they have not consulted him they ought to satisfie the King how they can warrant a Cessation of Arms on the Prince's side or how they can hinder him from advancing further to awe Debates in the Houses or what assurance they can give that he will acquiesce in the free Decision of the matters proposed or that he will peaceably depart out of the Land when things are setled and will not pretend a stay here till the vast Sums be paid him that he hath expended on this occasion or lastly will not find new occasions of questioning the security of Performance of any Agreement to be made If they have consulted the Prince they ought to shew his Commission authorizing them to make Proposal or shew the Heads of those Grievances he demands to be redressed for some they urge in their Petition there are which distract the People but I suppose they are more careful of their Heads than to own any such correspondence If these Noble Persons would have effectually saved Effusion of Blood they would rather have used all their Interest to have kept the Prince of Orange in his Country tho' with his Army and Fleet in readiness and have obtained his sending his demands and have waited like dutiful Subjects till the King had convened his Parliament and have tried how Gracious the King would have been in redressing Grievances and securing Religion and Property and after the King's refusal there might have been some colour for his Invasion but none upon any pretence whatsoever to have invited him to it Fifthly Those who will not openly and with a bare face justifie the Prince of Orange's Pretensions cannot think it consistent with the Honour of the King to stoop so low as to summon a Parliament at the direction of an Invader who can never be conceived to desire it with that eagerness if he did not judge it very much conduceable to his Interest for which very reason the King ought to be jealous of such Councils And I humbly conceive those Peers have not sufficiently considered how prejudicial this sort of Address may be to the King's Affairs and how much it will conduce to the further alienating of the Affections of the Subjects from the King when they shall hear of his denial to comply at present with this Expedient and never hear the reasons thereof since they have not divulged his Majesties Gracious Answer together with their Petition and I am sure at this time the putting the King upon such a Dilemma is the greatest dis-service can be done him and very little inferior to joining with his Enemies I might add many more Arguments to prove that the King cannot in Honour yield to this Advice without quitting that undeniable Prerogative the Laws give him of making War or concluding peace if those matters should be submitted to the Arbitriment of the two Houses or owning that the Allegiance of his Subjects did not bind them to assist him in the defence of his Crown and Dominions without the Votes of a Parliament But I shall conclude with some few Considerations I humbly offer to those Right Reverend and Noble Lords and all those who are of the same Judgment with them to reflect upon First then I desire them to consider whether it will not be more glorious and agreeable to the Principles of our Religion effectually to assist our undoubted lawful Soveraign than to suffer him to be dethroned solely because he is a Roman Catholick since the Papists themselves tho' they never take the Oath of Allegiance or Supremacy yet do and ever have declared that if any Roman Catholick Prince yea the Pope himself in person should invade any King of England tho' a Protestant yet that they are bound to defend such a King against them as much as if they were Turks Secondly Whether since the true and original Cause of this Invasion and consequently of all the Blood-shed these Lords so earnestly desire to prevent hath not been the denying to concur with the King in establishing of Liberty of Conscience even with such security to the Protestant Religion and Church of England as could be desired and whether in all human probability that would not be more conduceable to establish the publick Tranquility of the Kingdom and its increase in Wealth and People and consequently the most efficacious means to reduce the Dutch to be just and tractable Allies and Neighbours rather than any thing can be effected by this Invasion or the truckling to such avowed Enemies to our Country our Religion and our King. Thirdly Whether the King 's entire Trust in the Fidelity of his own Subjects for his defence and not admitting of foreign Aids that were unsought for proffered do not oblige all that have any sense of Gratitude or Duty to aid him to the very utmost against such Foreigners as so unnaturally and so unjustly invade him and when it hath pleased God to give success to the King 's just Arms we are not to doubt but the King according to his solemn promise in his late Royal Declaration will speedily call a Parliament and in it redress all such Grievances as his people can justly complain of with a full and ample security to the Church of England and all his Protestant Subjects which it will much more be our Interest to have in a truly harmonious and Free-parliamentary way at that time established than at this present in a tumultuary and precipitate haste so patched up as will not be durable and the more earnestly we desire to see this good work to be set upon the more haste the Nobility and Gentry should make to expel those who hindred the Convention of that Parliament which was much more likely to have setled matters to the content of the King and his People than this Invasion can ever hope to effect The Prince of Orange's Declaration could be no longer suppress'd and therefore it was suffered about this time to be printed with a short Preface and some modest Remarks as the Author pretends on it In 4to The Prince of Orange's Declaration shewing the Reasons why he invades England with a short Preface and some modest Remarks on it THERE having been various Discourses about the Reasonableness and Justice of the Dutch Invasion the Prince's great Love and special Care of the Protestant Religion and English Protestants set forth in the most charming manner and the Desperateness of the Protestant State and Condition painted in the blackest and most frightful Colours Our Natural Liege Lord notwithstanding his Unparallel'd Grace to all represented as designing the greatest Cruelty against his own Subjects strange Stories of ill things whispered and nothing less than a Secret League between His Majesty of Great Britain and the French King to extirpate all Protestants entred into These Reports are with so much Art and Cunning spread as to startle the most considering Protestants of all Perswasions whence nothing could be more eagerly desired than a sight of
however the Roman Catholicks from this time forward were studiously avoided no man fearing any trouble from any body else as in truth I never heard of any man that was prosecuted on this account The 28th of October the Earl of Sunderland was removed from the Office of Principal Secretary of State and the Lord Viscount Preston put in his room This Change pleased all men but it came too late As the Cause of the Dismission of the Earl of Sunderland was then wholly unknown so it gave occasion to the reviving a Report that had been spread not long before upon the Imprisonment of Sir Bevil Skelton the English Ambassador in France that there had lately been a League concluded between the King of England and France for the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion here and the establishing Popery and Arbitrary Government to which end the French King was as was said to send a considerable Army and great Sums of Money into England and as it was before pretended that Skelton being a Protestant had discovered this Transaction to the Prince of Orange So it was now said Sunderland had lost the Original League out of his Scritore and that it was carried over to the Prince of Orange who would produce it to the Parliament of England But since that the Earl of Sunderland has published a Letter wherein he has given a larger Account of the true Cause of his being laid aside than is any where else to be met with and therefore I think it reasonable to add it here The Earl of Sunderland 's Letter to a Friend in London published March 23d 1689. TO comply with what you desire I will explain some things which we talked of before I left England I have been in a Station of a great noise without Power or Advantage whilst I was in it and to my Ruin now I am out of it I know I cannot justifie my self by saying though it is true that I thought to have prevented much Mischief for when I found that I could not I ought to have quitted the Service neither is it an Excuse that I have got none of those things which usually engage men in publick Affairs My Quality is the same it ever was and my Estate much worse even ruin'd tho' I was born to a very considerable one which I am ashamed to have spoiled tho' not so much as if I had encreased it by indirect means But to go on to what you expect The pretence to a Dispensing Power being not only the first thing which was much disliked since the death of the late King but the foundation of all the rest I ought to begin with that which I had so little to do with that I never heard it spoken of till the time of Monmouth's Rebellion that the King told some of the Council of which I was one that he was resolved to give Employments to Roman Catholicks it being fit that all persons should serve who could be useful and on whom he might depend I think every body advised him against it but with little effect as was soon seen That Party was so well pleased with that the King had done that they perswaded him to mention it in his Speech at the next meeting of the Parliament which he did after many Debates whether it was proper or not in all which I opposed it as is known to very considerable Persons some of which were of another opinion for I thought it would engage the King too far and it did give such offence to the Parliament that it was thought necessary to prorogue it after which the King fell immediately to the supporting the Dispensing Power the most Chimerical thing that was ever thought of and must be so till the Government here is as absolute as in Turkey all Power being included in that one This is the sense I ever had of it and when I heard Lawers defend it I never changed my Opinion or Language however it went on most of the Judges being for it and was the chief business of the State till it was looked on as setled Then the Ecclesiastical Court was set up in which there being so many considerable men of several kinds I could have but a small part and that after Lawyers had told the King it was legal and nothing like the High Commission Court