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 Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempts upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his Most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajolled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt and destroyed by Treachery and Cowardize Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head Quarters at Sherburn Castle the Twenty eight of November 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By his Highness's special Command C. HUYGENS. This was the boldest Attempt that ever was made by a private Person for it is certain the Prince knew nothing of this Declaration and disowned it so soon as he heard of it but yet it was printed in London and a quantity of them were sent in a Penny-Post Letter to the Lord Mayor of London who forthwith carried them to the King to Whitehall and it is thought this sham Paper contributed very much to the fixing and hastning his Resolution of leaving the Nation however there was no enquiry made after the Author or Printer of it that I could take notice of On Sunday the Ninth of December it is said Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from Whitehall and the next Morning about three or four of the Clock the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches each of six Horses and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Gravesend where they imbarked on a Yatch for France And it is supposed she carried the Great Seal of England with her it having never appeared after this Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THe King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or at any time have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if his Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade
fit for Burthen or Draught and not actually employed in the Defence and Service of Us and the Country to be driven and removed by the space of at least Twenty miles from the Place where the Enemy shall attempt to Land and to secure the same in such effectual manner that they may not fall into the hands or power of any of Our Enemies Wherein nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure that the respective owners may suffer as little damage and loss as may be consistent with the great and publick safety of the Kingdom The same day the Earl of Oxford who had but a short time before been turned out of the Lieutenancy of Essex for refusing to consent to the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Tests was restored to the said Office as several others were about the same time The 22d of October his Majesty ordered the Council to be assembled and desired the Queen Dowager and such of the Peers of this Kingdom both Spiritual and Temporal as were in Town as also the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London and the Judges and several of their Majesties Council learned in the Law and the Ladies Lords and others that were present at the Queen's Labour did appear there and declare upon Oath what they knew of the Birth of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales as he was then call'd of all which a full and particular Relation was then promised to be published as was soon after done but then those Depositions are too well known to need and too long to be here inserted without cause They have since been examined by another Pen and therefore I may the better pass them by when I have put this short question Why were they so long delay'd and to what purpose were they now published Why they had received intelligence that the Troops were now on Shipboard and that the Prince of Orange would embark himself so soon as the Ships from the Texel have joyn'd with those in the Maes The Nation was by this time exasperated and fermented to that height against the Court and the Popish party that all places were fill'd with Reports and Whispers to their Disadvantage many of which were false and some ridiculous and impossible which yet were then greedily swallowed and industriously spread and promoted the Authors of them being utterly unknown and doing it on various accounts some out of meer Wantonness and Banter others out of Spite Design and Aversion And there can be nothing more unreasonable than to expect his now Majesty should be obliged to prove all the silly Stories were then spread abroad by those who pretended to favour his Interest but did in reality rather mischief than good to him To put a stop to these Rumours the 26. of October this following Proclamation was published ALtho' since Our Accession to the Crown We have graciously extended Our Royal Mercy and Clemency to Our Subjects by several General Pardons one whereof was lately published yet we are sensible that divers evil disposed persons being not reformed or wrought upon by such Our Grace and Favour do notwithstanding make it their business by Writing Printing or Speaking to defame Our Government with false and seditious News and Reports thereby intending to amuse Our loving Subjects and as far as they are able to create in them an universal Jealousie and Discontent especially in this time of publick Danger threatned by the intended Invasion upon this our Kingdom and consequently to alienate the Hearts of such of Our loving Subjects from Us who otherwise would readily yield unto Us that Aid and Assistance which by their Natural Allegiance they are bound to do And whereas by the ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm great and heavy Penalties are inflicted upon all such as shall be found to be Spreaders of false News or Promoters of any malicious Slanders and Calumnies in their ordinary and common Discourse or otherwise and morespecially upon such who shall utter or publish any words or things to incite or stir up the People to hatred or dislike of Our Person or the established Government Notwithstanding which there have been of late more bold and licencious Discourses than formerly and men have assumed to themselves a liberty not only in Coffee houses but in other Places and Meetings both publick and private to censure