserve one?

By his pretending to have always maintained an inviolable Respect to the Clergy, he would insinuate, that those Papers among the Tatlers and Spectators, where the whole Order is abused, were not his own: I will Appear to 8 to all who know the Flatness of his Style, and the Baraenness of his Invention, whether he does not grosly prevaticate? Was he ever able to Walk without Leading-Strings, or Swim without Bladders, without being discovered by his Hobbling and his Sinking? Has he adhered to this Character in his Paper called the Englishman, whereof he is allowed to be sole Author, without any Competition? What does he think of the Letter signed by himself, which relates to Molesworth, in whose Defence, he aftronts the whole Convocation of Ireland?

It is a wise Maxim, that because the Clergy are no Civil Lawyers they ought not to preach Obedience to Governors; and therefore, they ought not to preach Temperance, because they are no Physicians: Examine all this Author's Writings, and then Point me out a Divine who knows less of the Constitution of England than he; witness those many egregious Blunders in his late Papers, where he pretended to dabble in the Subject.

But the Clergy have it seems imbibed their Notions of Power and Obedience abhorrent from our Laws, from the pompous Ideas of Imperial Greatness, and the Submission to absolute Emperors. This is gross Ignorance, below a School-Boy in his Lucius Florus: The Roman History, wherein Lads are instructed, reaches little above Eight hundred Years, and the Authors do every where instill Republican Principles; and from the Account of Nine in Twelve of the first Emperors, we learn to have a Detestation for Tyranny. The Greeks carry this Point yet a great deal higher, which none can be ignorant of, who hath read or heard them quoted. This gave Hobbes the Occasion of advancing a Position directly contrary, That the Youth of England was corrupted in their Political Principles, by reading the Histories of Rome and Greece, which having been writ under Republicks, taught the Readers to have ill Notions of Monarchy: In this Asser- tion 9 tion there was something Specious, but that advanced by the Crisis could only issue from the profound Inorance.

But would you know his Scheme of Education for young Gentlemen at the University? It is, that they should spend their Time in perusing those Acts of Parliament, whereof his Pamphlet is an Extract, which, if had been done, the Kingdom would not be in its present condition, but every Member sent into the World thus instructed, since the Revolution, would have been an Advocate for our Rights and Liberties.

Here now is a Project for getting more Money by the Crisis, to have it read by Tutors in the Universities. I thoroughly agree with him, that if our Student had been thus employ'd for Twenty Years past, the Kingdom had not been in its present Condition. But we have too many of such Proficients already among the young Nobility and Gentry, who have gathered up their Politicks from Chocolate House and Factious Clubs, and who if they had spent their Time in hard Study at Oxford or Cambridge, we might indeed have said, that the factious Part of this Kingdom had not been in its present Condition, or have suffered themselves to be taught, that a few Acts of Parliament relating to the Succession are preferable to all other Civil Institutions whatsover: Neither did I ever before hear, that an Act of Parliament, relating to one particular Point could be called a Civil Institution.

He spends almost a Quarto Page in telling the Clregy, that they will be certainly Perjured if they bring in the Pretender whom they have adjured; and he wisely reminds them, that they have Sworn without Equivocation or Mental-Reservation; otherwise the Clergy might think, that as soon as they received the Pretender, and turned Papists, they would be free from their Oath. C This 10

This honest, civil, ingenious Gentlemen, knows in his Conscience, that there are not Ten Clergymen in England, (except Non Jurors) who do not abhor the Thoughts of the Pretender reigning over us, much more than himself. But this is the Spittle of the B—p of S—y—m, which our Author licks up, and Swallows, and then Coughs out again, with an Addition of his own Phlegm. I would fain suppose the Body of the Clergy were to return an Answer by one of their Members to these worthy Counsellors: I conceive it might be in the following Terms.

My L—d and Gentleman,

'The Clergy Command me to give you Thanks for, your Advice; and if they knew any Grimes from which either of you were as free, as they are from those which you so earnestly Exhort them to avoid, they would return your Favour as hear as possible in the same Style and Manner However, that your Advice may not be wholly lost, particularly that Part of it which relates to the Pretender, they desire you would apply it to more proper Persons. Look among your own Leaders; Examine which of them engaged in a Plot to restore the late K. James, and received Pardons under his Seal; Examine which of them have been since tampering with his pretended Son, and to gratify their Ambition, their Avarice, their Malice and Revenge, are now willing to Restore him at the Expence of the Religion and Liberty of their Country. Retire, good my Lord, with your Pupil, and let us hear no more of these Hypocrital Insinuations, left the Qu— and Ministers, who have been hitherto content with only disappointing the lurking Villanies of your Faction, may be at last provoked to expose them. But 11

But his Respect for the Clergy is such, that he does not insinuate as if they really had these evil Dispositions; He only insinuates, that they give too much Cause for such Insinuations.

I will upon Occasion, strip some of his Insinuations from their Generality and Solecisms; and drag them into the Light. This Dedication to the Clergy is full of them, because here he endeavours to mold up his Rancor and Civility together; by which constraint, he is obliged to shorten his Paragraphs and to place them in such a Light, that they obscure one another. Supposing therefore, that I have scraped off his good Manners, in order to come at his Meaning which lies under; He tells the Clergy, that the Favour of the QUEEN and Her Ministers, is but a colour of Zeal towards them: That the People were deluded by a groundless Cry of the Churches Danger at Sacheverell's Tryal; That the Clergy, as they are Men of Sense and Honour, ought to Preach this Truth to their several Congregations; and let them know, that the true Design of the present Men in Power in that and all their Proceedings since, in favour of the Church, was to bring in Popery, France, and the Pretender, and to enslave all Europe, contrary to the Laws of our Country, the Powers of the Legislature, the Faith of Nations, and the Honour of God.

I cannot see, why the Clergy, as Men of Sense, and Men of Honour, (for he appeals not to them as Men of Religion) should not be allowed to know when they are in Danger, and be able to Guess whence it comes, and who are their Protectors. The Design of their Destruction indeed may have been projected in the Dark; but when all was ripe, their Enemies proceeded to so many Overt-Acts in the Face of the Nation, that it was obvious to the meanest People, who wanted no other Motives to rouze them. On the other side, Can this Author, or the wisest of his Faction, assign one single Act of the present Mini- C2 12 Ministry, any Way tending towards bringing in the Pretender, or to weaken the Succession in the House of Hanover? Observe then the Reasonableness of this Gentleman's Advice: The Clergy, the Gentry, and the common People, had the utmost Apprehensions of Danger to the Church under the late Ministry; yet then it was the greatest Impiety to enflame the People with any such Apprehensions. His Danger of a Popish Successor from any Steps of the present Ministry, is an artificial Calumny raised and spread against the Conviction of the Inventors, pretended to be believed only by those who abhor the Constitution in Church and State, an obdurate Faction, who compass Heaven and Earth to restore themselves upon the Ruin of their Country; Yet here our Author exhorts the Clergy to preach up this Imaginary Danger to their People, and disturb the publick Peace with his strained Seditious Comments.

