The danger of court differences: or, the unhappy effects of a motley ministry: occasion'd by the report of changes at court

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THE DANGER OF Court Differences, &c.

STATE Polity, is the Devil's Divinity, said good old Bishop Latimer the Martyr, when some of the Moderators in Reformation were for Temporising between Popery and the Protestant Religion, and for not making a thorough Turn, for fear of the high Popish Party among the People.

The Case was this, and the History of it may be for our Edification.

The King being settled in the Throne, and having declar'd Himself a Protestant, and that as He was the first Protestant King that ever wore the Crown, so He resolv'd to make the first avow'd effectual Step to a Reformation. The good Bishops, the godly and zealous Ministers, and the religious People of all Kinds, who had been Sufferers in the late Reign, and under the Tyranny of his Father; these, I say, began to lift up their Heads, own'd the King warmly, and encourag'd Him exceedingly in the blessed Work of Pulling up Popery and Tyranny by the Roots; and Planting the Protestant Religion and Liberty in the Room of it.

BY THE WAY, you are desired to NOTE, that Popery and Tyranny went then always together, tho' Tyranny has got another Companion since, call'd High Church; with the Reformation came in English Liberty, that is to say, the Perfection of it; and as that Reformation went on farther and farther, Liberty grew in its Stature and Strength, till it arriv'd to where it is now. But of this, on another Occasion I may say more.

When the Reformation, I say, was thus attempted, the Popish Clergy, the High Church of that Day, raised a hideous Out-Cry, that the Church was in Danger; and not only so, but possess'd the ignorant People all over the Kingdom with such blind Zeal, and ridiculous Notions, as well of the King, as of the Reformation, that it first spread in a general Disaffection, and afterwards broke out into a most dangerous Rebellion, in several Parts of the Kingdom, particularly in the West; where the City of Exeter was closely besieged by 20000 Rebels; and at Norwich, where KET, a Tanner, at the Head of 30000 Men, took the City twice, and did a great deal of Mischief.

When these Rebellions were, by the Zeal and Loyalty of the Protestant (Whig) Party, and by the Assistance of some Foreign Troops, (Germans) reduced, and the Rebels had received the Reward of their Treason, some in the Field, and some afterwards at the Gallows, it was not doubted but then, the King being established, and his Enemies subdued, the Work of Reformation might go on without interruption, and that its Enemies would receive all possible Discouragement at Court; the rather, because it was known, that the true Settlement of God's Church, and of the true Religion, was the King's fix'd Design; That as He had Zeal sufficient to suffer any thing rather than to give over his just Undertaking, so He had Courage, even beyond himself, both to stand by his Friends, and to do Justice to his Enemies, and to fear no Man.

But in the middle of this happy Scituation of Things, a cursed Spirit of Trimming, call'd at that Time State Policy, thrust it self in among the great Men at Court; and had not the Courage, Steddiness, and Resolution of the King, tho' not at that Time fully acquainted with the English Government, interposed, the Reformation had been ruin'd, and crush'd in its Birth; all the Blood and Treasure spent, all the long struggle of the Protestant Party in the preceeding Reign, and all the Expectations the World had entertained of a happy Establishment in this Nation, had been lost and destroyed; indeed, notwithstanding all the King could do, and even in spight of his Resolution to the contrary, it did make great Impressions upon his Affairs, and great Havock among his Friends; brought his Friends to fall out and quarrel with one another, and obliged the mildest and most merciful King on Earth to sign the Execution of his nearest Friends; and now, as one Party, then another, got uppermost in the Administration, the poor afflicted Prince was oblig'd to act now this Way, then that Way, contrary even to his own Inclination, and sometimes almost contrary to his Principle.

We, who are the Posterity of those Reformers, and who now enjoy our Liberty and Religion, as the Consequence of that excellent Prince's Zeal and Sincerity in Religion, have reason to be thankful that He stood his Ground in religious Matters; and had He with the same steddiness and Courage governed his turbulent, mercenary, and ever-clashing, disagreeing Courtiers, we had, perhaps, enjoy'd many Ages ago an Inheritance of Liberties which the World are not yet acquainted with; for 'tis evident, that the Pride, the Ambition, the Avarice and Envy which reign'd among the Ministers of that Reign, so effectually disconcerted their Measures, and divided their Interests, that they could not support the Settlement of the Succession beyond the Life of that King, but fell first off from one another, and then fell all in with Mary, the Daughter of King Henry, who was declared Illegitimate, was set aside by the Establishment, and was no better at that Time than a Popish Pretender; and had not a more Masculine Spirit govern'd them in the next Reign after, tho' in the Person of a Woman, we had, as the Effect of those Court Divisions, been all at this time Papists and Slaves, Idolaters in our religious Conduct, and mean dejected Scoundrels in our civil Conduct, and such would our Posterity have been also.

