steering a Channel Course Westward the Wind at E. N. E. a fresh Gale and on the 5th passing by Dartmouth it being hazy Weather they overshot Torbay where the Prince designed to Land But about 9 a Clock the Weather cleared up and the Wind changed to W. S. W. and the Fleet stood Eastward with a moderate Gale being about 4 or 500 Sail whereof there was 51 Men of War and 18 Fireships This Change of Wind was observed by Dr. Burnet to be of no long Duration but it immediately choped into another Corner when it had executed its Commission While the Prince was landing his Army and advanced to Exeter the King was vainly endeavouring to sooth the People by redressing the Disorders committed by the Soldiers and Promises of a Parliament which several of the Bishops and Nobility petitioned might be a Free Regular one in all its Circumstances wherewith His Majesty to discover his good Disposition did not appear by his Answer to be well-pleased And all Endeavours were used to make the Prince and his Army contemptible in the sight of the People by Printing a List of them and giving out That none of the Nobility and Gentry but only a few Rabble appeared for him and that the Prince's Declaration might be kept close from the Knowledge of the People yet it did not continue so long with the Prince whose Army was considerably augmented by the Junction of divers Persons of good Quality with him Neither could the Court any longer keep the Declaration suppress'd and therefore they suffered the same to be Printed with a Preface and some modest Remarks as the Author pretends on it VVhich Declaration was this that follows The Declaration of His Highness WILLIAM HENRY by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of ENGLAND for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for Restoring of the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland I. IT is both certain and evident to all Men That the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs Established by the Lawful Authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to maintain and preserve the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is Established among them and to take such an Effectual Care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs II. Upon these Grounds it is that we can't any longer forbear to declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of these Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect VVays but in an open and undisguised Manner III. These Evil Counsellors for the Advancing and Colouring this with some plausible Pretexts did invent and set on Foot the King 's Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those laws of no effect though there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt Concurrence of the King and Parliament so likewise Laws so Enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the Nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be repealed or suspended but by the same Authority IV. For though the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and for which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence that the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is cloathed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his Good Will and Pleasure and are entirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a Power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispense with them V. Those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring That this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to de disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws Enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining of this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion of the Judges and procured such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence to be turned out and others to be substituted in their Rooms till by the Changes that were made in the Courts of Judicature they at last obtained that Judgment And they have raised some to those Trusts who make open Profession of the Popish Religion tho' those are by Law render'd incapable of all such Employments VI. It is also manifest and notorious that as His Majesty was upon his coming to the Crown received and acknowledged by all the Subjects of England Scotland and Ireland as their King without the least Opposition tho' he made then open Profession of the Popish Religion so he did then promise and solemnly swear at his Coronation That he would maintain His Subjects in the free Enjoyment of their Laws and Liberties And in particular That he would maintain the Church of England as it was Established by Law It is likewise certain that there have been at divers and sundry times several Laws Enacted for the Preservation of those Rights and Liberties and of the Protestant Religion And among other Securities it has been Enacted That all Persons whatsoever that are advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity or to bear Office in the University as likewise all others that should be put into any Employment Civil or Military should declare that they were not Papists but were
an Oath without Authority of Parliament was contrary to Law That the raising of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention was contrary to Law That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges c. was contrary to Law That the imposing extraordinary Fines c. was contrary to Law That the imprisoning of Persons without expressing the Reasons c. was the same That the prosecuting and seizing Mens Estates as forfeited upon stretches of the old and obsolete Laws c. was contrary to Law That the nominating and imposing Magistrates c. upon Burroughs contrary to their express Charters was the same That the sending Letters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to desist from determining of Causes and ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them c. was contrary to Law That the granting of personal Protections c. was the same That the forcing the Subjects to depose against themselves in capital Causes however the Punishment were restricted was contrary to Law That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes was contrary to Law That the sending of an Army in a Hostile manner into any part of the Kingdom in time of Peace and exacting Locality and free Quarter was the same That charging the Subjects with Law-burroughs at the King's Instance and imposing Bonds without Authority of Parliament and the suspending Advocates for not appearing when Bonds were offer'd was contrary to Law That the putting Garrisons into private Mens Houses in time of Peace without Authority of Parliament was illegal That the Opinions of the Lords of the Sessions in the two Cases following were illegal viz. That the concerting the demand of Supply of a forefaulted Person although not given was Treason That Persons refusing to discover their private Thoughts in relation to points of Treason or other Mens Actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from Church was illegal The Prelates and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyter is and has been a great and unsupportable burthen to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having reformâ—d Popery by Presbytery and therefore ought to be abolish'd That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subject to protest for remedy of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounc'd by the Lords of the Sessions provided the same do not stop executions of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subject to petition the King and that all Prosecutions and Imprisonments for such petitioning are and were contrary to Law Therefore for the redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving the Laws they claim'd that Parliaments ought to be frequently call'd and allow'd to â—it and freedom of Speech and Debate allow'd the Members And then they farther claim'd and insisted upon all and sundry the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declaration or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter in Example but that all Forfeitures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Prosecutions Persecutions and rigorous Executions be consider'd and the Parties redress'd To which demand of their Rights and redress of their Grievances they took themselves to be encourag'd by the King of England's Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland in October last as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Therefore Forasmuch as they had an entire Confidence that His Majesty of England would perfect the Deliverance so far advanc'd by him and would still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they had asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland had resolv'd That William and Mary King and Queen of England be declared King and Queen of Scotland to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full Exercise of the Power be only in and exercis'd by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their Lives And after their Decease that the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which failing to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which also failing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And then withal they pray'd the said King and Queen to accept the same accordingly It was also declar'd by the Instrument That the Oath hereafter mention'd should be taken by all Protestants by whom the Oath of Allegiance or any other Oaths and Declarations might be requir'd by Law instead of it and that the Oath of Allegiance and all other Oaths and Declarations should be abrogated The Oath was but short and conformable to that which was prescrib'd in England I A. B. Do sincerely promise and swear That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary So help me God This Act being brought to perfection the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners were dispatch'd away with it for London to present it to the King and Queen and to take their Oath which being done the same day as Their Majesties were Crowned King and Queen of England they were also proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland and May 11th the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners tender'd the Coronation Oath to their Majesties which was distinctly pronounced word by word by the Earl while their Majesties repeated the Sentences after him holding up their Right-hands all the while according to the Custom of Scotland but when the King came to that Clause in the Oath We shall be careful to root out Hereticks he declared that he did not mean by those words that he was under any obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners replied That neither the meaning of the Oath nor the Law of Scotland did import it Whereupon the King said That he took the Oath in that sense and called the Commissioners and other 's there present to be Witnesses of his so doing Then the Convention was turn'd into a Parliament who abolish'd Episcopal Church-Government and restor'd the Presbyterian one which with other concurring Causes made things somewhat uneasie in that Kingdom for a time For tho Edenburgh Castle was June 13th surrender'd to Sir John Lamier yet Dundee gathered strength in the North for the late King between whose Party and Mackays past several Actions and the first was July 16th near Blaine in the County of Athol where Mackay with 4000 Foot and 4 Troops of Horse and Dragoons attack'd Dundee who had 6000 Foot and 100 Horse on his side and between whom there was a
Sweden two Days after The Danish Embassador was so enraged at this Peace that he scrupled not the Day after to express his Discontent publickly at the House of the Mareschal de Estrades saying and several times repeating the same That if the French King pleased he had sufficient Authority to conclude a League with him and to get it ratified by his Danish Majesty who would oblige himself to make War against the Emperor in what Manner and for as long a Time as his most Christian Majesty should desire him But this Heat blowing over and finding there was no reliance upon the Disputes that happened and Doubts that did arise between the Imperial and French Embassadors between the Signing and Ratifying the Treaty so as to hinder the Effect of the latter they began to think of another Way Wherefore M. de Meyeâ—kron the Danish Envoy at the Hague had upon a View and Foresight how Things were like to go some Time since made some distant Overtures to the French Minister there for an Accomodation but now he seemed to quicken his Pace and to appear very willing to have managed a Negotiation with the Count d' Avaux yet the Offers were still so general that they gave but little Ground for a positive Answer at leastwise the French Embassador would have it so And therefore he made Answer in the same Manner as the other French Embassadors had done at Nimeguen that in order to a more favourable Hearing the King of Denmark must begin by releasing the Swedish Soldiers who since the Time they were Shipwrack'd upon the Isle of Barnholm were not only detained Prisoners contrary to the Priviledges of the Passports which they had but likewise exposed to Violence which they daily suffered on Design to make them engage in the Danish Service or at leastwise forsake that of Sweden That the King of Denmark should by so doing purge himself of that Shipwrack which the French King was nevertheless inclined to attribute rather to Chance and the mistake of the Pilots than any premeditated Design but that in the mean time the Inhumane Manner of detaining and using those Forces could not but be thought very strange The Duke of Brandenburg also on his part being willing to neglect nothing that might procure him the desired Satisfaction had sometime since got leave for Mr Meinders his Envoy to go into France to 〈◊〉 what could be done on that side to bring things to an amicable Composure and somewhat in his Favour But finding Matters did not answer his Expectation he now endeavours to imbroil the Affairs of the Empire in the Treaty with France and Sweden by Virtue only of the Conclusion of the Diet at Ratisbon 13th