fioners to the Court of London; but proceed to that grievous Reflection, which, fays he, muft fill every Eng libman with Indignation. Voltaire fays, that the prefent English are no more like the English in the Days of Cromwell, than the Monks and Pre- A lates of Rome are like the antient Scipio's. Anglicanus seems mov'd at this: Are we then, fays he, fallen fo low fince those Times, or even fince the Days of our immortal Marlborough? Alas! if this is our Cafe, how fudden, how precipitate, how B unaccountable must have been our Fall! But I hope, fays he, I may affert the whole Charge to be without Foundation; and to fhew the Abfurdity of it, give me Leave to ask a few Questions, which every Body C Do we not is able to answer. make as great a Figure in all Parts of the World, as in Cromwell's Days? Is not the Honour of the British Flag maintain'd as ftrictly as in his Time? Does any Nation upon Earth dare to infult us on the Seas, or disturb our Commerce with Impu- D nity? Are we not as fully confirm'd in our Title to Gibraltar, as Cromwell was in that of Dunkirk? Have we not lately seen a most confummate Minifter at the Court of France, who whether we confider his Dress, or his Address, whether we turn him infide, or outfide, infinitely exceeds the boasted Lockhart? Does not our Trade extend itself Abroad, and our Manufactures flourish at Home in as great a Degree as was ever known? He confeffes he is furpriz'd, that none of those excellent Writers, who are retain'd at the publick Expence. have thought fit to draw their poignant Quills, to prove the Falihood of the above Reflection; which, he fays, will be the most effectual Method of vindicating the Honour of their Mafter. London Journal, April 15. No 668. King William's Character vindicated. E F I In Answer to one of Fog's Journals of laft Month. (See p. 12.) T is one of the easiest as well as wickedeft Things in the World, fays Mr. Osborne, to blaft the Reputation of the best Men, or to raise the Characters of the worst, by attributing Motives to their Actions at our own Pleasure, juft as we like or diflike, or would have them good or bad. But we are not to judge of Mankind by the Motives to their Actions, but by the Actions themselves; the Actions we are fure of, but the Motives we can never be fure of. There is no other poffible Way of trying the Characters of Men, but by the general Course of their Lives; and those who do good to Men, ought to be esteem'd good by Men. By this let us try the Character of K. William: When he was Prince of Orange, he discovered a true Greatnefs of Soul, and an inflexible Regard to Liberty and publick Virtue. Sir William Temple fhews how glorioufly he refifted the Offers of England and France to make him Sove reign of the Provinces, when they were in the utmost Danger of being loft; his Answer was firm, That be never would betray a Trust reposed in him, nor ever fell the Liberty of his Country. And when the Duke of Buckingham tried him on the fame Subject, he faid, His Country was indeed in great Danger; but there was a fure Way never to fee it loft, and that was, to die in the last Ditch. His coming to England, at the earnest Requcit of a People just upon the Brink of Ruin, carried with it all the Marks of a Love of Liberty, and Friendship to Mankind; and his Behaviour, after Wisdom, Justice and Gratitude commanded us to place the Crown on his Head, fhew'd the most inviolable Attachment to the PreferGvation of thofe Liberties, which he refcu'd out of the Hands of King James; he manifefted a facred Regard to the Conftitution which he fav'd, C Dr. B- -t fays indeed, That the Depreffion of France was the go- B verning Paffion of this Prince's Life; and had he added, as France was an Enemy to the Liberties of Europe, he had certainly been right. For when the Greatness of the House of Austria was urg'd to induce the Prince to a Peace, he anfwer'd, There is no Fear C of that till they go beyond the Peace of the Pyrences; whenever that fhall happen, I shall be as good a Frenchman as I am now a Spaniard. Bp. B-t, tho' a valuable Man, is not to be depended on in his Character of King William; for the King D never lik'd him, and we feldom like Men who don't like us. He ow'd the Bk of S entirely to the Queen's Promife made to him in Holland, otherwife the King had refus'd it: And there are now in the Hands ofMemoirs of the M of H, who says, fuch a Day Dr. Bt told me, That King William was an obstinate conceited Man, that would take no Advice: And juch a Day King William told me, that Dr. B- was a troublefome impertinent Man, wh fe Company he could not cnture. Belides, a noble Peer now living thinks fome of the Bp's Characters have a Tincture of his own Pafons; and inftances in himfelf, who having oblig'd the Bp. by granting a Favour at Court, the Bp. told a Friend of his within an Hour, that he was mistaken in fuch a noble Lord, and must go and alter his whole Character; and to he happens to have a pretty good one. Not but that the F G Bp's Hiftory has as many Truths in it as any History of the fame Bulk. Fog quotes, as from the Bp. That the Prince would bave left the Nation to perish, unless he had been made King. The Bp. only fays, that when the Prince was told the Parliament feemed inclined to a Regency, he replied, The Parliament might do as they pleas'd; but