SINCE you cannot help it, but are pusht on by a fatal Ne­cessity, I will not wonder that you add so scurrilous a Letter to so insipid a Dis­course.

If the Notions that have trou­bled your Head, had evapora­ted in that Noddle that first conceived them, I apprehend no Damage could have accrued to me by the Disappointment: and you might with safety have appeased the Twinges of your tender Conscience, without discovering so little regard to common Honesty. I am obliged to you, for the Liberty you give me, to make what use of them I please; the Choice is easily deter­min'd, I know what use to make of waste Paper. But I crave leave to disagree with your Judgment; [Page 2] since I cannot understand your Arguments so co­gent, or your Design so ingenious, To put me in the right way te keep my Estate in Ireland however you cajole me with a complemental Acknowledgment of a former Welcome there. As you need not tell me the Danger it is in; so there is no necessity to delude me with improper Directions, how to escape it; wishing that the way were plainly seen, and yet plainly wishing that I may not take it. When you pretend to be plainer, you appear to me to be most intricate; for what can you mean by the two pretending Kings to Ireland? Certainly, it must be James and Lewis; and I am fully satisfied, that which soever of those two sides I take, I take the unjust side, and really deserve to lose my Estate. Your Convi­ction has no more Influence on me, than your Conver­sion; and tho with a Jesuitical Equivocation, you flat­ter the Protestant Interest, yet secretly and sl [...]ly you promote the Popish Intrigue.

I might turn the Point upon you and retort your own Words, [I do not ingage in the Point of Right and Wrong between King James, and King William, which of those has the best Title to this Crown; or rather, which has a Title, and which has not;] but your Lan­guage is so foul, so malapert, so impudent, that it cannot be repeated without the danger of Infection. For who but a profligate Wretch, case-hardned with a Popish Zeal, and Superstition, durst belch out so uncharitable a Censure on those glorious Adventurers who contributed to the miraculous restitution and re­establishment of the Protestant Religion under a Pro­testant King and Queen? But now the Vizor is off, it is no longer Popery in masquerade, the Jesuit is [Page 3] bare-faced; no man, but one trained in that diabo­lical Discipline, would presume to asperse the hap­py Actors in the late Settlement, with those odious Terms of Falseness, Weakness, and Baseness; and so profanely scoff at a Reformation of the Lord's doing. Were there any other Advantage to be gain'd by the Wager, than your yielding that whole Proceed­ing to be lawful and just; I could as positively lay my Bett, That the first Contrivers and Promoters of it were principally guided by a Care and Con­cernment for the Established Religion, and not ani­mated to it by those dis-ingenious Motives of Re­venge, Advantage, or Ambition: But so bold and base an Assertion, so contrary to Truth, Sense, and Experience [that Religion is in a worse con­dition, than it could have been put by King James as long as he could have lived] deserves no Re­ply, but a Whip and a Scourge: so sawcy and virulent an Expression [that the whole Proceeding is the blackest and foulest that ever shewed its Face in the World, not excepting that against King Charles the First] is not to be answered with Patience. Nevertheless, I will for once play the Stoick, and calmly reason the Case with you. Either you gros­ly equivocate, or you speak nothing to the Pur­pose; if by Religion you mean your own, and the Popish Persuasion, it is very palpable that it is in a worse condition, than King James would have put it: if you mean the Protestant Religion, how can you with that Confidence aver it to be in a worse condition? Are the Bishops imprison'd, indicted, and try'd for Actions merely moral, and consci­encious? Are the Heads and Members of Col­leges [Page 4] arbitrarily turn'd out, and the Fountains of Learning tainted by Romish Poyson? Are any Sort or Party of Protestants discountenanced? Are Im­ployments Civil and Military taken from men, because they will not truckle to the Determina­tions of a Popish Council, or stisle the Inspira­tions of a good Conscience, by the prospect of a good Place? Are there any Popish Chappels open, or Jesuitical Schools and Seminaries permitted in the Land? Does the King brow-beat his Depen­dents for not following him to the Mass? or the Ministers of State make the Roman Catholick Pro­fession the End and Pledge of your Advance­ment? Do the Court-Agitators put a Muzzle up­on your Reason, or infringe your natural Privi­ledge of Free-will? Or have you been Closeted, and obliged to give your Vote against the Dictates of your Judgment? Is there a Mass openly celebra­ted in the Kingdom, a Jesuit to be found, or a Fryer to be seen? If not, how ridiculous is the Comparison? How senseless the Presage? The Pro­testant Religion is now become the National and Universal Profession, cherished by the King, en­couraged by the Parliament; in the late Reign it was clouded, despised, and rendred altogether un­fashionable, and in all probability would have been quite extinguished, if James, your King, had long li­ved so. And now let us consider the Circumstances of King Charles the Martyr, and his Apostate Son; and look into the Parallel of their several Suffe­rings. The one of an Angelick Life, the Pat­tern of Goodness, and Mirror of Virtue; who li­ved a Saint, and dyed a Confessor; it will be [Page 5] undecent to reflect upon the Immoralities of a Prince; turn the end of the Perspective, and all considerate Men will agree in the Character of the other. The one indeed was accused openly, Things laid to his Charge that he knew not, persecuted and deserted by the predominant Party of his Subjects, and cut off by a Form of Law and Justice: the other had his Accusation legibly stampt on all his Actions, by the Breach of Pro­mises, the eluding of Oaths, and the Infraction, or Suspension of the Municipal Laws of the King­dom; he affronted and cast off his best and truest Subjects, he deserted the Throne, and by a spontaneous Act Abdicated the Government; he was neither imprisoned nor restrained, but by his Flight he justly incurs the Guilt of those Crimes which an inward Witness confronted him with, and which the Modesty as well as Prudence of the Government has forborn to make publick, since it is not the Custom of England to try and condemn the absent, or to execute men in Effigie: and if such men [whom he hath raised from no­thing, and done such singular kindness to] prefer­red their Religion and the Salvation of their Souls, before the servile Compliance with an Idolatrous Worship, and supporting the Tyranny of a Bigot­ted Zealot, and Inflexible Votary to the Church of Rome; in my Opinion they deserve to be placed in the first Rank of good Patriots and Champions for the Liberty and Prosperity of their Countrey. And if the Government be so tender of the Ho­nour of an Abdicated Prince, as not to publish what they know concerning the suspected Birth of the Prince of Wales; the Secret League with France, &c. [Page 6] let it not be imputed to sham or Defect of Evi­dence; do not dare or defy them to do such a thing, lest that may fall out, which has often hap­ned to an insulting and unprovoked Challenger. Your Similies about setting Fire to a Part of the House, may pass for very Elegant; but let me retort the Allegory, and ask you, what say you to him, that sets Fire to the whole House, and runs away by the Light of it? For such Papers as are writ on this Subject, I willingly remit you to hug your self in the Delight you take in them, and intreat you at the next Edition, to affix to them your Impri­matur.

