Our next meeting at Sir JOHN MAYNARD’S was on the evening of that
day, when the war was proclaimed against _France_[1]. What the event
of it will be, is a secret in the counsels of Providence. But if the
goodness of our cause, his Majesty’s known wisdom and ability, and,
above all, the apparent zeal and firmness of all orders amongst us in
support of this great undertaking, may give a prospect of success, we
cannot, I persuade myself, but indulge in the most reasonable hopes and
expectations.
Perhaps, the time is approaching, my dear friend, which the divine
goodness hath decreed for putting a stop to that outrageous power,
which hath been permitted for so long a course of years to afflict
the neighbouring nations. It may be, the season is now at hand, when
God will vouchsafe to plead the cause of his servants, and let this
mighty persecutor of the faithful know that he may not be suffered any
longer to trample on the sacred rights of conscience. He may be taught
to feel, that the ravages he hath committed in the fairest provinces,
and the cruelties he hath exercised on the best subjects, of his own
kingdom, have at length awakened the divine displeasure against him.
And he may live to find in our great prince (raised up, as I verily
believe, to this eminence of place and power to be the scourge of
tyrants, and the vindicator of oppressed nations) an insurmountable
bulwark against that encroaching dominion, which threatens to deform
and lay waste the rest of _Europe_.
I have already lived to see those providences, which may encourage a
serious and good mind to believe that some great work is preparing in
our days. I was very early in my life a witness to the high measures
which were taken and carried on by an intolerant hierarchy, acting in
subserviency to an arbitrary court, in mine own country of _Scotland_.
And I have lamented the oppression in which good men were held for
conscience sake in all the three kingdoms. How far this tyranny was
carried, and how near we were brought to the destruction of all our
civil and religious rights, need not be told, and the occurrences of
the two last reigns will not suffer to be forgotten. It is sufficient
to observe, that when the danger was now brought to a crisis, and the
minds of all men were filled with the most alarming apprehensions,
it pleased God to rescue us, in a moment and by the most astonishing
display of his goodness, from the impending ruin. Our chains fell off
at once, as by a miracle of mercy. Our civil rights have been restored.
And the legal toleration[2], we have just now obtained in consequence
of the new settlement, hath put us into possession of that religious
liberty, which, as men, as Christians, and as Protestants, we cannot
but esteem the first of all public blessings.
And who knows but that, in the gracious designs of Heaven, the same
hand which hath redeemed these nations from the yoke of slavery and
of _Rome_, may be now employed to shake it off from the necks of our
Protestant brethren on the continent[3]? The world hath seen how long
and how severely they have groaned under that intolerant power, with
which we are now at war. When the violences of the late reign had
driven me into a sort of voluntary exile, and in the course of it I
traversed some of those unhappy provinces of _France_, which were most
exposed to the rigours of persecution[4], how have these eyes wept
over the distresses of the poor sufferers, and how hath my heart bled
for the merciless cruelties which I every where saw exercised upon
them! The fury which appeared on that occasion, was so general and so
contagious, that not only priests and court sycophants, but men of
virtuous minds and generous tempers, were transported, as it were, out
of their proper nature, and seemed to divest themselves of the common
notices and principles of humanity.
In this fiery trial it hath pleased God to exercise the faith and
virtues, and, as we may charitably hope, to correct the failings and
vices, of his poor servants. His mercy may now, in due time, be opening
a way for them to escape. And from the prosperous beginning of this
great work, what comfortable presages may we not, in all humility, form
to ourselves of still further successes?
We have a prince on the throne exactly qualified for the execution
of this noble enterprise; of the clearest courage and magnanimity,
and a wisdom tried and perfected in that best school, of Adversity;
of dispositions the most enlarged to the service of mankind; and
even quickened by his own personal resentment of former injuries to
retaliate against their common oppressor.
Nor can we doubt of the concurrence of his faithful subjects, who, with
one voice, have demanded the commencement of this war; and whose late
deliverance, from like circumstances of distress, may be expected to
animate their zeal in the support of it.
And oh! that I might see the day, when our deliverer shall become,
what a bold usurper nobly figured to himself in the middle of this
century[5], the soul and conductor of the Protestant cause through all
_Europe_! and, that, as _Rome_ hath hitherto been the centre of slavish
impositions and anti-christian politics, the court of _England_ may
henceforth be the constant refuge and asylum of fainting liberty and
religion!
But to turn from these flattering views, my good friend, to the recital
of our late conversation; which I proceed to lay before you with the
same exactness and punctuality that I did the former. You will see the
reason why I cannot promise you the same entertainment from it.
We had no sooner come together, than Sir JOHN MAYNARD began with his
usual vivacity.
I have been thinking, my lord, how dexterous a game I have played
with you, in this inquiry of ours into the _English_ government. What
was obvious enough in itself, and had indeed been undertaken by many
persons, I mean the vindication of our common liberties as founded in
the ancient feudal constitution, is the part I assumed to myself in
this debate; and have left it to your lordship to reconcile the FACT
to the RIGHT: which is not only the most material point of inquiry,
but the most difficult, and that which the patrons of liberty have
either less meddled with, or have less succeeded in explaining. For,
to own an unwelcome truth, however specious our claim may be to civil
liberty, the administration of government from the time of HENRY VII’s
accession to the crown, that is, for two entire centuries, has very
little agreed to this system. The regal power, throughout this period,
has been uniformly exercised in so high and arbitrary a manner, that
we can hardly believe there could be any certain foundation for the
people’s claim to a limited monarchy. Add to this, that the language of
parliaments, the decrees of lawyers, and the doctrines of divines, have
generally run in favour of the highest exertions of prerogative. So
that I cannot but be in some pain for the success of your undertaking,
and am at a loss to conjecture in what way your lordship will go about
to extricate yourself from these difficulties.