But how comes this gracious Licence to the Clergy from the Whigs, to concern themselves with Politicks of any Sort, though it be only the Glosses and Comments of Mr. S—le? The Speeches of the Managers at Sacheverell's Tryal, particularly those of Stanhope; Lechmere, King, Parker, and some other, seemed to deliver a different Doctrine. Nay, this very Dedication complains of some in Holy Orders who have made the Constitution of their Country, (in which and the Coptick Mr. S—le is equally skilled) a very little Part of their Study, and yet made Obedience and Government the frequent Subjects of their Discourses. This Difficulty is easily solved; for by Politicks, they mean Obedience. Mr. Hoadley, who is a Champion for Resistance, was never charged as medling out of his Function: Hugh Peters, and his Brethren, in the Times of Usurpation, had full Liberty to preach up Sedition and Rebellion; and so here Mr. St—le issues out his Licence to the Clergy to preach up the Danger of a Popish Pretender, in Defiance of the QUEEN and Her Administration. Every 13

Every Whittler in a Laced Coat, who frequents the Chocolate-House, and is able to spell the Title of a Pamphlet, shall Talk of the Constitution with as much Possibility as this very Solemn Writer, and with as good a Grace blame the Clergy for medling with Politicks which they do not understand. I have known many of these able Politicians, furnished before they were of Age, with all the necessary Topicks of their Faction, and by the help of about Twenty Polysyllables capable of maintaining an Argument that would shine in the Crisis, whose Author gathered up his little Stock from the same Schools, and has writ from no other Fund.

But after all, it is not clear to me, whether this Gentleman addresseth himself to the Clergy of England in general, or only to those very few, (hardly enough in Case of a Change to supply the Mortality of those Self-denying Prelates he celebrates) who are in his Principles, and among these, only such as live in and about London, which probably will reduce the Number to about half a Dozen at most. I should incline to guess the latter; because he tells them, they are surrounded by a learned, wealthy, knowing Gentry, who know with what Firmness, Self-denial, and Charity, the Bishops adhered to the publick Cause, and what Contumelies those Clergymen have undergone, &c. who adhered to the Cause of Truth: By those Terms, the publick Cause and the Cause of Truth, he understands the Cause of the Whigs in Opposition to the QUEEN and Her Servants: Therefore by the learned, wealthy, and knowing Gentry, he must understand the Bank and East-India Company, and those other Merchants or Citizens within the Bills of Mortality, who have been strenuous against the Church and Crown, and whose Spirit of Faction hath lately got the better of their Interest. For let him search all the rest of the Kingdom, he will find the surrounded Clergy, and the surrounding Gentry, wholly Strangers to the Merits of those Prelates, and adhering to a very different Cause of Truth, 14 Truth, as will soon I hope be manifest by a fair Appeal to the Representatives of both.

It was very unnecessary in this Writer to bespeak the Treatment of Contempt and Derision, which the Clergy are to expect from his Faction whenever they come into Power. I believe that venerable Body is in very little Concern after what Manner their most mortal Enemies intend to treat them, whenever it shall please God for our Sins to visit us with so fatal an Event, which I hope it will be the united Endeavours both of Clergy and Laiety to hinder. It would be some support to this Hope, if I could have any Opinion of his predicting Talent, (which some have ascribed to People of this Author's Character) where he tells us, That Noise and Wrath will not always pass for Zeal. What other Instances of Zeal has this Gentlemen or the rest of his Party been able to produce? If Clamour be Noise, it is but opening our Ears to know from what Side it comes: And if Sedition, Scurrility, Slander and Calumny, be the Fruits of Wrath, read the Pamphlets and Papers issuing from the Zealots of that Faction, or Visit their Clubs and Coffee-Houses in order to Form a Judgment of the Tree.

When Mr. St—le tells us, WE have a Religion that wants no Support from the Enlargement of Secular Power, but is well supported by the Wisdom and Piety of it's Preachers, and it's own Native Truth; it would be good to know what Religion he professeth: For, the Clergy to whom he speaks, will never allow him a Member of the Church of England; they cannot agree, that the Truth of the Gospel, and the Piety and Wisdom of it's Preachers, are a sufficient Support in an Evil Age, against Infidelity, Faction, and Vice, without the Assistance of Secular Power; unless God would please to confer the Gist of Miracles on those who wait at the Altar. I believe, they venture to go a little further, and think, That upon some Occasions, they want a little Enlargement of Assistance from the Secular Power, against 15 against Atheists, Deists, Socinians, and other Hereticks. Every first Sunday in Lent, a Part of the Liturgy is read to the People; in the Preface to which, the Church declares her Wishes for the Restoring of that Discipline formerly had, and which for some Years past hath been more wanted than ever. But of this no more, lest it might insinuate Jealousies between the Clergy and Laity, which, the Author tells us, is the Policy of vain Ambitious Men among the former, in hopes to derive from their Order, a veneration they cannot deserve from their Virtue. If this be their Method for procuring Veneration, it is the most singular that ever was thought on; and the Clergy should then indeed have no more to do with Politicks of any Sort than Mr. St—le or his Faction will allow them.

Having thus toiled through his Dedication, I proceed to consider his Preface, which half consisting of Quotation, will be so much the sooner got through. It is a very unfair Thing in any Writer to employ his Ignorance and Malice together, because it gives his Answerer double Work: It is like the Sort of Sophistry that the Logicians call Two Mediums, which are never allowed in the same Syllogism. A Writer with a weak Head, and a corrupted Heart, is an over-match for any single Pen; like a hireling Jade, dull and vicious, hardly able to stir, yet offering at every turn to Kick.

He begins his Preface with such an Account of the Original of Power, and the Nature of Civil Institutions, as I am confident was never once imagin'd by any Writer upon Government from Plato to Mr. Lock. Give me leave to transcribe his first Paragraph. I never saw an unruly Crowd of People cool by Degrees into Temper, but it gave me an Idea of the Original of Power, and the Nature of Civil Institutions. One particular Man has usually in those Cases, from the Dignity of his Appearance, or other Qualities known or imagined by the Multitude, been received into sudden Favour and Authority, the Occasion of their Difference has been 16 been represented to him, and the Matter referred to his Decision.

I have known a Poet, who was never out of England, introduce a Fact by Way of Simile, which could probably no where happen nearer than in the Plains of Lybia; and begin with, So have I seen. Such a Fiction I suppose may be justified by Poetical Licence; Yet Virgil is much more Modest: This Paragraph of Mr. St—le's, which he sets down as an Observation of his own, is a miserable mangled Translation of Six Verses out of that famous Poet, who speaks after this manner: As when a Sedition arises in a great Multitude, &c. Then, if they see a wise grave Man, &c. Virgil, who liv'd but a little after the Ruin of the Roman Republick, where Seditions often happened, and the Force of Oratory was great among the People, made use of a Simile, which Mr. St—le turns into a Fact, after such a manner, as if he had seen it an hundred Times; and builds upon it a System of the Origin of Government. When the Vulgar here in England assemble in a riotous Manner, (which is not very frequent of late Years) the Prince takes a much more effectual Way than that of sending Orators to appease them: But Mr. St—le imagines such a Crowd of People as this, where there is no Government at all; their unruliness quell'd, and their Passions cool'd by a particular Man, whose great Qualities they had known before. Such an Assembly must have risen suddenly from the Earth, and the Man of Authority dropt from the Clouds; for without some previous Form of Government, no such Crowd did ever yet assemble, or could possibly be acquainted with the Merits and Dignity of any particular Man among them. But to pursue his Scheme. This Man of Authority who cools the Crowd by Degrees, and to whom they all Appeal, must of Necessity prove either an open or clandestine Tyrant: A clandestine Tyrant I take to be a King of Brent-ford, who keep, his Army in Disguise; And whenever he 17 he happens either to Die naturally, be knockt on thew Head, or Deposed, the People calmly take further measures and improve upon what was begun under his unlimited power. All this, our Author tells us, with extreme Propriety, is what seems reasonable to common Sense; That is, in other Words, it seems reasonable to Reason. This is what he calls giving an Idea of the Original of Power, and the Nature of Civil Institutions. To which I Answer with great Phlegm, That I defie any Man alive to shew me in double the Number of Lines, though writ by the same Author, such a complicated Ignorance in History, Humane Nature, or Politicks, as well as in the ordinary Proprieties of Thought or of Style.

