Tuesday, October 31. 1704.

[289]
Numb. 69.

THE poor Protestants in Hungary, when Count Teckely took Arms, were something, in my Opinion, like the disciples of our Saviour, who thought he was come to restore the Temporal Kingdom to Israel: The Innocent People had been Insulted, and ill Treated by the Germans, but especially by the Priests; who always taking Care to misrepresent them to the Emperor, as the Principals in the Discontents and Disturbances of the Hungarians; took Care, also that whatever Breaches happen’d between the Hungarians and the Germans, were upon all occasions, plac’d to the account of the Protestants: Upon these suggestions, the Priests, like Satan in the Case of Job, got the Power of them, and had them committed, as it were, to their Discretion, with a Behold! He is in thy hands.

Nor did the Emperor in this Case, imitate the Merciful part of the Almighty’s Commission to Satan, in the Case of Job, but save his Life; for these poor Miserables were deliver’d over, without any Restriction, to the Soldiers, and to the Priests; the first it may be suppos’d, had little compassion for their goods, the latter had less for their Lives and Posterity; and in the Prosectution of this Latitude, their churches were seiz’d, their Schools dissolv’d, their Estates and Honours sequestred, their Persons imprisoned, and drag’d to Publick Executions; all manner of Injuries and Oppressions practised upon the People, and all sorts of Cruelties upon their Ministers, 200 of which we find at one time in the Spanish Galleys, coupled with Turks, Moors, and Malefactors, and Condemn’d to the Miseries of the Oar, a Martyrdom, if I may be allow’d to be Judge, much worse, and more intolerable than the severest Tortures of a Dioclesian Persecution.

Yet under all these Extremities, the horror of which I cannot pretend to describe by words, nor can the 24 Letters, be capable of such a Position, as to Convey true and proportion’d Idea’s of their Sufferings, to the Mind; yet I say, under all these Extremities, the Protestants of Hungary never offer’d to take Arms, or to rise in their own Defence; never Oppos’d Force to Violence, or Defended the Just and Native Right they had, as Men and Christians, to the Freedom and Independency of Conscience; but Patiently, and with a Passive Fortitude, unexampled in these latter Ages of the World, submitted their Necks to the Yoke of Persecution, and became Martyrs to their Cause, chearfully Suffering all the Indignities, Tortures and Distresses, that a Cruel Ecclesiastick Tyranny, which is always the worst, could Invent.

Not that it was not Lawful for them to have, by Force, repell’d such unjust Oppressions; and that Murther, Tyranny and Injustice, may not be withstood by the Innocent Oppress’d People, whenever they find all Peaceable, Legal [290] Methods, ineffectual to Secure their Civil, or Religious Right – This is a Doctrine so rooted in the Laws of Nature, so confirm’d from Heaven, and so constantly Practised by all People, and Nations in the World, of what Religion or Profession soever; that to Oppose it, must be to extinguish Reason, obliterate Nature, contradict the Practice of Immemorial Custom, and give up the Power God has intrusted every Man with, to defend the Blessings bestow’d, and which it must be as Lawful to Maintain as Enjoy. Continue reading Tuesday, October 31. 1704.

Saturday, October 28. 1704.

Numb. 68.
[285]

OUR last Review brought on the great Argument of the Hungarians being the Causes of the War with the Turks, in 1682.

And first, I might ask our Opponents to produce any other Reason for that War; and to shew us, what even the Turks themselves had to alledge against the Emperor?

In all the Embassies the Emperor made to the Port, and in all the Treaties with the Turks, there was not one Pretence ever offered, why the Port was disgusted; no such thing as Reparation or Satisfaction Demanded, but in the last offer, which the Turk ever made to the Emperor; this was the main thing the Bassa insisted on, viz. That it should be Lawful for the Turks to assist the Malecontents of Hungaria.

Now let any Man but consider, what sort of a Peace this must have been, that the Emperor must have been ty’d up to have acted no Hostilities on the Turks, and at the same time they were at Liberty to have brought down the whole Force of the Ottoman Empire upon him, under the specious sham of assisting the HungariansContinue reading Saturday, October 28. 1704.