and defame the Proceedings of State by speaking evil of things they understand not We therefore considering that Offences of this nature proceed from the restless Malice of evil Persons or from the careless Demeanour of others who presume too much upon Our accustomed Clemency and Goodness have therefore thought fit by this Our Royal Proclamation by and with the Advice of Our Privy-Council streightly to forewarn and command all Our Subjects of what estate or condition they be that they presume not henceforth either by Writing Printing or Speaking to utter or publish any false News or Reports whatsoever or to intermeddle with the Affairs of State or Government or with the Persons of any of Our Counsellors or Ministers in their common and ordinary Discourses as they will answer the contrary at their utmost perils And because all bold and irreverent Speeches touching matters of high nature and all malicious and false Reports tending to Sedition or to the Amusement of Our People are punishable not only in the Speakers but in the Hearers also unless they do speedily reveal the same unto some of Our Privy-Council or some other of Our Judges or Justices of the Peace Therefore that all persons may be left without excuse who shall not hereafter contain themselves within that modest and dutiful Regard which becomes them We do further declare that We will proceed with all Severity and Rigor against all such persons who shall be guilty of any such malicious and unlawful Practices by Writing Printing or other Publication of such false News and Reports or who shall receive or hear the same without revealing or giving Information thereof as aforesaid in due time We being resolved to suppress the said Enormities by a most strict and exemplary Punishment of all such Offenders as shall hereafter be discovered And We do hereby strictly charge and cammand all and singular Our Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Mayors Bailiffs and all other Our Officers and Ministers whatsoever to take effectual care for the speedy Apprehension Prosecution and severe Punishment of all such persons who shall at any time hereafter be found Offenders herein This Proclamation rather increased the Aversion men then generally had for the Government and there were very few who did not presently reflect on Father Petre who was then one of the Privy-Council as fitter to be hang'd than reverenc'd but they were then under Hatches and must comply and for two or three days News was wondrous scarce but then they fell to it again with so much the greater liberty the publick hatred prevailing over their Fear as the day of their wished Redemption grew nearer But
their Arms to some of the Officers of the Ordnance who are to deposite the same in the Stores in the Tower of London And we do require and command all Justices of the Peace Constables and other Officers whom it may concern that they apprehend and seize all such Souldiers as shall not repair to their respective Bodies and that they be dealt with as Vagabonds Given at the Council-Chamber at Whitehall the Fourteenth of December 1688. Tho. Ebor. Hallisax Dorset Carlisle Craven Nottingham Rochester N. Duresme P. Winchester North and Grey J. Trever J. Titus It was but time to put out this Order for on Thursday morning the 13th of December about Three of the Clock there was a dreadful Alarm that the Irish in a desperate Rage were approaching the City putting Men Women and Children to the Sword as they came along whereupon the Citizens all rose placing Lights in their Windows from top to bottom and guarded every man his own Doors with his Musquet charged with Bullet and all the Trainbands in the City were assembled and there was nothing but shooting and beating of Drums all night This Alarm spread it self the whole length and breadth of the Kingdom of England and all that were able to bear Arms appeared at their several places vowing the Defence of their Lives Religion Laws and Liberties and resolving to destroy all the Irish and Papists in England in case any injury were offered them but then there were very few Papists slain in these Tumults and Frights but their Houses were generally rifled on pretence of searching for Arms and Ammunition The Lords after this sent the Lords Feversham Ailes bury Yarmouth and Middleton most humbly to entreat the King to return to Whitchall and ordered his Guards to go down to him to see him safe on board any Ship he should chuse if he persisted in his Resolution to go out of the Nation With them went the Servants of his Houshold to carry him Money and Cloaths all he had of the former being taken from him by the Seamen and his Cloaths rent and torn in the searching of him before he was known as he had in part signified in a Letter to the Lord Feversham Now considering the whole Nation in a manner had submitted to the Prince of Orange before the King was heard of after he had withdrawn himself it had perhaps been but reasonable to have suspended the inviting him back to Whitchall till they had received his Consent or at least asked it or had called a greater Assembly of the Peers than that day met The 12th day the four Lords sent by the Peers with four Aldermen and eight of the Common Council of London parted to wait upon the Prince of Orange with the Declaration signed by the Body of the Peers the day before at Guildhall The 15th the King removed to Rochester in order to his Return to London and some of his Troops of Guard went down thither to him And the next day being Sunday he returned about Five in the Evening to Whitchall attended by one Troop of Grenadiers and three Troops of Life Guard a Set of Boys following him through the City and making some Huzza's whilst the rest of the People silently looked on His Highness the Prince of Orange who was then at Windsor had sent Monsieur Zulestein to the King to desire him to continue at Rochester but he missing him the King came to Whitehall and from thence sent the Lord Feversham with a Letter to the Prince to Windsor to invite him to St. James's with what number of Troops he should think fit to bring with him