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British Library shows this was first published 1715 and reprinted by D.
A. Talboys, Oxford, 1841.]
AN APPEAL
TO
HONOUR AND JUSTICE,
THOUGH IT BE OF HIS WORST ENEMIES,
BY
DANIEL DE FOE;
BEING
A TRUE ACCOUNT OF HIS CONDUCT IN PUBLIC
AFFAIRS.
"Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give
heed to any of his words." JEREMIAH, xviii. 18.
_LONDON_:
Printed for and Sold by J. BAKER, at the _Black
Boy_ in _Paternoster-Row_.
1715.
APPEAL, &c.
I hope the time is come at last when the voice of moderate principles
may be heard. Hitherto the noise has been so great, and the prejudices
and passions of men so strong, that it had been but in vain to offer at
any argument, or for any man to talk of giving a reason for his actions;
and this alone has been the cause why, when other men, who, I think,
have less to say in their own defence, are appealing to the public, and
struggling to defend themselves, I alone have been silent under the
infinite clamours and reproaches, causeless curses, unusual
threatenings, and the most unjust and injurious treatment in the world.
I hear much of people's calling out to punish the guilty, but very few
are concerned to clear the innocent. I hope some will be inclined to
judge impartially, and have yet reserved so much of the Christian as to
believe, and at least to hope, that a rational creature cannot abandon
himself so as to act without some reason, and are willing not only to
have me defend myself, but to be able to answer for me where they hear
me causelessly insulted by others, and, therefore, are willing to have
such just arguments put into their mouths as the cause will bear.
As for those who are prepossessed, and according to the modern justice
of parties are resolved to be so, let them go; I am not arguing with
them, but against them; they act so contrary to justice, to reason, to
religion, so contrary to the rules of Christians and of good manners,
that they are not to be argued with, but to be exposed, or entirely
neglected. I have a receipt against all the uneasiness which it may be
supposed to give me, and that is, to contemn slander, and think it not
worth the least concern; neither should I think it worth while to give
any answer to it, if it were not on some other accounts of which I shall
speak as I go on. If any young man ask me why I am in such haste to
publish this matter at this time, among many other good reasons which I
could give, these are some:--
1. I think I have long enough been made _Fabula Vulgi_, and borne the
weight of general slander; and I should be wanting to truth, to my
family, and to myself, if I did not give a fair and true state of my
conduct, for impartial men to judge of, when I am no more in being to
answer for myself.
2. By the hints of mortality, and by the infirmities of a life of sorrow
and fatigue, I have reason to think I am not a great way off from, if
not very near to, the great ocean of eternity, and the time may not be
long ere I embark on the last voyage. Wherefore, I think I should even
accounts with this world before I go, that no actions (slanders) may lie
against my heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, to disturb
them in the peaceable possession of their father's (character)
inheritance.
3. I fear--God grant I have not a second-sight in it--that this lucid
interval of temper and moderation, which shines, though dimly too, upon
us at this time, will be but of short continuance, and that some men,
who know not how to use the advantage God has put into their hands with
moderation, will push, in spite of the best prince in the world, at such
extravagant things, and act with such an intemperate forwardness, as
will revive the heats and animosities which wise and good men were in
hopes should be allayed by the happy accession of the king to the
throne.
It is and ever was my opinion, that moderation is the only virtue by
which the peace and tranquillity of this nation can be preserved. Even
the king himself--I believe his majesty will allow me that freedom--can
only be happy in the enjoyment of the crown by a moderative
administration. If his majesty should be obliged, contrary to his known
disposition, to join with intemperate councils, if it does not lessen
his security, I am persuaded it will lessen his satisfaction. It cannot
be pleasant or agreeable, and I think it cannot be safe, to any just
prince, to rule over a divided people, split into incensed and
exasperated parties. Though a skilful mariner may have courage to master
a tempest, and goes fearless through a storm, yet he can never be said
to delight in the danger; a fresh, fair gale, and a quiet sea, is the
pleasure of his voyage, and we have a saying worth notice to them that
are otherwise minded, _Qui amat periculum, periebat in illo_.
To attain at the happy calm, which, as I say, is the safety of Britain,
is the question which should now move us all; and he would merit to be
called the nation's physician that could prescribe the specific for it.
I think I may be allowed to say, a conquest of parties will never do it;
a balance of parties may. Some are for the former; they talk high of
punishments, letting blood, revenging the treatment they have met with,
and the like. If they, not knowing what spirit they are of, think this
the course to be taken, let them try their hands; I shall give them up
for lost, and look for their downfall from that time; for the ruin of
all such tempers slumbereth not.
