Vigour are added to the Oppreffors: And when they find their Strength, and that they can fhew it effectually in the Destruction of fome they hate, what fhall hinder them, as Power and Time come on together, from exerting the fame upon all others whom they equally hate, and are equally fworn to deftroy from off the Earth?

But we of this Nation have still a nearer Concern in this Affair, if all religious and civil Rights are of any Concern to us. Every Advance of the Power of Bigotry abroad, threatens us with a Popish Pretender at home; and, together with him, all the Train of his Attendaats, Superftition and Cruelty. None fuch faft Friends to his Caufe; none fo unmoveable in the Profecution of it; none fo defperate in what they once admit into their Hearts, as that Society which was the Mover of this Tragedy we have now been speaking of. Every Experiment, therefore, of their Strength, tends, by Degrees, to shake the Throne of our King, and to weaken our future Hopes of Happiness under the fucceeding Branches of his Family, as it paves the Way to every thing contrary to a Protestant Eftablishment. And this, methinks, fhould weigh with all Proteftants who would not be miferable, whether they have the fame Notions of Happinefs with others, or not. The Point to fuch Perfons is not, whether they love their prefent Superiors, or whether they perfectly approve of their Adminiftration ; but whether they can bear all the Miseries of Popish Bigotry, and will choose to exchange Liberty for Chains, Property for arbitrary Will, the Eafe and Security of a Subject of a Proteftant Prince, and of a Member of a Proteftant Church, for the fiery Operations of Jefuitifm, and the Cruelties of Thorn, and indeed of every other Place where the fame Zeal has had the fame Room to display itself. This should be no light Confideration to the most discontented Proteftant amongst us, who is one truly and fincerely; that, as a Proteftant, he is not concerned in any the leaft Acceffion of Power to that Popish Interest abroad, which, if it increases, will, fooner or later, end in a Popish Intereft, and a Popish Settlement here; and that, as the Pretender (who is to reap the Benefit of this) is as famous for determined Bigotry, as the Body of Je. fuits themselves, let him but once get Footing here, by

what

what Means they please (even by the Help of Protestant Hands lifted up against themselves) yet still it can end in nothing but the Administration of those whom his own Bigotry will point out to his Choice, that is, in nothing but the fame Measures of Ruin and Devastation, by which the fame Bigotry has ever worked, and ever will work, till human Nature be totally altered. And if they can have any Comfort in fuch a View, much Good may it do them! But let them fometimes, in the Midst of it, caft their Eyes abroad upon the Protestants at Thorn, and think within their own Breafts, whether, if they themselves ever come within the Sphere of Action of the fame Body, they will not feel the fame deftructive Force, and be fwallowed up in the fame Whirlpool. Let not a little Prejudice, or the imaginary Want of fomething we may wish for, extinguish all common Sense, or take away all Regard to ourselves, and our latest Posterity.

But we must not leave this Affair here. If Proteftants do not learn fome good Leffon from it, befides a Zeal against an implacable Enemy, it is, if I may fay fo, an Act of Providence loft upon them. They have, many of them, been often very bufy in interpreting Providences: Here is one that may very eafily be understood; but, perhaps, as many others have been, it will be applied by the Multitude only to their Neighbours, and not to themselves. The Cruelties at Thorn, which you are fo moved at, fhould make you caft your Thoughts upon that Spirit which is the Caufe of them; and thofe Thoughts fhould make you abhor and fly from the first Motions, the leaft Beginnings, of that Temper in yourfelves. Inward Cenfures of one another, on Account of religious Differences; hard Sentences and Judgments of private Men against one another; the Violence of Words; the Refufal of mutual Communications of Friendship; the calling in worldly Affiftances to aggrieve or hurt or ruin one another, in any Degrec, or in any Instance; these are the Motions of the fame Spirit, going on from one Degree to another, till it ends in the open Avowal of Fire and Faggot, Swords and Gibbets. Thefe, whenever they are feen amongst Proteftants, are the Strength of your Enemies, the only Defences of their Barbaritics, and the only Arguments by which they can

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cover or excufe their own Practices. Take from them thefe Arms, and you leave them utterly indefenfible in that Conduct, which God and Nature, Reason and Revelation, all condemn, The Outrage of Perfecution did not begin all at once, but grew up by flow Degrees. If it had not, the Notion of it could not have been borre by any human Mind. First, it was only a mental Uneafinefs at those who differed. Then it proceeded to verbal Declarations, at which it ftopped but a fhort Time. For when it was once come to hard Words, it was natural to proceed to Blows, almost as soon as the Balance of Power weighed on one Side more than the other. Moderate Penalties were the firft Effays; but when they had no other Effect but to provoke the Spirits of Oppofers, Punishments too great for human Nature eafily to think of, fucceeded in their Place. And upon these now the Popish Interest rests itself.