I can most truly say and it is well known that for a good while I defended Magdalen Colledge purely by care and industry and have hundreds of times begg'd of the King never to grant Mandates or to change any thing in the regular course of Ecclesiastical Affairs which he often thought reasonable and then by perpetual Importunities was prevailed upon against his ownsense which was the very case of Magdalen Colledge as of some others These things which I endeavoured though without Success drew upon me the Anger and Ill-will of many about the King. The next thing to be try'd was to take off the Penal Laws and the Tests so many having promised their concurrence towards it that his Majesty thought it feasible but he soon found it was not to be done by that Parliament which made all the Catholicks desire it might be dissolv'd which I was so much against that they complained of me to the King as a man who ruined all his Designs by opposing the only thing could carry them on Liberty of Conscience being the Foundation on which he was to build That it was first offered at by the Lord Clifford who by it had done the work even in the late King's time if it had not been for his weakness and the weakness of his Ministers Yet I hindred the Dissolution several Weeks by telling the King that the Parliament in Being would do every thing he could desire but the taking off the Penal Laws and the Tests or the allowing his Dispensing Power and that any other Parliament tho' such a one could be had as was proposed would probably never repeal those Laws and if they did they would certainly never do any thing for the support of the Government whatever exigency it might be in At that time the King of Spain was sick upon which I said often to the King that if he should die it would be impossible for his Majesty to preserve the peace of Christendom that a War must be expected and such a one as would chiefly concern England and that if the present Parliament continued he might be sure of all the help and service he could wish but in case he dissolv'd it he must give over all thoughts of fereign Affairs for no other would ever assist him but on such terms as would ruine the Monarchy so that from abroad or at home he would be destroy'd if the Parliament were broken and any accident should happen of which there were many to make the aid of his People necessary to him This and much more I said to him several times privately and in the hearing of others But being over-power'd
of November That there should be a Free Parliament and to the Prince of Orange in his Message by the three Lords That he would consent to every thing that could reasonably be required for the Security of those that come to it and yet without any Provocation would burn the Writs and resolve to withdraw his Person before these Lords could possibly return him any Answer for he promised the Queen to follow her who went away the day before him I say this breach of his Word so solemnly made and given both to the Nation and the Prince shew that he was not Master of himself but turned about by others whither they pleased Now suppose the Prince had suffered him to continue at Whitehall and to call a Third Parliament what assurance could he have given that in the end of another forty days we should not have the same trick play'd us and then in March or April have been left in the same state of Confusion we were in in December to the certain ruine of these three Kingdoms and Holland into the bargain And when all had been done the Scruples would have been the same they are now the Obligations of the Oath of Allegiance the same and the sin of Deposing a Lawful Prince who resolved to do the Nation no Right would have been much greater and more scandalous than barely to take him at his Word and since he had left the Throne empty when he needed not to resolve he should ascend it no more Lastly Suppose the Prince had been Expelled by the King Would the King have then granted us what he would not grant us now Would he not have Disbanded his Protestant Army and have kept the Irish Forces in Pay and have every day encreased them What Respect would he ever after this have shewn to the English Laws Religion or Liberties when he had had no longer any thing to fear The memory of what happened after the Monmouth defeat though effected only by Church of England Men will certainly never be forgotten by others whatever these Bigots of Loyalty may pretend or say That Expression of the Lord Churchill's in his Letter That he could no longer joyn with Self-interested Men who had framed Designs against His Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect ought to be seriously considered by all the Protestants of the Nation This one Argument prevailed upon him when he ran the hazard of his Life Reputation and Fortunes and now they are all on the other side I should consider very seriously if I were one of them what Answer I could make to this turned into a Question in the Day of Death and Judgment before ever I should act the direct contrary to what he has done For my part I am amazed to see Men scruple the submitting to the present King for if ever Man had a just cause of War he had and that creates a Right to the thing gained by it the King by withdrawing and disbanding his-Army yielded him the Throne and if he had without any more Ceremony ascended it he had done no more than all other Princes do on the like occasions and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force he was no longer then bound to consider him as one that was but as one that had been King of England and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility how much soever the King complained of it who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage But when all is said that can be said there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Job Thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants for this day I perceive that if Absolons had lived and all we had died this day then it had pleased thee well Had the Protestant Religion the English Liberties the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours their Scruples and School-niceties and the Prince of Orange perished or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion our Laws and our Civil Rights with our own Swords and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self In truth the Men that would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World. PART the SECOND A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS Used for the RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF OUR GOVERNMENT WITH REFLECTIONS ON A Pamphlet stiled The Dissertion Discussed In a Letter to a Country Gentleman THE Prince of Orange being thus received in London the 18th of December The Common Council of that City the same day assembled and passed an Order that all the Aldermen and their several Deputies and two Common Council men for each Ward should wait upon and congratulate his Highness the Prince of Orange upon his Happy Arrival to the City at such time and place as His Highness should appoint and that the two Sheriffs and Mr. Common Serjeant should wait upon the Prnice to know his Pleasure when they should attend him which was done the day after his Entry at St. James's who appointed them the next day The Committee of the Common Council came accordingly the 20th of December and Sir George Treby their Recorder made him this Speech in their Names May it please your Highness THe Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom Deputed to Congratulate Your Highness upon this Great and Glorious Occasion In which Labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State overrun by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind to have the Title of a Soveraign Prince Stadt-holder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are amongst their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be the Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Soldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon Your Appearing GREAT SIR WHen we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and
enroll'd in Parliament and Chancery which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the Greatest Proof of the Trust you have in us that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully accept what you have offered And as I had no other intention in my coming hither than to Preserve Your Religion Laws and Liberties So you may be sure that I shall endeavour to Support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to Advance the Wellfare and Glory of the Nation Thus ended that Stupendious Revolution in England which we have so lately seen to the great Joy of the Generality of the Protestants of Europe and of many of the Catholick Princes and States who were at last convinced that the attempting to force England to return under the Obedience of the See of Rome in the present conjuncture of Affairs would certainly end in the ruine of this potent Kingdom and whilest it was doing the present French King would possess himself of the remainder of the Spanish Netherlands and the Palatinate and perhaps of the Electorates of Cologne Ments and Triers a great part of which he hath actually seized whilest the Prince of Orange was thus Gloriously asserting the English Liberty The true reasons of the Swiftness of this Change may easily be assigned by shewing the temper and designs of James the II. The Temper of William the III. our Present Soveraign and The Nature of the English Nation and of the times all concurring with Wonderful Harmony to produce this wonderful effect For had James the II. undertook any thing but the subjecting England to Popery and the Exercise of an Arbitrary Power to that end his vast Revenue and personal Valour and the Reputation he had gained at home and abroad by the defeat of the Monmouth Invasion would have gone near to have effected it and after all this if he had in the beginning of October frankly granted all the Ten Proposals made by the Bishops and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up a confiderable number of his Ministers to Justice and suffered the pretended Prince of Wales his Birth to be freely debated and determin'd in Parliament It would in all probability have prevented or defeated the then intended Invasion But whilest he thought to save the Pretended Succession the Dispensing and Suspending power and the Ecclesiastical Commission to carry on his former design with when he had baffl'd the Prince of Orange the Nation saw through the project and he lost all Had a Prince of less secrecy prudence courage and interest than the Prince of Orange undertaken this business it might probably have miscarried but as his cause was better so his reputation conduct and patience