But it seems, these profound Speculations were only premised to introduce some Quotations in favour of Resistance. What hath Resistance to do with the Succession of the House of Hanover, that the Whig-Writers should perpetually affect to tag them together? I can conceive nothing else, but that their Hatred to the QUEEN and Ministry, puts them upon Thoughts of introducing the Successor by another Revolution. Are Cases of extream NECESSITY to be produced as common Maxims by which we are always to proceed? Should not these Gentlemen sometimes inculcate the general Rule of obedience, and not always the Exception of Resistance? Since the former hath been the perpetual Dictates of all Laws both Divine and Civil, and the latter is still in Dispute.

I shall meddle with none of the Passages he cites, to prove the Lawfulness of resisting Princes, except that from the present Lord Chancellor's Speech, in Defence of Dr. Sacheverell: That there are extraordinary Cases of Necessity, which are implied though not expressed in the general Rule [of Obedience.] These Words, very clear in themselves, Mr. St—le explains into Nonsense; which in any other Author I should suspect to have been intended as a Re- D flection 18 flection upon as great a Person as ever filled or adorned that high Station: But I am so well acquainted with his Pen, that I much more wonder how it can trace out a true Quotation than a false Comment. To see him treat my Lord Harcourt with so much Civility looks indeed a little Suspicious, and as if he had Malice in his Heart. He calls his Lordship a very Great Man, and a great living Authority, places him in Company with General Stanhope and Mr. Hoadley; and in short, takes the most effectual Method in his Power of ruining his Lordship in the Opinion of every Man who is wise or good: I can only tell my Lord Harcourt, for his Comfort, that these Praises are encumbred with the Doctrine of Resistance, and the true Revolution-Principles; and provided he will not allow Mr. St—le for his Commentator, he may hope to recover the Honour of being Libelled again, as well as his Sovereign and Fellow Servants.

We come now to the Crisis: Where we meet with Two Pages by Way of Introduction to those Extracts from Acts of Parliament that constitute the Body of his Pamphlet. This Introduction begins with a Definition of Liberty, and then proceeds in a Panegyrick upon that great Blessing; His Panegyrick is made up of Half a Dozen Shreds, like a School-Boy's Theme, beaten, general Topicks, where any other Man alive might wander securely; but this Politician, by venturing to vary the good old Phrases and give them a new Turn, commits an hundred Solecisms and Absurdities. The weighty Truths which he endeavours to press upon his Reader are such as these. That, Liberty is a very good Thing; That, Without Liberty we cannot be Free; That, Health is good, and Strength is good, but Liberty is better than either; That, No Man can be Happy, without the Liberty of doing whatever his own Mind tells him is best; That, Men of Quality love Liberty, and common People love Liberty; even Women and Children 19 Children love Liberty; and you cannot please better than by letting them do what they please. Had Mr. St—le contented himself to deliver these and the like Maxims in such intelligible Terms, I could have found where we agreed and where we differed. But let us hear some of these Axioms as he has involved them. We cannot possess our Souls with Pleasure and Satisfaction except Pag. 1. we preserve to our selves that inestimable Blessing which we call Liberty: By Liberty, I desire to be understood, to mean the Happiness of Men's living, &c.— The true Life of Men consists in conducting it according to his own just Sentiments and innocent Inclinations.—Man's Being is degraded be- Pag. 1. low that of a free Agent, when his Affections and Passions are no longer governed by the Dictates of his own Mind.—Without Liberty, our Health (among other Things) may be at the Will of a Tyrant, employ'd to our own Ruin and that of our Fellow Creatures. If there be any of these Maxims which is not grosly defective in Truth, in Sense or in Grammar, I will allow them to pass for uncontroulable. By the First, Omitting the Pedantry of the whole Expression, There are not above one or two Nations in the World, where any one Man can possess his Soul with Pleasure and Satisfaction. In the Second, He desires to be understood to mean; that is, he desires to be meant to mean, or to be understood to understand. In the Third, the Life of Man consists in conducting his Life. In the Fourth, he affirms, That Men's Beings are degraded when their Passions are no longer governed by the Dictates of their own Mind; directly contrary to the Lessons of all Moralists and legislators, who agree unanimously, That the Passions of Men must be under the Government of Reason and Law; neither are Laws of any other Use than to Correct the Irregularity of our Affections. By the Last, Our Health is ruinous to our selves and other Men, when a Tyrant pleases; which I leave him to make out. D2 20

I cannot sufficiently commend our Ancestors for transmitting to us the Blessing of Liberty; yet having laid out their Blood and Treasure upon the Purchase, I do not see how they acted Parsimoniously; because, I can conceive nothing more generous than that of employing our Blood and Treasure for the Service of others. But I am suddenly struck with the Thought, that I have found his Meaning: Our Ancestors acted Parsimoniously, because they only spent their own Treasure for the good of their Posterity; whereas we squandered away the Treasures of our Posterity too; but whether they will be Thankful, and think it was done for the Preservation of their Liberty, must be left to themselves for a Decision.

I verily believe, though I could not prove it in Westminster-Hall before a Lord Chief Justice, That by Enemies to our Constitution, and Enemies to our present Establishment, Mr. St—le would desire to be understood to mean, My Lord Treasurer, and the rest of the Ministry: By those who are grown Supine in Proportion to the Danger to which our Liberty is every Day more exposed, I should guess, he means the Tories: And, by honest Men who ought to look up with a Spirit that becomes Honesty, he understands the Whigs. I likewise believe, he would take it ill, or think me stupid, if I did not thus expound him. I say then, that according to this Exposition, The Four Great Officers of State, together with the rest of the Cabinet-Council, (except the Archbishop of Canterbury) are Enemies to our Establishment, making artful and open Attacks upon our Constitution, and are now practising indirect Arts, and mean Subtilties, to weaken the Security of those Acts of Parliament for Settling the Succession in the House of Hannover. The First, and most Notorious of these Criminals is, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, Lord High Treasurer, who is reputed to be Chief Minister: The Second is, James Butler, Duke of Ormond, who Commands the Army, and Designs to Ibid. Pag. 2. 21 to Employ it in bringing over the Pretender: the Third is, Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, Secretary of State, who must be supposed to hold a constant Correspondence with the Court at Bar le Duc, as the late E. of G-d-ph-n did with that of St. Germains: and to avoid Tediousness, Mr. Bromley and the rest are employ'd in their several Districts to the same End. These are the Opinions which Mr. St—le and his Faction, under the Direction of their Leaders, are endeavouring with all their Might to propagate among the People of England, concerning the present Ministry; with what Reservation to the Honour, Wisdom, or Justice of the QUEEN, I cannot determine; who by Her own free Choice, after long Experience of their Abilities and Integrity, and in Compliance to the general Wishes of Her People, called them to Her Service. Such an Accusation, against persons in so high Trust, should require, I think at least one single Overt-Act to make it good. If there be no other Choice of Persons fit to serve the Crown without Danger from the Pretender, except among those who are called the Whig-Party, the Hanover Succession is then indeed in a very desperate State; that illustrious Family will have almost Nine in Ten of the Kingdom against it, and those principally of the Landed-Interest, which is most to be depended upon in such a Nation as ours.

I have now got as far as his Extracts, which I shall not be at the Pains of comparing with the Originals, but suppose he has got them fairly transcribed: I only think, That whoever is Patentee for Printing Acts of Parliament, may have a very fair Action against him, for Invasion of Property, but this is none of my Business enquire into.