May 1677 The Embassador of Brandenburg produced a Copy of it at Nimeguen with a new Protestation alledging That that Conclusion of the Empire was not conform to the Sense that was put upon it in the 36th Article of the Emperor's Treaty with France and in the 12th of that of the Emperor 's with Sweden and that the Imperial Embassadors were so far from having by that means any sufficient Authority to Treat in the Name of the whole Empire that on the contrary the Emperor himself was thereby required to conclude nothing at Nimeguen without first submitting the same to the Deliberation of the Diet and that the Embassadors of his Imperial Majesty by adding in these Articles That all or any Protestations that might be made in the Empire against that Peace were to be void and of none effect had in so doing committed the greatest Violation and manifestly contravented the Golden Bull the Imperial Capitulations Constitutions of the Empire and the very Treaties of Westphalia on which they now pretended to settle the Peace of the Empire But this did no good neither yet the Disappointment thereof was nothing near so surprizing to the Elector as the French King by his Embassadors declaring on the 24th of Feb. to Sir Lionel Jenkins the English Mediator That if within the Month of March the King of Denmark and Elector of Brandenburg did not give full Satisfaction to Sweden his Majesty should be free then to demand new Conditions which would be That Leipstadt should be restored to the Elector of Cologne and that both those Princes should pay to his Majesty all the Charges of the War and that at a time too when his Arms had been very successful as having just then forced the Swedish Troops to quit Prusia and with Precipitation to retreat into Livonia much harrassed with Sicknesses and long Marches as well as Losses in several Skirmishes with Parties of the Elector's Forces which made the demanded Restitutions for Sweden still the harder to go down with the Elector and his Ally the King of Denmark And partly from these Considerations most of the Powers at Nimeguen and even the Mediators themselves openly declared That the entire Restitution of all that the Swedes had lost during the War would be an insuperable Obstacle to the Peace To this it was further added That it was not to be expected that Sweden would make too much haste to put an end to the War since the 800000 Crowns Subsidy which that King had allowed him by France were better to him than the Revenues of Pomerania and all that he possess'd in Germany and that if the French King did not by his Interest and Authority make the Peace of Sweden that Crown would never make the least Advance towards it especially so long as it was so well supported by the Men and Money of France Insomuch that the Mediator and the Embassadors of all the other Princes who had made Peace perceiving that the Month of March which the French King had set as the longest Delay to the Elector of Brandenburg was drilled on in Debates and Disputes in Writing without any serious Application to the promoting of the Peace They could think of no better Expedient for the present than to procure a Cessation of Arms during all the following Month not doubting but in that time all the Difficulties which obstructed the Conclusion of the General Peace might be removed This Motion was agreed to by the French provided the Embassadors of Denmark and Brandenburg accepted of it without Delay To which they said It was neither the Fault of them nor their Allies that that Truce was not granted at the Time that they Signed the Peace with the Emperor according to the Offers that were then made them But another Circumstance added by the French Embassadors to their Declaration viz. Of the Instances which they said were made to them by the Bishop of Gurk one of the Imperial Embassadors in the Name of the Embassadors of Denmark and Brandenburg for a Suspension of Arms made these two latter think themselves so sensibly touched in their Honour that they took a great deal of Pains to make the contrary appear affirming They had never either desired or rejected the Cessation of Arms but nevertheless that they
Particulars of it And for Tangier there had been several Attacks made upon it this Year and for some time past and was chargeable enough to the King But of this we shall have Occasion to say something hereafter And as for the King's Sincerity in recommending to them the Prosecution of the Plot That Man that considers the Transactions between the Prorogation of the last Parliament and the Sitting of this with the Methods that were used to stifle the real Plot and to father a Sham one upon innocent Men and yet believes the King to be in Earnest has a large Faith and much Good may do him with it Then for his professing his Readiness to concur with any new Remedies that should be proposed that were consistent with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal Course of Descent it implied no more than Let the Wolf be Shepherd and let the Sheep make what Laws they please for their Preservation For it was well known the Duke was a Papist whose Maxims are to keep no Faith with Hereticks However the House of Commons entred into Debates about this Matter and there were many Expedients proposed how the Established Government in Church and State could be preserved yet none could be found practicable in case the Duke succeeded So that the Country Party moved that the Court Party should propound their Expedients in the Case but they either could not or else had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as might be proposed by them Matters being thus at a stand in respect to the Securing the Protestant Religion the House of Commons at last could think of no other Way to effect it than by bringing in a Bill for the total Exclusion of the Duke of York from the Crown which after several Debates upon it they passed on the 11th of Nov. And of which that you may the better comprehend the Meaning I have here subjoined a Copy WHereas James Duke of York is notoriously known to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of his Majesty's Sacred Person and Government and and for the Extirpation of the true Protestant Religion But also if the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest than that the total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the Preservation thereof be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament Excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories of them or either of them belonging or to Have Exercise or Enjoy any Dominion Power Jurisdiction or Authority in the said Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any time hereafter Challenge Claim or Attempt to Possess or Enjoy or shall take upon him to Use or Exercise any Dominion or Power or Authority or Jurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or Chief Magistrate of the same that then he the said James Duke of York for every such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged Guilty of High-Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in Case of High-Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall assist or maintain abet or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such Challenge Claim or Attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Legal Power Jurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by Writing or Preaching advisedly Publish Maintain or Declare that he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or Chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid that then every such Person shall be Deemed and Adjudged Guilty of High-Treason and that he suffer and undergo the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the said James Duke of York shall not at any time from and after the 5th of Nov. 1680 return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid and then he the said James Duke of York shall be Deemed and Adjudged Guilty of High-Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in Case of High-Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such Return of the said James Duke of York that then every such Person shall be Deemed and Adjudged Guilty of High-Treason and shall suffer as in Cases of High-Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the said James Duke of York or any other Person being Guilty of any of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive Benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named And that no Noli prosequi or Order to stay Proceedings shall be received or allowed in or upon any Indictment for any of the Offences mentioned in this Act. And be it further Enacted and Declared and it is hereby Enacted and Declared That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Magistrates Officers and other Subjects whatsoever of these Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid And they are hereby enjoined and required to Apprehend and Secure the said James Duke of York and any other Person offending in any of the Premisses and with him or them in case of Resistance to fight and him or them by force to subdue For all which actings and for so doing they are and shall be by Virtue of this Act saved harmless and indemnified Provided and it is hereby declared That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or adjudged to disenable any other Person from Inheriting and Enjoying the Imperial Crown of the Realms and Dominions aforesaid other than the said James Duke of York but that in Case the said James Duke of York should survive his now Majesty and the Heirs of his Majesty's Body the said Imperial Crown shall descend to and be enjoyed by such Person or Persons successorily during the Life of the said James Duke of York as should have Inherited and Enjoyed the same in case the said James Duke of York were naturally dead any Thing contained in this Act to the Contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That
Kingdom we began to hope we should see an End of our Miseries But to our unspeakable Grief and Sorrow we soon found our Expectation frustrated the Parliament then subsisting was Prorogued and Dissolved before it could perfect what was intended for our Relief and Security and though another was thereupon called yet by the many Prorogations it was put off till the 21st of Oct. past and notwithstanding Your Majesty was then again pleased to acknowledge that neither Your Majesty's Person nor the Kingdom should be safe till the Matter of the Plot was gone through it was unexpectedly Prorogued on the 10th of this Month before any sufficient Order could be taken therein all their just and pious Endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown the good Bills they had been industriously preparing to unite all Your Majesty's Protestant Subjects brought to nought the Discovery of the Irish Plot stifled the Witnesses that came in frequently more fully to declare that both of England and Ireland discouraged those Foreign Kingdoms and States who by a happy Conjunction with us might give a Check to the French Power disheartned even to such a Despair of their own Security against the growing Greatness of that Monarch as we fear may induce them to take new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us the Strength of our Enemies both at Home and Abroad increased and our selves left in the utmost Danger of seeing our selves brought into utter Desolation In these Extremities we had nothing under God to comfort us but the Hopes that Your Majesty being touched with the Groans of Your perishing People would have suffered Your Parliament to have met at the Day unto which it was Prorogued and that no further Interruption should have been given to their Proceedings in order to the saving of the Nation yet that failed us too But when we heard that Your Majesty by the private Suggestion of some wicked Persons Favourers of Popery Promoters of French Designs and Enemies to Your Majesty and the Kingdom without the Advice and as we have good Reason to believe against the Opinion even of Your Privy-Council had been prevailed with to Dissolve it and to call another to meet at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in Safety but will be daily exposed to the Sword of the Papists and their Adherents of whom too many are crept into Your Majesty's Guards the Liberty of speaking according to their Consciences will be thereby destroyed and the Validity of all their Acts and Proceedings consisting in it left disputable the Streightness of the Place no way admits of such a Concourse of Persons as now follows every Parliament the Witnesses that are necessary to give Evidence against the Popish Lords such Judges or others whom the Commons have Impeached or had resolved to Impeach can neither bear the Charge of going thither nor trust themselves under the Protection of a Parliament that is it self evidently under the Power of Guards and Soldiers The Premises consider'd we Your Majesty's Petitioners out of just Abhorrence of such a dangerous and pernicious Council which the Authors have not dared to avow and the direful Apprehensions of the Calamities and Miseries that may ensue thereupon do make it our most humble Prayer and Advice That the Parliament may not Sit at a Place where it cannot be able to act with that Freedom which is necessary and especially to give unto their Acts and Proceedings that Authority which they ought to have amongst the People and have ever had unless impaired by some Awe upon them of which there wants not Presidents and that Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to order it to Sit at Westminster it being the usual Place and where they may consult and act with Safety and Freedom And your Petitioners shall ever pray c. Montmouth Kent Huntington Bedford Salisbury Clare Stamford Essex Shaftsbury Mordant Evers Paget Gray Herbert Howard Delamere The Answer given by the King to this Petition is left Recorded no where that I can find but that he express'd his Displeasure at it by a Frown was commonly reported in those Times which was the more taken notice of because of thâ—â— kind Answers he was wont to give the other Party upon all Occasions and the greater Care that was taken in the Publication thereof that the Nation might know it But how looâ— soever he was in his Promises to the Parliament you will findâ— him steddy and unmovable in this of the Parliament's meeting at Oxford and the Lords that had an Hand in this Petitioâ— shall be remembred by him in their due Place But we shaâ—â— now leave this Matter and see a little what was done betweeâ— the last and 3d Westminster Parliament of this King 's Reigâ— and the meeting of this at Oxford Though the Meal-Tâ— Plot whereof we have already given you an Hint meet witâ— such ill Success yet the indefatigable Zeal of a Son of Sir Edâ—â—â— Fitz-Harris an Irish Papist and consequently very fit as 〈◊〉 really was to be a Correspondent with the Dutchess of Porâ—â— mouth her Woman Mrs. Wall and the French Embassadoâ— Confessor the first of which had several times supplied hiâ— with Money and at one time particularly with 250 l. 