Tuesday, October 24. 1704.

Numb. 67.
[281]

IN my Account of the Hungarians, I think I have plainly enough distinguish’d, that I am of Opinion, those of them call’d Protestants, were not either the first in the Design, or first in the Execution, of the Revolt from the Emperor; but as they came at last, to joyn in the general Revolution of Affairs, and to have the deepest share in the Suffering part, ’tis necessary I should say something to let the World see how far they were, or were not, concern’d in it.

I can not but think ’tis a little hard, that some who are tender of the Reputation of the Protestants, should be so Partial, as to believe I should not do them Justice in this Relation, or so impatient, as not to wait till the Course of the Story brought me to it.

The Reflection made on the Relation, and on the Author, have so little weight in them, that I have not really thought them worth Notice hitherto, and shall only touch on them now; To say of the Author, he has chang’d his Principles, and writes to please a Party, is to show themselves as Weak as Malicious; since as in all his Practice, no Man can be nam’d that has more to his Personal Prejudice, despised the Partiality of Parties, and is not asham’d to affirm, that as no Party in the World can make him an offer large enough to Tempt him to forsake his Principles, so neither can they Terrify him from owning the Truth, which he has always adher’d to.

Nor is this at all concern’d in his Writing of the Hungarian Malecontents; and if these Censorious Gentlemen please to have Patience, they will find the Author of these Sheets freely declaring himself upon the Principle of Salus Populi Suprema lex, as often as there shall be occasion; and sufficiently to defend himself from the Scandal of shifting his Principles. Continue reading Tuesday, October 24. 1704.

Tuesday, October 17. 1704.

Numb. 65.
[273]

THE Defeat of Count Teckely, and the Bassa of Great Warradin near Presburgh, was but the beginning of their Sorrows; about 12 days after the said Fight, he joyn’d another Body of Hungarians and Tartars, and Passing the River Mark, entred Moravia, Burnt and Ravag’d 16 or 18 Villages, in a most Barbarous manner, and Summon’d the whole Province to pay him Contribution.

The Duke of Lorrain Detach’d 500 Polanders, and 800 German Horse, with 200 Dragoons, to advance and put a stop to them, till the rest of the Army could be got together. This small Detachment met the Malecontents, at a River near Ancren, in Moravia; and being surrounded by them, were oblig’d to Charge their whole; Whether it was the extraordinary Bravery of the Imperialists, or which is more likely, the Hungarians intimidated and dispirited by the foulness of their Cause, and the hand of Heaven, we cannot be certain; but this small Party of 1500 Men, routed their whole Army, Kill’d 500 Men, Took 2000 Prisoners, 12 of their Standards, and recover’d all their Plunder, and particularly above 3000 poor Country People, who the Tartars had taken Prisoners, designing to sell them to the Turks.

Thus the Turks went on Prosperously enough with their Siege, yet the Hungarians were Beaten on all occasions.

Count Teckely, to be reveng’d for their Affront, obtains 2000 Turkish Horse of the Grand Visier, and joyning to them 1000 of his own, under a Brother of Count Budiani, Orders them to pass the River Waagh, and Ravage the Frontiers of the Hereditary Conntries between the Mark and Moravia; but the Duke of Lorrain sending Orders to some of the Saxon Forces which were on their March for the Relief of Vienna, they laid a Snare for them, and drew them into an Ambuscade, which unexpectedly surrounding them, cut them all off, or took them Prisoners; among the latter, the Young Count Budiani was Taken, and died of his Wounds, and Teckely’s Secretary was kill’d. Continue reading Tuesday, October 17. 1704.

Saturday, October 14. 1704.

Numb. 64.
[269]

THE Success of the Hungarians, under Count Teckely, after they had put themselves under the Protection of the Turk, is the present Subject we are upon; whether God Almighty, in his Righteous Providence, Punish’d them for their Infidelity and Distrust, in quitting their Dependence upon his Omnipotence, and flying to his Enemies for Aid; whether it was for their Disloyalty to the Emperor, or for their Cruelties in the Execution of their Resentments against the Germans; or for what other Reasons, I am willing to leave that Particular undecided.

