An argument, shewing, that the Prince of Wales, tho' a Protestant, has no just pretensions to the crown of England. With some remarks on the late pretended discovery of a design to steal him away

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- [titlepage]

- THE PREFACE

AN ARGUMENT, Shewing, That the Prince of WALES, Tho' a PROTESTANT, has no just Pretensions to the Crown of ENGLAND.

AMONG those People who are more than ordinarily careful for the Future, it has been a Question not a little debated, What shall we do for a King in England after the Decease of his present Majesty and the Princess in case they should die without Issue?

And tho' it be properly a Work which no Body has any thing to do with but a Parliament, yet our busie Politicians have ransack't Forreign Countries for a King.

Some wiser than others, have propos'd the Duke of Savoy's Son, the young Prince of Piedmont. Some one, some another, as their Fancies guide them. Ay, but says a Learned Rabbi, skill'd in the Letter of the Law, he is a Roman Catholick, and that is a Barr by our Constitution. Well, replys another, but he may he sent into England to be Educated a Protestant. At the hearing of which Medium, a Third Party have thought fit to start a Case on the other side; Why, so may some body else? and so all Parties become Friends again.

They that have Ears to hear let them hear.

First, We thank those Gentlemen for satisfying the World that they despair now of the Restoration of K_+ James, which has been so long talk'd of, and are content to Postpone their Happiness to a Time so remote, that possibly it may never come to pass.

And as to the Case in hand, if they think it proper, they may propose it to the next Parliament, and no doubt but what they do in it the Nation will be well satified with, and in the mean time we refer them to the Experiment.

But it may not be improper to Examine here the Project laid to Try the Nation, How such a Story would take with them.

And if you Examine the News-Paper, you will find it introduc'd into the World with a We hear. We hear there has been a Design discover'd at St. Germans to steal away the Prince of Wales, and to convey him over into England, to be brought up a Protestant.

The Writer of this News wou'd be very helpful in the Discovery, if he wou'd honestly inform the World how and where he heard the News; whether he had it by Letter, or Messenger, Post, or Express; for 'tis certain that no body else can hear any thing of it.

If he will own with more honesty than he wrote, that he really invented it of his own Head, to help fill up his own Paper, as no question they many times do in other Cases; It will be the best Reply to my Suggestions that any body can make, and I must allow all I am saying is as Impertinent as 〈◊〉 Knavish.

But if he was directed to write it by some body, no matter by who, it must be from a design.

I shall attempt therefore to open the Eyes of the World a little, by Examining the Incoherences and Inconsistences of the Story, and then the Design of it.

As to the Incoherence of the Story, a discovery of a Design, but by no Evidence, or Information, no Persons designing taken, nor none enquired after to be apprehended, no body nam'd to be discoverers, or discovered; so that they are only supposed to be afraid of such and such a thing, and to have doubled the Guards to prevent it.

Then the Reason is set down for which he shou'd be convey'd away, to be carried into England. Had they stopt there, something might have been meant, some Mischief might have been supposed to have been design'd against him. But to clear it up to the World, the very bottom of the design is laid open, that they shou'd take the Child away to Educate him a Protestant.

Unless the Author of this News was let into the Project I speak of, he wou'd never have suggested it, but all Mankind wou'd have thought, that if there had been any danger of stealing him away, to carry him into England, it shou'd be with some wicked design to make away with him, his coming being death by our Law, rather then Educate him in the Protestant Religion.

The Party therefore that cou'd descend to these Particulars, tho' no Evidence be produc'd, nor no Confession made of any Person concern'd, must I say be let into the design.

And now I have said so much of a Design, I desire to Explain what I mean by it.

The design I mean, is not to steal the Prince of Wales, as they call him, away, and bring him into England.

But to broach an Oponion among the People, That on the failure of the present Settlement, the Prince of VVales is the true and lawful Heir of the Crown, and that to qualifie him to Enjoy it, he may be bred a Pro•estant.

And to insinuate this more finely into our Fancies it is put the other way, That they are afraid the English People shou'd steal him away, to make him a Protestant in order to have the Kingdom, whether he will or no.

I cannot help making a little sport of this Jest—

- 1. That we shou'd be made believe the late King wou'd be so chary of this Child and his Religion, as to prevent his being declar'd Heir apparent to the Crown of England, on the bare apprehensions of his being Educated a Protestant.

- 2. That the English shou'd be in such distress for a Successor to the Crown, when God be thank'd there are Two happy Lives to Enjoy it before hand, as to go abroad to steal One.