he could now do no otherwise his own Army having been disbanded by his own order all the Forts in England except Portsmouth being in the Prince's hands and London and almost all the Peers in his absence having sent their Submission and inviting him to come forthwith to Town to take upon him the Care of the City This Letter being by the Prince referred to the Peers that were then at Windsor they concluded that the shortness of the time could admit no better Expedient than that the King might be desired to remove to some place within a reasonable distance from London and Ham a House belonging to the Dutchess of Landerdale was pitched upon and a Note or Paper to that purpose drawn up which was ordered to be delivered after the Prince's Guards were in Possession of the Posts about Whitchall WE desire you the Lord Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Lord Delamere to tell the King That it is thought convenient for the great quiet of the City and the greater safety of his Person that he do remove to Ham where he shall be attended by his Guards who will be ready to preserve him from any disturbance Given at Windsor the Seventeenth of December 1688. W. Prince de Orange Monsieur Zulestein followed the King to London and there delivered his Letter and the Sixteenth returned to Windsor The Earl of Feversham went the same day with the Letter to the Prince which was mentioned above and was by him committed to the Castle of Windsor The King so soon as ever he came to Whitehall issued out this Order of Councill At the Court at Whitehall the Sixteenth day of December 1688. Present The King 's most Excellent Majesty Duke Hamilton Earl of Craven Earl of Berkley Earl of Middleton Lord Viscount Preston Lord Godolphin Master of the Rolls Mr. Titus HIS Majesty being given to understand That divers Outrages and Disorders are committed in several Parts of the Kingdom by Burning Pulling-down and otherwise defacing Houses and other Buildings and Rifling and Plundering the same to the great terror of His Majesty's Subjects and manifest Breach of the Peace His Majesty in Council is pleased to Direct and Command all Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace Mayors Constables and all other Officers whom it may concern to use their utmost endeavours for the preventing of such Outrages and Disorders for the future and for the suppressing all riotous and tumultous Meetings and Assemblies whatsoever William Bridgeman There having been sufficient care taken for this by the Council before it was not consistent with his Interest thus to shew his Zeal for the Popish Party in the very first Act he did upon his return as if he had come back only to serve them During the time the King stay'd at Whitehall it was crowded with Irishmen Priests Jesuits and Roman Catholicks afrer the old wont and it is said one of the Priests sent an imperious Message to the Earl of Mulgrave the Lord Chamberlain to furnish his Lodgings with new Furniture for he meant to continue in them And the King also as was said discharged Leiburn a Popish Bishop out of Newgate on Monday the Seventeenth of December So that all things were returning apparently into the old Chanel and we were to expect nothing but what we had already seen and felt and
others and I was often foolishly willing to beast what my Master would have done tho I used all possible Endeavours against it I lie under many other Misfortunes and Afflictions extreme heavy but I hope they have brought me to reflect on the occasion of them the loose negligent unthinking life I have hitherto led having been perpetually hurried away from all good Thoughts by Pleasure Idleness the Vanity of the Court or by Business I hope I say that I shall overcome all the disorders my former life had brought upon me and that I shall spend the remaining part of it in begging of Almighty God that he will please either to put an end to my sufferings or to give me strength to bear them one of which he will certainly grant to such as rely on him which I hope I do with the Submission that becomes a good Christian I would enlarge on this Subject but that I fear you might think something else to be the reason of it besides a true sense of my Faults and that obliges me to restrain my self at present I believe you will repent in having engaged me to give you this account but I cannot the doing of what you desire of me The 29th an Account was given that the Dutch Fleet consisting of 52 Men of War with a very numerous Attendance of Victuallers and other Ships and Vessels for the Transportation of the Land Forces sailed the Friday before which was the 19th from the Flats near the Briel with the Wind at S. W. and by S. and the Prince of Orange embarkt on a Frigat of 28 or 30 Guns and with him the Count of Nassau General of the Horse the Count de Solmes Colonel of his Foot-Guards the Count de Stirum the Sieur Benting and the Sieur Cuerkerker and the Marshal de Schomberg went on board such another Frigat And the 20th most of the Fleet was seen in the Morning from Schevelingue when the Wind coming more Westerly and the next Night proving very stormy it obliged them to come in again having suffered considerable damage 400 Horses being thrown over-board and several dead men and one of their Men of War was stranded and another disabled There was very little of this Story true but it was a Report set on foot to deceive the Court here and it had the effect which was expected and the Priests began to boast very much of the assistance they expected from the Virgin Mary and the rest of the Saints who had been powerfully sollicited to confound this Heretical Fleet. The first of November we were again told from the Hague that the damage the Dutch Fleet had sustain'd by the late Storms was greater than was at first reported That there were 1500 Horses dead or unserviceable That the Prince of Orange had lost most of his own Horses and the Marshal de Schomberg the best of his That his Son Count Charles Schomberg was in great danger the Ship he was in having spent her main Mast That a Captain of Horse in the Sieur Bentin'gs Regiment