’Tis my proper Business to make out the Fact, as I have alledg’d it in several past Papers; viz. That from the time that they abandon’d their Faith, Revolted from, and Betray’d the Christian Army, under the Duke of Lorrain, on the River Raab; the Consequences of which, were that dreadful Eruption of the Tartars into the German part of Lower Hungary, into Austria, Stiria, and Moravia; the Destruction of a Plentiful, Flourishing, and some of it Protestant Country, for above 100 Miles Square; the Murther or Captivity of above 40000 Innocent Christians, the Retreat or Flight of the Imperial Army, and after that the Siege of Vienna: From this time the Divine Protection visibly forsook them, and Heaven seem’d plainly to have left them to the Vengeance and Punishment of their own ways, fill’d them with their own doings, and they fell before the Germans as Grass beneath the hands of the Mower.

The first instance of this we have in Sir Roger Manley’s History aforemention’d, under the Head of the Seige of Vienna.

The Hungarians, who, as has been already Noted, Concerted Measures with the Grand Visier at Buda, had contriv’d effectually to Secure the Ruin of Vienna, by placing themselves on the Borders of Austria, so Securing the Passes of the Mountains on that side, effectually to prevent the King of Poland, who was then on his March to Relive the City; had they Succeeded in their Design, the Poles could not have come at all, or else must have March’d so far about, that it had been impossible for Vienna, which, as it was, found it self reduc’d to the last extremity, to have held out till their Arrival. Continue reading Saturday, October 14. 1704.

Tuesday, October 10. 1704.

Numb. 63.
[265]

I Am not justifying here the Honour of such Princes Proceedings, who fall upon their Neighbours, and begin Wars and Hostilities, without pretence of Quarrel, and without Declaring first their Resolution.

But for the Edification of those Gentlemen; who are willing the Swedes should ruin the King of Poland, because he Assaulted them without a just Ground; I would recommend to their consideration, how the Hungarians joyn’d with the Turks, in a War against the Emperor, under the obligation of a Solemn Peace, unbroken, and which had three Years yet to come, and without any ground of Complaint on the Turks behalf.

Nay, so openly, and against all Justice and Honour did the Turks break this Peace, that when afterwards the Losses and Destruction of the War, brought them to think their Priests at Constantinople exclaim’d against the injustice of it, and the Rabble Sacrificed those who had been the occasion of it; Declaring their great Prophet Mahomet was Angry at their beginning so Dishonourable a War; and Teckely himself was in no small danger among them upon this Account.

Yet I never read that our Hungarians, and who, some would have all call’d Protestants, made the least scruple of the Turks denying the Emperor this Ceremony, but treated his Imperial Majesty in all Cases, as if he was a Person with whom no Measures were to be observed, breaking all their Truces and Cessations, seizing their Magazines, intercepting his Convoys, even when under Treaties and Capitulations. Continue reading Tuesday, October 10. 1704.

Tuesday, September 12. 1704.

Numb. 55.
[233]

I Am now upon a Question, Concerning the Oppressions of the Hungarians, by the Emperor’s Ministers.

I am not going to lessen their Grievances, nor indeed, to enquire into the Particulars; if they have been us’d as we are told they have, ’tis bad enough.

But the Case before us, is to bring the Subject of Complaint, and the Persons complaining, to a fair Head, and make the great Relative here agree with the Antecedent.

The Question is, Have the German’s opprest the Hungarians, as a Nation, or have they Persecuted and Injur’d them as Protestants? Continue reading Tuesday, September 12. 1704.

Saturday, September 9. 1704.

Numb. 54.
[229]

I Cannot but earnestly desire those Gentlemen, who are so eager to have the Hungarians Assisted, and have them run down and ruin the Emperor, to look in and view the General Reasons of this Great and Desperate War now depending in Europe, and see, either we are upon a right Bottom, or a wrong.

