THE Honourable House of Commons have already answered this Speech in a manner sutable to its Design; viz. They have committed that to the Flames it self, which was de­sign'd to raise Flames amongst others: and it's very pro­bable, that if this Speech had been Spoke within as it was Printed without Doors, that the Author had undergon the same Fate to which he would have condemned the Bill for Naturalizing of Foreign Prote­stants, viz. he had been kick'd out of Doors, and then perhaps shut up in the Tower. But seeing the Faction do look upon those things as un­answerable, which are many times not answered, because indeed unworthy of a Reply, I hope it will not be thought unbecoming any true Englishman to make his Reflections upon this Seditious Speech, and testify his Concurrence with the Honourable House in their Just Censures of it.

This following Speech (says my Author, Pag. 11) being spoke Off-hand upon the Debates in the House of Commons, you cannot expect in it the Exactness of Roman Eloquence, but you have the Freedom and Bravery of the Old Roman or true English Spirit, zealous for the Good of their Country, and bold in all its Dangers.

It's but reasonable to conceive that Ill Designs should have a Bad Foundation, and therefore Natural to our Author, who design'd a Superstructure of Falshood to lay the first Stone with a Lie: He would perswade us that the Speech, as it follows, was spoke in the House of Commons, so that he might very well take upon him to publish it, seeing they had the Patience to hear it. What height of Impudence is the Faction arriv'd to! they would not only value themselves upon the Friendship of the particular Member on which this Speech is fix'd, but make the World believe that the Whole House of Commons, who [Page 2]are the Representatives of the Nation, concur with those Seditious Reflections which it abounds with throughout; or at least that they would never have taken notice of them, if this Speech had not been printed: So that at once it would insinuate, that the Parliament is wholly dissatisfied with His Majesty's Title and Conduct, and yet con­cur to support him in that which they themselves condemn; which being duly considered, the Honourable House must needs be esteemed very Moderate in their Censure, though at the same time they have given a sufficient demonstration of their Resentments against such an Injurious Reflection, which might have been prejudicial both to His Majesty's Affairs and their own Reputation.

But our Author is more concerned for the Reputation of his own Eloquence, than either for that of the King or Parliament; and there­fore makes an Apology for the one, but none for the other: but seeing he publish'd a Lie for himself, we are sure that he would never have writ Truth for them, and therefore they are at no loss by his Silence; which had he also observ'd, in respect of himself, it had been a better Medium to preserve his Reputation than his Extemporary Speech.

Our Author is resolv'd to make us a Compensation for his want of Eloquence, by the Freedom and Bravery of the Old Roman and true Eng­lish Spirit, if any body can be so sharp-sighted as to discern it in his Off-hand Speech; but we would pray him to restrain his Choler, if we tell him that he has entertain'd us with more of the New Romists Bravery and the Spirit of the Laudean or Church-Faction, than either with the one or the other of the Former: for I never in my life-time saw any thing more exactly copied according to the Jesui­tical and new Romish Maxim, Columniare audacter, in hopes that ali­quid herebit, than this our Author's Extemporary Harangue, which is so far from savouring any thing of the Old Roman Spirit, who would not so much as suffer Lies to be told in Jest upon the Stage, lest they should be imitated in Earnest elsewhere; that it is every where cramm'd with Lies or Prevarications, as we shall have occasion to touch elsewhere, and at the same time to try the truth of his Pre­tensions to a Zeal for his Country, and boldness in all its Dangers.

Our Extemporary Orator goes on and tells us, That if other Corpo­rations and Shires would take the like care as B—l, they might be as happy in the Choice of their Representatives; and then, and never till then, may we hope to see Poor England become Old England again, Rich and Happy at Home, Glorious and Renowned Abroad: Towards which this Worthy Patrict has set a noble Example; and that it may inspire and incourage others, and [Page 3]prempt and enable the Country to distinguish such from Pensioners and Wretched Betrayers of their Country and Posterity, is the design of making this Publick from a Copy which I procur'd from a Member of the House of Commons, who took it in Short-hand as it was spoke.

Here he recommends the choice of B—l as as a Pattern for all the Corporations and Shires of the Kingdom. Now there are some who will be so malicious as to say, that by this the Author recommends J—ites. which is a plain Commentary upon his former Text, and a true taste of his old Roman Spirit; but the mischief on't is, that there are many Shires and Corporations of the Nation, where, let the Fa­ction take as much care as they can, they will never be able to make such a Choice except they could revive the Measures of the late Reigns, when three Votes carried it from three hundred; and if the Clerks had spell'd the Names of the Electors otherwise than they did them­selves, it was reckon'd sufficient to deprive them of their Voice; or if that would not do, they had a never-failing Magazine at the South-Side of Pauls, whence they could thunder out Excommunications to send Men to Hell, that to be sure they should not give a Vote upon Earth.

But if we could get such a Choice as our Author recommends, then Poer England would become Old England again; Poor and Old are mise­rable Epithets, and therefore our Author adds Rich and Happy at Home, and Glorious and Renewn'd abroad. What poor Sophistry is here to cheat poor England out of her Senses? Does our Author think that the Nation has so speedily forgot, that during the last two Reigns, the Friends of which he does so earnestly recommend to our Choice, Eng­land's Riches were spent upon the Lusts of her Princes, that the Ex­chequer was shut up, and the Orphans Money seiz'd; that our Trea­sure and Men were interred at Tangier, or buried in the bottom of the Sea, by fighting against our Protestant Neighbours the Dutch; that we were look'd upon as Effeminate Poltrons abroad, and made Slaves at home by the Violation of our Magna Charta, and the Sei­sing of all the Charters of Corporations; that Protestants were made Tools to destroy one another, while the Interest of Rome prevail'd over both; that Standing Armies were levied in time of Peace, and encamp'd on Hounslow-Heath to shoot Butterflies, and their Victuals nor Clothes not yet paid for; that our Nobility and Gentry were cut off by Sham-Plots, to make way for the stifling of the Plots of the Papists; that our Navy rotted in our Havens, while the French King increas'd his Strength at Sea, had Directions from our Monarch how [Page 4]to build Men of War, and was supplied with English Mariners and Stores; that Idolatry was maintain'd by the King on the Throne, our Colleges in the Hands of Papists and our Bishops in the Tower; that a Sham Prince was fobb'd upon the Nation to exclude a Protestant Successor and maintain Popery; that Catholick Officers commanded our Armies in Chief, and Irish Cut-throats were our Life-Guards. Now all this, and ten times more being uncontrovertibly true, let our Author show us, if he can, how England was then Happy at home and Glorious and Renown'd abroad: and though it's true that England was Richer then than at present; yet those were the Causes that she is now become Poorer, and brought on the War which does so much Exhaust her.

But to make our Author sensible that we can do more than Recri­minate, let him be pleas'd to tell us, if ever England was bless'd before with a Protestant King and Queen, or free of suspicion from Q. Eli­zabeth's time till now, that Popery was favoured by the Court? When was it that ever England's Monarch was Generalissimo of Europe, and not only Arbitrator of her Differences, but in a manner her Law­giver? We us'd to value our selves mightily that we could turn the ballance, and is it nothing now that we are the Champions of Chri­stendom, and our King the Head of the Greatest League that ever was made in the Western World? Was England's Banner ever so much reverenc'd abroad, and not only her Terrour, but her Armies spread beyond the Aples? Was it ever known till now, that the Emperour, King of Spain, and Electors of the Empire, would submit to the Arms and Conduct of an English King, and command their Generals to obey his Orders? Was there ever such a Congress of Princes and Ambassadors in Europe, as assembled to Consult His Majesty at the Hague? Was ever the Roaring of our English Lions heard with so much Majesty, not only in Ireland and Flanders, but in the Bowels of Italy? Was there ever a more Glorious Victory obtain'd at Sea than that over the French under King William's Banner, which laid Lewis XIV th's Glory in the bottom of the Depths? Had we ever a King of England who signaliz'd himself personally in so many Battels, though there be more Danger in one now than there was in twenty in former Ages? Or had we ever any who un­dertook so many perillous Voyages by Sea, for the Honour of the Na­tion, as he has done? Had we ever a Prince who did so gloriously rescue our own Religion and Liberty, and not only ours, but those of Europe, and who is not meerly a Nominal but real Defender of the [Page 5]Faith? does not send counterfeit Assistance to Foreign Protestants as K. Charles I. did to those of Rochel, and at the same time ruin them by his Men of War, but hath actually restored the Antient Church of the Waldenses, who under his auspicious Protection have regained their Country, and reestablished their desolate Churches. Had we ever a Prince before, who made it his Business to hinder one Party of our British Protestants to destroy the other, and evidences a truly paternal Care over all his Subjects? Had we ever a Prince who by an unparallel'd Clemency to his Enemies, was almost cruel to himself and his Friends? Or had we ever a King before who could command both England and Holland, two of the most formidable Powers in Europe? Or could boast of an Universal Kindred or Alliance with almost all the Sovereign Princes in Christendom? So that for the Point of Glo­ry, he hath made England higher than ever; and that she is not Richer is none of his Fault, but justly chargeable on those of our Author's Principles, who betray his Counsels, obstruct his Measures, prevent his having the united Service of his Protestant Subjects, and study more, under a Notion of humouring the Church Faction, to ruin the Church her self, by keeping up of Divisions amongst Protestants, and to over­turn the Church of Scotland, and the Liberty of Old and New-Eng­land, than either to promote their Countries Good, or their Sove­raign's Honour, by a Cordial Opposition to the French King, who is the Common Enemy of Christendom himself, and in League with those who have always owned themselves to be such. And this I hope is sufficient to demonstrate whether the Choice of B—l ought to be a Pattern to the Nation, and to enable the Country to distinguish betwixt such as are really Pensioners to the French King and those who are falsly esteemed such to King William, because perhaps his Servants or Officers, and willing rather to grant him their early Assistance against the Common Enemy, than tenaciously to contradict him in such things as some of our Author's Kidney have labour'd to perswade him, are his incommunicable Prerogative which he ought not to part with, on purpose to make a Rupture betwixt him and his Parlia­ments, that so they may take advantage from our mutual Confusions, and like this venomous Libeller endeavour to procure Tumults, and betray their Country and Posterity to Popery and Slavery.