infinitely exceeded theirs he would not stir till he saw the French Forces set down before Philipsbourg and then he was sure France and Germany were irrevocably ingaged in a War and consequently he should have no other opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must at last have determin'd all the things in Controversie except we resolved once for all to give up our Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the will of our King and submit for ever to a French Government A Nation of less sense than the English might have been imposed upon of less bravery and valour might have been frighted of a more servile temper might have neglected its Liberties till it had been too late to have ever recovered them again But none but a parcel of Jesuits bred in a Cloister and unacquainted with our temper as well as Constitution would ever have hoped to have carried two such things as Popery and Arbitrary power both at once upon so jealous a Nation as the English is which hates them above any other people in the World. The cruel slaughter they had made of the poor wretches they took after the defeat at Bridgwater ought to have made them for ever despair of gaining any credit with the Dissenters who rarely forgive but never forget any ill treatment Yet these little Politico's had so little sense as to build all their hopes on the Gratitude and Insensibility of these men as if they should for Liberty of Conscience arbitrarily and illegally granted and consequently revocable at the will of the Granter have sold themselves to everlasting slavery They were equally mistaken in their carriage towards the Church of England party for when some of them had pursued both Clergy and Laity with the utmost obloquy hatred oppression and contempt to the very moment they found the Dutch storm would fall upon them Then all at once they passed to the other extream the Bishops are presently sent for the Government intirely to be put into their hands and all places Presses and Papers fill'd with the Encomiums of the Church of England's Loyalty and Fidelity who but three days before were Male-contents if not Rebels and Traytors for opposing the Kings Dispensing power and the Ecclesiastical Commission And which was the height of folly the same Pen which had been hired to defame and blacken the Church of England the Author of the Publick Occurrences truly stated was ordered to magnifie its Loyalty By which they gained nothing but the intire and absolute disobliging the whole Protestant party in the Nation so that for the future no body would serve or trust them To compleat their folly and madness they perswaded the King to throw up the Government and retire into France pretending we would never be able to agree amongst our selves but would in a short time be forced to recal him and yield to all those things we had so violently opposed or if not he might yet at least force us to submit by the succours he might gain in France without ever considering how possible it was we might agree and how difficult it would be to force us by a French Army which was equally contrary to the Interest of England and all Europe besides and to all intents and purposes destructive of the Interest of that Prince they pretended thus to exalt and re-establish Had France been now in Peace there might yet have been some colour for this but when all Europe was under a necessity to unite against him for its own preservation then to perswade the King of Great Britain to desert his Throne and fly thither for succour upon hopes of recovering his Kingdoms again by the assistance of the French the mortal and hereditary enemies of the English this was so silly a project that there seems to have been something of a Divine Infatuation in it However certainly no rational man will think that all the Princes of Europe would sit still and
us to the Ruin of Europe The King of England saith the Prince of Orange in his Declaration have given the greatest credit to those Counsellors who have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of his Realms And subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liherties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in open and undisguised manner §. 2 Pag. 10. § 17. he informs us That both he and his dearest and most entirely beloved Consort the Princess have endeavoured to signifie in terms full of respect to the King the just and deep regret which all these proceedings have given us c. But those evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if we had designed to disturb the peace and happiness of the Kingdom Sect. 19. To crown all there are great and violent presumptions inducing us to believe that these evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on their ill designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging of their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects they have published that the Queen have brought forth a Son tho there have appeared both during the Queens pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible Grounds of suspicion that not only we our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the Pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the world that many both doubted of the Queens bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts Things being in this state He resolved to go over to England Sect. 21. and to carry with him sufficient force to defend him from the violence of those evil Counsellors and then he declares that this Expedition was intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible Sect. 25. To the end that all the violences and disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament to which he would also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the Pretended Prince of Wales and all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession Now if all this is true which no English man can deny then had the Prince of Orange the justest cause that ever man had to do what he did and the King of England was bound in justice to have Summoned a Parliament and to have referr'd the things in question to them there being no other competent Judg on Earth of the things in dispute but if he would not suffer a Parliament to meet then the Sword must determine the Question between them for they were both Soveraign Princes and had no Superior over them to decide it The King accordingly referr'd it to the Sword for he refused to the last to suffer a Parliament to meet till the Invasion was over and the Prince had no reason to take his word for it The Protestants of England had no reason to fight against this Prince who came to right their Cause and offered to refer all to a Parliament of English Nobility and Gentry and the Papists alone were not able to resist the Prince's Army especially after many of the King's Army were gone over to the Prince so that the King was at last forced to call a Parliament in the manner I have set forth and he promised both the Nation and the Prince the Parliament should meet and act freely but before this was possible to be brought about without any cause given or alledged he disbanded his Army sent away the Queen the Child and the Seals and then followed them himself leaving the Nation in Anarchy and confusion Now I will refer this to the World whether this absence was not voluntary unforced and criminal after he had thus passed his word For supposing he had stayed on the Princes terms and the Parliament had met no Act could have passed without his own consent and if any thing had been required that had not been just and legal if then he had withdrawn his case would have been more justifiable and perhaps he should have found enough to have defended it and so needed not to have withdrawn The Story of the French League and the Prince of Wales are not passed so over tho they are postponed but we may hear more of them in due time tho when all is done there will be no reason to expect that all the Prate of this populous Town should be proved to be true it will be sufficient if his now Majesty justifie his own Publick Declarations which I believe no man doubts but he can and has done the Three Estates having in their Declaration subscribed to the truth of all the main parts of his The King being thus gone some way or other must be taken to bring us again to a settlement and that of a Convention of the Three Estates was taken as least liable to Exception and Mistake but then he tells us Sect. 2. That the Necessity alledged for their justification is either of their own making or of their own submitting to which is the same thing and therefore ought not to be pleaded in justification of their Proceedings Now this is not True The King would never have left his people if he had not first lost their hearts by the things charged upon his Counsellors nor then neither if he had not first resolved never to do them right against those Counsellors because he had reason to believe this would have satisfied them so that his late Majesty was not driven out of his Dominions by his Enemies as he stiled them but by his pretended Friends who put him upon doing ill things and then would not suffer him to Redress them Well but If he had been invited back upon Honourable Terms they needed not have had recourse to these singular Methods Why how does he know that The King had Honourable Terms offered him before he went and they would not stop him from going and if they had sent more Honourable Terms after him who can tell whether he would have accepted or have stood to them He had passed his Word before that a Parliament should meet yet he Burnt the Writs and withdrew Well but however our Author is resolved the late Kings withdrawing himself is no resigning of his Crown or discharging of his Subjects of their Allegiance In order to which he undertakes to shew that his late Majesty before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of danger and therefore it cannot be call'd an Abdication 2. That the leaving any representative behind him