If the Hungarians are to be assisted to pull down the Emperor, then the French are fighting to Establish the Protestant Religion; for the French are aiming directly at the Imperial Crown, and are willing the Hungarians should help to pull it down – What tho’ they drive at the same thing for different Reasons, yet by which way soever the Emperor falls, what hands soever pull him down, ’tis French Power succeeds him: If the Hungarians depose the Imperial Power, they Crown the French Empire the same Moment. If then the Hungarians by Fighting support, assist and encrease the French Grandeur; shall we assist them because they are Protestants? God forbid.

The business of the Confederates is to bring the Emperor to Grant the reasonable just Demands of the Hungarians, and to bring them to be content with what is Just, and no more; if they are puft up with their Prosperity, and cannot exercise Moderation enough in their Advantages, to make Terms, and secure the Liberties they want, and ’tis reasonable they should have Granted, they are equally our Enemies with the French, and we must assist the Emperor to reduce them; they are Tools of Universal Monarchy, Engines of Popery, and the blind Agents to the Destruction of all their Protestant Brethren in Europe.

I cannot think I have in this Trespass’d upon a True Principle of Protestant Zeal; I cannot be willing to have the Protestant Religion destroyed in Hungary; but if the Protestants in Hungary will be Mad Men, if they will make the Protestant Religion in Hungary Clash with the Protestant Religion in all the rest of Europe, we must prefer the Major Interest to the Minor. If a Protestant will joyn with a Papist to destroy me, he is a Papist to me, and equally my Enemy, let his Principles be what they will. Continue reading Saturday, September 9. 1704.

Tuesday, September 5. 1704.

Numb. 53.
[225]

I Came in the last Review, to some Nice distinctions, which I cannot but think very necessary, in Order to make the Understanding of the Present Case easy, as to the Hungarians and the Emperor.

I have Granted as much in behalf of the Hungarians, as can in Reason be desired: I have allow’d them to be Oppress’d, Persecuted, Plunder’d and ill Treated, even more than I can heartily suppose they have been; I admit all the hard words they give the Emperor of Germany and the Jesuits; all the Blood and Rapine Committed, or pretended to be Committed, upon the poor Protestants of that Distracted Kingdom; and all this, whether true or no, I Grant, to avoid the trouble of the Argument.

This may perhaps make it justifiable for them to Depose the King of Hungaria, but it cannot make out a Reason, why they should depose the Emperor of Germany; suppose Male Administration does qualify People for the Disciplining their Governours, deposing their Princes, and the like; it does not at the same time furnish them with a Title to Invade their Neighbours; it may lead them to dismiss Tyrants, but not to meddle with any Tyrants but their own; Insurrections of People may be for the Recovery or Defence of Liberty, never for the making of Conquests –

If they proceed to Conquests and Invasions, there is certainly something else in their Design than the Recovery of their Liberty, and the settling Religion: The Grievances of the Hungarians can give them no Title to Ravage Moravia, Plunder and Destroy Austria. Continue reading Tuesday, September 5. 1704.

Saturday, September 2. 1704.

Numb. 52.
[221]

I Have done with the Swedes: Monsieur L—n may concern himself to defend the Polish Election, in what Way and Method he pleases; I am perswaded he will never Compass it to his Master’s Reputation.

Conquest indeed may go a great way; Victory is so Sacred a thing, and Men are so apt to give the Sanction of Right, where Heaven gives the Blessing of Success, that to Argue against the Justice of that Cause, to which the Sword gives the Authority, is almost to oppose the General Stress of Human Reasoning.

If Stanislaus the Palatin of Posen, for as yet I can call him no more, by the Assistance of the Swede, Conquers the present King of Poland, who shall dispute his being Lawful King? I question whether the King of Sweden himself, or half the Kings in Europe have better Titles.

If Conquest be not a Lawful Title to a Crown, we must go back to the Oracle and Enquire, where the Grand Spring of Title is to be found; and unless the People come in to help us out, I doubt we shall be at a loss. Continue reading Saturday, September 2. 1704.