{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36656/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36656","id":"gutenberg_36656","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36656","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - British","Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: Politics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","James, Prince of Wales, 1688-1766 -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Steven Gibbs, Linda Cantoni, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. In\nmemory of Steven Gibbs (1938-2009).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: This e-book, a pamphlet by Daniel Defoe, was\noriginally published in 1712, and was prepared from _The Novels and\nMiscellaneous Works of Daniel De Foe_, vol. 6 (London: Henry G. Bohn,\n1855). Archaic spellings have been retained as they appear in the\noriginal, and obvious printer errors have been corrected without\nnote.]\n\n\n\n\nA Seasonable\n\nWARNING\n\nAnd CAUTION\n\nAgainst the\n\nINSINUATIONS\n\nOf _Papists_ and _Jacobites_\n\nIn Favour of the\n\nPRETENDER.\n\nBeing a LETTER from an _ENGLISHMAN_ at the Court of _HANOVER_.\n\n\n_And thou shalt teach these Words diligently unto thy Children, and\nshalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy House, and when thou\nwalkest by the Way._ Deut. vi. 7.\n\n_And what thou seest write in a Book._ Rev. i. 11.\n\n\n_LONDON_: Printed for _J. Baker_, at the _Black-Boy_ in\n_Pater-Noster-Row_. 1712.\n\n\n\n\nA SEASONABLE\n\nWARNING AND CAUTION\n\nAGAINST THE\n\nINSINUATIONS OF PAPISTS AND JACOBITES IN FAVOUR OF THE PRETENDER.\n\n\nWhy how now, England! what ailest thee now? What evil spirit now\npossesseth thee! O thou nation famous for espousing religion, and\ndefending liberty; eminent in all ages for pulling down tyrants,[1]\nand adhering steadily to the fundamentals of thy own constitution:[2]\nthat has not only secured thy own rights, and handed them down\nunimpaired to every succeeding age, but has been the sanctuary of\nother oppressed nations;[3] the strong protector of injured subjects\nagainst the lawless invasion of oppressing tyrants.\n\n[Footnote 1: Edward II., Richard II., Richard III., James II.]\n\n[Footnote 2: In the several barons' wars in the reign of King Stephen,\nKing John, &c.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Especially of the persecuted protestants in the Low\nCountries, in Queen Elizabeth.]\n\nTo thee the oppressed protestants of France owed, for some ages ago,\nthe comfort of being powerfully supported, while their own king,[4]\nwheedled by the lustre of a crown, became apostate, and laid the\nfoundation of their ruin among themselves; in thee their posterity[5]\nfind a refuge, and flourish in thy wealth and trade, when religion and\nliberty find no more place in their own country.\n\n[Footnote 4: Henry IV., who turned papist, and with much difficulty\ngranted liberty to his protestant subjects by the edict of Nantes.]\n\n[Footnote 5: The French refugees, who being received here, are grown\nrich and wealthy by our trade.]\n\nTo thee the distressed Belgii[6] owe the powerful assistance by which\nthey took up arms in defence of liberty and religion, against Spanish\ncruelty, the perfidious tyranny of their kings, and the rage of the\nbloody Duke d'Alva.\n\n[Footnote 6: The Flemings, when threatened with the inquisition from\nSpain, under the reign of Philip II.]\n\nFrom thee the confederate Hollanders[7] received encouragement to join\nin that indissoluble union which has since reduced the invincible\npower of the Spaniards, and from whence has been raised the most\nflourishing commonwealth in the world.\n\n[Footnote 7: Under William Henry, the first Prince of Orange, who\nformed the revolt of the Dutch provinces, and laid the foundation of\nthe States General and their commonwealth.]\n\nBy thy assistance they are become the bulwark of the protestant\nreligion, and of the liberties of Europe; and have many times since\ngratefully employed that force in thy behalf; and, by their help,\nthou, who first gavest them liberty, hast more than once rescued and\npreserved thy own.\n\nTo thee the present protestant nations[8] of Europe owe their being at\nthis day freed from the just apprehensions of the growing greatness of\nFrance; and to thy power, when acting by the glorious protector of thy\nliberty, King William, is the whole Christian world indebted for\ndepriving the French tyrant of the hopes and prospect of universal\nmonarchy.\n\n[Footnote 8: The circles of Swabia and Franconia, the Palatinate, and\nthe countries of Hessia, Wirtemberg, and others.]\n\nTo thy blood, thy treasure, the conduct of thy generals, and the\nvigour of thy councils, are due, the glory, the fame, the praises, and\nthe advantages of twenty years' war, for the establishing and\nrestoring the liberty and religion of Europe.