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prince's favour, when they are so unhappy as to fall from all honour, virtue, and religion;" though I must confess my belief, at the same time, that some certain persons have lately fallen from favour, who could not, for a very manifest reason, be said, properly speaking, to fall from any of the other three. To his other questions I can only say, that the constant language of the Whig pamphleteers has been, this twelvemonth past, to tell us, how dangerous a step it was to change the ministry at so nice a juncture; to shake our credit, disoblige our allies, and encourage the French. Then this author tells us, that those discarded politicians were the greatest ministers we ever had; his brethren have said the same thing a hundred times. On the other side, the queen, upon long deliberation, was resolved to part with them; the universal voice of the people was against them; her majesty is the most mild and gracious prince that ever reigned; we have been constantly victorious, and are ruined; the enemy flourishes under his perpetual losses. If these be the consequences of an able, faithful, diligent, and dutiful administration; of that astonishing success, he says, Providence has crowned us with; what can be those of one directly contrary? But, not to enter into a wide field at present, I faithfully promise the author of the letter, his correspondents, his patrons, and his brethren, that this mystery of iniquity shall be very shortly laid open to the view of the world; when the most ignorant and prejudiced reader will, I hope, be convinced, by facts not to be controlled, how miserably this poor kingdom had been deluded to the very brink

of destruction.

He would have it, that the people of England have lost their senses; are bewitched and cheated, mad and

without understanding: but that all this will go off by degrees, and then his great men will recover their esteem and credit. I did, in one of my papers, overthrow this idle affected opinion, which has been a thousand times urged by those who most wished, and least believed it; I there showed the difference between a short madness of the people, and their natural bent or genius. I remember, when King James II. went from England, he left a paper behind him, with expressions much to the same purpose; hoping, among other things, that God would open the eyes of the nation. of the nation. Too much zeal for his religion brought us then in danger of Popery and arbitrary power; too much infidelity, avarice, and ambition, brought us lately into equal danger of atheism and anarchy. The people have not yet opened their eyes, to see any advantage in the two former; nor I hope, will ever find their senses enough to discover the blessings of the two latter. Cannot I see things in another light than this author and his party do, without being blind? Is my understanding lost when it differs from theirs? Am I cheated, bewitched, and out of my senses, because I think those to have been betrayers of our country whom they call patriots ?

He hopes his seven correspondents will never want their places; but is in pain for the poor kingdom lest their places should want them. Now I have examined this matter, and am not at all discouraged. Two of them hold their places still, * and are likely to continue in them two more were governors of islands; † I be

* The Duke of Somerset, grand master of the horse.

The Earl of Wharton, removed from the lieutenancy of Ireland.

lieve the author does not imagine those to be among the places which will want men to fill them. God be thanked, a man may command the beef-eaters without being a soldier; I will at any time undertake to do it myself. Then it would be a little hard, if the queen should be at a loss for a steward to her family. So that, upon the whole, I see but one great employment † which is in any danger of wanting a sufficient person to execute it. We must do as well as we can; yet I have been told, that the bare business of presiding in council does not require such very transcendent abilities; and I am mistaken, if, till within these late years, we have not been some ages without that office. So that I hope things may go well enough, provided the keeper, treasurer, and both the secretaries, will do their duties; and it is happy for the nation, that none of their seven lordships left any of those places to want them.

The writer of the letter concludes it with "an appeal to all the princes and states of Europe, friends and enemies, by name, to give their judgment, whether they think the late ministry were wanting in faithfulness, abilities, or diligence, to serve their prince and country ?” Now, if he speaks by order of his party, I am humbly of opinion, they have incurred a præmunire, for appealing to a foreign jurisdiction; and her majesty may seize their goods and chattels whenever she pleases. In the mean time, I will not accept his appeal, which has been rejected by the queen and both Houses of Parliament. But, let a fair jury be empannelled in any county of England, and I will be determined by their verdict.

* From which office the Earl of Devonshire had been removed. + That of president of the council, which Lord Somers had occupied.

First, he names the King of France and all his counsellors, with the Pretender and all his favourers and abettors. These I except against; I know they will readily judge the late ministry to be faithful, able, and diligent, in serving their prince and country. The counsels of some people have, in their way, served very much to promote the service of the Pretender, and to enable the French king to assist him; and is not he, in that monarch's opinion as well as his own, their lawful prince? I except against the emperor and the states; because it can be proved upon them, that the plaintiffs and they have an understanding together. I except against any prince who makes unreasonable demands, and threatens to recall his troops if they be not complied with; because they have been forced of late to change their language, and may, perhaps, be shortly obliged to observe their articles more strictly. I should be sorry, for the appealers' sakes, to have their case referred to the Kings of Sweden and Denmark, who infallibly would decree them to be all hanged up for their insolence to their sovereign. But, above all, the King of Spain would certainly be against them, when he considers with how scandalous a neglect his interests have been managed; and that the full possession of his kingdom was made a sacrifice to those whose private or party interest swayed them to the continuance of the war. The author had reason to omit the grand seignior and czar in the list of his judges; the decrees of those princes are too sudden and sanguinary; and their lessons to instruct subjects in behaviour to their princes, by strangling them with a bowstring, or flinging them to be devoured alive by hogs, were enough to deter them from submitting to their jurisdiction.

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A NEW

JOURNEY TO PARIS;

TOGETHER WITH SOME SECRET TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN THE FRENCH KING AND AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.

BY THE SIEUR DU BAUDRIER.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

"I had rather be thought a good Englishman, than the best poet, or the greatest scholar, that ever wrote."

PRIOR, Preface to "SOLOMON."

IN 1710-11, the Tory ministry, whose principles and situation laid them under a necessity of making peace with France, contrived to open a communication with that country by means of the Abbé Gualtier, an obscure priest, agent for the French prisoners of war. When matters were thus prepared for the intervention of a more accredited envoy, the celebrated Matthew Prior, whose previous acquaintance with diplomacy fitted him for such a trust, and whose rank was not such as to make his motions observed, was dispatched by the British ministry upon a secret embassy to France. It is said, that this step was proposed by Mons. de Torcy, through the medium of the Earl of Jersey, and that Mr Prior held an interview with that minister at or near Calais, and immediately returned to England. Notwithstanding every precaution which had been taken to prevent discovery, Prior was recognized upon his landing, and detained by the custom-house officers at Deal, until released by orders from their superiors. This discovery was likely to prove embarrassing to the ministers, who

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