But before I dismiss this Matter, I am to account for several Things, which will argue the Court of St. Germains guilty of the greatest Ingratitude, unless they acknowledge the endless Obligations they lie under to France. Has he not fed a distressed People almost Twenty Years, and that two in a Royal and Princely Manner? Did he not entertain above 15000 Irish Troops who were dismiss'd Ireland by the Treaty of Limerick? Has he not constantly pay'd all the Respect imaginable to the Court of St. Germains? promis'd King James upon his Death-bed, he wou'd never desist? assur'd the Son he wou'd draw his Sword, and it should ne'er be sheath'd till he had fix'd him in his Throne? Has he not made several chargeable Attempts to make good his Promise? Such Panegyricks as these have often Rung in my Ears, when the French were bent upon extolling the Religious Disposition of the Monarch in protecting an unfortunate Prince; and the Expedient was not unserviceable in regard of the generality of the People who easily were blinded with the glaring Object. But let us take this Oeconomy to pieces, and examine every Wheel and Spring; for my part, I can regard this boasted Liberality no otherwise than a very imperfect Restitution. Did not K. James both Ruin himself and Thousands of Families meerly by going into French Measures. I heard the Court of France was oblig'd to feed all the Posterity of that unfortunate misled Multitude, who have been deluded this Twenty Nine Years by their Politicks. 'Tis what I believe what the loosest of their Casuists wou'd not refuse to oblige 'em to upon a fair hearing of the Case. But that the Entertaining the Irish Troops shou'd be mention'd as an Instance of French Charity, is a very Remarkable piece of Assurance. The Swiss and other States are consider'd with large annual Pensions for the Privilege of Listing Men, besides double Pay during the Time of their Service; but the Irish and all the rest of King James's Subjects, poor Fools, must think themselves happy to bear the brunt of every Siege and Engagement, for half Pay, be regarded as Beggars, living upon Charity, be reform'd and abandon'd when they are no further useful. The Honour purchas'd by these distress'd People at Cremina, Luzara, Spireback, Almaza, Friburg, &c. have merrited better Articles, and the Blood they have lost is a large disbursement for the Expences at St. Germains. A few French Compliments paid once a Week at St. Germains, is but a poor recompence for a ruin'd People, especially when the Origin and Motive of their Misfortunes are look'd into. And the Gasconades and Politick, Promises made both to the Father and the Son of never sheathing the Sword with the Sham Attempts in their Favour, will be recorded in Antiquity, not as Arguments of his Christianity, but strong Lines of Policy how a Prince is to make use of all Occurrences to promote the welfare of his own People, nothing, being more successful in such junctures, than a Pretence of Religion, and assisting Persons in distress.
Having brought my Remarks to this Period, I design'd to have drop'd my Pen immediately, but considering that a Judicious Reader will expect I should advance something by way of Principle to justify the Reflexions I have made. I must add a Word or two more concerning the unjust, as well as unpolitick Proceedings of those who have been deluded by a Foreign Power to bring Destruction to their own native Country. And in the first place I must deliver my Thoughts as to the Cause in General. The Question of Hereditary, was not so well clear'd at the Revolution, but that many very discerning and well meaning Men might be drawn into a Belief, that lineal and immediate Right was part of the Divine Law, and so not dispensable. This was my Opinion in the Beginning, and it was a Principle which carried me through the Wars this Twenty Nine Years in Favour of King James, even at those Times, when I was fully convinc'd that France had no real Design to re-establish him. But afterwards when I began to look narrowly into the Question of Hereditary Right, and saw that the Notion of Jure Divino was only an assum'd Principle to buoy up the Faction. I by Degrees slacken'd in my Zeal, and having no other Nation of Government, then by submitting to the Supream National Power, where the Law of God was silent, I found this an effectual Means to quiet my Conscience. However I still persisted and follow'd the Pretender's Cause, the Success of the Roman-Catholick Interest provoking me to it: For I imagin'd that Salvo ought to weigh down in Practise, where other Matters relating to Succession were still under Controversy; but when I took under serious Consideration the Practise of our Ancestors, and how in all Ages both Church and State came frequently into Non-Hereditary Measures, where I run over the String of Disappointments King James had met withal by the Politic Management of France. When I reflected what Misery had befallen, and was like to befall these Kings by adhering to the besoted Notion of Hereditary Right, I put the whole Controversy upon the Issue of Religion, and it plainly appear'd to me, that no Roman Catholick was oblig'd to oppose the Revolutionary Measures in Conscience, much less in Policy. I was fully satisfy'd in the first Part of the Enquiry by that unanswerable Piece lately printed, call'd, A Roman Catholick System of Allegiance. As for the latter Part, let the Tory and Roman Catholick Party sum up their Losses since 1688, and it will convince 'em how foolishly they acted. Thus settled in my Principles in regard of Loyalty, I design'd to pay an intire and unlimited Obedience to the present Constitution; as to my Religion, which I own is not conformable to that by Law Established. I will make a discreet Use of that Indulgence the Government is pleas'd to allow; and if Providence thinks fit to make me Suffer upon that Score, no rational Man will blame my Zeal till he does convince me of my Mistake.
FINIS