Part 3 — The Belgic Hero Unmask’d; IN A DIALOGUE B E T W E E N Sir Walter Rawleigh and Aaron Smith.

SIR Walter. HOLD thy impertinent tongue, I say, thou everlasting babbler, or——

Smith. Come, come, we lawyers are not so easily silenc’d as you think. Liberty of speech is one of the eldest branches of magna charta; therefore I will once more maintain it, before all the world, that the reign of my late Batavian master, was in every respect equal to that of the famous Elizabeth.

Sir Walter. Not that is’t worth my while to enter the list with such a petty-fogging dog as thou art, or the cause in debate admits any manner of parallel: but since thou hast the impudence to defend so monstrous a paradox before all this company, inform us what noble things this hero has perform’d, to deserve all that nauseous idle flattery, which hardly none but Sectarists, Deists, Republicans, and particularly the rascals of thy kidney, when he was alive, conspir’d to give him.

Smith. Why, in the first place, he deliver’d England, then just upon the brink of being devour’d by arbitrary power and popery. He won the noble battle of the Boyne, reduc’d Ireland, appeas’d the disorders of Scotland, reap’d a new harvest of glory every campaign in Flanders, and at last, after an obstinate expensive war, forc’d a haughty tyrant, who had insulted and bully’d the whole christian world for almost forty years, to clap up a peace with him upon his own terms at Ryswick, by which he was oblig’d to vomit up numberless provinces and towns, which he had dishonourably stollen from their true proprietors.

Sir Walter. And as for his personal qualities, what have you to say of them?

Smith. Whether you behold him at home or abroad, in the cabinet or the field; in fine, whether you consider him as a king, a general, a statesman, a husband, or a master, you’ll find his character uniformly bright in all these relative stations: affectionate to his queen, merciful to his subjects, liberal to his servants, careful of his soldiers, and providing, by his great wisdom, against all future contingencies that might hereafter disturb the tranquillity of Europe. But as for his munificence to his servants and favourities, I may venture to say, that few princes in history ever went so far as he.

Sir Walter. This last clause is not so great a commendation to him as you imagine.—Well, and is this all, for I wou’d not willingly interrupt you, ’till you have gone the full length of your panegyrick?

Smith. ’Tis all I think needful to say upon the occasion, and enough, in my opinion, to establish his reputation to to all succeeding ages.

Sir Walter. Let us carefully examine the several particulars; and when we have so done, we shall be able to determine on what side the truth lies—Imprimis, you tell me he deliver’d England from tyranny and popish superstition: but was there no other way of accomplishing his deliverance, but by sending a certain relation to grass, and wounding the monarchy in so tender a part, which had suffer’d so terribly in the late unnatural rebellion of 41? If what one of the ancient fathers says, be true, that the whole world is not worth the saving, at the expence of a single lye, surely Great Britain, which makes so small a part of the universe, hardly deserv’d to be deliver’d from an imaginary ruin with so much perjury, infidelity, and ingratitude. Besides, he solemnly protested in his declaration, that he had no intention to make himself king, yet he excercis’d the regal power the very moment he landed: so that unless there had been a crown in the case, I am afraid he would hardly have cross’d the water to rescue the church of England.

Smith. This is indeed what his enemies and some envious people have objected to him.

Sir Walter. Nothing of that can be laid to my charge, who was never known to your hero either Beneficio or Injuria; but as I still preserve an invincible affection for my native country, my zeal for the welfare of that, makes me assume this freedom. To be plain with you then, I can hardly believe he had any extraordinary concern for the prosperity of England, upon whom he threw the greatest burden of the war; whose troops he suffer’d to fight without their pay, in Flanders, at the same time when a parcel of unworthy foreigners had store of gold and silver in their pockets. Neither can any man perswade me he had the least affection for the royal family, from which he was descended, who suffer’d such numberless invectives and libels to be publish’d against his royal grandfather, both his uncles, and, in short, the whole family of the Stuarts, yet never call’d any of the authors or printers to an account for’t during the whole course of his reign.

Smith. Aye, but a hero, you know, has other business to mind, than the bagatelles of the press.

Sir Walter. And yet this hero could condescend to mind these bagatelles, as you call them, with a witness, whenever they were levell’d against himself or his favourites. But to proceed,—can any one in his senses believe, that this deliverer ever set the monarchy and true constitution of England to heart, under whose reign all the democratical treatises, both of this and the last age, were not only publish’d with impunity, but the abettors of such villainous doctrine, thought the only persons that were in the true interest of the nation, and deserving to be preferr’d? Was England so utterly destitute of able generals, that a regicide, proscrib’d by act of parliament, must be sent for over to head our forces in Ireland?

Smith. You’ll never leave off harping upon this string.

Sir Walter. And lastly, have we not very violent reasons to suspect, that he never had any true hearty concern for the protestant interest, whatever he pretended to the contrary, who so notoriously sacrific’d it at the treaty of Ryswick; who, to enable him to carry on the late revolution against his uncle and father-in-law, enter’d into a league; one of the first articles of which, was, to oblige the king of France to do justice to the usurpations of the Roman see? And lastly, who, if he had no aversion, had certainly no affection for the church of England, the support, as well as ornament of the whole reformation, which evidently appear’d by his bestowing its best preferments upon illos quos pingere nola, a sett of moderate lukewarm gentlemen, that were willing (good men) to throw up the constitution, whenever their enemies should ask them the question. What shall I say of others, that were advanc’d for no other merit, but because they had been justly punish’d in former reigns for their seditious practices, or descended from Oliverian parents; or lastly, because they held antimonarchical and antihierarchical doctrine, both in pulpit and press, which they honestly call’d free-thinking?