The Secret History of this Devilish Court Snare, I mean as to the religious Part, and as well what Danger it put the Reformation in, as also how it was quash'd with one noble steddy Word of that resolute and pious Prince, must needs be very diverting and profitable to all that read it, especially at a time, when the Enemies of the same Reformation are trying the same Hellish Practices upon the very same Nation.

The Sum of the Story is this: The King being young in the Government, at his first Accession to the Crown, was however very happily surrounded with grave and wise Counsellers, in whose Wisdom and Fidelity, Vigilance and Courage, the Nation had a full satisfaction: They fought his Battles abroad with Gallantry, and with Success; they governed his Affairs at Home with extraordinary Sagacity, Judgment, Prudence, and Justice: The very Name of the King began to be terrible to Popery; The Mobbs and Tumults abated, as well as the Rebellious were quash'd, and which was still better than all, the general Disaffection of the People began to wear off, and the publick Affairs seemed to run with a full Channel into Peace and Settlement, when two unhappy things, which on a sudden broke out among the Courtiers and Ministers of State, had like to have overthrown Peace, Settlement, Religion, nay, King and all.

These were,

- 1. Trimming, and Temporizing in the Reformation. And,

- 2. Division and Faction among the Courtiers.

I'll be very brief in the Account I shall give of these Two unhappy things, and yet I desire so to explain the Circumstances, and so faithfully to relate the Conduct of the Persons, that the Warning it may be to future Ages may be flagrant, and the Moral or Improvement may revive with the Story.

The Rebellious just now mention'd, had been in behalf of, or rather on the Pretence of Zeal for the Church, and it had been indeed a most dangerous Crisis to have such bold and desperate attempts made in the Infancy of the King's Affairs.

Some of the States Men, who were in the Main real Friends to the Reformation, and very faithful to the King and his Interest, yet intimidated a little by the Dangers they had been in, and by the Daily Insolence and Threats of the Popish Party, who were still very numerous in the Country, started very unhappily, and in an ill Hour, this wretched Opinion or Notion, (viz.) That it was too bold an attempt for the King, to undertake to make a thorough Reformation at once upon the People; that it would exasperate the Roman Party, and as they had powerful Alliances abroad, and formidable Numbers at Home, they would not only be always Plotting against the publick Peace, but that it was too probable they might some time or other get the Start of them, and ruine them all; and that therefore it were but good State Policy to temporize a little, to go on by Degrees, and to act with Popery, as some of the good Kings of Judah did with Idolatry, of whom it was said, They did that which was right in the Sight of the Lord. Nevertheless the high Places were not taken away, but the People burnt Incense yet in the high Places, 2 Chron. XX. 33.

In like manner, they were for letting the Reformation go on gradually, leaving such of the Reliques of Popery as were of less Consequence for a while unreformed, admitting a Mixture of Papists and Protestants into their Councils and Administration, that the former might be thereby be engaged by the Court Services, and Preferments, to embark no more with, or encourage the People in their Disaffection; Nor did it end in this Proposal of a motley Ministry, but even a motley Reformation was to be the Consequence, and the High Church were to be so blended with the low, that is to say, Papist with Protestant, and so much of the Reliques of Popery were to have been left in the new Establishment of Religion, that as a famous States Man of that Day, who had more Sincerity than all of them, said, meaning the Duke of Suffolk, They would set up a Religion that was neither Papist nor Protestant, that God would not own, nor themselves understand.

When this Project was laid before the King, He caused the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to read it over to Him. But it disgusted Him extremely; and when the other Bishops began to speak in Favour of it, the King, who had more Courage and Honesty than all of them, answered in that memorable Expression of Scripture, Cursed be he that doth the Work of the Lord deceitfully: And when another Bishop asked a little tartly, What then must be done? Shall we be always fighting about difficult Questions? The King still standing steady to his Principles, and shewing an abhorrence of the Cowardice and Treachery of his Courtiers, rising up in some Heat, replied in the Words of our Saviour, Every Plant which my Heavenly Father has not Planted shall be rooted up; and no Man durst move any thing of that Kind to Him ever after.

This Zeal and Courage of the King established the Reformation.

This Trimming and Treachery, would have sent them all back to Popery.

Leaving this History to be closely applied, as Occasion shall offer, I proceed to the second Thing which ruined the Peace of that blessed King's Reign, and which, as I have said, let in a Popish Pretender upon them in the next, and this was,

2. Divisions at Court. Emulation, Ambition, Avarice, and Envy, possest the Minds of his Courtiers, and the Consequences were these.