was missing with his whole Troop and two Captains of Foot-Guards were likewise missing with their Companies That to supply these losses a great many fresh Horses were ordered to be sent to the Fleet and that it was said the Regiment of the Baron de Frizes should be imbarkt That in the mean time the Prince of Orange continued at Helvoetsluys intending to sail again so soon as the Fleet was in a condition and the Weather would permit Thus was our Court at that time imposed upon for want of good intelligence About this time a parcel of the Prince of Orange's Declarations were intercepted in London upon reading that expression in it That the Prince was most earnestly invited hither by divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and others The King sent for some of the Bishops again and required of them a Paper under their hands in abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's intended Invasion by such a day the following Declaration was then in the Press and this Abhorrence was designed to be tacked to it but the Bishops of Canterbury London Peterborough and Rochester on whom only this Storm fell refused to do it as contrary to their priviledge of Peerage and their Profession in promoting a War against a Prince so near ally'd to the Crown and they earnestly desired this might be left to a Free-Parliament His Majesty hereupon was very much incensed against them and parted from them with Indignation And thereupon the Jesuited Party at Court were so violently enraged that as we are credibly informed saith the Bishop of Rochester one of the chief advised in a heat they should all be imprisoned and the Truth extorted from them by violence By which it appears no Solicitation could force the King to yield to the sitting of a Parliament whatever hazard he ran month Novemb. The 2d day of November there was published another Proclamation for the suppressing of the Prince of Orange's Declaration WHereas the Prince of Orange and his Adherents who design forthwith to invade Our Kingdoms in order thereunto have contrived and framed several treasonable Papers and Declarations hoping thereby to seduce Our People and if it were possible to corrupt our Army a very great number whereof being printed several persons are sent and imployed to disperse the same throughout Our Kingdoms And altho' all persons as well in criminal as in other cases are bound to take notice of the Laws at their peril yet to the intent that none may think to escape due punishment or to excuse themselves when they shall be detected by pretending Ignorance of the nature of their Crime We are graciously pleased by this Our Royal Proclamation published by the Advice of our Privy-Council to forewarn and admonish all Our Subjects of what degree or quality soever that they do not publish or disperse repeat or hand about the said treasonable Papers or Declarations or any of them or any other Paper or Papers of such like nature without discovering and revealing the same as speedily as may be to some of Our Privy-Council or some of Our Judges Justices of the Peace or publick Magistrates upon peril of being prosecuted according to the utmost severity of the Law. This Proclamation had the same effect with all the rest of their Counsels for men suspected thereupon that there was much more in the Declarations and Papers than they afterwards found and accordingly became more desirous by far to see it and the Spanish Ambassador here in London gave them as I have been credibly informed to whosoever desired them For about almost three Weeks together the Wind stood perpetually West during all which time the common question was every Morning Where is the Wind to day And a Seaman was observed to curse the Dragon in Cheapside for turning his Head where his Tail should be But in the latter end of October the Wind came East to
of a Commission that is manifestly illegal and who have executed it contrary to all Law and that now one of their chief Members has abjured the Protestant Religion and declared himself a Papist by which he is become uncapable of holding any publick Imployment The said Commissioners have hitherto given such proof of their Submission to the Directions given them that there is no reason to doubt but they will still continue to promote all such designs as will be most agreeable to them And those Evil Counsellors take care to raise none to any Ecclesiastical Dignities but persons that have no Zeal for the Protestant Religion and that now hide their unconcernedness for it under the specious pretence of Moderation The said Commissioners have suspended the Bishop of London only because he refused to obey an Order that was sent him to suspend a worthy Divine without so much as citing him before him to make his own Defence or observing the common forms of Process They have turned out a President chosen by the Fellows of Magdalene Colledge and afterwards all the Fellows of that Colledge without so much as citing them before any Court that could take legal Cognisance of that Affair or obtaining any Sentence against them by a competent Judge And the only reason that was given for turning them out was their refusing to chuse for their President a person that was recommended to them by the Instigation of those Evil Councellors tho' the Right of a Free-Election belonged undoubtedly to them But they were turned out of their Free-holds contrary to Law and to that express Provision in the Magna Charta That no man shall lose Life or Goods but by the Law of the Land. And now these Evil Councellors have put the said Colledge wholly into the hands of Papists tho' as is abovesaid they are incapable of all such Employments both by the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the Colledge These Commissioners have also cited before them all the Chancellors and Archdeacons of England requiring them to certifie to them the Names of all such Clergy-men as have read the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and of such as have not read it without considering that the reading of it was not enjoined the Clergy