Selections from the Observator (1681-1687)

In Short

This volume collects serial political dialogues authored between 1681 and 1687 by Sir Roger L'Estrange, the Tory polemicist and Crown licenser. Writing through fictionalized conversational partners, L'Estrange counters the anti-monarchical propaganda of Whig publishers, dissenter sects, and political Trimmers during the volatile aftermath of the Popish Plot. The text captures the urgent ideological warfare of the late Stuart Restoration. It endures as an essential monument of early English journalism, illustrating how popular print was first systematically deployed to shape public sentiment, weaponize common language, and defend absolute royal authority against religious and civil dissent.

The Story

The intellectual arc of the Observator papers follows a calculated offensive against the perceived subverters of the English monarchy and the Church of England. Written in the shadow of intense national anxiety, the collection opens in April 1681 as an emergency intervention. L'Estrange establishes that public madness stems directly from an unbridled press, asserting that print alone must administer the remedy to undeceive a gullible populace. In its initial phase, the commentary targets the aggressive Whig faction aligned with the Earl of Shaftesbury and the hysteria surrounding the Popish Plot, which L'Estrange exposes as a fabricated conspiracy designed to mask a parliamentary power struggle. He singles out prominent opposition printers and pamphleteers, matching their radical doctrines with sharp counter-propaganda to neutralize their influence.

As the Whig opposition loses its immediate momentum and rival presses are gradually silenced, the polemical focus shifts toward a new political target: the Trimmers. L'Estrange turns his sights on these moderate, self-styled political compromisers, viewing their surface morality and calls for religious toleration as far more insidious than outright rebellion. Through rigorous back-and-forth debate, the argument expands to attack all nonconformist sects—including Anabaptists, Separatists, and Quakers—framing their private religious gatherings as secret training grounds where subjects unlearn their native loyalty and adopt strange, seditious doctrines.

Throughout the progression, L'Estrange systematically dismantles his opponents' rhetoric by exposing how political factions manipulate language to create artificial public panic. He demonstrates how words like liberty, conscience, and Protestantism are altered from their original meanings to undermine the King's prerogative. Toward the close of the series on the eve of the Glorious Revolution, the discourse shifts into a reflective examination of how popular jealousies are deliberately manufactured to destabilize a nation. The ultimate trajectory of the work completes a total defense of absolute monarchy and established religious conformity, arguing to the very end that civil peace depends entirely upon unmasking political hypocrites and upholding the authority of the Crown.

How It Unfolds

The press as a battleground The series opens in April 1681 with a firm declaration that widespread public disorder is a contagious disease spread by malicious print, which can only be cured by deploying truth through the very same medium.

Unmasking the Whig faction L'Estrange singles out radical publishers and opposition figures, identifying the Popish Plot as an invented Whig maneuver designed to destabilize the King's authority under the guise of religious zeal.

Exposing radical dissent The commentary parodies the intellectual pretensions of nonconformist sects, ridiculing their preferred literature while linking their doctrines directly to historical instances of bloody fanaticism and anarchy.

Satirizing the enemy's style Through mocked dialogues, the text lampoons the formal training of dissenting academies, depicting how ministers are methodically taught specific gestures, groans, and vocal tones to manipulate their congregations.

Targeting the Trimmers As overt Whig hostility subsides, the focus turns toward political moderates, exposing their hypocritical pleas for compromise as a subtle form of treason that erodes public loyalty.

Deconstructing political panic The final papers analyze the mechanics of public fear, detailing how ambitious agitators weaponize language, misinterpret scripture, and exploit naive followers to construct a counterfeit version of law and religion.

The People

• Observator / Tory

The dominant voice of the dialogues, representing L'Estrange's own political persona. He acts as an unyielding defender of the Crown and the Church of England, utilizing trenchant wit, bitter irony, and direct proverbs to expose sedition. He wants total public obedience to the monarchy and works tirelessly to dismantle opposition propaganda.

• Whig

The early conversational opponent, designed as a naive and gullible figure who blindly accepts party rumors and radical pamphlets. He lacks the intellectual capacity for discrimination, preferring sectarian texts over classical historians, and ultimately serves to highlight the absurdity of the anti-royalist faction.

• Trimmer

The later, more sophisticated adversary who represents moderate political compromisers. Armed with surface morality and subtle guile, he attempts to tone down partisan conflict and mock Observator's stubbornness, but is ultimately unmasked as a hypocritical agent whose moderate stance conceals a dangerous threat to absolute royal authority.

• The Faction (Smith, Harris, and Shaftesbury)

The collective antagonists driving the commentary, consisting of Whig politicians like the late Earl of Shaftesbury and radical publishers such as Francis "Elephant" Smith and Benjamin Harris. They seek to curtail the royal prerogative and promote religious dissent, standing as the chief subverters of state order.

In Its Own Voice

"'Tis the Press that has made'um Mad, and the Press must set'um Right again."

This opening declaration establishes L'Estrange's central conviction that print propaganda is the primary source of national upheaval and the only tool capable of restoring public sanity.

"Fears & Jelousies, are the Corner Stone of the Babel."

Here, the dialogue identifies the psychological foundation of political conspiracy, arguing that no government can be overthrown until popular anxieties are deliberately stoked against state authority.

"They come by Insensible Degrees, to part with their English Tongue, as well as with their English Principles, and Manners."

This observation warns that joining nonconformist conventicles isolates citizens from traditional civic life, causing them to adopt an alien jargon that undermines their native loyalty to King and country.

What It's Really About

At its core, the text is an investigation into the mechanics of political propaganda and the vulnerability of public opinion. L'Estrange argues that political instability is rarely spontaneous; rather, it is orchestrated by ambitious partisans who exploit popular ignorance through the controlled distortion of language. The work addresses the profound tension between absolute authority and individual conscience, asserting that private religious dissent inevitably leads to civil rebellion. By dissecting the rhetoric of his enemies, L'Estrange attempts to demonstrate that terms like "liberty" and "reformation" are frequently weaponized to mask subversion. Beneath its partisan attacks, the book grapples with a central question: how can a kingdom preserve peace and law when mass media gives every fanatic the power to mislead the public?

Why Read It Today

This collection offers a rare, front-row seat to the birth of modern political journalism and public relations. Readers interested in seventeenth-century English history, the Restoration monarchy, or the evolution of mass media will find it a fascinating study in ideological warfare. L'Estrange writes with a kinetic, muscular prose style packed with colorful period proverbs, bitter satire, and sharp dramatic pacing that brings the coffee-house debates of old London vividly to life.

The text does present real challenges for a modern reader. It assumes a granular familiarity with late Stuart politics, forgotten pamphleteers, and obscure religious sects, requiring close attention to historical context. Furthermore, L'Estrange's uncompromising reactionary stance—rejecting religious toleration and branding all political moderation as hypocrisy—can feel abrasive. Yet, precisely because of its fierce conviction, the book remains powerfully relevant. It reveals that our contemporary anxieties over media manipulation, fake news, and political polarization are not modern inventions, but long-standing features of public life.

<ElicitationsGroup message="To explore the historical and literary context of this work further:"> <Elicitation label="Examine L'Estrange's use of dialogue as a political tool" query="Analyze how Sir Roger L'Estrange uses the dialogue format in the Observator to persuade readers and discredit political opponents."/> <Elicitation label="Compare Whig and Tory printing strategies during the Restoration" query="What were the key differences between Whig and Tory propaganda strategies during the Exclusion Crisis and Popish Plot era?"/> </ElicitationsGroup>