Grievances which the Majority of the three Estates should have judged necessary to be redress'd would have signified as little so that whatever the difficulties or distrusts of the King were at that time he saw he must yield the point after he had strugled as long as was possible and now when he had now passed his Word it was too late to revoke it and therefore there was that necessity added to the other of holding one Now Sr. if we had yielded this point there had been an End of the English Liberties for ever If he had yielded it what inconvenience could have followed which did not certainly attend his Desertion of us but if he had stayed he might in all probability have saved his main Stake and have regained the Affections of his people again and so have ended his Days in Honour and Peace in his own Palace and amongst his good Subjects At least there was so great a probability of all this that no man but he would have taken the other way Nor he neither if he had suffered this Question to have been debated in his Privy Council and had heard what all sides could have said for it Sect. 21. He tells us this expedient the appointing of a representative was not absolutely necessary for the Administration of Justice might have proceeded regularly without any such Deputation by virtue of those Commissions which the Judges and Justices of the Peace had already from the King. So that here was no need of Seals or Commissioners tho the Nation was imbroiled to that heigth that no body durst have undertaken this dangerous Charge as he tells us the Section before and the King was gone Thus men loose themselves when they meddle with what they do not understand The Tumults which arose that very day in London and spread themselves with the news of the Kings withdrawing all over the Nation do sufficiently confute this airy Notion And at this time both the Judges and Justices of the Peace were at almost as Low an Ebb of Authority and Credit with the People as their Master by reason of the many unqualified men which had been imployed and the things they had done contrary to Law he could not but know how the late Lord Chancellor Sir Roger Lestrange and many others were treated by the People and yet he tells us the Administration of Justice might have proceeded regularly yes we might have lived without any King Magistrates or Execution of Justice at all if all men would have been quiet and minded their own business Section 22 We have a whimsey of a Journey of Charles the first into Scotland and that five Lords were appointed by him to sign bills in his Name but the Judges and Justices acted by virtue of their former Commissions without any new Authority from these Representatives of his Majesty Now to what end is all this why to prove that Commissions will hold tho the King is absent Who ever doubted this for without this had been allowed he could have had no representative But I thought he would have given us an instance of a King that had Stole out of his Kingdom and had left no body to have supplied his place which Charles I. did and yet after he was gone no body knew whether to return no body knew when his people had been Governed by his Judges and Justices of the Peace and then this should have been an Example for England Henry the 3d. of France was first King of Poland and hearing of his brothers Death stole away without Leaving any Deputy But then the Kingdom of Poland call'd a Dyet and Judged it an Abdication and proceeded to the Election of a New King as if he had been Dead The Instances of this nature must be very rare but who ever heard of a Prince that withdrew himself from his people or was forced away and yet no body was put in his place Certainly James the 2d foresaw what would follow and in some sort consented to it rather than to the setting of a Parliament § 26. He undertakes to prove in the last place that we have no Grounds either from the Laws of the Realm or from those of Nature to pronounce the Throne void upon such a retreat of a Prince as we have before us This is bold and very peremptory considering there had then a Vote passed for it in the Lower house of the Convention And that this Gentleman is a Clergy-man and knows very little of the Laws of England There is said he no Statute so much as pretended to support this Deserting Doctrine he might have better called it this right of providing for our selves when we had no body to take care off us There is no Statute to enable us to meet and chose a new King if the whole Royal Line should happen to be extinct yet this may very probably happen at one time or another What shall we therefore continue in a State of Anarchy for ever Neither has it any foundation in common Law For common Law is nothing but Ancient usage and Immemorial Custom Now Custom Supposeth Precedents and Parallel Cases But it is granted on all hands that the Crown of England was never judged to be demised by the withdrawing of the Prince before Such a withdrawing as this I believe never happened in England before nor ever will again and it is Stupendioutly wonderful that it happened now There was nothing asked of the King but what he ought to have granted freely viz the calling of a Free and Lawful Parliament which he said he was resolved to have had tho the Prince had not entered England and so soon as he was retired he would hold such a Parliament then he came further and promised to hold a Parliament the 15th of January and sent thee Noble-men to the Prince to adjust the Preliminaries who had as good an Answer as they could expect but before it was possible the late King should know what it would be whilest all men rested secure under the Expectation of that meeting The King for Reasons wholly unknown to us burns the Writs sends away the Seals withdraws himself and disbands his Army Now if he can find a case Parallel to this in the History of the whole world Erit mihi Magnus Apollo Nay saith he our Laws are not only silent in the maintenance of this Paradox but against it as I shall make good by two Instances The first of these is that of Edward the Fourth who was forced to fly without leaving any representative yet returned and regained the Crown King Edward was surprized under pretence of a Treaty and sent Prisoner to Warwick Castle and made his escape out of Custody after this Henry the Sixth was again Crowned and Edward the Fourth declared a Traytor in Parliament and an Usurper of the Crown and all his Estate confiscated and the like Judgment passed against all his Adherents and all the Statutes made by him were revoked
no such Court as that Commission sets up may be erected for the future III. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annexed to them and in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxford IV. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Publick Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly debated and argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the four Foreign Bishops who stile themselves Vicars Apostolical from further invading the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That your Majesty will be pleased graciously to fill the vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with men of Learning and Piety and in particular which I must own to be my peculiar boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have now here before you a very fair Choice VIII That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all further Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to restore to them their ancient Charters Priviledges and Franchises as we hear God hath put into your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our principal Requests IX That if it so please your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the calling of a free and regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be established between your Majesty and all your People X. Above all That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be effectual to perswade your Majecty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most holy Catholick Faith you were baptized and in which you were educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be re-united These Sir are the humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to your Majesty as suitable to the present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to dispose and govern yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to your own both temporal and eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Jo. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath Wells Tho. Petriburg We may guess at the Rages the Priests were in at these Advices by the resentment they expressed afterwards against these innocent and good Proposals when their Affairs were in a much worse state than now they were The Bishop of Rochester observes that they were drawn at Lambeth on Mâ—nday the first of October and presented the third and the Prince of Orange's Declaration was signed in Holland the tenth New Stile which was the first of our Month and the matter of them is very near the same except one or two particulars too high for Subjects to meddle with and all this at a time when the King thought of nothing but Victory when in all probability he was the strongest both at Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him and when the very Winds and Seas seemed hitherto as much on his side as they all afterwards turned against him October the 5th two days after the Bishops had made the Ten famous Proposals above-recited the King declared in Council That in pursuance of his Resolution and Intentions to protect the Church of England and that all Suspicions and Jealousies to the contrary may be removed he had thought fit to dissolve the Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical c. and accordingly did give Directions to the Lord Chancellor of England to cause the same to be forthwith done Now this was only half what was asked it not being declared illegal nor any Promise made so soon as ever the times would serve it should not be renewed And we shall see the Jesuits were champing on it bye and bye The 6th of October the King was also graciously pleased to restore to the City of London all their ancient Franchises and Privileges as fully as they enjoyed them before the late Judgment upon the Quo Warranto and the Lord Chancellor did them the honour to bring down the Instrument of Restitution and Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And Sir John Chapman was thereby constituted Lord Mayor till the time of Election and was accordingly sworn in the Guild-hall with the usual Solemnity The same day the Aldermen now in being that were at the time of the said Judgment took their former Places and the Vacancies were to be supplied by the Election of the Citizens according to the Ancient Custom of the City And an Address of Thanks was forthwith voted and signed for the Favour granted to them October the 10th his Majesty having received several Complaints of great Abuses committed in the late Regulations of the Corporations he thereupon in Council thought fit to authorize and require the Lords Lieutenants of the several Counties to inform themselves of all such Abuses and Irregularities within their Lieutenancies and to make forthwith Report thereof to his Majesty together with what they conceive fit to be done for the redressing of the same Whereupon he would give such further Orders as should be requisite But pressing News