But now, Gentlemen, Si vobis placet audire fabulam, here's one for you with a couple of Lies in it's Belly spick and span new from the Ja­cobite Mint.

Mr. Speaker, (says my Author) I have heard of a Ship in a violent [Page 6]Strom in danger of perishing every Momem; [It was not such a sham Sterm we were lately entertain'd with in the Gazette which deceives the People, that many Ships going for France laden with Corn and several sorts of Provisions for the use of our Dutch Allies, to enable them to live Cheap by making the same Dear at Home; perhaps some was for the suppert of our half starv'd and unpaid English Souldiers now in Flanders, when perish'd likewise more than 700 Sailors, who have left thousands of Widows, Children and poor Relations to curse our Conduct at Sea; the Cause of this Calamity in such a dreadful Storm it was that the foresaid Ship was in]; when the good Com­mander seeing the Danger and apprehending Death, desir'd his Crew to assist with Resolution, and preserve themselves and the Ship; which the Sailors re­fusing to do, be retired to his Cabin, humbled himself in Prayer, and im­plored the Powers that alone can save in time of Need, that though the Ship and the Company might be justly swallowed up for the Disobedience of the Sailors, yet that he and his Cabin might suffer no Damage.

It were an easy Matter to turn over Aesop's or Phedrus his Fables, and repay our Author in his own Com, but I shall content my self with an Animadversion on his Moral, and take his Lies to Task which are more material. To begin with his Lies, they are foisted into the middle of his Fable with a very huge and bulky Parenthesis; but our Author was full of them, and out they must tumble: Well, that you may be sure he himself is a Man of Truth, he begins and charges the Gazette with a Lie; and that which is worse, that it deceives the Peo­ple. But by our Author's leave, If the Loss of the Ships bound to France with Corn was a Lie, it was made by their own Friends the Danes; and though perhaps the Number might not be so great as at first given out, yet the main of the Story does certainly hold; nor do I believe that our Author has better Correspondence than that which comes to our Secretary of State, and is published twice per Week in the Gazette by Authority: but the Mischief on't is, say the Jucobites, That they agree with the Gazetteer to cheat the People: whether or not our Author understands French or Dutch, it's not material; but if he had consulted any of his Friends that do, they could have told him that all the Gazettes which come from beyond Sea, that of Paris ex­cepted, had the same Relation; and there are private Letters still to be seen in Town of the same Tenor, and that's more than I am sure he can produce, except they be of his own and his Friends forging for his seventy Ships lost on the West of England, which no Body but he and they ever heard of: but it's no matter to him whether the Story be true or false, it serves his turn to make the Government odious [Page 7]to the People, as if they had a Design to starve their own Subjects while they feed and pamper our Allies the Dutch; and lest his own Prayers should not be successful, they are back'd with the Curses of thousands of Widwos, Children and Relations of 700 drown'd Sailors, who curse our Conduct at Sea, the Cause of this Calamity, though before he had told us that it was caused by a Storm, and that I suppose may happen where there's the best of Conduct; but right or wrong, our Conduct must be blam'd, else the thousands of Widows left by the 700 Sailors can't tell whither to direct their Curses; and that they may do it the more heartily, they must be told that the Corn was design'd for the Dutch, to make them lives Cheap while we pine for Want: And to give their Curses still the sharper Edg, our Author would insinuate that the Stars in their Courses fight against King William, whilst Claudian's Verses are applicable to Lewis XIV. O nimium dilecte Dee, cui militat Aether, & conjurati veniunt ad Classica Vents. But it's an easy matter for one who can print such Speeches Without, as were never made within Doors, to invent Lies and contradict Truths, similes habent sua Labra Lactucas, Such Causes require such Sup­ports. The Paris Gazetteer is known to be a Liar all over Europe, and we can point at a Reign or two when the English Gazetteer labour'd un­der the same Infamy; so that it's no wonder that the Faction, who never were Clients of Truth themselves, should expect nothing but False­hoods from others: but blessed be God the present Government neither needs nor does make use of such Methods to support it; and though his false Story of seventy of our Ships Joaden with Corn, and 700 of our Sailors being drown'd, may be a Cordial to keep up the droop­ing Spirits of the Jacobites for a while, they will find their Infor­mer to be a Cheat at last.

But now for his Moral, he goes on thus:

Sir, I cannot as that good Commander did, be so vain as to hope that either my self, or the Place for which I serve can be preserved from the general Inundation which this Bill we are now debating lets in one the Liberties of my native Country and Country-men, and therefore be unconcerned for the Good of England, provided B—l were Safe. To hope for and ex­pect Happiness in Life, when all Mankind but my self are Dead, would not be more deceiving, than to propose Comfort and Security to my self and Corporation, when Strangers are admitted to possess, and enjoy by a Law, all that's Valuable in this Kingdom; For this Bill doth enfranchise all Strangers, that will Swear and Protest against Popery, with the Liberty of every Eng­man, after the vast Expence of Treasure and English Blood is hath cost [Page 8]this Kingdom in all Times and Ages of our Forefathers, to secure them to themselves and their Posterity.

Here's a very severe Libel against the Representatives of the Na­tion, that none of them have any Concern for the Publick Good but himself; not one Soul more who will help to keep up the Banks against a Deluge of Foreigners which is ready to overflow us; for it seems by him that all the rest are like the perverse Sailors who deserve to be swallowed up for their Disobedience, and Sir J. K— and his Cor­poration only to be safe. But not so fast, Can any Man of common Sense think that so many Gentlemen, who have ventured their Lives, Estates, and all that is dear to them for the Defence of their English Liberties, should be all of a sudden so enamoured on Foreigners, as to suffer them tamely to swallow up all without opposition, if there were any such Hazard, or that Sir J. K— should alone see the Danger, and all the rest be as blind as Beetles? This seems every whit as un­reasonable in our Author, as that which he himself ridicules in the next Paragraph but one, That we should reckon our selves Wiser than our Forefathers; for here he prefers Sir J.K's Sight and Sense to that of the whole House of Commons, who are his Contemporaries, and in all Circumstances not only Equal but Superiour to him or any one single Person in Foresight and Judgment: whereas the Absurdity is not so great, if as to the changing of mutable Constitutions, we pretend to be as good Judges as our Forefathers, seeing we stand upon their Shoul­ders, and must in the Sense of all Mankind know our own Circum­stances better than they could do, except they had been all of them inspir'd with a Spirit of Prophecy. But that which sticks in our Au­thor's Stomach is, that all Strangers that will Swear and Protest against Popery, should be admitted to possess, by a Law, all that's valuable in this Kingdom, with the liberty of every English-man. He would do well to explain himself, whether it be this Test or not that vexes him; perhaps he is angry that they should be oblig'd to abjure Po­pery, which is contrary indeed to his Roman Spirit, and according to the Charity of the Laudean or Church Faction, it would have been a much more acceptable Test to have made them abjure Presby­tery, and so unchurch all those of the Reformed Communion Abroad for want of Episcopal Ordination, according to the new Method of Charity to the French Protestant Divines, to deny them a Benefice without they submit to a Reordination, and cut off a Third or a Fourth of the Peoples Bounty from those who do not Conform, though they were obliged to swear in the Confession of their own Church, [Page 9]that they believe no Ecclesiastical Order of Divine Right superior to that of a Presbyter. But further, what if the promoters of that Bill do find it requisite to have an Alloy of Foreign Protestants, who will be true to the Interest of their Religion, and consequently of the Country where it is maintain'd, and not so inconsistent with either as a certain sort of Men amongst us, who will needs be call'd Protestants and Englishmen, and yet promote the Interest of the late King, or ra­ther Lewis XIV, to the utter overthrow of our Religion and Liber­ties? and seeing those Foreigners were Instruments under God and our Gracious Soveraign, to rescue that Religion, and those Liberties which have cost so much English Blood and Treasure, when both of them were so basely betrayed by those who (si diis placet) will needs be called English-men and Protestants; I say, why may not those Foreign­ers who were the Instruments to rescue them, be useful Instruments likewise to preserve them, especially when they are no more Foreign­ers, but Englishmen by Naturalization, and so will be obliged to de­fend our Rights and Liberties as their own?

But to return to our Extemporary Orator, he goes on thus.

Wherefore, Mr. Speaker, I must beg Pardon if at this time I cannot be silent, but express a zealous Concern, as well for the Kingdom in General, as for the Place I represent in Particular: And I am more moved thereunto, whilst I see so many Members sent here by their Country for the Conservation of the Englishmens Liberties, so warm as to part with all to Strangers with one Vote.

