'Twas all to no purpose, the whole was carry'd with a Torrent of Clamour and Reflection against the good Prince, who consented, because he would in nothing oppose the Current of the People; but withal, told them plainly what would be the consequences of their Heat, which they have effectually found true since to their Cost, and to the loss of some Millions of Treasure.
For no sooner was this Army broke, which was the best ever that Nation saw, and was justly the Terror of the Enemy, but the great Monarch we mention'd before, broke all Measures with this Prince and the Confederate Nations, a Proof what just apprehensions they had of his Conduct, at the head of such an Army. For they broke with contempt, a Treaty which the Prince upon a prospect of this unkindness of his People had entred into with the Enemy, and which he engag'd in, if possible, to prevent a new War, which he foresaw he should be very unfit to begin, or carry on, and which they would never have dar'd to break had not this Feud happen'd.
It was but a little before I came into this Country, when such repeated Accounts came, of the Incroachments, Insults and Preparations of their great powerful Neighbour, that all the World saw the necessity of a War, and the very People who were to feel it most apply'd to the Prince to begin it.
He was forward enough to begin it, and in compliance with his People, resolv'd on it; but the Grief of the usage he had receiv'd, the unkind Treatment he had met with from those very People that brought him thither, had sunk so deep upon his Spirits, that he could never recover it; but being very weak in Body and Mind, and join'd to a slight hurt he receiv'd by a fall from his Horse, he dyed, to the unspeakable grief of all his Subjects that wish'd well to their Native Country.
This was the melancholly Account of this great Prince's end, and I have been told that at once every Year, there is a kind of Fast, or solemn Commemoration kept up for the Murther of that former Prince, who, as I noted, was Beheaded by his Subjects; So it seems some of the People, who are of Opinion this Prince was Murther'd by the ill Treatment of his Friends, a way which I must own, is the cruellest of Deaths, keep the same Day, to commemorate his Death, and this is a Day, in which it seems both Parties are very free with one another, as to Rallery and ill Language.
But the Friends of this last Prince have a double advantage, for they also commemorate the Birth Day of this Prince, and are generally very merry on that Day; and the custom is at their Feast on that Day, just like our drinking Healths, they pledge one another to the immortal Memory of their Deliverer; as the Historical part of this Matter was absolutely necessary to introduce the following Remarks, and to instruct the Ignorant in those things, I hope it shall not be thought a barren Digression, especially when I shall tell you that it is a most exact Representation of what is yet to come in a Scene of Affairs, of which I must make a short Abstract, by way of Introduction.
The deceas'd Prince we have heard of, was succeeded by his Sister in-Law, the second Daughter of the banish'd Prince, a Lady of an extraordinary Character, of the Old Race of their Kings, a Native by Birth, a Solunarian by Profession; exceeding Pious, Just and Good, of an Honesty peculiar to her self, and for which she was justly belov'd of all sorts and degrees of her Subjects.
This Princess having the Experience of her Father and Grand-father before her, join'd to her own Prudence and Honesty of Design; it was no wonder if she prudently shun'd all manner of rash Counsels, and endeavour'd to carry it with a steady Hand between her contending Parties.
At her first coming to the Crown, she made a solemn Declaration of her resolutions for Peace and just Government; she gave the Crolians her Royal Word, that she would inviolably preserve the Toleration of their Religion and Worship, and always afford them her Protection, and by this she hop'd they would be easy.
But to the Solunarians, as those among whom she had been Educated, and whose Religion she had always profess'd, been train'd up in, and Piously persued; she express'd her self with an uncommon Tenderness, told them they should be the Men of her Favour, and those that were most zealous for that Church should have most of her Countenance; and she back'd this soon after with an unparallel'd Act of Royal Bounty to them, freely parting with a considerable Branch of her Royal Revenue, for the poor Priests of that Religion, of which there were many in the remote Parts of her Kingdom.