And for the better effecting Our said Intention We have by Order made by Us in Council and under Our Sign Manual and We do also by this Our Proclamation made with the Advice of Our said Council discharge remove and dismiss all and every Person and Persons of and from all Offices and Places of Mayors Bailiffs Sheriffs Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants Recorder Town-clerk and all and every Office and Place which they or any of them have or claim only by Charter Patent or Grant from Our dear Brother or from Our Self since the Dates of the respective Deeds of Surrender or Rules of Judgment except such Corporations whose Deeds of Surrender are Inrolled or against whom Judgment is entred and that all and every such Person and Persons deliver up into the Hands of the said Persons hereby appointed and intended to act and execute the said Offices and Places all and every the Charters Records Books Evidences and Matters concerning the said Corporations And We do hereby further publish and declare That We have caused all and every the said Deeds of Surrender which can be found to be delivered and put into the Hands of Our Attorney-General to be by him cancell'd and returned to the Corporations and Bodies Politick of the respective Cities and Towns whom they concern and have also given to Our said Attorney Authority and do hereby Warrant and Command him not only not to proceed or enter Judgment upon the said Quo Warranto's or Informations in nature of a Quo Warranto or any of them but to enter upon the respective Records Noli Prosequi's and Legal Discharges thereof And We do hereby publish and declare Our further Grace and Favour to the said Cities Corporations and Burroughs at any time hereafter by any further Act to grant confirm or restore unto them all their Charters Liberties Franchises and Privileges that at the respective times of such Deeds of Surrender or Rules for Judgment made or given they held or enjoyed And in order to the perfecting Our said Gracious Intentions We do hereby likewise publish and declare Our Royal Will and Pleasure for and concerning the Restoring to such Our Cities Corporations and Burroughs within our said Kingdom and Dominion which have made Deeds of Surrender or have had Judgment given against them which Surrenders and Judgments are entred of Record That Our Chancellor Attorney General and Sollicitor-General without Fees to any Officer or Officers whatsoever upon Application to them made shall and they are hereby required to prepare and pass Charters Instruments Grants and Letters-Patents for the Incorporating Re granting Confirming and Restoring to all and every the said Cities Corporations and Burroughs their respective Charters Liberties Rights Franchises and Privileges and for restoring the respective Mayors Bailiffs Recorders Sheriffs Town-clerks Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants Officers Magistrates Ministers and Free-men as were of such Cities Corporations and Burroughs at the time of such Deeds of Surrender or Judgments respectively given or had and for the putting them into the same State Condition and Plight they were in at the times of such Deeds of Surrender or Judgment made or given And whereas divers Burroughs that were not heretofore Corporations have since the Year 1679. had Charters of Incorporation granted and passed unto them We hereby further express and declare Our Royal Pleasure to determine and annul the said last-mentioned Charters and Corporations And to that end We have in pursuance to the Power reserved in the said Charters by Our Order in Council and under Our Sign Manual removed and discharged and We do also by this Our Proclamation made with the Advice of our said Council remove and discharge all and every Person of or in the said last-mentioned Corporations of and from all Offices and Places of Mayors Bailiffs Recorders Sheriffs Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants and of and from all and every other Office and Place from which We have Power reserved by the said Charters respectively to remove or discharge them And We do hereby promise and declare That We will do and consent to all such Acts Matters and Things as shall be necessary to render these Our Gracious Intentions and Purposes effectual It being Our Gracious Intention to call a Parliament as soon as the General Disturbance of Our Kingdom by the intended Invasion will admit thereof Given at Whitehall It was necessary to transcribe this long Piece to shew what an hurry of Confusion the Nation was then in and how reasonable it was for the Bishops in their Seventh Proposal to desire the Restitution of all these Corporations and Burroughs to their Ancient State without which as things had been carried of late especially it was altogether impossible a Free and Legal Parliament should be holden The 12th of October his Majesty having declared his Resolution to preserve the Church of England in all its Rights and Immunities as an Evidence of it signified his Pleasure to the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester as Visitor of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford to settle that Society Regularly and Statutably who accordingly caused the 16th of that Month a Citation to be fixed up on the College Gates to recal Dr. Hough and the former Fellows of that Society by the second of November following And he accordingly went down to reinstate them and was joyfully received by the University but an Account coming that very Post that the Dutch Fleet had suffered very much in a Storm the 16th of the same Month N. S. and that they would hardly be able to sail till the Spring his Lordship was recalled to London and the Restitution put off But soon after that false News being contradicted the Affection to the Church of England revived and the 24th of October he returned and went thorow with the Work. The 20th of October we had the Favour of the following Proclamation bestowed upon us FOrasmuch as the great Preparations made to invade and conquer this Our Kingdom require Our utmost Care in providing for the necessary Safety and Defence thereof wherein we resolve thro' God's Assistance not to be wanting and to the intent that Our Enemies who will bring the heavy and sad Calamities of War may not strengthen themselves at their coming hither by seising the Horses Oxen and Cattel of any of Our Subjects which may be useful and serviceable to them for Burthen and Draught We have therefore thought fit and We do here by this Our Royal Proclamation published by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council strictly charge and command all and every the Lords Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants of Our respective Counties adjoining to the Sea and all Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Bailiffs and all and every other Officers and Ministers Civil and Military within their respective Counties Cities Towns and Divisions That they cause the Coasts to be carefully watched and upon the first approach of the Enemy to cause all Horses Oxen and Cattel which may be
the Prince of Orange 's Declaration For the Expectations of most Men are That some extraordinary Secrets some hidden Works of Darkness should be reveal'd and brought to light as generally those who yet never saw the Prince's Declaration do still believe But there not being one word of any such Treaty we cannot see why it is that the Prince comes over and if others impartially peruse the Declaration we doubt not but 't will convince them that they give no Reason powerful enough to justifie so Bloody an Enterprise as this in the issue must needs be We will therefore give you a true Copy of the Prince's Declaration word for word as it runs in the West 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 the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 1. 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 preserve and maintain 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 2. Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare that to our great Regret we see that those Councellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those 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 ways but in an open and undisguised manner 3. Those evil Councellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible Pretexts did invent and set on foot the Kings Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispence 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 tho' there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joint concurrence of 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 4. For tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to 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 clothed 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 5. 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 be 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 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 which 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 rendred incapable of all such Employments 6. 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 either University as likewise all other that should be put in any Imployment Civil or Military should declare that they were not Papists but were of the Protestant Religion and that by their taking of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test yet these Evil Councellors have in effect annulled and abolished all those Laws both with relation to Ecclesiastical and Civil Employments 7. In order to Ecclesiastical Dignities and Offices they have not only without any colour of Law but against most express Laws to the contrary set up a Commission of a certain number of Persons to whom they have committed the Cognisance and Direction of all Ecclesiastical matters in the which Commission there has been and still is one of his Majesties Ministers of State who makes now publick profession of the Popish Religion and who at the time of his first professing it declared that for a great while before he had believed that to be the only true Religion By all this the deplorable State to which the Protestant Religion is reduced is apparent since the Affairs of the Church of England are now put into the hands of persons who have accepted