I durst venture an even Wager, that this Gentleman will be very angry at any Man who defends Extemporary Prayers to God, and yet he thinks himself extreamly well qualify'd for Extemporary Speeches to Men; His General and Particular Zeal do so fill his Heart, that it looses the Strings of his Tongue, this being indeed such an occasion as would have made Craesus's dumb Son to speak, to see those who are intrusted with the Conservation of our Liberties to part with all to Strangers: Whereas I believe that the Bill intended them only a share, and this Gentleman finding the House grow warm upon the Matter, was re­solved to expel one Heat by another; and it seems the Commons ap­prove of his Method, for they have dealt pretty warmly with his Speech, which I hope hath in some measure driven out his unnatural Heat.

His general Zeal made him discharge furiously against the Bill; and now his particular Zeal falls on the Arguments made use of to defend it.

The Argument of the Honorable Person near me (says he) to render all the Care of our Forefathers of no Esteem amongst us, who are or ought to be the Representatives of the Kingdom, was to prove, that this Age and Generation are wiser (he did not say Honester) than the former.

I remember (continues he) that a West-country Man, many Years past, undertook to prove the same to me and my Company beyond-Sea, by de­claring his Father was a Fool to him: I yielded him that Point, by con­cluding both to be such; and yet our Fore-fathers might be wise. Men. I shall not at this time question the Wisdom of those who promote the Bill, or their Fathers: For my self I declare in behalf of the Wisdom and Ho­nesty of our Predecessers, nor can I assent to the yielding up of the Liberties and Laws they derived unto us, only because some Gentlemen think better of themselves, and perhaps mistakenly, than of their Parents.

The Burden of all this Crambo is, that Sir J. is very angry that the present Generation should pretend to know better what is fit for themselves than the Generations past could possibly do as to a mu­table constitution, which I have answered already; and shall only add, that I believe he injures the House in alledging that to be the only Reason they had for the Bill, That some Gentlemen think bet­ter of themselves than of their Parents; for he himself pretends to answer three more, as we shall hear anon: And in truth the West-country Man might have been quits with him here, in a Complement almost of his own Coin.

It being a very material Point to know how our Author came to have such a Deference for his Ancestors, he informs the Speaker thus concerning it.

Sir, I was easily instructed in a Principle of Deference to the Wisdom of our Ancestors; and at this time I tremble when I reflect on the Correction given me by my Master, that I might not forget, but imitate and defend in all Times this Rule. Let them only be accounted Good, Just, and Wise Men, who regard and defend the Statutes, Laws, Ordinances and Liberties which their Fore-fathers Wisdom and Experience obtain'd for themselves and Posterity. Now it is my Opinion, Mr. Speaker, that if those Gentle­men who approve of this Bill, had not only been taught that Rule, but as well corrected as my self, they would be of my Judgment: And I wish that they who depart from that Rule, and sacrifice our English Liberties to a num­ber of Mercenary Foreigners, may not meet with a much more rigorous and exemplary Chastisement from their enraged and ruined Countrymen.

The Sum of the Matter is this, that our Author was whip'd into this Principle, and in truth it's pity but that he should be whip'd out [Page 11]of it again; that as he trembles when he reflects on his former Cor­rection, he might quake when he reflects on the latter. This I hope the good Readers will not think severe, when they consider that our Author does not think such Whipping, as he himself had, enough, but would plainly seem to wish for a De-Witting upon those Members that were for the Bill. And for this End I conceive it was that such great Bundles of his Speeches were sent to the Silk-Weavers, &c. in Spittle-fields, that they might come and chastise the House into better Man­ners. But to come to his Argument, which sinells strong indeed of his Roman Spirit; They must only be accounted Good, Just and Wise Men, who regard and defend the Statutes, &c. which their Fore-fathers Wisdom and Experience obtain'd for themselves and Po­sterity. If this be the only Rule by which we must try Good, Just, and Wise Men, we must allow it to other People and Nations as well as our selves: And if so, then other Nations have as good reason to put a Value upon the Wisdom of their Ancestors as we. And thus, if a Reformation of Religion were propos'd in Spain; No, say the Spa­niards, they are only Good, Just and Wise Men, who regard and de­fend the Statutes, &c. which were obtain'd for us by the Wisdom and Experience of our Fore-fathers. But the Wisdom and Experi­ence of our Fore-fathers obtain'd those Statutes which settle and establish the Catholick Religion. Ergo, We cannot be Good, Just and Wise Men, if we admit a Reformation. And thus our Author, from his excellent Roman Spirit, hath furnish'd the Romanists with an Ar­gument against our Religion; And if those who were intrusted with the Education of our Ancestors, for two or three Generations back­ward, had taken as much care to whip this Principle into their Pupils, as our Author's Tutor took to whip it into him, the World had not been troubled, as at this Day, with the pestilent Northern Heresy, but we had still been of the old Roman and true English Spirit: And yet I'm afraid, that if the Matter be duly search'd, our Author's Receipt will want a Probatum est; for I think there was sufficient Care taken in the late Reigns, to whip the Nation into the Principles of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance, and a stupid submission to the di­ctates of that Faction, who in spite of Sense and Reason will needs be called the Church; and yet we see that it will not do, so that we must even imitate that Physician, who after he found himself mista­ken in prescribing of Bacon as an infallible Remedy against a cer­tain Distemper, because he saw an English-man cur'd by it, qualified his Recipe with a Tantum Anglis: So must we infer, that this Receipt [Page 12]of Whipping Men into Principles, will be only successful on those of our Author's stamp; for no thinking-Man will be whip'd into any Principle contrary to his own Sense and Reason: And thus we saw that neither the Degradation by the Clergy, nor the Lashing by the Dispensing Judges, could whip Passive Obedience into Mr. Johnson, though they lash'd him soundly from Newgate to Tyburn; and yet half that Pains would have taught an Animal of our Author's kind both to fetch and carry.

The Arguments used for the Bill, (says my Author) are in substance these: First, a Want of Purchasers for our Lands; Second, of Merchants; Third, Manufacturers, who can work cheaper than the English; Fourth, Husbandmen to till the Ground. To all these I shall return short Answers; but if I debate not on them with that Advantage and Reason as our Land-Admirals can (no doubt) with great Ingenuity on Sea-Politicks, I hope the House will pardon me; for my Observation never cost the Kingdom such Expence of Money at Home and Losses at Sea, as hath the Experience of those Honourable Persons in Sea-Affairs.

Our Author lays about him on all hands, and if he cannot prevail with the Silk-Weavers, &c. from Spittle-Fields to come and chastise the House with Scorpions, he's resolv'd they shall feel the Scourage of his Tongue, and pours out his Vengeance upon our Land-Admirals most furiously. What pity but he himself had been one of them, for by his Behaviour it would seem that he has more than a Month's Mind to some Preferment, and then he may also learn Experience at the Nation's Cost; for his Principles have already cost them dear. It was observed to be the Method during the late Reigns, for such Mem­bers as had a Mind to Court-Preferments, to inveigh bitterly against the Proceedings of the Court in the House; and it's very probable that our Author had a Mind to try whether the same Methods be practi­cable in this: and in truth, I think it were worth the Court's while, though upon no other Account but animi gratia, to put it to the Trial, that they may see what Mercenary Souls such sort of Men have. But if he be so much concern'd. at our Expence of Money at home, and our Losses by Sea, why is not he and his Party more active in disco­vering the Cause, and bringing the Instruments to condign Punish­ment? This hath hitherto been prevented by Men of our Author's Principle, though His Majesty gave it in charge to the House. We know of what Party they were who obstructed the Course of Justice against the Authors of our first Miscarriages at Sea, and it's easie to be conjectur'd of what Side they are who hinder the discovery of [Page 13]the latter; and yet those Men keep the greatest Noise of any about the Losses of the Nation, to enrage the People against the present Government, though they themselves be the Principal Causes of those Losses, and brought this War upon us which exhausts us with Taxes, and herein they exactly imitate the great Enemy of Mankind, who first Tempts and then Accuses; and thus they lay the Government under a Necessity of taking such and such Measures, and imploying such and such Men, on pretence that the Monarchy and the Church will be otherwise undone, and at the same time throw the blame of all the Miscarriages of their own Tools upon the Government, to make it hateful to the People, of whose Privileges they would now have the World to believe that they are extreamly tender, though in the former Reigns they told us, That we must resign our Souls wholly to the Church, and our Bodies and Estates to the King, and durst scarcely plead any Property in either, except we would be reputed Schismaticks or Traitors.

But now let's come to our Author's Answer to the Arguments. First, It's argued by some, says he, that we want Purchasers for our Lands; this is a melancholy Consideration. I therefore desire those Gentlemen who ap­prove of this Bill, to tell me what it is hath brought us to this Condition, That the Landed Men of England are reduc'd to so low an Ebb that they must sell, and none left able to buy; unless Foreigners are naturaliz'd; Doth this prove our Forefathers wanted Ʋnderstanding? or doth it not rather con­clude it's occasion'd by our Want of theirs, and not following their Exam­ples? Who never tax'd their Country to the Ruin both of themselves and their Posterity: Nor did they expend the Money of the Kingdom on such Allies as ours; who, as we have been informed by some of the Privy Council, are not in our Interest, and will spare us none of their Men for our Pay without great Pensions. Likewise for themselves; Can any Man hope to perswade me that our Forefathers brought Foreign Soldiers into England and pay them, and naturalize them likewise, at the same time send the English Souldiers abroad to fight in a strange Land without their Pay.