by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries The Illegality and Incompetency of the said Court of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners was so notoriously known and it did so evidently appear that it tended to the Subversion of the Protestant Religion that the Most Reverend Father in God William Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England seeing that it was raised for no other end but to oppress such persons as were of eminent Virtue Learning and Piety refused to sit or to concur in it 8. And tho' there are many express Laws against all Churches or Chappels for the exercise of the Popish Religion and also against all Monasteries and Convents and more particulary against the Order of the Jefuits yet those Evil Counsellors have procured orders for the building of several Churches and Chappels for the exercise of that Religion They have also procured divers Monasteries to be erected and in contempt of the Law they have not only set up several Colledges of Jesuits in divers places for the corrupting of the Youth but have raised up one of the Order to be a Privy Counsellor and a Minister of State. By all which they do evidently shew that they are restrained by no rules of Law whatsoever but that they have subjected the Honours and Estates of the Subjects and the establish'd Religion to a Despotick Power and to Arbitrary Government In all which they are served and seconded by those Ecclesiastical Commissioners 9. They have also followed the same Methods with relation to Civil affairs for they have procured orders to examine all Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Sheriffs Justices of Peace and all others that were in any publick Imployment if they would concur with the King in the repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and all such whose Consciences did not suffer them to comply with their designs were turned out and others were put in their places who they believed would be more compliant to them in their designs of defeating the Intent and Execution of those Laws which had been made with so much care and caution for the security of the Protestant Religion And in many of these places they have put professed Papists tho' the Law has disabled them and warranted the Subjects not to have any regard to their Orders 10. They have also invaded the Priviledges and seized on the Charters of most of those Towns that have a right to be represented by their Burgesses in Parliament and have procured Surrenders to be made of them by which the Magistrates in them have delivered up all their Rights and Priviledges to be disposed of at the pleasure of those Evil Councellors who have thereupon placed new Magistrates in those Towns such as they can most entirely confide in and in many of them they have put Popish Magistrates notwithstanding the Incapacities under which the Law has put them 11. And whereas no Nation whatsoever can subsist without the administration of good and impartial Justice upon which mens Lives Liberties Honours and Estates do depend those Evil Councellors have subjected these to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power In the most important Affairs they have studied to discover before-hand the Opinions of the Judges and have turned out such as they found would not conform themselves to their intentions and have put others in their places of whom they were more assured without having any regard to their Abilities And they have not stuck to raise even professed Papists to the Courts of Judicature notwithstanding their Incapacity by Law and that no regard is due to any Sentences flowing from them They have carried this so far as to deprive such Judges who in the common administration of Justice shewed that they were governed by their Consciences and not by the Directions which the others gave them By which it is apparent that they design to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives Honours and Estates of the Subjects of what rank or dignity soever they may be and that without having any regard either to the Equity of the Cause or to the Consciences of the Judges whom they will have to submit in all things to their own Will and Pleasure hoping by such ways to intimidate those who are yet in Employment as also such others as they shall think fit to put in the rooms of those whom they have turned out and to make them see what they must look for if they should at any time act in the least contrary to their good liking and that no failings of that kind are pardoned in any Persons whatsoever A great deal of Blood has been shed in many places of the Kingdom by Judges governed by those Evil Counsellors against all the Rules and Forms of
Law without so much as suffering the Persons that were accused to Plead in their own Defence 12. They have also by putting the Administration of Justice in the hands of Papists brought all the matters of Civil Justice into great uncertainties with how much Exactness and Justice soever that these Sentences may have been given For since the Laws of the Land do not only exclude Papists from all Places of Judicature but have put them under an Incapacity none are bound to acknowledge or to obey their Judgments and all Sentences given by them are null and void of themselves So that all Persons who have been cast in Tryals before such Popish Judges may justly look on their pretended Sentences as having no more force than the Sentences of any private and unauthorised Person whatsoever So deplorable is the case of the Subjects who are obliged to answer to such Judges that must in all things stick to the Rules which are set them by those Evil Counsellors who as they raised them up to those Employments so can turn them out of them at pleasure and who can never be esteemed Lawful Judges so that all their Sentences are in the Construction of the Law of no Force and Efficacy They have likewise disposed of all Military Employments in the same manner For though the Laws have not only Excluded Papists from all such Employments but have in particular Provided that they should be disarmed yet they in contempt