〈◊〉 such that happening to come acquainted with one Everard beyond Sea where they were both in the French King's Service he did about the Beginning of Feb. after the Parliament was Dissolved renew his said Acquaintance with Everard and represented to him the Advantages he might have in forsaking the English Interest and ingratiating himself into the French and Popish one and that it would be very conductive to that Interest if he would make a Pamphlet that reflected upon the King To this the other gave not a clear Consent yet Fitz-Harris upon the 21st of Feb. gave him some Heads by Word of Mouth to draw up such a Pamphlet Which Procedure of his made Everard acquaint several withal and particularly one Mr. Smith and Sir William Waller whom he engaged in a concealed Manner to be at a Place appointed to hear the further Discourse between them which was next Day and whither the former came where he heard Fitz-Harris give Everard Instructions to this Purpose That the King and Royal Family should be traduced as being Papists and arbitrarily affected from the Beginning That King Charles I. had an Hand in the Irish Rebellion and that Charles II. did countenance the same by preferring Fitz-Gerrald Fitz-Patrick and Mount-Garret who were engaged in the Irish Rebellion That the Act forbidding to call the King a Papist was to stop Mens Mouths when he should encline to further Popery which appeared by his adhering so closely to the Duke of York's Interests and hindring him from being proceeded against by the Parliament and hindring the Officers put in by the Duke of York to be turned out and for that the Privy-Councellors and Justices of the Peace who were for the Protestant Interest were turned out of
intimate my Mind otherwise I do hereby require all my Vassals any where and all within my several Jurisdictions with their fensible Men within their Command to go to Arms and to join and concur with us according to the said Declaration as they shall be answerable at their Peril and that they obey the particular Orders they shall receive from me from time to time I need not tell the World the Fate of this brave Man it was generally believed at that time that Sir John Cockram who came over with him betrayed him as some Body else was thought to have done by the Duke of Monmouth but however that Matter was in Reality Thus it happened with the Earl that after several Marches and Countermarches his Men were at length lead into a Boggy sort of a Place on Pretence or with Intention to bring him off from the King's Army then upon the Heels of them where they all lost one another dispersed and shifted for themselves The Earl himself being taken by a Country Man and brought to Edenburgh he there suffered for his former unpardonable Crime in requiring Care should be taken for the Protestant Religion and the Explaining the Test conformable thereunto for the Legality of which he had the Hands of most of the Eminent Lawyers about the City He made a very pious End being beheaded at Edenburgh June 30. But this Business of Argyle was but like Thunder afar off to what happened soon after in the West of England K. James was so apprehensive not only before but even after his Ascension to the Throne of the Duke of Monmouth's Designs against him that he used his utmost Endeavours by his Envoy Mr. Skelton in Holland to get him secured and sent into England which Design could not yet he carried so covertly but that the Prince of Orange came to the Knowledge of it who having more Honour and Goodness in him than to suffer an innocent forelorn Man to fall into the Hands of those who had been the Occasion of his Exile and Misery did not only give the Duke Notice of the Plot against him but gave him Money to go privately to Brussels with a farther Assurance that if he would go to the Campaign in Hungary he would maintain him at his own Charge with an Equipage suitable to his Quality But his Fate led him to return again privately from thence into Holland where having concerted his Measures with such Refugiated English as he found there they embarked on 3 small Vessels and about June 12 lan ded at Lyme in Dorsetshire where the Duke in his own and the rest of his Followers Names put out his Declaration which because the State at that time were so far from thinking fit to publish as they were Argyle's that they made it Criminal to read it and used all their Endeavours to smother it we shall here give you Word for Word The DECLARATION of James Duke of Monmouth and the Noblemen Gentlemen and others now in Arms for the Defence and Vindication of the Protestant Religion and the Laws Rights and Priviledges of ENGLAND AS Government was originally instituted by God and this or that Form of it chosen and submitted to by Men for the Peace Happiness and Security of the Governed and not for the private Interest and personal Greatness of those that rule So that Government hath always been esteemed the best where the Supream Magistrates have been invested with all the Power and Prerogatives that might capacitate them not only to preserve the People from Violence and Oppression but to promote their Prosperity and yet where nothing was to belong to them by the Rules of the Constitution that might enable them to injure and oppress them And it hath been the Glory of England above most other Nations that the Prince had all intrusted with him that was necessary either for the advancing the Welfare of the People or for his own Protection in the Discharge of his Office and withal stood so limited and restrained by the Fundamental Terms of the Constitution that without a Violation of his own Oath as well as the Rules and Measures of the Government he could do them no hurt or exercise any Act of Authority but through the Administration of such Hands as stood obnoxious to be punished in case they transgressed So that according to the primitive Frame of the Government the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Privileges of the Subject are so far from justling one another that the Rights reserved unto the People tended to render the King Honourable and Great and the Prerogatives settled on the Prince were in order to the Subjects Protection and Safety But all Humane Things being subject to Perversion as well as Decay it hath been the Fate of the English Government to be often changed and wrested from what it was in the first Settlement and Institution And we are particularly compelled to say that all the Boundaries of the Government have of late been broken and nothing left unattempted for turning our limited Monarchy into an absolute Tyranny For such hath been the Transaction of Affairs within this Nation for several Years last past that though the Protestant Religion and Liberties of the People were fenced and hedged about by as many Laws as the Wisdom of Man could devise for their Preservation against Popery and Arbitrary Power our Religion hath been all along countermined by Popish Counsels and our Privileges ravished from us by Fraud and Violence And more especially the whole Course and Series of the Life of the D. of Y. hath been but one continued Conspiracy against the Reformed Religion and the Rights of the Nation For whoever considers his contriving the burning of London his instigating a Confederacy with France and a War with Holland his fomenting the Popish Plot and encouraging the Murther of Sir Ed. Godfrey to stifle it his charging Treason against Protestants suborning Witnesses to swear the Patriots of our Religion and Liberties out of their Lives his hiring execrable Villains to assassinate the late Earl of Essex and causing those others to be clandestinely cut off in hopes to conceal it his advising and procuring the Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliaments in order to prevent their looking into his Crimes and that he might escape the Justice of the Nation Such can imagine nothing so black and horrid in it self or so ruinous and destructive to Religion and the Kingdom which we may not expect from him The very Tyrannies which he hath exercised since he snatched the Crown from his Brother's Head do leave none under a Possibility of flattering themselves with Hopes of Safety eithor in their Consciencies Persons or Estates For in defiance of all the Laws and Statutes of the Realm made for the Security of the Reformed Protestant Religion he not only began his Reign with a bare-faced A vowing himself of the Romish Religion but call'd in Multitudes of Priests and Jesâ—its for whom the
within the Year before Petitions be first answered and Grievances redressed And seeing many of the Miseries under which the Nation doth groan arise from displacing such out of the Number of Judges as would not for the promoting Popish and Arbitrary Designs wrest and mis-apply the Laws and from constituting corrupt and mercenary Men in their Rooms on purpose to stretch the Laws beyond the Reason and Intention of them and to declare that for Law which is not we can neither with Silence pass over the mentioning of them nor should we have Peace in our selves if we did not endeavour to prevent the like Mischief in Time to come For by reason of ill Men's being advanced to the Bench and holding their Places only durante bene-placito many Persons have been condemned in exorbitant Fines for no Crimes or for very small ones Many Statutes made for the Safety of the Subject particularly the Habeas Corpus Act have been wickedly eluded to the Oppression of the Innocent and Loyal Men. The Popish Lords that were impeached in Parliament for a most hellish Conspiracy have to the subverting the Rights of the House of Lords been discharged and set free The imposing a May or and Sheriffs upon the City of London by Fraud and Violence have been justified and those who in discharge of their Duty opposed it illegally prosecuted and arbitrarily punished London and other Cities and Corporations have been robbed of their Charters upon unrighteous Judgments of pretended Forfeitures Sir Thomas Armstrong executed without being allowed the Benefit of a Trial. Col. Algernoon Sidney condemned to die upon the Deposition of one scandalous Witness And that Loyal and Excellent Person the late William Lord Russel murthered for alledged Crimes in reference to which if all had been true which was sworn against him yet there was nothing which according to Law could have reached his Life Upon the Consideration aforesaid we further declare that we will have Care taken for the future for debarring ignorant scandalous and mercenary Men from the Administration of Justice and that the Judges shall hold their Places by the ancient Tenure of quamdiu se bene gesserint and to leave it to the Wisdom of a Parliament to settle some Way and Method for the Approbation of such as shall be advanced to the Degree and Dignity of Judges And forasmuch as the Invasion made on the Right of Cities Burroughs and Towns Corporate the Seisure of their Charters whether by Surrender or upon pretence of Borfeiture have been wholly arbitrary and illegal we likewise therefore declare we will to our utmost endeavour to see them re-possessed in what they formerly had and could legally lay claim to and that we do esteem all Judgments given against them and all Surrenders made by a corrupt and perjured Party amongst them null and void in Law and do hold and declare their old Charters notwithstanding the â—ew ones lately granted to be good and valid And accordingly we do invite and encourage all honest Burgesses and Free-men to re-assume the Rights and Privileges which by virtue of the said old Charters belonged to their several and respective Corporations and to deliver themselves from those late Parasites and Instruments of Tyranny set up to oppress them Moreover for the Restoring the Kingdom to its Primitive Condition of Freedom and Safety we will have the Coporation and Militia Acts repealed And all Outlawries of Treason against any Person whatsoever upon the late pretended Protestant Plot reversed and also all other Outlawries Banishments Warrants Judgments Imprisonments and injurious Proceedings against any other persons upon any of the Penal Statutes made against Protestant Dissenters made null and void And we will have new Laws enacted for placing the Election of Sheriffs in the Freeholders of the several Counties for Settling the Militia in the several Shires and for Preventing all Military Standing â—orâ—s except what shall be raised and kept up by Authority and Consent of Parliament And whereas several Gentlemen and others who have been worthy and zealous Assertors of the Protestant Interest and Laws of the Kingdom are now in Custody in divers Places within the Realm upon most unjust Accusations Preâ—ences Proceedings and Judgments we do hereby further declare their said Imprisonments to be illegal and that in case any Violence shall be offered to them or any of them we will revenge it to the utmost upon such of our Enemies as shall fall into our Hands And whereas the said J. D. of Y. in order to the Expediting the Idolatrous and Bloody Designs of the Papists the Gratifying his own boundless Ambition after a Crown and to hinder Enquiry into the Assassination of Arthur Earl of Essex hath poysoned the late King and thereby manifested his Ingratitude as well as Cruelty to the World in murthering a Brother who had almost ruined himself to preserve and protect him from Punishment We do therefore further declare That for the aforesaid villainous and unnatural Crime and other his Crimes before-mentioned and in pursuance of the Resolution of both Houses of Parliament who voted to revenge the King's Death in case he came to an Vntimely End we will prosecute the said J. D. of Y. till we have brought him to suffer what the Law adjudged to be the Punishment of so execrable a Fact And in a more particular Manner His Grace the Duke of Monmouth being sensible of the barbarous and horrid Parricide committed upon his Father doth resolve to pursue the said J. D. of Y. as a mortal and bloody Enemy and will endeavour as well with his own Hand as by the Assistance of his Friends and the Law to have Justice executed upon him And the said James Duke of Monmouth the now Head and Captain-General of the Protestant Forces of this Kingdom assembled for the End aforesaid from the Generousness of his own Nature and the Love he bears to these Nations whose Welfare and Settlement he infinitely prefers to whatsoever concerns himself doth not at present insist upon his Title but leaves the Determination thereof to the Wisdom Justice and Authority of a Parliament legally chosen and acting with Freedom And in the mean time doth profess and declare by all that is â—iacred That he will in Conjunction with the people of England employ all the Abilities bestowed upon him by God and Nature for the Re-establishment and Preservation of the Protestant Reformed Religion in these Kingdoms and for Restoring the Subjects of the same to a free Exercise thereof in opposition to Popery and the Consequences of it Tyranny and Slavery To the Obtaining of which End he doth hereby Promise and Oblige himself to the People of England to consent unto and promote the Passing into Laws all the Methods aforesaid that it may never more be in the Power of any single Person on the Throne to deprive their Subjects of their Rights and to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Government designed for their Preservation And whereas the Nobility