was sent down to Portsmonth with Orders to the Lord Dartmouth to send him under a good Convoy with his Nurse into France This he was said to have utterly refused whereupon he was brought back to London again on Saturday Doc. 8. and the Queen resolved to go over with him her self and not contented with this extorted from the King a Promise to follow her himself Which was the very worst Counsel the worst Enemy he had in the World could possibly have given him But to return back Scotland was by this time almost in as bad a condition as England and some of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland were sent up with a Petition for a Free Parliament and the Popish Chapels at York Bristol Glocester Worcester Shrewsbury Stafford Woolverhampton Bromidgham Cambridge and St. Edmond's Bury were about this time demolished and whereever the Lords in Arms came the Papists were disarmed And in Norfolk the Duke of Norfolk their Lord-Lieutenant had a great appearance of the Gentry with him where he and they declared for a Free Parliament and the Protection of the Protestant Religion This meeting was at Norwich the First of December and after that the same Declaration was renewed at Yarmouth and the Suffolk men approved of it but wanted a Lord Lieutenant to assemble and head them in order to the shewing their concurrence with safety Bristol was seized by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John Guise the Lord Lovelace was delivered by the Gentry of Gloucestershire out of the Castle of Gloucester where till then he had been imprisoned The Lords Molineux and Aston in the mean time seized Chester for the King being R. C's and Berwick stood firm to him too but New-Castle received the Lord Lumley and Declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion York was in the hands of the associated Lords and the Garrison of Hull seized the Lord Langdale their Governour a Papist and the Lord Montgomery and disarmed some Popish Forces newly sent thither and then Declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion And Plimouth had long before submitted to the Prince of Orange And the Army at Reading upon another false Alarm on Saturday the 8th of December retired in great haste to Twyford Bridge and endeavouring to regain their post a Party of the Prince's men who were sent for by the Inhabitants of Reading upon their threatning to plunder and fire the Town attacked the Irish Dragoons and slew Fifty of them the Irish making little Defence tho' the Prince's Party were much fewer in number because they believed the whole Army was at hand The Popish Party was become so contemptible in London that on Thurday the Sixth of December there was an Hue and Cry after Father Peters publickly cried and sold in the Streets of London But this was not the worst neither for about the same time came forth this following Declaration in the Name of the Prince of Orange By his Highness William Henry Prince of Orange A Third Declaration WE have in the course of our whole life more particularly by the apparent hazards both by Sea and Land to which we have so lately exposed our Person given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion that we are fully confident no true Englishman and good Protestant can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution rather to spend our dearest Blood and perish in the Attempt than not to carry on the blessed and glorious Design which by the favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from SLAVERY and POPERY and in a Free Parliament to Establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms on such a sure and lasting Foundation that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny Towards the more easie compassing this great Design we have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the concurrence of the Nobility Gentry and People of England with us for the Security of their Religion and the Restitution of the Laws and the Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties Great numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joyned themselves to us and others at great distances from us have taken up Arms and Declared for Us. And which we cannot but particularly mention in that Army which was raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery many by the special Providence of God both Officers and common Soldiers have been touched with such a feeling sense of Religion and Honour and of true Affection to their Native Country that they have already deserted the illegal Service they were engaged in and have come over to Us and have given us full assurance from the rest of the Army That they will certainly follow this Example as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them without hazard of being prevented and betray'd To which end and that we may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design we are engaged in for the publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations We are resolved with all possible diligence to advance forward that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King and all things first setled upon such a foot according to Law as may give us and the whole Nation just reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescension on his part as will give entire Satisfaction and Security to all and make both King and People once more happy And that we may effect all this in the way most agreeable to our desires if it be possible without the effusion of any Blood except of those execrable Criminals who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion and subverting the Laws of their Native Country we do think fit to declare that as we will offer no violence to any but in our own necessary defence so we will not suffer any injury to be done to the Person even of any Papist provided he be found in such place and condition and circumstances as the Laws require So we are resolved and do declare That all Papists who shall be found in open Arms or with Arms in their Houses or about their Persons or in any Office or Employment Civil or Military upon any pretence whatsoever contrary to the known Laws of the Land shall be treated by Us and our Forces not as Soldiers and Gentlemen but as Robbers Free-booters and Banditti They shall be incapable of Quarter and intirely delivered up to the Discretion of our Soldiers And we do further declare That all Persons who shall be found any ways aiding and assisting to them or shall march under their Command or shall joyn with or submit to them in the discharge or execution of their illegal Commissions or Authority shall be looked upon as Partakers of their Crimes Enemies to
Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Tilbury-Fort was then Garison'd by the Irish and there were a great many of them and other Papists in Portsmouth This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the Tenth of December by an Express yet he resolved to leave the Town and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time he sent Order to the Earl of Feversham to Disband the Army and Dismiss the Soldiers The Letter to the Earl of Feversham was in this Form. THings being come to that Extremity that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales that they might not fall into the Enemies Hands which they must have done if they had stay'd I am obliged to do the same thing in hopes it will please God out of his infinite Mercy to this unhappy Nation to touch their Hearts again with true Loyalty and Honour If I could have rely'd on all my Troops I might not have been put to the Extremity I now am in and would at least have had one blow for it But though I know there are many and brave Men among you both Officers and Soldiers yet you know that both you and several of the General Officers and Soldiers and Men of the Army told me It was no ways advisable for me to venture my self at their Head or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them And now there remains only for me to thank you and all those both Officers and Soldiers who have stuck to me and been truly Loyal I hope you will still retain the same Fidelity to me and though I do not expect you should expose your selves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation yet I hope your former Principles are so inrooted in you that you will keep your selves free from Associations and such pernicious things Time presseth so that I can add no more Jamex Rex The Earl of Feversham presently after the receit of this Letter Disbanded Four thousand Men which was all the Army he had then with him and under his Command after which he sent this Letter to the Prince of Orange SIR HAving received this Morning a Letter from His Majesty with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England I thought my self obliged being at the Head of his Army and having received his Orders to make no Opposition against any body to let your Highness know it with the Advice of the Officers here so soon as was possible to hinder the effusion of Blood. I have ordered already to that purpose all the Troops that are under my Command which shall be the last Order they shall receive from Feversham This was to all intents and purposes a clear and full Abdication or Desertion of the Army and put them under an inevitable necessity of submitting to the Prince of Orange they having no body to Lead or Head them against him And it is not conceivable how they could keep themselves from entring into an Association or Oath of Allegiance to the Prince now he was gone without exposing themselves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation For neither could the Nation long continue without a Prince nor would any Person that succeeded in that Capacity have ever suffered them to live within his Government without giving him Security by Oath for their Submission and Loyalty to him So that the whole design of this Letter seems to be the Sowing a Division in the Nation that at the same time he left us we might not unite or settle our selves under the other but by our Principles be divided that so he might the more easily reduce us again into the State we were in when the Prince first designed his Expedition against England This being done about Three of the Clock in the morning December the 11th the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The principal Officers of the Army about the Town thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at Whitehall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Souldiery to enter into his Service Much about the same time the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town came to Guildhall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of Persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply out selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties may be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World may be supported and encouraged to the Glory of GOD the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjacent by taking care to disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and
