the Act and Oath of Council that such Confession should not militate yet they have brought it in as Evidence and given it upon Oath when their former Act and Oath was produced in open Court in Demonstration of their Perjury They used frequently to pack Juries picking out such as they thought any thing tender and not bloody enough and sometimes listed some who they concluded would not concur that thereupon they might get occasion to exact their Fines Sometimes when the Jury hath brought in their Verdict in Favour of the Pannal they have made them return and resume the Cognition of the Process again and threatned them with an Assize of Error if they did not bring him in Guilty yea frequently the Advocate theatned them under most peremptory Certifications if they found not the Impannalled Guilty so that their using Juries was but for the Fashion They have sentenced innocent Persons twice once to have their Ears cut off and banished and after the lopping of their Ears they have re-examined them and sentenced them to Death They used to stage several together of whom they knew some would comply to tantalize others with the sight of their Liberty thereby tempting them to bite more eagerly at their snaring Baits to wound the Conscience They have not only Murdered many innocent Christians in taking their Lives but also endevouâ—ed to Murder their Reputation and the Cause they owned loading it with most reproachful Epithets which was their peculiar Policy to bring the Heads of Suffering to Points most obnoxious to common Censer and most Extrinsick to Religion cutting off the Faithful Professors of Religion and true Lovers of Liberty under the odium of Enemies to Government Some they arraigned whom they could neither reach by adducing many Witnesses against in Tryal nor by their Examination with their cruel Torture of the Boots yet hath had their whole Estate seized and also been sent to Pâ—ison in a Rock within the Sea without being convicted of any Crime They finding their means and motions under Colour of Law and Trials were too slow and troublesome to acquire their designed Cruelties and that the publick Executions tended more to confirm and multiply the Lovers of Religion and Liberty than to diminish and deter took a more compendious way of sending out thâ—ir Souldiers impowered to challenge and examine whom they pleased and to tender Oaths required by no Law and to punish such by present Death who refused to swear or scrupled to answer their ensnaring Qâ—estion which bloody Commissions were so faithfully Executed that within few Weeks above fifty innocent Persons were cruelly murdered in cold Blood without either Tâ—yal or Convâ—â—â—â—on or respeâ—t to Age or Sex. Although the Multitudes of Familâ—es ruined by Exorbitant Finingâ— Forfeitures Banishments Imprisonments Free quaâ—terings and Plunderings of Souldierâ— and Barbarities of their Highland Host the many cruel Edicts and Proclamations they have published the unlawful Bonds and wicked self-contradicting Oaths imposed and pressed the many Exactions whereby they have impoverished the Country the many open Oppressions horrid Tortures and Cruelties practised upon Innocents the multitudes of Persons Male and Female whom they have Murdered Persecuted Oppressed and Destroyed are so many and various that they cannot be collected Yet some have been at no small pains to gether as much of these as when published in a Martyrology of these times which is purposed to be done with all convenient speed will give the World to know as well the Faithfulness Patience Courage and Constancy of these who suffered together with the Equity of their Cause as the Inhumanity Illegality and Severity of their Cruel and Bloody Persecutors The Late Honourable CONVENTION proved a Legal PARLIAMENT I. THE necessity of a Parliament agreed by the Lords and Commons Voting that the Throne is Vacant for there being a Vacancy there follows an immediate necessity of settling the Government especially the Writs being destroyed and the Great Seal carryed away put a period to all publick Justice and then there must be a supply by such means as the necessity requires or a failure of Government II. Consider the Antecedents to the calling the Convention that is about three hundred of the Commons which is a majority of the fullest House that can be made above sixty Lords being a greater number than any part divided amounted to at this great Meeting the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London by application to His then Highness the Prince of Orange desired him to accept of the Administration of Pâ—blick Affairs Military and Civil which he was pleased to do to the great satisfaction of all good People and after that His Highness was desired to Issue forth His Circular Letters to the Lords and the like to the Coroners and in their absence to the Clerks of the Peace to Elect Knights Citizens and Burgesses this was more than was done in Fifty nine for the calling a Parliament in April 1660. for there the Summons was not real but fictitious i. e. in the names of the Keepers of the Liberties of England a meer Notion set up as a Form there being no such Persons but a meer Ens rationis impossible really to exist so that here was much more done than in 1659 and all really done which was possible to be invented as the Affairs then stood Besides King Ch. the 2d had not abdicated the Kingdom but was willing to return and was at Breda whither they might have sent for Writs and in the mean time have kept their form of Keepers of the Liberties c. But in the present case there was no King in being nor any style or form of Government neither real or notional left so that in all these respects more was done before and at the calling of this Great Convention than for calling that Parliament for so I must call it yet that Parliament made several Acts in all thirty seven as appears by Keebles Statutes and several of them not confirmed I shall instance but in one but it is one which there was occasion to use in every County of England I mean the Act for Confirming and Restoring Ministers being the 17 th of that Sessions all the Judges allowed of this as an Act of Parliament tho' never confirmed which is a stronger case than that in question for there was only fictitious Summons here a real one III. That without the Consent of any Body of the People this at the Request of a Majority of the Lords more than halâ— the number of the Commons duly chosen in King Ch. the 2 d's time besides the great Body of the City of London being at least esteem'd a 5 th part of the Kingdom yet after the King's Return he was so well satisfied with the calling of that Parliament that it was Enacted by the King Lords and Commons Asâ—embled in Parliament that the Lords and Common then Sitting at Westminster in the present Parliament were thâ— two Houses of Parliament
