I Gasper Fagel , having the honour to serve the Great and Mighty States of Holland and Westfriesland in the Quality of their Pensioner , cannot any longer delay the giving the Publick this account , that in the Month of July last 1687. I was very earnestly desired by Mr. James Stewart Advocate , to write to him what were the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts concerning the Repealing of the TEST and the Penal Laws : but I was not easily brought to put Pen to Paper on this subject , because I knew that their Highnesses thoughts , did not agree with his Majesties : so that the Writing in such matters was extream tender : therefore I delayed it till I was more earnestly pressed to it ; and it was intimated to me , that those pressing desires were made by His Majesties Knowledge and Allowance : at last I did according to the mind of their Highnesses , draw the Letter which I writ to Mr. Stewart on the fourth of November : I transmitted the draught of my Letter to their Highnesses , and received upon it their order to send it , after that their Highnesses had read and examined the draught in Dutch , together with the Translation of it into English : upon all this I sent my Letter to Mr. Stewart in the beginning of November , and received an Answer from him , by which he signified , that he had shewed my Letter , both to the Earl of Melfort and to the Earl of Sunderland , and that it was also shewed to the King himself ; nor did he in the least intimate to me that it was desired that I should make any great secret of it , or take care that it should nor become publick : That Letter , was afterwards about the middle of January , printed in England ; and upon its coming over into this Countrey , it has occasioned a gteat deal of noise ; yet I have not hitherto concerned my self in all those discourses , or in all that has been Writ and Printed upon it . But have let all people reason or write concerning it as they pleased ; But I have lately seen an English Book , entitled , Parliamentum Pacificum , printed at London , in this present year , by vertue of a Licence signed by the Earl of Sunderland : in which that Letter writ by me , is not only called a Pretended Piece , but it is said , that that which I had set forth in my Letter concerning the Prince and Princesses thoughts , relating to the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws was advanced by me without the knowledge of their Highnesses , at least of Her Royal Highness : and by this the Reader may be perhaps wrought on to believe either that my Letter was a Pretended Piece , and Forgery , or that I writ it without Order from their Highnesses ; since it may indeed seem scarce probable , that the Author could have obtained a Licence for the Printing of a Paper that contains such falshoods in it , which the Court and in particular the Earl of Sunderland could not but know to be such : for they know weli both that the Letter was writ by me , and that I was ordered to write it by their Highnesses ▪ theerfore I could not delay any longer to undeceive the world . Thus I am obliged to publish this account of the matter . I have still in my possession , those Letters by which I was earnestly pressed to write the forementioned Letter , in which it is expresly said , that they were writ by His Majesties Knowledge and Allowance : I have also that Letter in which notice is given that my Letter had come to hand , and that it was shewed not only to the Earls of Melfort and Sunderland , but to His Majesty himself , so that they know well that it is no Pretended Piece . I have also by me the Letter , by which His Highness desired me to send my Letter to Mr. Stewart , together with the English Translation of it : all which I will Print , if I find it necessary . So that it is a gross abuse put on the world , to say that my Letter is a Forgery , since as it was truly writ by me , so it has been avowed by me ever since it first appeared : And it is a base Calumny and Slander , to say , that I writ that account of their Highnesses thoughts concerning the Repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws without their knowledge ; which appears so much the more evident ▪ since it cannot be imagined , that their Highnesses would not have expressed their just resentments , at so high and extravagant a presumption as I should have committed , if I had written any account of their thoughts , without their knowledge : All this has obliged me for my own Vindication to write the following Letter , to the Marquis of Albeville , His Majesties Envoy to the States : because I have had much discourse with him concerning the writing of that Letter , long before this Book called Parliamentum Pacificum was published : but I will not engage my self any further to examin the reasons of the Author of that Pamphlet : for I know well , that in those matters the world is divided into very different sentiments , and that men are apt to approve or censure such things , according to their preconceived Opinions : Of all this I thought it necessary to advertise my Reader , and to Order this account of my Letter to be Printed by a known Printer from a Copy signed by my hand :