After Two and twenty Pages spent in recitingPag. 24. Acts of Parliament, he desires leave to repeat the History and Progress of the Union; upon which, I have some few Things to observe. This 22

This Work, he tells us, was unsuccessfully attempted by several of Her Majesty's Predecessors; though I do not remember it was ever Thought on by any except King James the First, and the late King William. I have read indeed, That some small Overtures were made by the former of these Princes towards an Union between the Two Kingdoms, but rejected with Indignation and Contempt by the English. And the Historian tells us, That how degenerate and corrupt forever the Court and Parliament then were, they would not give Ear to so Infamous a Proposal. I do not find that any of the succeeding Princes before the Revolution ever resumed the Design; because it was a Project for which there could not possibly be assigned the least Reason or Necessity: For I defy any Mortal to name one single Advantage that England could ever expect from such an Union.

But towards the End of the late King's Reign, upon Apprehension of the Want of Issue from him or the Princess Anne, a Proposition for Uniting both Kingdoms was begun, because Scotland had not settled their Crown upon the House of Hanover, but left themselves at Large, in Hopes to make their Advantage: And it was thought highly dangerous to leave that Part of the Island inhabited by a poor, fierce Northern People, at Liberty to put themselves under a different King. However, the Opposition to this Work was so great, that it could not be overcome till some Time after Her present Majesty came to the Crown; when by the Weakness or Corruption of a certain Minister since dead, an Act of Parliament was obtain'd for the Scots, which gave them leave to Arm themselves, and so the Union became necessary, not for any actual Good it could possibly do us, but to avoid a probable Evil; and at the same time, save an obnoxious Minister's Head, who was so Wise, as to take the first Opportunity of procuring a general Pardon by Act 23 Act of Parliament, because he could not with ?? Decency or Safery desire a particular One for ?? These Facts are well enough known to the whole Ki?? And I remember, Discoursing above Six Years ag?? the most consideerable Person of the adverse Party ?? great Promoter of the Union, he frankly own'd ?? That this Necessity, brought upon us by the wro?? nagement of the E— of G—, was the only ?? of the Union.

Therefore I am ready to grant Two Points ?? Author of the Crisis: First, That the Union beca?? necessary for the Cause above related; because it ??ted the Island from being governed by Two Kings, England would never have suffered; and it might ??bly have Cost us a War of a Year or two to red?? Scots. Secondly, That it would be dangerous to ?? this Union, at least in this Juncture, while the ?? Pretender abroad, who might probably lay hold of ?? Opportunity. And this made me wonder a little ?? Spirit of Faction last Summer among some People having been the great Promoters of the Union, and ?? of them the principal Gainers by it, could yet pro?? far, as to propose in the House of Lords, that it ?? be Dissolved; while at the same time, those Pee?? had ever opposed it in the Beginaing, were th?? Preserving it, upon the Reason I have just assigned ?? which the Author of the Crisis hath likewise take ??tice of.

But when he tells us, The Englishmen ought in ??sity to be more particularly Careful in preserving this Union, he argues like himself. The late Kingdom of Scotland, (saith he) had as numerous a Nobility as England, &c. They had indeed; and ?? we owe one of the great and necessary Evils of the ?? upon the Foot it now stands. Their Nobility is ?? so numerous, that the whole Revenues of their ?? Pag. ? 24 would be hardly able to maintain them according to the Dignity of their Titles; and what is infinitely worse, they are never likely to be Extinct till the last Period of all Things, because the greatest Part of them Descend to Heirs general. I imagine, a Person of Quality prevailed on to Marry a Woman much his Inferior, and without a Groat to her Fortune, and her Friends arguing, she was as good as her Husband, because she brought him as numerous a Family of Relations and Servants, as she found in his House. Scotland in the Taxes is obliged to contribute One Penny for every Forty pence laid upon England; and the Representatives they send to Parliament are about a Thirteenth: Every other Scotch Peer has all the Priviledges of an English one, except that of Sitting in Parliament, and even Precedence before all of the same Title that shall be created for the time to come. The Pensions and Employments possessed by the Natives of that Country now among us, do amount to more than the whole Body of their Nobility ever spent at Home; And all the Money they raise upon the Publick is hardly sufficient to defray their Civil and Military Lists. I could Point out some with great Titles, who affected to appear very vigorous for Dissolving the Union, though their whole Revenues before that Period would have ill maintained a Welch Justice of the Peace; and have since gathered more Money than ever any Scotchmen, who had not travell'd, could from an Idea of.

I have only one Thing more to say upon Occasion of the Union Act; which is, That the Author of the Crisis may be fairly proved from his own Citations to be guilty of HIGH TREASON. In a Paper of his called the Englishman, of October 29. there is an Advertisement about taking in Subscriptions for Printing the Crisis, where the Title is published at length, with the following Clause, which the Author thought fit to drop in the Publication: [And 25 [And that no Power on Earth can barr, alter, or make voi?? present Settlement of the Crown, &c. By R—d St—?? In his Extract of an Act of Parliament made since ?? Union, it appears to be High Treason for any Person ?? Writing or Printing, to maintain and affirm, That the King or Queens of this Realm, with and by the Authority of Pa??ment, are not able to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient ?? and Validity to limit and bind the Crown, and the De?? Limitation, Inheritance, and Government thereof. This ?? being subsequent to the Settlement of the Crown ?? firmed at the Union; it is probable, some Friend of ?? Author advis'd him to leave out those Treasonable Wo?? in the printed Title Page, which he had before publish in the Advertisement; and accordingly we find, that the Treatise it self, he only offers it to every good Subject's Consideration, whether this Article of the Settlement of the Crown is not as firm as the Union it self, and as the Settlement of Episcopacy in England, &c. And he thinks the Scots understood it so, that the Succession to the Crown was never to be controverted.

These I take to be only treasonable Insinuations; the Advertisement above-mentioned is actually ?? Treason, for which the Author ought to be Prosecuted ?? that would avail any Thing, under a Jurisdiction wh?? Cursing the QUEEN is not above the Penalty of Twe?? Marks.

Nothing is more Notorious, than that the Whigs ?? late Years, both in their Writings and Discourses, ?? affected upon all Occasions to allow the Legitimacy ?? the Pretender: This makes me a little wonder to see our Author labouring to prove the contrary, by producing all the popular Chat of those Times, and other solid Arguments from F?? Narrative: But it must be suppos'd, that this Gentlement acts by the Commands of his Superiors, who have thought E Pag. 2? Pag. 2? Pag. ? 26 fit at this Juncture to issue out new Orders, for Reasons best known to themselves. I wish they had been more clear in their Directions to him upon that weighty Point, whether the Settlement of the Succession in the House of Hanover be alterable or no: I have observ'd, where in his former Pages he gives it in the Negative; but in the turning of a Leaf he has wholly changed his Mind; tells us, He wonders there can be found any Briton weak enough to contend against a Power in their own Nation, which is practiced in a much greater Degree in other States And, how hard it is that Britain should be debarred the Priviledge of establishing it's own Security, by relinquishing only those Branches of the Royal Line which threaten it with Destruction; whilst other Nations never scruple upon less Occasions to go much greater Lengths; of which he produces Instances in France, Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia; and then adds, Can Great Britain help to advance Men to other Thrones, and have no Power in limiting it's Own? How can a Senator, capable of * doing Honour to Sir Thomas Hanmer be guilty of such ridiculous Inconsistences? The Author of the Conduct of the Allies (says he) has dared to drop Insinuations about altering the Succession. The Author of the Conduct, of the Allies writes Sense and English, neither of which the Author of the Crisis understands: The former thinks it wrong in Point of Policy to call in a Foreign Power to be Guarantee of our Succession, because it puts it out of the Power of our own Legislature to change our Succession without the Consent of that Prince or State who is Guaranty, whatever Necessity may happen in future Times. Now if it be High Treason to affirm by Writing, that the Legislature has no such Power; and if Mr. St—le thinks it strange that Britain should be debarred this Priviledge, what could be the Crime of putting Pag. 28 * Mr. St—le's Speech at the Election of a Speaker. Pag. 33. Conduct, Pag. 38. 27 putting such a Case, that in future Ages, a Ne?? might happen of Limiting the Succession, as well ?? has happened already?