Burlington Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph Fran. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg Tho. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston We therefore do most earnestly beseech your Majesty That you would be graciously pleased with all speed to Call such a Parliament wherein we shall be most ready to promote such Counsels and Resolutions of Peace and Settlement in Church and State as may conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and to the quieting the Minds of your People We do likelise humbly beseech your Majesty in the mean time to use such means for the preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood as to your Majesty shall seem most meet His Majesty's most Gracious Answer My LORDS WHAT You ask of Me I most passionately desire And I promise You upon the Faith of a King That I will have a Parliament and such an One as You ask for as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm For How is it possible a Parliament should be Free in all its Circumstances as You Petition for whil'st an Enemy is in the Kingdom and can make a Return of near an Hundred Voices The Lords Petition with the King's Answer may be printed Novemb. 20. 1688. A Modest Vindication of the Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament THIS Dâ—fence is grounded upon three Fundamental Principles I. The Right of Petitioning II. The Necessity III. The Duty I. It is the undoubted Right of the Subjects to Petition being founded upon an Act of Parliament and the highest Reason in the World for that is a very monstrous Government where the People must not approach their King and acquaint him with their Grievances The People have the greatest Property in the Land and therefore the most concern'd when a Foreign Enemy is upon it their Welfare is the Supream Law and yet they must not desire to meet in order to consult their own Preservation The Jesuits the sworn Enemies to the English Nation will take care of us and our Posterity therefore why should we trouble our selves at this Juncture They can levy Mony with a Proclamation they can dispense with all Laws and what should we do with a Parliament when the whole Statute-Book serves for no other End but to wipe the Tails of these Reverend Satyrs who fly into their Dens and Thickets at the very sound of a House of Commons II. The Necessity and that an indispensible one The Government turn'd Topsy-Turvy no Law no Rule all in a state of War all Treaties broken all Obligations ceas'd and yet the People must not come together to know why or wherefore they Fight or how they may avoid destroying one another they must hack and cut one another to pieces blindfold and to no other End but to save the Iesuits and the Knaves and to ruin themselves But the most Reverend Bishops are told that they shall have a Free Parliament as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm that is such a Free Parliament as they were like to have had before the Prince came hither shuffl'd cut and pack'd by Mr. Brent and his Missionaries or perhaps ten times worse or rather none at all for the Church of Rome is grown such an infamous Bankrupt that no Body will trust her further than they can command her She may be compar'd to the Tyger which fawns sneaks and lurks as long as the Hunter is arm'd with his Spear and his Gun but when once the Weapons are laid down the Beast flies upon the unwary Forester tears and devours him III. The Duty For what better Office could those pious Prelats and Patriots of their Country do for the Publick-Good than to make all People Friends to save the Lives of many Thousands and to heal all our Wounds and Sores which they of the Roman Faith have inflicted upon a People too kind and good natur'd for such ravenous Monsters who go about seeking whom they may devour France Ireland Hungary and the Valleys of Piedmont are still reeking with the Blood of their poor innocent Preys and ecchoing with the Lamentations of a People ruin'd by trusting these Crocodiles too much and if God in his infinite Mercy had not watch'd over these Kingdoms and sent a Gabriel to guard them they had certainly fallen a Victim to the intollerable Pride the lawless Fury and untractable Barbariety of a sort of Animals call'd Catholicks subtile and treacherous by Custom and Discipline not to be chain'd by any Law either of God or Man and therefore every Body knows how far we may rely upon them when the Arch-Angel leaves us Exeter Nov. 21. 1688. Extract of the States General their Resolution Thursday 28th October 1688. UPon mature Deliberation it is found sit and resolved that notice be given to all their Ministers abroad of all the Reasons which induce their H. and M. to assist the Prince of Orange going over to England in Person with Ships and Forces with Orders to the said Ministers to make use thereof in the several Courts where they reside as they shall think most convenient and that it be also writ to the said Ministers that it is known to all the World that the English Nation hath a good while very much murmured and complained that the King no doubt with the Evil Counsel and Inducement of his Ministers had gained upon their Fundamental Laws and laboured through the violation thereof and by the bringing in the Roman Catholick Religion to oppress their Liberty and to ruine the Protestant Religion and to bring all under an Arbitrary Government That as this inverted and unjust Conduct was carried on more and more and the Apprehensions thereupon were still greater and that thereby such Diffidence and Aversion was stirred up against the King that nothing was to be expected in that Kingdom but general Disorder and Confusion His Highness the Prince of Orange upon the manifold Representations and the reiterated and earnest Desire which was made to His Highness by several Lords and other Persons of great Consideration in that Kingdom as also upon the account that Her Royal Highness and His Highness Himself are so highly concerned in the Welfare of that Kingdom could not well endure that through Strife and Disunion they should run the danger however it went of being excluded from the Crown held himself obliged to watch over the Welfare of that Kingdom and to take care thereof and also had the thoughts of assisting the Nation and giving them a helping-hand upon so many just and good Grounds against the Government that oppressed them in all manner of ways that lay in his Highness's Power for that His Highness was perswaded that the Welfare of this State the Care whereof is also entrusted to him was in the highest manner concerned that the said Kingdom might continue in Tranquillity and that all misunderstanding between the King and the Nation might be taken away That His Highness well knowing that to succeed in