Smith. Nay, this is mere calumny; for can any thing but the blackest envy presume: to attack him upon the score of religion?

Sir Walter. For once I’ll spare his religion, yet ’tis certain his ministers had not the least tincture of it. To the eternal honour of his reign, be it observ’d, all the Socinian treatises that stole into the world in the late accursed times of licentiousness and disorder, were fairly reprinted, and these, together with the modern improvements of Deism, fold in the face of the sun, without the least check or discountenance from any at the helm: ’twas come to that pitch at last, that a man might better call the divinity of our Saviour into question, than the legality of that revolution; and safer insult the ashes of king James the 1st, Charles the martyr, and the whole royal line, than attack such a lew’d, perjur’d, infamous scoundrel as Oates. ’Tis a general maxim, that the court always steers its course ad Exemplum Cæsaris; and that a shrewd guess may be made of a prince’s morals, by those of his ministers. If this observation holds good, a man would find himself strangely tempted to say some rash things of your monarch, which good manners and decency oblige me to pass over in silence.

Smith. But still you say nothing of Ireland.

Sir Walter. Far be it from me to do detract in the least from any man’s actions: But this, I think, I may affirm, without the least suspicion of malice, that the exploit of the Boyne, every thing consider’d, is not altogether so miraculous as his flattering divines and courtiers would represent it; for, after all, where was the wonder, that a well-disciplin’d regular army should defeat an unfortunate dispirited monarch, with none but a few raw, unpractis’d, naked troops about him? and then his giving the forfeited estates there to his minions, in open contradiction to what he had promised the parliament, does not seem to argue so great a concern for keeping his word. As for Scotland, the subversion of episcopacy, and murder of the Glencow-men, (not to mention the perpetuating of the convention, during his whole reign, and by that means depriving the country of electing proper members) will, I believe, look so frightful in future story, that few of your heroe’s flatterers will mention the administration of that kingdom to his credit.

Smith. Well then, but Fanders?

Sir Walter. I thank you for reminding me of it. I am of opinion then, that, bating Namure, he might have put all the glorious harvests he yearly reap’d there, into his eye, and not have prejudic’d his royal sight in the least. However, as I know full well what a mighty advantage one powerful prince, that commands by his own single authority, has over a many-headed confederacy, where all are commanders I scorn to insist upon this point. For this reason I will not enumerate, nor enlarge upon the constant ill success that everlastingly attended him in Flanders, but come to the peace of Ryswick, which was his own proper act and deed. And here ’tis worth our observing, that by his leaving the poor emperor in the lurch, the city of Strasburg unluckily continu’d in the French hands; and that either out of want of politicks or a zeal for their religion, he made no stipulations for the German Protestants, nor took the least care to have them restor’d to those churches, of which they had been unjustly dispossess’d in the war.

Smith. Well, but necessity, you know, may make a man sometimes act contrary to his inclination.

Sir Walter. Why then did his parasites give out, That he was the controller of the peace, and forc’d the French king to accept of it upon his own terms.—But not to mention a thousand other things that might be said upon this occasion, for I begin to grow weary of the subject, to stop my mouth for good and all, and convince thee how far superior in all the arts of governing the immortal Elizabeth was to thy taciturn Hero, I’ll first give thee a short sketch of her golden reign, and afterwards honestly and impartially shew thee a prospect of the other:

Smith. With all my heart, proceed.

Sir Walter. As my mistress had a true English heart, and made the prosperity of her people the only business of her life, she suffer’d none of her ministers to crave to themselves extravagant fortunes out of the publick purse. Tho’ foreigners flock’d into her dominions as a certain asylum, yet she never encourag’d them to the detriment of her native subjects, nor imploy’d them in foreign embassies, nor admitted them into her councils: her affairs being manag’d with equal prudence and integrity, and encouragements properly distributed, no wonder she was so fortunate in all her attempts. Thus we find she supported the protestants in France against the oppression of the Guises, and so well assisted the Dutch in the infancy of their republick, that Philip II of Spain, with all his forces, was not able to reduce them. She was so far from bellowing her royal favours upon the sectaries, that she suppress’d their growing insolence with wholesome laws, and was as careful to see them put in Execution. She could display all her father’s magnificence, when there was a proper occasion to exert it; at other times, she observ’d a strict parsimony, equally advantageous to her own subjects, and easy to herself. The establish’d church flourish’d so well under her auspicious administration, that England never saw so glorious a constellation of reverend bishops and learned divines, as in her reign. She retrieved the honour of the Exchequer, and manag’d her payments so wisely, that her people thought their money as safe in her coffers as in their own.—— Now, your deliverer’s reign was the exact reverse of this happy scene. Schism and faction advanc’d, hypocrisy and dulness, under the disguise of reformation, promoted to the highest honours, deism propagated, the true genuine sons of the church discourag’d, foreigners admitted into our private councils, trade neglected, our narrow seas daily insulted, the publick impoverish’d, the treasury exhausted and pillag’d by insatiable cormorants, the reputation of our arms decay’d and sunk, the sea-man starv’d, the soldiers paid with paper; in short, nothing but ill management and poverty at home, and infamy abroad.—— And this I think is sufficient to shew you, that you were mightily mistaken, when you compar’d you know who to the immortal Elizabeth.

The End of the Second Volume.

FOOTNOTES:

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

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