When Mr. St—le reflects upon the many Sobemn strong Barriers (to our Succession) of Laws and Oaths, &c. he thinks all Fear vanisheth before them. I think so too; provided the Epithet Solemn for nothing: Because, although I have often heard Solemn Day, a Solemn Feast, and a Solemn Coxcomb, ?? can conceive no Idea to my self of a Solemn Barrier. ?? ever, be that as it will; His Thoughts it seems will him rest, but before he is aware, he asks himself several ??stions: And since he cannot Resolve them, I will ??our to give him what Satisfaction I am able. Th?? is, What are the Mark's of a Lasting Security? To ?? I Answer, That the Signs of it in a Kingdom ?? are first, good Laws, and secondly, those Laws well ??cuted: We are pretty well provided with the ?? but extremely defective in the latter. Secondly, ?? are our Tempers and our Hearts at Home? If by ?? means those of himself and his Abettors, they are damnably Wicked; impatient for the Death ?? QUEEN; realty to gratifie their Ambition and ??venge by all desperate Methods; wholly alienate ?? Truth, Law, Religion, Mercy, Conscience, or ?? Thirdly, In what Hands is Power lodg'd Abroad? ??swer the Question naturally, Louis XIV. is King of ?? Philip V. (by the Councils and Acknowledgments ?? Whigs) is King of Spain, and so on. If by Pow?? means Money; the D— of M— is thought have more ready Money than all the Kings of Ch??dom together; but by the peculiar Disposition of ??dence it is locked up in a Trunk, to which his Am?? has no Key, and that is our Security. Fourthly, ?? unnatural Divisions our Strength? I think not; but ?? E2 Pag ?? 28 are the Sign of it; for being unnatural, they cannot last; and this shews, that Union, the Foundation of all Strength, is more agreeable to our Nature. Fifthly. Is it nothing to us, which of the Princes of Europe hath the longest; Sword? Not much; if we can Tie up his Hands, or put a strong Shield into those of his is Neighbours: Or if our Sword be as Sharp, as his is Long: Or if it be necessary for him to turn his own Sword into a Plow-sheer: Or if such a Sword happens to be in the Hands of an Infant, or struggled for by two Competitors. Sixthly, The powerful Head that deals out Crowns and Kingdoms all around us, may it not in time reach a King out to us too? If the powerful Hand he means, be that of France, it may reach out as many Kings as it please, but we will not accept them. Whence does this Man get his Intelligence? I should think, even his Brother Ridpath might furnish him with better. What Crowns or Kingdoms hath France dealt about? Spain was given by the Will of the former King, in consequence of that infamous Treaty of Partition, the Advisers of which will I hope never be forgot in England. Sicily was disposed of by Her Majesty of Great-Britain. So in effect was Sardinia. France indeed once reached out a King to Poland, but the People would not receive him. This Question of Mr. St—le's was therefore only put in terrorem, without any regard to Truth. Seventhly, Are there no Pretensions to our Crown that can ever be revived? There may for ought I know be about a Dozen: And those in time may possibly beget an Hundred. But we must do as well as we can: Captain Bessus, when he had fifty Challenges to answer, protested he could not Fight above three Duels a Day. If the Pretender should fail (says this Writer) the French King has in his Quiver a Succession of them, the Dutchess of Savoy, or her Sons, or the Dauphin her Grandson. Let me suppose the Chevalier de St. George to be Dead; The Dutchess 29 Dutchess of Savoy will then be a Pretender, and quently must leave her Husband, because His Highness (for Mr. St—le has not yet acknow him for a King) is in Allyance with Her British ?? Her Sons, when they grow Pretenders, must under the same Fate. But I am at a Loss how to dispose Dauphin, if he happens to be King of France be Pretendership to Britain salls to his share; for I ? will never be persuaded to remove out of his ow? dom, only because it is too near England.

But the Duke of Savoy did some Years ago put in his Claim to the Crown of England in right of his Wife; and he is a Prince of great Capacity; in strict Allyance with France, and may therefore ? add to our Fears of a Popish Successor. Is it the ?? the present or of any Ministry, that this Prince his Claim? Must we give him Opium to dest?? Capacity? Or can we prevent his Allyance wi? Prince who is in Peace with Her Majesty? M?? send to Stab or Poyson all the Popish Princes wh? any pretended Title to our Crown by the Pro?? of Blood? What, in the Name of God, can the ?ple drive at? What is it they demand? Supp? present Danphin were now a Man, and King of and next Popish, Heir to the Crown of England; not excluded by the Laws of the Land? But w? gard will he have to our Laws? I answer; Ha? the Queen as good a Title to the Crown of ?? And how is she excluded but by their Law the Succession of Females, which we are not b?? acknowledge? And is it not in our Power to ? Female Successors as well as in theirs? If such tence shall prove the Cause of a War, what H? Power can prevent it? But our Cause must ne? be good and righteous; for either the Kings ? 30 land have been unjustly kept out of the Possession of France, or the Danphin, though nearest of Kin, can have no legal Title to England. And he must be an ill Prince indeed, who will not have the Hearts and Hands of Ninety nine in a Hundred among his Subjects against such a Popish Pretender.

I have been the longer in answering the Seventh Question, because it led me to consider all he had afterwards to say upon the Subject of the Pretender. Eighthly and lastly, He asks himself whether Popery and Ambition are become tame and quiet Neighbours? In this I can give him no Satisfaction, because I never was in that Street where they live; nor do I Converse with any of their Friends; only I find they are Persons of a very evil Reputation. But I am told for certain that Ambition has removed her Lodging, and lives the very next Door to Faction; where they keep such a Racket that the whole Parish is disturbed, and every Night in an uproar.

Thus much in answer to those Eight uneasy Questions, put by the Author to himself, in order to satisfy every Briton, and give him an Occasion of taking an impartial View of the Affairs of Europe in general, as well as of Great-Britain in particular.

After enumerating the great Actions of the Confederate Armies under the Command of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough, Mr. t—le observes in the bitterness of his Soul, that the British General, however unaccountable it may be to Posterity, was not permitted to enjoy the Fruits of his glorious Labour. Ten Years Fruits it seems were not sufficient, and yet they were the fruitfullest Campagns that every any General cropt. However, I cannot but hope, that Posterity will not be left in the dark, but some Care taken both of Her Majesty's Glory, and of the Reputation of those She employs. An impartial Hi- storian 31 storian may tell the World (and the next Age sily believe what it continues to feel) that the ? and Ambition of a few factious insolent Subject almost destroyed their Country, by continuing a War, in conjunction with Allies, for whose sak? pally we fought, who refused to bear their just?? tion of the Charge, and were connived at in fusal for private Ends. That these Faction treated the best and kindest of Sovereigns with ? Cruelty and Ingratitude (of which he will be produce several Instances.) That they encourage sons and Principles alien from our Religion ?? vernment, in order to strengthen their Faction. ? tell the Reasons why the General and first Ministry seduced to be Heads of this Faction contrary ?? nions they had always prosessed. Such an Histo?? shew many Reasons which made it necessary to the General and his Friends, who knowing the ?? the Nation were against them, expected to ? Power when the War was at an End. Particular Historian will discover the whole Intrigue of ?? of M—h's endeavouring to procure a Comm? be General for Life; wherein Justice will be d? Person at that time of high Station in the Law ?? (I mention it to his Honour) advised the D—?? he was consulted upon it, not to accept of fuck ?? mission. By these, and many other Instances which will bring to Light, it may perhaps appear not ?? accountable to Posterity, why this great Man. ?? missed at last, but rather why he was Di?? sooner.

