A. D. 1667-8. Memorial his senti Lord Ashley did lay before the king the state of his affairs in this manner. It is, likewise, an evidence that he was early in his apprehensions of containing the Romish religion, and in providing against its ments. encroachments; that he continued in the same sentiments he had before expressed with regard to the act of uniformity, when he was for taking off the penalties with regard only to protestant dissenters; that he was for softening the penal laws which had been made in the beginning of the king's reign, and particularly the corporation act; and that he had already digested, in his thoughts, a method of keeping the papists from all employments, civil and military, and which he found means afterwards, in 1672, of carrying into a law. The reader will also observe, that Lord Ashley had the justest notions wherein the prosperity of the trade and the true interest of England must consist; and that he was inflexible in his sentiments and concern for the religious, as well as civil rights of the people. "MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, "When I had the honour to wait on your majesty at Windsor, you was pleased to enter into some discourse of the decay of land rents and trade, and the remedies of it; which hath given VOL. I. 2 B A. D. 1667-8. me the confidence to offer your majesty these ensuing considerations of mine on that subject; and if your majesty shall find in them but half that weight of reason which I am sure they have of honest zeal to your service, I shall not doubt but you will pardon this my address. "First. I take it for granted, that the strength and glory of your majesty, and the wealth of your kingdoms, depend not so much on anything as on the multitude of your subjects; by whose mouths and backs the fruits and commodities of your lands may have a liberal consumption, in proportion to their growth; and by whose hands both your majesty's crown may be defended on all occasions, and also the manufactures of both your native and foreign commodities improved; by which, trade and your majesty's revenue must necessarily be increased. 66 Secondly. That of late years the lands of your kingdoms have been exceedingly improved, as to the production, by inclosing of wastes and manuring them to tillage and pasture; and, in the mean time, the number of your majesty's subjects, by the confluence of many unhappy accidents, has been extremely lessened; for the late plague and war did (by a reasonable calculation) sweep away above two hundred and fifty thousand persons more than the usual course of mortality would have done. 66 Thirdly. A considerable number of your majesty's subjects are constantly transported to the American plantations for servants, and who transport themselves to those and other parts to enjoy the liberty of their mistaken consciences; and our products of lands thus increasing, and the persons decreasing who should make the consumption of them, it must necessarily follow that the value of our lands must be reduced to a disability of maintaining the owners and paying your majesty's necessary aids; and our manufactures become few, and so costly, that they will not be tendered to foreign markets at such rates as our neighbours can afford them; whereby the merchant must lose the trade, and your majesty the revenue of it. "If this be admitted to be the cause of the decay of rents, then, certainly, the recovery must be by using all rational and just ways and means to invite persons from foreign parts to supply the present defect, and stop the drain that carries away the natives from us. "In order whereunto, it is humbly offered to A. D. 1667-8. A. D. 1667-8. your majesty, whether any other expedient whatsoever will be effective to this great and good end without granting that liberty in their religion which every man is fond of; and on what mistakes soever their profession be taken up, whether in point of blind zeal, or in point of reputation, they will hardly recede from it for any consideration, as we find by too sad experience of the many factions which the late unhappy times have made among us, whom no severity of law in the execution thereof can reclaim to the church of England. "It seems to me, that the late act against conventicles hath put it out of question that a toleration is lawful; for it tolerates any dissenters from the church of England to worship God after a different manner, provided they do not assemble in a greater number than is limited by the statute, which limit, I suppose, was set on the single consideration of preserving the public peace. If public peace then may be preserved with it, it is not unlawful to remove that pale so far as may do the work of the present design, of retaining those dissenters who are among us, and attracting others from abroad. And that a toleration may be made to consist with the public peace and tranquillity of the present established government both in church and state, it is humbly proposed, "First. That no person whatsoever shall be admitted to bear any office, ecclesiastical, military, or civil, of trust or profit, but such as can, by the legal test, approve themselves conformists to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England. Secondly. That no person whatsoever shall enjoy this proposed liberty but such as shall, without the coercion of law, pay all tithes and duties due from him to the church, parish, and 66 poor. "Thirdly. That all persons, of what separate persuasion soever, who are members of any corporate town, shall be eligible to any corporation office, and required to give legal testimony of their conformity; and, upon their refusal thereof, be declared incapable to execute the office, and shall pay such fine, and undergo such penalties, as a conformist is liable to in case of his refusal of the like office. Fourthly. That in regard the laws have determined the principles of the Romish religion to be inconsistent with the safety of your majesty's person and government; and that those fanatics of the fifth monarchy are professed opposers of A. D. 1667-8. |