It is many years that I have professed myself an enemy to all
precipitations in public administrations; and often I have attempted to
show, that hot councils have ever been destructive to those who have
made use of them. Indeed, they have not always been a disadvantage to
the nation, as in king James II.'s reign, when, as I have often said in
print, his precipitation was the safety of us all: and if he had
proceeded temperately and politicly, we had been undone. _Felix quem
faciunt._
But these things have been spoken when your ferment has been too high
for anything to be heard; whether you will hear it now or no, I know
not; and therefore it was that I said, I fear the present cessation of
party arms will not hold long. These are some of the reasons why I think
this is the proper juncture for me to give some account of myself, and
of my past conduct to the world; and that I may do this as effectually
as I can, being perhaps never more to speak from the press, I shall, as
concisely as I can, give an abridgment of my own history during the few
unhappy years I have employed myself, or been employed, in public in the
world.
Misfortunes in business having unhinged me from matters of trade, it was
about the year 1694 when I was invited by some merchants, with whom I
had corresponded abroad, and some also at home, to settle at Cadiz, in
Spain, and that with offers of very good commissions. But Providence,
which had other work for me to do, placed a secret aversion in my mind
to quitting England upon any account, and made me refuse the best offers
of that kind, to be concerned with some eminent persons at home in
proposing ways and means to the government, for raising money to supply
the occasions of the war then newly begun. Some time after this I was,
without the least application of mine, and being then seventy miles from
London, sent for to be accountant to the commissioners of the glass
duty, in which service I continued to the determination of their
commission.
During this time there came out a vile abhorred pamphlet in very ill
verse, written by one Mr. Tutchin, and called The Foreigners, in which
the author--who he was I then knew not--fell personally upon the king
himself, and then upon the Dutch nation; and after having reproached his
majesty with crimes that his worst enemy could not think of without
horror, he sums up all in the odious name of FOREIGNER.
This filled me with a kind of rage against the book, and gave birth to a
trifle, which I never could hope should have met with so general an
acceptation as it did; I mean The True-born Englishman. How this poem
was the occasion of my being known to his majesty; how I was afterwards
received by him; how employed; and how, above my capacity of deserving,
rewarded, is no part of the present case, and is only mentioned here, as
I take all occasions to do, for the expressing the honour I ever
preserved for the immortal and glorious memory of that greatest and best
of princes, and whom it was my honour and advantage to call master, as
well as sovereign; whose goodness to me I never forgot, neither can
forget; and whose memory I never patiently heard abused, nor ever can do
so; and who, had he lived, would never have suffered me to be treated as
I have been in the world. But Heaven for our sins removed him in
judgment. How far the treatment he met with from the nation he came to
save, and whose deliverance he finished, was admitted by Heaven to be a
means of his death, I desire to forget for their sakes who are guilty;
and if this calls any of it to mind, it is mentioned to move them to
treat him better who is now, with like principles of goodness and
clemency, appointed by God and the constitution to be their sovereign,
lest He that protects righteous princes avenge the injuries they receive
from an ungrateful people by giving them up to the confusions their
madness leads them to.
And in their just acclamations at the happy accession of his present
majesty to the throne, I cannot but advise them to look back and call to
mind who it was that first guided them to the family of Hanover, and to
pass by all the popish branches of Orleans and Savoy; recognising the
just authority of parliament in the undoubted right of limiting the
succession, and establishing that glorious maxim of our settlement,
viz., that it is inconsistent with the constitution of this protestant
kingdom to be governed by a popish prince. I say, let them call to mind
who it was that guided their thoughts first to the protestant race of
our own kings in the house of Hanover; and that it is to king William,
next to Heaven itself, to whom we owe the enjoying a protestant king at
this time. I need not go back to the particulars of his majesty's
conduct in that affair; his journey in person to the country of Hanover
and the court of Zell; his particular management of the affair
afterwards at home, perfecting the design by naming the illustrious
family to the nation, and bringing about a parliamentary settlement to
effect it; entailing the crown thereby in so effectual a manner as we
see has been sufficient to prevent the worst designs of our Jacobite
people in behalf of the pretender; a settlement, together with the
subsequent acts which followed it, and the Union with Scotland, which
made it unalterable, that gave a complete satisfaction to those who knew
and understood it, and removed those terrible apprehensions of the
pretender (which some entertained) from the minds of others, who were
yet as zealous against him as it was possible for any to be. Upon this
settlement, as I shall show presently, I grounded my opinion, which I
often expressed, viz., that I did not see it possible the Jacobites
could ever set up their idol here, and I think my opinion abundantly
justified in the consequences; of which by and by.
