§ 1. THE Caſe of Mr. Aſhton was indeed ſo hard, and his Speech ſo handſom, that I don't wonder to ſee a Secretary's Command for Printing an evaſive, trifling, and malicious Paper, that endeavours to load his Perſon, and blaſt his Writings; but the Subject will bear no more, and the Government ſtands in need of a Defence. However I can't but wonder the late Anſwerer ſhould expect to perſwade the World it was not his; becauſe he who profeſſes himſelf an illiterate Man, and unskill'd in the Laws, uſes the Terms of Impending, Prevaricating, Premiſes and Conſequence, (two of which are not Terms of Art, none of the Law; and thoſe other two, that are Logical, made familiar to all thoſe that have ever had any ſort of Breeding or Converſation) for all that is ſaid of this Nature, both at the Beginning and End of the Anſwer, will appear very impertinent to any one that reads his Tryal, even as it is thought fit to be publiſhed; wherein ſome Things have been omitted, as well as others amended, to make it fit for peruſal: For in that he defends himſelf ſo ſenſibly, that it provoked the L. Ch. Juſt. Pol— to rage, and ſufficiently proved himſelf capable to write ſuch a Paper; whoſe natural Parts were ſo very ſtrong, and ſo well improved. And if he was ſo well ſatisfied that thoſe that Comply with, as well as thoſe that Support the preſent Eſtabliſhment are Guilty of Perjury, and partake with Rebels, it very well became the Charity of a dying Man to warn thoſe he left behind him to Repent; and if the Words of dying Men have generally more Weight, and make deeper Impreſſions, he did but his duty to recommend to thoſe who ſurviv'd him, Amendment and Reſtitution.

§ 2. As for thoſe Matters of Law, which he thought hard in his Tryal. I believe he neither complained of, nor deſired any thing, but what the Lord Chief Juſtice Pollexfen, Sir Francis Child, Mr. Herbert, and almoſt every Man upon his Jury, as well as Tremain, and all the other Council, would have Cenſured, or thought fit to be Granted in any other Reign: But by this we ſee they have learnt to practiſe thoſe Methods of Tryal which themſelves formerly complained of, as Arbitrary and Illegal; and have borrowed Law from the Tories, while to make them Amends they have taught them their Goſpel. I muſt confeſs I know nothing could have ſeemed to warrant the late Extraordinary Proceedings ſo well as a Reformation of our former ill Meaſures, and proved, that that, and not private Advantage, was the true Motive of the Undertaking. It cannot be denied but we are poorer of late than formerly, and if the evil In •••• ments in the late Reigns are fit to be our Miniſters under this, and what was Male-Adminiſtration then commences juſt and neceſſary Politicks now, we ſhall too certainly and too ſoon be miſerable; if they don't change Things, you are little the better for changing the Men: The hardſhip and inequality of Tryals, and Innovations upon the Rights of Subjects in that particular, made a very ſpecious Head of the Prince of Orange's Declaration; and it is one of the Articles of our new Original Contract, that the Subjects ſhall be free from ſuch Burthens: But yet our Judges are in the beaten Road of Arbitrary Power, and can do nothing contrary to thoſe bleſſed Precedents; and though it was great, and the ſelf-denial of a dying Chriſtian in Mr. Aſhton, not to name the L. Ch. Juſt. P. and Mr. H. for fear of tranſgreſſing that Law of Chriſt of forgiving Enemies, yet it is to be hoped that ſome Parliament will mark them down to Poſterity for Examples ſake; I am ſure I wiſh them no Puniſhment, but what may be neceſſary to keep a Judg (who ought to be the Priſoner's Council) from being an Advocate againſt him; and a Jury-man from Party and Faction, where Life and Death. are concerned.