at any time it may serve his Purpose from whose Hands a Soveraign Prince an Uncle and a Father could meet with no better Entertainment However the sense of these Indignities and the just Apprehension of further Attempts against Our Person by them who already endeavoured to murther Our Reputation by infamous Calumnies as if We had been capable of supposing a Prince of Wales which was incomparably more injurious than the destroying of Our Person it Self together with a serious Reflection on a Saying of Our Royal Father of blessed Memory when He was in the like Circumstances That there is little distance between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes which afterwards proved too true in His Case could not but persuade Us to make use of that which the Law of Nature gives to the meanest of Our Subjects of freeing Our selves by all means possible from that unjust Confinement and Restraint And this We did not more for the Security of our own Person then that thereby We might be in a better Capacity of transacting and providing for every thing that may contribute to the Peace and Settlement of Our Kingdoms For as on the one hand no change of Fortune shall ever make Us forget Our Selves so far as to condescend to any thing unbecoming that High and Royal Station in which God Almighty by Right of Succession has placed Us So on the other hand neither the Provocation or Ingratitude of Our own Subjâ—cts nor any other Consideration whatsoever shall ever prevail with Us to make the least step contrary to the true Interest of the English Nation which We ever did and ever must look upon as Our own Our Will and Pleasure thereof is That you of Our Privy Councel take the most effectual care to make these Our Gratious Intentions known to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about Our Cities of London and Westminster to the Lord Mayor and Commons of our City of London and to all Our Subjects in general and to assure them that We desire nothing more than to return and hold a Free Parliament wherein We may have the best Opportunity of undeceiving Our People and shewing the Sincerity of those Protestations We have often made of the preserving the Liberties and Properties of Our Subjects and the Protestant Religion more especially the Church of England as by Law establish'd with such Indulgence for those that dissent from Her as We have always thought Our selves in Justice and Care of the general Welfare of Our People bound to procure for them And in the mean time You of Our Privy Councel who can judg better by being upon the place are to send Us your Advice what is fit to be done by Us towards Our returning and the accomplishing those good Ends. And We do require you in Our Name and by Our Authority to endeavour so to suppress all Tumults and Disorders that the Nation in general and every one of Our Subjects in particular may not receive the least Prejudice from the present Distractions that is possible So not doubting of your Dutiful Obedience to these Our Royal Commands We bid you heartily Farewel Given at St. Germans on Laye the 4 4 Ianuary 1688 9. And of Our Reign the fourth Year By his Majesties Command MELFORT Directed thus To the Lords and Others of our Privy Councel of Our Kingdom of England Some Remarks on the late Kings pretended Letter to the LORDS and Others of his Privy Council IT begins thus My Lords When we saw that it was no longer safe for us to remain within our Kingdom of England c. His Majesty would have given great Satisfaction to the World in discovering where the Danger lay in tarrying here from whom and for what cause He is pleased to say farther We now think fit to let you know that though it has been our constant care since our first Accession to the Crown to govern our People with that Iustice and Moderation as to give if possible no occasion of Complaint c. I do not understand why his Majesty would not let us know these his Gracious Intentions before when they might have done Himself and Us Good. But quid verba audiam cum facta videam to what purpose are Words when we see Facts And as to his Moderation I appeal to the Pope himself or the French King who chiefly blame him for his Rashness and want of Temper and as for his Justice among a thousand publick Instances to the contrary he should remember his discountenancing and turning out of their Employments all such as would not enter into his Idolatrous Worship and comply with his illegal and arbitrary Designs Besides what Justice can Hereticks expect from a Prince who is not only a Papist but wholly devoted to the Order of the Jesuits and values himself for being a Member of those Reverend Cut-throats Yet more particularly upon the late Invasion seeing how the Design was laid and fearing that our People who could not be destroyed but by themselves The Design was to preserve the Nation from falling under the cruel Dominion of the French and to keep our selves from being dragg'd by the Hair of the Head to Mass and from undergoing all those Miseries which those of the same Religion and for the same Cause have endured now lately in France and Savoy To prevent so great a Mischief that is to say destroying our selves and to take away not only all just Causes but even Pretences of Discontent We freely and of our own accord redrest all those things that were set forth as the Causes of that Invasion I appeal to the common Faith of Mankind touching the Insinserity of these Words whether if this Invasion had not been these and worse Grievances had not followed And that we might be informed by the Counsel and Advice of our Subjects themselves which way we might give them a further and full Satisfaction We resolved to meet them in a Free Parliament c. The late Kings of England have been as desirous of a Parliament as Popes of a Free and General Council there being nothing they have more studiously avoided and greatlier feared But the Prince of Orange seeing all the Ends of his Declaration answered the People beginning to be undeceived and returning apace to their ancient Duty and Allegiance resolved by all possible means to prevent the meeting of the Parliament c. How far the Prince of Orange has been from preventing the meeting of a Parliament we need only consult our senses The hurrying us under a Guard from our City of London whose returning Loyalty we could no longer trust and the other Indignities we suffered in the Person of the Earl of Feversham when sent to him by us and in that barbarous Confinement of our own Person we shall not here repeat Do's any Man think the Prince of Orange would have had the same gentle Treatment from the King had he been in like manner under his Power And as to the
notwithstanding any want of thâ— Kings Writs or Writ of Summons or aâ—y defect whatsoever and as if the King had been present at the beginning of the Parliament this I take to be a full Judgment in full Parliament of the case in question and much stronger than the present case is and this Parliament continued till the 29 th of December next following and made in all thirty seven Acts as aboâ—e mentioned The 13 Caroli 2. chap. 7. a full Parliament called by the Kings Writ recites the other of 12 Caroli 2. and that after his Majesties return they were continued till the 29 th of December and then dissolved and that several Acts passed this is the plain Judgment of another Parliament 1. Because it says they were continued which shews they had a real being capable of being continued for a Confirmation of a void Grant has no effect and Confirmation shews a Grant only voidable so the continuance there shewed it at most but voidable and when the King came and confirm'd it all was good 2. The dissolving it then shews they had a being for as ex nihilo nihil sit so super nihil nil operatur as out of nothing nothing can be made so upon nothing nothing can operate Again the King Lords and Commons make the great Corporation or Body of the Kingdom and the Commons are legally taken for the Free-holders Inst. 4. p. 2. Now the Lords and Commons having Proclaimed the King the defect of this great Corporation is cured and all the Essential parts of this great Body Politique united and made compleat as plainly as when the Mayor of a Corporation dies and another is chosen the Corporation is again perfect and to say that which perfects the great Body Politique