of his Reign was the first Act of Parliament made for entailing the Crown with Remainders By vertue of which Entail his Son Henry the fifth became King and after him Henry the sixth in whose time Richard Duke of York claim'd the Crown and an Act of Parliament was made 39 Hen. 6. that Henry should enjoy the Crown for his Life and Richard and his Heirs after him After which King Henry raise's an Army kills Richard for which He the Queen and Prince were all Attainted 1 Edw. 4. because Richard was declared Heir apparent to the Crown after Henry by Act of Parliament but this Attainder was repeal'd in terms of Disgrace and Detestation 1 Hen. 7. Rot. Parl. 1 Hen. 7. Edward the fourth succeeded Henry 6. by vertue of an Act of Parliament made in the time of Hen. 6 for entailing the Crown as Son and Heir to the Duke of York Richard the third was confirmed King by Act of Parliament tho' he came to it by blood and murther Henry the seventh comes in by no Legal Title because Edw. the fourth's Daughter and his own Mother were both living In his time the Crown was entail'd on him and his Heirs by an Act of Parliament and he would never suffer any other Title to declare his Right Henry the eighth succeeded who as all his Laws speak deriv'd his Title to the Crown from his Father by vertue of the Act of Parliament above-nam'd and not by any Title from his Mother tho' by the Law of Succession his Right from Queen Elizabeth Daughter of Edw. 4. was indisputable In his Reign the Crown was thrice entail'd but the great one was that of 35. c. 1. by which Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth succeeded in whose Reign was made an Act of Parliament making it high Treason to say it was not in the Power of Parliaments to limit the Succession of the Crown Upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain both the Crowns of England and Spain were entail'd and the Articles of Marriage confirm'd by Act of Parliament and by that Act of Parliament Philip was created King and exercis'd Sovereign Authority and particularly in making Laws together with the Queen the Style of the Royal Assent to Bills in Parliament being at that time Le Roy La Reigne les veulent by all which it appears that the Kings of England since the Crown was setl'd in a particular Family as well as before are Kings by the Laws of the 〈…〉 of human Constitution tho' their Power is from God Almighty Nor does this opinion aim at the changing our Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective Kingdom but shews that there is no such absolute necessity of keeping the Lineal Descent in respect of a single Person that it cannot be chang'd for the preservation of a Kingdom contrary to the Opinion of our Lawyers who affirm from History Records and Law-Books that our Monarchy is Hereditary as to a Family but Elective as to Persons However to obviate the prejudice that might arise from that preconceit I shall shew you 't is Hereditary and yet that that Hereditary Right came also by Law and therefore may be interrupted by our Legislators That England is an Hereditary Monarchy and that the common course of Succession is to be inviolably observ'd when it consists with the publick good and safety of the Kingdom none will deny for our own Laws have so determin'd it as a custom grounded upon sufficient Reasons Our Ancestors perceiving that the way of Electing Kings was subject to many Inconveniencies and often expos'd the Kingdom to Tempests Interregnum's and Revolutions as well as to the seditious commotions of under-hand dealers and the Pride and Ambition of Men too desirous to be uppermost And that Kings coming to the Crown by Election neglected the Demeans and squander'd away the Treasure of the Nation because they had no prospect of leaving the Crown to their Heirs 't was therefore thought advisable and beneficial to the Publick to fix the Royalty in a particular Family As for example In the eighth of Hen. the fourth there was an Act of Parliament which entail'd the Crown with Remainders And to name no other instances of the like kind it was made Treasonable by an Act of Parliament in the thirteenth of Queen Elizabeth for any Man to affirm that the common Laws of this Realm ought not to direct the Right of the Crown of England or that the Laws were not of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the Crown of this Realm and the Descent Limitation Inheritance and Government thereof So that 't is plain an Hereditary Right is a Right by the Laws of England and not otherwise And what need is there of any other since a Right by Law makes a Rightful and Lawful King in despite of all the over-nice Distinctions of State-Criticks to the contrary And truly Of all Men living the late King James and his Defenders have least Reason to quarrel this Right by Law For How came it to pass that the Line of the Stewarts had a better Title to the Crown of Scotland than that of the Baliols but only that the Laws of Scotland that is the Consent of the Estates of that Kingdom made them so For otherwise if we