of these Laws have not only armed the Papists but have likewise raised them up to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land and that Strangers as well as Natives and Irish as well as English that so by those means having rendred themselves Masters both of the Affairs of the Church of the Government of the Nation and of the Courts of Justice and subjected them all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power they might be in a capacity to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by the assistance of the Army and thereby to enslave the Nation 13. The dismal effects of this Subversion of the Established Religion Laws and Liberties in England appear more evidently to us by what we see done in Ireland where the whole Government is put in the Hands of Papists and where all the Protestant Inhabitants are under the daily fears of what may be justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power which is set up there which has made great numbers of them leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estates in it remembring well that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell out in that Island in the Year 1641. 14. Those evil Counsellors have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland That he is cloathed with Absolute Power and that all the Subjects are bound to Obey him without Reserve upon which he has assumed an Arbitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom from all which it is apparent what is to be looked for in England as soon as matters are duly prepared for it 15. Those great and insufferable Oppressions and the open Contempt of all Law together with the Apprehensions of the sad Consequences that must certainly follow upon it have put the Subjects under great and just Fears and have made them look after such lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations yet all has been without effect And those Evil Counsellors have endeavoured to make all Men apprehend the loss of their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates if they should go about to preserve themselves from this Oppression by Petitions Representations or other means authorised by Law. Thus did they proceed with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Bishops who having offered a most humble Petition to the King in terms full of Respect and not exceeding the number limited by Law in which they set forth in short the Reasons for which they could not obey that order which by the Instigation of those Evil Counsellors was sent them requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read in their Churches the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience were sent to Prison and afterwards brought to a Tryal as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime They were not only obliged to defend themselves in that pursuit but to appear before professed Papists who had not taken the Test and by consequence were Men whose Interest led them to condemn them and the Judges that gave their Opinion in their favours were thereupon turned out 16. And yet it cannot be pretended that any Kings how great soever their Power has been and how Arbitrary and Despotick soever they have been in the exercise of it have ever reckoned it a Crime for their Subjects to come in all Submission and Respect and in a due number not exceeding the limits of the Law and represent to them the Reasons that made it impossible for them to obey their Orders Those Evil Counsellors have also treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal only because he said That the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace though it is evident that they being by Law rendred incapable of all such Trusts no regard is due to their Orders This being the security which the People have by the Law for their Lives Liberties Honours and Estates that they are not to be subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists that are contrary to Law put into any Employments Civil or Military Both We our selves and our 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 and in Compliance with his Majesty's desires signified to us We declared both by Word of Mouth to his Envoy and in Writing what our Thoughts were touching the Repealing of the Test and Penal Laws which we did in such a manner that we hoped we had proposed an Expedient by which the Peace of those Kingdoms and a happy agreement among the Subjects of all Persuasions might have been setled 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 Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom 18. The last and great Remedy for all those Evils is thâ— calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors but this could not be yet compassed nor can it be easily brought about For those Men apprehending that a Lawful Parliament being once assembled they would be brought to an account for all their open Violations of Law and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of their Subjects they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience first to sow Divisions among Protestants between those of the Church of England and the Dissenters The Design being laid to