should in the same instant destroy it I mean the Parliament is to make contradictions true simul semel the perfection and destruction of this great Body at one instant and by the same Act. Then if necessity of Affairs was a forcible Argument in 1660 a time of great peace not only in England but throughout Europe and almost in all the World certainly 't is of a greater force now when England is scarce delivered from Popery and Slavery when Ireland has a mighty Army of Papists and that Kingdom in hazard of final destruction if not speedily prevented and when France has destroyed most of the Protestants there and threatens the ruin of the Low-Countries from whence God has sent the wonderful Assistance of our Gracious and therefore most Glorious King and England cannot promise safety from that Forreign Power when forty days delay which is the least can be for a new Parliament and considering we can never hope to have one more freely chosen because first it was so free from Court-influence or likelihood of all design that the Letters of Summons issued by him whom the great God in infinite Mercy raised to save us to the hazard of his Life and this done to protect the Protestant Religion and at a time when the people were all concerned for one Common interest of Religion and Liberty it would be vain when we have the best King and Queen the World affords a full house of Lords the most solemnly chosen Commons that ever were in the remembrance of any Man Living to spend Mony and lose time I had almost said to despise Providence and take great pains to destroy our selves If any object Acts of Parliament mentioning Writs and Summons c. I answer the Precedent in 1660 is after all those Acts. In private cases as much has been done in point of necessity a Bishop Provincial dies and sede vacant a Clerk is presented to a Benefice the Presentation to the Dean and Chapter is good in this case of Necessity and if in a Vacancy by the Death of a Bishop a Presentation shall be good to the Dean and Chapter rather than a prejudice should happen by the Church lying void Surely â fortiori Vacancy of the Throne may be supplied without the formality of a Writ and the great Convention turn'd to a Real Parliament A Summons in all points is of the same real force as a Writ for a Summons and a Writ differ no more than in name the thing is the same in all Substantial parts the Writ is Recorded in Chancery so are His Highnesses Letters the proper Officer Endorses the Return so he does here for the Coroner in defect of the Sheriff is the proper Officer the People Choose by virtue of the Writ so they did freely by Virtue of the Letters c. quae re concordant parum differunt they agree in Reality and then what difference is there between the one and the other Object A Writ must be in Actions at Common Law else all Pleadings after will not make it good but Judgment given may be Reversed by a Writ of Error Answ. The case differs first because Actions between party and party are Adversary Actions but Summons to Parliament are not so but are Mediums only to have an Election 2. In Actions at Law the Defendant may plead to the Writ but there is no plea to a Writ for electing Members to serve in Parliament and for this I have Littleton's Argument there never was such Plea therefore none lies Object That they have not taken the Test. Answ. They may take the Test yet and then all which they do will be good for the Test being the distinguishing Mark of a Protestant from a Papist when that is taken the end of the Law is performed Object That the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy ought to be taken and that the new ones are not legal Answ. The Convention being the Supream Power have abolish'd the old Oaths and have made new ones and as to the making new Oaths the like was done in Alfreds time when they chose him King vide Mirror of Justice Chap. 1. for the Heptarchy being turn'd to a Monarchy the precedent Oaths of the seven Kings could not be the same King Alfred swore Many Precedents may be cited where Laws have been made in Parliament without the King 's Writ to summon them which for brevity's sake I forbear to mention For a farewel the Objections quarrel at our Happiness fight against our Safety and aim at that which may indanger Destruction The Amicable Reconciliation of the DISSENTERS to the CHURCH of ENGLAND being a Model or Draught for the Universal Accommodation in the Case of Religion and the Bringing in all Parties to Her Communion Humbly presented to the Consideration of Parliament WHereas there are several parties of Christians in the Nation who must and will ever differ in their Opinions about the Church and Discipline of it in the Question which is of Christ's Institution it is not our Disputes about the Church â—s Particular which are rather to be mutually forborn and every party left herein to their own Perswasion but a common Agreement in what we can agree and that
after their being exhausted have been Plundered and after Plundering have been burned and razed The Palaces of Princes which in all times and even in the most destructive Wars have been preserved are now burnt down to the Ground The Churches are robbed and such as submitted themselves to them are in a most Barbarous manner carried away as Slaves In short it is become a Diversion to them to commit all manner of insolences and Cruelties in many places but chiefly in Catholick Countries exceeding the Cruelties of the Turks themselves which having imposed an absolute necessity upon us to secure our selves and the Holy Roman Empire by the best means we can think on and that no less against them than against the Turks We promise our selves from your justice ready assent to this That it ought not to be imputed to us if we endeavour to procure by a just War that security to our selves which we could not hitherto obtain by so many Treaties and that in order to the obtaining thereof We take measures for our mutual Defence and Preservation with all those who are equally concerned in the same Design with us It remains that we beg of God that he would direct all things to his Glory and that he would grant your Majesty true and solid Comforts under this your great Calamity we embrace you with tender Affections of a Brother At Vienna the 9 th of April 1689. An Account of what was done between the Time the Prince of Orange came to London till the Proclaiming him King of England 1688. IN December last the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all the Members of the three last Parliaments of King Charles the Second with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and several of the Common Council of London were summoned by the Prince in that extraordinary Conjuncture when the late King had deserted the Government to consult what was fit to be done And they the said Lords and Commons did desire the Prince to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the disposal of the Publick Revenue for the preservation of our Râ—ligion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation and that he would take into his Care the Condition of Ireland till the Meeting of a Convention of Lords and Commons which he was entreated by his Circular Letters to summon to meet on the 22 d of Ianuary The Prince accordingly accepted the Administration and issued out his