or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one at your Commandments or else in not obeying or in not accomplishing your Orders Decrees and Commandments or any thing touching the Premises or any part thereof or any other Branch or Clause contained in this Commission that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to punish the same Person or Persons so offending by Excommunication Suspension Deprivation or other Censures Ecclesiastical And when any Persons shall be convented or prosecuted before you as aforesaid for any of the Causes above expressed at the Instance or Suit of any Person prosecuting the Offence in that behalf that then you or any three or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall have full Power and Authority to award such Costs and Expences of the Suit as well to and against the Party as shall prefer or prosecute the said Offence as to and against the Party or Parties that shall be convented according as their Causes shall require and to you in Justice shall be thought reasonable And further our Will and Pleasure is That you assume our Well-beloved William Bridgman Esq one of the Clerks of our Council or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies in that behalf to be your Register whom we do by these Presents depute to that Effect for the Registring of all your Acts Decrees and Proceedings by Virtue of this our Commission and that in like manner you or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one by your Discretions shall appoint one or more Messenger or Messengers and other Officer or Officers necessary and convenient to attend upon you for any Service in this behalf Our Will and express Commandment also is That there shall be Two Paper Books indented and made the one to remain with the said Register or his sufficient Deputy or Deputies the other with such Persons and in such Places as you the said Commissioners or any three or more of you whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall in your Discretion think most fit and meet in both which Books shall be fairly entred all the Acts Decrees and Proceedings made or to be made by Virtue of this Commission And whereas our Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and divers Cathedral and Colleg ate Churches Colleges Grammar-Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations have been erected founded and endowed by several of our Royal Progenitors Kings and Queens of this Realm and some others by the Charity and Bounty of some of their Subjects as well within our Universities as other Parts and Places the Ordinance Rules and Statutes whereof are either imbezilled lost corrupted or altogether imperfected We do therefore give a full Power and Authority to you or any five or more of you of whom we will you the afore-named Lord Chancellor always to be one to cause and command in our Name all and singular the Ordinances Rules and Statutes of our Universities and all and every Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar-Schools and other Ecclesiastical Incorporations together with their several Letters Patents and other Writings touching or in any wise concerning the several Erections and Foundation to be brought and exhibited before you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one willing commanding and authorizing you or any five or more of you as aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one upon the Exhibiting and upon diligent and deliberate View Search and Examination of the said Statutes Rules and Ordinances Letters Patents and Writings as is aforesaid the same to Correct Amend and Alter And also where no Statutes are extant in all or any of the aforesaid Cases to devise and set down such good Orders and Statutes as you or any five or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Lord Chancellor to be one shall think meet and convenient to be by us Confirmed Ratified Allowed and set forth for the better Order and Rule of the said Universities Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Colleges and Grammar-Schools Erections and Foundations and the Possessions and Revenues of the same as may best tend to the Honour of Almighty God increase of Vertue Learning and Unity in the said Places and the publick Weale and Tranquility of this our Realm Moreover our Will Pleasure and Commandment is That our said Commissioners and every of you shall diligently and faithfully execute this our Commission and every part and branch thereof in Manner and Form aforesaid and according to the true Meaning hereof notwithstanding any Appellation Provocation Priviledge or Exemption in that behalf to be made pretended or alledged by any Person or Persons resident or dwelling in any Place or Places exempt or not exempt within this our Realm any Law Statutes Proclamations or Grants Priviledges or Ordinances which be or may seem to be contrary to the Premises notwithstanding And for the better Credit and more manifest Notice of your doing in Execution of this our Commission our Pleasure and Commandment is That to your Letters Missive Processes Decrees Orders and Judgments for or by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to be awarded sent forth had made decreed given or pronounced at such certain publick Places as shall be appointed by you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid for the due Execution of this our Commission or some three or more of you as is aforesaid whereof you the said Chancellor to be one shall cause to be put and fixed a Seal engraven with the Rose and Crown and the Letter J. and Figure 2. before and the Letter R. after the same with a Ring or Circumference about the same Seal containing as followeth Sigillum Commissiariorum Regiae Majestatis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas Finally We Will and Command all and singular other our Ministers and Subjects in all and every Place and Places exempt and not exempt within our Realm of England and Dominion of Wales upon any Knowledge or Request from you or any three or more of you as is aforesaid to them or any of them given or made to be aiding helping and assisting unto you and to your Commandment in and for the due executing your Precepts Letters and other Processes requisite in and for the due Executing of this Our Commission as they and every of them tender Our Pleasure and Will to answer the Contrary at their utmost Perils In witness c. It s not so easie perhaps at first sight to discern the Flaws and Deficiences included in this Commission neither shall I rake further into it only I 'll observe with a Learned Gentleman First The Archbishop of Canterbury who was first named in it refused to Act so that the Bishop of Chester was put in though not
King's Foragers which greatly perplexed him So that understanding at last that the main Body of the Tartars commanded by Sultan Nuradin was come near his Camp yet without being able precisely to learn the Place where they were he caused it to be published among the Moldavians That whoever brought him certain Intelligence of them should have the Reward of 200 Crowns Whereupon one that was well acquainted with the Country went into the Enemies Camp and having observed it returned and gave the King an Account that they lay within a Mile of his Army and that a Party of 4000 Tartars was advanced at some distance from the rest The King being thus informed of the Posture the Enemy were in detached the Court-Marshal and the Court-Treasurer about Midnight to attack those advanced Troops and followed himself with the whole Army This Detachment with the Help of the Moldavian who was their Guide came upon the Enemy before they had time to retire to their main Body and after a sharp Dispute entirely routed them taking about 300 Prisoners among whom were several Murza's and other Persons of considerable Note among the Tartars While this was doing the King also advanced and attacked the Serasquier and Sultan who not knowing of the Defeat of their advanced Troops expected they would have fallen upon the Poles in their Rear and Flank and with this Encouragement they put themselves into a Posture to oppose him However they were deceived and after a short fight were routed and forced to flee leaving a great many Slain and Prisoners behind them but not without Loss also on the Poles side there being several Officers and Persons of Quality and particularly the Palatine Podolskie among the Number of the Slain But while these Things were doing by the Polish Army abroad the Country nearer Home was cruelly ravaged by the Garrison of Caminiec who made frequent Incursions into the Polish Territories Which together with the King 's marching homeward after this last Action and demolishing the fore-mentioned Forts in his Return which he had raised as he went onwards made this Expedition to be little thought of and as little Advantage to redound to the Poles from it as they hitherto had reaped by their Alliance with the Moscovites who made a mighty Smoak this Campaign but very little Fire of whom we shall have more Occasion to talk hereafter year 1687 Now we are come to another Year and the Affairs of England fall of Course under our Consideration And as we left off with taking Notice of the King's Kindness to his Roman Catholick Subjects in a more particular Manner in the Letter he wrote to the Parliament of Scotland we are now to tell you of a more general Act of his and that was upon the 12th of February to issue out his Proclamation for a Toleration of Religion unto all Wherein by the by you are to observe that he exerted his Absolute Power which he said his Subjects ought to obey without Reserve But the Toleration he allowed his Roman Catholick Subjects in Scotland he would scarce allow to his Protestant Subjects in Ireland for Tyrconnel so did Talbot merit for reforming the Army was not only made an Earl but Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland to boot in the room of my Lord Clarendon and one Fitton an infamous Person detected for Forgery not only at Westminster but Chester too was brought out of the King 's Bench Prison in England to be Chancellor and Keeper of the King's Conscience in Ireland Sir Charles Porter being turned out to make way for him Now Talbot being thus advanced in Honour and Office began to exert his Authority and his first Proclamation towards the End of Feb. imported a Promise to defend the Laws Liberty and Established Religion but fairly left out the Preservation of the Act of Settlement and Explanation However though at first he only left them out being resolved to out the Protestants first and to let the Irish into their Forfeited Estates yet he did not stop there We told you last Year what Efforts were made to propagate the King's Power in Westminster-Hall and what Instructions the Judges had in their Circuits to dispense with the Penal Laws and Tests against Dissenters from the Church and now these Things being brought pretty well to bear upon the 25th of April out came the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience which was conceived in the following Terms His MAJEETY's Gracious DECLARATION to all His Loving Subjects for LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE JAMES R. IT having pleased Almighty God not only to bring Us to the Imperial Crown of these Kingdoms through the greatest Difficulties but to preserve Us by a more than ordinary Providence upon the Throne of Our Royal Ancestors there is nothing now that We so earnestly desire as to Establish our Government on such a Foundation as may make Our Subjects happy and unite them to Us by Inclination as well as Duty which We think can be done by no Means so effectually as by granting to them the free Exercise of their Religion for the Time to come and add that to the perfect Enjoyment of their Property which has never been in any Case invaded by Us since Our coming to the Crown Which being the Two Things Men value most shall ever be preserved in these Kingdoms during our Reign over them as the truest Methods of their Peace and Our Glory We cannot but heartily wish as it will easily be believed that all People of Our Dominions were Members of the Catholick Church yet We humbly thank Almighty God it is and hath of long time been Our constant Sense and Opinion which upon divers Occasions We have declared that Conscience ought not to be constrained nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion It has ever been directly contrary to Our Inclination as We think it is to the Interest of Government which it destroys by spoiling Trade depopulating Countries and discouraging Strangers and finally that it never obtained the End for which it was employed And in this We are the more Confirmed by the Reflections We have made upon the Conduct of the Four last Reigns For after all the frequent and pressing Endeavours that were used in each of them to reduce this Kingdom to an exact Conformity in Religion it is visible the Success has not answered the Design and that the Difficulty is invincible We therefore out of Our Princely Care and Affection unto all Our Loving Subjects that they may live at Ease and Quiet and for the Increase of Trade and Incouragement of Strangers have thought fit by Virtue of Our Royal Prerogative to issue forth this Our Declaration of Indulgence making no doubt of the Concurrence of Our Two Houses of Parliament when we shall think it convenient for them to meet In the first Place We do declare That We will Protect and Maintain Our Archâ—bishops Bishops and Clergy and all other Our Subjects of the Church of England in the free