search into the Pedigrees of those two Families we shall find that Baliol according to the common receiv'd Rules of Descent was nearer in Blood to the last King David than Bruce and was so adjudg'd at a solemn Hearing * Bak. Chron. pag. 96. between both Parties by our King Edward the First in Parliament Besides the late King has left it upon Record from his own Mouth that the Laws of England were able to make a King as great and happy as he could desire to be and after that I cannot imagine what he could wish for next But His Intentions being fix'd to destroy those Laws that in observing them would have made him great and happy he stood in need of a Title Superior to them therefore his Flatterers contriv'd one of a Divine Original and yet it dy'd before him the Divinity of his Office was more Mortal than that of his Person and well it might having no Being unless in the Heads of its first Inventore The Scripture has declar'd the Falsity of this new Hypothesis †Rom. 13. St. Paul saying There is no Power but of God must be understood of Government in general For the Apostle does not say There is no Prince but is of God but There is no Power but of God St. Peter also makes Kings to be of Humane Constitution as well as our Laws which know no such thing as a Personal Authority in the King Antecedent and Superiour to all Laws nor no Divine Law or just Inference from it which does any where set aside Humane Constitutions agreeable to Christianity and beneficial to Civil Societies Therefore if a King by Lawful Succession shall act unlawfully and
Laws do not only totally exclude Papists from Military Offices but injoin them to be Disarm'd also Notwithstanding James the Second did not only Arm them but put them into the First Employments of the Army and all other Stations And was so fond of them that no Consideration either of Quality Loyalty or Merit except he was a Papist could Recommend any Man to this King's Favour or give him Title to the common Kindness of a Civil Reception but all were Smil'd or Frown'd on as they were distinguish'd by their Religious Principles Men may live happily under a Government and yet be excluded from having any Office or exercising any Authority under it and therefore the late King's Fondness and the Papists Forwardness to thrust themselves into Employments gave a great Suspition that it was for no good End that he put Wise and Experienc'd Men out to make room for a sort of Raw Papists who being not us'd to Publick Business were not capacitated for it No Man can imagin that the late King made this bold Adventure in Employing Papists for nothing or that he would disoblige the Body of his People for their sakes only without designing some other Advantage to himself by it He must have some peculiar Service for these Unqualify'd Favourites to do in which the rest of the Nation would not inter-meddle The Contest was between the King 's Absolute Power on the one side and our Laws and Religion on the other And therefore to know what Work their King had for them to do and to what End he would have employ'd these Services here is but to see Vide State of Ireland under the Reign of the late King James what Use he put them to in Ireland and how they demean'd themselves towards Protestants where the Scene was open'd and all manner of Violences committed upon Protestants by his Authority He also corrupted the Exercise of Justice on which depends the Safety of the Nation and the Stability of the Throne The Judges were Tamper'd with and Admitted upon Condition of favouring and promoting the late King 's Arbitrary Power and the Popish Interest Those Judges were Depos'd who were fix'd in their Religion and Resolutely defended the True Interest of their Country and others put into their Places of no Honour Integrity or Capacity but known Temporizers or Papists who were excluded by the Laws of their Country Upon this follow'd very Arbitrary and Illegal Proceedings in the Courts of Judicature A Prosecution was carry'd on against Seven Reverend Prelates for Petitioning the King to Redress their Grievances and giving their Reasons why they could not obey his Arbitrary Commands Causes were Try'd in the Court of King's Bench that were only Cognizable in Parliament Partial Corrupt and Unqualify'd Persons were Return'd and Serv'd on Juries in Cases of High Treason that were not Free-Holders Great Bail requir'd of Persons Committed in Criminal Causes Excessive Fines Impos'd for small Offences Illegal and Cruel Punishments Inflicted without Example or Law to warrant them And for a finishing Stroke The late King was also pleas'd to Grant and Seal a Commission to several Unqualify'd Persons to Examine the Revenues and Search into the Foundations of all the Hospitals in the Kingdom and see to what Uses they were first given by their Benefactors And into the Estates that some time ago belong'd to Monks Friars and other Religious Orders of the Romish Church with Intent to Restore them to the Papists who complain'd to the late King that they were Wrongfully