§ 3. What Mr. H. did is thought ſo much the more ſtrange, becauſe 'tis confidently reported that upon hearing the Papers ſo Charged, upon my Lord Preſton at his Tryal, he ſaid that Night publickly at the Grecian Coffee-houſe in Devereux-Court near the Middle Temple, that if he was not Excepted againſt upon Monday, he could not bring in either of the other; Guilty, in Relation to the Papers; yet he it was that would have helped them to Evidence, and improv'd one Inſinuation againſt Mr. Aſhton, which the Anſwerer I ſuppoſe had from the ſame Mint, viz. That one of the Papers was written in Mr. Aſhton's Hand; though, as the Anſwerer obſerves, it had been very material to have made Proof of that upon his Tryal, which they might eaſily have done, had it been true; no Man's Hand being better known, and they having in their Hands Volumes of his Writing, when he was in Places at Court: Though it had been after all for the Honour of our Deliverers to have exploded Similitude of Hands from being Evidence in Caſes of High Treaſon. And unleſs the Anſwerer proves the Delivery of it to a third Perſon, he will be thought as much the virulent and unjuſt Murtherers of his Reputation, as the others were of his Body, for want of due Proof that he knew the Contents. I think a Man is innocent of what he dies for, in the Sight of the Law, if the Evidence does not amount to Legal Proofs of the Indictment, and that ought in Common Juſtice as well as Charity to be thought the meaning of his Aſſerted Innocency; for he does not pretend he had not endeavoured to Reſtore the Uncle, and the Father, of Him and Her that poſſeſs the Throne.

§ 4 I don't ſee in Mr. Aſhton's Paper ſo much Art as Honeſty, according to his Principles; but I find in the Anſwerer all the advantage taken that his own ſix Weeks Labour, and a Club, could furniſh; from hence a Compliment Mr. Aſhton makes the Court Fol. 112 and 115. is with him a Proof that Mr. Aſhton had a Copy of the Indictment; Pannel of the Jury, ſufficient notice, &c. (which I believe, and always did, to be neceſſary to make a Tryal juſt and equitable, according to the Laws of England) at leaſt the ſtreſs this Anſwerer lays upon that Compliment, proves that he eſteems all the management of that Tryal to have been very fair, and that ſo Pol—'s Brats in the Charge is a Language well becoming a Judge, and that Herbert's enſnaring Queſtions are no leſs becoming an impartial Jury-man; I omit to mention any other hardſhips both in Mr. Aſhton's and in my Lord Preſton's Tryal, but particularly the King's Council's excepting againſt ſo many Jury-men without ſhewing Cauſe, which is ſo notorious a Prejudice to a Priſoner, that unleſs they can ſhew very Authentick Preſidents of the like Practice in Criminal Caſes, they muſt give me, and others, leave to think it one of the boldeſt Encroachments upon the People's Liberties that our Age has produc'd; and all good Men ought to reflect upon the great Violations of their Liberties in this caſe by ſuch unheard of Methods, as the late Tryals give us an Account of. The Council for the Crown in the Tryal of Croan excepting againſt Jury-men without ſhewing Cauſe, and not being publickly animadverted upon for ſo doing, it gave them confidence to do the ſame thing in my Lord Preſton's Tryal; and had they had need, they would doubtleſs have ventured to ſet by Men, after they had been Sworn to paſs upon the Life of the Priſoner; as in Croan's Tryal they ſet by Mr. Harriſon Goldſmith, Mr. Parker Tobacconiſt, Mr. Johnſon Herald Painter, &c. all Men of Wealth, and Reputation; a procedure ſo palpably unjuſt, that my Lord Nott—m could not believe it, when it was told him.