\n\nWhen posterity shall inquire into the particulars of this long and\nbloody war; the battles, sieges, and stupendous marches of armies,\nwhich, as well with loss as with victory, have been the subject of thy\nhistory; it will for ever be frequent in their mouths; HERE the\nBritish troops, fighting with dreadful fury, and their usual\nconstancy, shed their blood in defence of the protestant cause, and\nleft a bloody victory to God's enemies and their own; as at Steenkirk,\nLanden, Camaret, Almanza, Brihenga, and the like: or, HERE the British\ntroops, with their usual valour, carried all before them, and\nconquered in behalf of the protestant interest, and Europe's\nliberties; as at Blenheim, Ramilies, Barcelona, Oudenard, Sarragossa,\nBlaregnies, &c. Here the British navies triumphed over French\ngreatness; as at Cherburgh, La Hogue, Gibraltar, &c. There their land\nforces reduced the most impregnable fortresses; as at Namur, Lisle,\nMenin, Tournay, &c.\n\nAnd wherefore has all this English and British blood been spilt?\nWherefore thy nation exhausted; thy trade sunk and interrupted; thy\nveins opened? Why hast thou struggled thus long, and with so much\nvigour, as well with French tyranny abroad, as popish factions at\nhome, but to preserve entire the religion and liberties of Europe, and\nparticularly of this nation, and to preserve our posterity from\nslavery and idolatry? Principles truly noble, worthy a nation's blood\nto protect, and worthy a nation's treasure to save.\n\nBut what has all this been for? And to what intent and purpose was all\nthis zeal, if you will sink under the ruin of the very fabric ye have\npulled down? If ye will give up the cause after ye have gained the\nadvantage, and yield yourselves up after you have been delivered; to\nwhat purpose then has all this been done? Why all the money expended?\nWhy all this blood spilt? To what end is France said to be reduced,\nand peace now concluded, if the same popery, the same tyranny, the\nsame arbitrary methods of government shall be received among you\nagain? Sure your posterity will stand amazed to consider how lavish\nthis age has been of their money, and their blood, and to how little\npurpose; since no age since the creation of the world can show us a\ntime when ever any nation spent so much blood and treasure to end just\nwhere they begun: as, if the hearts of our enemies prevail, we are\nlike to do.\n\nLet us reason a little together on these things, and let us inquire a\nlittle, why, and for what reason Britain, so lately the glory of\nEurope; so lately the terror of France, the bulwark of religion, and\nthe destroyer of popery, should be brought to be the gazing-stock of\nthe world? And why is it that her neighbours expect every hour to hear\nthat she is going back to Egypt, and having given up her liberty, has\nmade it her own choice to submit to the stripes of her taskmasters,\nand make bricks without straw.\n\nWe that are Englishmen, and live from home among the protestants of\nother nations, cannot but be sensible of this alteration, and we bear\nthe reproaches of those who speak freely of the unhappy change which\nappears in the temper of our countrymen at home. It is astonishing to\nall the world to hear that the common people of England should be\nturned from the most rivetted aversions, to a coldness and\nindifferency in matters of popery and the pretender: that they, who\nwith so unanimous a resolution deposed the late King James, as well\nfor his invasions of their liberty as of their religion; and who with\nsuch marks of contempt drove him and his pretended progeny out of the\nnation, should without any visible alteration of circumstances, be\ndrawn in to favour the return of that race with all the certain\nadditions of popish principles in religion; French principles in\ngovernment; revenge for family injuries; restoration of abdicated and\nimpoverished votaries; and the certain support of a party at home,\nwhose fortunes and losses must be restored and repaired out of the\nruins of their country's liberties.\n\nTo what purpose was the revolution? Why did you mock yourselves at so\nvast an expense? Why did you cry in your oppressions to God and the\nPrince of Orange to deliver you? Why did you rise as one man against\nKing James and his popish adherents? Why was your fury so great, and\nyour opposition so universal, that although he had a good army of\nveteran, disciplined troops, and a powerful assistance from France\nready to fall in and join him, yet they durst not, when put all\ntogether, venture to look you in the face, but fled like darkness\nbefore the sun, like guilt before the sword of justice; or as a\nmurderer from the avenger of blood? Was it all, that you might the\nbetter weaken yourselves by ages of war, and they might return again,\nand bind you like Samson, when your strength was departed?