No Wonder then our Navy, our Councils, and our Army were betrayed; no Wonder our Ships wanted Men, and our Men Victuals; nor is it furprifing, that our Army had no Pay, whilft Pay-Mafters, Agents, and Clothiers, fucked the Blood of the Subject, and hamftringed the Sinews of War. All thefe Misfortunes were owing to this Piece of Indulgence, and may be justly affirmed, that he, who neglects to punish one known Traitor, makes a hundred more.

it

Thus the Prince of Orange, through a thousand Difficulties, mounted the Imperial Throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by a Parliamentary Title, rather than by any other: It is true, his Lady was next in Blood, fuppofing the pretended Prince of Wales illegitimate. But he never infifted upon that Title, fo much as upon the Election of the People by their Representatives convened in the most folemn Manner: Yet fuch is the Wickedness of Mankind, and the Bafenefs of their Nature, that even when he had enjoyed thefe Realms with the general Confent of his People, and they had quietly enough fubmitted to the Government they had made; yet thefe Pontifens muft needs be giving him a new Right, which forfooth was that of Conqueft. The Dutch at firft were well enough pleased with the Fancy, and the Court itself fhewed not much Averfion to the ill-grounded Chimera: But the Parliament foon took up the Quarrel, and fhewed the Vanity of these Pretenfions, and gave the World to understand, that England never fubmitted but once (if it did fo) in the Reign of William the Conqueror. And thus I conclude my Obfervations on the Life of the Prince of Orange, now called to the Throne of England, on the Abdication of King James the Second. So that it remains to remark on the latter Part of his Life and Reign, as was at firft propofed. And,

Secondly, I have chofen to divide thefe Political Remarks on the Life and Actions of our late Monarch, into two Divifions, because there feems to be a vast Variety in the Fortune of that Prince, in these feveral Periods of his Life.

The firft Part of his Life he struggled with all the Difficulties of a crafy State, ata Time when his Youth and frequent Indifpofitions gave thofe, who were really in the Interest of their Country, little Hopes from him of bettering their melancholy Circumftances; but he equally deceived the Expectations of his Friends and Enemies, afferted the Honour and Happiness of his Country, vindicated its Liberties, raised himself and thofe Provinces, which gave him Birth, to a Degree of Grandeur, which neither the House of Orange, nor the United States of the Netherlands, had before that Time been acquainted with.

The Faction of Barnevelt, when this Prince first took the Helm of the Belgick Provinces into his Protection, had ingroffed all the chief Employments of the State under the fpecious Pretence of Liberty; they had deluded the better and wealthier Part of the Commonwealth, to take Part with them, and be at their Devotion. The Military Commands were in their Hands, the Treasure and all Things elfe in Disorder at Home, and the King of

France's

France's Armies at their Gates; yet from all thefe Misfortunes the Prince rescued the Commonwealth, and by its Miseries made himself the happier.

The second Part of his Life was yet more glorious; he obliged King James to do him Juftice, afferted his Right to the Imperial Crowns of Eng land, Scotland, and Ireland, conquered the laft, reftored the Reformed Religion to its former Vigour in thefe Kingdoms, and fuppreffed the Enemies of himself and the Nation he ruled over; he was triumphant at the Boyne and Athlone, gave Peace to Scotland, and faw himfelf Master, as far as agrees with our Conftitution, of a bold and daring People.

But the Remainder of his Life was nothing fo glorious to the State, or fortunate to himself; he loft the memorable Battles of Steinkirk and Landen, and though he took Namur, after an obftinate Defence, made by the Befieged, yet he threw away more Reputation by that patched up Peace at Refwick, than he gained Honour by the Acquifition of that important Fortrefs.

King William, upon his taking upon him the Government of these Realms, found England inclinable to his Wishes; fome few indeed of the Clergy and Laity forgot their recent Obligations to him, and the late Danger of their Country; but he foon reconciled their jarring Spirits to his Government, or made them uncapable of injuring him.

Thus far his Adminiftration failed with a fuccefsful Wind, but his Affairs in Scotland foon took another Face; the Scene was changed there; a few of the Noblemen indeed adhered to his Intereft; the reft in general were diffatisfied; and the Worft of it was, that the Epifcopal Clergy, for the moft Part, ftruck in with the Intereft of the late King James. This obliged the Kirk of Scotland, which now, by the Conceffions of King William, might be called the Church of Scotland, to ftand upon their Guard; and indeed, fairly speaking they used the Non-Conformifts to the new Model of Religious Worship a little hardly: From hence fprung the Rebellion of my Lord Dundee, and of feveral of the Highland Clans, many of whom followed his Lordship's Fortune for Affection or Plunder, and fome, very few on the Score of Religion.

