Memoirs of Major Alexander Ramkins (1718) by Daniel Defoe
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Daniel Defoe >> Memoirs of Major Alexander Ramkins (1718)
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But before I dismiss this Matter, I am to account for several Things,
which will argue the Court of St. _Germains_ guilty of the greatest
Ingratitude, unless they acknowledge the endless Obligations they lie
under to _France_. Has he not fed a distressed People almost Twenty
Years, and that two in a Royal and Princely Manner? Did he not entertain
above 15000 _Irish_ Troops who were dismiss'd _Ireland_ by the Treaty of
_Limerick_? Has he not constantly pay'd all the Respect imaginable to
the Court of St. _Germains_? promis'd King _James_ upon his Death-bed,
he wou'd never desist? assur'd the Son he wou'd draw his Sword, and it
should ne'er be sheath'd till he had fix'd him in his Throne? Has he not
made several chargeable Attempts to make good his Promise? Such
Panegyricks as these have often Rung in my Ears, when the _French_ were
bent upon extolling the Religious Disposition of the Monarch in
protecting an unfortunate Prince; and the Expedient was not
unserviceable in regard of the generality of the People who easily were
blinded with the glaring Object. But let us take this Oeconomy to
pieces, and examine every Wheel and Spring; for my part, I can regard
this boasted Liberality no otherwise than a very imperfect Restitution.
Did not K. _James_ both Ruin himself and Thousands of Families meerly by
going into _French_ Measures. I heard the Court of _France_ was oblig'd
to feed all the Posterity of that unfortunate misled Multitude, who have
been deluded this Twenty Nine Years by their Politicks. 'Tis what I
believe what the loosest of their Casuists wou'd not refuse to oblige
'em to upon a fair hearing of the Case. But that the Entertaining the
_Irish_ Troops shou'd be mention'd as an Instance of _French_ Charity,
is a very Remarkable piece of Assurance. The _Swiss_ and other States
are consider'd with large annual Pensions for the Privilege of Listing
Men, besides double Pay during the Time of their Service; but the
_Irish_ and all the rest of King _James_'s Subjects, poor Fools, must
think themselves happy to bear the brunt of every Siege and Engagement,
for half Pay, be regarded as Beggars, living upon Charity, be reform'd
and abandon'd when they are no further useful. The Honour purchas'd by
these distress'd People at _Cremina_, _Luzara_, _Spireback_, _Almaza_,
_Friburg_, _&c._ have merrited better Articles, and the Blood they have
lost is a large disbursement for the Expences at St. _Germains_. A few
_French_ Compliments paid once a Week at St. _Germains_, is but a poor
recompence for a ruin'd People, especially when the Origin and Motive of
their Misfortunes are look'd into. And the Gasconades and Politick,
Promises made both to the Father and the Son of never sheathing the
Sword with the Sham Attempts in their Favour, will be recorded in
Antiquity, not as Arguments of his Christianity, but strong Lines of
Policy how a Prince is to make use of all Occurrences to promote the
welfare of his own People, nothing, being more successful in such
junctures, than a Pretence of Religion, and assisting Persons in
distress.
Having brought my Remarks to this Period, I design'd to have drop'd my
Pen immediately, but considering that a Judicious Reader will expect I
should advance something by way of Principle to justify the Reflexions I
have made. I must add a Word or two more concerning the unjust, as well
as unpolitick Proceedings of those who have been deluded by a Foreign
Power to bring Destruction to their own native Country. And in the first
place I must deliver my Thoughts as to the Cause in General. The
Question of Hereditary, was not so well clear'd at the Revolution, but
that many very discerning and well meaning Men might be drawn into a
Belief, that lineal and immediate Right was part of the Divine Law, and
so not dispensable. This was my Opinion in the Beginning, and it was a
Principle which carried me through the Wars this Twenty Nine Years in
Favour of King _James_, even at those Times, when I was fully convinc'd
that _France_ had no real Design to re-establish him. But afterwards
when I began to look narrowly into the Question of Hereditary Right, and
saw that the Notion of _Jure Divino_ was only an assum'd Principle to
buoy up the Faction. I by Degrees slacken'd in my Zeal, and having no
other Nation of Government, then by submitting to the Supream National
Power, where the Law of God was silent, I found this an effectual Means
to quiet my Conscience. However I still persisted and follow'd the
Pretender's Cause, the Success of the Roman-Catholick Interest provoking
me to it: For I imagin'd that Salvo ought to weigh down in Practise,
where other Matters relating to Succession were still under Controversy;
but when I took under serious Consideration the Practise of our
Ancestors, and how in all Ages both Church and State came frequently
into Non-Hereditary Measures, where I run over the String of
Disappointments King _James_ had met withal by the Politic Management
_of France_. When I reflected what Misery had befallen, and was like to
befall these Kings by adhering to the besoted Notion of Hereditary
Right, I put the whole Controversy upon the Issue of Religion, and it
plainly appear'd to me, that no Roman Catholick was oblig'd to oppose
the Revolutionary Measures in Conscience, much less in Policy. I was
fully satisfy'd in the first Part of the Enquiry by that unanswerable
Piece lately printed, call'd, _A Roman Catholick System of Allegiance_.
As for the latter Part, let the Tory and Roman Catholick Party sum up
their Losses since 1688, and it will convince 'em how foolishly they
acted. Thus settled in my Principles in regard of Loyalty, I design'd to
pay an intire and unlimited Obedience to the present Constitution; as to
my Religion, which I own is not conformable to that by Law Established.
I will make a discreet Use of that Indulgence the Government is pleas'd
to allow; and if Providence thinks fit to make me Suffer upon that
Score, no rational Man will blame my Zeal till he does convince me of my
Mistake.
_FINIS_
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