\n\nWhen this was done, why did ye mock God with a thanksgiving,[9] and\nbanter the world with your pretended praises to heaven for your\ndeliverance? Why, when you appeared by your representatives in\nconvention and in parliament, did you make so many fast days,[10] and\ndays of prayer for the success of the arms you took up, and the war\nyou carried on for the finishing and securing this great work, called\nthe pulling down of popery? Was it all, that after having spent twenty\nyears of war, and a sea of blood, ruined trade, exhausted your\ntreasure, and entailed vast debts on your posterity; you should calmly\nopen your doors to the fugitives you had found out, and let in again\nthe popish tyranny you had driven away?\n\n[Footnote 9: The Thanksgiving for the Revolution.]\n\n[Footnote 10: Monthly fasts appointed the first Wednesday of every\nmonth during the war in King William's time.]\n\nFor what reason was it that you presented the crown to your\nbenefactor, called him your deliverer, and made him your king; and\nhaving done so, maintained him upon the throne with so much vigour,\nfought under his banner in so many battles, and with so great\nanimosity, and professed to stand by him against all his enemies at\nhome and abroad? Why is he in so many addresses[11] styled the rescuer\nof this nation from popery and slavery? Why in so many acts of\nparliament[12] is he called the great deliverer of the nation? Why in\nso many sermons preached to men, and prayers put up to God, has he the\ntitle of \"the instrument blessed by heaven to free these nations from\npopery and arbitrary government?\" Was all this done, that your\nposterity being brought back into the bondage their fathers were\ndelivered from, should with the same alacrity call him an invader, an\nusurper, a parricide, and their fathers, rebels and revolters?\n\n[Footnote 11: Vid. The Collection of Addresses in King William's\nreign.]\n\n[Footnote 12: Act for Offering the Crown; The Claim of Right; Act for\nSecurity of his Majesty's Person and Government, &c.]\n\nWhy was the crown entailed by so many provisoes, reserves, and\nlimitations? Why the names of every person that should succeed, so\nexpressly and particularly mentioned and set down?[13] Why so many\nacts of parliament[14] to secure that entail, and punish with death\nthose who should reject or oppose it? Why was the settlement of the\ncrown thought to be of so much consequence to the public good, that\nthe two daughters of King James, the late blessed Queen Mary, and her\npresent royal majesty, thought themselves bound to agree to the same\nfor the safety and peace of their country, though it was in prejudice\nof the right and possession of their own father? Was it all, that the\nreturn of these things might be made upon the people with the greater\nweight, and that posterity might be prejudiced against the memory of\nthe two royal sisters, as accessary to the ruin of their own father?\n\n[Footnote 13: Vid. The several Prayers ordered to be read in Churches\nupon the occasion of the Fasts in King William's time.]\n\n[Footnote 14: Vid. The Act of the Settlement, and the Act of the\nUnion; the Act to extinguish the hopes of the Jacobites; and the Act\nfor farther securing her Majesty's Person and Government.]\n\nWhy was King James and his popish posterity entirely excluded for ever\nfrom enjoying the imperial crown of these realms?[15] Why were so many\nacts of parliament made to extinguish the hopes of his race, and of\ntheir party, and for farther security of her majesty's person and\ngovernment? Why was the settlement of the succession in a protestant\nline made the principal reason of uniting the two kingdoms together?\nAnd why was that union so vigorously opposed by all those that adhered\nto the jacobite interest? Was this to illustrate the return of the\nabdicated line, and by the greatness of the nation's endeavour for\nkeeping out the pretender, to justify his using them accordingly when\nhe comes in?\n\n[Footnote 15: Vid. The Act of Parliament for settling the Succession\nof the Crown on the illustrious House of Hanover.]\n\nWhy was the union declared to be unalterable, and, as some say, the\npower thereby taken out of the hands of the British parliament to\nchange the settlement of the crown, or to name any other persons than\nthose of the illustrious house of Hanover to succeed; and, above all,\nwhy was that severest of all oaths, the abjuration, contrived; by\nwhich it is rendered impossible for this nation, upon any pretence\nwhatsoever, to receive the pretender but with the black stigma of an\nabominable perjury? Was this that, with the greater reverence to laws,\nand the greater regard to the solemnity of a national oath, we might\nall turn tail upon our principles, and in defiance of God and the\nlaws, bow our knees to an abjured pretender?\n\nFor God's sake, Britons, what are you doing? And whither are you\ngoing? To what dreadful precipices are ye hurrying yourselves? What!\nare you selling yourselves for slaves to the French, who you have\nconquered; to popery, which you have reformed from; and to the\npretender, whom you have forsworn? Is this acting like Britons; like\nprotestants, like lovers of liberty? Nay, is it acting like men of\nreasonable souls, and men who have the light of common sense to act\nby?