- 1. They ruined and destroyed one another.

- 2. They brought in the half reformed Courtiers that themselves had spued out, letting in their Enemies to support their Factions one against another.

- 3. Those very Enemies, who came in by these Divisions, brought in a Popish Pretender upon them in the next Reign, and brought them all to Fire and Faggot.

If this were a Parable or Allegory only, by which to represent to our present People, the Dangers which might possibly happen upon taking in their Enemies, to fortifie and form Interests against their Friends, and to support their several Parties one against another, it might have been thrown by and disregarded as the Chimera of a scribbling Head, which had in it no more than such People generally produce.

But as it is a real History, the Matters of Fact upon Record, and the Truth of them not to be disputed; as the Tragical Part which follow'd was acted upon the Stage of our own Country, and the Fire and Faggot of their Popish Persecutions smoaked in our own Streets, as it was not long ago, and the Ruine of those who suffered under it is felt in our Families even to this Day, it comes with the greater Energy upon us, the Force of it is not to be resisted, nor can the Caution given from it be called unjust or improper.

Like Causes produce like Consequences in all Ages, or at least, may do so; it may not therefore be improper to look briefly over the Court Divisions of that Reign, and see how they began, how they were carried on, and how it came to pass that the best and only Establishment of those Times for a Protestant Succession, was overthrown and destroyed, meerly and only by the Contention and Divisions of the great Men at Court; and in doing this, we may take some notice of their Persons.

The Great Men at Court in that Day, consisted of the Duke of Somerset, prime Minister, Uncle to and Protector of the King, Captain General, and Commander in Chief of all his Forces; the Duke of Northumberland, formerly Earl of Warwick, of the antient Family of Dudley; Mr. Stanhope, a great Friend and Assistant to the Duke of Somerset; Mr. Cecil, Secretary of State; the Marquiss of Northampton.

Among these, it is necessary to give a brief Description of a few; The Two contending Factions, and which made most stir with their Strife, were the two Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, commonly known in those dangerous Times, when People durst not speak plain, by the Distinction of Duke Blue, and Duke Green, of which I can give no other Account than by Tradition, that the one being a Southern Title, had reference to the Garter of St. George. And the other being a Northern Title, might have the like to that of St. Andrew, whose Ensigns are the Blue and Green Ribband But I do not find that the Person was ever received as a Knight of that Order.

Duke Blue had great Personal Merit, and was exceedingly beloved both by the King and the People; he was an able States Man, and a very great Soldier; he had by his Wisdom and Prudence greatly assisted in set •••…g the Prince upon the Throne, and was his last resort for Council; for as he had a great Interest among the People by his Fame, and among the Nobility by his great Alliances with the best Families; so he had a Mind always present to himself in the greatest Exigence, and was esteemed to be the best Man of Council of that Age, especially upon any dangerous Juncture. In the Field, he was superior to himself, if I may so say; I mean, that there he excelled not only all Mankind, but even outdid all his own other Excellencies; and this he shew'd at that memorable Battle of Pinkie, by which, as well as on many other Occasions, he had in the preceeding Reigns made the English Arms, as well as his own Conduct, terrible to the World.

Having said thus much of his Person, it cannot be omitted, because something of it will come necessarily to be mention'd hereafter, that he was not more happy in his own Character, than he was unfortunate in that of his Wife; a Woman of a terrible Spirit, insupportably Haughty, Turbulent, Covetous, Treacherous, Revengeful, and being withal busie and medling in publick Matters, push'd her Husband upon the worst Scenes of his Life, and which indeed ended in his Ruine. I have only to add, that as their Characters were the Reverse of one another, so was the influence they had in the World; one being exceedingly beloved, and the other universally hated by the People.

The Duke Green was of a Character quite different from the other, having very few good Qualities to recommend him; the best that could be said of him was, that he was of a very great and antient Family, famous for Heroes, and Men of Gallantry and Courage, and was himself a Man of a daring and enterprising Courage. But tho' he had on many Occasions shewn his Gallantry in Action, yet he was by most thought fitter to Command under another, than to lead Armies as General in Chief; yet in this it was thought he had the Misfortune to differ from common Fame in the Opinion of himself.

He serv'd under Duke Blue, at the great Battle of Pinkie; but was very willing to have it said, that the great Victory obtained that Day, was owing more to his Conduct, than that of the General, and had sometimes the Vanity to say, that if he had had the Command, the War would have been carried on more to the King's Advantage; however, as Duke Blue consented afterwards to leave the Conduct of the War to him for one Campaign, it did not appear.