But this is entring into a wide Field. I sha?? fore leave Posterity to the Information of better H?? than the Author of the Crisis or my self, and go ?? form the present Age in some Facts, which the 32 Orator and Politician thinks fit to misrepresent with the utmost degree either of natural or willful Ignorance. He asserts that in the Duke of Ormond's Campagne, after a Suspension of Arms between Great-Britain and France, proclaimed at the Head of the Armies, the British, in the midst of the Enemies Garrisons, withdrew themselves from their Confederates. The Fact is directly otherwise. For the British Troops were most infamously deserted by the Confederates, after all that could be urged by the Duke of Ormond, and the Earl of Strafford, to press the Confederate Generals not to forsake them. The Duke was directed to avoid engaging in any Action till he had further Orders, because an Account of the King of Spain's Renunciation was every Day expected: This the imperialists and Dutch knew well enough, and therefore proposed to the Duke in that very Juncture to engage the French, for no other Reason but to render Desperate all the QUEEN's Measures towards a Peace. Was not the certain Possession of Dunkirk of equal Advantage to the uncertainty of a Battle? A whole Campaign under the Duke of Marlborough, with such an Acquisition, tho' at the Cost of many Thousand Lives, and several Millions of Money, would have been thought very gloriously Ended. Neither after all, was it a new Thing, either in the British General or the Dutch Deputies, to refuse Fighting, when they did not approve it: When the Duke of Marlborough was going to invest Bouchain, the Deputies of the States pressed him in Vain to engage the Enemy, and One of them was so far Discontented upon his Grace's Refusal; that he presently became a Partizan of the Peace; yet I do not remember any Clamour then raised here against the Duke upon that Account. Again, when the French invaded Doway, after the Confederates had deserted the Duke of Ormond, Prince Engene was violently bent upon Battle, and said they should never have another so 33 so good an Opportunity: But Monsieur—, Deputy, rose up, and opposed it so far, that th? was forc'd to desist. Was it then more Criminal Duke of Ormond to refuse Fighting, by express Co?? of the QUEEN, and in order to get Possession kirk, than for the Duke of Marlborough to give t?? Refusal, without any such Orders, or any such Adv?? Or shall a Dutch Deputy assume more Power t?? QUEEN of Great Britain's General, acting by mediate Commands of his Sovereign?

The Emperor and the Empire (says Mr. St—le, by Way of Admiration) continue the War! Is his Imperial Majesty able to continue it or no? If he be, then Great Britain has been strangely ?? Ten Years past: Then how came it to pass, above Thirty thousand Men in his Service in Italy Time of the Battle of Turin, there were not above thousand paid by himself? If he be not able to ?? it, Why does he go on? The Reasons are clear, the War only Affects the Princes of the Empire, he is willing enough to Expose,) but not his own nions. Besides, the Imperial Ministers are in da?? pectation of the QUEEN's Death, which the will give a new Turn to Affairs, and rekindle th?? in Europe upon the old Foot; and we know that ?? nisters of that Court publickly Assign it for a Re?? their Obstinacy against Peace, that they Hope for ??den Revolution in England. In the mean Tim Appearance of the Emperor being forsaken by his All serve to encrease the Clamour both here and in ?? against Her Majesty and those She Employs.

Mr. St—le says, There can be no Crime in affirming, (if it be a Truth) That the House of Bourbon Ib is at this Juncture become more formidable, and bids fairer for an Universal Monarchy, and to engross the Trade of Europe, than it did before the War. F 34

No Crime in affirming it, if it be a Truth. I will for once allow his Proposition. But if it be false, then I affirm, That whoever advances so Seditious a Falshood, deserves to be Hanged. Does he mean by the House of Bourbon, the Two Kings of France and Spain? If so, I reject his Meaning, which would insinuate that the Interests and Designs of both those Princes will be same, wheteas they are more opposite than those of any Two other Monarchs in Christendom. This is the old foolish Slander so frequently flung upon the Peace, and as frequently refuted. These factious Undertakers of the Press write with great Advatage; they strenuously affirm a thousand Falshoods, without Fear, Wit, Conscience, or Knowledge; and we who Answer them, must be at the Expence of an Argument for each: After which, in the very next Pamphlet, we see the same Assertions produced again, without the least Notice of what has been said to disprove them. By the House of Bourbon, does he mean only the Frenth King for the Time being? If so, and his Assertion be true, Then that Prince must either deal-with the Devil, or else the Money and Blood spent in our Ten Years Victories against him, might as well have continued in the Purseses and Veins of Her Majesty's Subjects.

But the particular Assertions of this Author are easies detected than his general ones; I shall therefore proceed upon examining the former. For Instance: I desire him to ask the Dutch, who can best inform him, Why they delivered up Traerbach to the Imperia-lists? For as to the QUEEN, Her Majesty was never once consulted in it; whatever his Preceptors the Politicians of Button's Coffee-House may have informed him to the contrary.

Mr. St—le affirms, That the French have begun the Demolition of Dunkirk Contemptuously and Arbitrarily their own Way. The Governor of the Town, and those Gentlemen entrusted with the Ibid. Ibid. 35 the Inspection of this Work, do assure me, that ?? is altogether otherwise: That the Method prefer those whom Her Majesty employs, hath been exa?? lowed, and that the Works are already demolish will venture to tell him further, That the Demolish so long deferred, in order to remove those Difficulties the Barrier-Treaty has put us under; and the Eve?? shewn, that it was Prudent to proceed no faster t?? Difficulties were got over. The Mole and Harbor not be destroyed till the Ships were got out, w?? Reason of some profound Secrets of State, did n?? pen till t'other Day. Who gave him those just Suspicions that the Mole and Harbour will never be P?? destroy'd? What is it he would now insinuate? That the Ministry is bribed to leave the most im?? Part of the Work undone; Or, that the Pretended Invade us from thence; Or, that the QUEEN ?? tered into a Conspiracy with Her Servants to prev?? good Effects of the Peace, for no other End but the Affections of Her People, and endanger Her S??

Instead of any further Information, which I could give, but which no honest Man can want; I ven?? affirm, That the Mole and Harbour of Dunkirk W?? short Time be most effectually destroy'd; and at t?? Time, I venture to Prophesie, that neither Mr. ?? nor his Faction, will ever confess they believe it.

After all, it is a little hard, That the QUEE not be allow'd to demolish this Town in whatever She pleases to fancy: Mr. St—le must have his own Way, and is angry the French have preter?? do it Theirs; and yet he wrongs them into the B?? For my own Part, I do seriously think, the Most C?? King to be a much better Friend of Her Majesty Mr. St—le, or any of his Faction; besides, it is considered, that he is a Monarch and a Relation F2 36 therefore in I were a Privy-Councellor, and my Advice to be asked, which of those Two † GENTLEMEN BORN should have the Direction in the Demolition of Dunkirk, I would give it for the former; because I look upon Mr. St—le, in Quality of a Member of his Party, to be much more Skillful in demolishing at Home than Abroad.

