o suppress them as Enemies, nor yet
sufficiently favourable to attach them to us as Friends. They were not so
cruel as, wholly, to serve for quelling; and yet they had a Poignancy that
might tend to provoke. And all this I imputed to the Resentment that was
blended with the Humanity of our Ancestors. Their Humanity left to Papists
a Power of hurting, while their Resentment abridged the Inducements that
might engage them to serve us.

Believe me, Sir, I never was of a cruel or persecuting Disposition. I was
grieved to see the Discouragements under which the _Roman Catholics_ of
this Kingdom laboured, but these very Discouragements made me fear them
the more.

Previous to the Letters, which you censure so warmly, a dangerous
Rebellion had broken out in _Scotland_, in consequence of a _French_
Invasion, that was headed by a Popish Pretender to the Throne. Be pleased
to remember, (if it is not too mortifying a Recollection for a free-born
_Briton_) the Pannic into which all _England_ was struck by a few _Scotch_
Vassals, undisciplined, and unactuated by any Motive of Liberty or Virtue,
save the Virtue of being attached to their _Laird_ or their _Leader_.
Millions of _English_, at that Time, sunk in the Down of a long Peace, and
enervated by ministerial Corruption and Venality, feared that a Handful of
_Highlanders_ would win their Way to _London_, and, at one Stroke, put a
Period to the boasted Strength and Grandeur of the _British_ Constitution.

I was astonished at the Apprehensions that _England_ was under from so
contemptible an Armament. But I deemed the Case of _Ireland_ to be highly
alarming. The _Roman-Catholics_, at that Time, outnumbered us Five to One.
They were disarmed, it is true, but I was not equally sure that they had
Reason to be reconciled. As they were not admitted to realize their
Fortune, it consisted of ready Money, and that gave ready Power. As they
were not permitted to purchase, or accept a Tenure of any valuable Length,
Loyalty, perhaps, might induce them to fight for their King; but where was
the Stake to impel them to fight for a Country in which they had no
_Inheritance_? Without an Interest in Lands, they had little to lose by
any Change of Estate. Without a Loan lodged with Government, they had the
less to lose by a Change of Constitution.

I cannot conceive how _Religion_, or mere Difference of Opinion, should
prove a real Cause of Quarrel among Men; though it often serves as a _Word
of W