\n\nThat we may move you, then, to consider a little the grossness and\nabsurdity of what you are doing, dear countrymen, be prevailed upon to\ndebate a little with yourselves the state of your own case, which I\nshall briefly and plainly lay before you, thus:--\n\nThe government having thought fit, for reasons of state which I have\nno room to speak of in this place, to separate from the confederates,\nas well in the field as in treating with the French, and unhappily, I\ndoubt, to make a separate peace; among the several improvements made\nof this by the enemies of Britain, this is one, viz., to encourage and\nincrease the friends and interest of the pretender, and this they do\nupon several foundations. 1. Upon a supposition, or suggestion rather,\nthat the ministry, because they have not thought fit to carry on the\nwar, are therefore coming so entirely into the interest of France,\nthat they must of necessity comply with the French king's demand of\nrestoring the pretender. 2. Upon a like ill-grounded suggestion that\nthe people of England and Scotland are more inclined to receive the\npretender than they were formerly; in both which suppositions they\ngrossly impose upon you, and yet by both they subtly carry on their\ncrafty designs to delude the more ignorant part of the people of this\nnation, and to prepare them, as they think, for the coming of the\npretender: as appears thus:--\n\n1. By persuading the common people that the ministry are for the\npretender, they, as far as in them lies, make a breach, a\nmisunderstanding, and lay a foundation of jealousy and distrust\nbetween the people and the government, enraging all those who are\nzealous for the Hanover succession, against the ministers of state,\nand so increasing the dangerous divisions that are among us, the\nclosing and healing whereof is so much the duty and interest of all\nfaithful subjects, that they may the more unanimously and sincerely\njoin together against the pretender and all his adherents.\n\n2. They intimidate those great numbers of people who, not so much\nacting by principle as example, are unwilling to show themselves in\nany cause which they have reason to fear is declining, and therefore\nact with the less zeal for the true interest, by how much they see, or\nthink they see, the great ones of the nation fall off from it.\n\n3. By suggesting that the common people of Great Britain are more\ninclined to the pretender than they were formerly, they think they\nbring them really to be so, and encourage all the endeavours of those\nwho labour indefatigably all over the nation to have it so.\n\nTo undeceive the good people of Britain, therefore, in these things,\ndear countrymen, I beseech you to consider,\n\n1. That whatever we may dislike of the proceedings of the ministry,\nand of the government, of which this is not the place to speak, there\nis no greater cheat can be put upon you than this is; for, whatever\nthe jacobite party may promise themselves from the ministry, the\nministry do not yet own their measures to tend that way; they do not\nact avowedly for the pretender; they do all things yet upon the\nsupposition of the protestant succession, and carry it as in the\ninterest of the house of Hanover; and to say they are for the\npretender, is to charge them with the greatest treachery and\nhypocrisy, and is such an insolence in the jacobites, as the ministry\nought to show their resentment at them for, and we hope they will do\nso; besides, there is a manifest difference between the fears of\nhonest men, as that the measures of the ministry may encourage the\nfriends of the pretenders and on the other hand, the insolent way of\nthe jacobites claiming the ministry to be acting in their behalf;\nwhile therefore the ministry appear to act under the scheme of the\nHanover succession, whether they are sincere or no, it is a good\nanswer to a jacobite, whatever it is to another, to say, it is an\nunjustifiable assurance, and an affront to the government, to boast of\nthe ministry being in the interest of the pretender.\n\nIt is also well worthy the consideration of the good people of\nBritain, that at the same time these men would have you believe that\nthe ministers of state are bringing in the pretender, they would also\nhave the ministers of state made believe, that the generality of the\npeople are inclined to receive the pretender; by which double-faced\nfraud they endeavour to restrain you, the people of Britain, from\nappearing against the pretender, for fear of offending the government;\nand to restrain the said government in the same case, for fear of the\npeople.\n\nAs they go on in these things with too much success, it is a very sad\nconsideration to all true British protestants to find that a party of\nmen among us, who yet call themselves protestants, fall in with them\nin many things, fomenting the divisions and breaches that are among\nus, weakening the constitution, and pursuing such principles as tend\nto destroy our liberties; by whose arts, and by the subtle management\nof which party, the revolution wears every day more and more out of\ndate; the principles of liberty decay; the memory of King William\nsinks in our esteem; the heroic actions of that prince, which were\nonce the just admiration of all the honest people of Great Britain,\nbegin to be lost upon us, and forgotten among us, and to become as a\nmark of infamy to the nation!