This digression, as a debt to the glorious memory of king William, I
could not in justice omit; and as the reign of his present majesty is
esteemed happy, and looked upon as a blessing from heaven by us, it will
most necessarily lead us to bless the memory of king William, to whom we
owe so much of it. How easily could his majesty have led us to other
branches, whose relation to the crown might have had large pretences!
What prince but would have submitted to have educated a successor of his
race in the protestant religion for the sake of such a crown? But the
king, who had our happiness in view, and saw as far into it as any human
sight could penetrate; who knew we were not to be governed by
inexperienced youths; that the protestant religion was not to be
established by political converts; and that princes, under French
influence, or instructed in French politics, were not proper instruments
to preserve the liberties of Britain, fixed his eyes upon the family
which now possesses the crown, as not only having an undoubted relation
to it by blood, but as being first and principally zealous and powerful
asserters of the protestant religion and interest against popery; and,
secondly, stored with a visible succession of worthy and promising
branches, who appeared equal to the weight of government, qualified to
fill a throne and guide a nation, which, without reflection, are not
famed to be the most easy to rule in the world.
Whether the consequence has been a credit to king William's judgment I
need not say. I am not writing panegyrics here, but doing justice to
the memory of the king my master, whom I have had the honour very often
to hear express himself with great satisfaction in having brought the
settlement of the succession to so good an issue; and, to repeat his
majesty's own words, that he knew no prince in Europe so fit to be king
of England as the elector of Hanover. I am persuaded, without any
flattery, that if it should not every way answer the expectations his
majesty had of it, the fault will be our own. God grant the king may
have more comfort of his crown than we suffered king William to have!
The king being dead, and the queen proclaimed, the hot men of that side,
as the hot men of all sides do, thinking the game in their own hands,
and all other people under their feet, began to run out into those mad
extremes, and precipitate themselves into such measures as, according to
the fate of all intemperate councils, ended in their own confusion, and
threw them at last out of the saddle.
The queen, who, though willing to favour the high-church party, did not
thereby design the ruin of those whom she did not employ, was soon
alarmed at their wild conduct, and turned them out, adhering to the
moderate counsels of those who better understood, or more faithfully
pursued, her majesty's and the country's interest. In this turn fell sir
Edward Seymour's party, for so the high men were then called; and to
this turn we owe the conversion of several other great men, who became
whigs on that occasion, which it is known they were not before; which
conversion afterwards begat that unkind distinction of old whig and
modern whig, which some of the former were with very little justice
pleased to run up afterwards to an extreme very pernicious to both.
But I am gone too far in this part. I return to my own story.
In the interval of these things, and during the heat of the first fury
of highflying, I fell a sacrifice for writing against the rage and
madness of that high party, and in the service of the dissenters. What
justice I met with, and, above all, what mercy, is too well known to
need repetition.
This introduction is made that it may bring me to what has been the
foundation of all my further concern in public affairs, and will produce
a sufficient reason for my adhering to those whose obligations upon me
were too strong to be resisted, even when many things were done by them
which I could not approve; and for this reason it is that I think it
necessary to distinguish how far I did or did not adhere to, or join in
or with, the persons or conduct of the late government; and those who
are willing to judge with impartiality and charity, will see reason to
use me the more tenderly in their thoughts, when they weigh the
particulars.
I will make no reflections upon the treatment I met with from the people
I suffered for, or how I was abandoned even in my sufferings, at the
same time that they acknowledged the service I had been to their cause;
but I must mention it to let you know that while I lay friendless and
distressed in the prison of Newgate, my family ruined, and myself
without hope of deliverance, a message was brought me from a person of
honour, who, till that time, I had never had the least acquaintance
with, or knowledge of, other than by fame, or by sight, as we know men
of quality by seeing them on public occasions. I gave no present answer
to the person who brought it, having not duly weighed the import of the
message. The message was by word of mouth thus:--"Pray, ask that
gentleman what I can do for him?" But in return to this kind and
generous message, I immediately took my pen and ink, and wrote the story
of the blind man in the gospel, who followed our Saviour, and to whom
our blessed Lord put the question, "What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee?" Who, as if he had made it strange that such a question should be
asked, or as if he had said that I am blind, and yet ask me what thou
shalt do for me? My answer is plain in my misery, "Lord, that I may
receive my sight?"
I needed not to make the application. And from this time, although I lay
four months in prison after this, and heard no more of it, yet from this
time, as I learned afterwards, this noble person made it his business to
have my case represented to her majesty, and methods taken for my
deliverance.
I mention this part, because I am no more to forget the obligation upon
me to the queen, than to my first benefactor.