fit That all Officers and Souldiers be Lodged by the Direction and Appointment of the Magistrates Justices of the Peace or Constables of the place where such Forces shall come and not otherwise And we do hereby strictly forbid all Officers and Souldiers upon any pretence whatsoever to take up any Quarters for themselves or others without such Direction or Appointment upon pain of being Casheired or suffering such other punishment as the offence shall deserve The Prince found the Treasury very empty of Money the Cash in it being said to be but 40000 l. Whereupon he desired the City of London to advance a Sum for His present Occasions and the 10th of January they agreed to lend 100000 l. but it being raised by Subscriptions it amounted to above 150000 l. The 16th of January the Prince put out a Declaration to assure the Mariners and Seamen of their Pay and suppress the false reports had been spread to the contrary by the Discontented Party The Elections of the Members for the Convention in the mean time went on with the greatest Liberty that could possibly be conceived every man giving his Vote for whom he pleased without the least Solicitation from the Prince or any of his there had been Writs before this twice for a Parliament in a few Months and almost every place had before this fixed their Members so that the difference was not great between the Men that were and those that would have been chosen if the King had suffered the first or second Parliament he called to have met and this gives the truest Idea that can be desired of the temper of the Nation and what would have been the event if either of those Parliaments had sate The two Houses met the 22d of January and the Upper House there being no Lord Chancellor chose the Marquess of Hallifax for their Speaker and the Commons chose Henry Powle Esq after which a Letter was read in both Houses from His Highness the Prince of Orange on the Occasion of their Meeting which was as followeth My Lords I Have endeavoured to the utmost of my power to perform what was desired from me in order to the publick peace and safety and I do not know that any thing hath been omitted which might tend to the preservation of them since the Administration of Affairs was put into my hands It now lieth upon you to lay the foundations of a firm security for your Religion your Laws and your Liberties I do not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as is now met the Ends of my Declaration will be attained And since it hath pleased God hitherto to bless my good intentions with so great success I trust in him that he will compleat his own work by sending a spirit of Peace and Union to influence your Counsels that no interruption may be given to an happy and lasting Settlement The dangerous condition of the Protestants in Ireland requiring a large and speedy succour and the present state of things abroad oblige me to tell you that next to the danger of Unseasonable Divisions amongst our selves nothing can be so fatal as too great delay in your Consultations The States by whom I have been enabled to rescue this Nation may suddenly feel the ill effects of it both by being too long deprived of the service of their Troops which are now here and of your early assistance against a powerful enemy who hath declared a War against them And as England is by Treaty already engaged to help them upon such Exigencies so I am confident that their chearful concurrence to preserve this Kingdom with so much hazard to themselves will meet with all the Returns of Friendship and assistance which may be expected from you as Protestants and Englishmen whenever their condition shall require it Given at St. James's the 22d day of January 1688. To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster Will. H. P. d' Orange The first thing the Houses took care of was by mutual consent to draw up and present the following Address The Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster in this present Convention to his Highness the Prince of Orange Die Martis 22º Januarii 1688. WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster being highly sensible of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is next under God owing to your Highness do return our most humble thanks and acknowledgments to your Highness as the Glorious Instrument of so great a Blessing We do further acknowledg the great care your Highness has been pleased to take in the Administration of the Publick Affairs of the Kingdom to this time and we do most humbly desire your Highness that you will take upon you the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that your Highness will take into your particular care the present state of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual means to prevent the Dangers threatning that Kingdom All which we make our Request to your Highness to undertake and exercise till further Application shall be made by us which shall be expedited with all convenient speed and we shall also use our utmost endeavours to give dispatch to the matters recommended to as by your Highness's Letter To this Address thus presented by both Houses at St. James's the Prince of Orange made this Reply the same day My Lords and Gentlemen I Am glad that what I have done hath pleased you And since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs I am willing to accept it I must recommend to you the consideration of Affairs abroad which maketh it fit for you to expedite your business not only for making a Settlement at home upon a good foundation but for the safety of all Europe The Houses also ordered that Thursday the 21th of January Instant be appointed for a day of Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God in the Cities of London and Westminster and ten miles distance for having made his Highness the Prince of Orange the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that Thursday the 14th of February next be appointed for a Publick Thanksgiving throughout the whole Kingdom for the same The 23d of January the Lords passed this Order Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That no Papist or Reputed Papist do presume to come into the Lobby Painted Chamber Court of Requests or Westminster-Hall during the sitting of this Convention And it is further Ordered That this Order be Printed and Published and set upon the Doors of the said Rooms The 28th of January the Commons passed this Vote Resolved That King James the
being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative 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 case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution 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 pernicious 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 or 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 and Debates or 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 required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannel'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 strengthing 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 Survivor 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 joynt 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 Delare that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminece or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Jo. Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The same day this Delaration bears Date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such Occasions The 13th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas It hath pleased Allmighty God in his Great Mercy to this Kingdom to Vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is Due next under GOD to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of ORANGE whom GOD hath Chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being Highly Sensible and Fully Perswaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of ORANGE whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And Whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and Presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of ORANGE and therein Desired Them to Accept the Crown who have Accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are Accordingly so to be Owned Deemed and Taken by All the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to acknowledg and pay unto them All Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching GOD by whom Kings Reign to Bless King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with Long and Happy Years to Riegn over us GOD Save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The 15th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered That His Majesties most Gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be
Thing Now impartial Reason has always a regard to the Circumstances of Action and makes Allowances for Surprise for Straitness of Time for Resentment upon extraordinary provocation and never takes advantage of an Omission which may be fairly Interpreted from any or all of these Causes I mention this not that the present Case needs any such Allowance but to shew that the Law of Nature would admit it if Occasion required 'T is true written Laws either through the ambiguity of the Words or the defectiveness of the Sense are often abused by ill Men and wrested contrary to the Design of the Legislators But the Law of Nature is not tyed up to the Alphabet nor bound to determine by the Imperfections of former Ages Therefore this Principle will give the Enquirer no just Advantages against his Majesty for Equity has no Quirk in it nor ever lies at Catch Reason is always Just and Generous it never makes Misfortune an Accusation nor judges in favour of Violence Indeed what can be more Unrighteous though the Case was private and inferior than that any one should Suffer for being Injured and be barred his Right for the Faults of others If a Man should forfeit his House to those who set it on Fire only because he quitted it without giving some formal Directions to the Servants and be obliged to lose his Estate for endeavouring to preserve his Life I believe it would be thought an incomprehensible sort of Justice If to proceed in this manner be not to establish Wickedness by a Law I have done If Princes may be thus roughly treated their Birth is a Misfortune to them and we may say they are Crown'd rather for Sacrifice than Empire At this rate the People must e'en Govern themselves for the Throne will be a Place of too much Danger to sit on any longer We have an Excellent Church and we do well to take due Care to continue its Establishment but to dispossess our Prince upon this Score has as little Divinity as Law in it To endeavour to preserve our Religion by such Methods will make it more Fatal to us in the event than Atheism it self 'T is a mistake to think the World was made for none but Protestants and if Dominion was founded in Grace I am afraid our share would not be great in the Division § 31. If it is Objected That his Majesty 's not sending to his People upon his Removal is an Argument that he intended to govern them no longer To this I