God be thanked, the Proteftant World is generally come to a much greater Senfe of the Duty of mutual Love and Forbearance than once was experienced in it." But when by fuch an Inftance as this at Thorn, their Senfe is again quickened, and they are called upon to fee and acknowledge the Deformity of the Spirit of Cruelty, made keen by religious Differences, it is their Duty to fearch to the Root of the Matter, to guard against the first Motions of fuch a Spirit amongst themselves, and to implant in their Souls the contrary Temper of univerfal Charity; from the mere Want of which, fuch unspeakable Evils have come upon human Society, and fuch inexcufable Scandals upon the Chriftian Name.

BRITANNICUS.

A

A Short View of the Confpiracy, with fome Reflections on the Prefent State of Affairs. In a Letter to an Old Whig in the Country. By CATO.

Id facinus ego in primis memorabile exiftimo, fceleris atque periculi Novitate. Igitur de Conjuratione, quam verif fimè potero, paucis abfolvam: eo magis quod mihi a fpe, metu, partibus Reipublicæ Animus liber est.

Anno 1723.

Salluft

By THOMAS GORDON, Efq;

SIR,

T

HE late execrable Defign against the British Liberty does not employ the Thoughts of this Nation only, but affords Matter of Speculation for all Europe. The Danish Confpiracy is fcarce thought to deserve that Name, when compared to what was carrying on in England; and Paul Fuel's Schemes are açcounted trifling, to the far more black and hellish Defigns of our Jacobites here.

In your last you defire my Sentiments on the prefent State of Affairs, which you fay would be useful not onto yourself, but to many others in your Country. As I can refuse you nothing, I fhall endeavour to give you a faithful Abstract of the moft material Tranfactions; which that I may do with the greater Clearnefs, I fhall look back on fome paft Occurrences, which the Hurry of your own Business may have hindered you from reflecting upon, or perhaps has fince made you forget.

You may very well remember, Sir, how every Thing ftood when you left the Town; the Distractions and general Uneafinefs which attended the fatal Execution of the South Sea Scheme; the Apprehenfion of the Plague, and the Aların given on the firft Discovery of a Plot, which every one received juft as they were difpofed to receive

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receive any Information from the Miniftry: The Factious fecretly rejoiced at the Opportunity which they thought was now given them of compaffing their Ends; the Lovers of their Country trembled at the Thoughts of the dark Designs and artful Cabals of Rome at fo dreadful a Juncture; whilft we, who fancied ourselves the only wife Men in the Nation, laughed at and ridiculed all that was advanced on this Head, thinking it only a politic Step, a new Subject invented to drown all Thoughts of the old One; and in fhort, a Plot to ftifle our Refentments against the South SeaTransactions. But we now fee the Greatnefs of our Folly in the midst of our fancied Wisdom; we had then forgot the previous Steps always taken by the Jacobites when they had schemed out any important Defign, and that they never attempted any thing of Confequence, but they firit paved the Way for it, by poifoning the Minds of the People from the Prefs, which at fuch Times always groaned under the Weight of Scandal and feditious Libels.

Accordingly you cannot but remember the numerous Pamphlets published against the Administration, befides many of my Writings, which were all forced into their Service. In one Paper we had the Chief Minister expofed under the Character of Cataline; in another, the whole Iniquity of the South Sea Scheme was charged, as if contrived by the Men in Power; though at prefent we all know that it was only the cafual Effect of the Madness and Avarice of the People, joined with the Villainy of fome of the Directors. In a Third, a great Man who was contriving to fave us from Ruin, was exposed to the Rage of the Populace, under the Character of a Screener of the Guilty. In a Fourth, the Sense of the People was affumed, and the general Voice was wrested to be turned against all in the Administration. Nor did they stop here: The King himself was in one of the Prints reprefented under the Image of the most odious Roman Tyrant; and in two other infamous Libels, his Person and Family were abused in the vilest manner, under the Title of The Benefits and Advantages of the Hanover Succeffion. So little indeed was their Deign perceived by myfelf, that I own many Things dropped

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