IF Kings were as wife and good as their Office requires them to be, Monarchy, certainly, would be the happieſt Form of Government in the World; but ſince experience tells us they are like us in all things, Kingſhip excepted, and are for the moſt part but the worſe for. That, it has been the Wiſdom of all Nations to take the beſt caution and ſecurity of them for their freedoms that they could get. This, I and many more expected at the hands of our Senators, after not only the harms of others, but our own might have taught them how to make uſe of ſo happy an oppertunity; but as leſs then a years time has ſhown us the vanity of our hopes in them, I preſume they are not leſs inſtructed of the vanity of their own in him, it being viſible, to all the thinking World, that he is not able to ſupport himſelf three Months longer, upon the meaſures he takes, between King James and a Common-wealth, for one of them will be quickly too hard for him, and only one of them can prevent the other. And becauſe no man has had a greater Sence of this Providence then my ſelf, and that I have been perticularly converſant with thoſe that went into this abdicating Intereſt, I find my ſelf touch'd in duty and honour to be early and free with them upon the Jealouſies that fill my Heart; and the Hearts of many good Men, about the preſent ſtate of our affaires.

They have been guilty of ſins, both of Omiſſion and Commiſſion: They have neglected the main things they ought to have made the Object and advantage of this change, and they have viſibly acted the quite contrary. And laſt of all, ſeveral things have happened, both at home and abroad, that render the continuance of our preſent Goverment impractable; therefore we muſt not only ſuffer, but ſeek another ſtate or change, and that ſpeedily. The faults of Omiſſion are theſe; they have made a King, but have not made it impoſſible for that King to be like the Kings that went before him, he having the ſame power over the Rights of the People, and they lying as open to the mercy and ſtroke of ambition, and arbitrary Power as before, which is only changing of Hands, and not Things; Men, and not Meaſures and Securities. That this is the caſe, let it be conſidered he is unaccountable, which contradicts their Principles they choſe him upon. He has the ſame Power over Parliaments that his Predeceſſors had, which are accounted the true Conſervators of the Peoples freedoms. Their Elections are as inſecure as ever. Their Meetings as uncertain, being neither Yearly, Duenneally nor Triennially. Neither are they Maſters of their own Seſſions, to Adjourn and Prorogue as they pleaſe. And if they have prepared the moſt uſeful or neceſſary Law in the World, as the caſe now ſtands, he may refuſe to paſs it, by Proroguing or Diſſolving them, which renders the whole Conſtitution of Parliaments precarious, and at his Will and Pleaſure. Much leſs does the Parliament nominate his Council, or is he oblig'd to act in the Intervals of Parliaments by the Advice and Approbation of a Council; but on the contrary to theſe Rights and Securities, he can call, prorogue and diſſolve Parliaments at pleaſure, whoſe very Elections lie as open to Fraud & Violence as ever; Charters & Corporations being in no better condition then they were. He picks and chuſes his Council. He Names all the great Officers of the State, Navy, Army and Church, as well as of his Houſhold; and he abſolutely commands the Malitia, as yet; which is having the whole in his Power, for thereby he has a Mortgage upon every man; the Gain or Honour of his Office being a Bribe to byaſs him to the pleaſure of the Prince: That already they have not been able to keep themſelves from the diſtinction of Court and Country party, who the other day objected it to their Enemies as a Vice in Government. This has ſomething in it very abſurd, and it reproaches the honeſty or underſtanding of ſome People, that when they ſay they can make Kings, they either can't or won't take care to limit and regulate them to our Safety: by which means the King, that is made by the People, may rule without them, inſtead of ruling for them, and govern jure divino, though he be created jure humano, which renders his execution Independent of his Commiſſion, and himſelf in all things impunible. We have herein left the Principles that lead us to leave King James and changed the very meaſures upon which we changed the Government. We made uſe of Republican Reaſons for our alteration, and, for ought I ſee, we go upon Tory methods to eſtabliſh it. This renders our caſe much worſe then it was in the time of King Charles and King James; in that then we had Kings that were ſuſpected, to be ſure not belov'd, and the firſt not feared from his humour, and the laſt, at last as little apprehended from his Intereſt: But this Gentleman enters upon the Reputation of Proteſtancy, and has our own choice & Religion both to blind us, & bind us. Being there more popular, and not more limited, we are not more ſafe, but our Liberties more expoſed: And unleſs ſuch a King has irreſiſtable Grace, or ſtronger tyes upon him, the Reaſons of our preferring him may be the Inſtances of our danger. Let theſe ſerve as brief hints of the pernitious Omiſſions we have made, about the Conſtitution of our Government, and give me leave now to point at our Sins of Commiſſion.