Let us but abate our Taxes, and after the wise Precedent of our Fathers, pay our own Seamen and Souldiers at home, and send the Foreigners back; then the Money will be found circulating at Home in such Englishmens hands who may buy the Lands that are to be sold, without naturalizing Stran­gers.

To our Author's Question, what it is that hath brought us to this Condition. That Landed Men are necessitated to sell, and that none are left able to buy, except Foreigners be naturaliz'd? It may be [Page 14]answered in short, That the base Surrender, or rather betraying of our Civil and Religious Liberties in the late Reigns by those of his Party, brought us to a necessity of inviting over our present Soveraign, and joining him with our Arms to recover what we had so lost; and the Treachery of those of his Party whom His Majesty has been forc'd to imploy, or the Curse of Heav'n upon such Instruments hath many times broken his Measures, prolong'd the War, increas'd our Taxes, and ruin'd our Trade; but that none are left able to buy, except Foreigners be naturaliz'd, is I suppose what no body ever said. There may be and are many who are able to buy that are not willing, so long as they see the Government liable to the Treachery of such Men as him­self, who would inhance the whole Administration of Affairs into their own hands, and not only exclude Foreigners, but their own Native Brethren, and a hundred times better Englishmen than themselves; because their Consciences will not suffer them to take the Sacrament for the obtaining of a Place or Commission, which they think contra­ry to our Saviour's Design and Institution; or are not so superlatively Proud as to pretend to a posture of greater Humility in receiving the same, than was practis'd by the Holy Apostles; and not only for this reason, but also because the Faction represent the honest and mode­rate Churchmen as not fit to be imployed, putting them almost in the same Category with Dissenters: And therefore I would very fain know of our Author what encouragement either of those sorts of Men have to lay out their Money in buying Land, when they must bear equal Burden with others to support the Government, while their Enemies enjoy all the profitable Imployments under it, and only watch for an opportunity, not only to deprive them of their Estates, as in the days of Yore, but of their Lives and all the Comforts of 'em: For we see so little of the effects of the Faction's Repentance for their having formerly persecuted their Brethren, that on the contrary in is evident that they are ready to burst with their Venom; which is now kept in by the Restraint of Law. And as to the Naturalizing of Foreigners, though we don't say, that none are left able to buy ex­cept that be granted; yet such a Law would very much conduce to procure Chapman: For there are not only some French Protestants who are able to purchase, but many rich Merchants, and others in Holland and Germany, who would be thereby incourag'd to come and plant themselves here, where they might have all Necessaries in Plenty, and the Freedom of their Religion under a Government which they love, and in a Country where they might live without any fear, ei­ther [Page 15]from the French King, or any other Oppressor: and if this should be the Case, as it probably would, considering the horrible Devastations of the Palatinat, the continual Danger of other Prote­stants upon the Rhine, and elsewhere, and the little Ground that there is to be purchas'd in Holland; where, I pray, would be England's Dis­advantage by an Act of Naturalization? And would it not rather be infinitely to her Advantage to have their Estates spent here upon her own Product, and her Strength increas'd by such a considerable ac­cession of Zealous Protestants, who know the Principles and Practices of the Papists so well, that they would be in no hazard, according to the practice of too too many of our English Protestants, either of espousing the Interest of Lewis XIV, the late King and his pretended Son, or of undermining the Government of Their present Majesties? but this our Author and his Party know too well, and that makes 'em redouble their Clamour against the Act of Naturalization, though under the specious pretences of an Exuberant Zeal for our English Liberties.

In the next part of the Paragraph, the Gentleman charges the House with ruining themselves and their Posterity by Taxes; as if no other of the Members had either Estates to be tax'd, or Posterity to be ruin'd but himself. Our Author's Good Book, (for that's the highest Epithet which he can vouchsafe to the Holy Scriptures) says, He that provides not for his Family is worse than an Infidel, an Epithet which the Moderns appropriate to the Turk: but certainly he that ruins his Family must be worse, and I can't tell how to explain that better, than by saying, that he must be as bad as the French King; and so the Commons are obliged to this Gentleman for his Complement.

Then he tells us, That our Forefathers would not expend the Mo­ney of the Kingdom upon such Allies as ours, who are not in our In­terest, and will spare us none of their Men for our Pay, without great Pensions likewise for themselves. Here our Author runs high indeed, and brings in Privy-Counsellors to accuse the King, as if he had made an Alliance with those who are not in our Interest, which must be a very strange kind of Allies indeed: I think by the Gentleman's leave, that in such a cafe as this, He that is not against us is for us; and it's much better to have a Defensive Alliance with the Northern Crowns than none at all, that keeps them from doing us hurt if they can do us no good; and as for their not letting us have their Men for Pay without Pensions to themselves, if they furnish their Quota's for their Concerns in the Empire, we have the less reason to be angry; I [Page 16]don't known that any Prince or State have reason to part with their Men, which are their Strength, for bare Pay, without any other Consi­deration: and if His Majesty think fit to grant it, I know no reason why this Gentleman should cast such an Unmannerly Reflection upon it; a Provocation as small as this brought Charles I. with an Armed Force to demand five Members from the House of Commons: but let the King do what he can, our Author will never be pleas'd; if he sends Englishmen abroad to fight, then he cries out that they are sent to be knock's on the head without their Pay; and if he hire Foreigners, then he expends his Money upon such Allies as our Forefathers would not have done, though at the same time His Majesty has very few or no Allies but what at some time or other have been in Alliance with our Forefathers, and had of their Money too when they had not so much to spare. As to the bringing of Foreign Souldiers into England, and Naturalizing them, while at the same time he sends English Souldiers abroad, &c. it's very hard that a Foreign Prince, who riskt his All to save us from being swallow'd up by Popery and Slavery, should be denied some Troops of his own Countrymen for his Guards, in whom he may confide upon all Emergents: This Reflection is so very Mali­cious, that nothing but Jacobite Impudence could have publish'd it; but if our Author had been a Man of Thoughts, he would have forborn this Cavil merely out of respect to the French King, the God of his Party, who has always Swiss Guards about his Person, when natural Frenchmen are sent abroad to sight; and it was his Custom formerly to have Scotish Guards too. Then as to our Englishmens want of Pay while Foreigners have it, it's more than I dare say our Author is able to instruct; but if he can any ways make the King odious to the Na­tion, he cares not by what means, so it be but accomplish'd. But as to our Troops not being paid in Flanders, it's strange how they come to gain Credit in that Popish Foreign Country without Money, and that the Natives of the Country should not complain of it, which to be sure if it were true they quickly would, and Gazettes and Letters would as quickly mention it, which seeing they do not, we must let it pass for a Jacobite Forgery: Then as to the Naturalizing part; The number of the Foreign Souldiers which we have here is so very inconsiderable, that the Naturalizing of them, if they should require it, would do us no damage; and it's what in Gratitude we could scarcely deny, that of those who hazarded their Lives to save our Liberties, a small number at least should partake of 'em with us. But it is not to be supposed that many of the common Souldiers will trouble [Page 17]themselves about it; and for their Officers, if they do, it adds to our Strength, and obliges them to spend what they save amongst us; whereas otherwise they might carry it elsewhere: but there are not many Souldiers who are hoarders of Money; so that we need not be over-solicitous who shall be Heirs to their Estates. And in short, as to the Matter of Naturalization, we need never be afraid that any other but those of Estates will be at the Expence of coming from beyond Sea to reap the benefit of it; and if any such come, they will be worth their room. But notwithstanding all this Noise against Foreign Protestants, I believe there's few of the Party who would re­fuse their Sons for Apprentices, provided they may have 'em on their own terms, and then they must be Enfranchis'd whether they will or not; so that it's plain, that this Spite against Foreign Protestants flows not from any Damage that their Naturalization can do us, but merely because they are firm to the Government. Then as to the sending of Men to Flanders, that is a mighty Grievance to our Author. The Netherlands have been formerly thought our Barrier, the securing of them was the securing of our Selves; so that it's no wonder he should be angry that we send Men thither, because it gives the French King such a Diversion, that he has no leisure to restore the late King: and could Monsieur but once secure some good Harbours in that Coun­try for his Men of War, he would very quickly make us a Visit, and as speedily ruine our Protestant Allies the Dutch; which would mightily rejoice our Author's Heart: For it's easie to perceive that he cares not though the War were in our own Bowels, when he is not willing that we should meet the Enemy beyond Sea and keep him at Home: And that we may be further-convinc'd of his Good Will to the Nation, he presses hard for the Abatement of our Taxes. If the Case would admit it, I believe that every body would be glad of it as well as him­self, but if the Taxes be abated, how shall the War be maintain'd, and not only our Honour, but our Religion and Liberties be secur'd? If England should fall off, the League would quickly dissolve, the French King would speedily gain his Point, and make us pay more in one Year by his Military Contributions, than we have done yet during the War; he would take care to put us out of a Condition to trouble him any more beyond Sea, to cast the ballance of Europe, or maintain the Protestant Religion abroad; and as he hath had no Mercy on his own Country, we have no reason to expect he should have any on ours: and yet our Author must set up for a Grand Patriot to his Country, because of his Noble Speech, advising us to withdraw our hand from that which [Page 18]we had better never have begun, than to leave unfinish'd; for the Case is come now to this Point, that either we must render the French King uncapable of troubling his Neighbours any more, which (blessed be God) his Majesty is in a fair way of effecting, or else we must follow his Triumphal Chariot, and instead of our Liberties, hug our Chains.