he would not be the Regent: He would go back, and live as he had done before. But fuppofe he had faid, If you won't make me King, after all I bave done to fave you, you don't deferve to be faved; I'll go back and leave you to perish; he had faid very juftly: For none deferve to be faved, who won't fave themselves when they may: And this was the only Way of being fav'd; and all other Expedients of Limitations, Regency, &c. fignified nothing. The Prince's faying, He would not bold the Crown by Apronftrings, or Truft to Survivorship, was perfectly right, and worthy of himself (who tho' he had Ambition, as all great Men have, yet 'twas an Ambition full of Glory, not to destroy but preserve Mankind;) for who deserved to wear the Crown of England, but the Man who faved the Liberties of England? and the Liberties of Europe too, by hindering the French King from being Univerfal Monarch? F Free Briton, April 20. N° 125. Of Faction. ACTION is the Struggle of a private Interest against the pubTick Good; the Cause of one, or a few, advanc'd against the Rights and Happinels of many: And it may be in Power, or out of Power. All arbitrary Governments are Factions, because they depart from the End of Government, the Good of the Governed. We have feen Factions at Court making War against the Conflitution; Factions in the House of Commons against the Proteftant Succeflion; Factions in Westminster Hall difpenfing with the Laws; and Factions in the Church, contending with Con Confcience and common Senfe. But there is another Faction, moft dangerous and iniquitous; a Faction against just and lawful Government; fome of the Marks of which are thefe. When the Government of a Country is oppos'd in the beft Mea- A fures for the Benefit of the People, nay, in the common and neceffary Means for the Defence of the Community. When Men efpoufe all the Foreign Princes, in Enmity with the whole Nation, merely that they may harafs thofe Perfons who are at the B Head of Affairs. When they are forming Schemes against the Tranquillity of the State, and the Reputation of the Government, becaufe they have not a Share of Power and Wealth to their Satisfaction. When they are offering the People's Interefts to the Prince, in the Way of Bargain, that they may gain Preferment; when after they have been implicitely for all the Measures of the Court, whilst they were in Favour, they commence an indiscriminating Oppofition from Difappointment and Difgrace. When they unite, for the Advancement of their own perfonal Power, with old inveterate Enemies to the establish'd Conftitution; and endeavour to rafe out of the Minds of the Subjects all old Impreffions in Favour of the Establishment, all Averfion to the Tyranny excluded, all Affection to the Family introduc'd for the Prefervation of our Rights. When at the fame Time that they pretend to reform publick Corrup tions and minifterial Enormities, they fhall affociate themselves with the worst Malefactors, that ever betray'd or plunder'd a Nation; and confult, against the ftanding Miniftry, Men who had been the moft wicked and infamous Minifters, that ever any State was curs'd with. Such Men as thefe have often the Infolence to tell those who quellion their Conduct, that they will defend it with the Sword; and when they ought to defend them felves with Reafon and Truth, they challenge their Accufers to fingle Combat, as an Answer to the Accufation. This is a daring Infolence against the People; and fuch a Man is not the Champion of a Nation, but the Prize-Fighter of a Fation. This is Faction with a Vengeance: And there is as much Difference between this unreasonable Faction and juft Oppofition, as there is between lawful War, and Wars carried on for the Havock of Mankind. As Faction always claims the Attributes of Liberty; fo 'tis the low Art of the Factious who want Reputation, to liken themfelves to Men of the best Characters. A little Profitute of a modern Faction was lately bufy at this Work. Gyllenborg's Papers C were referr'd to, on Account that the Name of an honourable Perfon, in Oppofition to the Miniftry in 1717, and now in Authority, is fometimes mention'd as one who was angry with the Minifters: But does GyllenDborg, or his Confederates, aver that they had fo much as exchang'd a Word or Meffage with him? Whereas I could name fome Perfons, fays this Writer, who not many Years ago tamper'd with the foreign Agents at the British Court, whilit the Sovereigns of fuch Agents were on bad Terms with this Crown: And he believes few doubt that a certain Memorial, which was a Libel on the whole Nation, as well as on the late King, was owing to their Advice. The honourable Perfon, whom they would abufe, was fo far from carrying on clandetline Negotiations with the Enemies of the Publick, that he would never fo much as converfe with any of the Tories, in his Oppofition to the then Adminiflration. He carried on no Cabals against the G Intereft of his Prince, nor published any Libels against his perfonal Character. To his Honour it thould be mention'd, that they, who depriv'd him of his Seat in one Houfe, at the fame fame Time denied the Duke of Cam- that his great Ambition was to im- the Court, at the fame Time fore'd When this French ftrolling Biogra of Wreturn'd thi- A pher, this forry Scribbler, who was Daily Courant, April 20. Remarks upon Mr. Voltaire's Hiftory of Charles XII. of Sweden; occasion'd by the laft Craftsman. (See p. 16.) 