And now let us joyn Issue; let us (to use your Metaphor) open the Tables, and try the several Games that are to be Play'd; or to humour your Con­ceit, let us take out the Dice, and either play at In and In with one of the Kings; or at Hazard, if the contrary side should prevail. Most Judicious Sir! I do admire your Logical Head, which way you could find out such extraordinary Remarks, as have escaped the Curiosity of others! You begin Hypo­thetically, you conclude Dogmatically, and you proceed all the way Fallaciously. If the Protestants of Ireland side with King James, and King William prevail, how can you be certain that King Willi­am cannot make them suffer with any face of Law, Equity, Conscience or Policy? To me it appears quite otherwise; for tho you beg the question in your Parenthesis, and positively pronounce that King James has not Abdicated the Government of Ireland; all Men that know the Constitution of that Kingdom, and its subordinate Dependance upon England, will spit [Page 7] Contradictions in your face, and inform the World, that when the Parliament of England have declared the Throne vacant, and placed the Regal Diadem on King William, it will neither be against Law, nor Equity, to punish such persons as voluntarily and wittingly adhere to King James, with loss of life, and Confisca­tion of their Estates. Neither is the case the same as was in England, so long as King James was actually King, no man was blamed for serving under his Com­mand, nor obnoxious to Punishment for being faithful to him; but when he is actually deprived of his Regali­ty, and had abandon'd the Government, when King Willi­am is in Possession of the Throne, and publickly proclaimed both in England and Ireland, according to your Position, Law, Equity, and Conscience, are of the side of the lawful King (i. e. of him whom the Legislative Power of the Land has constituted King) at least as long as he is pos­sessed.