Our Author's next Advice is, To pay our own Seamen and Souldiers at Home, and send the Foreigners back; Then will the Money circulate at Home in such English-mens Hands, who may buy the Lands that are to be sold, &c.

Here's somewhat to do about paying our Souldiers: but he would do well to acquaint us by what way it may be effected, without the Taxes which he is for abating. And whether it be the King's Fault that they are not paid? Had the Arrears of his Army been as long unpaid, as the Victuals and Clothes of K. Ch. II: Had he spent his Money as he did, upon Ladies of Pleasure, and maintaining B—ds: Had he shut up the Exchequer, or defrauded his Creditors; or had he refused to give the Nation an Account of their Money, there had been some ground for this Clamour. But if any of our Author's Par­ty, or of the high-Church-Faction, have misapply'd the Money which was design'd for that End, why do not our Murmurers concur to bring them to punishment? I am confident they may have the King's Leave. As for the sending of the few Foreign Troops which we have back, I have touch'd upon the Ingratitude of that already. And as to the paying of our Sea-men and Souldiers at Home, the former are never paid any where else; and for the latter, we had better pay them in Flanders, to keep the French at a Distance, than expose our selves to a French Invasion by withdrawing them, for in that Case we must pay them and the French both: And for the few Foreign-Soul­diers which we have among us, I'm sure they have neither their Clothes nor their Victuals from Holland, and therefore their Pay must needs circulate in England.

Our Author goes on thus. Secondly, It's said we want more Mer­chants: Whom may we thank for bringing so many to Poverty? But I shall forbear grating, and desire the Liberty to consider in short how the Trade of England hath hitherto been carried on. Gentlemen have placed their youn­ger Children to Merchants. Their Masters observing their Honesty and Diligence, when they have gained some Experience in the necessary Parts of Trade, generally send them Abroad, to Turky, all Parts of the Le­vant, to Spain, Portugal, East and West-Indies; and all Parts where England holds any considerable Commerce, there the young Men are im­ployed [Page 19]by, and entrusted with the Stocks and Estate of their Masters and Friends, whereby all Parties, both the Principals at Home, and the Factors Abroad, are advantaged, and England enriched, (for therein end all Cen­ters); and at last, when they are satiated with Gain, they return to their Native Soil, their Friends and Relations, for Ease and Enjoyment, making room for a younger Generation to succeed in their profitable Employments. Thus hitherto this Kingdom hath advanc'd in Riches, whilst Foreigners could not with Success plant their Factories on us through the Advantage we had by our Laws. Let us but turn the Tables, and consider the Consequence; sup­pose we pass this Bill, and the Dutch (who no doubt will take the Oaths as this Bill directs to, and protest against Popery and Paganism, and on occasion Christianity too, as at Japan) send their Servants and Factors hither, and we naturalize them, and let the Capital Stock, which gets an Employ to these new-made English-men, belong to their Masters and Friends, who ne­ver did, or ever will live amongst us: Will it not then follow that the Profit will be theirs, and not England's? And will not the new-made English (yet Dutch-men still) return to their Countrey and Friends with their Gain, as our People hitherto have done? We may observe by our Inland Trade, that it's seldom they who made the Manufacturies gain Estates, but those who im­ploy their Stocks in buying and selling what others made. And it's the same with the Merchants, those that Export and Import are the Gainers; the first Maker very seldom, the Consumptioner never.

The Conclusion then of this Experiment must be this, That what hath hi­therto been Gain to England, by English Merchants and Factors, will be turn'd to a Foreign Land by the Foreign Merchants, naturaliz'd for their own Good, not England's.

Here's a long Paragraph, but little to the Purpose. As to our Au­thor's Question, Whom we may thank for bringing so many of our Merchants to Poverty? It may easily be answered, Even those of his Stamp, who give the French notice of all our Motions by Sea; or being entrusted with the Management of our convoys, &c. let them fall into the Enemy's Hand, either by Treachery or Cowardise. Then as to the Return of our Factors from Turky, Spain, Portugal; the In­dies, &c. with Riches to themselves and Masters, after they were sa­tiated with Gain, it must be obvious to every Man that those Factors bought the Product of those Countries where they were imploy'd, and liv'd upon the same while there: So that our Money for the said Pro­ducts did circulate in those Countries, or at least that which was e­qual to Money in Value; and consequently were profitable to those Countries as well as to our own, both by exporting their Product, and [Page 20]imploying the Natives in the several Manufactures, Carriage by Land and Water. And in the same manner may we reap Advantage by Fo­reign Protestant Factors, and yet Expedients found out, by the Wis­dom of Parliament, to secure our own Trade by Exportation. But further, I would enquire of our Author, whether he thinks there's no difference betwixt Foreign Protestants living here, and English Prote­stants living amongst Pagans, Turks and Papists, in such Places where neither the Climate, Religion nor Constitutions of the Country are agreeable to them, especially if they be such as have any Zeal for their Religion; I say, I would fain know if it be not much more probable to think that our Plenty of good Provisions, the Pleasantness of our Countrey, Healthfulness of our climate, together with the Whole­someness of our constitutions and firm Establishment of our Reli­gion, without fear of Oppression by Potent Neighbours, are not like to be more powerful Attractives to induce Foreign Protestants to settle here, than any thing that can be found in those Countries which our Author has nam'd, to induce English-men to settle there, especially when those Protestants are Naturaliz'd? But our Author's Rancour a­gainst the Dutch, hath so much blinded both the Eyes of his Body and Soul, that he can neither see nor consider, that it were an easy Mat­ter for the Parliament to provide against all those Inconveniencies, Re­al or Imaginary, which he hath heap'd together, and yet make an Act of Naturalization, not only profitable to our selves, but advantageous to Foreign Protestants, without planting their Factories on us, so as to ruin our own Trade, or permitting those who shall raise Estates in this Kingdom, to go and spend them elsewhere. And it had been much more deserving the Title of a Patriot, which our Author is so fond of, if he had modestly propounded his Objections, and desired the House to consider of those supposed Inconveniencies, than to li­bel the Representatives of the Nation by Seditious Pamphlets, to bring them under a general Odium by the People whom they represent at Home, and in hazard of their Lives by the Silk-Weavers, &c. here.

As to his Reflections on the Dutch, for denying their Religion at Japan; Envy and Spite will make us look at our Neighbours Faults through a Magnifying-Glass, or find Faults where there are none. I know that in Charles Il's Time, when it was thought fit, for the ad­vancing the Protestant Interest, to destroy our Protestant Neighbours the Dutch, all the Calumnies that Malice could invent were publish'd against them, and this amongst others. But what if it be true? why should all the Dutch be chargeable with this, more than all English-men [Page 21]are chargeable with the Renegado's of their own Nation, who fall off to Popery and Mahumetanism but too frequently?

Our Author continues thus. But this is not all, for at once the Art of Navigation will be rendered useless; whence then will be a Nursery for Sea­mon? for Foreign Merchants will naturalize Foreign Seamen: and when the Press-masters find them, they will Dutcher spreaking, ye Min-heer, and avoid the Service. But at the Custom-House, Exchange, and in all Corpora­tions they will be found as good English-men as any be of this House; from whence it followeth that Trade will be only carried on by Foreign Merchants and Seamen, and the English Seamen condemned to our Men of War, and perhaps live there as hitherto, without their Pay, till another Million be ow­ing them for Wages; and in the interim have this only Consolation and Re­ward for Service done, and to be done, that their Wives and Children may be subsisted by the Alms of the Parish, whilst Foreign Souldiers are main­tain'd at Home and Abroad with their Pay.

Here the Gentleman thinks he has hit the White, and that surely the Nation will never have any more regard to the House of Com­mons, who would render their Navigation useless, by which we have increas'd our Wealth and our Glory: but the height of our author's Passion wont let him see his own Inconsistencies: I hope if the Foreign Seamen be once Naturaliz'd, their speaking Dutch won't exempt them from the King's Service; and any Man of half our Author's Invention, may find an Expedient how the Press-Masters shall know whether they be Naturaliz'd or not; and if this be done, then we shall be able to provide our Fleet with more ease than at present, when we cannot only Impress our own Native Seamen, but our Naturaliz'd Foreigners. As for our Seamens want of their Pay, while their Families are main­tain'd by Alms, it hath been sufficiently answered already; and if the Causes were truly inquir'd into, and the Instruments duly punish'd, I am afraid that some of our Author's Stamp would pass their time but very sorrily. Then as to the maintaining of Foreign Souldiers at Home, their Number is so very few, and every Day like to grow less, that there is more of Malice than any thing else in the Objection. And for those we maintain Abroad, there are the more of our Coun­try-men sav'd, not only from the Fury of the Sword, but the raging Distempers of the Camp, which generally proves fatal to great Num­bers, till they be once season'd: but our peevish Author can no ways be pleas'd; he's angry that English-men should be sent Beyond-Sea, and yet will neither let his Majesty have Foreign Souldiers at Home nor Abroad.

A Third Argument, says this worthy Knight, for admitting of Fo­reigners, is upon a supposed want we have of Manufacturers, especially such as will work cheaper than the English. In my Opinion, this Reasoning is Extraordinary, and ought not to take Air out of the House, lest the old English spirit should exert it self in Defence of its Liberties; for at this time when all Provisions are become excessive dear by the great Quantities exported to Holland, which puts the poor English Manufacturers on Star­ving in most Parts of England, for want of a full Imployment to enable them to support their Families by their honest and painful Labour and In­dustry, shall an English Parliament let in Strangers to under-sell our Country, which they may easily do whilst they live in Garrets, pay no Taxes, and are bound to no Duty? How shall we answer this to our Country who sent us here? when by so doing, instead of making the Kingdom more po­pulous, we provide only for the Subsistance of Foreigners, and put our Countrymen to the Choice of starving at home, or to turn Souldiers and be sent to Flanders, and starve there for want of their Pay; for it's well known that at this time more Commodities are made in England than can be con­sum'd a broad or at home, which makes the poor Manufacturers so miserable.