\n\nEvery considering protestant cannot but observe with horror, what\nswarms of popish priests from abroad, and jacobite emissaries at home,\nare spread about among us, and busily employed to carry on these\nwicked designs; how in disguise they run up and down the countries,\nmingling themselves in all companies, and in coffee-houses, and\nprivate conversation, endeavouring to insinuate with all possible\nsubtlety, favourable notions of the pretender into the minds of the\npeople, thereby to pave the way, and to prepare you for receiving him;\nsuch as, that he is the lawful son of King James; that he is a\nprotestant in his heart; that he will abjure the errors of popery as\nsoon as he has an opportunity; that the late King William promised to\nprove him a bastard, but never could do it; that it is hard to reject\nhim for what was none of his own fault, and the like.\n\nAlthough thinking men can and do see through these things, yet, as\nthey are calculated and prepared to deceive the ignorant people in the\ncountry, it is earnestly desired of those who have their eyes open to\nthe said popish delusions, that they would endeavour to undeceive\ntheir brethren and neighbours, and earnestly persuade them not to be\nimposed upon by the jesuitical insinuations of the popish faction,\nfurnishing the poor honest people with just reasons for their adhering\nto the protestant settlement, and full answers to those who go about\nto deceive them: which answers are such as follow:--\n\n1. It seems absolutely necessary to remind them of the reason of the\nlate revolution; how King James II., by his popish counsellors,\npriests, and jesuits, had laid the foundation of overwhelming all our\nliberties, in an arbitrary, tyrannical government, ruling us without a\nparliament to redress our grievances, and, by a standing army, to\nexecute forcibly his absolute commands; how he had engaged in the\noverthrow of our religion, by undermining the constitution of the\nChurch of England, erecting an arbitrary ecclesiastical commission to\ndispossess our universities, and displace our ministers in every\nparish, and then to establish popery throughout the whole nation.\n\n2. That in this distress, the whole nation applied themselves to the\nPrince of Orange, whose right to the succession made him justly appear\nas the proper person to assist and relieve this oppressed people;\nwhich prince came over at our invitation, was blessed with success,\nand all the favourers of popery and tyranny sunk at once; King James\nfled with his queen, and that person whom he called his son, and whom\nwe now call justly the pretender.\n\n3. Concerning the birth of this person, the nobility and gentry of\nEngland who invited over the prince, as may be seen by the memorial\nthey presented to his highness, alleged, that there were violent\npresumptions that he was not born of the queen's body, which, however,\nthey desired to leave to examination in a free parliament; which also\nthe said prince expressed in his declaration, and that he was willing\nto leave the same to a free parliament.\n\n4. That before a free parliament could be obtained, King James\nwithdrew himself, and carried away his pretended son into the hands of\nthe ancient enemies of this nation, and of our religion, the French,\nthere to be educated in the principles of popery and enmity to this\nhis native country.\n\nBy which action he not only declined to refer the legitimacy of his\nsaid son to the examination of the parliament, as the Prince of Orange\nhad offered in his said declaration, but made such examination\naltogether useless and impracticable, he himself (King James) not\nowning it to be a legal parliament, and therefore not consenting to\nstand by such examination.\n\nBy the said abdication, and carrying away his said pretended son into\nthe hands of the French to be educated in popery, &c., he gave the\nparliament of England and Scotland abundant reason for ever to exclude\nthe said King James and his said pretended son from the government of\nthese realms, or from the succession to the same, and made it\nabsolutely necessary for them to do so, if they would secure the\nprotestant religion to themselves and their posterity; and this\nwithout any regard to the doubt whether he was the lawful son of King\nJames or no, since it is inconsistent with the constitution of this\nprotestant nation to be governed by a popish prince.\n\nSo that there is now no more room to examine whether the said\npretender be the lawful son of King James, or whether he is, or will\nturn to be a protestant, the examination of the legitimacy by\nparliament which was offered by the Prince of Orange in his\ndeclaration, having been declined by his father, and himself having\nbeen delivered up into the hands of the sworn enemies both of our\nreligion, constitution, and nation.