When her majesty came to have the truth of the case laid before her, I
soon felt the effects of her royal goodness and compassion. And first,
her majesty declared, that she left all that matter to a certain person,
and did not think he would have used me in such a manner. Probably these
words may seem imaginary to some, and the speaking them to be of no
value, and so they would have been had they not been followed with
further and more convincing proofs of what they imported, which were
these, that her majesty was pleased particularly to inquire into my
circumstances and family, and by my lord treasurer Godolphin to send a
considerable supply to my wife and family, and to send to me the prison
money to pay my fine and the expenses of my discharge. Whether this be
a just foundation let my enemies judge. Here is the foundation on which
I built my first sense of duty to her majesty's person, and the
indelible bond of gratitude to my first benefactor.
Gratitude and fidelity are inseparable from an honest man. But, to be
thus obliged by a stranger, by a man of quality and honour, and after
that by the sovereign under whose administration I was suffering, let
any one put himself in my stead, and examine upon what principles I
could ever act against either such a queen, or such a benefactor; and
what must my own heart reproach me with, what blushes must have covered
my face when I had looked in, and called myself ungrateful to him that
saved me thus from distress, or her that fetched me out of the dungeon,
and gave my family relief? Let any man who knows what principles are,
what engagements of honour and gratitude are, make his case his own, and
say what I could have done more or less than I have done.
I must go on a little with the detail of the obligation, and then I
shall descend to relate what I have done, and what I have not done, in
the case.
Being delivered from the distress I was in, her majesty, who was not
satisfied to do me good by a single act of her bounty, had the goodness
to think of taking me into her service, and I had the honour to be
employed in several honourable, though secret services, by the
interposition of my first benefactor, who then appeared as a member in
the public administration.
I had the happiness to discharge myself in all these trusts so much to
the satisfaction of those who employed me, though oftentimes with
difficulty and danger, that my lord treasurer Godolphin, whose memory I
have always honoured, was pleased to continue his favour to me, and to
do me all good offices with her majesty, even after an unhappy breach
had separated him from my first benefactor, the particulars of which may
not be improper to relate; and as it is not an injustice to any, so I
hope it will not be offensive.
When, upon that fatal breach, the secretary of state was dismissed from
the service, I looked upon myself as lost; it being a general rule in
such cases, when a great officer falls, that all who came in by his
interest fall with him; and resolving never to abandon the fortunes of
the man to whom I owed so much of my own, I quitted the usual
applications which I had made to my lord treasurer.
But my generous benefactor, when he understood it, frankly told me that
I should by no means do so; "For," said he, in the most engaging terms,
"my lord treasurer will employ you in nothing but what is for the public
service, and agreeably to your own sentiments of things; and besides, it
is the queen you are serving, who has been very good to you. Pray, apply
yourself as you used to do; I shall not take it ill from you in the
least."
Upon this, I went to wait on my lord-treasurer, who received me with
great freedom, and told me, smiling, he had not seen me a long while. I
told his lordship very frankly the occasion--that the unhappy breach
that had fallen out made me doubtful whether I should be acceptable to
his lordship. That I knew it was usual when great persons fall, that all
who were in their interest fell with them. That his lordship knew the
obligations I was under, and that I could not but fear my interest in
his lordship was lessened on that account. "Not at all, Mr. De Foe,"
replied his lordship, "I always think a man honest till I find to the
contrary."
Upon this, I attended his lordship as usual; and being resolved to
remove all possible ground of suspicion that I kept any secret
correspondence, I never visited, or wrote to, or any way corresponded
with my principal benefactor for above three years; which he so well
knew the reason of, and so well approved that punctual behaviour in me,
that he never took it ill from me at all.
In consequence of this reception, my lord Godolphin had the goodness not
only to introduce me for the second time to her majesty, and to the
honour of kissing her hand, but obtained for me the continuance of an
appointment which her majesty had been pleased to make me, in
consideration of a formal special service I had done, and in which I had
run as much risk of my life as a grenadier upon the counterscarp; and
which appointment, however, was first obtained for me at the
intercession of my said first benefactor, and is all owing to that
intercession and her majesty's bounty. Upon this second introduction,
her majesty was pleased to tell me, with a goodness peculiar to herself,
that she had such satisfaction in my former services, that she had
appointed me for another affair, which was something nice, and that my
lord treasurer should tell me the rest; and so I withdrew.
The next day, his lordship having commanded me to attend, told me that
he must send me to Scotland, and gave me but three days to prepare
myself. Accordingly, I went to Scotland, where neither my business, nor
the manner of my discharging it, is material to this tract; nor will it
be ever any part of my character that I reveal what should be concealed.
And yet, my errand was such as was far from being unfit for a sovereign
to direct, or an honest man to perform; and the service I did upon that
occasion, as it is not unknown to the greatest man now in the nation
under the king and the prince, so, I dare say, his grace was never
displeased with the part I had in it, and I hope will not forget it.