In the next Paragraph you have conjured up a Spirit, which with all your skill you cannot exorcise; you have started an Objection, which with all your Sophi­stry you cannot answer. The Right and Power of England in and over the Kingdom of Ireland is unque­stionable, no King of England, since the Conquest of it, ever went into Ireland to be Crowned; but by the assumption of the Crown here, he is ipso facto be­come King there. Certainly if you were conversant in the History and Laws of Ireland, you would never a­muse the World with such frivolous questions. You would know that the Parliament of England can o­blige Ireland by an Act inclusive, that by special words the Parliament of England may bind the Subjects of Ire­land, vid. Cook. 4. Institut. 350. That Appeals are made from thence to the Parliament here; that the Privy [Page 8] Council can summon Offenders before them, that the Judges of the Kings Bench can remand the Hearing of Causes by Writs of Error. Nay, the Parliament of Ireland are so subjected to the Power of England by Poyning's Law, made in the Tenth of Henry the Seventh, that they have not the power of an ordinary Grand-Jury in making Presentments, a Bill cannot be brought into the House, before it is approved by the Council in England, and Inrolled in the Chancery there; so that if the Parliament in England cannot lay a Tax upon the Estates in Ireland (which for the Honour of my Coun­try, I will neither determine nor dispute) yet it is ap­parent by all Histories and Records, they may do things of a higher nature, and settle the Throne of Ire­land by an Authority paramount to theirs; (tho it has been usual to make a Recognition of the Regal Title in that Kingdom in their proper Parliament, in imitati­on and concurrence with what is done in this) and the same indubitably will be practiced, whensoever King William shall be established in the Possession of that forlorn Country.

You cavil and banter, when you set the Convention against the Parliament, and the Prince of Orange against King William. The Lord Keeper has the same Autho­rity as the Lord Chancellor, tho not so great a Title; the Convention and the Parliament are different terms, one Latin, the other French; but their Power and Jurisdiction the same. When we say, the Three Estates convened in Parliament, is not the Convention in the Parliament, and the Parliament consisting of the Conven­tion of the Three Estates? There must be no long Va­cancy in the Throne, the King never dies, but upon the Natural, or Civil Death, or departure of the Regnant Prince, the Throne must be immediately fill'd, and [Page 9] when the Prince of Orange is solemnly proclaimed, and placed in the Throne, and Crowned King; he is a Rebel and a Traytor that questions his Right, or op­poseth his Government.

You reer the Fabrick of your Discourse upon a false foundation, you gull the people by a subdolous Suppo­sition, That King James is lawfully possest of the King­dom of Ireland. You may as well be an Advocate for the French King, and assert his Right to Alsatia, Lorrain, and many Towns in Flanders, because he is possest of them by force; you may as well plead for his Brother the Great Turk, and justifie his Usurpation of all the Christian Territories. About November last you might have said such things without controul: He was then the Regnant King, and tho by his Religion he was un­capable to hold the Reins of Government, yet before Conviction and Sentence, no man taxed his Disability; tho by his Violation of Oaths, Subversion of the Laws, and Arbitrary Intrusion on the Subjects Properties, be justly forfeited his right to rule; yet no man resisted him. But now when out of a secret Guilt he hath withdrawn himself, and without compulsion abdicated the Go­vernment, when the Legislative Power hath exclu­ded and dethroned him, and have actually placed the Crown of England, and its dependant Ireland, upon the head of another; he that will own James to be still the King, deserves to be exploded at Newgate, and con­futed at Tyburn. But if King James should prevail, and keep the possession of Ireland, (whereof by the trea­cherous dissimulation of his Deputy Tyrconnel, and the assistance of his French Myrmidons, he has already too great a share) it is easie to see how it is likely to fare with those who pretend to set up King William, and if they must claim no better Title or Security for their Lives and [Page 10] Estates, than what they must be obliged to his mercy and kindness for, the consequence is obvious; it will prove the Transcript of the horrible Persecutions in France (far transcending all those of the Heathen Emperors put together) the Dragoons will tread the Stage, and react those Tragical Barbarities on the Scene of Ireland. Can we expect any other Answer or Usage than the Protestants of Suffolk received from Queen Mary, whom they placed on the Throne, when the Papists had set up the Lady Jane Grey? Or any other return than the French Tyrant hath made to his Subjects of the Re­formed Religion, for establishing his Title against all other Pretenders? Consider the Proceedings of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second, and then tell me if any man in his senses ought to relie on the Word and Pro­mise of a Popish Prince made to his Heretical Subjects. He was famous under the advantageous Characters of Piety, Probity, Vertue, a zealous Son of the Holy Church: His Protestant Subjects continued faithful to him, and did not adhere to King Frederick, tho a Pro­testant Prince, and chosen King by the States of Bohe­mia; yet when he became Master of the Country by his Victory at Prague, he handled them with equal cruelty and severity, as those who had sided with Fre­derick, only he allow'd them this hard choice, either to change their Religion within three Months, or to depart the Kingdom: Nay, when he had solemnly pro­mised, and sworn to observe the Articles agreed be­tween him and the Elector of Saxony, in favour of the Lutherans (many of whom had served in that Army which reduced Bohemia to his Obedience) yet so soon as he saw himself in a condition to need no more of their service, he was absolved from the obligation of his Promises by the Bishop of Aversa, and thereupon [Page 11] they were all banish'd, as well as the most obnoxious. And by the way observe, the Protestant profession was the established Religion of Bohemia, as firmly settled as Impe­rial Edicts could make it, no less publickly profest and generally settled in that Kingdom, than it was in Ire­land; notwithstanding within a few years the Prote­stant Religion was wholly extinguish'd, by the Violati­ons made on their Laws, Liberty, and Property, by this pious Emperor Ferdinand the Second, contrary to all solemn Engagements, Promises, and publick Faith.