It is most certain, that my Lord Dundee did not originally defign to break with King William; he had ferved under his late Majefty in Flanders, was a Proteftant, and it is generally believed had no great Inclination to King James; but he was forced upon what he did, by the haughty Carriage of a fine Gentleman, and a very good Officer, who afterwards loft his Life in the Quarrel, and who, by his own Death, and the Differvice he did the Government, may teach us, that, if it be dangerous to drive a Coward, it is much more fo to push a brave Man on Extremities.

a Mr. Cleeland, Lieutenant-Colonel to my Lord Angus. Killicranky.

At the Battle of

Yet,

Yet, however cloudy this Affair was at the Beginning, it ended fortunately enough for King William: My Lord Dundee was killed at the Battle of Killicranky, at a Time, when Victory fat upon his Helmet, who, had he lived, might have pushed our late Monarch as far as the fame Shores on which he landed.

But Heaven had decreed it otherwife; that Lord received a Shot under his Arm, or as fome will have it, a Thruft by a Halbert thro' his Armour, convincing us, that there is no Defence against Fate, and that Providence regarded more our Happiness than the Council of Scotland.

Soon after the Decease of this Gentleman, the Laird of Glencow, with feveral of his Followers and Dependants, were put to the Sword in their Beds, after they had embraced a Pardon, which the Government condefcended to offer. If King William was acquainted thoroughly with the Matter, and they fuffered after their Submiffion by his exprefs Order, it was an Action contrary to all Juftice, below the Majefty of a King, and beneath the Character of his Courage, which he had acquired, at the Peril of his Life, in feveral bloody Rencounters.

By viewing this King at the Battle of Seneff, at the Battle of the Boyne, and the Fight of Landen, a Man would not eafily conjecture, that his Soul could entertain Thoughts of fo infamous a Nature; but what startles our Imagination, and makes us doubtful in this Argument is, the Authority produced by thofe who committed thefe Homicides in their own Vindication; but what Arguments induced the Grant of thefe Powers is uncertain; Heaven pardon the Authors of fo bloody an Enterprise !

The Siege of London Derry gave a greater Turn to King William's Affairs than could be expected, and plainly demonftrates to the unthinking Part of Mankind, that there is no fuch Thing as Certainty in human Affairs, King James fent thither the Duke of Berwick, several French Generals, and the beft of his Militia, rather to obtain Glory and Plunder, according to their feveral Capacities, than to hazard themselves and his Army, before a Town he conceived naked and defencelefs; but what was his Succefs? All his fine Troops were ruined or killed, that City, and Iniskilling changed the Complexion of his Conquefts, and he never fucceeded in one fingle Attempt he made afterwards.

Had this Town furrendered to the Catholick Forces, the late King James had intirely made himself Mafter of Ireland, and been at Leifure to have poured in a numerous Army upon Scotland; which he might easily have done, the Paffage from one Kingdom to another being not above four Hours Sail; and what would have been the Confequence it is not hard to judge, when my Lord Dundee was in Arms at the fame Time, and had, if he had lived, over-run all Scotland, and endangered the Lofs of England into the Bargain.

What Rewards then were fuitable to the Merit of those Gentlemen, who ftopped a Deluge, which might have proved fatal to thefe Kingdoms, more than at first Blufh can be imagined? But, let their Deferts be what they

will,

will, they ftarved, as my Lord Haversham expreffes himself, with Teftimonials of their Service in their Pockets.

The Battle of Bantrey Bay, in which the late Sir Cludefly Shovel exerted a most remarkable Courage, taught King William, as wife a Prince as he was, a Secret which he was a Stranger to, and that was, that the French were no defpicable Enemies by Sea; and, if he was not thoroughly convinced of this Truth, in a little Time afterwards, he knew it by a dear Experience.

All that were Witneffes to Cloudefly's Conduct and Bravery, upon the Occafion I have just mentioned, thought it a Piece of extraordinary Merit; but our Monarch was obliged to him in a higher Degree foon after; for that Admiral, in the Sight of King James, and in the Prefence of his Guards, who were drawn up to their Relief, burnt or took a Man of War in Dublin Bay, and two or three other Ships. The extraordinary Merit of the Service lay here; a great many Officers of the Fleet, at the fame Time, were not fufficiently hearty to the Government, and this Action was a Precedent to the reft, and quite difpirited several Perfons who were in the Intereft of the abdicated King.