These things I mention upon this account, and no other, viz., to state
the obligation I have been in all along to her majesty personally, and
to my first benefactor principally; by which I say, I think I was at
least obliged not to act against them, even in those things which I
might not approve. Whether I have acted with them further than I ought,
shall be spoken of by itself.
Having said thus much of the obligations laid on me, and the persons by
whom, I have this only to add, that I think no man will say, a subject
could be under greater bonds to his prince, or a private person to a
minister of state; and I shall ever preserve this principle, that an
honest man cannot be ungrateful to his benefactor.
But let no man run away now with the notion, that I am now intending to
plead the obligation that was laid upon me from her majesty, or from any
other person, to justify my doing anything that is not otherwise to be
justified in itself.
Nothing would be more injurious than such a construction; and therefore
I capitulate for so much justice as to explain myself by this
declaration, viz., that I only speak of those obligations as binding me
to a negative conduct, not to fly in the face of, or concern myself in
disputes with those to whom I was under such obligations, although I
might not, in my judgment, join in many things that were done. No
obligation could excuse me in calling evil good, or good evil; but I am
of the opinion, that I might justly think myself obliged to defend what
I thought was to be defended, and to be silent in anything which I might
think was not.
If this is a crime, I must plead guilty, and give in the history of my
obligation above mentioned as an extenuation at least, if not a
justification of my conduct.
Suppose a man's father was guilty of several things unlawful and
unjustifiable; a man may heartily detest the unjustifiable thing, and
yet it ought not to be expected that he should expose his father. I
think the case on my side exactly the same, nor can the duty to a parent
be more strongly obliging than the obligation laid on me; but I must
allow the case on the other side not the same.
And this brings me to the affirmative, and inquire what the matters of
fact are; what I have done, or have not done, on account of these
obligations which I am under.
It is a general suggestion, and is affirmed with such assurance, that
they tell me it is in vain to contradict it, that I have been employed
by the earl of Oxford, late lord treasurer, in the late disputes about
public affairs, to write for him, or, to put it into their own
particulars, have written by his directions taken the materials from
him, been dictated to or instructed by him, or by other persons from
him, by his order, and the like; and that I have received a pension, or
salary, or payment from his lordship for such services as these. It was
impossible, since these things have been so confidently affirmed, but
that, if I could put it into words that would more fully express the
meaning of these people, I profess I would do it. One would think that
some evidence might be produced, some facts might appear, some one or
other might be found that could speak of certain knowledge. To say
things have been carried too closely to be discovered, is saying
nothing, for then they must own that it is not discovered; and how then
can they affirm it as they do, with such an assurance as nothing ought
to be affirmed by honest men, unless they were able to prove it?
To speak, then, to the fact. Were the reproach upon me only in this
particular, I should not mention it. I should not think it a reproach to
be directed by a man to whom the queen had at that time entrusted the
administration of the government. But, as it is a reproach upon his
lordship, justice requires that I do right in this case. The thing is
true or false. I would recommend it to those who would be called honest
men, to consider but one thing, viz., what if it should not be true? Can
they justify the injury done to that person, or to any person concerned?
If it cannot be proved, if no vestiges appear to ground it upon, how can
they charge men upon rumours and reports, and join to run down men's
characters by the stream of clamour?
_Sed quo rapit impetus undae._
In answer to the charge, I bear witness to posterity, that every part of
it is false and forged. And I do solemnly protest, in the fear and
presence of Him that shall judge us all, both the slanderers and the
slandered, that I have not received any instructions, directions,
orders, or let them call it what they will, of that kind, for the
writing of any part of what I have written, or any materials for the
putting together for the forming any book or pamphlet whatsoever, from
the said earl of Oxford, late lord treasurer, or from any person by his
order or direction, since the time that the late earl of Godolphin was
lord treasurer. Neither did I ever show, or cause to be shown to his
lordship, for his approbation, correction, alteration, or for any other
cause, any book, paper, or pamphlet which I have written and published,
before the same was worked off at the press and published.
If any man living can detect me of the least prevarication in this, or
in any part of it, I desire him to do it by all means; and I challenge
all the world to do it. And if they cannot, then I appeal, as in my
title, to the honour and justice of my worst enemies, to know upon what
foundation of truth or conscience they can affirm these things, and for
what it is that I bear these reproaches.
In all my writing, I ever capitulated for my liberty to speak according
to my own judgment of things; I ever had that liberty allowed me, nor
was I ever imposed upon to write this way or that against my judgment by
any person whatsoever.