The rest of your Argument will prove a trifle, if the matter be stated right, you insist upon the Dispute between King William and King James, but take no no­tice of him that sits behind the Curtain, that when the Gamesters have try'd their luck, intends to sweep away the Stakes. If King James retain his Usurped Domi­nion, it is but to be Tributary to the French King, and what must the Protestants expect under his Protection, but Rapes, Robberies, Murders, and utter desolation, and destruction? If King William prevail and recover Ireland, (as well we may hope, since God is on his side) Reason and Justice will incline him to call them to account, who have abetted the Irish French Interest, and then perhaps your Terra firma will be shaken, and you may look for a Reprisal in Ʋtopia, or New Atlantis.

It is not to be wonder'd at that you who were wont to ridicule the Popish Plot, should pretend a disbelief of the intended Massacre in Ireland. Those whom you call timerous and unthinking people, had more wit than to believe themselves in safety under a Popish Govern­ment, they withdrew their persons and their effects in time, while many thousands of credulous men, cheated by the specious pretences, and horrible Imprecations of Tyrconnel (never true to his word, but in his appointed [Page 12] days to Assault and ruin the Prorestants) and amused by the mistaken policy of the through paced professors of Religion; continued there, till they were driven to the pinching Dilemma, of Complying or Starving. And now, in the Name of God, why shou'd any conside­rate Man doubt the design of the Papists to inslave the British, to destroy the Religion, and utterly to extermi­nate the Protestants, either gradually, or by an universal Massacre? Why were Arms secretly bought up, and an unusual Furniture of Chain-Bridles provided by some of the Irish Clergy? Why was London-Derry to be possessed by a multitude of Highlanders and Papists on the 7th. of December last, but in order to that bloody Design to be perpetrated on the 9th. Did not Tyrconnel about that time give Commissions (only upon a bare Letter from his Master) to raise 40000 Men, and distribu­ted above 50000 Arms? Were not the New Officers to maintain their Troops and Companies by such a proportion of Beef, Mutton, and Meal for Three Months; and did they not raise that supply by Rob­bing the British? Were not the Protestants in Mun­ster plunder'd? The whole Province of Canaght pil­laged? All Arms and Horses forcibly taken from the Inhabitants of Dublin and forty Miles round it? Is not Ʋlster (who upon the News of the Barbarous proceedings in the other Provinces Arm'd and got together for their self Defence) almost totally over­run by the insulting Enemy, their Houses and Estates taken from them, their Tenants begger'd, and them­selves forced to seek a Refuge in England, and Scot­land? Have not many Protestants been Murther'd, some by Rage, and some by a Form of Law? Have not others been cheated by the Trick of Protections, while the Officers defend them from the Rapine of [Page 13] the Army, but expose them to the Fury of the Rab­ble? May not any Man of common sense, the most Igno­rant in all Ireland, plainly see (to retort your own Words) the Massacring the English would make Room for the French, and unite all Papists under the Obe­dience of King Lewis? And if so, can any Man with Reason condemn those that have escaped from Ire­land, or advise those that remain there to justifie, and support the Brace of Usurpers.