Depriv'd of them In brief Never any Prince in so short a time committed so many Irregularities and made such Inroads upon our All as James the Second did by his Dispencing Power in England his Absolute Power without Reserve in Scotland and his Actual and Absolute Destruction of the Liberties and Religion of the Protestants in Ireland To which if we add the more than seeming Probability of the late King 's Leaguing with France for the Extirpation of the Northern Heresie 't will compleat his Design and make the intended Ruin of England unavoidable for more Hands would have made lighter Work and Experienc'd Artists would have finish'd it sooner I will not urge this League as a plain and positive Truth tho' I am strongly inclin'd to believe it and therefore shall only produce my Reasons and leave them with the Reader to judge as he pleases Mr. Coleman who must be presum'd to know much of his Master's Mind being in the same Interest and the Tool he work'd with in all his Secret Practices gives great Suspicion of the Truth of this Combination in a Letter to Sir William Throgmorton Feb. 1. 1678. You well know saith he that when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs i. e. to be King of England the King of France will have Reason to promise himself All things that he can desire And in a Letter to Father Le Chaise Confessor to the French King he says That His Royal Highness was convinc'd that His Interest and the King of France 's were the same And whether he ever thought fit to change his Mind since his Accession to the Crown his own Actions will better declare than any Gloss of mine In this State of Amity Things continu'd between the French King and the Duke of York till he was King And when the Prince of Orange's Fleet was preparing for his Noble Expedition into England they seem'd to rest on the same Foot for Monsieur le Comte d' Avaux the French King's Ambassador at the Hague in a Memorial to the States General acquaints them That his Master knowing the great Preparations for War that their Lordships were making both by Sea and Land was not without some Design form'd answuerable to the greatness of those preparations and his Master believing that it threaten'd England he had Commanded him to declare on his part that the Bands of Friendship and Allyance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him not only to assist him but also to look upon the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops or your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown To this Memorial the States of Holland gave Answer That they Arm'd after the Example of their Neighbours to be ready upon Occasion 'T is true the French Ambassador does not mention the League in express words yet he gives very shrewd Hints that there was some such thing as a League or an Equivilent between the two Crowns and so the States of Holland took it For in their Answer to the English * The Marquiss d'Arbaville Ambassadors's Memorial their Lordships tell him That they were long since fully convinc'd of the Allyance which the King his Master had treated with France and which has been mention'd by Mr. Le Comte d'Avaux in his Memorial The Industry and Care that has been us'd to stifle this League does also
being such that where one Party does not perform his Covenant the other are absolv'd from theirs Which Advice being approv'd the Lords and Great Men of the Kingdom Assemble at Soissons Depose Childeric and Elect Pepin to be their King But above all I am amaz'd to hear the * Advice de Refugies p. 60. French Missionaries and other Writers so openly and scandalously Declaim against Dethroning Kings when the very Monarch that now enjoys the Crown of France wears the Crown in Consequence and by Right of such Depositions Nay It would be no hard matter to prove that almost all the Governments in the World owe their Settlements to Conventions of Estates Assembl'd and Authoriz'd by a Necessity of providing for the Publick Safety So that the Conventional Parliament of England in Deposing James the Second made no Incroachment upon the Rights of Kings nor Violation of the Law of God of Nature or the Law of Nations but agreeably to all these Laws Asserted their own Rights in taking more Care for the Safety of a whole Kingdom than the Pretentions of a Single Person who endeavour'd to destroy it And in this they did but follow the Practice of former Ages in their own Country as will appear by and by in the following Examples God has invested Kings with a Power to do Justice but not to commit Violences and therefore when they wilfully convert their Authority into a Power of Destruction as James the Second did Subjects have a Right by the Law of Nature to Repel Force by Force for the Necessity of Publick Safety is a Law so Sacred that it Abolisheth all others that oppose it and Justifies all the Revolutions and Settlements in the World that are built upon that Foundation It is the First and greatest Obligation of Mankind to procure and promote the Welfare of the Body whereof they are