The King had a great Opinion of Duke Schomberg, and indeed that Gentleman deferved it; but I am fully perfuaded, that there was an English Officer, in his Dominions, every jot as fit for the high Command of Captain-General, and Time has abundantly declared it.

The Camp of Dundalk was fatal to the English; we loft a great many brave Men there, amongst whom were Colonel Wharton, Colonel Deering, and several other Perfons of Quality; and it is thought, that, if his Grace the Duke of Schomberg had fought the Irish with all their boafted Odds, he would hardly, though beaten, been a greater Lofer.

But, whether King William approved the Duke of Schomberg's managing the Army or not, it is plain, he acted contrary to his Grace; for no fooner could he reach the Boyne with his Troops, but he gave the Enemy Battle, humouring, or approving of the Inclinations of the English, whofe Custom it has been always, to engage at Sight, without counting Numbers.

What made the King fo fiery at the Boyne is uncertain; fome attribute it to the Rashness of his Temper; others, with more Juftice, believe the Precipitation, he then fhewed, was occafioned by the ill News he had received from England, that my Lord Torrington had engaged the French Fleet off Beachy-bead, and was worsted in the Combat; he loft the Anne, commanded by Captain Tyrrel, and the Dutch fuffered extremely in the Engagement; fee here the Vanity of the English, and the Induftry of our Enemies. We proudly imagined, that a fingle Squadron of ours was a fuperior Match for all the Naval Power of France, and now we find, that our united Fleets give Way to the Admirals of France.

My Lord Torrington's Conduct was mightily blamed, with what Reafon I fhall not determine; at the Inftance of the Dutch Captains he was tried at a Court Martial, and acquitted immediately; thereupon he laid down his VOL. III. Bb

Com

Commiffion, and it is yet uncertain, whether we did not facrifice a brave Man, who deferved a better Fate, to the Ferment of the People, and the Fury of their Refentments; and it is equally ftrange, that in fuch publick Actions, where fo many Thoufands were Witneffes of the Fact, the Commonwealth fhould not be capable of knowing whether an Officer did his Duty, or omitted it.

Had the French ftaid much longer on our Coafts, it is reported, King William defigned to have commanded his Fleet himfelf, and to have given them Battle; but, as the World is malicious, fo this Monarch found this Defign of his ridiculed by fome pretended Politicians, who imagined, that the Command of an Army at Land is very different from the Management of a Fleet at Sea; never confidering, that the Dutch had an Opdam, and the English a Monk, and an Offory, who, though they were no Marine Officers, yet behaved themfelves with as much Honour, Prudence, and Courage, as any who ever ploughed the Surface of the Ocean.

The Reduction of Ireland, fome two or three Towns excepted, was the Confequence of the Battle of the Boyne, and King James himself took Shipping at Waterford, deferting now this Realm, as he had lately done that of England fome Time before; and indeed, by fo precipitate a Flight, he made himself unworthy of any other Fate than that which he sustained.

King William found himself repulfed at the firft Siege of Limerick, more by the Inclemency of the Air, and the Badnefs of the Seafon, than by the Valour of the Garrifon, though the Town was commanded by three Officers of great Experience, and fheltered the Remains of the whole Irish Army: But there's no fighting against the Elements; they were appointed and commanded by a greater King than William the Third; and Canutus, the Danish Monarch, might have inftructed our Royal General in the Truth of this Maxim, if the latter had given himself the Trouble of confulting the English History.

The King quitted Ireland the latter End of this Campaign, and left Monfieur Ginkle, afterwards Earl of Athlone, to reduce that Part of the Kingdom which continued in the Intereft of King James. It is true, that Lord, by the Inftances of the English Commanders, and by the Valour of their Troops, ventured to fight, and won the Battle of Agbrim, and obliged all the Enemies of his Mafter to fubmit themselves to his Obedience; yet it is the Opinion of our Officers, if a General of our own Nation had commanded our Troops, the Matter would as foon have been effected.

Thus far King William had all the Succefs he could in Reafon defire; but Fortune was not always indulgent to his Wishes, and the rest of her Conduct towards that Monarch fhewed, that Kings as well as Peafants are often mortified by her Caprices.

The Battle of Steinkirk was glorious to the Englife, though they fmarted feverely by the Numbers, and continual Fire of the French. My Lord Cutts was wounded in the Action, the Generals Lanier and Mackay killed, and Troops of our braveft Officers attended them to the Regions of Futurity.

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