Hitherto you have vented your Spleen, and ut­ter'd many undecent Reflections on the King and Parliament; but now you Attacque us with an un­gentile Exprobation of our present Necessities. Tho' our Rents do not come out of Ireland after us, but are intercepted by such as have no Right to them; yet we may live, the generous people of England will not let us starve, we are not in the least doubt but King William will provide handsom subsistence for us, accor­ding to our several Capacities. We are proud that so Illustrious a person as my Lord Hallyfax will vouch­safe to solicite for us, and hope it will be to better purpose, than the Negotiation of Father Peters, or my Lord Powis Sollicitation for you. If Lieutenant Gene­ral Hamilton has neglected his Honour and Engage­ment, and contributed to the destruction of his Coun­try-men; I hope Monsieur d'Avaux will Reward him according to his merits. For my part I do intend to spend my time in London, till the Kings Commands oblige me to be elsewhere, and I do not fear that it shall ever be in the power of King James to punish me for it. And however you reproach and upbraid us with Hunger and Want, I can assure you, your Friends in Ireland, are in no great plenty of Meat and Drink: Hunger and Poverty are the concomitants of King James his Court, [Page 14] tho' it may be better endured by his French Control­lers, and his Irish Followers, who never were accu­stomed to fuller Feeding.

Your next is a meer Wheadle; but be not decei­ved, the Protestants here have no mind to return into Ireland, while either French, or Irish are Predominant; neither will they seek a License from King James to sta [...] here, or his Pardon for their Absence. But when King William shall imploy them, they hope to return, and call them to account, who have occasion'd their Exile.

I come now to consider the Case, which you have stated with all possible Art, Malice, and false Insinua­tions. Your design is to instill a Jealousie into the minds of the Protestants, to foment a mistrust be­tween the English and Dutch, and by a side-blow to wound the Honour of our Gracious King. It is not impossible, but King James may for some time keep the possession of Ireland for the use of King Lewis, and may Seize and Possess himself (but not fairly) of my Estate: It is no less possible that King William may after some time beat out King James, and his French Accom­plices, and settle himself intirely in that Dominion. Well, what then: Must my Estate be liable to Forfei­ture because it was Seized, and Usurped by proclaimed Rebels? Is there any Colour of Sense or Reason to start a comparison in the Case between British Prote­stants forced to forsake the Country, and abandon their Estates for safety of their Lives in the Reign of King William, and Irish Papists, who unprovoked, in the time of Peace and Quiet; took up Arms, and Mur­ther'd so many Thousands of their Fellow-Subjects, who by King Charles the First and his Parliament, were declared Traytors attainted by the Law, their Estates Forfeited by Rebellion; and vested in King [Page 15] Charles the Second at his Restauration? Such an Argu­ment is to be urged only by that sort of Men, who with a seared Conscience and a brazen Impudence, deny the Gun-Powder Treason; make a mock of the Horrid Popish Plot, and justifie the former damnable Rebellion in Ireland, as an undertaking for Self-de­fence. And what if the King have an Inclination to gratifie Monsieur B—g, and those other Worthy Per­sons who have faithfully served him, and assisted in the Expulsion of Tyranny, Popery, and Arbitrary Government, and securing the Peace and Religion of the Kingdom? Is there any necessity to make the Protestant Estates the Reward of their Service? No there are Lands in Ireland to the value of 300000. l. per annum belonging to Irish Papists, (now in Actual Rebellion against the Crown of England) with which the King may amply Recompense his Servants, and distribute his Favours according to their respective Me­rits. In the mean time, King William being a Man of exemplary Piety, exalted Virtue, universal Probity, and the Champion of the Protestant Religion, I nei­ther mistrust his Justice, nor doubt his Generosity; I rest secure and satisfi'd that he will in time restore me to my former Estate, and give me more, if by my Service I can deserve it.