any of the Parliaments in the time of His late Majesty Charles II. As also the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Fifty of the Common Council of the City of Lrndon being desired by His Highness to attend Him this day One hundred and Sixty Members and the rest came call but the Mayor who was sick to St. James's and were by Him acquainted with the State of things and desired to repair to the Commons House at Westminster where they chose Mr. Powle for their Speaker then sending to know what the Peers had done the Addresses as above recited were delivered to them with which they concurred And the 27th they also presented them to the Prince to whom He gave the same Answer he had given to the Lords the 28th in the Afternoon The 30th His Highness put out the usual Proclamation for the continuance of the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers and Ministers not being Papists to act in their Respective places till the Meeting of the Convention or other Order to the contrary Excepting also all such Offices or Places where since His Arrival in this Kingdom he had already or should hereafter otherwise provide month January The 2d of January He put out a Declaration for the better Collecting the Publick Revenue which I need not transcribe The 5th of January His Highness put out this following Order FOR the better Preventing Disorders that may happen in any Burrough Corporation or other place of Election of Members for the intended Convention by any Souldiers Quartered in those places And that such Elections may be carried on with the greater Freedom and without any colour of Force or Restraint We do hereby strictly charge and require all Collonels and Officers in chief with any Regiment Troop or Company to cause such Reigments Troops or Companies to march out of the Qaurters where such Election shall be made the several Garrisons only Excepted the day before the same be made to the next Adjoyning Town or Towns being not appointed for any Election and not to return to their first Quarters until the said Respective Elections be made and fully compleated wherein they are not to fail as they will answer the contrary at their peril The Scotch Nobility and Gentry in or about London were also by His Highness's Order Summoned to St. James's where they met the 7th of January at Three in the Afternoon to whom the Prince made this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THE only reason that induced me to undergo so great an Undertaking was That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in eminent Danger And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for the securing the Protestant Religon and Restoring Your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration Then they withdrew to the Council Chamber at Whitehall and chose the Duke of Hamilton their President And after some Debates Agreed the heads of a Paper which they ordered to be drawn The 8th they met again and the Paper was Read and Approved and ordered to be Ingrossed The Earl of Arran proposed in this second Meeting That it was his Advice that the Prince of Orange should be moved to desire the King to return and call a Free Parliament for the securing our Religion and Property according to the known Laws of the Kingdom which said he in my humble opinion is the best way to heal all our Breaches which was Disgusted by all and seconded by none of them The 9th They met again and Signed the Paper which was in these Words WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at Your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give Your Highness our humble and hearty thanks for Your Pious and Generous Undertaking for preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom In Order to the attaining of these Ends Our humble Advice and Desire is That Your Highness take upon You the Administration of All Affairs both Civil and Military The disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing of every thing that is necessary for the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a General Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire Your Highness to call to be holden at Edinburgh the 14th day of March next by Your Letter or Proclamation to be Published at the Market Crosses of Edinburgh and other Head Burroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient intimation to all concerned according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these Your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriff or Stewart-Clerks for the Free-Holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town Clerks of the several Burroughs for the Meeting of the whole Burgesses of the Respective Royal Buroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edinburgh and the Respective Clerks to make intimation thereof at the least ten days before the Meetings for Election And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh qualified as above expressed be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever To deliberate and resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to Your Highness's Declaration Dated the 10th day of January 1689. at the Council Chamber at White-Hall It was Signed by about Thirty Lords and Eighty Gentlemen and was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President The 14th His Highness met the Scotch Lords and Gentlemen in the same place again and spake to them as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen IN pursuance of Your Advice I will until the Meeting of the Estates in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the calling of the said Meeting for the preservation of the Peace the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing uses and puting the Fortresses in the hands of Persons in whom the Nation can have a just confidence And I do further assure you that you will always find me ready to concur with you in every thing that may be found necessary for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earls of Crawford and Louthain being present in this last Meeting but coming up to London after the former desired they might Sign the said Address and they accordingly did so The 8th day January His Highness put out a Declaration against quartering Soldiers on private Houses And that all Houses should be deemed Private Houses except Victualling Houses and Houses of Publick Entertainment or such as sell Wine or any other Liquor by Retail In all which Houses We do think
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