Ecclesiastical Affairs By levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both arm'd and employ'd contrary to Law By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecution in the Court of King's-Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years partial corrupt and unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Freeholders And excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And excessive Fines have been imposed And illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Vniversities Buâ—â—oughs and Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster Jan. 22d 1688. in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now assembled in a full and free Representation of this Nation taking into their most serious Consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Cases have usually done for the vindicating their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended Power of suspending Laws or the execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended Power of dispensing Laws or the executing of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like Nature are illegal and pernitious That levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal That the raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by Consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as allowed by Law That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be free That the Freedom of Speech or Debates and Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That excessive Bail ought not to be requir'd nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly impannell'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon Men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve That WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Surviâ—or of them and that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power
Enemies from the Hedges so far that in this Hedge-fighting their firing was generally Muzzle to Muzzle we on the one side and the Enemy on the other But to return to our Army As soon as they were come to the Head of the Defile it was order'd to halt particularly our Left Wing of Horse that the Foot that were interlin'd with them which were most English and Scotch and which I have before mentioned might march up thro' the Horse they were obliged to this Halt tho' it was the loss of the day because the Ground was so streight and the Enemy had such Hedges Copses and little Woods to cover them that there was nothing to do for the Horse So that when the Van-guard began to engage they had none but part of the Infantry interlined with the Left Wing of Horse to second them the Body of the Infantry being almost a Mile in the Rear However as soon as the Action began the King made all diligence possible to get the Infantry up ordering a Brigade to march up to the Wood and forming a Line of Battel in the Plain with that Infantry as could come up The Soldiers shewed such eagerness to come to the Enemy that they ran to the Relief of those that were engaged even so fast that they put themselves into some disorder which was the Reason that they took more time to form their Battalions than was at that time convenient This was the Case of those Battalions that were sent to the Wood to the Relief of our Van-guard so that when they came up our Van-guard and Infantry of the Left Wing being over-powered by the vast many Battalions of the Enemy as charged them successively one after another and lastly by the survening of Boufflers's fresh Troops they were forced to retreat in great Disorder and to leave the Wood in which they had lodged themselves entirely to the Enemies Possession The Baron of Pibrack's Regiment of Lunemburgers being in great Disorder in the Skirt of the Wood and the Baron their Colonel lying dangerously wounded upon the Place which he got in rallying of his Regiment the Earl of Bath's one of the Regiments that was commanded towards the Wood the other English being Brigadier Churchil's was ordered by Prince Casimir of Nassau to their Relief two Sergeants of this Regiment rescued the Colonel who lay wounded almost in the Enemies Hand and brought him off in spite of their Fire Upon these Orders of Prince Casimir of Nassau Sir Bevil Granville who commanded the Earl of Bath's Regiment march'd up to the Relief of this Lunemburg Regiment bearing the Enemies Fire before he suffered any Plattoon of his Battalion to discharge once by which Method the Regiment lodg'd it self in the Trench or deep Way that lay upon the Skirt of the Wood which it maintain'd till it was commanded off again by the said Prince of Nassau The King having formed a Line of as many Battalions as could come up in this little Plain the Enemy upon their Right and our Left of the Wood as we fac'd planted a Battery of about 10 Pieces of Cannon to put them in disorder by their Fire we at the same time brought another against it and thus continued firing one upon another a considerable time What Mischief our Men did to the Enemy by our Cannon then I cannot tell but theirs killed several of our Soldiers some in the Regiment of Fuzileers and some in the Battalion of the second Regiment of Guards but the most considerable Loss we sustained by it was Col. Hodges who was shot with a Cannon-ball at the Head of his Regiment of which he soon after died There was likewise a Skirmish between some of the French and some of our Battalions between the Wood and that Farm which was fired by the Enemy but it did not last long what Regiments they were I cannot tell but 't is supposed they were some of the Dutch interlined in the Left Wing of Horse commanded by Brigadier Fagel The Van-guard being thus disordered for want of a timely Relief which was occasioned by the narrowness of the Ground and consequently beaten out of their Post in the Wood Luxemburg being likewise join'd by the Marquess of Boufflers's fresh Troops who came â—ime enough to compleat the Defeat of our Van-guard with his Dragoons and besides the Night drawing on the King ordered his Army to retreat which was done with admirable Order for tho' the French did follow â—us for some time yet they did not fire a Shot such was the Order of our Retreat that they did not dare venture upon it The English Granadiers brought up the Rear and when-ever the French moved towards us they fac'd to the Right about and presented themselves to the Enemy then the Enemy would halt and so our Rear-guard marched on This halting and facing and then marching continued for some time till the Night put an end to the Enemies farther Motion And thus the Army came back to Hall on Monday Morning about Three We lost in this Action several Pieces of Cannon some taken by the Enemy and some we could not bring off the Horses being tired we likewise blew up some of our Powder-Waggons in the Retreat which we could not bring off some having their Carriages broken and others their Horses tired The English lost two Colours and the Dutch likewise some We had about 2000 Men killed and about 3000 wounded in which number we comprehend the Prisoners taken by the French disabled by their Wounds to come off being about 8 or 900. Here it was that brave General Mackay Sir John Lanier and divers other gallant Officers lost their Lives and surely the French notwithstanding their Te Deum for this pretended Victory had nothing to boast of since their Loss according to the Confession of divers of their Officers rather exceeded that of the Confederates and they had not come of so cheap neither had it not been for the Chevalier de Millevoix one of the Elector's Domesticks his having given and endeavoured to give further Intelligence to the Mareschal de Luxemburg of the King's Motion and Designs for which he was fairly hanged upon a Tree on the Right Wing of Horse And now this Business is over it is time we should come to the Particulars of Granvalle's forementioned Conspiracy as published in that time by Authority and it was briefly thus Upon the 11th of Aug. the Sieur de Granvale was brought to his Tryal before a Court Martial at Lembeck for the horrid Conspiracy by him entred into against the Life of his Majesty of Great Britain Where it appeared by Informations intercepted Letters and other Authentick Pieces that some of the greatest Ministers in the French Court had laid a Design to assassinate his Majesty of Great Britain and made Choice of Bartholomew Liniere Sieur de Granvale for their Instrument to manage the Enterprize and find out fit Persons to assist him To this purpose Granvale understanding that one Anthony
Invasion intended by King James upon England and that there was certain Intelligence of it from Abroad I presume every Body was satisfied and to the facilitating of which I own that my Self and some Others did agree upon the Undertaking To Attack the Prince of Orange and his Guards for which I am now to Suffer but I think my Self obliged by all the Tyes imaginable both of Conscience and Honour to declare That as for any Order or Commission of King James's for Assassinating the Prince of Orange I neither saw nor heard of any but have had frequent Assurances of his having rejected such Proposals when they have been offer'd I confess I did hear that there was a Commission arrived for Levying of War and which was natural to believe if the King was in such a readiness to come over as was reported but if there was any such Authority as that I declare I never saw it As to what regards the Body of the Roman Catholicks I must do them the Justice and which I dare to be positive in That they had no manner of Knowledge of this Design nor do I believe it was Communicated to any other Party of such as are reputed the King's Friends but carried on meerly by a small Number without the Advice Consent or Privity of any Parties whatsoever I ask forgiveness of all the World for what Offences or Injuries I have done to them and I am I bless Almighty God in perfect Charity with all Mankind Robert Charnocke Mr. KING's Paper I Am now within a few Moments of Eternity brought to this Place by the Just Hand of God in Punishment of all my Crimes but particularly of that of which I have been lately Arraigned and for which I stand here Condemn'd but I hope that Goodness of God which has given me a Sense of my Wickedness will accept my Repentance and shew Mercy on me which I hope to obtain thro' the Passion and Merits of my Redeemer upon whom I intirely cast my self And that I may find his Mercy I think my self oblig'd to do Justice to my Neighbour that so none may suffer wrongfully on my Account and therefore as I am soon to Answer the Truth of what I say before the Tribunal of God I First declare That I never saw any Order or Commission of King James's promoting the Asâ—â—ssination for which I am Condemned Neither do I know of any such Order or Commission Secondly That this Design was not undertaken with any General Knowledge or Approbation of any Body of Men either Catholick or Protestant Lastly That I did not engage in it on Presumption of any King-killing Principles that cou'd justifie such an Undertaking but was drawn into it by my own Rashness and Passion for which and all other Sins I heartily beseech God to forgive me And I hope that such who think the Misfortune of their Imprisonment or Trouble is deriv'd from my having been engaged in this Enterprize or such to whom it has any ways given scandal that they will admit me to their Pardon as I freely and heartily forgive all Mankind In this Disposition of a sincere Repentance and true Charity I commend my Soul into the Hands of God and hope to find Mercy from him And for this I beg all your Prayers Edward King Mr. KEY 's Paper I Am now going to appear before the Living God I trust in his Mercy that he will forgive all my Sins committed to this last moment of my Life God is just in all his Judgments and I accept of this Death as the Punishment of my Iniquities I forgive all my Enemies and hope through a hearty Repentance and the Merits of my Saviour to obtain Mercy Have Mercy on me O Father of Mercy and through thy only Son forgive me all my Sins Thomas Key The next turn was Sir John Friend's and Sir Will. Perkins both Tried Condemned and Executed in like manner for the same complicated Fact of the Assassination and Invasion which was owned by them also as appears by their own Words the first in these Terms Sir JOHN FREIND's Paper KNowing that I must immediately give an Account to God of all my Actions and that I ought to be especially careful of what I say in these last Hours I do solemnly profess That what I here deliver is from my very Soul with all the Heartiness and Sincerity of a dying Christian The Cause I am brought hither to suffer for I do firmly believe to be the Cause of God and True Religion and to the best and utmost of my Knowledge