Members which if every one would think himself oblig'd to do there would be a Circulation of Safety and Prosperity through the whole * Eâque lege notus sis ut ea habeas principia naturae quibus parere quae semper sequi debeas ut utilitas tua communis utilitas sit vicissimque communis utilitas tua sit Cicero lib. 3. expresseth this to the Life in saying That we are born under a Law and instructed by the Principles of Nature that oblige us to prefer the Common Good before our own so that at length the Common Good may be our own Advantage also With a single Respect to this Common and Mutual Good the Light of Reason shining in Wiser Heathens which yet shines brighter in Christians exalted by Revelation dictated the Necessity of Government as an Instrument without which it could not possibly be attain'd Fair Useful Just and Equal Rules of Conversation were by Common Consent agreed on and some One or More Persons Renown'd for Wisdom Probity and Courage were Intrusted and Impower'd to Inforce as Occasion should require the Community to observe them Which Ruler was bound by Mutual Compact to govern by the Rules agreed on and under that Condition the People gave their Oaths to obey him So that those People that think themselves bound by their Oaths to an Absolute Obedience to their Prince without Reserve forget that the Rulers Office is merely Relative to their People's Welfare and they also forget their first Obligation to seek the Good of the Community If a Ruler act contrary to his Trust by setting aside the Laws of the Constitution made and agreed on by Prince and People as necessary for the Conservation of every Individual Person and by excercising an Arbitrary Power of his Own Erecting evidently seeks the Ruin of that Body he ought to preserve the Necessary Defence of themselves is no Offence against the Nature of Government which was Originally Instituted for the Preservation and not for the Destruction of the Society and therefore cannot be looked upon as Criminal The Judgment of the great Melancton concerning Government in his Exposition on the Fifth Commandment will clear this Point In regard saith he something will go amiss in every Society for the Love of Peace we must bear with many Faults of our Princes and so long as they design well in the main tho' they fall into Mistakes we ought to bear them with Patience and hide their Frailties as much as possibly we can But of a Tyrant he says a few Lines before * Nec praetextu operis Divini excusanda aut tuenda sunt vitia nec propter loci dignitatem tolerandae sunt manifestae Atroces injuriae impietates flagitiosae libidines Tyrannorum sine fine grassantium sed reliqua politia cui Deus gladium dedit recte facit cum Caligulas Nerones similia portenta removent a Gubernatione That the Pretence of a Divine Right can neither excuse or justifie his Crimes nor the Dignity of his Office tolerate him to exercise a Wicked and Wilful Tyranny but when his Impieties and Injuries to his People are evident and unsufferable the Powers to whom God hath in such an Extremity committed the Sword to protect and deliver an Oppress'd Nation may remove him from the Government as the Romans did Caligula Nero and other Monsters of Cruelty who were not only Enemies to the Commonwealth but to all Mankind Indeed when an Absolute Government hath for the Sins of the People taken firm Rooting which Thanks be to God was not England's Case I deny not but such as were born under it ought to be content with their Servile Condition till Heaven is prevail'd with by their Prayers and Piety to release them from Thraldom But in a Free Estate the Case stands as is before rehears'd Polanus in proposing the Question whether we ought to obey an Absolute and Tyrannical Prince exactly answers the Case of England under the Reign of the late King James saying We must distinguish between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy in the former it must be born with because the Prince does but exercise his own Authority like Nebuchadnezzar But Sed si Rex seu Princeps habeat limitatum adstrictum certis conditionibus in quas juravit seu quas se promisit servaturum Penes Status aut Primores Regni seu Principatus est coercere Regis seu Principis Tyrannidem immanitatem Syntag. lib. 10. cap. 62. if the King or Prince governs in a Limited Monarchy where he receives his Crown on certain Conditions which he promises and swears to observe but instead of it breaks his Oath and sets up a Despotick Power unknown to the Constitution and Inconsistent with the Safety of it the Estates of the Kingdom may depose him from his Royal Dignity And this is Melancton's meaning also as may be collected from his Words already cited cui Deus gladium dedit to whom God hath given the Authority The Case thus stated makes England unconcern'd in the Deep Submissions of the Primitive Christians who tho'