That there are several Manufactures which we us'd to import from France and elsewhere in time of Peace, because we could neither have them made so cheap nor so well in England, is what I think no body can deny; and if by Naturalizing French and Dutch Protestants, we can have those Manufactures made as cheap here as they had them there, and cheaper and better than the few that make them in England can do, will not the Good of the whole be more than a sufficient Compen­sation for the loss of a few, which may also be provided against by the Wisdom of the Parliament, either by incorporating our own with the Foreign Manufacturers, and making them the Managers or Over­seers of the same if capable, or by such other Methods as the Promo­ters of this Bill and the Prudence of the House shall suggest: and by this means, will not the Money which us'd to be exported for those Commodities be spent and circulate at home, and the Foreigners who now live meanly and in Garrets, to avoid the Sowre because they must reap none of the Sweet, be encourag'd and enabl'd to live after a bet­ter rate, marry and set up Families, (whereas now many of them live single because of their Poverty) pay House-Rent and Taxes, wear better Apparel, and spend more liberally in Housekeeping; by which Me­thod the fruits of their Labours will circulate to the remotest Corners of the Kingdom, and the Nation become fuller of People, who will help to spend the Commodities made in England, which our Author [Page 23]says are more than can be consum'd either at Home or Abroad, and occasions the Misery of our Manufacturers: and if the Dutch teach us their way of making Linen, and the French theirs of making Paper, will not great Sums which are continually returned beyond Sea for those Commodities, be spent at Home? So that we may easily perceive our Author's Clamour against the House to be very unreasonable, and his Suggestion of the danger of their Arguments taking Air without Doors extremely Malicious, and altogether the Product of his J—ite Roman Spirit, which prompted him to send his Libels amongst those that he thought would be the most easily impos'd upon by them, in hopes (as is manifest from his hint of the old English Spirit's exerting it self in defence of its Liberties, which plainly points at former In­surrections against Foreigners) to procure an Uproar; which as it would have endangered the Parliament, disturb'd the Peace of the Na­tion, and given the Jacobites an opportunity of acting under a disguise, would have also prevented His Majesty's going beyond Sea himself, or sending his Forces thither, and by consequence have promoted Lewis XIV's and the late King's Interest; and no doubt our Author's miscarrying in this Attempt, will afford new matter of Reflection to the Paris Gazetteer, like that which he had in his Gazette of the 6th of March, That those Members of the House who are for the Publick Good have not been successful in their Endeavours against the Pen­sioners; for I question not but our Author has taken care to give no­tice of his Efforts to the Court at St. Germains, and his Libel will make the French believe that England is in as bad a Condition as France. Then s to his Malicious Reflection on the Members for the Bill, that they take care for the Subsistance of Foreigners, and put our own Countrymen to the Choice of Starving at home, or turning Soul­diers, and be sent to Flanders to starve there for want of Pay; it's like the Charity of his Faction, who when the poor French Protestants fled hither from the tyrannous Persecution at home, would force them to a Compliance with things contrary to their Consciences here, or else they must starve. But if our Author bad not been in a mighty haste to produce his J—ite Birth to the World, he might have con­sidered that when Foreigners are Naturalized, they are liable to bear Arms either at home or abroad, as the Exigence of the Government requires, as much as Englishmen: Nor is it to be supposed that the Parliament would ever be so unnatural, as he would wickledly repre­sent them, to feed Foreigners and starve their own Countrymen. I believe there's none who will think that Sir J. K. alone has all the [Page 24]Bowels of Compassion for his Country, and that the rest of the Mem­bers have none. This pretended Zeal for the People, is but like the Jack-daw's counterfeit Dress of Pigeon's Feathers, that he might the better get into the Dove-house to destroy the Eggs and the Young; but being once discovered by his Cawing, that he was not a Pigeon of the right kind, the rest expell'd him the Dove-house; and it's pity, as was said by an ingenious Member, that if this be Sir J. K's Cawing, but he should undergo the same fate. This outragious Clamour, all Circumstances being considered, looks very like such a Signal as that which a Frenchman, of whom I have read, gave to one of the Childe­ricks of France, who had been driven from his Throne for Male-admi­nistration, that he might venture to attempt the recovery of it again: and I wish that our Author, and some others, may not be of that Trai­tor's Kidney, who run out into a mighty Zeal against the deposed Chil­derick, till he had run his Successor into the same Measures for which he was depos'd, frustrated or retarded his Designs; whereby he forc'd him to make his Government grievous to the People by hard Taxes, and then by exclaiming against his Admi­nistration, pav'd the Way for Childerick's returnMezeray's Hi­story of France.

Then our Author proceeds thus, All Country Gentlemen within this House, have for several Sessions laboured what they could to raise the Price of the Provisions which their Lands produce, and some think it not great enough yet, and they would despise that Man who should endeavour to lower the Rates by proposing a free Importation of Irish Cattle and Corn, though he had no other Design, than that Charitable and Necessary one of relieving the Poor; and yet these very Gentlemen are for this Bill, because they would have the Labour of the Poor brought to a lower Advantage. In my Opi­nion, this is a very unequal way of reasoning, that whilst we raise the Price of the Product of the Land, for the Gentlemen to live in a greater state, at the same time our Consults are how to make the half-starv'd Manufactu­rers that live by their daily Labour, more and more miserable. What Opinion will the common People of England have of this House and the Gentlemen of the Kingdom, whom nothing can please but what is made by Foreigners, or comes from Abroad?

That none of the Members may escape our Author's Fury, and that of his Party, he takes care to accuse first All the Country Gentlemen, and then all the rest; the first of starving the Poor to keep up the price of the Provisions which their Lands produce, and hindering the Importation of Irish Corn and Cattle for the Relief of the Poor, because they would have their Labour brought to a lower Advantage, and then [Page 25]all the rest, of consulting how to make our half-starv'd Manufacturers more miserable: Can any Man whose Charity is of the largest size, look upon this way of Libelling any otherwise than as the sounding of an Alarm to such Tumults as those of Jack Straw and Wat Tyler's Re­bellions, and calculated on purpose to make the poor Labourers and Tradesmen not only knock all the Members of Parliament, but all the Gentry of the Kingdom on the head; that so during our Confusions, the late King's Party might declare for him, now that the Spring is advancing apace, and the Jacobite Humours all afloat? So that though we cannot tell this Gentleman what opinion the common People will have of the Parliament, &c. yet we are sure they can have none worse than what he endeavours to inspire them with, but all in vain; as is seen by the Event, and the Silk-Weavers bringing in his bundles of Libels to be burnt in the Flames; by which it appears that the Pigeons have discovered the Jack-daw by his Cawing.—But if there be any of the Members so criminally Uncharitable as he represents them, may the Justice of Heav'n and the Nation find them out: It had been more like a Patriot and a good Countryman to have expostulated the case modestly with them, than to enrage the Poor and set them on to worry them, though very undeservedly, considering the Kindness which they have shewed to our own Manufacturers, both by an Act for Importing Italian Silk, and the care they have taken to improve the Woollen Manufactures.

To return to our Author, he says further, That our Palats for a long time have been so nice, that nothing but a French Cook could please: nor could we perswade our selves that our Clothing was good, unless from head to foot we were A-la-mode de France. The Gentleman was not well served without a Frenchman, and the Lady's Commode could not sit right, if her fine French Woman did not put it on. Now of a sudden the Change is as violent in favour of the Dutch, who are great Courtiers, and the only taking-People, and our English are a sort of Clumsy-fisted People, if compared with the Dutch Hans and Fro; and in short, the Englishmen are fit for nothing but to be sent to Flanders, and there either to fight, steal, or starve for want of Pay. There is one thing, Mr. Speaker, which comes into my Mind, with which I shall close this Consideration, What reason was there for blaming the Mayors, Aldermen, Common-Councils, and other Governors of Corporations for Surrendring the Charters, though they still retain the Rights for Englishmen only to come into new Charters, and at the same time hope to justify our Proceedings, though we throw up the Great Charter of our English Liberties, to admit Strangers?

The Gentleman's Reflections on the French, are just like the short Clause against Papists that us'd to be in King Charles Il's long Pro­clamations against Protestant dissenters, which came merely in as words of course; and though I shall be far from defending our Apish Imitation of the French in their Garb, yet I think it much less Criminal than to covet their Government, as it's but too too apparent our Au­thor does by his Concern, that the Surrender of Charters should be condemned, which would have brought us to the Blessings of Arbitrary Government in a trice, and have sav'd our Kings the trouble of Pen­sions; for then they might have had a House of Commons of their own making, to have suted a House of Lord's of Charles Il's begetting, and a Church of Cassander or Bishop Laud's Constitution: Nor is our Author any happier in his Comparison betwixt the Surrender of our Charters and the Bill of Naturalization, than in his History of the Dutch being as much in Vogue for Courtiers with our nice Palats now, as the French were in former times; though if it were so, I am of opinion that no solid Men, nor good Protestants, would be sorry at the Change. But we shall have somewhat more to say to him anon as to his Treatment of the Dutch.