§ 5. Nor muſt I neglect to reiterate that unuſual way of Charging the Jury in theſe Tryals; the Bench often tells them that they believe in their Conſcience, that the Priſoners are Guilty of ſuch and ſuch a thing, and that they muſt bring in their Virdict, Guilty; now the Jury is to have no belief but what ariſes plainly and poſitively from the Evidence brought before them, their Conſciences are to be directed by plain Proof that appears ſo to them, not to be guided by other Men's Reaſons; and if their belief be determined any other ways, than from the Evidence before them, all Tryals will be rendred very Precarious; and I am very ſorry to ſee our Reformers out bid in this point all the Extravagancies of which they ſo much complain'd of. If theſe things are neceſſary to ſupport what is done, I will recommend farther to them the Scotch Boots and all the inventions of Tyranny in all Country's; but let us not pretend Jealouſie for our Laws, and our Liberties, and encourage the moſt dangerous outrages againſt them. And God grant ſucceeding Times may never learn by their Example. God grant that a Judge may never dare to leave a matter of Law, as ſimilitude of hands was to a Jury; nor them to find matter of Fact but according to the Evidence produced; and may he grant likewiſe that it may be ſcandalous to the laſt Degree in a Jury-man to turn Proſecutor, and buſle for Evidence; had ſome of the Judges and Jury-men in the late Reigns been made Examples, we ſhould have found theſe more tender in this; but perhaps ſome Men were cautious in that, knowing they ſhould have occaſion to uſe the Preſidents in this. But I return to what more particularly concerns Mr. Aſhton the Man (as P. in his Charge calls him) who ought to be honoured by every Party, if they have a fence of bravery in themſelves; it is a ſhame that thoſe that extolled the Gallantry of Sydney ſhould leſſen his Character, by ſaying how eaſy it is for an Engliſh Man to dye; for few have, or can dye like Mr. Aſhton. Let us acknowledge Virtue in our Enemies, and have a greatneſs above Sect, above Mode and above Party; 'tis Engliſh Men come to this, they are not worthy of that liberty about which they make ſuch ado.

§ 6. Thus much for Mr. Aſhton; I will now paſs to the conſideration to Paſſive Obedience, the Juſtice of this Cauſe, and the Legitimacy of the Prince of Wales.

The prevaricating Sons of the Church of England, have ſo plainly contradicted, by their Practices all that they have formerly Written; they have been all ſuch Sherlocks, that a Man had need be well ſatisfied of his Religion to keep him from Hobbiſm. Let thoſe that Read this Pamphlet, Read the Authors Quoted in the Hiſtory of Paſſive Obedience, let them peruſe Tillotſon's Letter to my Lord Ruſſel when he was preparing to dye. Let them conſider impartially what all of them would have had the World believe they meant at that time, and then if they can, let them forbear abhorring ſuch Practical Atheiſts, as are our Swearing admired Divines. I blame them ſufficiently for Aſcribing ſuch Luſcious Authority to Princes, they have tempted them to Exerciſe an uncontroleable Rule, and now they as vilely flatter the Mobb. I am not bound to defend all Mr. Aſhton's Principles, which they had taught him; but I am confident they would have been Orthodox with the Body of the Church of England, had the Declaration of Indulgence never been put out by King James; and whatever the Anſwerer ſaith pag. 9 and 10. though too many prevaricate by Submiſſion, and Obedience, yet there are but few of the Sons of that Church who ſubmit to the Pr. of Or. as, or believe him, the Rightful Lawful King, and ſo conſequently the Object of Paſſive Obedience; thoſe that were of that Church in both Houſes would have appeared as much againſt that Alteration of the Oath, as they did againſt Abjuration: Nay the very Secretary that is of that Communion, though he has gone greater lengths, than thoſe who are ſtrictly and ſincerely of that Principle can approve of, would not I believe, be able to ſtretch his Conſcience to ſwear this an Elective Monarchy, or the Quarrel Juſt, or which is the ſame thing the Pr. of Or. Lawful Rightful King.