- 3. That the Crown of England shou'd be accounted so mean a thing, that a Guard shou'd be set upon any body to prevent their being spirited away from the Court of France to be made King of England.

And to add to the ridiculous part of it, That any body on pretence of Educating him a Protestant, shou'd dare to bring him into England, without Licence from the present Government, as is expresly provided for by Act of Parliament. They wou'd make a special Protestant of him indeed, where he must be a Martyr at first Conversion, to bring him where setting his Foot was immediate Death by the Statutes of the Kingdom.

The insinuation therefore of stealing the Prince of Wales to make a Protestant of him, is a Figurative Expression, a Metanimy, a way of speaking wherein something is intended which is not expressed, and if I could make it speak English, 'tis thus:

That if you please, Gentlemen, to have the Prince of Wales to Reign over you, after the failure of the present Settlement, he is at your Service, and will come and be brought up in the Protestant Religion, whenever you think fit.

I shall not enter into any Discoveries of the Nature of the Succession of the Crown of England, nor of the Right of such Families as pretend to it, they are things to tender to be handled here.

But in this case I may presume to say, that since the present Settlement of the Crown of England is declar'd by the Parliament of England, own'd by the World, and receiv'd by the general Ascent of the Nation, at the end of this Settlement the same Collective Body of the Nation, are the only Judges of the Right of any Person whatsoever.

And as for the Gentlemen who are so willing to restore the Line of King James, they are desir'd to consider, that by attempting it in this method, they come under a Necessity of owning the Authority of the Parliament of England: the same Authority which Abdicated his Father, and by consequence must justifie all the Proceedings of the late Revolution, and this will be a bitter Pill to them.

Not but that stranger things than these have been done too for a Crown, but this must be done before an English Parliament can so much as consider of it; nay by suggesting, or so much as supposing his Right to be referr'd to the English Nation, it must at the same time be suppos'd that he wou'd not stick at all that to be declar'd capable of Inheriting the Crown of England.

These are such contradictory and inconstent things, as makes the Story very ridiculous, and shows the Party is driven to strange shifts to bring to pass their designs, and wou'd comply with any thing to get the Reins in their hands again.

Now if they only want to know how the Nation wou'd resent an Attempt of this Nature, they may be soon satisfied in that point, by moving it in Parliament; and in the mean time they need not pretend to keep a Guard upon him at St. Germain, for I dare say the English Nation will as soon steal away his Father as him, and they have not shown themselves so fond of either, as to make them afraid of it.

I shall not at all enter into the Enquiry concerning the Legitimacy of his Birth, nor quote the learned Authorities of the eminent Mr. Fuller on that Head, whose Evidence is to as much purpose as the matter is insignificant.

For be it so, that King James is the true Father of the Child, it matters not one farthing in the Title to the Crown; for his Father, whose Legitimacy no body doubts, by being a Roman Catholick, has rendred himself uncapable of the Government, and so does the Son, and Settlements are not to be alter'd every time he thinks fit to alter his Religion.

But methinks it remains as an Eternal Mark either of the Folly, or Pride of his Parents, that if the Queen was really with Child (which (God forgive me if I am mistaken) I never believed) she did not put it past all possibility of Debate, by giving such undeniable proofs of it, as 'tis known such Cases will admit of, and that to those Persons in particular as she knew wou'd be very sorry to see it.

The Queen was not a Lady of so much Nicety, as that she shou'd decline letting such Female Effects of her Conception be known, especially to her own Sex, as wou'd have confounded all Gainsayers.

Nor did she want the Vanity of shewing those invincible Demonstrations to some Persons in the Court, to whom she might have reason to think the truth, would have been a particular Mortification.

The truth then being so easie to be made plain, and those easie steps being omitted, gives me more cause of doubt in the Matter, than all the Affirmatives of Evidence Fuller can do, for it was not a thing for the Nation to prove a Negative upon, as some have pretended to expect, but they in whose power it was once to make it plain, having omitted it, Mankind ought to doubt the truth of it, because had it been true, none but Madmen, or worse, would have conceal'd any part of it.

Nor does the Declaration of the present King, when Prince of Orange, say any more, than that there was ground to suspect it; and then concludes, that the Examination both of it, and the Right of Succession, is referr'd to a free Parliament. Which Parliament having settled the Succession, according to that Article on the unexpected Occasion of the Abdication of King James, and his carrying this Son on whom the doubt was rais'd into France, to be brought up a Papist, Examining into his Birth became needless; and it signifies nothing whether he be Legitimate, or no; his Father rendred them both incapable, by the Article of Religion, and the Nation has settled the Succession another way.