Ishbosheth had Right by Descent from Saul but David was made King And 't was for the sake of Religion that they were thus Plac'd and Displac'd In France Childeric was Depos'd and Egidius or Gillon a mere Stranger but in Reputation for Probity and Wisdom was Elected in his stead Pepin was Elected King and Thierry Depos'd Pepin Grandson to the former was by Parliament Crown'd King tho' there was of that Marovinian Race in Being Charlemain's and Hugh Capet's best if not only Title was the Choice of the People So that I wonder the French Writers should question the Legality of the late Revolution in England since if we look back into the Original of other Kings and how they came to their Crowns King William's Title to the Crown of England is as good as the best and much better than some now Reigning in Europe for if all the Monarchs and Governments in Europe that have succeeded such Depositions or Abdications have been Unlawful and Usurp'd there is not one Monarch or Government in all Europe nay scarce in the whole World that can say they have a Lawful Authority but must acknowledge according to the Doctrine of D' Orleance that they are all Usurpers Which I wonder he had the Confidence to Assert since he cannot be ignorant that the French Kings enjoy their Crowns in Consequence of the Abdications and Depositions of their Predecessors and the People's Elections which succeeded those Dethronements So that King William 's Title to the Crown of England is as good as King Lewis's to France if not better for their own Historians give great Suspicion of Unfair Dealings and Sly Practices in the Elections of some of the French Kings but neither Envy it self nor the most Inveterate of all our Enemies could ever object it against King William that by any Acts of Force or Arts of Corruption he endeavour'd to work on the Members of either House to labour his own Advancement but that it was the Free Election of the Majority after long Debates and Consultations on other Expedients His Majesty did not like King Harold lay Violent Hands upon a Crown but only Accepted it when it was Offer'd And which shews his Goodness and Justice he receiv'd it too on the Conditions that were offer'd with it which gives us a lasting Assurance of the Regularity of his Government His Vertue and his Merit recommended him to England by their Free Election he was made King and that is the Right he Claims by and being the most Righteous and Lawful that can be without a Miracle it makes out Allegiance and Obedience to him become our Indispencible Duty But That which I but hinted before and now comes to Crown all the rest and put it quite out of Dispute for ever is It was God's Doing the Immediate Hand of Heaven was in it And truly nothing less could have accomplish'd such Miraculous Things We all know what the Nation Felt and Fear'd the Overturning of this Church and the Subverting this Government Now all this being stopp'd our Religion secur'd our Temporalities safe and a Check put to the Spirit of Persecution and all in so short a Time must be ascrib'd to an Almighty Power and Goodness That when the Design of our Deliverance was Form'd and Essaying there should be so extraordinary a Concurrence of all Favourable Accidents and disposing all Men's Minds the same Way That the Precipitation and Folly of our Persecutors in opening their Ill Designs so Early and the Unrelenting Cruelty put in practice in a Neighbouring Kingdom should send us over so many Thousand Witnesses to awaken us and shew us what we were to expect when that Bloody Religion became Triumphant amongst us and what all Oaths Promises and Laws should signifie as soon as they could break through them And that this should happen at the same time when the late King was Suspending Laws in favour of the Papists That our Enemies should go on so fast and Bare-fac'd That they should grasp so much at once and suffer the Hook to be so ill cover'd when the Bait was thrown out And that all their Designs should be blasted by themselves must be ascrib'd to the Eternal who brings to Light the hidden Things of Darkness and suffers the Wicked to be taken in the Snare they prepar'd for others Further That the great Supporter of Persecution should start a Quarrel with the Head of that Mystical Babylon and divert his Force to a New War an unjust one to be sure since he began it And so many great Princes should Unite to Stop his Carier and preserve Europe That so great an Army as the late King had Rais'd from whom our present King might expect a stout Opposition should voluntarily Desert grow Supine and comply with Reason and the Good of the Nation That such a Divided People should so Unanimously Concurr in in Electing the same Person to be their King and that this mighty Deliverance should be perfected without Shedding of Blood agreeable to the Proposals and Intentions of our Great Deliverer the Laws of the Land and the present and future Tranquility of the whole Nation must be the Lord 's Doing and ought to be Commemorated to his Eternal Glory and Accompany'd with a Grateful Retribution and Dutiful Obedience to our Gracious King who hath done such great Things for us Which is the last Particular 'T is doubtless one of the most