§ 7. If the Prince of Orange's Declaration had been purſued (which was once by Mr. Aſhton deſigned to have been Re-printed as a proof, how well it hath been made good) if the falſe ſteps of the late Reigns had been rectified; if the Objected Impoſture, League, and Murther, had been proved; the ill Miniſters called to account, and the Prerogative fully debated and ſettled in Parliament, (a Reformation that would have lookt worth our Hazards, our Fortunes, our Reproach, and our Lives) I ſay if this had been the effect of the Revolution, it might have tempted a prudent Man to ſit quiet: But where are the Quo-Warranto-Projectors, the ſurrenderers of Charters, or the Regulators puniſhed? many of them are well, and well prefer'd. Is the Parliament Houſe leſs crouded with Officers▪ Danby is Preſident of the Council, and knows how to manage that matter. Are the Elections and returns better ſecured? The Quakers in the late Elections were no Freeholders in Barkſhire, Hartfordſhire, &c. and Jack How was a better Churchman than Powle who was Speaker to the Convention upon the Corporation bottom at Windſor. Are 〈◊〉 Lives Liberties and the Eſtates of Englishmen better guarded? Unleſs you think mercenary Foreiners fitter for that purpoſe than ſuch who having Relations amongſt us would be, and were tite to the National Intereſt. I know nothing we are the better, or wiſer in, but in the Methos of Taxing the Subjects, and Guilding the Pill with popular Names, Enacting Martial Laws, Suſpence of the Habeas Corpus, &c. while thoſe very Perſons who had taught us, That the King could not be called to account by his Subjects, and both ſwore themſelves, and obliged others to ſwear, that it was not Lawful upon any pretence whatſoever to take Arms againſt him, engaged both themſelves, and others, to help the Pr. of Or. to dethrone his Uncle, and his Princeſſes Father, the Lord's Anointed, and their own Lawful and Rightful Sovereign. The Prince's Declaration, and the Memorial of the States, denied that this was his Deſign, but St. Aſaph has found it in the Revelations.

§ 8. Now give me leave to examine the Juſtice of this Engagement; the Anſwerer plainly points out, that it was to ſtop the Increaſe of the French Monarchy: But this will not go down till the French League is proved, the contrary of which was moſt true; inſomuch that though d' Avaux had got the Secret of this Invaſion, and the King of France preſſed King James to take Care, yet he was jealous it was art in the French King to dip him in his Quarrel, and could not believe the P. of O. would undertake what he thought ſo horrid and unnatural: So that Van Cyters his falſe Proteſtations had more Credit than the true Informations of Barillion; and ſome will think it was not impoſſible for that Parliament which K. James was Calling, to have perſwaded him to have taken a juſt Care to ballance Europe: I am far from commending the way they were to be Choſen in, perhaps I am as nice as any Man living of the Privileges of Engliſh-men, but I believe the Men that were recommended to the Corporations were many of them Choſen into the Convention, and ſome of them perhaps were but too hot Members there; nor do I believe they could have been mealy-mouth'd under King James: So that the Emiſſaries of the P. of O. might have perſwaded them to talk loudly of the Growth of France, and of the Growth of Popery, without all that Expence of Blood and Treaſure we have been at, and God knows when it will be at an End; though if he came to ſave the People of England, he ſhould have made us the better for his Preferment, and our Redemption; but conſidering the Natural Obligations he had to King James, he ſhould not have made him only the worſe.

§ 9. And here I cannot forbear mentioning one thing that is mightily diſcours'd, viz. that he did not only dethrone him as a King but deſpoiled him as a Merchant; and that when Sir Robert Howard denied by the Pr. of Or. Command to let him have his own Money out of his own Exchequer, after he returned from Rocheſter, and he was forced to borrow of a faithful Servant a Sum of Money to carry him off, and out of his great Juſtice made over to that Servant ſome Money which he had in the Eaſt-India-Company (as a Trader) to reinburſe him, (the Company willingly joyning in the diſpoſal) yet even here he is uſing all his Power to wreſt this Money out of the Gentleman's hands and ſuffers all the Tradeſmen to whom the diſpoſſeſſed King was indebted to devour that Gentleman for what belongs to the Royal Treaſury to ſatisfy; he ought to give greater encouragement to gratitude, for Jeffrys himſelf could not prevail to deſtroy one of the Duke of Monmouth's menial Servants after his defeat; and this preſent King ſhould be aſhamed to be hardeſt upon ſuch as Mr. Aſhton and this Gentleman were, and to ſuffer all his Courts (and to help them too) to worry them every Term. This makes Mankind wonder.

