Heat I have fhewn, will at leaft approve the Ends to which it was directed.

If my Wishes for the Demolition of Dunkirk, and my Zeal for that Succeffion which is the only Security under God of our Laws, our Liberties, and our Religion, have betrayed me into any Errors which I am not fenfible of, I hope the Goodnefs of thefe Motives which occafioned them, will be fufficient to extenuate and cover them. I am fure there are feveral Writers who have talked with as much Warmth and more Boldnefs for a quite contrary End, without giving the fame Offence to thofe in whofe Power it has been to punish them: I fay, Sir, that there are many who have written with as great a Zeal in a Caufe which is Condemned as Treafonable by our A&s of Parliament, and yet have had the good Luck to escape the Notice of thofe who have had either the making of Laws or the putting them in Execution. Besides, whilft I have thus preferv'd my Temper, it must be allowed that no Man ever receiv'd greater Provocations. Thofe Writers who declared themselves the profeffed Advocates of the Ministry, and give themselves the Air of being in the Secrets of the Administration, were the first Aggreffors. They have loaded me with groundless Calumnies, mifrepresented me in every Part of my Character, and have been as difingenuous and unchriftian in the "Methods of publishing thefe falfe Reports, as they were in the inventing of them. When I had the Honour to be returned as a Member of Parliament, and was therefore prefumed to be fuch, instead of being thereby privileged from this infamous Treatment, I was only the more expos'd

expos'd to it. These Papers I am now fpeakking of prejudged my Election, denounced to me the Displeasure of Menaces, and great foretold that Storm which is fallen upon me, unless it be averted by the Juftice and Ho nour of Gentlemen, who are the only Perfons that can interpofe in this Cafe between an innocent Man and an offended Minifter. Such ↓ has been the cruel and ungenerous Ufage which I have met with from an Author who has feveral times profeffed himself a Champion for the Miniftry, that no longer fince than laft Friday he has fallen upon me with that Rage and Mafice, which is unbecoming a Scholar, a Gentleman, or a Chriftian, at the fame Time that fo great a Misfortune befel me as to be accufed before this Y As if he did not think that Weight heavy enough upon me, he makes his Court to his Superiors by determining the Caufe which lay before this honourable Affembly, and reprefents me in fuch a Character as I hope is due to no Man living. I cannot but take Notice of his laft Paper, which, if any Gentleman will be at the Pains of peruling, he will and, (by what ftrange Accident or concerted Measures I know not) that it is a Brief of the Charge against me before this Houfe. It was in Answer to this Writer that I firft employ'd my Pen, and, as I thought, for the Service of my Country. This Man has reprefented half of Her Majefty Subjects as a Different People, who have forfeited the common Protetion allowed them by the Conftitution; but has never been called to account for it as a Writer of Matters tending to Sedition. He has treated the Fathers of our Church like the ba

feft

fest among the People, tore in Pieces the Re putation of the most eminent Names in Great Britain, marked out feveral Members in both Houses of Parliament, and endeavoured to render them odious to the Nation, when they have difagreed with him in Opinion, or rejected any Bill which the Miniftry had feemed to promote. He has vilified thofe Perfons which are in Friendship and Alliance with Her Majefty, and condemned Treaties which are ftill in Force. He has triffed upon fo melancholy a Subject as that of Her Majefty's late Indifpofition, and reprefented Her as actually dead, for the Sake of a poor Conceit which the greatest Part of his Readers were not able to take, and those who did could not but regard with Horrour. All this, Sir, the Author I am now mentioning has done, without being called to account for any Reflection tending to Sedition, highly refleEting upon Her Majefty, and arraigning Her Adminiftration and Government. In the Opinion of the World he has not only done all this with Impunity, but with Encouragement. It is chiefly in Anfwer to this Author, that those Papers were written which are now upon your Table. I could not fee without Indignation an Endeavour fet on foot to confound Truth with Falfhood, and to turn the whole Hiftory of the prefent Times into a Lie. I thought I might act with the famé Safety in vindicating, as he did in attacking the Reputation of feveral innocent Perfons, who are unblemished every where but in his Papers; and of many honourable Perfons, who by all Sides are allowed to have deferved well of their Country. And now, Sir, let every British Gentieman

Gentleman lay his Hand upon his Heart, and ask himself, Whether it was poffible for a Man of any Spirit to have received those private and perfonal Injuries which I have here mentioned, or for any honeft Man to have feen others fo barbarously treated, without giving fome Loofe to his Refentments. Sir, a good Name is as dear to me as it can be to the greatest Man in England; and whoever employs all his Artifices to make me appear vile and infamous, cannot be angry with me if I lay hold on what I think defective in his own Character and Behaviour, to expofe it in the fame Manner. I am fure no Man of Honour, and it is my Happiness that this Affembly is compofed of no other, would make fuch a Sacrifice of himself to any, the most Powerful of his FellowSubjects. I know no Law of God or Man that requires this kind of Refignation or SelfDenial.

I have been the longer upon this Head, to fhew Gentlemen that this great Affair which is now laid before them,has been hitherto, notwithftanding the many Infolencies I have now recited against the greatest Perfons in Church and State, only a Paper War between two private Perfons; and they must have but a mean Opinion of the Dignity of a British House of Commons, who think they will make themselves Farties in either Side of it. Befides, Sir, I have another Reafon for opening my Defence in this Manner, because I find that the firft Paragraph which is laid to my Charge, can accufe, me of nothing else but of thewing a Difrefpe& to the Examiner. Here follows, as it is marked against me, what I fay in the Englishman, Number 46.

• But

• But there is still a Circumftance in the fame Paper of the Examiner's, that may have a 6 Confequence yet more immediately pernicious, and that is the laft Sentence of it; Since Her Majefty is to be the last, we hope they will be obliged to own her for the greatest and wifeft of the Stuarts. I cannot but think this Expreffion uttered as lamenting in favour of a pretended Stuart, in whofe Behalf he fighs, and fays, Since her Majefty is to be the luft. The natural way of speaking his Sense, in a Man who was in the Intereft of his Country, had been to fay, As Her Majefty without Iffue is to be the laft. But whether his Inclinations be for the Pretender or not, I am fure he promotes his Service in a very great Degree, when he endeavours to villify that " Houfe of Commons which is now lay'ing a Price upon his Head.

But let the rest of the World do what they please, and delay their Proteftations against thefe Evils as long as they think fit, I will • poftpone all elfe that is dear to me to the Love of my Country: And as this is, and I truft in Providence will be my strongest Paffion to my Life's End, I will, while it is yet • Day, profefs, and publish the Rules by which I govern my Judgment of Men and Things in the prefent Conjuncture.

Does this Action befpeak fuch a one a wife Man if he is for the Pretender, a Madman if he is for the Houfe of Hanover?

Does this Pofition open a Way to the Pretender? Or, does it further fecure the Proteftant Succeffion?