The Question which you Propose, and pretend to Answer, carrys the Confutation in the very Terms of stating it: you say, in case we should return to that which perhaps is justly enough called our Duty, so as to restore King J. to his Right and Crown again, how shall we be assured we shall not fall under the same dangers we apprehended our selves before both in our Religion and Properties. He can give no better nor other assu­rance, than publick and solemn Promises added to such Acts of Parliament as we shall contrive and frame for our [Page 16] own Security.— Have we not had all these already, and has He not broke them all? Does not his pretended Dis­pensing Power at once set aside all Promises, Laws, and every thing but his Will and Pleasure? And though He should now disclaim That to get in again, will it not be very easie when He is in, to lay hold on that common, and indeed many times justifiable come off of Kings, that He was then under a force, and could not bind himself to His own wrong, or to the diminution of His Prerogative. I confess here is a hard question, and that which makes it harder yet, I am afraid the Charge against us is most of it true, therefore I shall shorten my Reply, and only Re­monstrate in Brief: If a Prince placed in the Throne by the dint of Loyalty, Fidelity, and Love to his Family, re­scued from the Bill of Exclusion, Established in his Go­vernment by the Generous and Unanimous adherence of his Parliament, and the Destruction of the Duke of Mon­mouth, Caress'd with dutiful Addresses and joyful Accla­mations, enriched with Considerable Additions to his Revenue, Complemented with a Connivance at the Private Exercise of his Religion, and adventuring the Security of ours on the bare Assurance of his Word: If such a Prince under such Circum­stances of Glory and Felicity, beloved by his Sub­jects, and dreaded by Foreigners, would tamely suf­fer himself to be imposed on by Priests and Jesuits, dishonour himself by an Embassy to Rome, Provoke his People by setting up Mass-houses, and Popish Seminaries, Invade Mens Properties, over­throw some Laws, and Dispence with others; de­prive the Heads of Colleges, Imprison the Bishops, discard all Men from Civil and Military Imployments, that refused to Worship the Image which he had set up; endeavour by Threats and Promises to De­bauch his Servants, and by ungenerous Arts to Pre­dispose [Page 17] his Subjects, to break down the Bars that se­cure the Protestant Profession; What must we expect if by the Indignation of God he be Re-establisht on the Throne; certainly he can never ascend those Steps, but supported by the Papists, and trampling on the Necks of Protestants; Rage, Revenge, blind Zeal, Ignorant Devotion, Meritori­ous Service, the Purchase of Heaven, the escape of Purgatory, the Popes Bulls, the Jesuits Tricks, the Priests Prayers, and the pernicious Advice of Popish Councellors, will transport him beyond all Sense of Honour, and precipitate him into Actions Correspon­dent to the Days of Queen Mary, and imitating, if not exceeding the Inhumane Cannibals in France.

I grow weary now of this Expostulation, and I am amazed to see any Man obtrude such Chimerical crude Notions, such fallacious Equivocating Argumentati­ons, such thred-bare Repetitions, upon Men that can Read, Observe, and Understand. If King James have not a mind to get upon his Throne again by the Power of his Irish Army, What made him go there? Why has he raised so many Men, carryed over so many Arms, disarm'd and destroy'd the Protestants, and Summon'd a Parliament; and though the Ʋni­ted Strength of England and Scotland (by the mer­cy of God) shall ever be too hard for them, yet it is not impossible but the Popish Party (seconded by the Atheistical Crue, and such as, being alway disgust­ed with the present Government, are gaping for an Alteration, they know not to what) may ruffle and discompose the Calm Serenity Great Britain is blest with, and become the Setters and Fore-runners of a French Invasion. And that surely we have great Reason to expect, (notwithstanding the many Diffi­culties you seem to object, but do not believe) since [Page 18] the French King has been at so great Charge and Hazard to Comfort and Reinforce his inconsiderable Allies there; for whosoever knows the Monarch of France, will not suspect him to be so mean Spiri­ted, as to be Compassionate, or so Impolitick to wast his Treasure, and expose his Forces, to Re-establish an exil'd and forlorn Prince: I am more than confident he will not dissemble so gross a Self-denial, but intends to turn the Mortgage of Ire­land into a Fee-simple, and by the Livery and Seisin already given him in part, to claim, and seize the whole. And than (as you say) King Lewis would get more by the Victory than King James, and it would do King James little Service to have the Kingdom so recovered.

Your Prophetick Supposition (that the People of England may bring themselves to be Conquer'd by France) shall be no more regarded, than your slye Insinuations, to induce them to so servile a Subjecti­on, or your tacite Commination, that such a Con­quest is approaching, or your Pernicious Prospect of so unpracticable an Accommodation, that the People of England should consent to receive King James, without any fear of suffering by him, either in their Religion, Laws, or Properties.

Your Conclusion is agreeable to the Premises, a disingenious Reflection on the People of England, who in all Ages have manifested a Prudential care of themselves, and at this Juncture will do it, maugre your Crafty Insinuation to the contrary.

Upon the Word of a Gentleman, I do assure you, I do not take it ill that you have offer'd your Thoughts, which how wild and Incongruous soever, can have no other Influence upon me, than to dis­pose me to Continue,