equal Liberty of the Prefs with ourselves; and they even now make grearer Ufe of it against Perfons in higheft Power and Credit, than we do against those who have been difcarded for the most infamous Abufe of both.

Who encouraged and rewarded the Obfervator and Review for many Years together, in charging the whole Body of the Clergy with the most odious Crimes and Opinions? In declaring all who took, Oaths to the Government, and called themselves Tories, to be worfe than Papifts and Nonjurors? In expofing the Universities, as Seminaries of the moft pernicious Principles in Church and State? In defending the Rebellion, and the Murder of King. Charles I. which they afferted to be altogether as juftifiable as the late Revolution? Is there a great Man now in Power, or in any Credit with the Queen, whom thofe unworthy Undertakers have not treated by Name in the most ignominious Manner? Even fince this great Change of Affairs, with what amazing Licentioufnefs hath the Writer of the Medley attacked every Perfon of the prefent Ministry, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the whole Senate? He has turned into Ridicule the Refults of the Council and the Parliament, as well as the juft and generous Endeavours of the latter to pay the Debts, and restore the Credit of the Nation, almost ruined by the Corruption and Management of his own Party.

And are these the People who complain of perfonal Reflections? Who fo confidently invoke the Men in Power, whom they have fo highly obliged, to punish, or filence me, for reflecting on their exploded Heroes? Is there no Diference between Men chofen by the Prince, reverenced by the People for their Vatue, and others rejected by both for the highest Demerits? Shall the Midley and his Brothers fly out with Impunity against thofe who prefide at the Helm? And am I to be torn in Pieces, because I cenfure others,, who, for endeavouring to fplit the Veffel against a Rock, are put under the Hatches?

I now proceed to the Pamphlet which I intend to confider; it is a Letter, written to seven great Men, who were appointed to examine Gregg in Newgate. The Writer tells their L-ps, that the Examiner hath charged them for endeavouring, by Bribery and Subornation of that Criminal, to take: away Mr. H's Life. If there be any thing among the Papers I have writ, which may be applied to thefe Perfons, it would have become this Author to have cleared them fully from the Accufation, and then he might at leifure have fallen upon me as à Liar and Mifreprefenter; but of that he has not offered a Syllable: The Weight of his Charge lies here; that fuch an Author as the Examiner fhould prefume, by certain Innuendo's, to accufe any Perfons of fuch a Crime. My Bufinefs in those Papers was to reprefent Facts, and I was as fparing as poffible of reflecting upon particular Perfons; but the Mischief is, that the Readers have always found Names to tally with thofe Facts; and I know no Remedy for this. As for Inftance, in the Cafe here before us. An Under Clerk in the Secretary's Office, of 50 l. a Year, is difcovered to hold Correfpondence with France, and apprehended by his Mafter's Order, before he could have Opportunity to make

his

his Escape, by the private Warning of a certain Perfon, a profest Enemy to the Secretary. The Criminal is condemned to dye. 'Tis found, upon his Trial, that he was a poor, profligate Fellow; the Secretary at that Time was under the mortal Hatred of a violent prevailing Party, who dreaded him for his great Abilities, and his avowed Defign to break their deftructive Measures. It was very well known, that a Secretary of State hath little or no Intercourse with the lower Clerks, but with the Under-Secretaries, who are the more immediate Masters of those Clerks, and are, and ought to be, as they then were, Gentlemen of Worth: However, it would pass well enough in the World, that Gregg was employed in Mr. Secretary H's Office, and was confequently one of his Clerks, which would be Ground to build upon it what Suggeftions they pleased. Then for the Criminal, he was needy and vicious: He owed his Death to the Secretary's watchful Pursuit of him, and would therefore probably incline to hearken to any Offers that would fave his Life, gratify his Revenge, and make him eafy in his Fortune: So that if a Work of Darknefs were to be done, it must be confeft here were proper Motives, and a proper Inftrument. But ought we to fufpect any Perfons of fuch a diabolical Practice? Can all Faith, and Honour, and Juftice be thus violated by Men? Queftions proper for a Pulpit, or well becoming a Philofopher; but if it were Regnandi caufa; (and that perhaps in a literal Senfe) is this an Age of the World to think Crimes improbable because they are great? Perhaps it is: But what fhall we fay to fome of 'thofe Circumstances which attended this Fact? Who gave Rife to this Report against Mr. H—? Will any of his Enemies confefs in cold Blood, that they did either believe, fufpect, or imagine, the Secretary, and one of the Under Clerks to be joined in correfponding with France? Some of them, I fhould think, knew better what belonged to fuch a Correfpondence, and how it ought to be managed. The Nature of Gregg's Crime was fuch, as to be best performed without any Accomplices at all: It was to be a Spy here for the French, and to tell them all he knew; and it appears by his Letters, that he never had it in his Power to let them into any Thing of Importance. The Copy of the Q-'s Letter to the Emperor, which he fent to the Enemy, and hath made fuch a Noife, was only to defire, that Prince Eugene might be employed to command in Spain, which for fix Weeks before had been mentioned in all the Gazettes of Europe. It was evident from the Matter of his Letters, that no Man of Confequence could have any Share in them. The whole Affair had been examined in the Cabinet two Months before, and there found and reported as only affecting the Perfon of Gregg, who, to fupply his Vices and his Wants, was tempted to engage in that Correfpondence; it is therefore hard to conceive, how that Examination should be refumed after fuch a Diftance of Time, with any fair or honourable Intention. Why were not Gregg's Examination published, which were fign'd by his own Hand, and had been taken in the Cabinet two Months before the Committee of the Houfe was appointed to re-examine him? Why was he preffed so close, as to cry out with Horror, Good God, would you have me ac

