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 War_, or a _Term_ whereby to give Notice for Onset. On the contrary, I had observed that wherever People are united by _Interest_, though of a thousand opposite Sects, Persuasions and Professions, they never fail to join in the Maintenance and Defence of _common Rights_. I, therefore, did not fear the _Roman Catholics_, as having a different _Religion_, but as having an _Interest_ that was different from the Interest of _Protestants_. Were they a Compound of all the Follies, Absurdities, and Contradictions that ever were generated by Monster-bearing Superstition, had their Interest bound them to us, I should not have feared their _Fealty_.