A Fourth Pretence for this Bill, (says my Author) is a want of Hus­bandmen to till the Ground. I shall say little on this Head, but request the Honourable Person below, me to tell me of the 40000 French which he confesseth are come into England, How many does he know that at this time follow the Plough-tail; for it is my firm Opinion, that not only the French, but any other nation this Bill shall let in upon us, will never transplant them­selves for the benefit of going to Plough, they will contentedly leave the Eng­lish the sole Monopoly of that Slavery.

This worthy Knight may please to consider, that abundance of those French would be glad to follow the Plough-tail in England, if their Languge and other circumstances would but admit it, rather than be in the starving Condition that many of 'em labour under. Such of them as have been Farmers, are neither acquainted with our way of Manuring, nor have they Stock or Credit to procure Farms; most of them have been brought up in another way of living; for it's suffi­ciently known, that the Protestants in France had the greatest part of the Trade and Manufactures in the Nation. Many of them are Gentle­men, Officers and Scholars, and consequently unfit for such an Imploy­ment; and our Farmers have not commonly so much respect for the meaner sort of them, as to make use of their Service either for Plough or Cart; and for such as would come hither to reap the benefit of being [Page 27]naturaliz'd, it's probable, that they may be Persons of better condition than ordinary Farmers, and their Stocks might be more advantage­ously imployed in the Kingdom; while at the same time the increase of People will require an increase of Provisions, and by consequence make Farming and Plowing both more frequent and profitable than it is at present.

Our Author's next Paragraph is thus: Ʋpon the whole, Sir, it's my Judgment, that should this bill pass, it will bring as great Afflictions on this Nation as ever fell upon the Egyptians; and one of their Plagues we have at this time very severe upon us, I mean that of their Land bringing forth Frogs in abundance, even in the Chambers of their Kings; for there is no entring the Courts of St. James's and Whitehall, the Palaces of our Hereditary Kings, for the great Noise and Croaking of the Frog­landers.

The truth is, so long as we have so many hard-hearted Pharaohs as our Author and his Party, who do so much oppress their Native, and so maliciously revile their Foreign Protestant Brethren, we have reason enough to dread the Plagues of Egypt; for our Author and his Faction, who did so violently persecute dissenting Protestants in the late Reigns, especially at B—l, are still very unwilling to let them go; and all that our Moses hath hitherto been able to procure for his oppressed Brethren at the hand of these Pharaohs, is, that they may go and serve God as they please, but they must leave all the Places of Power and Profit to them: just like the Liberty that Pharaoh gave to the Israelites, that they might go and sacrifice to God in the Wilderness; but they must leave their Flocks and Stocks behind 'em. And now that the Pres­byterians of Scotland are quite escap'd, and the Dissenters in Old and New England enjoy their Liberty, our Author and his Party are so eager to be up and after them, that nothing will be able to put a stop to their Career, but some such remarkable Judgment as the drow­ing of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.—

As to our Author's Scurrilities upon the Dutch, they are but the poor efforts of an unmanly, impotent, and unbridled Passion, and such as bring more disgrace on himself than the worst he intends to them: For, if we consider them either as part of the antient Belgae, they have been famous in all History; or if we consider them as the old Batavi, they are no less Renowned; if we take them as a Colony of the Ger­mans, as undoubtedly they are, then they are of the same Original with our selves; and therefore ought not to contemn them. Whatever difference the situation of their Country and way of Living may pro­duce [Page 28]in the Lineaments of their Bodies, or whatever difference their form of Government makes betwixt their Customs and ours, yet that the predominant part of our Language is from the same Radix with theirs, there's no Man who knows the one and the other that can doubt; and that this is one of the best Arguments to prove a People to be of the same Original, the greatest of Antiquaries will allow: but if we consider the Dutch, as having gallantly struggled with, and as glori­ously overcome the Power and Pride of the Spaniards, who were Pre­decessors to the French in their Enmity to the Protestant Religion and Common Liberties of Europe, there's no Encomium high enough for them; and if we will give our selves leave to consider to what a pro­digious height of Power and Greatness they have rais'd their Country in so short a time under the fortunate Auspices of the Illustrious House of Nassaw, since the Reformation began to dawn amongst them, and how they have hitherto been as a Bush burning and not consumed, though several times set on fire by French Papists, and our Author's sort of Protestants, under the Conduct of Lewis XIV. and Charles II. we can look upon them as no less than the Darlings of Heaven, and a People over whom Providence hath had a peculiar Care, thereby to make them the Instruments of doing great things in the World, such as the effecting of our stupendous Revolution, by which they grate­fully repaid us for the Assistance which they received from our glorious Q. Elizabeth, and for which we owe to them and our Gracious Sove­raign, their Stadtholder and General, the Preservation under God of all that is dear to us as Englishmen and Protestants: but I know that all these Topicks of Commendation is a sacrificing the Abomination of our Author and the rest of his Egyptian Faction in their own sight; and therefore shall come nearer him thus. I wonder how they who pretend to adore the Memory of the two Charles's, dare thus treat a People to whose Stadtholder and General the First married his eldest Daughter, and the Second his Neece, and also the eldest Daugh­ter of the late King; Matches which the Emperour himself would have been proud of: Or how those who pretend to be Men of Ho­nour, can speak so despicably of a People who have been honoured with a Race of the greatest Hero's for Princes that the latter Ages have seen. But let the Faction treat this People as they please, and esteem them as Frogs, or what else their Malice can invent; for my own part, if it be so, I will declare my self a Protestant Ranelite on their account, as thinking my self under as great an Obligation to reverence and esteem these Dutch Frogs, since they must be so call'd, [Page 29]for plaguing our Author's beloved Kings, and infesting the Chambers and Houses of them and their Egyptian Faction, as ever the Jewish Sect called Ranelites, thought themselves bound to reverence those Frogs which plagu'd Pharaoh and his court: and that which shall heighten my Reverence is, that from amongst these Froglanders, as he calls them, we have now not only an Hereditary King, but one whom God and the good People of England have chosen; though I doubt not but to our Worthy Knight and Men of his stamp, the noise of the Locusts, or the Priests and Jesuits which were formerly hatch'd in the Chambers of our Kings, was a much more Melodious Musick than that which he calls the Croaking of the Dutch Frogs: and thus I chastise our Author's Contempt, because the basest are always ready to despise the best; and as our Author's Sirname would denote him of Dutch Original, and his Extract to be from the meanest of their People, it's no wonder that he should thus despise a Nation where his Predecessors were never above the sphere of an Ordinary Servant; and so much his Name will tell him, let him search for the Etymology when he pleases.

Our Author in the next place goes on thus: Mr. Speaker, This Nation is a Religious, Just and Zealous Nation, who in some of their Fits and Zeal, have not only quarrelled and fought for the same, but have murder'd and depos'd Kings, Nobles, Bishops and Priests for the sake of their Religion and Liberty, which they pretend to prove from the Bible; We are the Religious Representatives of this Religious People: Let us there­fore learn Instruction in this case before us from that Good Book, where we may be inform'd, that St. Paul by being born Free of Heathen Rome, escap'd a Whipping, and valued and pleaded that Privilege; and the Chief Cap­tain of the Romans prides himself, that he with a great Sum obtain'd that Freedom, and fear'd greatly when he violated St. Paul's Liberty, only by binding of him: and shall we set at nought the Freedom of the Eng­lish Nation, who are a Religious Christian Kingdom, and part with the same to Strangers for nothing unless the undoing of our own Country­men who sent us here, but not on this Errand? Certainly we should follow the Example of the Roman Captain, and fear and tremble when we con­sider the just Provocation we give to the Kingdom, who will expect that we preserve, and not destroy every Englishman's private Birth­right.

Now the worthy Knight begins to pull off his Mask and declare himself openly, and if it had not been altogether a Layman's Ha­rangue, we might justly have reckon'd it the Second Part of Dr. Birch's [Page 30]Sermon, for which it's probable he expected Thanks. Our Author shows himself to have a mighty Veneration for our Religion, when he charges it with the murdering and deposing of Kings. This looks in­deed like somewhat of the Resentments of a Roman Spirit, to be re­veng'd on our Religion, because we justly charge such Practices upon the Romanists, as the natural result of theirs; and this Spirit of his is further incens'd, that we pretend to prove our Religion from the Bi­ble: but if he pleases to peruse the Debates Pro and Con about the deposing of the late King, for he's all that has been depos'd, since we durst be so bold as to bring Arguments from the Bible, he will find the lawfulness of that Practice to be sufficiently proved from thence; but perhaps that may lessen his esteem of the Bible, which now, I per­ceive, he thinks may be call'd a Good Book; tho it had been no Hyperbole in one who reckons himself a Protestant, to have call'd it the best of Books. Then as to the Instructions which we may have from this Good Book of his, to value our English Liberties as much as the Romans did theirs; we heartily agree to them, and especially seeing he must needs allow from his own Argument, that this Just and Religious Nation was not Ʋnjust and Irreligious in proving their Liberties from the Bible: And now that he has drawn one Instruction thence, we hope that he will give us liberty to draw another, and that is, that those Romans, whom he proposes to us as a Pattern, did not only allow Strangers, such as St. Paul who was a Jew, to have a share of their Privileges, but did also fell them on occasion, as here to this Captain whom our Author mentions; and I hope as he proposes the wise Senate of Rome for a Pattern to us in the one, he will also allow us the liberty to imitate them in the other. And thus our Author hath condemned himself out of his own Mouth, and given a very good Argument for Naturalizing of Foreign Protestants; and hence we perceive the Kind­ness of honest Dame Nature, which hath ordered it so, that many times the most Venomous Animals carry their own Antidote with them. And I would fain know of our Author, why we may not as well make an Act for a General Naturalization, as naturalize Fo­reigners by Fifty at a time? And whether it were not more generous for the true English Spirit to exceed the old Roman Spirit of selling their Privileges by granting them to Foreign Protestants freely? But I am afraid that Sir J's making mention of the Captain's having bought this Freedom, will be interpreted by some as if he in particular expe­cted a Bribe from Foreign Protestants; for we know the best way of stopping the Mouths of some is to give offam Cerbero. Before I [Page 31]absolve this Paragraph, I must take notice that this pretended Atlas of our English Liberties, founds the Alarm once more to a Rebellion, by insinuating such Causes of Terror as had the Commons been faint-hearted, might have made them all run out of the House, and then Sir J. might have had the Ball at his Foot, and kick'd the Bill our after them: But for all his Clamour, we find that his Counrymen whom he courts so much to a Tumult, cannot see those frightful Con­sequences that attend this Bill, except our Author will be pleas'd to lend them his J—ite Spectacles; the one of which I suppose to be a Magnifying, and the other a Multiplying-Glass.