There is a Prospect of more Danger to the Balance of Europe, and to the Trade of Britain, from the Emperor over-running Italy, than from France over-running the Empire; That his Imperial Majesty entertains such Thoughts, is visible to the World: And though little can be said to justifie many Actions of the French King, yet the worst of them hath never equalled the Emperor's Arbitrary keeping the Possession of Milan, directly contrary to his Oath, and to the express Words of the Golden Bull; which oblige him to deliver up every Fief that falls; or else they must all in the Course of Time lapse into his own Hands.

I was at a Loss who it was that Mr. St—le hinted at some Time ago by the powerful Hand, that deals out Crowns and Kingdoms all around us: I now plainly find, he meant no other Hand but his own. He hath dealt out the Crown of Spain to France; to France he hath given leave to invade the Empire next Spring with Two hundred thousand Men; And now at last, he deals to France the Imperial Dignity; and so farewell Liberty; Europe will be French. But in order to bring all this about, the Capital of Austria, the Residence of his Imperial Majesty must continue to be visited by the Plague, of which the Emperor must Die, and so the Thing is done. Why †Close to the Englishman, Pag. 2. Pag. 32. Ibid. 37

Why should not I venture to deal out one S?? my Turn as well as Mr. St—le? I therefore ?? the Empire to the Elector of Saxony, upon failure to this Emperor at his Death; provided the Wh?? prevail on the Son to turn Papist to get an En?? they did upon the Father to get a Kingdom. Or?? Prince be not approved of, I deal out in his st?? Elector of Bavaria: And in one or t'other of these, ?? engage to have all Christendom to second me, w?? the Spleen, in the Shape of Politicks, may Dictat?? Author of the Crisis.

The Design of Mr. St—le, in representing the stances of the Affairs of Europe, is to signisic to the ?? the that all Europe is put in the high Road to Slavery Corruption of Her Majesty's present Ministers; he goes on to Portugal; which having, during the War supplied us with Gold in exchange for our Woollen Manufacture, has only at present a Suspension of Arms for it's Protection, to last no longer than till the lonians are reduced; and then the old Pretensions of S Portugal will be revived: And Portugal when ono?? by Spain, falls naturally with the rest of Em?? the Gulph of France. In the mean time, let us f?? Relief a little Truth can give this unhappy K?? That Portugal hath yet no more than a Suspe?? Arms, they may Thank themselves, because the so late into the Treaty; and that they came so la?? may Thank the Whigs, whose false Representation were so weak to Believe. However, the QU ?? has voluntarily given them a Guarantee to defend against Spain till the Peace shall be made; a ?? Terms after the Peace, are stipulated for them, ?? Portuguese themselves are contented with. 38 Having mentioned the Catalbnians, he puts the Question, Who can name the Catalonians without a Tear? That can I; For he has told so many melancholy Stories without one Syllable of Truth, that he has blunted the Edge of my Feats, and I shall not be startled at the worst he can say. What he affirms concerning the Catalonians is included in the following Particulars: First, That they were drawn into the War by the Encouragement of the Maritime Powers; by which are understood England and Holland: But he is too good a Friend of the Dutch, to give them any Part of the Blame. Secondly, That they are now abandoned and exposed to the Resentment of an enraged Prince. Thirdly, That they always opposed the Person and Interest of that Prince, who is their present King. Lastly, That the Doom is dreadful of those who shall in the Sight of God be esteemed their Destroyers. And if we interpret the Insinuation he makes, according to his own Mind, the Destruction of those People, must be imputed to the present Ministry.

I am sometimes in Charity disposed to hope, That this Writer is not always sensible of the flagrant Falshoods he utters, but is either byassed by an Inclination to believe the worst, or a Want of Judgment to chuse his Informers. That the Catalonians were drawn into the War by Encouragement of Her Majesty, should not in Decency have been affirmed till about Fifty Years hence; when it might be supposed there would be no living Witness left to disprove it. It was only upon the Assurances of a Revolt, given by the Prince of Hesse and others, and their Invitation, that the QUEEN was prevailed with to send her Forces upon that Expedition. When Barcelona was taken by a most unexpected Accident, of a Bomb lighting on the Magazine, then indeed the Catalonians Revolted, having before submitted and sworn Allegiance to Philip, as much as any other Pro- Pag. 32. 39 Province of Spain. Upon the Peace between that ?? and Britian; the Queen, in order to ease the Emperor save his Troops, stipulated with King Philip for a ?? trality in Italy, and that his Imperial Majesty should Liberty to evacuate Catalonia; upon Conditions o?? their Indemnity to the Catalans, with an entire R??tion to their Honours; Dignities, and Estates. A?? Neutrality was never observed by the Emperor, so ??ver effectually evacuated Catalonia; for tho' he sent the main Body he left behind many Officers and ?? Men, who now spirit-up and assist those obstinat?ple to continue in their Rebellion. It is true indeed King Philip did not absolutely restore the Catalans their old Privileges, of which they never made other than as an Encouragement to Rebel; but, to the ?? Privileges with his Subjects of Castille particularly Liberty of Trading, and having Employments ?? West-Indies, which they never enjoyed before. B? the QUEEN reserved to himself their Power of pro?? fauther Immunities for them, wherein the most ?? King was obliged to second Her : For, his Catholic jesty intended no more, than to retrench those Prin? under the Pretext of which they now Rebel, as the ?? formerly done in favour of France. How dreadful must the Doom the of those who hindred these People ?? submitting to the gentle Terms offered them by ?? Prince! and who, although they are conscious of ?? own Inability to furnish one single Ship for the St? of the Catolans, are at this Instant spurring them their Ruin, by Promises of Aid and Protection.

Thus much in Answer to Mr. St—le's Account Affairs of Futope; from which he deduces the Un? Monarchy of France, and the Danger of I know no many Popish Successors to Britain. His political Resle are as good as his Facts. We must observe 40 he) that the Person who seems to be the most ??voured by the French King in the late Treaties, is the Duke of Savoy. Extreamly right: For, whatever that Prince got by the Peace, he owes entirely to Her Majesty, as a just Reward for his having been so firm and useful and Ally, neither was France brought with more Difficulty to yield any one Point, than that of allowing the Duke such a Barrier as the Queen insisted on.

He is become the most powerful Prince in Italy. I had rather see Him so than the Emperor. He is supposed to have entred into a secret and strict Alliance with the House of Bourbon. This is one of those Facts wherein I an most inclined to believe the Author, because it is what he must needs be utterly ignorant of, and therefore might possibly be true.

I thought indeed we should be Safe from all Popish Successors as far as Italy, because of the prodigious Clutter about sending the Pretender thither. But they will never agree where to six their Longitude. The Duke of Savoy is the more dangerous for removing to Sicily: Her adds about Fears for being too far off, and the Chevalier de St. George fot being too near. So, Whether France conquers Germany, or be in Peace and good Understanding with it; either Event will put us and Holland at Mercy of France, who has a Quiver full of Pretenders, at his Back, whenever the Chevalier shall Die.

This was just the Logick of poor Prince Butler, a Splenatick Mad-Man, whom every Body may remember about the Town. Prince Pamphilio in Italy employ'd Emissaries to torment Prince Butler here. But what if Prince Pamphilio dies? Why then, he has left in his Will for his Heirs and Executors to torment Prince Butler for ever.