I come now historically to the point of time when my lord Godolphin was
dismissed from his employment, and the late unhappy division broke out
at court. I waited on my lord the day he was displaced, and humbly asked
his lordship's direction what course I should take? His lordship's
answer was, "that he had the same goodwill to assist me, but not the
same power; that I was the queen's servant, and that all he had done for
me was by her majesty's special and particular direction; and that
whoever should succeed him, it was not material to me; he supposed I
should be employed in nothing relating to the present differences. My
business was to wait till I saw things settled, and then apply myself to
the ministers of state, to receive her majesty's commands from them."
It occurred to me immediately, as a principle for my conduct, that it
was not material to me what ministers her majesty was pleased to employ;
my duty was to go along with every ministry, so far as they did not
break in upon the constitution, and the laws and liberties of my
country; my part being only the duty of a subject, viz., to submit to
all lawful commands, and to enter into no service which was not
justifiable by the laws; to all which I have exactly obliged myself.
By this, I was providentially cast back upon my original benefactor,
who, according to his wonted goodness, was pleased to lay my case before
her majesty; and thereby I preserved my interest in her majesty's
favour, but without any engagement of service.
As for consideration, pension, gratification, or reward, I declare to
all the world I have had none, except only that old appointment which
her majesty was pleased to make me in the days of the ministry of my
lord Godolphin; of which I have spoken already, and which was for
services done in a foreign country some years before. Neither have I
been employed, directed, or ordered by my lord treasurer aforesaid to
do, or not to do, anything in the affairs of the unhappy differences
which have so long perplexed us, and for which I have so many, and such
unjust reproaches.
I come next to enter into the matters of fact, and what it is I have
done, or not done, which may justify the treatment I have met with; and
first, for the negative part, what I have not done.
The first thing in the unhappy breaches which have fallen out, is the
heaping up scandal upon the persons and conduct of men of honour on one
side as well as the other; those unworthy methods of falling upon one
another by personal calumny and reproach. This I have often in print
complained of as an unchristian, ungenerous, and unjustifiable practice.
Not a word can be found in all I have written reflecting on the persons
or conduct of any of the former ministry. I served her majesty under
their administration; they acted honourably and justly in every
transaction in which I had the honour to be concerned with them, and I
never published or said anything dishonourable of any of them in my
life; nor can the worst enemy I have produce any such thing against me.
I always regretted the change, and looked upon it as a great disaster to
the nation in general, I am sure it was so to me in particular; and the
divisions and feuds among parties which followed that change were
doubtless a disaster to us all.
The next thing that followed the change was the peace: no man can say
that ever I once said in my life that I approved of the peace. I wrote a
public paper at that time, and there it remains upon record against me.
I printed it openly, and that so plainly as others durst not do, that I
did not like the peace; neither that which was made, nor that which was
before making; that I thought the protestant interest was not taken care
of in either; and that the peace I was for was such as should neither
have given the Spanish monarchy to the house of Bourbon nor to the house
of Austria, but that this bone of contention should have been broken to
pieces, that it might not be dangerous to Europe; and that the
protestant powers, viz., Britain and the States, should have so
strengthened and fortified their interest by their sharing the commerce
and strength of Spain, as should have made them no more afraid of France
or the emperor: so that the protestant interest should have been
superior to all the powers of Europe, and been in no more danger of
exorbitant powers whether French or Austrian. This was the peace I
always argued for, pursuant to the design of king William in the Treaty
of Partition, and pursuant to that article of the grand alliance which
was directed by the same glorious hand at the beginning of this last
war, viz., that all we should conquer in the Spanish West Indies should
be our own.
This was the true design, that England and Holland should have turned
their naval power, which was eminently superior to that of France, to
the conquest of the Spanish West Indies, by which the channel of trade
and return of bullion, which now enriches the enemies of both, had been
ours; and as the wealth, so the strength of the world had been in
protestant hands. Spain, whoever had it, must then have been dependent
upon us. The house of Bourbon would have found it so poor without us, as
to be scarce worth fighting for: and the people so averse to them, for
want of their commerce, as not to make it ever likely that France could
keep it.
This was the foundation I ever acted upon with relation to the peace. It
is true, that when it was made, and could not be otherwise, I thought
our business was to make the best of it, and rather to inquire what
improvements were to be made of it, than to be continually exclaiming at
those who made it; and where the objection lies against this part, I
cannot yet see.
While I spoke of things in this manner, I bore infinite reproaches from
clamouring pens, of being in the French interest, being hired and bribed
to defend a bad peace, and the like; and most of this was upon a
supposition of my writing, or being the author of, abundance of
pamphlets which came out every day, and which I had no hand in. And
indeed, as I shall observe again by and by, this was one of the greatest
pieces of injustice that could be done me, and which I labour still
under without any redress; that whenever any piece comes out which is
not liked, I am immediately charged with being the author; and very
often the first knowledge I have had of a book being published, has
been from seeing myself abused for being the author of it, in some other
pamphlet published in answer to it.