and Information agreeable to the Laws of the Land which I have evermore heard to require a firm Duty and Allegiance to our Sovereign and that as no Foreign so neither any Domestick Power can alienate our Allegiance For it is altogether new and untelligible to me that the King's Subjects can depose and dethrone him on any account or constitute any that have not an immediate Right in his Place We ought I think not to do this and surely when it is done to assist him in the Recovery of his Right is justifiable and our Duty And howsoever things may seem at present I do believe I am sure I heartily pray That he shall be one day restored to his rightful Throne and Dominions As for any sudden Descent of his Majesty upon these his Dominions in order to the Recovery of them I declare I had no certain knowledge of it nor can I tell what Grounds there was to believe it so little Reason had I to be in a present Preparation for it I suppose it is not expected I should endeavour to clear my self out of the Assassination which was not the thing alledg'd against me however it was mentioned through what means I know not As it was insinuated to my disadvantage I forgive such as were therein instrumental And I do also from the very bottom of my Soul freely forgive and beg of God to do so too suce as were any ways accessary towards the taking away my Life which I really look upon to be their Misfortune more than mine I profess my self and I thank God I am so a Member of the Church of England though God knows a most unworthy and unprofitable part of it of that Church which suffers so much at present for a strict adherence to Loyalty the Law and Christian Principles For this I Suffer and for this I Die Though I have a perfect Charity for People of all Professions and do heartily wish well and would endeavour so to do to all my Fellow-Subjects of what Persuasions soever And indeed I have met with a great deal of Uprightness and Sincerity among some People of very different Opinions in Religious Matters And I hope and desire it may not be taken as an uncharitable Censure or undue Reflection that I objected to the Legality of the Popish Evidence being advised so to do for my better Security upon the Foundation of a Statute-Law Having own'd
my self a Member of the Church of England I must take this Opportunity and I do it for God's Glory to apply my self to you that are Royalists of that Church of the same Faith and Principles with my self and I beg of you for God's sake and the Love of your Souls to be very constant and serious in all Religious Offices and holy Duties of Divine Worship and Service which I have too much neglected as I own to my great Sorrow Let no Excuse no Dangers prevent or hinder you in these most necessary and serious Matters and be I beseech you very careful and circumspect in all your Actions Behaviour and Conversation as I earnestly exhorted all that came to me I have I thank God a great deal of Satisfaction in my present Sufferings and have found it so ever since I have been under them And blessed be God it doth continually increase upon me And I do now lay down my Life with all Chearfulness and Resignation in sure and certain Hope of a Resurrection to Eternal Life through our Lord Jesus Christ through whose Merits alone I hope for the Pardon of my Sins and the Salvation of my Soul And so O Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth And I do heartily and humbly beseech thee Almighty God and my most Gracious â—ather to forgive and bless this sinful Nation deliver it from the Guilt of Rebellion Blood and Perjury 〈◊〉 is now on all sides more than ever and from all those other heinous Sins which cry aloud Preserve and bless this Church Comfort our distressed King Restore him to his Right and his mislead Subjects to their Allegiance Bless also his Royal Consort our Gracious Queen Mary his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales That he may grow in Stature and in Favour with God and Man Support and Strengthen all those that suffer in any kind for a good Cause give them Patience under all their Afflictions and a happy Deliverance out of them Forgive all mine Enemies Pardon my former Neglect and remissness in Religious Worship and Holy Duties and all the Sins I have been guilty of to this very moment Consider my Contrition accept my Tears And now Thou art pleased to take me hence take me into thy Favour and grant that my Soul may be without Spot presented unto Thee through the Merits of thy Most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen John Freind Sir WILLIAM PERKYNS's Paper IT hath not been my Custom to use many Words and I shall not be long upon this Occasion having Business of much greater Consequence to employ my Thoughts upon I thank God I am now in a full disposition to Charity and therefore shall make no Complaints either of the Hardships of my Tryal or any other Rigours put upon me However one Circumstance I think my self oblig'd to mention it was Sworn against me by Mr. Porter That I had own'd to him that I had Seen and Read a Commission from the King to Levy War upon the Person of the Prince of Orange Now I must declare That the Tenour of the King's Commission which I saw was General and directed to all his Loving Subjects to Raise and Levy War against the Prince of Orange and his Adherents and to seize all Forts Castles c. which I suppose may be a customary Form of giving Authority to make War but I must confess I am not much acquainted with Matters of that Nature But as for any Commission particularly levelled against the Person of the Prince of Orange I neither saw nor heard of any such It 's true I was privy to the Design upon the Prince but was not to act in it and I am fully satisfied that very few or none knew of it but those who undertook to do it I freely acknowledge and think it for my Honour to say That I was entirely in the Interest of the King being always firmly persuaded of the Justice of his Cause and looked upon it as my Duty both as a Subject and an Englishman to Assist him in the Recovery of his Throne which I believed him to be deprived of contrary to all Right and Justice taking the Laws and Constitution of my Country for my Guide As for my Religion I die in the Communion of the Church of England in which I was Educated And as I freely forgive all the World so who-ever I may any ways have Injured I heartily ask them Pardon April 13. 1696. William Perkyns Here the Bigottry of these poor and wretched Men cannot but be admired and pitied that they should justifie their Treasons to the last Gasp which hot-headed Charnock did not think fit to do But this can be attributed to nothing else save the blind Zeal and rebellious Principles of those Clergy-men that were with them and who fairly if they had had their Desert should have been hang'd for Administring Absolution to them without any precedent Confession in direct Opposition to the Laws of that Church whereof they would be thought Members which thereupon was condemned by 14 Bishops being all that were then in London and assented to by all the rest that were Absent It 's well they liv'd under so mild a Government though they were unworthy of it had they been guilty in the late Reigns of any that had come near the pitch of their Crime they had infallibly swung for it when Julian Johnson was so severely Whipped and barbarously Used for his honest Address to the English Soldiery and Seamen The other 3 that followed viz. Cranborn Rookwood and Lowick all confessed the Crime though in a different manner but the 2 latter who were Roman Catholicks somewhat more modestly than the former tho' a pretended Protestant who called it a righteous Cause for which he suffer'd The Papers they deliver'd were these Major LOWICK's Paper In the Name of the most Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen IN the first place I die in the Religion I was Baptized viz. Roman Catholick and humbly beg the Prayers of all Good People for a happy Resurrection and of all Catholicks for the Good of my Soul As for being ingag'd in this for which I die it was never so positive that I had a Horse from the beginning to the very last nor never see any allotted me or the two Men I was to provide as was sworn against me at my Tryal nor had I any on that Account nor was I at any of their Meetings when they settled any such thing And as for any Order of Commission from King James I never see any since I came last into England which is now above 5 Years and I am confident none that knows King James will believe he would give any such Order Indeed I must confess I believe King James was a coming to assert his own Right and I should if on Shore have done any thing in my Power to have assisted him and in order to
effectually and sincerely as he hath done in the fore-mentioned Articles all the Engagements which he might have had with the Enemies doth likewise hope that his Majesty will answer thereunto with all the Sentiments which his Royal Highness craves and wishes for and that having the Honour to be so nearly related to the King and of entring into a new and glorious Alliance with him his Majesty doth Grant and Promise to his Royal Highness as he doth demand his powerful Protection as formerly in all its Extent and as his Royal Highness is desirous to maintain a perfect Neutrality with the Kings Princes and Sovereign Powers who are at present his Allies his Majesty doth promise not to put any manner of Restraint on the Inclinations which his Royal Highness hath of continuing and using towards them all the external Measures of Decency and Freedom that are becoming a Sovereign Prince who hath Embassadors and Envoys at the Courts of those Princes and receives and entertains at his own Court Envoys and Embassadors from them and that the King shall in no ways take ill his so doing comprehending under that Word Princes the Emperor Kings and Sovereign Powers of Europe V. His Majesty doth ingage and declare That the ordinary and extraordinary Embassadors of Savoy shall receive at the Court of France all the Honours without Exception and with all the Circumstances and Ceremonies that are paid to the Embassadors of Crowned Heads that is to say they shall be received as Embassadors from Kings and that his Majesty's ordinary as well as extraordinary Embassadors in all the Courts of Europe without Exception and even the King's Embassadors at Rome and Vienna shall likewise treat and use the said ordinary and extraordinary Embassadors and Envoys from Savoy as they do those from Kings and Crowned Heads But in regard that this Addition of Honour as to the Treatment of the Embassadors from Savoy has been never hitherto settled nor raised to that Degree that his Majesty doth now allow it his Royal Highness is sensible and doth acknowledge that it is in Consideration of this Treaty or Contract of Marriage of the Duke of Burgundy with the Princess his Daughter and his Majesty doth promise that this Augmentation of Honour shall take Place from the Day that the aforesaid Treaty of Marriage is Signed VI. That the Trade between France and Italy shall be renewed and maintained in the same manner as it was settled before this War from the time of Charles Emanuel II. his Royal Highness's Father and the same shall be observed and practised in all Points and in all Places between the Kingdom and the several parts of his Majesty's Dominions and those of his Royal Highness's which was used and practised in all things in the Life-time of the said Charles Emanuel II. on the Roads of Suza in Savoy and Pont Beauvoisiâ— and Villefranche every one paying the Duties and Customs on both Sides the French Ships shall continue to pay the ancient Duties at Villefranche as it was wont to be paid in the time of the said Charles Emanuel about which there shall be no Contest or Opposition made any more than used to be done in those Days The Couriers and ordinary Poâ—â—s of France shall pass as formerly through his Royal Highness's Estates and Countries and according to the Regulations there they shall pay the Duties for the Merchandizes wherewith they shall be charged VII His Royal Highness shall cause an Edict to be published by which he shall upon the Penalty of severe corporal Punishments forbid the Inhabitants of the Vallies of Lucern called Vaudois to have any Communication in Matters of Religion with the King's Subjects and his Royal Highness shall engage not to suffer at any time from the Date of this Treaty any of his Majesty's Subjects to make any Settlement in the Protestant Vallies under Colour of Religion of Marriage or for any other Pretence of Settlement Conveniency taking Possession of Inheritances or any other Pretence whatsoever and that no Protestant Minister shall come thence into any of his Majesty's Dominions without incurring the severest corporal Punishments That however his Majesty shall take no Cognizance of his Royal Highness's Usage towards the Vaudois in regard of their Religion yet his Royal Highness shall be bound not to suffer the Exercise of the Reformed Religion in the City of Pigneroâ— nor in the Territories that are restored to his Royal Highness in like manner as his Majesty neither doth nor will allow the Exercise of it in his Kingdom VIII That there shall be on both sides a perpetual Act of Oblivion and Indemnity of all that has been done since the beginning of this War in what Place soever the Acts of Hostility have been committed That in this Act of Grace all those shall be comprehended who have served his Majesty in what Station soever although they were his Royal Highness's Subjects so that no Prosecution shall be made against them neither shall they be molested either in their Persons or Estates by Reprisals Executions or Judicial Processes or upon any pretext whatsoever and the King's Subjects that have served his Royal Highness shall be used in the like manner IX That Ecclesiastical Benefices in such parts of his Royal Highness's Country as hath been conquered by the King having been filled up by his Majesty from time to time as the same became vacant during the time that his Majesty possessed the said Countries it is agreed that the said Collation to Benefices shall be valid and the Persons who have been promoted by the King and invested by Authority of the Pope's Bulls shall remain in full Possession thereof But as to the Promotions to the Livings belonging to the Military Order of St. Maurice or to the Places of Judicature or Magistracy his Royal Highness shall have Liberty to alter the Nominations made by the King and all Grants made by his Royal Highness of Offices in the Law become vacant by the Person 's leaving them during the War shall remain good and valid X. As for Contributions that were imposed on the Lands of his Royal Highness's Dominions altho' they are lawfully imposed and are become due and that they amount to considerable Sums his Majesty does out of his Liberality fully discharge his Royal Highness of them so that from the Day of this Treaty's Ratification the King will not pretend to nor require any of the said Contributions leaving his Royal Highness in full Possession of his Revenues throughout his Dominions as well as in Savoy Nice about Pignerol and Suza his Royal Highness on the other side not demanding any Contributions of the King XI As to the Pretensions of the Dutchess of Nemours on his Royal Highness his Majesty leaves those Controversies to be determined among themselves by due Course of Law without concerning himself further therein XII That it shall be lawful for his Royal Highness to send Intendants and Commissaries into Savoy the Country of Nice the