I cannot think it a Misfortune, what Mr. St—le affirms, That treasonable Books lately dispersed among us, striking apparently at the Hanover Sue- cession, Page 32. is the Pag. 33 Pag. 33 Ibid. 41 cession, have passed almost without Observation from the ?? nerality of the People; because it seems a certain ?? that the Generality of the People are well disposect that Illustrious Family: But I look upon it as a ?? Evil, to see Seditious Books dispersed among us, app??ly striking at the QUEEN and her Administration at the Constitution in Church and State, and at alligion; yet passing without Observation from the G??lity of those in Power: But whether this Remi?? may be imputed to White-Hall, or Westminster-Hall, is ?? Mens Business to enquire. Mr. St—le knows in?? Conscience, that the Queries concerning the Pretender, ??ed from one of his own Party. And as for the ?? Nonjurig Clergyman, who was trusted with commi?? to the Press a late Book on the Subject of Hereditary ?? by a strain of the Summum Jus, he is now, as I am ?? with half a score Children, starving and rotting a?? Thieves and Pick-pockets, in the common Room ?? stinking Jail. I have never seen either the Book c?? Publisher; however, I would sain ask one single Per?? the World a Question; Why he who hath so often ?? the Abdicated King's Health upon his Knees—B?? Transition is natural and frequent, and I shall not tr?? him for an Answer.

It is the hardest Case in the World, that Mr. S?? should take up the artificial Reports of his own Fa?? and then put them off upon the World, as additional Fears of a Popish Successor. I can assure him, that no good Subject of the QUEEN is under the least Concern whether the Pretender be Conver ?? no, farther than their Wishes that all Men would en?? the true Religion. But, reporting backwards an?? wards upon this Point, helps to keep up the Noise?? is a Topick for Mr. St—le to enlarge himself upon shewing how little we can depend on such Con?? ons; by collecting a List of Popish Cruelties, and r? G ?? 42 ing, after himself and the Bishop of S—m, the dismal Effects likely to follow upon the Return of that Superstition among us.

But as this Writer is reported by those who-know him, to be what the French call Journalier, his Fear and Courage operating according to the Weather in our uncertain Climate; I am apt to believe, the two last Pages of his Crisis were written on a Sunshiny Day. This I guess from the general Tenor of them, and particularly from an unwary Assertion, which, if he believes as firmly as I do, will at once overthrow all his foreign and domestick Fears of a Popish Successor. As divided a People as we are, those who are for the House of Hanover, are INFINITELY superior in Number, Wealth, Courage, and all Arts Military and Civil, to those in the contrary Interest; besides which, we have the Laws, I say, the Laws on our side. The Laws, I say, the Laws. This elegant Repetition is, I think, a little out of place; for the Stress might better have been laid upon so great a Majority of the Nation; without which, I doubt the Laws would be of little weight; although they are very good additional Securities. And, if what he here asserts be true, as it certainly is, though he asserts it; (for I allow even the Majority of his own Party to be against the Pretender) there can be no Danger of a Popish Successor, except from the unreasonable Jealousies of the best among that Party, and from the Malice, the Avarice, or Ambition of the worst; without which, Britain would be able to defend her Succession against all her Enemies both at Home and Abroad. Most of the Dangers from Abroad which he enumerates as the Consequences of this very bad Peace, made by the QUEEN, and approved by Parliament, must have subsisted under any Peace at all; unless, among other Projects equally feasible, we could have stipulated to cut the Throats of every Popish Relation to the Royal Family. Well, Pag. 36. 43

Well; by this Author's own Confession, a num?? finitely superior, and the best circumstantiated imag?? are for the Succession in the House of Hanover. T?? cession is established, confirmed, and secured by Laws; Her Majesty's repeated Declarations, at?? Oaths of all Her Subjects, engage both Her and T?? preserve what those Laws have settled. This is ?? rity indeed, a Security adequate at least to the Impo?? of the Thing; and yet, according to the Whig-So?? as delivered to us by Mr. St.—le and his Coadjut?? altogether insufficient; and the Succession will be ??ed, the Pretender brought in, and Popery established a?? us, without the farther Assistance of this Writer a Faction.

And what Securities have our Adversaries substance in the Place of these? A Club of Politicians, where Man presides; A Crisis written by Mr. St.—le; A ?? deracy of knavish Stock-Jobbers to ruin Credit; ?? port of the QUEEN's Death; An Effigies of the tender run twice through the Body by a valiant A Speech by the Author of the Crisis; And to Sum ?? an unlimited Freedom of reviling Her Majesty, and She Employs.

I have now finished the most disgustful Task that I undertook. I could with more ease have written dull Pamphlets, than remark'd upon the Falshoods Absurdities of One. But I was quite confounded Wednesday when the Printer came with another phlet in his Hand, written by the same Author, and ? tituled, The Englishman, being the Close of the Paper so ? &c. He desired I would read it over, and consider i? Paper by it self; which last I absolutely refused. Upon usal, I found it chiefly an Invective against Toby, the Mini?? the Examiner, the Clergy, the Qu—n, and the Post-Boy: Y? the same time with great Justice exclaiming against t? who presumed to offer the least Word against the H G2 44 of that Faction whom Her Majesty discarded. The Author likewise proposes an equal Division of Favour and Employments between the Whigs and Tories: For, if the former can have no Part or Portion in David; they desire no longer to be his Subjects. He insists, That Her Majesty has exactly followed Monsteur Tughe's Memorial aginst Demolishing of Dunkirk. He reflects with great Satisfaction on the good already done to his Country by the Crisis, Non nobis Domine, non nobis, &c.—He gives us hopes that he will leave off Writing, and consult his own Quiet and Happiness; And concludes with a Letter to a Friend at Court. I suppose by the Style of old Friend, and the like, it must be somebody there of his own Level; among whom, his Party have indeed more Friends than I could with. In this Letter, he asserts, That the present Ministers were not educated in the Church of England, but are new Converts from Presbytery. Upon which I can only reflect, how blind the Malice of that Man must be, who invents a ground-less Lye in order to Desame his Superiors, which would be no Disgrace, if it had been a Truth. And the concludes, with making Three Demands for the Satisfaction of himself and other Malecontents. First; The Demolition of the Harbour of Dunkirk: Secondly, That Great Britain and Duke of Lorrain, and force the Pretender from his Asylm at Bar le Duc: Lastly, That his Electoral Highness of Hanover would be so grateful to signisie to all the World, the perfect good Understanding he has with the Court of England, in as plain Terms, as Her Majesty was pleased to declare She had with that House on Her Part.

As to the First of these Demands, I will venture to undertake it shall be granted; But then Mr. St—le, and his Brother Malecontents, must Promise to believe the Thing is done, after those employ d have made their Report, or else bring Vouchers Pag. 5. Pag. 11. Pag. 18. Pag. 22. 45 Vouchers to disprove it. Upon the Second; I cant ?? whether Her Majesty will engage in a War against ?? Duke of Lorrain, to force him to remove the Pret?? But I believe, if the Parliament should think it ne?? to Address upon such an Occasion, the QUEEN wi?? that Prince to send Him away. His last Demand, under the Title of a Wish, is of so insolent and sed? Strain, that I care not to touch it. Here he directly Her Majesty with delivering a Falshood to Her ?? ment from the Throne; and declares he will not ?? her, till the Elector of Hanover himself shall vo? the Truth of what She hath so Solemnly affirmed ??.

I agree with this Writer that it is an idle Thin?? Antagonists to trouble themselves upon the Articles of his Birth, Education, or Fortune; For whoever writes at this Rate of his Sovereign, to whom he owes so many Personal Obligations, never enquire whether he be a GENTLEMAN but whether he be a HUMAN CREATURE

Just Publish'd,

A Modest Enquiry into the Reasons of the Joy exp?? certain Sett of People, upon the spreading of a ?? Her Majesty's Death. Price 3 d. Printed for John Mo?? Stationers-Hall.