In a Word, tho' they both appear'd Friends to the King, and to his Interest, and on all Occasions acted with their utmost for his Service, yet it was well known they were not cordial Friends to one another; but did one another in their Turn all the ill Offices they could, till it brought Duke Blue first to the Block, and Duke Green followed in a very little while after, the same Way.

In the Fate of Duke Blue, followed several of his fast Friends, for Men of such Figure seldom fall alone, Mr. Stanhope, Sir Ralph Vane, _____ and several others, were put to Death, tho' all innocent, being meer Sacrifices to the political Rage of Duke Green; and the King himself, who lived but a little while after, yet lived to be satisfied of their Innocence, and to lament, in the most moving Terms, the fatal Divisions of his Ministers, which had brought him to cut off his most faithful Servants, and had imposed upon him, in a most vile Manner, to shut his Ears against the Remonstrances of his best Friends in their Favour; the bitter Remembrance of which, follow'd the good Prince to his Grave.

After the King's Death, Duke Green, who was the chief Favourite of the Successor, assumed the Prime Ministry and Management of Affairs. But the Pretender got ground every Day, tho' really, more by the Hatred the People bore to Duke Green, than from any real Disaffection to the Successor; at length the Protestant Successor was entirely abandoned by the Nation, tho' a Person of the most amiable Perfections, most agreeable and engaging Temper, and most perfect Virtue in the World.

Thus a Popish Pretender was brought in, the Protestant Cause was lost, and the Protestant Successor Deposed and Murther'd, purely from the Hatred the People bore to the wicked Actions of him, who was then Head of the Party; whose Conduct was always rash and foolish, and who having broken the Unity and Harmony which was before happily carried on thro' all the publick Affairs, had divided the Court, some one Way, some another, particularly had taken into the Administration People of quite differing Principles from the King, and of views differing from his Interest; which, it seems, he did at all Hazards, only to make his Party strong against his Enemy; nor was Duke Blue, but especially his Wife, backward in the same unhappy Measures, making use of their Power with the King, to bring in, and keep in several People, both in the Army, in the Navy, and in the Civil Affairs, such People as were not Friends to His Majesty's Interest, so be it they were Friends to their Party, and willing to engage against their Opposers.

This being the Practice on both sides, they declar'd openly against one another, and were openly called by the Neuters at Court, as well as by the People, the Blue Faction, and the Green Faction.

There was indeed another Sort, which was called the third Party; these were headed by Mr. Cecil, one of the Secretaries of State, and by the Person who principally managed the King's Treasure, whose Name I do not remember; but they were too weak to carry on any Design, and the King also was prevailed with to discountenance them, or at least, not to shew them that Favour which they at first expected, so that they were able to do little; and the Blue and Green Factions drawing all to themselves, these soon lost their principal Adherents, who were drawn in to side with one Faction or the other, as their Profits or Designs led them on.

As for the Chancellor, he was a weak, or rather, indolent Person, whose Character was not extraordinary, and his Body infirm; and Duke Green having no kindness for him, and yet not caring to push directly at him, because he thought the King had some kindness for him, persuaded him to resign the Seals; he having desired to lose his Place with as little Disgrace as possible. The Seals were soon after given to a Person quite in another Interest.

From these Dissentions and Divisions at Court, says a Reverend Historian of those Times, it followed, that nothing was seen during that blessed King's Reign but Troubles, Commotions, and Disquiets, both in Church and State, till Way was made, by the Distractions of the State, to overthrow the whole Constitution, destroy the Reformation, and let in Popery and Persecution in the Reign that followed.

It is time to turn to our own Times, to which we may make a sudden Transition, without letting drop the Memory of what has been said. It had questionless been a piece of very happy Advice, whoever had given it, if some clear sighted Person had in those Days earnestly press'd and advised the States-Men of King Edward to unite in their Duty to the King, and their Care of the Common-wealth, and not to suffer their Avarice or Ambition, their Pride, or their Passions, to have any share in the Measures they were taking; but to carry on the Publick Affairs with Zeal, for the good of their Country, and the Interest of their Sovereign; fortifying the King's Interest, by the good Agreement of his Servants, and the Fidelity of his Councellors, which had they done, they were able enough to have transmitted the Crown to the Protestant Successor, after the King's Death, in spight of all that Popery and Popish Interests could do to the contrary. For it was even then true, that the Interest of the Popish Successor had very little, if any Foundation in this Kingdom, but what was founded among Protestants themselves; making good that old Axiome of Policy, that England can never be ruined, or her Liberties destroy'd, by any Power other than her own. So that it was the Ignorance, Weakness, and Division of Protestants, that set the Crown at that Time on the Head of Popery, not the real Power of the Papists.