§ 10. But to return to the Invading Politicks; The Dutch Ambaſſador ought not to have been ordered to deny thoſe Preparations were againſt King James; and it was fit to have tryed whether things might not have been amicable ſet right by Treaty, before they entered into Conſpiracies, and Clandeſtine Confederacies; with the Pope, the Emperor, and Spaniſh King (with the Aſſiſtance of the Inquiſition) to Eſtabliſh the true Proteſtant Religion. Nor ſhould Dickvelt have come hither to corrupt and to Liſt the King's Subjects againſt him. Thoſe that can find Preſidents and Arguments for theſe things, can Reverſe Nature and all her Laws, can put off the ſence of a God and a World to come, whilſt they baſely lend their Pens, to the blackeſt Villanies; they may declaim for Lucifer, and commend the Aſpiring minds of the fallen Angels, who have obtained a Government and Superintendency over Perjur'd and Wretched Souls, over the Baſe, the Treacherous, and the Ungrateful, and reign in the Hearts of none elſe; and that Church. Divine that can make the Meſſage by the Three Noble Lords, a very good natur'd Compliment may go a great way, towards proving the Regicides Noble, and Conſciencious Patriots; I think in my Conſcience by his wording that Paragraph (which I had almoſt ſlipped over) he could have been willing, the Life of his Soveraign ſhould have been taken away, to put an end to the War and the Charge; he might have had Arguments from the Army Remonſtrants 1648. And with Dr. Bur—t's help and from his Text have proved it the Lord's doing; a Man would think he had been in Holland, that he allows all things to be done for Intereſt, and the moſt unnatural barbarity to be good breeding if it does the buſineſs; he lets looſe all the Ambition imaginable in Princes againſt all the Sacred Ties of Natural and Civil Relation, againſt their Uncles, their Neighbours, their Allies, their Friends, and their Fathers-in-Law; and ſets down the wildeſt Maxims that were ever Advanced in Politicks and thinks to caſt upon the Doctrines of the Church of England, every Act of State wherein Princes have conſulted their own ſecular Advantages, and got a willing Clergy, or perhaps but one of that Robe to Countenance what yet was not ſo apparently oppoſite to the ſence of all good Men, as our Pretences are.

For my part this Anſwerer ſhall no more ſend me to the French Cabinet than to the Netherlands to be inſtructed in honeſty. And I know no body that would have blamed the Pr. of Or. for obſtructing the French Deſigns, if he had not taken an unjuſt way to do it. I wiſh he could have reſettled the Edicts of Nantes, and the Aſſembly of the States there, the Liberties of the Oppreſſed, and Liberty of Conſcience; but I am ſorry he has choſen rather to be what After-ages will call a Pirate, and a Robber, than to be the acknowledged Benefactor and Protector of Mankind. He has had great Opportunities, but he has ſhown he knows not how to uſe them. He has not a Soul large enough for the Poſt in which this fickle Nation has put him. A Paultry Self-Intereſt governs his Councils, and as ill Men govern him, and make him miſtake his way to Glory; there were too apparent Prints of this Self-Intereſt, in that part of his Declaration quoted by this Anſwerer in relation to the Prince of Wales; and ſince that is a new inſiſted on by this Licenſed Author (though the Convention and preſent Parliament wiſely let it alone, becauſe many of the Members knew there would be produced unanſwerable and undoubted Proofs) I will promiſe them they ſhall hear of it with a Witneſs in a particular Diſcourſe, ſince it would draw this Paper to too great a length. I will conclude, after I have ſolemnly returned my Thanks to the Government, for at laſt publiſhing Mr. Aſhton's Speech, though not without the beſt Anſwer they could make to it, which yet ſcarce ever was bought, but to make the Speech in a Cloſet no Crime.