Letters for a Convention to meet on the 22 d of Ianuary as aforesaid The Prince then on December the 30 th issued out his 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 c. On the 2 d of Ianuary He put out a Declaration for the better collecting of the Publick Revenue On the 5 th of Ianuary he put forth an Order for all Military Officers with their respective Companies to march out of the Quarters where any Elections should be the several Garisons excepted the day before the same be made to the next adjoining Town or Towns being not appointed for any Elections and not to return to their first Quarters till the said respective Elections be made and fully compleated that so the Election of Members for the intended Convention may be free and without any colour of Force or Restraint On the 7 th of Ianuary the Scotish Nobility and Gentry waited on the Prince what was done by them see the 6 th Collection pag. 9 10 11 12. On the 8 th day his Highness put out a Declaration against Quartering of Souldiers in private Houses He found the Treasury very empty of Cash it being said to be but 40000 l. Whereupon he desired the City of London to advance a Sum for his present Occasion and on the 10 th of Ianuary they agreed to lend 100000 l. But it being raised by Subscription it amounted to above 150000 l. On the 16 th of Ianuary He put out a Declaration to assure the Mariners and Seamen of their Pay. The two Houses met on the 22 d of Ianuary 1688 9 the Lords chose the Marquess of Hallifax for their Speaker and the Commons chose Henry Powle Esq for theirs After which a Letter was read in both Houses from the Prince of Orange on the occasion of their Meeting to this Effect That he had endeavoured to perform what was desired from him for the Publick Peace and Safety during his Administration and that it now lay on them to lay a Foundation of a firm Security for their Religion Laws and Liberties That he did not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation the Ends of his Declaration would be attained He recommended to them the dangerous Condition of Ireland and also of the States of Holland both which required large and speedy Succours and told them That since it had pleased God hitherto to bless his good Intentions with so great Success he trusted in him that he would compleat his own Work by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence their Counsels that so no Interruption may be given to a happy and lasting Settlement The first Thing the two Houses took care of was by mutual Consent to make an Address to the Prince in which they acknowledged him the Glorious Instrument under God in the great Deliverance of the Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power They acknowledged also his great Care in the Administration and entreated him to continue it till further Application and that he would take into his Care the State of Ireland Then the Houses ordered that Thursday Ian. 31. be a Day of Thanksgiving in the City of London and places adjacent within ten Miles and the 14 th of February throughout the whole Kingdom Then the Lords ordered that no Papist or reputed Papist should presume to come into the Lobby Painted Chamber Court of Requests or Westminster-Hall during the Sitting of the Convention And after several Days Debates in both Houses about the Abdication of the Government and the Vacancy of the â—hrone On the 12 th of February the two Houses at last fully agreed all Things in Dispute between them in the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster Concerning the Misgovernment of King James and filling up the Throne Presented to King William and Queen Mary by the right Honourable the Marquess of Hallifax Speaker to the House of Lords With His Majesties most gracious Answer thereunto WHEREAS the late King Iames the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers imploy'd by Him did endeavour to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispensing with and Suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws
or his Deputs his Brethren Heraulds Macers and Pursevants and at the Head-Burghs of all the Shires Stewarties Bailliaries and Regalities within the Kingdom by Messengers at Arms. Extracted forth of the Meeting of the Estates by me J A. DALRYMPLE Cls. God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY The Manner of the King and Queen taking the Scotish Coronation Oath May 11. 1689. THis day being appointed for the publick Reception of the Commissioners viz. the Earl of Argyle Sir Iames Montgomery of Skelmerly and Sir Iohn Dalrymple of Stair younger who were sent by the Meeting of the Estates of Scotland with an Offer of the Crown of that Kingdom to Their Majesties they accordingly at 3 of the Clock met at the Council-Chamber and from thence were Conducted by Sir Charles Cotterel Master of the Ceremonies attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom who reside in and about this place to the Banqueting-House where the King and Queen came attended by many Persons of Quality the Sword being carried before them by the Lord Cardrosse and Their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a rich Canopy they first presented a Letter from the Estates to His Majesty then the Instrument of Government Thirdly a Paper containing the Grievances which they desired might be Redressed and Lastly an Address to His Majesty for turning the Meeting of the said Estates into a Parliament All which being Signed by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton as President of the Meeting and read to Their Majesties the King returned to the Commissioners the following Answer When I engaged in this Undertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did emit a Declaration in relation to That as well as to this Kingdom which I intend to make good and effectual to them I take it very kindly that Scotland hath expressed so much Confidence in and Affection to Me They shall find Me willing to assist them in every thing that concerns the Weal and Interest of that Kingdom by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of their Religion Property and Liberty and to ease them of what may be justly grievous to them After which the Coronation-Oath was tendred to Their Majesties which the Earl of Argyle spoke word by word distinctly and the King and Queen repeated it after him holding Their Right Hands up after the manner of taking Oaths in Scotland The Meeting of the Estates of Scotland did Authorize their Commissioners to represent to His Majesty That that Clause in the Oath in relation to the rooting out of Hereticks did not import the destroying of Hereticks And that by the Law of Scotland no Man was to be persecuted for his private Opinion And even Obstinate and Convicted Hereticks were only to be denounced Rebels or Outlawed whereby their Moveable Estates are Confiscated His Majesty at the repeating that Clause in the Oath Did declare that He did not mean by these words That He was under any Obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners made Answer That neither the meaning of the Oath or the Law of Scotland did import it Then the King replyed That He took the Oath in that Sense and called for Witnesses the Commissioners and others present And then both Their Majesties Signed the said Coronation-Oath After which