Whether there may be any Parallel drawn from those Times to the present, is not so much the Design of this Work, as it is to caution the greatest Men of the present Age against the Mischiefs of Dividing and Separating themselves into Parties and Factions of any kind, as the only fatal thing that can befal them and the whole Kingdom at this Time, and leave the next Reign exposed to the Disaster of a Popish Successor.

The whole Body of the People of England seems now to be united under the Reign of King George, and that Union is settled and confirmed by the steddy Administration of his Majesty's Affairs; by a well chosen Ministry, Faction is found at present only among the Defeated Party, and their Disappointments are made irretrievable only by the Vigilance and Unanimity of his Majesty's Councils and Measures.

By the same Rule, if that Vigilance and Unanimity abates; if some draw one Way, some another; if the Ministers of State let go the Reins of the Administration, and fall out one with another; if these Conquerors fall out about dividing the Spoil, where is the Strength of the Administration? What will all the Victory they now triumph in amount to? Faction will quit the routed Party immediately, and harbour her hated Head in the Verge of the very Houshold: And what will follow, Divisions, Envy, making and strengthening of Parties at Court, fortifying Interests, and supporting themselves with Numbers, struggling for Places, and bringing in Friends; and thus, in a Word, the Civil War will be transposed from the remote Parts to the very Walls of the King's Palace, and which is worst of all, to the very inside of those Walls.

And not to represent Things in a more dangerous Posture than they really will represent themselves, I shall lay down a little the usual Rise and Progress of Court Divisions.

Court Divisions generally spring from two Fountains, Avarice and Envy; I know there are two softer Words to be given it, which are more Courtly indeed, but not more significant, nor so justly adapted to describe the thing, (viz.) Ambition. and Emulation; but I keep to the Terms. I think all the Ambition we now see practised may be well styled Avarice, and all their Emulation centers in Envy.

These creep insensibly into Courts, the first Discovery of it we find in the Great Men engrossing Places of vast Profit, many of them into one Hand; we saw lately a great Man possest of about seven, if not more, Places of immense Profit, and justly dismiss'd for not being content with that.

This prompts them to heave and thrust at one another, Picquing and Caballing to support themselves, and supplant others; whether this be the Case among us now or not, it is not my Business to enquire; it's evident this has frequently been the Case in the English Court in former Times, and it is as evident, and for this Reason I mention it, that this Party-making and dividing at Court, never yet failed to overthrow and turn out the Party that's so divided; and if this should be the Case now, what have we to expect?

Wherefore the People of England are more than ordinarily concerned to use the utmost Interest they have in the present great Ministers, or those to whom the Administration is intrusted, to persuade, intreat, and in short, warn them against dividing their Interest.

To begin this Persuasion, I shall take the Liberty to tell a short Story, which I am able to Name the Persons too who were concerned.

Soon after the Restoration of King Charles the IId. when the Civil War was laid asleep by the general Act of Oblivion, many of the old Round-Head Party began to appear openly, who had skulkt about for fear of the Revenge of the Cavalier Party when they should come in, and who expected to be proscrib'd and excepted, as is usual, in the general Pardon.

One Major Gladman, an old Soldier, and who had been very much concerned in the Governing Party, was sitting in a Coffee-House in the City smoaking a Pipe, when an antient Gentleman in a long Shoulder Belt, which was at that Time the Badge of a Cavalier, came and sat by him; he began very high with him, Are not you such a Man, Sir? Yes, Sir, replies the Major: Then you are one of those Fools, Sir, says he, that have managed this poor Nation after your wretched manner, and must give an Account to Heaven for what you have done.

We must so, Sir, replies the Major; but, Sir, since the King has been pleased to give an Act of Oblivion, and all these Things are laid asleep Sir, it is not the kindest thing Gentlemen can do to us, to insult us with it, when we have no freedom to reply.

Yes, yes, the Act of Oblivion has buried it, says the old Gentleman, and I am not going to revive that; but Heaven will call you all to Account for being the most unaccountablest Fools in the World, that when He had given you Victory, and committed the Nation to your Government, and we poor Cavaliers durst not show our Faces in the World, you, in a shameful and most contemptible manner, pulled one another to pieces for the Spoil; and giving up all your Advantages, brought us in again with your own Hands. Are you not a Parcel of Fools?

Indeed, Sir, says the Major, you have toucht us in a sore Place; if our Divisions had not opened a Door for you, it was impossible you could ever have returned.

Let all those who God and King George have entrusted with any share of the Honour and Trusts of the present Government, stand warned by such a Story as this. Nothing can wound the present Interest of King George, nothing can give Life to his Enemies, nothing can revive the Jacobite Cause, in a Word, nothing can effectually ruine us now, but dividing.