palpable Signs of a Base Profligate Nature not to be oblig'd by Favours 'T would be an Injury to a Beast to call him Ingrateful That Epithet no Being can deserve but one that is degenerated into something more Vile than the worst of Animals that has broke through all that is Modest Ingenious and Tender and Apprehensive in Humane Nature And for the Noble Creature Man to be guilty of Ingratitude in Offending our Deliverer or Dishonouring our Sovereign by any Rash or Unadvis'd Words or Actions who sav'd us from Ruin who snatch'd us from the Brink of Destruction To return him Evil for Good to requite his Favours with Indignities to Diminish his Power by taking too much upon themselves to Mis-represent his Gratious Intention or Lessen or Detract from his Goodness is to sink below Comprehension and render himself unworthy of the Blackest Thought With what Emotion and Grief of Mind then can we think of those that are already grown so Insensible of their past Dangers and forgetting the Mercy of their Deliverance abuse Modest Ears with Invidious Reflections upon the Supream and Subordinate Authority they ought to obey How is Conversation Sour'd by those Animals that like Tame Ducks are always dabling in Nasty Gutturs that Espy and Publish all Men's Faults but their own and can no more rest from Reproaching their Superiours than a Crow from feeding on Carrion Jealousies like Bull-Rushes grow out of the Mud of their own Brains and their Suspicious and Ungrounded Glances discover more Rancour than direct Contumelies They boast of their Affection and mighty
give cause to suspect it For the Revoking and Imprisoning Sir Bevel Skelton the English Agent in France upon a Supposition that he had talk'd of it and Rewarding him afterwards with the Lieutenancy of the Tower are plain Contradictions and therefore the English and Dutch had reason to believe the League and Insist upon it when the French themselves had discover'd it Now compare all this with Mr. Coleman's Letters and the barbarous persecutions of the French Protestants so tragically carried on in France and which were also going on to be Imitated in England at the same time that the French Memorial was deliver'd and you will have all the Reason in the World to to continue your belief of it for the greater security of England Thus have I given a brief Survey of the late King's Tyranny in Matters of publick Fact as the natural consequence of his Espousing and Advancing the Popish Religion upon the Ruins of the Reformed I must now acquaint you what Course the Nation took to procure their Deliverance Who seeing themselves Involv'd in such deplorable Circumstances Gaul'd under the Yoke of Papistick Tyranny Afflicted at the dismal prospect of being depriv'd of the Exercise of their Establish'd Religion and the loss of their Civil Properties and Privileges After they had ineffectually imploy'd all Dutiful and Obliging Methods to Reclaim the King and waited till England was on the Brink of Destruction before they would assume their Natural Right and Defend themselves God Almighty who from Heaven beheld their approaching Calamities put it into the Hearts of some thoughtful Persons of all Qualities Degrees and Conditions in the Kingdom to make their humble Application to the Illustrious Prince of Orange who as a Soveraign Independant Prince nearly allyed by his own Blood but nearer by his Virtuous Princess to the Crown of England and a Protestant in his Religion had an undoubted Right to interpose between the late King and his injur'd Subjects and according to his own Benignity and the Example of his Illustrious Progenitors Defend and Deliver an oppress'd People Divine Providence having thus prescrib'd the Means of our Deliverance some good Men whose Names ought to be Celebrated with Eternal praises found a way maugre the danger that attended it to Address this magnanimous Prince Lay the Complaints and Dangers of the Kingdom before him and Implore his Gracious Aid and Effectual Assistance to Free a Languishing people from inevitable Ruin promising to Live and Dye with his Highness in so Glorious an Enterprize Animated by his known Piety and Christian Compassion his Native Heroick Bravery and the Prayers and Necessities of a miserably Harrass'd and almost Ruin'd Kingdom he was pleas'd to undertake our Deliverance and to the Goodness of God and this Great Prince's Wise and Valiant Conduct only We owe that Mercy for tho God can work miraculously for the Accomplishment of his own Will yet in Human Reasoning no other Prince but our now Gracious King was qualify'd to undertake it For He is a Prince of a Ripe and Excellent Apprehension of a strong and profound Judgment has a Right Notion in all Ambiguities and is not easily Impos'd upon by the Sentiments of others Able to Determine in all Occurrences by the strength of his own Genius and yet never unwilling to hear the Opinions of his Counsellors Deliberate in his Resolves and Firm in his Purposes Undaunted in Dangers and of a steddy Conduct in Security That knows how to gain