Secondly This Expedient was not absolutely Necessary for the Administration of Justice might have proceeded Regularly without any such Deputation by Virtue of those Commissions which the Popish Judges and Justices of the Peace had already from the King. This I shall prove § 22. 1. From a parallel Instance King Charles the I. took a Journy into Scotland in 41. during the Session of Parliament at Westminster where though he appointed Five Lords to sign Bills in his Name The Continuation of Bak. Chron. yet the Judges and Justices Acted by vertue of their former Commissions without any new Authority from any Representatives of His Majesty Now Scotland is as much a distinct Kingdom from England as France and France as much His Majesties Dominions as Scotland And therefore if Commissions will hold in the King's Absence in one Place why not in the other § 23. Secondly The present Judges met in January last at Westminster to dispatch some Business in order to keep the Term but were forbidden to proceed by the Prince of Orange's Secretary So that it is plain it was the Opinion of these Reverend Judges that their Commissions from His Majesty were still in Force But in the next place § 24. If His Majesty had deputed any Persons to Represent him in Parliament this Method would have been attended with new and insuperable Difficulties For § 25. 1. If they had been Limited they would not have given Satisfaction For it being impossible to foresee the Business and Votes of a Parliament at a distance If they had been restrained to certain Points in all probability they would have wanted Power to have passed all the Bills and and so their Deputation would not have Answered the Desire of the Houses and the greatest part of their Grievances might have been counted unredressed If it 's said that the Parliament might have requested an Enlargement of their Commission from His Majesty To this I Answer That the Convention may send to His Majesty for an Expedient now if they please And I hope they will for I hear his Majesty has been so gracious as to send to them But 2. If these Commissioners were unlimited it would be in their Power to do a great many things prejudicial to the Crown In such a Case they might alter the Monarchy into a Commonwealth or Sign the Deposing of his Majesty if such Bills should happen to be offered And though there may be many Persons of Honour and Conscience enough to lodge such a Trust with Yet in regard his Majesty has been lately mistaken in some of whose Fidelity he had so great and Assurance he has small encouragement to be over confideing for the Future Indeed no Wise Prince will Trust so vast a Concern as a Kingdom with the Honesty of another especially when many of his Subjects are disaffected and in a Ferment So that nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect such Plenipotentiary and Absolute Commissioners § 26. 3. I shall 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 1. To begin with the Laws of the Realm which are either Acts of Parliament or those we call Common Laws Now there is no Statute so much as pretended to support this Deserting Doctrine and if there was it 's certain no such can be produced Indeed a Prince must be very weary of Governing and void of the common Inclinations of Mankind who would sign a Bill of this Nature and give his Subjects such a dangerous Advantage against himself and his Posterity Neither has this Opinion any better Countenance from Common Law For Common Law is nothing but Antient Usage and Immemorial Custom Now Custom supposes Precedents and Parallel Cases But it 's granted of all Hands That the Crown of England was never judged to be Demifed by the withdrawing of the Prince before now And therefore it follows by undeniable Consequence that this Opinion can have no Foundation in the Common Law because there is not so much as one Ruled Case to prove it by Nay our Laws are not only silent in the maintenance of this Paradox but against it as I shall make good by Two Precedents § 27. 1. From the Case of Edward the IV. who having not sufficient Force to Encounter the Earl of Warick who had raised an Army for King Henry was obliged to fly the Kingdom but that he deputed any Persons to Represent him our Histories don't give us the least Intimation Neither was it Objected at his return that he had Abdicated the Government by omitting to Constitute a Regent Neither is it material to Object that all Disputes of this Nature were over-ruled by his Victorous Army For if it had been the known Law of this Realm that a Prince had ipso facto forfeited his Crown by going beyond Sea without leaving a Deputation though his Departure should happen to be Involuntary If this I say had been the Law of the Kingdom it would not only have been a great advantage to Henry the VI. and made the Nation ring of it of which there is altum Silentium but we may be well assured King Edward would not have conferr'd Honour worn the Crown and taken the State and Authority of the King upon him till he had been Re-Established by Parliaments But that he did Exercise all Acts of Soveraignty before the calling of a Parliament appears from Daniel Stow and Baker And when the Parliament was Convened those who had taken up Arms against him were found Guilty of Treason and his Adherents were restored to Blood and Estate Daniel But there was no Confirmation or Resisting or his Title which is a Demonstration there was no need of it and that this Abdicating Doctrine was perfectly unknown to that Age. § 28. 2. To come nearer our own Times what Seals or Commissioners did Charles the II. leave behind him after Worcester Fight And yet I beleive no Mortal ever urged this as an Argument against his Restauration If it be Answered that there was much more danger in this case than in that before us To this I reply that if we Examine the matter more narrowly we shall find the disparity very inconsiderable For was there not a numerous Army of Foreigners and Subjects in the Field against his present Majesty at his retiring What Power or Authority or so much as Liberty was there left him And I am afraid that at that time he had fewer Friends to stand by him than his Brother after that unfortunate Battle in 51. § 29. And since this pretended Dereliction has no manner of Protection from the Constitution it has no other refuge but the Laws of Nature to fly to but a very little Storming will serve to drive it from this last Retrenchment § 30. For the Law of Nature is nothing but the Reason of the
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