Not all the Power of France can hurt us, we see that cringing, and reduced, and complying with any Conditions to get an Alliance with us for their own Preservation.

Not all the other Popish Powers of Europe can hurt us; we see them solliciting and entreating to be admitted into the same Alliance for their Security.

Not all the Jacobite High-flying Party at Home; we see them reduced, and the Pallace of the King crouded with Petitioners, begging Reprieves for their principal Leaders, to save them from the Scaffold and the Gallows.

What then can hurt us, what can be capable to weaken our Hands, so strengthen'd by Conquest? to weaken our Measures directed by such Heads, to slacken the Reins of our Administration, committed to such; nothing but private Feuds and Factions, nothing but Divisions among our selves; and then no Government is so fixt, no King so establish'd, no Constitution so well founded, but it will undo, and overthrow it.

Let us go among the High Party, and hear what they say, and indeed we need go no farther to confirm the Argument, what is it has given Life to their dejected Souls, brighten'd their Countenances, and put their Expectations again upon the Wing.

It was but the other Day that all their broken Reeds having fail'd them, they were brought to give up their Cause, and to confess they had nothing left to do but to despair.

Now they are another People; they promise themselves new Scenes, flatter themselves with new Hopes, and encourage one another to new Mischiefs; we see their Leaders meeting in Cabals, great Conferences held upon the present Scituation of their Affairs, and Measures taken with assurance of Success, for the Forming their Interest, and Propagating their Cause, even to Avignon it self the Encouragement is spread; and we have Letters from thence, which say, their Friends in England give them Encouragement to look for great Things in their Favour, for that, say they, we are assured there are great Divisions at Court; that the Whigs are fallen out among themselves; that Argyle being out on one Hand, and T_+d on the other, great Interests are made to bring them in again, which there is some hopes of; that, on the contrary, great Parties are made against them; and that by means of these Dissentions, the Friends to another Interest are caress'd more than usual; for that States Men never value who they take into Business, if it be found necessary to support them against their Oppposers.

To conclude, the best Construction which I can make of the whole Matter is, in Favour of this Intelligence from Avignon, (viz.) that it is a meer piece of Jacobite News; that indeed it is an idle Rumour, or a malicious one; that it is impossible it should be true; and that the Case at Court stands directly thus, and no otherwise, viz.

That there is an entire Harmony and Unity in every Part of the Administration among the Ministers of State; that there is not so much as the least Jealousie, Uneasiness, or Misunderstanding among them; that a perfect Friendship and good Correspondence spreads it self through the Minds and Management of all the great Men at Court, and an exact Ʋniformity in their Measures; that if there is any Ambition among them, it is only in the great Struggle, to render their August Master the best Services; be most vigilant for his Safety, and most vigorous in Opposition to his Enemies the Jacobites.

Consequently, that all the Rumours spread aborad of Factions in the Court, and of Divisions into Parties looking this Way, and that Way, are Chimerical, Groundless, and of no Value, and are not to be regarded otherwise, than to let us see, to what the Jacobite Interest tends, what they drive at, and what we are to expect from them, if ever that fatal Time should come, when the Ministers of State should break and divide from one another, and open the Gaps and Breaches which the Protestant Succession had so happily closed.

The Reasons in Particular which I give, why I cannot believe any such Rumour, and why I must believe that 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 all these Accounts of Divisions among the Ministry, come from a Wicked, Desperate, Jacobite Party, who desire to sow Strife among us all, and expect a Harvest to their Party from it; I say, the Reasons of this Opinion of mine, are such as these:

- 1. Because I take the Ministry to be honest Men, and their Honesty is engaged.

- 2. Because I take them to be no Fools, and their Senses are engaged.

It is no time to flatter great Men, and speak fine Words to them, because they are in Figure and Authority; the Nation is interested in their Conduct, and will be injur'd or advantag'd as they behave.

We have boasted of them hitherto, and hope we have had Reason; we have sung their Fame, and insulted the Tories when they have attempted to defame and lessen them on any Account whatever; we have rested upon them in a full expectation of their answering the best Things we could say.

We have upbraided the Tories with their corrupt Administration, their gratifying their Avarice, their Ambition, their Revenge; with betraying their Queen, and Country, and Posterity, to push their separate Interests; After we had run a Length of Reproaches upon their want of Honesty, their Vices, their falshood to their Oaths, their exposing their Country to French and Popish Tyranny, and their being of mercenary Turn-coat Principles; doing all this to serve the French, who had bought them; and the Clergy, who had debauch'd the, I say, after we had loaded them with all that they deserved on this Account; how did we at last laugh at them for Fools in their Politicks, weakening and destroying their new Schemes, and blowing up all their own Mines, by breaking among themselves, and dividing into Factions and Parties.