This, with submission, I think to be the true state of the Case, and will pass for such with me, till I see it stated otherwise by some body that understands it better than I do.

But some have started a Case which requires a word or two of Reply.

If the Prince of Wales be allowed to be the Legitimate Son of King James, and had been a Protestant, there had been no Objection against his Title.

This has a plain Answer in the sequel of the Story. The Abdication of King James did not consist in his Male-administration, but in his deserting the Nation; and it may be remembred that there was great strugling for the Word in the Convention, some wou'd have had the word Deserted voted instead of Abdicated.

Now if King James Deserted the Nation, so did his Son with him, and thereby the Throne became vacant, and the power of Government devolv'd upon such as were next Heirs; and who they were was to be decided by the Parliament, who have been allow'd to be the Judges of the Right of Succession in all Ages.

Now the Parliament did not upon this Vacancy of the Throne proceed to Elect a King, as some People are mighty fond of saying, and so alter our Constitution to an Elective Monarchy.

But they proceeded to Examine whose the Right of Government was, and to make a Declaration of that Right by Authority of Parliament, and King James and his Son, if he be his Son, having left the Kingdom, they declared that the Throne was thereby vacant, that is, by their deferting the People, and that the Succession ought to descend so and so; which Succession they farther confirm'd by the Sanction of an Act of Parliament.

Had K. James notwithstanding his Maleadministration, continued in the Kingdom, tho' he might have been Deposed, yet the Parliament must have gone upon other measures to have transferr'd the Succession to the Crown from him to another Head.

On this account it is that the King and Queen of England are declared rightful and lawful.

And on this Foundation the young Gentleman we speak of, tho' he were the Legitimate Son of King James, and a Protestant, yet having deserted the People of England with his Father, has equally abdicated the Government, and the Throne was thereby vacant.

The Point of Religion is the next Barr; the Commons of England at the first Meeting of the Convention, did not make any new Laws, but only made a Declaration of what was before the undoubted Right of the People of England, and what ought to be observ'd by any Prince who shou'd hereafter succeed in the Government, and in order to obviate all Objections against the continuing under the Government of King James, and before they had entred upon ths Consideration or his having gone away and left them, they laid a firm Foundation of a Regular Government, in a Message to the Lords, carried up by Mr. Hampden, and a Body of their Members, in which the Vote of the House was read at the Barr of the House of Lords, thus:

Resolved Nemine Contradicente, ‘That it is inconsistent with the Constitution of this Protestant Kingdom, to be governed by a Popish Prince.’

Now how a Popish Prince may pretend to be converted and turn Protestant, to obtain a Crown, and how often he may turn and return on the same account, and whether the Settlement of the Succession is oblig'd to change with him; or how far a Parliament wou'd think themselves oblig'd to take notice of such changes of the Religion of a Prince, these are things not for me to determine.

But this I dare be free to determine, that no Parliament will send into France to steal away a Prince to make a Protestant of, and so force him to accept of the Crown of England whether he will or no, and especially a Person whom they thought fit to leave wholly out of their Settlement before.

So that these Gentlemen may save themselves the labour of attempting the Conversion of this Prince, for the Settlement of our Succession was not built upon his being a Roman Catholick, but upon the Abdication of his Father, and so far upon his own, as his Birth shall appear to give him a Title; since he has from that time forward absented himself from the Kingdom to which his pretences, if he had any, were to be made.

It may be ask'd here, To what end and purpose K. James convey'd him away, if he had any confidence in the possibility of clearing up the point of his Legitimacy, he might have left him here, it was impracticable, that any violence cou'd have been pretended to be acted upon him, for nothing cou'd have been charg'd upon him, if the Illegitimacy of his Birth had been alledg'd, the proof wou'd have been put upon the Nations side, till which nothing cou'd legally have been done to his prejudice, but as it is, the proof remains at their own doors, which since they thought fit to omit, I see no concern the Nation has in the matter.

For, suppose Q. Mary had really been with Child, and had, for as wise ends as other things were then done, thought fit never to let it be known, and a Child had been born in the dark, and bred up in private, and the Nation knew nothing of the matter, but that twenty years after, when the Parliament might have settled the Succession another way, this Child shou'd be Trumpt up as a right Heir to the Crown.

It wou'd be never the less true that he was K. James's Son, and he wou'd have as much right to the Crown as a real Son; but who wou'd have believ'd it; wou'd not the Nation say, and reason good, Why, was it not told us that the Queen was with Child? Why, was not some of the Royal Family entrusted with the knowledge of it? Why was not the Queen's being with Child made known, and the Protesta•t Ladies of the Court shown such proofs of it as that they might be able to testifie the truth of it—wou'd it be enough to say it was below the Queen to trouble her head about it, and she did not think the satisfaction of the Nation worth her while.