the Commissioners and several of the Scotish Nobility kissed Their Majesties Hands The Coronation-OATH of England The Arch-Bishop or Bishop shall say WIll You solemnly Promise and Swear to Govern the People of this Kingdom of England and the Dominions thereto belonging according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on and the Laws and Customs of the same The King and Queen shall say I solemnly Promise so to do Arch-Bishop or Bishop Will You to Your Power cause Law and Justice in Mercy to be Executed in all Your Judgments King and Queen I Will. Arch-Bishop or Bishop Will You to the utmost of Your Power Maintain the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Religion Established by Law And will You Preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of this Realm and to the Churches committed to their Charge all such Rights and Priviledges as by Law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them King and Queen All this I Promise to do After this the King and Queen laying His and Her Hand upon the Holy Gospels shall say King and Queen The Things which I have here before Promised I will Perform and Keep. So help me God. Then the King and Queen shall kiss the Book The Coronation OATH of Scotland WE William and Mary King and Queen of Scotland Faithfully Promise and Swear by this Our solemn Oath in presence of the Eternal God that during the whole course of Our Life we will serve the same Eternal God to the uttermost of Our Power according as he has required in his most holy Word reveal'd and contain'd in the New and Old Testament and according to the same Word shall maintain the True Religion of Christ Jesus the Preaching of his Holy Word and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments now Received and Preached within the Realm of Scotland and shall abolish and gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same and shall Rule the People committed to our Charge according to the Will and Command of God revealed in his aforesaid Word and according to the Landable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no ways repugnant to the said Word of the Eternal God and shall procure to the utmost of Our power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect Peace in all time coming That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents with all just Priviledges of the Crown of Scotland neither shall we transfer nor alienate the same That we shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees Reif Oppression and all kind of wrong And we shall Command and Procure that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be keeped to all Persons without exception as the Lord and Father of all Mercies shall be merciful to uâ— And we shall be careful to root out all Hereticks and Enemies to the true Worship of God that shall be Convicted by the true Kirk of God of the aforesaid Crimes out of Our Lands and Empire of Scotland And we faithfully affirm the things above written by Our Solemn Oath God save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY FINIS a a Distinct. 19. cap. a Caus. 25. q. 1. cap. 11. b b Cap. Vergent de Hereticis c c Cap. Infam 6. q. 1. p. 297. d d Suar. de Fide disp 12. §. 9. n. â— l. 2. c. 29. e e Cap. de Haer. f f Aâ—zoâ— Tom. 1. l. 8. c. 12. q. 7. g g Cap. 2. Sect. fin de Haer. in 6. h h Cap. cum secundum Legis de Haer. Inno III. cap. de Vergentis i i Vasque in Suar. disp 22. S. 4. n. 11. k k S. 1. n. 5. l l Cap. Vergent de Haer. m m Cap. ad abolendum de Haâ—r Suâ—r Dis. 23. Bul. Vrb. 4. Inno. 4. n n Jac. de Gra. decis l. 2. c. 9. n. 2. o o Bonacina Diano Castro Molanus c. Car. Allen. ad mon. to Nobl. Peop. p. 41. p p â—riess of P. G. 13. Clem. 8. q q 5. Ies. Trial p. 28. r r Col. Lr. â—o the Internâ—ncio s s Prance 's Nar. p. 4. t t Caus. Ep. p. 189. u u Five Ies. Tâ—iâ—ls p. 2â— x x Caput Offiâ—â—â—m y y Bonâ—ciâ—â—a dâ— prinâ— prat Disp. 3. q. 2. z z Parson 's Philop. p. 109. a a Becan Cont. Aug. p. 131 132. In Fowlis p. 60. b b Oats 's Nar. p. 4. N. 5 c. c c Hist. Ref. p. 110. a a Prout Regalis Officii exposcit utilitas b b Sicome le profit de Office Demaunde The Kingly or Regal Office of this Realm Mar. Sess. 3. cap. 1. Give us a King to judg us 1 Sam. 8.5 6 20. 18 Edw. III. 20 Edw. III. Cap. 1 2. 1 Iac. 1. cap. 1. 35 H. 8. cap. 1. 6 E. 6.11.1 2 3. Om. 10. 1 El. 6. 1 El. 3. Church-man
by my Lord of Canterbury intimate their Thoughts about that Affair and their readiness to the King who was pleased not only to permit them to give him the best and most particular Advices but to encourage them to do it with all the freedom that was necessary for the present Occasion Upon this Royal Invitation their Lordships assembled together the next day at my Lord of Canterbury's Palace and prepared upon the most mature deliberation such Matters as they judged necessary for hiâ— Majesty's Knowledg and Consideration And on the Wednesday after waited on the King in a Body when his Grace in his own and in the name of the rest of the Bishops then present did in a most excellent Speech represent to his Majesty such things as were thought by them absolutely necessary to the Settlement of the Nation amidst the present Distractions and to the publick Interest of Church and State. I am assured that his Grace delivered himself upon this Critical Occasion as with all dutifulness to his Majesty so with all the readiness and the courage that did become such an Apostolical Arch-Bishop as God hath blest our Church of England with at this Time. You must not expect here his excellent Words but an Abridgment of them according to my Talent in a meaner Stile I. First the Bishops thought fit to represent in general to his Majesty That it was necessary for Him to restore all things to the state in which He found them when He came to the Crown by committing all Offices and Places of Trust in the Government to such of the Nobility and Gentry as were qualified for them according to the Laws of this Kingdom and by Redressing and Removing such Grievances as were generally complain'd of II. Particularly That his Majesty would Dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and promise to His People never to Erect any such Court for the future III. That He would not only put an effectual stop to the issuing forth of any Dispensations but would Call in and Cancel all those which had since his coming to the Crown been obtained from Him. IV. That he would Restore the Vniversities to their Legal State and to their Statutes and Customs and would particularly Restore the Master of Magdalen Colledge in Cambridge to the Profits of his Mastership which he had been so long Deprived of by an Illegal Suspension and the Ejected President and Fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford to their Properties in that Colledge And that He would not permit any Persons to enjoy any of the Preferments in either Vniversity but such as are qualified by the Statutes of the Vniversities the particular Statutes of their several Foundations and the Laws of the Land. V. That He would suppress the Iesuits Schools opened in this City or elsewhere and grant no more Licenses for such Schools as are apparently against the Laws of this Nation and His Majesty's True Interest VI. That He would send Inhibitions after those Four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars did presume to Exercise within this Kingdom such Iurisdictions as are by the Laws of the Land Invested in the Bishops of the Church of England and ought not to be Violated or Attempted by them VII That He would suffer no more Quo Warranto's to be issued out against any Corporations but would restore to those Corporations which had been already disturbed their ancient Charters Priviledges Grants and Immunities and Condemn all those late Illegal Regulations of Corporations by putting them into their late Flourishing Condition and Legal Establishment VIII That He would fill up all the Vacant Bishopricks in England and Ireland with Persons duly qualified according to the Laws and would especially take into His Consideration the See of York whose want of an Archbishop is very prejudicial to that whole Province IX That He would Act no more upon a Dispensing Power nor insist upon it but permit that Affair at the first Session of a Parliament to be fairly Stated and Debated and Settled by Act of Parliament X. That upon the Restoration of Corporations to their Ancient Charters and Burroughs to their Prescriptive Rights He would Order Writs to be issued out for a fair and free Parliament and suffer it to Sit to Redress all Grievances to Settle Matters in Church and State upon just and solid Foundations and to Establish a due Liberty of Conscience XI Lastly and above all That His Majesty would permit some of His Bishops to lay such Motives and Arguments before him as might by the Blessing of GOD bring back His Majesty unto the Communion of Our Holy Church of England into whose Catholick Faith He had been Baptized in which He had been Educated and to which it was their earnest and daily Prayer to Almighty GOD that His Majesty might be Reunited All these Counsels were concluded with a Prayer to GOD in whose Hands the Hearts of Kings are for a good Effect upon them especially the last about bringing the King back to the Protestant Religion And now Sir I cannot but ask you What grounds there are for any Mens Jealousies of the Bishops Proceedings Pray shew this Letter to all your Friends that some may lay down their Fears and others may have this Antidote against taking any up I do assure you and I am certain I have the best grounds in the World for my assurance That the Bishops will never stir one Jot from their PETITION but that they will whenever that happy Opportunity shall offer itself let the Protestant Dissenters find that they will be better than their Word given in their Famous PETITION In the mean time let You and I Commend the Prudence of these Excellent Bishops Admire their Courage and Celebrate their just Praises and never forget to offer up most fervent Thanks to GOD for his Adorning the Church of England at this Juncture with such Eminent Apostolical Bishops I am with all Respect Yours N. N. The PETITION of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal for the Calling of a Free Parliament Together with his Majesty's Gracious Answer to their Lordships To the KING 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Whose Names are Subscribed May it please your Majesty WE your Majesty's most Loyal Subjects in a deep Sense of the Miseries of a War now breaking forth in the Bowels of this your Kingdom and of the Danger to which your Majesty's Sacred Person is thereby like to be Exposed and also of the Distractions of your People by reason of their present Grievances do think our selves bound in Conscience of the Duty we owe to God and our Holy Religion to your Majesty and our Country most humbly to offer to your Majesty That in our Opinion the only visible Way to preserve your Majesty and this your Kingdom would be the Calling of a Parliament Regular and Free in all its Circumstances And Your Petitioners shall ever pray c. W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon
Theologian and will seem to be a good Bishop and to have a great care of his Diocess and would heretofore seem a great Preacher I have hinted in my last the Reasons why I cannot altogether like him which are needless to repeat The Arch-bishop of Paris is always the same I mean a gallant Man whose present Conversation is charming and loves his Pleasures but cannot bear any thing that grieves or gives trouble though he is always a great Enemy of the Iansenists which he lately intimated to Cardinal Camus He is always with me in the Council of Conscience and agrees very well with our Society laying mostly to Heart the Conversion of the Protestants of the three Kingdoms He also makes very good Observations and Designs to give some Advice to your Reverence which I shall convey to you I do sometimes impart to him what you write to me My Lord Kingston has embrac'd our good Party I was present when he Abjur'd in the Church of St. Denis I will give you the Circumstances some other time You promised to send me the Names of all Heretick Officers who are in his Majesty's Troops that much imports me and you shall not want good Catholick Officers to fill up their places I have drawn a List of them who are to pass into England and his most Christian Majesty approves thereof Pray observe what I hinted to you in my last on the Subject of the Visits which our Fathers must give to the Chief Lords Members of the next Parliament those Reverend Fathers who are to perform that Duty must be middle-aged with a lively Countâ—nance and fit to perswade I also advised you in some of my other Letters how the Bishop of Oxford ought to behave himself by writing incessantly and to insinuate into the People the putting down the Test and at the same time calm the Storm which the Letter of Pentionary Fagel has raised And his Majesty must continue to make vigorous Prohibitions to all Booksellers in London not to print any Answers as well to put a stop to the Insolency of Heretick Authors as also to hinder the People from reading them In short you intimate to me That his Majesty will follow our Advice It 's the quickest way and I cannot find a better or fitter to dispossess his Subjects from such Impressions as they have received His Majesty must also by the same Declaration profess in Conscience that if complied with he will not only keep his Word to maintain and protect the Church of England but will also confirm his Promises by such Laws as the Protestants shall be contented with This is the true Politick way for by his granting all they cannot but consent to something His most Christian Majesty has with great success experienced this Maxim And though he had not to struggle with Penal Laws and Tests yet he found it convenient to make large Promises by many Declarations for since we must dissemble you must endeavour all you can to perswade the King it is the only Method to effect his Design I did also in my last give you a hint of its Importance as well as the ways you must take to insinuate your selves dexterously with the King to gain his good Will. I know not whether you have observed what passed in England some Years since I will recite it because Examples instruct much One of our Assisting Fathers of that Kingdom which was Father Parsons having written a Book against the Succession of the King of Scots to the Realm of England Father Creighton who was also of our Society and upheld by many of our Party defended the Cause of that King in a Book