Of this ſort the Suſpenſion of the Habeas Corpus act will challange the preference. It is what can never be anſwer'd by us Whiggs, to ſtab ſuch a Law, nay, our own Law three times ſucceſſively. In this the Toryes outwitted us, for they have humoured us into a contradiction of our own Principles. Next, it has been a dangerous Error, that ſo many Members of bath Houſes have ſo faſt and ſo firmly got into Places of Profit. This is a Scandal to the Cauſe, our old Clamours and Pretentions conſidered; and all the World ſees the Influence it has had to ſtifle this Reformation in its very birth, Suffering ſo many Foreign Troops that are the Mercinaries of this Prince, to continue amongſt us, and more come in upon us, when there are ſo many moderate Church-men and Diſſenters, of unqueſtionable valour and ſincerity, ready to ſerve in their Station, purely for the ſake of the Proteſtant Religion and a National Intereſt, is both unjuſt, unwiſe and unſafe. It was likewiſe a fatal Error to be buſie in ſending ten or twelve Thouſand men into Holland, before we ſent twelve Hundred into Ireland, which ſhows ſome Body's heart is as Foreign as his Birth. Juſt ſo we have done by Sea; been buſie about a Fleet, and careleſs of our Trade, that as a witty Member of the Houſe of Commons ſaid, The Dutch have run away with our Trade, and the French with our Ships, notwithſtanding our Fleet. It is certain they left Breſt when they ſhould have ſtaid there (by which means the French joyned their Fleets) & are come home, when there is moſt uſe of them abroad, whereby the French are left to ſcour our Seas. Many are employed that either do not understand their buſineſs, or are not in our Intereſt, becauſe they can give moſt Money. Soldiers, eſpecially, the Dutch, have been quarter'd upon private Houſes, and Gentlemen's Seats have not eſcaped them. Martial Law has been executed to Death, before the Act paſſed. Schombergh ſent too ſoon, ſince he went ſo late, unleſs he had carried his Horſe and Proviſions with him, and while we have entertain'd the World with an Opinion that the Iriſh will not fight, we at laſt decline to fight the Iriſh, and have loſt our Army.

But theſe are little Errors, and lie remotely, in compariſon of ſome that affect the very center or head of our Affairs. The King himſelf ſhews us he is infected with Dominion, and that by two broad inſtances, Scotland and his Miniſters at home. For he has not only already vi • lated the very Fundamentals of the Conſtitution of that Kingdom he ſwore to maintain, when he received that Crown, but huff's thoſe men of Quality that came up from that Nation to repreſent the breach of thoſe Conditions upon which he took the Crown. And for the preſent Miniſters of his Government here, the very naming of them, is giving the Reaſon, both for the Sins of Omiſſion and Commiſſion: And indeed how ſhould we hope to have our Liberties eſtabliſh'd under them, who in the late Reigns were the Authors of the Miſeries we call'd in this Prince in hopes to be delivered from; and by what we have already ſeen of their management, we muſt conclude they have either a King James in their Belly, or in their Hearts, the Principles of making more then a King James of King William. And truly they have carried him a good way towards it, when they have made him afraid of protecting that gallant Gentleman, Lievtenant General Ludlow, becauſe for ſooth, he was a Common-wealths-man, & one of the Judges of King Charles the firſt, though upon his Principles, we have abdicated the Son, which is to refuſe him the benefit of the Reaſons, upon which we pretend to ſave our ſelves. This makes me believe a Story of this King, which I was even ſorry to hear, that upon ſome Bodies telling him t'other day, the Common-wealths-men began to be very buſie, he ſhould ſay, Let me alone with them, for after I came into the Government of Holland, they never could do any thing: And it is certain, his party were the Tories of that State.