if he did not to fall under the Censure of the House The Papers being read Sir John was immediately ordered to be brought before them and being interrogated by the Speaker concerning his Inclinations to make a Discovery of the Designs and Practises of the Enemies of the Government with a Promise of Favour if he were Ingenious therein yet finding by all the Answers he made he did nothing but Prevaricate with the House alledging the King knew already what he had discovered and that he could not be safe to tell them any thing without assurance of Security for himself They ordered a Bill to be brought in to Attaint him of High Treason which was carried by a great Majority in the House and Mr. Speaker acquainting them that he had received a Letter from Sir John Fenwicke importing That having received a Copy of the Bill with the House's Order thereupon he desired such Counsel and Sollicitor as he therein named might be allowed him The same was readily agreed to tho' it was said the Sollicitor was a very great Jacobite and insinuated farther that he was suspected to have been concerned in Goodman's Escape The first debate that hapned upon Sir John's being brought to the Bar of the House was concerning the Mace whether it should lie on the Table while he was in the House or whether the Sergeant ought to stand by him with it at the Bar which last was carried and then the Bill was read by the Clerk of the Parliament in these Words WHereas Sir John Fenwicke Bar was upon the Oaths of George Porter Esq and Cardell Goodman Gent. at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer held for the City of London on the 28th day of May 1696. Indicted of High Treason in Compassing and Imagining the Death and Destruction of His Majesty and adhering to His Majesty's Enemies by Consulting and Agreeing with several Persons whereof some have been already Attainted and others not yet brought to their Tryals for the said Treason at several Meetings to send Robert Charnock since Attainted and Executed for High Treason in Conspiring to Assassinate His Majesty's Sacred Person whom God long preserve to the late King James in France to â—â—cite and Incourage the French King to Invade this Kingdom with an Armed Force by Promising to Join with and Assist him with Men and Arms upon such an Invasion And whereas the said Sir John Fenwicke did obtain His Majesty's Favour to have his Tryal delayed from time to time upon his repeated Promises of making an ingenuous and full Confession of his Knowledge of any Design or Conspiracy against His Majesty's Person or Government and of the Persons therein concerned And whereas he has so far abused His Majesty's great Clemency and Indulgence therein That instead of making such Confession he hath contrived and framed False and Scandalous Papers as his Informations reflecting on the Fidelity of several Noble Peers divers Members of the House of Commons and others only by Hearsay and contriving thereby to Vndermine the Government and create Jealousies between the King and his Subjects and to stifle the real Conspiracy And whereas Cardell Goodman one of the Witnesses against the said Sir John Fenwicke to Prove the said Treason lately and since the several times appointed for the Tryal of the said Sir John Fenwicke at one of which times the said Sir John Fenwicke had been accordingly Tryed had it not been for the Expectation of the said Discoveries so often promised by him is withdrawn so that the said Cardell Goodman cannot be had to give Evidence upon any Tryal Be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said Sir John Fenwicke be and is hereby Convicted and Attainted of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains of Death and inâ—â— all Forfeiture as a Person Attainted of High Treason The Bill being read the King's Counsel Sergeant Goulâ— and Sergeant Lovell according to Mr. Speaker's Direction very learnedly especially the former opened the Evidence they had to prove the Suggestions of it and were as learnedly answered by Sir Thomas Powis and Sir Bartholomeâ— Shoar the Prisoner's Counsel who alledged That if the other would only call in Evidence to prove the Suggestions of the Bill they were ready to answer them but if they called in Evidence to prove Sir John Fenwicke Guilty of the Conspiracy by living Witnesses they took upon them not to be ready for that saying They did not know they should be allowed liberty to produce any Witnesses Whereupon they were ordered all to withdraw and the House debated the same a long time not without some Members making large Excursions from the Matter in dispute and after much Contestation as of other things of the proposing of the Question it self at length Mr. Speaker put it thus That the Council in managing of Evidence against Sir John Fenwicke be allowed to produce Evidence touching the Allegations of the Bill and the Treasons for which he was Indicted which was carried in the Affermative and the House it being late Adjourned to Monday the 16th of 〈◊〉 when the House proceeded farther upon it and the Council produced their Evidence which was Captain Porter 〈◊〉 gave a full Account of what he knew concerning Sir Joâ—â— Fenwicke's Guilt and was farther examined notwithstanding the Prisoner's Council stifly opposed it concerning 〈◊〉 being tampered with by one Clancy as to the taking off 〈◊〉 Testimony as to the late Conspiracy And not only so 〈◊〉 the King's Council produced the Record of Clancy's Conviction thereupon and so proceeded to Goodman's Examination taken under the Hand of Mr. Vernon which they prayed might be read but the Prisoner's Council opposed it as a thing unallowable and impracticable the Law requiring Persons to appear and give their Evidence viva voce c. and the House entred into an hot Debate upon it But at length it was carried the said Imformation should be read and next that some of Grand Jury should give an account upon what Evidence they found the Bill of Indictment that was thereupon brought in against Sir John Fenwicke From hence they proceeded to the Record of the Conviction of Mr. Cook and when the Council on both sides had spoke to it and the House debated the same it was moreover agreed That the said Record should be read and the King's Council allowed to examine Witnesses as to what Goodman swore at the Tryal of Cook which being over and some Questions asked concerning the forementioned Letter of Sir John Fenwicke it was agreed the Prisoner's Council if they had any Witnesses to examine on his Behalf might do it that Night but that as to their Observations the House would give them time till next Morning This they having none except a Record to produce accepted of and indeed said as much in Behalf of their
by both Kings and shall have the same Force and Vigour as if they were inserted Word for Word in the present Treaty IX All Letters as well of Reprisal as of Marque and Counter-Marque which hitherto have for any cause been granted on either side shall be and remain null and void Nor shall any the like Letters be hereafter granted by either of the said Kings against the Subjects of the other unless it be first made manifest that Right hath been denied And it shall not be taken for a denial of Right unless the Petition of the Person who desires Letters of Reprisal to be granted to him be first shewn to the Minister residing there on the part of the King against whose Subjects those Letters are desired That within the space of 4 Months or sooner he may inquire into the contrary or procure that satisfaction be made with all speed from the Party offending to the Complainant But if the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are demanded have no Minister residing there Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted till after the space of 4 Months to be reckoned from the Day on which his Petition was made and presented to the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are desired or to his Privy Council X. For cutting off all matter of Dispute and Contention which may arise concerning the Restitution of Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which either Party may complain to be taken and detained from the other in Countries and on Coasts far distant after the Peace is concluded and before it be notified there All Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which shall be taken by either side after the Signing and Publication of the present Treaty within the space of Twelve Days in the British and North Seas as far as the Cape St. Vincent Within the space of Ten Weeks beyond the said Cape and on this side of the Equinoctial Line or Equator as well in the Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as elsewhere Lastly within the space of six Months beyond the said Line throughout the whole World shall belong and remain unto the Possessors without any Exception or further Distinction of Time or Place or any consideration to be had of Restitution or Compensation XI But if it happens through Inadvertency or Imprudence or any other Cause whatever that any Subject of either of the said two Kings shall do or commit any thing by Land or Sea or on fresh Water any where contrary to the present Treaty or that any Particular Article thereof is not fulfilled this Peace and good Correspondence between the said two Kings shall not on that account be Interrupted or Infringed but shall remain in its former Force Strength and Vigour and the said Subject only shall answer for his own Fact and undergo the Punishment to be Inflicted according to the Custom and Law of Nations XII But if which God forbid the Differences now Composed between the said Kings should at any time be renewed and break out into open War the Ships Merchandises and all kind of moveable Goods of either Party which shall be found to be and remain in the Ports and Dominions of the adverse Party shall not be Confiscated or brought under any Inconveniency but the whole space of six Months shall be allowed to the Subject of both of the said Kings that they may carry away and transport the aforesaid Goods and any thing else that is theirs whither they shall think fit without any Molestation XIII For what concerns the Principality of Orange and other Lands and Dominions belonging to the said King of Great Britain the separate Article of the Treaty of Nimeguen concluded between the most Christian King and the States General of the United Provinces the 10th Day of August 1678. shall according to its Form and Tenor have full effect and all things that have been Innovated and Altered shall be restored as they were before All Decrees Edicts and other Acts of what kind soever they be without Exception which are in a manner contrary to the said Treaty or were made after the conclusion thereof shall be held to be null and void without any revival or consequence for the future And all things shall be restored to the said King in the same state and in the same manner as he held and enjoyed them before he was dispossessed thereof in the time of the War which was ended by the said Treaty of Nimeguen or which he ought to have held and enjoyed according to the said Treaty And that an end may be put to all Trouble Differences Processes and Questions which may arise concerning the same both the said Kings will name Commissioners who with full and summary Power may compose and settle all these matters And forasmuch as by the Authority of the most Christian King the King of Great Britain was hindred from enjoying the Revenues Rights and Profits as well of his Principality of Orange as of other his Dominions which after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nimeguen until the Declaration of the present War were under the power of the said most Christian King the said most Christian King will restore and cause to be restored in reality with Effect and with the Interest due all those Revenues Rights and Profits according to the Declarations and Verifications that shall be made before the said Commissioners XIV That Treaty of Peace concluded between the most Christian King and the late Elector of Brandenburg at St. Germains in Laye the 29 June 1679. shall be restored in its Articles and remain in its former Vigour between his Sacred Most Christian Majesty and his Electoral Highness of Brandenburg XV. Whereas 't will greatly conduce to the publick Tranquility that the Treaty be observed which was concluded between his Sacred most Christian Majesty and his Royal Highness of Savoy on the Ninth of Aug. 1696. 't is agreed that the said Treaty shall be confirmed by this Article XVI Under this present Treaty of Peace shall be comprehended those who shall be named by either Party with common consent before the Exchange of Ratifications or within six Months after But in the mean time the most Serene and Mighty Prince William King of Great Britain and the most Serene and Mighty Prince â—ewis the most Christian King gratefully acknowledging the sincere Offices and Indefatigable Endeavours which have been employed by the most Serene and Mighty Prince Charles King of Sweden by the inter position of his Mediation in bringing this happy work of the Peace with the Divine Assistance to the desired Conclusion and to shew the like Affection to him 't is by consent of all Parties stipulated and agreed That his said Sacred Royal Majesty of Sweden shall with all his Kingdoms Countries Provinces and Rights be included in this Treaty and comprehended in the best manner in the present Pacification XVII Lastly The Solemn Ratifications of this present agreement and alliance made in due Form shall be delivered on