Finding myself treated in this manner, I declined writing at all, and
for a great part of a year never set pen to paper, except in the public
paper called the Review. After this I was long absent in the north of
England; and, observing the insolence of the jacobite party, and how
they insinuated fine things into the heads of the common people, of the
right and claim of the pretender, and of the great things he would do
for us if he were to come in; of his being to turn a protestant, of his
being resolved to maintain our liberties, support our friends, give
liberty to dissenters, and the like; and finding that the people began
to be deluded, and that the jacobites gained ground among them by these
insinuations, I thought it the best service I could do the protestant
interest, and the best way to open people's eyes of the protestant
succession, if I took some course effectually to alarm the people with
what they really ought to expect, if the pretender should come to be
king. And this made me set pen to paper again.
And this brings me to the affirmative part, or to what really I have
done; and in this, I am sorry to say, I have one of the foulest, most
unjust, and unchristian clamours to complain of, that any man has
suffered, I believe, since the days of the tyranny of king James II. The
fact is thus:--
In order to detect the influence of jacobite emissaries, as above, the
first thing I wrote was a small tract, called A Seasonable Caution; a
book sincerely written to open the eyes of the poor, ignorant country
people, and to warn them against the subtle insinuations of the
emissaries of the pretender; and that it might be effectual to that
purpose, I prevailed with several of my friends to give them away among
the poor people, all over England, especially in the north; and several
thousands were actually given away, the price being reduced so low, that
the bare expense of paper and press was only preserved, that every one
might be convinced that nothing of gain was designed, but a sincere
endeavour to do a public good, and assist to keep the people entirely in
the interest of the protestant succession.
Next to this, and with the same sincere design, I wrote two pamphlets,
one entituled, What if the Pretender should come? the other, Reasons
against the Succession of the House of Hanover.
Nothing can be more plain than that the titles of these books were
amusements, in order to put the books into the hands of those people
whom the jacobites had deluded, and to bring them to be read by them.
Previous to what I shall further say of these books, I must observe that
all these books met with so general a reception and approbation among
those who were most sincere for the protestant succession, that they
sent them all over the kingdom, and recommended them to the people as
excellent and useful pieces; insomuch that about seven editions of them
were printed, and they were reprinted in other places. And I do protest,
had his present majesty, then elector of Hanover, given me a thousand
pounds to have written for the interest of his succession, and to expose
and render the interest of the pretender odious and ridiculous, I could
have done nothing more effectual to those purposes than these books
were.
And that I may make my worst enemies, to whom this is a fair appeal,
judges of this, I must take leave, by and by, to repeat some of the
expressions in these books, which were direct and need no explanation,
which I think no man that was in the interest of the pretender, nay,
which no man but one who was entirely in the interest of the Hanover
succession, could write.
Nothing can be severer in the fate of a man than to act so between two
parties, that both sides should be provoked against him. It is certain,
the jacobites cursed those tracts and the author, and when they came to
read them, being deluded by the titles according to the design, they
threw them by with the greatest indignation imaginable. Had the
pretender ever come to the throne, I could have expected nothing but
death, and all the ignominy and reproach that the most inveterate enemy
of his person and claim could be supposed to suffer.
On the other hand, I leave it to any considering man to judge, what a
surprise it must be to me to meet with all the public clamour that
informers could invent, as being guilty of writing against the Hanover
succession, and as having written several pamphlets in favour of the
pretender.
No man in this nation ever had a more rivetted aversion to the
pretender, and to all the family he pretended to come of, than I; a man
that had been in arms under the duke of Monmouth, against the cruelty
and arbitrary government of his pretended father; that for twenty years
had to my utmost opposed him (king James) and his party after his
abdication; and had served king William to his satisfaction, and the
friends of the revolution after his death, at all hazards and upon all
occasions; that had suffered and been ruined under the administration of
high-fliers and jacobites, of whom some at this day counterfeit whigs.
It could not be! The nature of the thing could by no means allow it; it
must be monstrous; and that the wonder may cease, I shall take leave to
quote some of the expressions out of these books, of which the worst
enemy I have in the world is left to judge whether they are in favour of
the pretender or no; but of this in its place. For these books I was
prosecuted, taken into custody, and obliged to give 800_l._ bail.