But our kind Author gives us another Lesson thus: Sir, we may further learn from that Book the Fate of the Egyptians, who experimented on the score of Charity, what it is People may expect from admitting Strangers into their Country and Councils; Joseph was a Stranger sold a Slave into Egypt, yet being taken into Pharaoh's Council, he by Taxes and other fine Projects, brought the seven Years Plenty that God had blessed Egypt with, into the Granaries of Pharaoh; but when a Dearth came on the Land, and the People cried to their King for Relief, they were sent to the Stranger Joseph, who getteth from them for that which was once all their own, their Money, their Cattle, their Lands, and last of all their Persons into Slavery; though at the same time he did far otherwise by his own Countrymen, for he plac'd them in the best of the Land, the Land of Goshen, and nourish'd them from the King's Stores. This Exam­ple should teach us to be wise in time, seeing all this was done by the Advice of one Foreigner in Privy Council; and what may that Country expect where the Head and many of the Council are Foreigners?

You may perceive that our Author is now drawing near a Conclu­sion, because he reserv'd the sharpest Sting for the Tail: But it's a Question, whether he be more prophane in playing thus with Scrip­ture, than false in misapplying it? for it's plain, that it was no Cha­rity to Joseph which made Pharaoh and the Egyptians advance him, but Charity to themselves, because they could not find a Man so fit as himself, Gen. 41.38. in whom the Spirit of God was, to find out Means to prevent the ill Consequences of the Famine which the Spi­rit of God had foretold him of. And if this do not border on Blas­phemy, to call the Suggestions of the Holy Spirit to prevent the Ru­ine, not only of the Egyptians, but the peculiar People of God, Taxes, and other fine Projects to bring the Plenty of Egypt into Pharaoh's Granaries; I submit it to the Judgment, not only of Di­vines, but of all Men who have any true Sense of Religion: And if [Page 32]this Odious Character which he gives of Joseph, as having trick'd the Egyptians into Slavery, be not contrary to that Character given of him by the Holy Ghost, when he is reckon'd in the Catalogue of the most famous Old-Testament Saints, Heb. 12. let any Man judg. Or whether it be reasonable to suppose, that Joseph who durst not sin a­gainst God in complying with the lustful Desires of his Mistress, would have so little Conscience as to cheat a whole Nation into Sla­very, let common Sense determine. But if our Author had been so good as to have had more frequent Converse with this good Book, he might have found that Pharaoh was as Absolute before Joseph was of his Council as after; for, Gen. 41.40. he told him, That according to his Word should all his People be ruled. And, ver. 44. That without him No Man should lift up Hand nor Foot in all the Land of Egypt; which Pharaoh (could never have promised had it not been in his Power. Neither was it the whole seven Years Plenty that he brought into Pharaoh's Granaries, but only the fifth part of it, as appears from ver. 34. Nay, so far was Joseph from enslaving them, that though he had actually bought themselves and all that they had for Pharaoh, that he not only sav'd their Lives, as they themselves did acknowledg, and kept Bread in the Land of Egypt when there was none elsewhere, but left them in as good a Condition after the Famine, as they were in during the Plenty, as may be seen from Chap. 47.26. by giving them four parts of the Land to themselves, and taking only a. Fifth for Pharaoh, as he had in the Years of Plenty; and though Joseph brought this into an Establish'd Law, yet it's more than our Author can prove, that it was not a Custom before, seeing he directed Pharaoh to lay up the fifth Part, Chap. 41.34. And that we hear of no Opposition made thereunto, nor unto any thing else that Joseph did in the Government; but on the contrary, the People did thankfully acknowledg him as the Author of their Preservation, and willingly obeyed him, even when he transplanted them from one City to another: Which it's probable they would never have consented to, had they look'd upon it as a bringing of them into Slavery: for our Author may remember, that though a great many of his Party surrendred their Charters in the late Reigns, and became voluntary Slaves, yet the Nation in general could never be brought to it. And as for Joseph's planting his own Country-men in the best of the Land, it was by Pharaoh's Command, and because it best suited their way of living, and was a Place where they were likely to be least offensive to the Egyptians, as appears from Chap. 46. [Page 33] ver. 34. because every Shepherd, and such were the Israelites, were an Abomination to the Egyptians. And in the last place we have reason to conclude, that all this was done by the special Direction of that God who sent him into Egypt to preserve his People, Chap. 45. v. 7. and not according to our Author, to cheat the Egyptians into Slavery.

And thus having discovered how falsly and impiously our Author hath wrested this History of Joseph, I shall now consider his Applica­tion, than which nothing can be more Treasonable and Malicious; for having ascrib'd all the Mischiefs which came upon the Egyptians to their entertaining of one Foreigner as a Privy Counsellor, What, says he, may that Nation expect where the Head and many of the Council are Foreigners? which is directly aim'd at His Majesty, the Earl of Portland and others, whom God has, to the Confusion of our Author and his Faction, made use of to deliver us from their Egyptian Thraldom. But our Author, that he may discover all his Design at once, does in the former part of his Speech endeavour to stir up the Country against the Parliament, and now he attempts the like against His Majesty; but is he so foolish as to think that his Parallel holds as to Joseph's Management in Egypt? Is all our Corn brought into His Maje­sty's Granaries? Is there not Plenty enough in the Kingdom, though some narrow-soul'd Men, like our Author, keep it at an Excessive rate in and about London? Has His Majesty either made a purchase of our Lands, our Cattle, or our Persons, any otherwise than by a Conquest of our Hearts? What Colony of Dutch has he planted in the best of our Land? or how can he be reckon'd a Foreigner who abstracted from his being King by God and the Peoples Choice, is Son to an English Princess, Husband to an English Queen, governs by English Laws, and fights with English Armies for the Preservation of our English Liber­ties? But if our Author will needs be making Comparisons, we hope that he will allow us the same Liberty, and then we shall agree that he resembles Joseph, in being sent hither by God for his Peoples De­liverance, and keeping England in Peace, while all our Neighbours are or have been involv'd in Blood. But if those other Practices of Joseph's be culpable in buying the Lands, Cattel and Persons of the Egyptians for Pharaoh's Use, we know of a Copy which outdoes the Original, and that is the God of his Faction Lewis XIV, who hath not bought, but plundered from his Subjects and Neighbours, all that could render their Lives comfortable. But further, we have no rea­son to fear any Incouragement to the Invasion of our Liberties, or [Page 34]being made Slaves by the Concurrence of the Naturaliz'd Dutch. They who have been accustomed to live in Liberty and Freedom at Home, which they purchas'd with the best of their Treasure and Blood, are not like to be fond of concurring with such Measures as may render them Slaves Abroad: But though there is less hazard in this Point from the Dutch than the French, yet all along our Author is severer upon the former than the latter, and makes a terrible Outcry against the sending of Corn to Holland, but speaks not one word of the great Stores which his Brethren the J—ites transport by stealth into France.

But now for our Author's Conclusion. Sir, says he, I perceive some Gentlemen are uneasy, perhaps I have offended them in supposing they are Religious Representatives, or concluding that their Religion is to be prov'd from the Bible: If that be it which displeaseth, I beg their Pardon, and promise not to offend again on that score, and will conclude all with this Motion, that the Serjeant be commanded to open the Doors, and let us first kick the Bill out of the House, and then the Foreigners out of the Kingdom.

In truth these Gentlemen might well be uneasy to hear a Fool tri­umph in his Folly; but why they should be offended to be told that their Religion was to be prov'd from the bible, whence our Author can never prove his own, is not so easy to be imagin'd, though they had reason enough, indeed, to be displeas'd to see an Ass strutting in a Lion's Skin; and yet I cannot tell how they could refrain from Laughter to hear the dull Creature discovered by its braying. And thus seeing our Author began with one Fable, I hope that I may be allow'd to end with another; and shall only add, that let him Caw, and Bray, and Kiek, and do what he pleases, it signifies nothing, so long as he kicks against the Pricks, whereof I hope that by this time he himself may be perswaded; especially if he consider the disgraceful Exit which the Commons have given to his Speech, and he may thank his Stars for having escap'd so well.