cufe

cufe Mr. Harley, when he is wholly innocent? Why were all the Answers returned to the Queries fent him immediately burned? I cannot in my Conscience but think, that the Party was bound in Honour to procure Gregg a Pardon, which was openly promised him, upon Condition of making an ingenuous Confeffion, unless they had fome other Notions of what is ingenuous, than is commonly meant by that Word. A Confeffion may be never the lefs ingenuous, for not anfwering the Hopes or Defigns of those who take it ; but tho' the Word was publickly used, the Definition of it was referved to private Interpretation, and by a capricious humour of Fortune, a moft flagitious, tho' repenting Villain, was hanged for his Virtue. It could not indeed confift with any kind of Prudence then in Fashion, to fpare his Life, and thereby leave it in his Power at any Time to detect their Practices, which he might afterwards do at any Time, with fo much Honour to himself.

But I have the Luck to be accufed by this Author in very good Company; the two Houses of Parliament in general, and the Speaker of the Houfe of Commons in particular; whom he taxes with Falfhood and Abfurdity, as well as myself, tho' in a more respectful Manner, and by a Sort of Irony. The whole Kingdom had given the fame Interpretation that I had done, to fome certain Paffages in the Address from both Houfes, upon the Attempt of Guifcard; Friends and Enemies agreed in applying the Word Faction. But the Speaker, is much clearer; talks (as I have mentioned in another Place) of SOME unparallel'd Attempts, and ufes other Terms that come pretty home to the Point. As to what the Parliament affirms, this Author makes it first as abfurd and impracticable as he can, and then pretends to yield, as preffed by fo great an Authority, and explains their Meaning into Nonfenfe, in order to bring them off from reflecting upon his Party. Then for the Speaker, this Writer fays, he is but a fingle Man, and because his Speech was in Words too direct to avoid, he advifes him to fave his Honour and Virtue, by own ing a Solecifm in Speech, and to write less correctly, rather than mean maliciously. What an Expedient this Advocate hath found to remove the Load of an Accufation! He anfwers, the Crime is horrible, that great Men ought not to be thus infolently charged: We reply, that the Parliament and Speaker appear, in many Points, to be of the fame Opinion: He rejoins, that he is preffed by too great an Authority; that perhaps those wife Affemblies, and that honourable Gentleman (who befides is but a fingle Man) may probably fpeak Nonfenfe; they muft either deliver a Solecifm, or be malicious, and in good Manners he rather thinks it may be the former.

The Writer of the Letter having thus difpatched the Examiner, falls next upon a Paper called Secret Tranfactions, &c. written, as he tell us, by one Francis Hoffman, and the Ordinary of Newgate, Perfons whom I have not the Honour to be known to, whatever my Betters may be, nor have yet feen their Productions; but by what is cited from them in the Letter, it fhould feem, they have made fome untoward Obfervations; however, the fame Anfwer ftill ferves not a Word to controul what they fay, only they are a Couple of daring, infolent Wretches, to reflect upon the greatest and best Vol. III.

Ggg

Men

Men in England; and there's an End. I have no Sort of Regard for that fame Hoffman, to whofe Character I am a perfect Stranger; but methinks the Ordinary of Newgate fhould be treated with more Refpect, confidering what Company he has kept, and what Vifitors he may have had. However I fhall not enter into a Point of Controverfy whether the L-ds were acquainted with the Ordinary, or the Ordinary with the L-ds, fince this Author leaves it undecided. Only one Thing I take to be a little hard; it is now confeffed on all Hands, that Mr. H was most unjustly fufpected of joining with an Under Clerk in correfponding with France: The Sufpicion being in itfelf unreasonable, and without the leaft probable Grounds, wife Men began to confider what violent Enemies that Gentleman had; they found the Report most induftrioufly fpread, the Whigs in common Difcourfe difcovering their Wishes, that he might be found guilty; the Management of the whole Affair was put into the Hands of fuch, as it is fuppofed would at least not be forry to find more than they expected; The Criminal's Dying Speech is unfortunately publifhed, wherein he thanks God he was not tempted to fave his Life by falfly accufing bis Mafter, with more to the fame Purpose: From all this put together, it was no very unnatural Conjecture, that there might have been fome tampering. Now, I fay, it is a little hard that Mr. H's Friends must not be allowed to have their Sufpicions, as well as his Enemies. And this Author, if he intended to deal fairly, should have spent one Paragraph in railing at those who had the Impudence and Villainy to fufpect Mr. H, and then proceed in due Method to defend his Committee of Examiners: But that Gentleman being, as this Author fays of the Speaker, but a fingle Man, I fuppofe his Reputation and Life were esteemed but of little Confequence.