I do not in the least object here against, or design to reflect upon,
the proceedings of the judges which were subsequent to this. I
acknowledged then, and now acknowledge again, that upon the information
given, there was a sufficient ground for all they did; and my unhappy
entering upon my own vindication in print, while the case was before
their lordships in a judicial way, was an error which I did not
understand, and which I did not foresee; and therefore, although I had
great reason to reflect upon the informers, yet I was wrong in making
that defence in the manner and time I then made it; and which when I
found, I made no scruple afterwards to petition the judges, and
acknowledge they had just ground to resent it. Upon which petition and
acknowledgment their lordships were pleased, with particular marks of
goodness, to release me, and not to take the advantage of an error of
ignorance, as if it had been considered and premeditated.
But against the informers I think I have great reason to complain; and
against the injustice of those writers who, in many pamphlets, charged
me with writing for the pretender, and the government with pardoning an
author who wrote for the pretender. And, indeed, the justice of these
men can be in nothing more clearly stated than in this case of mine;
where the charge, in their printed papers and public discourse, was
brought; not that they themselves believed me guilty of the crime, but
because it was necessary to blacken the man, that a general reproach
might serve for an answer to whatever he should say that was not for
their turn. So that it was the person, not the crime, they fell upon;
and they may justly be said to persecute for the sake of persecution, as
will thus appear.
This matter making some noise, people began to inquire into it, and ask
what De Foe was prosecuted for, seeing the books were manifestly written
against the pretender, and for the interest of the house of Hanover. And
my friends expostulated freely with some of the men who appeared in it,
who answered with more truth than honesty, that they knew this book had
nothing in it, and that it was meant another way; but that De Foe had
disobliged them in other things, and they were resolved to take the
advantage they had, both to punish and expose him. They were no
inconsiderable people who said this; and had the case come to a trial, I
had provided good evidence to prove the words.
This is the christianity and justice by which I have been treated, and
this in justice is the thing I complain of.
Now, as this was the plot of a few men to see if they could brand me in
the world for a jacobite, and persuade rash and ignorant people that I
was turned about for the pretender, I think they might as easily have
proved me to be a mahometan; therefore, I say, this obliges me to state
the matter as it really stands, that impartial men may judge whether
those books were written for or against the pretender. And this cannot
be better done than by the account of what followed after the
information, which, in a few words, was this:--
Upon the several days appointed, I appeared at the Queen's Bench bar to
discharge my bail; and at last had an indictment for high crimes and
misdemeanors exhibited against me by her majesty's attorney-general,
which, as I was informed, contained two hundred sheets of paper.
What was the substance of the indictment I shall not mention here,
neither could I enter upon it, having never seen the particulars; but I
was told that I should be brought to trial the very next term.
I was not ignorant that in such cases it is easy to make any book a
libel, and that the jury must have found the matter of fact in the
indictment, viz., that I had written such books, and then what might
have followed I knew not. Wherefore, I thought it was my only way to
cast myself on the clemency of her majesty, of whose goodness I had so
much experience many ways; representing in my petition, that I was far
from the least intention to favour the interest of the pretender, but
that the books were all written with a sincere design to promote the
interest of the house of Hanover; and humbly laid before her majesty, as
I do now before the rest of the world, the books themselves to plead in
my behalf; representing further, that I was maliciously informed against
by those who were willing to put a construction upon the expressions
different from my true meaning; and therefore, flying to her majesty's
goodness and clemency, I entreated her gracious pardon.
It was not only the native disposition of her majesty to acts of
clemency and goodness that obtained me this pardon; but, as I was
informed, her majesty was pleased to express it in the council, "She saw
nothing but private pique in the first prosecution." And therefore I
think I cannot give a better and clearer vindication of myself; than
what is contained in the preamble to the pardon which her majesty was
pleased to grant me; and I must be allowed to say to those who are still
willing to object, that I think what satisfied her majesty might be
sufficient to satisfy them; and I can assure them that this pardon was
not granted without her majesty's being specially and particularly
acquainted with the things alleged in the petition, the books also being
looked into, to find the expressions quoted in the petition. The
preamble to the patent for a pardon, as far as relates to the matters of
fact, runs thus:--
"Whereas, in the term of the Holy Trinity last past, our
attorney-general did exhibit an information, in our court of
Queen's Bench at Westminster, against Daniel De Foe, late of
London, gent., for writing, printing, and publishing, and causing
to be written, printed, and published, three libels, the one
entituled, Reasons against the Succession of the House of Hanover;
with an Inquiry how far the Abdication of King James, supposing it
to be legal, ought to affect the person of the Pretender. One
other, entituled, And what if the Pretender should come? or, Some
Considerations of the Advantages and real Consequences of the
Pretender's possessing the Crown of Great Britain. And one other,
entituled, An Answer to a Question that nobody thinks of, viz.,
What if the Queen should die?