Power and how to make it Pleasant and dureable by the Regular use of it as appeared to all the World in the Upright and Discreet management of this Great and almost Miraculous Revolution The States of Holland accommodated the Prince of Orange with Shipping and other Necessaries for this glorious Expedient and meritted our eternal Gratitude but having met with ill Returns * Dutch Design Anatomized from some Mercenary Pens I shall take off the Scandal and Reproach they have thrown upon that Action by shewing it Kind Grateful and Justifiable to all the World There are many Considerations that justify the Interposition of the States of Holland and the first is That 't was to preserve the Peace of Europe for all their Neighbouring Princes perceiving the growing power of France to threaten the Welfare and Quiet of Christendom and that the Obsequious compliance of the late King James in all the Proceedings of that Towering Monarch as well as Monsieur le Comte d'Avaux's Memorial shew'd a dangerous Allyance between those Two Crowns the Princes of Europe and the States of Holland enter'd into a Confederacy to prevent the Conjunction of the Armies of these two Princes and save Europe This memorable Concurrence happening about the same time that the Prince of Orange had promis'd to Assist the People of England in Redressing their Grievances and Restoring them to their Just Rights and Privileges Whilst the Prince of Orange was doing that Good Office in England the other Princes in the League watch'd the the Motions of France and made them uncapable of helping each other and so the Emperor of Germany the Pope himself and the rest of the Confederate Princes as well as the States of Holland were in the same design against the late King James as the only means to preserve the peace of Europe Besides in this Generous Action the States of Holland writ after an English Copy and express'd their Gratitude for the same Good Office the English did them on the like occasion * Hist Belg. p. 203. when the Spaniards threaten'd not to leave a Protestant alive in Holland Those Provinces are of the same Religion with us and when they saw our Prince had form'd Designs to make us all Papists or Destroy us even Humanity oblig'd them to succour us when the whole Nation so apparently wanted it but the best Reason for what they did except those of common Christianity is given by themselves as I find it in an Extract of the Resolutions of the States of Holland upon the 28th of October 1688. where among other Reasons for Assisting the Prince of Orange with a Fleet and an Army this is one The King of France say they hath upon several Occasions shew'd himself disaffected to that State which gave Cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring that State to confusion and if possible quite subject it There is no question but this Wise and Prudent State saw our Ruine would in time prove their own also and Foreseeing and Preventing it will Justify them before God and all the World Now to shew that other Princes were of the same Opinion with the States of Holland and saw the Designs of the F. K. and the late King James threaten'd the Peace and Safety of Europe Let us take a
particular account of the Prince his successful and prosperous Expedition where there were so many Eye-Witnesses of that great and miraculous Providence that was visible in the progress thereof which was such as shew'd the undertaking to be acceptable to Almighty God who prospers the endeavours of Good Men but taketh the wicked in the Nets which they spread for the Innocent I shall therefore only tell the Reader that His Highness the Prince of Orange being happily and safely arriv'd in England He was Saluted and Welcom'd with all the demonstrations and transports of Joy and Gladness that an ill us'd Nation were able to Express under a sense of their Calamity and a hopeful prospect of Deliverance from a cruel Tyranny This Joy and Satisfaction daily increas'd as his Highness's Declaration was spread through the Kingdom For the Jesuits having loaded this Pious and Noble Expedition with all the Odium of Virulent Pens and Tongues his Highness's Declaration which shew'd the End of his coming was not with any design upon the Person of the late King Aspiring at his Crown or with any intention to subdue the Kingdom as had been maliciously suggested but purely that the Abuses and Grievances of the People Pathetically and Truly Enumerated in his Highness's Declaration might be Redress'd by a Parliament free in all its circumstances all Fears and Jealousies vanish'd and Men of all Qualities hasten'd to put themselves under the Auspicious Conduct of this Illustrious Prince that God in the Eternal Counsel of his Wisdom had Appointed to be the Glorious Deliverer of England Now let all Men judge of the Equity of his Highness's Demands and the Justice of his Proceedings His Own and his Princess's Right to the Succession of the Crown was like to be supplanted by a supposititious Child and a flourishing Kingdom in danger of Destruction