'T' fo lately entertain'd amongst us with Refpect, and large Bounties and SubJcriptions, fhall no fooner return to bis own Country, than he has the Infolence and Ingratitude to publifh. the vileft and falfeft Satire upon this B Country and upon the Royal Family; and the D'Anverian Faction fhall applaud this Book as the best Piece of modern History, just when his Majefty is intending to vifit his Foreign Dominions, on purpose to infinuate the fame infamous Reflection upon IS allow'd that this is an a- C his Majefty, which their Hiftorian The Character given of the late has made on the late King; what can we fuppofe, but that they would gladly encourage any Infurrection, or Invafion? And had the Point been carried for a Reduction of the Forces, they would have taken this Opportunity to make an Attempt in Favour of the Pretender? Mr. D'Anvers fpeaks of that Author's being furnish'd with proper Materials I am fure, fays this Writer, That Man, of the finest Wit and Parts of the Age (as the Frenchman defcribes him) could not have supply'd him with more proper Materials for both their Parpofes. What he fays of the Hiftorian's Reflection concerning the Scots, is to be understood in his ufual Ironical Stile, that the Pretender has a better F Intereft in Scotland than is generally imagin'd; and that this is one of the Frenchman's Reflections, which is very just and bort. But it was not for Mr. D'Anvers's Upon the Comparison Voltaire makes between the English in Cromwell's Days and now, Mr. D'Anvers fays, Are we then fallen fo low fince thofe Times, or even fince the Days of our immortal Mariborough? What has this Man or his Tribe to do with the Days of Marlborough? Their Era commences from the Days of Oxford and Boling broke. How fudden, bow precipitate, how unaccountable bas been our Fall, fays D'Anvers, if this be the Cafe! Sudden and A precipitate enough indeed, but not fo unaccountable. His good Friend the Frenchman has accounted for that fudden Change. Queen Anne (fays he) died in Aug. 1714. bated by half her People for giving Peace to fo many Nations. Her B-r James Stuart, not ap- B pearing in England to claim the Succeffion, which, in Order to fettle on bim, new Laws would have been made in Cafe bis Party could have prevail'd; George the First, Elector of Hanover, was unanimously acknowledg'd King of Great-Britain. Here the Frenchman C acknowledges the Odium Q. Anne had brought on herself, by her infamous Peace; and that there was a Defign form'd at that Time to fet the Pretender upon the Throne: And as a manifest Proof of this, Bolingbroke, the Man of the finest Wit and Parts of the Age, thought it prudent to fly from the Juftice of his Country. ture to fettle the Crown on his late Majesty, that he was the next Protefant Heir, as being defcended from a Daughter of James the First? Or, fuppofing another Proteftant Prince had been more nearly allied, would not the Crown have been fettled upon him? The Truth of the Matter is plainly this: K. James II. and his Ifue, whether real or pretended, Papifts or Proteftants, being excluded from the Throne, there was a Neceffity of limiting the Succeffion by A& of Parliament. This Limitation being made to the late Princess Sophia and her Iffue, who were the nearest Protestants in Blood to the Crown, was a plain Declaration, That the Crown defcended to them by Right of Inberitance. The A&t of Settlement does not confer any new Right, but only confirms that Right, which was inherent in the Houfe of Brunswick, and which might have been claim'd by them, upon an Exclufion of all Papists, tho' the A&t of Settlement had never been made. D In fpeaking of Cromwell and his prefent Majefty, D'Anvers thus only diftinguishes their Title to the Crown, viz. That Cromwell was a lawless Ufurper, and his Majefty a E legal Monarch. The one made himself a Sort of Monarch, the other was made a Monarch by the People. We may be fure there is fome View in denying his prefent Majefty to have any Title to the Crown by Right of Blood, as the Frenchman does, and the Craftsman feems to have done for three Years paft. They know that it tends to leffen that Efteem and Reverence, which the People ought to have for their Prince; when they hear of nothing but his being a Foreigner, and made a King by them, without any previous Right or Title of his own. But was it no Motive to the Legifla T Weekly Regifter, April 22. N° 106. The Mifchief of Kept-Miftreffes. HE Author having obferv'd, that in the Inconveniences that happen between the Sexes, the Men are most commonly cenfur'd, proposes to give a proper Portion of Blame to either Side, as they deferve: For tho' in many Instances the Man may hope for an Excufe, in many others he can pretend to none; as, in invading the Bed of his Friend, deftroying the Honour of a Family, deceiving the Innocence of unexperienc'd Youth, or making the most folemn Oaths and Promises the Bawds to the most deplorable Mischiefs: But when pert and forward Huffies throw themselves into the Way of Temptation, and take Pains to excite thofe G Defires, which are but too ready to take Fire of themselves, it is no Wonder that Youth is unable to withstand them, as 'tis but juft to afcribe every fuch F |