Grand-Seignior should never more claim any right therein 2. That Moldavia Walachia and the Republick of Ragusa which had put themselves under the Emperor's Protection should be comprized in the Treaty of Peace and not to be disturbed by the Turks in any manner whatsoever 3. That all the Tartars should depart the Countries 4. That the Port should pay 6000000 towards the Expences of the War immediately after the Conclusion of the Peace and 2000000 every Year for free Passage to Constantinople 5. That all the Christians that had been taken during the War which were above 1000000 should be set at liberty lastly that Tekeley and all his Adherents should be delivered up to the Emperor The King of Poland demanded the restitution of Caminiec and 4000000 in Silver And for the Venetians they required 1. The restitution of all the Islands that formerly belonged to them and particularly the Island of Negrâ—pont 2. The restitution of the Dukedom of Athens 3. The Exchange of Lepanto for Tragusa 4. The restitution of Dulâ—igno and Mahona 5. A Regulation of the Limits of the conquered Cities and Countries And lastly that the Grand-Seignior should pay to the Republick 400000 Ducats But these Propositions seemed so unreasonable to the Embassadors that they tore their Beards upon it However they delivered a Letter to the Imperial Commissioners which the Grand-Seignior had written to the Emperour Within which it was thought some Offers and Proposals tending to a Peace might be met with But they were surprized to find nothing but Complements and the Imperial Court was so incensed at it that they sent Orders for the Ottoman Embassadors to be gone but while they were preparing for their departure word was sent them that they might stay till the Return of the Couriers from Poland and Venice to know the final Resolutions of those two Republicks At last depart they did but stopped at Commorra and after a long stay there got leave at length to return leaving the Peace that way desperate and the War to be prosecuted with as great fury as ever But how high soever the Demands of the Venetians were in their Proposals of Peace they must have proceeded from another Motive whatever it were than the Operations of this Compagne which proved very unsuccessful to them as the last had done For the Siege of Napoli di Malvasia a City in the Morea which their Forces undertook did not go forward with that Success that was desired their Army being only worn out before it and a great Number of brave Officers lost And therefore being reduced to this bad plight and the Garrison obstinately refusing to hearken to a Surrender tho' the Place was very much ruined by the Bombs they resolved at length to change the Siege into a Blockade To this end they put 2000 Men in Garrison into the two Forts which they had raised on the Land-side and left some Frigates at Sea to endeavour the prevention of any Relief that way Which being effected they drew off the rest of the Army to Napoli di Romania to take up their Winter-Quarters Neither did their Affairs in Dalmatia meet with any better Success than those in the Morea For Seignior Mclino Proveditor-General of that Countrey having advanced towards Narenta to make himself Master of la Gabella and some other Posts met the Turkish Horse near the Bridge that leads to that Place The Vanguard composed of Morlaques was charged so vigorously that they were forced to give Ground However Molino stood firm with 600 Horse and his Infantry but finding the Turks were reinforced he was not willing to engage in a Fight the Success whereof was so much the more doubtful by how much his Men had been somewhat discouraged by the Defeat of the Morlaques wherefore he retreated in good Order and with the Loss of no great number of Soldiers The rest of Italy was hitherto pretty quiet save for the Troubles of the poor Vaudois whose Persecution is now at an end and with which doth a Cloud gather that in a little time shall overcast a great part of this Countrey But of this we shall have occasion to speak in the succeeding Years and take notice here that this as it hath been remarkable upon many other Accounts so upon that of the Death of one of the greatest Popes that lived since Gregory the Great 's Days the famous and renowned Odeschalchi by Name and Innocenâ— XI upon his Assumpsion of the Papacy who departed this Life upon the 12th of Aug. between 3 and 4 in the Afternoon He was born at Como in Italy in the State of Milan was made Clerk of the Chamber under the Pontificate of Vrban VIII and of Innocent X. by whom he was made a Cardinal in 1645. after which he was preferred to be Legate of Bologna and Bishop of Novarra and Clement X. dying the 22d of July 1676. he was advanced to the Pontifical Chair the 22d of Sept. following Some have called him the Protestant Pope for what Reason I know not unless it be that when France was exercising her Severities upon her Reformed Subjects they were highly opposed by him at the same time upon another Account and that some said that he in one of his Letters exprest a Dislike not only at the one but the other of their Proceedings at least-wise as to the manner of it But be it as it will he was certainly a very great Man for all the Satyrs that were made upon him in France and it cannot be taken ill by the Publick if with a judicious Person I encounter all their Calumnies with what an Impartial Author wrote of him when he was yet but a Cardinal saying Odeschalchi is most certainly a very great Man and a Person of Worth and Integrity not to be corrupted Exemplary Charitable Disinterested Disingaged from the World without Pride without Vanity without Pomp Zealous with Moderation Austere only to himself His Kindred are Persons of Worth his Brother died at Como some Years since Canonized by the People for his signal Works of Piety and Charity there is nothing to be blamed in his Conduct and of all the Colledge he is the most fit to be Pope for his Honesty and Vertue But whether the vacant See was supplied with a Person worthy to succeed so great a Man may appear hereafter we shall only here note That Peter Ottoboni a Venetian by Birth and Bishop of Porro was on the 6th of Oct. following promoted to the Papal Dignity being aged 80 Years within a few Months year 1690 The Affairs abroad being terminated as we have above related for the Year 1689. we shall enter upon this with the Affairs of Britain The Parliament of England happily ended their most important Affairs towards the beginning of it and in regard they had found the Aim and Drift of the preceding Reigns to have been absolutely to annihilate the Authority of Parliaments and that King James in particular had gone a great
way towards the introducing the Popish Religion into the Nation they took especial care to prevent the like for the future by Enacting in concurrence with the Royal Authority That the Kings and Queens of England should be obliged at their coming to the Crown to take the Test in the first Parliament that should be called at the beginning of their Reign and in the Bill of Succession added a Clause That if any King or Queen of England should embrace the Roman Catholick Religion or Marry with a Roman Catholick Prince or Princess their Subjects should be absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance They also annull'd the pretended Parliament in Ireland and also ordained That all those who should take up Arms against the King after the 24th of Feb. or should hold Correspondence with his Enemies should be guilty of high Treason And granted the King 2 Shillings in the Pound upon Land with the necessary Clauses and Restrictions and appropriated Part of the Mony for Payment of the Seamen and setting out the Fleet. After this being prorogued to the 12th of Apr. they were by Proclamation dissolved upon the 6th of Febr. and the King by the same Proclamation called a Parliament to meet on the 30th of March to whom he delivered himself to this Effect That being resolved to omit nothing on his Part that might contribute to the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation and to that end believing his Presence absolutely necessary in Ireland for the Reducing of that Kingdom he had called them together to desire their Assistance that he might be in a Capacity to carry on the War there with Speed and Vigour To which purpose he desired them to hasten the settling of the Revenues of the Crown and that he might have a Fund in the mean time settled upon the Credit whereof he might raise Mony for the present Exigences of the Nation Then he recommended to them the passing of an Act of Oblivion such as he had ordered to be drawn up for the preventing the loss of time usually spent in Deliberations of that kind and wherein but few were excepted that his Subjects might see he had no other Intentions but such as were conformable to the Laws of the Land and to leave those without Excuse that should go about to disturb the Government in his Absence And lastly recommended to them the Vnion with Scotland and then informed them That he intended during his Absence to leave the Administration of the Government in the Hands of the Queen and desired them to prepare an Act to that Purpose concluding with an earnest Desire that they would be as speedy in the Dispatch of Business as possibly they could in regard his Expedition into Ireland would not admit of any long Session The Parliament went roundly to work upon this Speech of the King 's yet so that it took up some time before they could bring all their Matters to bear But at length the Act of Oblivion after many Difficulties removed and so long desired by the King was approved and past so was another for putting the Administration of the Government into the Queen's Hands not only during the King's Absence in Ireland but when-ever his Affairs should call him out of the Kingdom They also found out Ways to raise the Subsidies that were granted settled the Revenues and divers Persons did in the mean time advance Money for the King 's present Occasions and that nothing might happen to the Prejudice of the Government while the King was absent the Deputy-Lieutenants of the Counties were authorized to raise the Militia in case of necessity and all Roman Catholicks ordered to repair to their places of Abode and not to stir above 5 Miles from thence without leave and all that held any Imployment in the State tho' never so inconsiderable to swear Fidelity to the King and Queen Thus Matters being brought to a good Conclusion his Majesty after returning them his Thanks Prorogued them to the 17th of June and then hasted for Ireland where he arrived on the 14th of the same Month and where at present we shall leave him and see what was doing nearer home The Rebels in Scotland under the Command of Colonel Cannon tho' not otherwise considerable for their Strength then by the unaccessible Places they possess'd in the Highlands yet continued still in a Body and took their Opportunity to make frequent Incursions into the Low-lands to plunder and spoil more like a Company of Banditti than Regular Troops over whom the Government there however kept a vigilant Eye and detected some Correspondence held between them and other Persons in Edenburg and elsewhere who before pretended to be Friends but it ended in the close Confinement of them Yet notwithstanding all this they could not prevent them from receiving some Succour from without For King James notwithstanding the Delay of the French Succours which did not arrive in Ireland before the 4th of March yet built so very much upon them that tho' he had neither Ammunition nor Provision to spare he caused in the mean time two Frigats to be rigged up at Dublin laden with Cloaths Arms and Ammunition and sent them away to his Friends in Scotland having besides on Board them Colonel Buchan Colonel Wauhup and about 40 Commission-Officers more who had all the good Luck to get safe into the Isle of Mull. With this Reinforcement they were so incouraged that sometime after that they adventured to the number of 1500 to march as far as Strathspag in the County of Murray which Sir Thomas Levingstone no sooner understood and being unwilling to give them any Opportunity for a farther Accession of Strength in being joyned with other Malecontents but he took along with him 800 Foot 6 Troops of Dragoons and 2 Troops of Horse and fell upon them so suddenly that the Horse and Dragoons entring their Camp put them into such an immediate Confusion that they betook themselves to flight leaving between 4 and 500 of their Number slain upon the Spot an 100 taken Prisoners and among them 4 Captains 3 Lieutenants and 2 Ensigns nor had any of them escaped had not a thick Mist fell in the height of the Execution This was no sooner done but Sir Thomas advanced to the Castle of Lethirgdey commanded by Colonel Buchan's Nephew and having lodged a Mine under it quickly brought the Garrison to surrender at Discretion Neither was Major Ferguson less successful in the Isle of Mull where he landed and destroy'd several Places belonging to the Enemy forcing them to desert the Castle of Dewart and betake themselves to the Hills Nor yet was the Blow given them by the Scotch Parliament of less Importance for besides their Passing an Act to restore the Presbyterian Ministers that were thrust from their Churches since the 1st of Jan. 1661. they made another declaring all those Rebels that were actually in Arms against the King and Queen But notwithstanding the ill Success of the Jacobites in