\n\nIf King James would have expected he should be received as his son,\nand succeed to his crowns, he should have suffered his birth to have\nbeen legally determined by the English and Scotch parliament at that\ntime, and have left him in good protestant hands to have been educated\nin the protestant religion, and in the knowledge of the laws and\nconstitutions of his country; in which case it was more than probable,\nhad his birth appeared clear, and his hereditary right just, the\nparliament might have set the crown upon his head, and declared him\nking under the protection of their deliverer, the Prince of Orange:\nbut to talk of it now, when his birth has never been examined or\ncleared up, and while he has been bred up to man's estate in popery,\nand that the worst sort, viz., French popery; and after the parliament\nof the respective kingdoms uniting in one, have by an unalterable,\nindissolvable union, settled and entailed the crown upon another head,\nviz., the present queen, and entailed it after her majesty in the most\nillustrious house of Hanover, the next of blood in a protestant line:\nto talk now of proving the birth of the pretender, and of his abjuring\nhis errors and turning protestant, this is a fraud so absurd and\nridiculous, that we hope the people of Great Britain can never be\nblinded with it.\n\nEspecially considering the party who talk of these things to us: and\nthis ought to move the good people of Britain to receive the proposals\nof the pretender with indignation; for who are they, dear\nfellow-protestants! that persuade you to these things? Are they not\nthe friends of France and Rome? Do not all the papists join with them?\nDo not all those who hated the revolution, and who long to restore\narbitrary government, join with them?\n\nWhy, if he will abjure the Romish errors and turn protestant, why, I\nsay, do the papists speak in his favour? Do any sect of religion love\napostates! Those who forsake them and abjure them as heretical and\nerroneous! If they were not well assured that whatever appearing\nchange he may make, he will still retain a secret affection to popery,\nthey could not be rationally supposed to speak in his behalf.\n\nBut if that is not sufficient, what do they say to you as to his love\nof the liberty of his country? Has he been bred up in a tyrannical\nabsolute court for nothing? Can he have any notion of government there\nbut what is cruel, oppressive, absolute, and despotic? What principles\nof government will he come over with? and as he has sucked in tyranny\nwith his milk, and knows no government but that of the most absolute\nmonarch in the world, is this the man they would bring in to preserve\nthe liberties and constitution of Britain?\n\nWhen set upon the British throne, who are his allies and confederates?\nWill he be so ungrateful as not to be always at the devotion and\ncommand of the French king? a prince that took his father in a\nfugitive, an abdicated and ruined prince, when his fortunes were\noverthrown, and his crown taken from him; that made so many efforts to\nrestore him, and hazarded his whole kingdom for it: if he forgets the\nkindness shown to his father, can he be so ungenerous, so unthankful,\nas to forget how the king of France nourished him from a child; how,\nafter his father's death, he hazarded a second war to proclaim him\nking of Great Britain, and what expense he has been at to put him in\npossession of it? Should he forget all these obligations, he must be\nunfit to be called a Christian, much less a prince.\n\nIf he can act so barbarously to the French king, his benefactor, what\nmust you Britons expect from him, who have done nothing to oblige him,\nbut have for twenty-four years kept him and his father in exile, and\ntreated them both with unsufferable indignity? If he can be ungrateful\nto the king of France, who has done so much for him, what must he be\nto you, who have done so much against him?\n\nAgain: if gratitude and honour have any influence upon him, if he has\nany sense of his obligation to the French king, will he not for ever\nbe his most hearty, obedient, humble servant? Will he not always be in\nhis interest, nay, ought he not to be so? Is he not tied by the laws\nof friendship and gratitude to be so?\n\nThink, then, dear Britons! what a king this pretender must be; a\npapist by inclination; a tyrant by education; a Frenchman by honour\nand obligation: and how long will your liberties last you in this\ncondition? And when your liberties are gone, how long will your\nreligion remain? When your hands are tied; when armies bind you; when\npower oppresses you; when a tyrant disarms you; when a popish French\ntyrant reigns over you; by what means or methods can you pretend to\nmaintain your protestant religion?