and both evidently plainly and certainly so And can any Man think he ought to Renounce his Own and his Princess's Right and frustrate the Expectation of a whole Kingdom to which he was Allied by Blood Nature and all the sacred Obligations of Religion rather than disturb the progress of a Jesuitick Tyranny cover'd under Royal Authority Sure none in the World can think so Had this Illustrious Prince conceiv'd any Prejudice against this Unfortunate Monarch James II. Turn'd his Eye toward the Crown or would have seen England's Misery before the Oppress'd Subjects themselves Represented it to him and pray'd his Relief His Highness was not without an earlier * Defence de la Nation Britanique p. â—â— knowledge of it and Solicitations to do what at last Necessity compell'd him to For there are many yet alive in Germany Holland and England that very well remember how much his Highness was Importun'd at James the 2d's first coming to the Crown to make a Descent into England with a Force able to Redress the Affairs of that Country and prevent the inevitable Ruin which so openly threaten'd it This was known immediately after the Death of Charles the Second when one of the most powerful Princes of Europe having represented to his Highness that All was going to Ruin and would be utterly lost in England if a sudden Interposition of the Prince of Orange did not prevent its impending Destruction and therefore Offer'd him what Assistance was requisite for such a Noble and Pious Enterprize but that Puissant Prince receiv'd no other Answer but that his Highness was in hopes that God and that King 's own Interest would possess him with better Sentiments and therefore his Highness would Attempt nothing in that kind against the late King till he was forc'd to it by the last Extremity but if his hopes were disappointed and there was no other Remedy he would not be wanting in his Duty And God be prais'd his Highness at length in due time perform'd his Promise and Silenc'd all that declaim against it It cannot be imagin'd that his Highness was pleas'd to see the Efforts of the late King in abolishing the Penal Laws against Papists which were so essentially necessary to our Preservation nor can his Highness be thought easy at the sight of the late King 's climbing up a Precipice from which he must necessarily fall or by an Artificial and Politick Silence incourage K. James's Ministers to carry all things to such Extremities as might render his Conduct Odious for the Letter of Mr. Fagell upon this Subject will be an Eternal Monument of the Free and Sincere proceedings of his Highness with the late King in this whole Matter Much less can our Adversary deny that his Highness was Requested by the People to Defend their Religion Rights and Privileges for God Almighty to the eternal Confusion of our Enemies suffer'd themselves to declare it in a Memorial they publish'd to all the Confederate Princes with design to break the League they were so much afraid of for after they had in that paper undecently treated his Highness and menac'd him with I know not how many Tragical Stories they yet acknowledge that He was Invited by the Nation Nor could his Highness hinder the Lords and other Persons of the best Quality in England from shewing their Grievances and Imploring his Gracious Succor when the Extremities they were under compell'd them to it and also told Him that if his Highness refus'd them they would enter into their Natural Right and Defend themselves by their own strength against a Power which was become as they declar'd to his Highness in their Memorial a Power of Destruction Let our Adversaries now tell us if the Case was not very Important and whether the Prince of Orange ought to have contemn'd the just Fears of the English and all the Protestants of Europe who are imbark'd in the same Interest and Danger and have slighted all the Princes that either by themselves or by their Ministers perswaded his Highness to enter upon an Action on which depended the Common Safety of Europe I don't believe they dare say after all the Facts we have enumerated that his Highness ought to contemn the Publick or dispute Matters of so great Notoriety but if the English Fears were well grounded and their Oppressions True and Real and that if his Highness could not perswade himself from being of the same Opinion with the rest of the World that he could refuse to assist those that requested it in such a pressing necessity and on an Occasion where Providence appear'd so expresly for our Deliverance and which if neglected perhaps could never be Retriev'd Now let the French Missionaries or their English Pupils produce their Fine Reasons and tell us if his Highness ought to forget his God his Religion the Rights of his Princess his Own the Liberty of England and of Holland which must Infallibly share in the Misfortunes and Depredations of England the Protestant Religion breathing its last and all Europe in danger of losing its Liberty Let them also tell us if they can whether the Respects due to a Father