But it is not only Domeſtick Errors that make me diſſpond, though they are enough to ſink this Government, but the very Nation is in hazard, in reference to our Affairs abroad, more then ever; and I would not, while we reproach the Governments that went before us, that we ſhould do worſe for the Common Safety. What condition we are in as to France and Ireland, the charge it has been to the People, and how much greater it is like to be, and that we have now a more Melancholly proſpect of the Concluſion of the War then we had ſix Months ago, are felt as well as ſeen. I need not tell my Country-men, that our Intereſt is grounded upon Trade, and that whatever leſſens that, leſſens us; and that, that Country that rivals us in that point, is our Enemy by Intereſt, and we can hardly have a greater: But perhaps it may ſurprize them, to tell them at this time, that Holland is that Country: But ſo it is, and the indifferent World ſees it, and even the Partial amongſt us, begin to feel it. It would have been the Wiſdom of this King as ſoon as he became ſo, to have conſider'd his Intereſt changed upon his being ſo. Inſtead of that, we have ever ſince had our Engliſh Intereſt govern'd by Dutch Councils, and we have felt the effects of it; which our Enemies are ſure to improve to our diſhonour and danger; as if we had deliver'd up the Wealth and Glory of England to Holland, inſtead of making that Country an Hand-maid, to her gteatneſs. And truly it is a ſcurvy Dilemma, that we are brought into, that we cannot hope for peace with France, nor to be long at Peace with Holland, and keep our Trade, nor to ſupport a War with both, if to out-live our own Factions: and this the Dutch know as well as we, and therefore, you ſee, they Looſe no time, but make the War their great gain: For as we let them manage it they add Our ſhare to their own: This is the language of all Ports, both abroad and at home. Sink therefore we must, when our Friends help to do it, and the King we have made, will not ſee it. If this partiality proceeded only from the ſence he has of the kindneſs the States have ſhown him, one would hope it were but to be once done; but I am told there is more in it; that he intends to purchaſe them to himſelf at our Coſt, for a worſe purpoſe, viz, an unreaſonable greatneſs: and it falls pat with the Dutch intereſt, for with them, it is a Maxim, the leſs we are free, the leſs they have to fear; nothing being more cavileer in England then a Dutch Republican. This, if I know any thing, compleats our miſery, that we are got into a War, for the ſake, of a Country that, is, in reaſon of State, the moſt; firm enemy to our Liberties at home and our Traffick abroad, and that will only be of our ſide as long as we let them go away with our Trade; but the hour we ſhow, we underſtand them, we may depend upon it, they will make up with France, and leave us in the lunch. It is not enough that the parliament will give mony; I do not doubt that; but that, may be our miſery as it may be given. Let us firſt conſider, for what we give it? it will be ſaid, to pull down France; But that is the Emperors work, whoſe Competitor he is, and not ours. But as things now move, ſhall not we ſet up Holland, that is our Competitor every where, and in every thing? Taxes muſt riſe heavily upon ſuch proſpects of our Affairs. There is in my Opinion a nearer way to the Mill then all this, and I think the only one Let the Parliament but make it plain to the People, that they have the benefit of the Change, and I will paſs my word for them, they will be at the charge of it; But that they ſhould aſſiſt ſuch a Revolution, and oppoſe their Perſons to all hazards, and their Eſtates to the Conſumption that will follow it, and at laſt ſit down with a leſs Trade abroad, and with ſomething worſe then the worſt part of King Charles the ſecond's Reign at home, is, I hope, too groſs to paſs upon the Nation. They that long ſince owed their Heads to the Publick, muſt not now think to ſet up for the Guides of it. The reflection of a Commonweath is too ſtale a Calumny to put a zealous & juſt claim of Rights out of countenance.

It was flung at the brave Lord Ruſſel, & at all the Patroons & Martyrs of the people, but in vain are their Attainders reverſed, while their Endeavours are impeached. That a Common-Wealth ſhould be an Objection now, to ſuch a ſettlement of our Freedoms as can only ſave us, is a moſt ſevere One againſt the Goverment, eſpecially when the ſame Gentlemen have the Power of making it, that made it once before. We can go upon no other Principles, except we will ſet up that Arbitrery Power we have ventur'd all to oppoſe. Nick-names muſt not ſcare us, nor vain Flatteries abuſe us: We muſt have our Liberties, or ſhift for our ſelves, and that quickly, before he brings in more Foreign Forces upon us. A Reproach we can never wipe off, that what we objected againſt King James, ſhould be endured from a Stranger in ſo diftruſtful a manner, and a Parliament fitting, unconſulted. I will end with this Queſtion;

Is it not a breach of publick Faith and Safety, for a Prince, of his own Head to call in Foreign Force to rule a People, that called him in but t'other day to rule and protect them by their own Laws & Arms? It ſhows a plain diſſolution of Truſt and Confidence in the People, that truſted him, as well as a Violation of the Conditions of the relation. And if ſo, are not the Obligations of the People diſcharged? nay, are they not obliged before God and Man, to take ſpeedy care of their own future Safety one way or other? Now or Never.