There is one State of the Cafe in this Letter, which I cannot well omit, because the Author, I fuppofe, conceives it to be extremely cunning and 'malicious; that it cuts to the quick, and is wonderfully fevere upon Mr. H-, without expofing the Writer to any Danger. I fay this to gratify him, to let him know I take his Meaning, and difcover his Inclinations. His parallel Cafe is this; Suppofing Guifcard had been intimate with fome great Officer of State, and had been fufpected to communicate his most fecret Affairs with that Minifter; then he afks, whether it would have been Subornation,· or feeking the Life and Blood of that Officer, in thefe great L-ds of the Council, if they had narrowly examined this Affair, inquired with all Exactness what he knew of this great Officer, what Secrets he had imported to him, and whether he were privy to his correfponding? &c. In this Parallel, Guifcard's Cafe is fuppofed to be the fame with Gregg's; and that of the great Officer with Mr. H-'s; fo that here he lays down as a Thing granted, that Gregg was intimate with Mr. H, and fufpecied to communicate his moft Secret Affairs to him. Now did ever any rational Man fufpect, that Mr. H——, first Principal Secretary of State, was intimate with an Under Clerk, or upon the Foot of having moft fecret Affairs communicated to him from fuch a Counfellor, from one. in fo inferior a Station, whom perhaps he hard

ly

ly knew by Sight? Why was that Report raised, but for the Ufes which were afterwards made of it? Or, why fhould we wonder that they, who were fo wicked to be Authors of it, would be fcrupulous in applying it to the only Purpose for which it could be raised?

Having thus confidered the main Defign of this Letter, I fhall make a few Remarks upon fome particular Paffages in it.

First, Tho' it be of no Confequence to this Difpute, I cannot but obferve a most evident Falfhood, which he repeats three or four Times in his Letter, that I make the World believe I am fet on Work by great People. I remember myself to have feveral Times affirmed the direct contrary, and fo I do ftill; and if I durft tell him my Name, which he is fo defirous to know, he would be convinced that I am of a Temper to think no Man great enough to fet me on Work; nay, I am content to own all the fcurrilous Titles he gives me, if he be able to find one Inuendo through all thofe Papers, that can any way favour this Calumny: The Malice of which is not intended againft Me, but the prefent My, to make the World believe, that what I have published, is the utmoft Effort of all they can fay or think against . the laft; whereas, it is nothing more than the common Obfervations of a private Man, deducing Confequences and Effects from very natural and. vifible Causes.

He tells, with great Propriety of Speech, That the Seven Lds and their Friends are treated as Subverters of the Conftitution, and fuch as have been long endeavouring to deftroy both Church and State. This puts me in Mind of one, who first murdered a Man, and afterwards endeavoured to kill him: And therefore I here folemnly deny them to have been Subverters of the Conftitution: But that fome People did their best Endeavours, I confidently believe.

He tells Me particularly, that I acquit Guifcard, by a Blunder, of a Defign against Mr. H's Life. I declare he injures me, for I look upon Guifcard to be full as guilty of the Defign, as even those were who tampered in the Bufinefs of Gregg; and both (to avoid all cavelling) as guilty as ever any Man was that fuffered Death by Law.

He calls the ftabbing of Mr. Ha fore Blow, but I fuppofe he means his Recovery; that indeed was a fore Blow to the Interests of his Party: But I take the Business of Gregg to have been a much forer Blow to their Reputation.

This Writer wonders how I should know their L-ps Hearts, becaufe he hardly knows his own. I do not well fee the Confequence of this: Perhaps he never examines into his own Heart; perhaps it keeps no Correfpondence with his Tongue or his Pen: I hope at least, it is a Stranger to those foul Terms he has strewed throughout his Letter; otherwife, I fear I know it too well: For out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaketh. But however, Actions are pretty good Discoveries of the Heart, though Words are not; and whoever has once endeavoured to take my Life, if he has still the fame, or rather much greater Caufe, whether it be a just one or no, and has Ggg 2

never