Did we not tell them, they were whetting the Knives that would cut their own Throats, and building the Scaffolds for their own Execution? Did we not set still and laugh at them, for opening the Gaps, at which we told them, we, the Whigs, would enter and blow them all up? Did we not frequently say, that tho' they were such Knaves as to design the Pretender, yet they were withal such Fools, as to bring in the House of Hanover for us, by the meer Madness of their Measures?

What could the House of Hanover, before the King's Accession, desire more; or what News could they have desir'd more agreeable, more satisfactory, than that their Enemies in the late Ministry were divided, that they were falling out for Places, and setting up Factions in the Court one against another, for engrossing the Administration? Was not this to tell them in plain Words, that they were not fit for the Post they were in, and that nothing was to be apprehended from them, but that whenever the Crown should descend, they would either break quite in Pieces, and vanish into nothing, leaving the Way open for their Enemies to come in without Resistance; or that they would be tripping up one another's Heels, to see who should be foremost in Sacrificing the rest to the Successor.

Nor were we in the Wrong in our Judgment, for just thus it was; and the Event has proved them as great Fools in their Dividing, as they could be Knaves in their first Uniting.

Will it be less true in the present Case, if we could believe any thing of the Rumours that are spread; Can the Honesty or the Senses of the present Ministry be spoken of with the least Satisfaction, if they should act thus? Would they not be the most Unaccountable of all Men that ever pretended to the Use of Reason, and the worst of all Lunaticks? It cannot therefore be, it must all be a Slander, an abominable cursed high Church Slander. To tell us of a Ma_+ Faction, and an Arg_+ Faction, and a Wa_+le Party, it must be regarded like the Gasconades of the Tories, when they told us of the Earl of Marr's mighty Forces, the terrible Fortifications he had raised about Perth, the vast Levies making for him abroad, and the great Succours he had received from France; which appeared at last to be only a great Mist, that wasted before the Sun; a great Croud, which separated and disappeared at the Approach of but Ten Thousand Men.

The Circumstances of the present Ministry confirm us in this Opinion also; they have the most happy Settlement in their Hands, that ever this Nation enjoy'd, secur'd by victorious Troops, a steddy and unanimous Parliament, and an easie satisfied People; they are supported by a wise and magnanimous Prince, strong in his Interest abroad, growing in the Affections of the People at home; Rebellion, like the Dragon under the Feet of St. George, is conquer'd, and lies grovelling in the Dust; Jacobitism is reduc'd to a State of Despair; Popery has laid by its Pretensions; and suppliant France seeks Aid at our Court against her own State Factions.

The present Ministry have nothing to wish which they do not enjoy, they have nothing to do but to Congratulate one another, and enjoy in Common the full Favour of their Prince, do their Duty, and receive the Reward of their Fidelity.

Can it be possible then that these Men should fall out with one another?

Can there be Room among them for Ambition, or Envy, or Faction, so much as to put a Foot in? no, 'tis impossible. Do they not swim in a full Sea of the King's Bounty? Are not all their Foes made their Footstool? Have they not all that, one would think, Avarice or Ambition could prompt them to ask? What can they without blushes, desire of their Country more than they enjoy?

For these Men to fall out, to divide into Factions and Parties, what would it be, but to tell the World, that they are not the Men they have been taken for; that however they have made Pretences to be disinterested, and to have serv'd King George purely for the Justice of his Cause, and the good of their Country, that yet they are true States Men, that they are of the same Mold with others that went before them; that their aim has been all along their own Interest, the satisfying their own voratious Appetites, and the most unbounded Avarice; that Pride, and the worst sort of Ambition, has been the Helm that steers all their Actions, and that nothing but to be above one another, can make Peace among them; in a Word, that every Man wants to be prime Minister, and cannot bear to see any Man have a Share of Power or of Favour equal with himself; in which they must make good Mr. Dryden's saying reverse, viz.

Courtiers of every Party are the same.

For these Men to divide, and bandy against one another, as it has been scandalously said of them, would be to tell the World, they have no value for King George, no regard to his Interest, no concern for his Safety, or his Family; that they serve Him only for what they can get by Him, and in Hopes of getting the supreme Management under Him; and care not what Hazard they run of his Interest, to secure their own. For this Reason, one cannot without the greatest Contempt of their Persons and Designs, and thinking them the most Perfidious Generation of Men in the World, I say, one cannot so much as entertain a Notion of their being any ways Guilty.