THere has appeared here an English Book Printed at London this year , Entitled Parliamentum Pacificum , with an Imprimatur before it signed by the Earl of Sunderland : of which I cannot but complain to you how averse soever I am from all things of that kind . It is affirmed in that Book , that the Letter which I writ to Mr. Stewart the Fourth of November last year , concerning the Test and the Penal Laws is a Pretended Piece , or at least that I writ it without Order ; and without the consent of their Highnesses , and more particularly of her Royal Highness the PRINCESS of ORANGE : I will not engage my self to examin and refute the particulars that are in that Book , for that were as unsuteable to the Character I bear , as it is to my own Inclinations : which do both concur in making it unfit for me to enter upon a publick dispute in things of this nature : But you cannot think it strange , if I desire you to call to mind , that it was not of my own head that I was engaged to write that Letter which is now called in question : it was far from that : I was pressed by earnest and often repeated Instances for the space of four Months , that were made to me in His Majesties name , to write upon that subject ; which at last prevailed with me ; yet I went about it with all the caution that a matter of such Importance required ; and I took care not to write one single period in that whole Letter , that I apprehended might give His Majesty the least offence : yet after all I see this Letter is treated as an Imposture , in a Book published by Authority : thô both His Majesty and the whole Court know the truth of this matter , which Sir , I have in particular owned to your self , as being the Kings Minister here : as I have also owned it to all that have spoke to me upon the Subject . But that which troubles me more is , that I am accused for having made use of their Highnesses name , and in particular of her Royal Highnesses without their Order , as if I were capable of so Infamous a Forgery , and of an Imposture so unworthy of any Man of honour , and that chiefly in a matter of so great Consequence . Sir , You must not think it strange , if in this I appeal to your self , to that which you know , and which you have often owned to me your self : that their Highnesses , and particularly Her Royal Highness , have often expressed to you their thoughts concerning the Test and the Penal Laws , conform to that which I writ in their names : which you owned to me , that you had writ to the Court of England , long before I writ that Letter , and that therefore you could not imagin upon what reason the Court could press me so much as they did to write to Mr. Stewart . I do assure you , I find my self very little concerned in what is said in this late Book , or in any other of that kind : I foresaw well enough from the begining that I should be attackt upon the account of my Letter : in which it was Indifferent to me what any man thought of it . But this Book being published by the Authority of a Licence granted by the Earl of Sunderland President of His Majesties Privy Council and Secretary of State , I find my honour is so touched in it , that I am obliged to undeceive the world , of the false accusation with which I am charged in it . And I thought Sir , that I could not do this better , than by Writing to you , that are His Majesties Minister , and who know perfectly the truth of the matter , that is now called in question : and therefore I desire you will write concerning it , to the Earl of Sunderland : I believe he has not seen or at ieast that he has not considered the passages of that Book that do concern me . For I am sure if he had done that , he would never have Licensed it : for my Lord Sunderland know , as well as any man alive does , that my Letter to Mr. Stewart is no Pretended Piece : he himself saw the Letter , or at least the English Translation of it that I sent along with it : And he could not but know likewise , both by your Letters , and by what you told by word of mouth , that their Highnesses , and in particular Her Royal Highness , have often owned to you , their sense of the Test and the Penal Laws , conform to that which I writ in their name to Mr. Stewart . So I do perswade my self , that My Lord Sunderland will have the Justice and Goodness to recall this Licence , which has been obtained of him by a surprise : and that the Author of so manifest and so Injurious a Calumny , shall be punished as he deserveth . I will not likewise conceal from you , the design I have of publishing an account of all that has passed in this matter , as well as of this Letter , which I take the liberty now to write to you , in which my design is not to enter into any dispute concerning the matter it self , much less to offend any person whatsoever , but only to cover my Honour which is struck at by this attrocious Calumny .