and one other A&t made in England, in the 'Twelfth Year of the Reign of his faid late Ma'jefty K. William the Illd, Entitled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better fecuring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and the Acts lately made in England and Scotland, mutually for the Union of the two Kingdoms; or that the Kings or Queens of this Realm, with and by the Authority of Parliament, are not able to make Laws and Statutes of fufficient Force and Validity to limit and bind the Crown, and the Defcent, Limitation, Inheritance, and Government thereof, every fuch Perfon or Perfons fhall be guilty of High Treafon; and if any Perfon or Perfons fhall maliciously and directly, by Preaching, Teach'ing, or advised Speaking, declare, maintain, and 'affirm, as aforefaid, fuch Perfon or Perfons shall 'incur the Penalty of Præmunire.

Thus did our Kingdom of Great Britain begin in the Fifth Year of her Majefty's Reign, and in the Year of our Lord 1707. And from this Great Era, to which it is fo eafie to look back, every Briton may date this happy Conclufion; that all the Notions of Hereditary Right, but that of her Majefty and the Heirs of her Body, and in Default of fuch Iffue, that of the most Illuftrious Princefs Sophia, and the Heirs of her Body, being Proteftants, are at an End.

And all this hath been done in fo open a manner, and in fo expreffive and plain terms, that one cannot but think that our Popish or Jacobite Party, who have been of late fo bold both in Writing and Speaking against the Settlement of the Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, and cannot poffibly plead Ignorance of

thefe

thefe things, muft have fome unaccountable Encouragement for their Support. But let me inform every Briton that loves his Queen, Religion, Laws and Liberties, it is his Duty to appear Boldly in their Defence, and detect and feize thofe Enemies to his Country, where-ever he finds them. What should any Man fear in fo juft a Caufe, who acts under the Guard and Protection of the Laws of his Country, whilft his Opponents act with Halters about their Necks P

It is not material to mention the grand Sufpicions of the Spurious Birth of the Pretended Prince of Wales; That it was talk'd with great Affurance by the Papifts, that the late King James's Queen was big with a Son, fome Months before the Pretended Birth; for they well knew a Daughter would not do their Bufinefs; That at the Time of the Pretended Birth, the Princefs Anne, now our most gracious Queen, was at the Bath; That the Bithops were clapt up in the Tower; That the Women about the Queen were Papifts; That the Prefumptive Heir was not prefent; That at the Birth of the prefent French King, the next Heir, tho' a Man, was permitted to fee the Queen actually Delivered; That in our Cafe it might have been done with much more Decency, had there been a Birth, fince the next Heir was a Woman; That the late King James, and his Queen, owning the Pretender, is no Argument for his not being Spurious, confidering the Bigotry of that Prince, and the great Influence the Clergy of the Church of Rome have on their Laity; That our own Hiftory informs us, that the First Queen Mary was prevail'd on by her Popifh Priefts to feign

her

herself with Child, to exclude her Proteftant Sifter, the Lady Elizabeth, from the Crown of England, That the Imposture had been carried on, and a Birth been impos'd upon the Nation, had not King Philip, her Husband, wifely confider'd, that the limpoftor would not only fucceed to the Crown of England, but alfo to that of Spain, and fo prevented it. I fay these things are altogether infignificant, they are foreign to the purpofe. Be the Pretender who he will, or whoever was his Father or Mother, it concerns not any Briton, he is an Attainted Perfon, an Enemy to our Queen and Country; and all his Aiders and Abetters are guilty of High Treafon.

Now I am upon the Subject of this late Settlement of the Crown, I cannot forbear to exprefs my Wonder, that there can be found any Briton weak enough to contend against a Power in their own Nation, which is practifed to a much greater Degree in other States, and without the leaft Scruple exercifed, according to the Emergencies of Human Affairs. How hard is it, that Britain fhould be debar'd the Privilege of eftablishing its own Security, even by relinquishing only thofe Branches of the Royal Line which threaten it with Destruction, whilst other Nations never fcruple, upon lefs Occafions, to go much greater Lengths. There have been even in France three different Races of their Kings; the firft began with Pharamond, the fecond with Charles Martell, and the third with Hugh Capet; and I doubt whether if the direct Line of the Blood Royal of France were to be followed, it would make for the Title of his prefent most Christian Majefty. But to come to fresh Inftances,

stances, in which Great Britain it felf hath not been unconcerned, What Right, by the contrary Rule, could the Duke of Savoy have to the Kingdom of Sicily, or the Elector of Bavaria to that of Sardinia? Can Great Britain help to advance Men to other Thrones, and have no Power in limiting its own? Has not Lewis the XVth given us fresh Inftances of fuch Innovations in his own Family? Or can Men think he is not in Earneft, in excluding his Grandfon the King of Spain, and his Defcendants, from the Crown of France; and the Dauphin and Duke of Berry, and their Defcendants, from the Crown of Spain? And if such Sacred Things as Kingdoms themselves may be thus difpofed of out of the Right Line, not by any Refignation that can in any equitable Senfe be called voluntary, but apparently for meer Reasons of State and Ambition, certainly the English and Scotch, for Prefervation of Religion, Liberty and Property, the Effential Benefits of Life, might with more Juftice fettle their Crown in the Proteftant Line in the manner they have done, excluding all the nearer Princes of the Blood that are Papists.

When I reflect on thefe many folemn ftrong Barriers of Laws and Oaths, of Policy and Religion, of Penalties without, and Confcience within, methinks all Fear vanisheth before them. It feems a Phantom only that disappears with the Light; and I begin to hope it is as ridiculous and groundless, as the Artifice of fome Men endeavours to reprefent it. But my Thoughts will not let me reft here; I ask my felf, before I am aware, what are the Marks of a lafting Secu rity? What are our Tempers and our Hearts

at

at Home?

In what Hands is Power lodged Abroad? Are our unnatural Divifions our Strength? Or is it nothing to us which of the Princes of Europe hath the longest Sword? The Powerful Hand that deals out Crowns and Kingdoms all around us, may it not in time reach out a King to us too? Are there no Pretenfions to our Crown that can ever be revived? Or are Popery and Ambition become tame and quiet Neighbours ?

1810

Thefe uneafie Questions are enough to fa tisfie any Briton, that we can neither know our Security, nor be fenfible of our Danger from any partial View of our Condition, or from Appearances on one Side only. Our Condition cannot be judged of, but from the Circumstances of the Affairs of Europe in ge. neral, as well as of Great Britain in particu lar.

That I may represent this with the more Advantage, and put every thing in its proper View, I cannot but look back on the glorious Scene fome paft Years prefented us with, a Scene too glorious indeed to be forgotten, and yet too affecting to be remembred. Ambition, Tyranny and Oppreffion feemed not long ago to be just taking their leave of this part of the World, and ready to give place to Honour, Liberty and Juftice. The French for near an Age had been always triumphant in their Encroachments on their Neighbours; from the number of their Troops, their early taking the Field, the Remifsnefs of their Enemies, join'd with their happy manner of interpreting the Senfe of their Leagues and Treaties, they had always fucceeded in every thing they under

took ;