I question whether any Nation in Europe wou'd accept of a King upon such terms; we see 'tis quite otherwise in France, where all the Princes of the Blood are at liberty, and claim it as a priviledge to come into the very Chamber of the Queen when she is in Travail, and to see the Infant as soon as 'tis come into the World.

The Case thus stated, I put it upon all the Champions of their Party to disprove the Argument which I lay down in these few words.

That the Persons on whom the proof of his Legitimacy lay, having omitted the Legal demonstrations of it, which they ought to have given, 'tis very reasonable that we shou'd question the truth of it.

And while the Ligitimacy of his Birth remains a question, the People of England ought not to trouble their heads about him, for 'tis not for us to enquire of it, but they shou'd have made it out whose business it was.

Thus far the reason of the Case is plain, without any need to go to proving of Negatives.

And while it is thus, they may even take their double Guards off of him again, for if he is ever Kidnap'd away to make a Protestant of, we must be reduc'd to very hard terms, and the English Crown go a begging at a most pitiful rate.

I confess I am no Friend to a Commonwealth Government in England when I reflect on the last, how ill it was manag'd, and how soon it fell into Disorders and Parties, and how little a while it continu'd; but I had rather see a Commonwealth set up, or any thing (Popery excepted) than that we shou'd be brought to seek a King at the French Court, and one that we have repudiated as born in hugger-mugger, no body knows how, nor where, and that his Mother did not think it worth while to give the English Nation satisfaction about when she was with Child, but on the contrary, scorn'd the Attempts of some of the first Quality to make the Discovery.

But that which adds to the Banter too, is that we shou'd steal him away. Bless us all! that we shou'd turn Kidnappers for a King, and spirit folks Children away, for let him be whose Son he will, 'tis certain he is some bodies, to make Kings of them.

The truth on't is, it is not a light matter to be a King of England. 'Tis a Post of great Difficulty as well as Honour, and perhaps K. James may be afraid to venture his Son, least he shou'd have no better success than himself, which wou'd certaily fall out if he took his Measures.

But to think that the English Nation shou'd ever entertain such thoughts of his Son, allow he were so, as to take him away by stealth. I cannot call it an affront to the Nation, 'tis rather a Banter upon the poor young Gentleman, who I dare say knows not a word of the matter.

I remember I have heard it said before the Fire of London happen'd, news was carried down into the Country that the City was burnt, and was reported publickly above 100 Miles from London, at least two days before the Fire began, which was a certain Token of a design to bring it to pass.

If I shou'd judge of the present Case by the practice of those People, I shou'd expect to hear next Post that this young Prince is really lost, carried away, &c. to the unspeakable Grief of his Parents, and the Disturbance of the whole Court, &c.

I shall not venture to say it will be so, but I may venture to say there are several Turns of State in the World which such a Thing may answer.

As first, If it shou'd be true that at the bottom of the business, this was not the Legitimate Son of K. James, which however uncertain we are of it, it is well enough known to themselves—Why now they see the Sham won't take, and they have ran the Jest so far as that they have ruin'd themselves, and the Show is over, they will of course be soon weary of the Child, and as a Plot made a Prince of him, so another may reduce him to what they please; he may be lost in the dark, and be heard of no more, and give it out, that the English have carry'd him away to reserve him in Petto, as the Pope does his Cardinals, to make a King of him when they want one, and in the mean time bring him up a Heretick.

This is an easy way to be rid of him whenever they please, and so the poor young Gentleman had better have appear'd in the world what he really was—nor do we want Instances of Impostors set up in the World to personate Princes who have afterwards vanish'd as they came when the Persons who set them up cou'd not bring to pass their designs by it.

Or if we shou'd suppose that the King of France has his Eyes on the Succession of England (as he has lately had on that of Spain) in right of the Dutchess of Burgundy, and possibly may oblige King James to make the second Experiment of leaving him the Crown by his last Will and Testament, I do not say such Chimera's as these are in the heads of any body, but I do say that if they are, 'twill be absolutely necessary to remove the Person we are speaking of out of the way.

And what likelier Project can they have to rid themselves of him, and as they may think, at the same time to make the Nation uneasy, then to give out that the English have carried him away to make a Protestant of him.

These are Ends▪ I say, that such a thing will serve, and I may be excused making such remote Guesses and Suppositions, for none of them are so wild and chimerical, as the fancy of bringing him hither.