Should Division and Faction creep in among the present Mannagers of Affairs, what must we expect? indeed, what may we not expect, but that the whole Party should divide as they divide, and where will this end? If a Kingdom divided against its self cannot stand, how shall a Party divided against it self be supported? And if this present Interest, divide again, what is before them, but that the Interest of the Tories, and the Pretender, which has been broken and trampled under Foot, purely by the Harmony and Unanimity of Councils, with which His Majesty's Affairs have been bless'd, shall revive and overwhelm us all: United as we were, none can say we were not in Danger, and next to God's directing Providence, nothing but the Vigilance and steddy Conduct of the King and his Ministry, united together Heart and Hand, to surprize and circumvent the Enemy, render'd their too well laid Designs abortive.

If that Unity is broken, if the Eyes that should watch for the publick Safety, are employed in an envious Glancing at one another, watching their private Advantages, to supplant and displace, establish and bring in, as their own ambitious Views direct; what will become of the publick Interest? Who will look out for that? And how will the Ship of State run on Ground and split upon the Rocks, while the Pilots forget to Steer, and are falling out among themselves?

The first Step which Party Men generally take to support themselves, when they lay Designs one against another, is, to strengthen themselves with Friends and Dependents, who shall be ready at all Times to serve and support them, especially where any thing that may injure them is to be passed by Votes. To do this, they make use of their Interest with the Sovereign, to recommend and bring such Persons into publick Employment, as well to keep others out, as to fortifie their own Interest; for Numbers has always been esteemed a great Thing at Court.

To do this, we always find they make no scruple to court mutually in their turn, I say, to court the Party that are out, who they bring into play, upon Pretence of their being turn'd, or of having promised to be directed.

This was what the Courtiers did in King William's Time, when the Lord Havershame described it by that unhappy, but significant Word, a Motley Ministry; and how far that Motley Ministry went towards ruining that Prince's Affairs, is too recent in Memory to be forgot. How far the like Folly would go to ruine our present Affairs, we ought to tremble to think of.

When the Parties thus bring in their Enemies, Two Things frequently follow, and indeed, seldom fail.

- 1. That they cannot, when they find their mistake, get them out again.

- 2. That they often master and throw out those that brought them in.

We need not look far back for Examples of this Kind, the People now at Court know too much of this. Truth, to have any occasion to be put in Mind of it. The Court Revolution of 1709, is an eminent Instance of it, and to that they are referred.

The Sum of the Matter is, that it cannot, without most uncommon, and most injurious Reflections upon the present Administration be suggested, that there are any Misunderstandings, Dividings, or Factions among them; their Honesty will not permit it, their Senses must be their Protection against it, they cannot do it without being Fools to themselves, Traytors to King George, and Knaves to their Country, and for this Reason I conclude that it is all false, a meer Rumour, raised by their Enemies to amuse the World, scandalize the Government, and bouy up their own sinking Party.

If it should appear to be otherwise, you shall hear farther.

FINIS.

THE DANGER OF Court Differences: OR, THE Unhappy EFFECTS OF A Motley Ministry: Occasion'd by the Report of Changes at COURT.

LONDON, Printed and Sold by J. Baker, and T. Warner, at the Black-Boy in Paternoster-Row. 1717. Price 6 d.

BOOKS Printed for J. Baker, at the Black Boy in Pater-Noster-Row.

- THE History of the Reign of King Charles the first, containing a more particular and impartial Account of the Rebellion and civil Wars, than has yet been published; Collected from Private Memoirs and Authentick Papers, and compar'd with Clarendon, Rushworth, &c. Written in French by Monsieur De Larrey, Counsellour of the Court and Embassies, and Historiographer to the King of Prussia. In Two Volumes.

- Puffendorf's Law of Nature and Nations: Abridg'd from the Original. In which, The Author's entire Treatise, (de Officio Hominis & Civis) that was by himself design'd as the Epitome of his larger Work, is taken. The whole compar'd with the respective last Editions of Mr. Barbeyrac's French Translations, and illustrated with his Notes. By J. Spavan, M. A. In Two Volumes.

- News from the Dead, In a Letter from Tom. Brown, the Poet.

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Title statement

The danger of court differences: or, the unhappy effects of a motley ministry: occasion'd by the report of changes at court

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.

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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4325

ID [isbn10]

1106013247

ID [isbn13]

9781106013248

ID [TCP]

K050281.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3304606319

ID [ECSS]

0729700300

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— The danger of court differences: or, the unhappy effects of a motley ministry: occasion'd by the report of changes at court, Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.. 47,[1]p. ; 8⁰. London :: printed and sold by J. Baker, and T. Warner,. 1717.. [Anonymous. By Daniel Defoe.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [Moore, 355] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT56883.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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