Answer 1. That I am pretty well assured That no Man who makes this Objection believes the truth of it and therefore I might safely leave it to his own Conscience to confute him Secondly His Majesty was scarcely Landed in France before the Administration was conferred upon the Prince of Orange which Action might very well discourage his Majesty from sending any Messages so soon as he intended But since it 's known his Majesty has sent Letters if not to the Privy Council as some affirm yet to the Convention § 33. Thirdly Those who were the Occasion of his Majesty's Departure should one would think have waited on him and invited him back For without Question the injuring Person ought to make the first step towards an Accommodation especially when Wrong is done to his own Prince Now whether his Majesty has been well used in this Revolution or not I leave the World to judge now but God will do it afterwards Thus SIR I have ventured to give you my Thoughts upon this Subject and am Affectionately Yours AN Answer to the Desertion Discuss'd HAving thus as truly and as shortly as I can from the Papers I have Collected stated the matter of Fact without which it is impossible to pass any judgment upon the merits of the case I come now in the next place to consider the small Piece which has necessitated me to take all this pains The Author of it is my acquaintance and a person for whom I have a great esteem both on the account of his Profession and of his personal worth learning and sobriety so that I cannot believe he had any ill design either in the writing or publishing of it his zeal for the Church of England's Loyalty and the difficulty and unusualness of the present case having been the occasions if not the causes of his mistake and therefore I will endeavour to shew him and the world his error with as much candor and sweetness as he himself can wish because I have the same design for the main that he had viz. the Honour of the Church of England and the safety of Government and especially our Monarchy It begins thus Sir I don't wonder to find a Person of your sense and integrity so much surprized at the report of the Thrones being declared vacant by the Lower House of the Convention for how say you can the Seat of the Government be empty whilest the King who all grant had an unquestionable Title is still living and his absence forced and involuntary I thought our Laws as well as our Religion had been against the Deposing Doctrine therefore I desire you would expound this State Riddle to me and give me the Grounds of this late extraordinary Revolution Sect. 1. In Answer to which he tells his Country Gentleman That the Gentlemen of the Lower House of Convention lay the main stress of their opinion upon his Majesties withdrawing himself c. Now that the King was de facto gone is not to be disputed but the Question is Whether his absence was truly forced and involuntary or no and by whom he was forced Our Author is for the affirmative and afterwards proposeth his Reasons which I shall examine And this Question being well stated the business of the Deposing Doctrine will appear nothing to the purpose Now before our Author could regularly enter upon this Question he ought first to have considered what the causes of this force was and what had been done by the King on his part and then have come to the other Whether the absenting himself was a fault or a misfortune So that to begin at the right end of the Question we must enquire what were the causes of this Revolution who were the Parties concern'd how things were managed on both sides and then come in the last place to the Question he begins with Now Sir are the Prince of Orange's Declaration and the Bishops Ten Proposals as to the things complained of true or false Are they justifiable or not by the Laws of England For if the King had done nothing which he could not fairly justifie his Title was unquestionable and therefore he ought not to have been disturbed either by his own Subjects or his Neighbours during his life But then Sir I think he had no right to govern us as he did and he had as little reason to expect whatever we did that his Neighbours would sit still and suffer him to do what he pleased to them and
was impracticable at this juncture But there are two other things which he has not mentioned the first of which is who gave the occasion of these Dangers which he apprehended and the Second whether he had no other way to avoid those Dangers but by withdrawing Now it is plain that the ill courses taken under his Government had brought upon him those Dangers and that if he would have suffered a Parliament to meet he needed not to have withdrawn and consequently his going away rather than submitting the things in dispute to a Parliament was a voluntary Abdication Sect. 4. Our Author has a scruple whether the Kings going away signifies any thing to Scotland and Ireland now all this is no better than banter for when he left England he left them too tho' the one was for sometime and the other still is under the Regular Administration of the Lord Lieutenant as he tells us but those that have since come from thence assure us there is nothing Regular in his Administration but the British Protestants are treated as Enemies by this Minister of his so that Ireland being an Appendage of England and thus treating our Brethren ought by us to be taken for a Rebel and an Enemy let the pretence be what it will Their Loyalty to the Late King not excusing but Aggravating their Injuries to his Country men who have done nothing to deserve this usage but it is to be hoped will find hands enough to revenge it in due time Our Author in the 5 Sect. is to prove the late King had sufficient Grounds c. omitting his Rhetorick Had not his Majesty faith he great Reason to Retire to secure his Person and Honour at his first withdrawing from Whitchal When he had met with so many unfortunate disappointments with so many surprizing and unparallell'd Accidents c. I say no he ought to have considered what was the Cause of all these Misfortunes and to have applied himself with so much the more Industry to the quieting of his people which the sitting of the Parliament would in all probability have effected But what could he promise himself by withdrawing but the bare saving of his Life and Liberty with the loss of his Crown now his Life and Liberty were in no Danger as is plain for after he was brought back a Prisoner and suffered to go away again without any hinderance There are many indiscreet things said in this Paragraph which I could easily expose but I would not make this Answer too long nor exasperate any body against the Author and therefore I will pass them over To be obliged saith he to Pay a Foreign Army which came over to enable his Subjects to drive him out of his Dominions Looked as if there was a design to reduce him as low in his Honour as in his Fortune The Prince saith in his Declaration Sect. 21. That he intended nothing but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as was possible And this might have been done without driving the King out of his Kingdom and it is very difficult to imagine how he could at first propose more to himself nor would it have been any diminution of the Kings Honour to have paid the Dutch Army a few Weeks or Months till things could have been setled When the Forts and Revenues were thus disposed off when the Papists were to be disbanded And the Protestants could not be trusted when the Nation was under such violent and general dissatisfactions when the King in case of a Rupture which was not unlikely had nothing but his single Person to oppose against the Princes Arms and those of his own Subjects Well what then Why it was time to be gone No Sir it was time to be better Advised than he had been by those that had brought him into this deplorable State. It was time to despair of ever being able to Set up Popery and an Arbitrary Power in England to have reflected on the breach of his former Promises and Oaths which had so Exasperated his Subjects against him but by other measures might very easily have been again appeased and deserved after all rather to be trusted than those Popish Souldiers he was so fond of to his Ruine because he had formerly had sufficient Experience of their Loyalty till he had made it impossible for them to serve him without destroying their Religion and their Civil Liberties When his Mortal Enemies and those who were under the highest forfeitures to his Majesty were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity if no further c. The Power of an heated Imagination Why after all these were the three Estates of England whom he thus blackens or a part of them or rather the Church of England Nobility and Gentry the same men that were chosen and for the most part must be chosen again if we were to choose to morrow as to the Lower House and as to the Upper the Bishops and the Peers always are and must the be same Nor were they to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity for they must have Sworn Allegiance to him again at their meeting much less of his Life or Liberty but only of his former Actions his Ministers and of the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales And he had Reason to have expected great Candor from them having had so great Experience of them before When a Gentleman of the Church of England could thus harangue it against his own Party and Interest we need not wonder if that Unfortunate Prince found some Jesuits about him who would perswade him rather to abandon his Crown Kingdom and People then the Glorious design of forcing England once more to submit to the yoke of Rome Section 6. Our Author is at a loss to find the Reason why his coming from Feversham to Whitehal is not allowed to be a return to his people now if he please to look into the former History he will find it was not voluntary but forced tho he was not then known and in all probability the fear continued upon him when the force was removed for then he saw he could not go away without the Prince's leave and that was the true reason of his inviting the Prince to London when he could not keep him out if he would Pray what had the King done to incur a Forfeiture by his first retirement had he quitted the Realm Yes he had and the Government too and necessitated his own Menial Servants to submit to the Prince by the Famous Address made at Guild-hall the 11th of December So that the Prince was now actually invested with the Government the whole Nation having submitted to him and it was at his choice whether he would treat him as a King now nor had he any great reason to do so considering how lately he had broke his word to him and the Nation His return after some assurance of Fair Treatment is a plain Discovery of the Motives of his withdrawing