And if any such Measures shou'd be taken with the young Gentlemen, I think a single Author may venture to enter this Protest in the Name of the whole Nation, that 'tis a Trick of their own, and the English Nation can have no hand in it.

The Authority of the Nation cannot have any hand in it, because they can do nothing in private, and it must be known if it had been Parliamentary.

The honest protestant loyal Party cannot be said to have a hand in it, because Mankind is said not to be able to do that which their known Interest forbids them to do, and no body can imagine that Party should ever design to bring him hither, without imagining at the same time that it was to Murther and Destroy him, which God forbid.

As to the Jacobite English Party, they cannot design it, because 'twill not any way answer their designs.

First, If ever they shou'd have power to make him a King publickly, 'tis plain he will serve their turn as well if he be a Papist as a Protestant, or else they cannot be what we call them, Jacobites, that is, Friends to King James.

Secondly, If they bring him in only to reserve him in Petto, as I said, it must be one of these two ways, either publickly or privately.

If publickly, unless they have a Force to defend him, they bring him only to Martyrdom, for our Laws will take immediate hold on him, and put him to death.

If privately, to be reserv'd till the Line shall fail, he must then reside Incognito, and if ever the time shou'd come to set him up, having been lost so many years, no body wou'd know him, and the Nation wou'd never believe 'twas he, which wou'd always leave room for Impostors, and setting up sham Princes to mise Insurrections, and disturb the publick Peace of the Nation, as in the Case of Perkin Warbeck and Ralph Wilford in the days' of Henry the Seventh.

So that rightly examin'd, this Sham will never fasten upon the English Nation, for it will answer the Ends of neither Friend nor Foe.

But if ever we hear that the Prince of Wales, as they call him, is lost, carried away, it must either be that they are conscious to themselves of his being a foster Son, and the design having miscarried, are weary of the Adopt, and so have dismist him this World; or else that he is remov'd to try another Fetch for the English Crown by way of Title, which, if the Prince of Piedmont dies, falls by Inheritance, the Barr of Religion excepted, to the House of Bourbon, in right of the Wife of the present Duke of Burgundy, who is Grand-daughter to a Daughter of England by King Charles the First.

And as to the Barr of Religion, pray what's that to a good Army; What's the Gospel to a Kettle Drum? or Justice and Laws to a Regiment of Curiasseeres? If the French King comes once to have a fair Claim to the Crown of England for his Grandson, and you have nothing to plead in Barr but his Religion, he'll talk with you about that in other Terms—

You must certainly expect to talk in the Insernal Language of Fire and Smoke, and tho' tis hoped we shov'd have Zeal enough for our Religion, to fight him to the last Gasp, yet all Men must allow the Power of France, at this time is so great, that 'twould be much better never to have it brought to a Trial.

FINIS.

AN ARGUMENT, Shewing, That the Prince of WALES, Tho' a PROTESTANT, has no just Pretensions to the Crown of ENGLAND.

With some REMARKS ON The late pretended Discovery of a Design to steal him away.

LONDON: Printed for A. Baldwin near the Oxford Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1701.

THE PREFACE

THE Town has been amus'd. with a Story of late about a Design discovered at St. Germans to have stollen away the Prince of Wales, and some of our News-Writers have been prevail'd with to put it into their Publick Papers, and bestow it upon the World.

Since then he that Prints a Story subjects both Himself and his Tale to the Censure of every Reader, I have as much Right as another to pass my Judgment in the Case.

And tho' I am first assur'd from very good Hands, that the Story it self is a Forgery, and that at St. Germains they know nothing of the Matter; yet I think it may not be amiss to give the World some short Observatious upon the Subject, because I believe they will quickly hear more of it. For the Story of Stealing the Prince of Wales was not contriv'd to no purpose, but as an Anticedent to something which was to come after, which the World is to be acquainted with in good time, when 'tis first observ'd how they will relish this.

If what I shall say be Offensive to such who are concern'd for the Young Gentleman, they ought to be angry with the Broachers of the Story, and not with the Author of these Observations.

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An argument, shewing, that the Prince of Wales, tho' a Protestant, has no just pretensions to the crown of England. With some remarks on the late pretended discovery of a design to steal him away

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.

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http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/5058

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110602057X

ID [isbn13]

9781106020574

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K097055.000

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CW3311336293

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0295901700

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— An argument, shewing, that the Prince of Wales, tho' a Protestant, has no just pretensions to the crown of England. With some remarks on the late pretended discovery of a design to steal him away, Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731.. [4],24p. ; 4⁰. London :: printed for A. Baldwin,. 1701.. [Attributed to Daniel Defoe.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [Moore, 37a] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT121325.] [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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