\n\nHow shall the Church of England stand, when in subjection to the\nChurch of Rome? You are now mixed with dissenters, and some are uneasy\nenough with them too; but our church will then be but a dissenting\nchurch; popery will be the establishment; the mass will succeed our\ncommon prayer, and fire and fagot instead of toleration, as you know\nwas our case before; for it is not the first time the papists have\nbeen tried.\n\nNor did Queen Mary promise, nay, swear less than is now promised for\nthe pretender; for she swore to the Gospellers of Suffolk to make no\nalteration in religion; and they, like the blinded protestants of this\nage, brought her in, for which they were the first that felt the fury\nand rage of the popish party, and so we have great cause to believe it\nwould be again.\n\n\nTHE CONCLUSION.\n\nConsider, then, honest countrymen and protestants, what you are doing;\nlook on your families; consider your innocent children, who you are\ngoing to give up to be bred in abominable superstition and idolatry;\nlook on your dear country, which you are preparing to make the seat of\nwar, blood, and confusion; look on your neighbours, who, while they\nare resisting this inundation, for you may be assured honest men will\nresist it to the last, you are to fight with, whose throats you must\ncut, and in whose blood you must dip your hands; and, lastly, consider\nyourselves; how free, how quiet, how in peace, plenty, and in\nprotestant liberty you now live, but are with your own hands pulling\ndown upon you, so far as you entertain thoughts of the pretender, the\nwalls of your own security, viz., the constitution, and making way for\nyour French popish enemies to enter; to whom your religion, your\nliberties, your estates, your families, and your posterity, shall be\nmade a sacrifice, and this flourishing nation be entirely ruined.\n\nIn the last place, all that have any concern left for the good of\ntheir country, and for the preserving the protestant religion, will\nremember how much it is in the power of the people of Britain for ever\nto discourage all the attempts to be made in favour of these popish\nenemies, and to overthrow them in the execution; and it is on this\nfoundation that this paper is made public. The late letter from Douay,\nwritten by some of that side, who very well understood the pretender's\ntrue interest, acknowledges this, and that if the people of England\ncould not be wheedled and deluded into the design, it was never to be\ndone by force.\n\nAnd is this your case, Britons! Will you be ruined by a people whom\nyou ought to despise? Have they not been twenty years trying your\nstrength, till they find it impossible for them to master you? And are\nthey brought to such a condition as to use all their arts and shifts\nto bring on a peace; and will you be brought now in cool thoughts, and\nafter so long a struggle, to do that yourselves which you would never\nlet them do; and which, without your most stupid negligence of\nyourselves, they could never do.\n\nFor this reason, I say, these lines are written, and this makes them\njust, and the argument rational. If I were to move you to what was not\nin your power, I should easily be answered, by being told, you could\nnot do it; that you were not able, and the like; but is it not evident\nthat the unanimous appearance of the people of Great Britain against\nthe pretender would at once render all the party desperate, and make\nthem look upon the design as utterly impracticable. As their only hope\nis in the breaches they are making in your resolutions, so if they\nshould see they gain no ground there, they would despair, and give it\nover.\n\nIt would not be worth notice to inquire who are, and who are not for\nthe pretender; the invidious search into the conduct of great men,\nministers of state and government, would be labour lost: no ministry\nwill ever be for the pretender, if they once may but be convinced that\nthe people are steady; that he gets no ground in the country; that the\naversions of the common people to his person and his government are\nnot to be overcome: but if you, the good people of England, slacken\nyour hands; if you give up the cause; if you abate your zeal for your\nown liberties, and for the protestant religion; if you fall in with\npopery and a French pretender; if you forget the revolution, and King\nWilliam, what can you expect? who can stand by you then? Who can save\nthem that will destroy themselves?\n\nThe work is before you; your deliverance, your safety is in your own\nhands, and therefore these things are now written: none can give you\nup; none can betray you but yourselves; none can bring in popery upon\nyou but yourselves; and if you could see your own happiness, it is\nentirely in your power, by unanimous, steady adhering to your old\nprinciples, to secure your peace for ever. O Jerusalem! Jerusalem!\n\n\nEND OF A SEASONABLE WARNING AND CAUTION.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"A Seasonable Warning and Caution against the Insinuations of Papists and Jacobites in favour of the Pretender: Being a Letter from an Englishman at the Court of Hanover","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":5956}