Intituled The Reasons of the King of Scots against the Book of Father Parsons And though they seem'd divided yet they understood one another very well this being practised by order of our General to the end that if the House of Scotland were Excluded they might shew him who had the Government the Book of Father Parsons and on the other Hand if the King happened to be restored to the Throne they might obtain his good Will by shewing him the Works of Father Chreighton So that which way soever the Medal turn'd it still prov'd to the advantage of our Society Not to digress from our Subject I must desire you to read the English Book of Father Parsons Intituled The Reform of England where after his blaming of Cardinal Pool and made some observations of Faults in the Council of Trent he finally concludes That suppose England should return as we hope to the Catholick Faith in this Reign he would reduce it to the State of the Primitive Church And to that end all the Ecclesiastical Revenue ought to be used in common and the Management thereof committed to the care of Seven Wise Men drawn out of our Society to be disposed of by them as they should think fit Moreover he would have all the Religious Orders forbidden on Religious Penalties not to return into the Three Kingdoms without leave of those Seven Wise Men to the end it might be granted only to such as live on Alms. These Reflections seem to me very judicious and very suitable to the present State of England The same Father Parsons adds That when England is reduced to the True Faith the Pope must not expect at least for Five Years to reap any benefit of the Ecclesiastical Revenue but must leave the whole in the hands of those Seven Wise Men who will manage the same to the Benefit and Advancement of the Church The Court goes this day for Marli to take the Divertisements which are there prepared I hope to accompany the King and will entertain him about all Business and accordingly as he likes what you hint to me in your Letter I shall give you notice I have acquainted him with his Britannick Majesty's Design of building a Citadel near Whitehal Monsieur Vauban our Engineer was present After some Discourse on the Importance of the Subject his Majesty told Monsieur Vauban that he thought it convenient he should make a Model of the Design and that he should on purpose go over into England to see the Ground I have done all I could to suspend the Designs of our Great Monarch who is always angry against the Holy Father both Parties are stubborn the King 's natural Inclination is to have all yield to him and the Pope's Resolution is unalterable All our Fathers most humbly salute your Reverence Father Roine Ville acts wonderfully about Nismes amongst the New Converts who still meet notwithstanding the Danger they expose themselves to I daily expect News from the Frontiers of the Empire which I shall impart to your Reverence and am with the greatest Respect Yours c. Paris March 7. 1688. Popish Treaties not to be rely'd on In a Letter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of ORANGE's Camp. Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament THE Credulity and Superstition of
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 signify 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 Majesties 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 Perswasions might have been settled 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 The last and great Remedy for all those Evils is the 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 easily be 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 the 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 engage Protestants that are all equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into mutual Quarellings that so by these some Advantages might be given to them to bring about their Designs and that both in the Election of the Members of Parliament and afterwards in the Parliament it self For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a mutual good Understanding one with another and concur together in the preserving of their Religion it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England that either were in any Imployment or were in any considerable Esteem to declare before-hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it Such as would not thus preingage themselves were turned out of all Imployments and others who entred into those Engagements were put into their places many of them being Papists And contrary to the Charters and Priviledges of those Buroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament they have ordered such Regulations to be made as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved tho it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves so that no Parliament can be lawful for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such hands it is impossible to have any lawful Parliament And tho according to the Constitution of the English Government and immemorial Custom all Elections of Parliament-Men ought to be made with an entire Liberty without any sort of Force or the requiring the Electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them and the Persons thus freely elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all matters that are brought before them having the Good of the Nation ever before their Eyes and following in all things the Dictates of their Consciences yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a free Parliament legally called and chosen But they may perhaps see one called in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force and which will be composed of such Persons of whom those Evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation Which may appear evidently from this that the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament to gain them to consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not neither by Promises nor Threatnings prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Designs But to crown all There are great and violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those Evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on of their ill Designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son tho there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspicion that not only We our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts And since our Dearest and most Entirely Beloved Consort the Princess and likewise We our Selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown Since also the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded in a most unjust War use their uttermost Endeavours to put an end to that War and that in opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they run the hazard of losing both the Favour of the Court and their Imployments And since the English Nation has â—ver testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our Dearest Consort the Princess and to Our Selves We cannot excuse our selves from espousing their Interests in a Matter of such high Consequence and from contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which we are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that we have thought fit to go over to England and to carry over
Orange and present to His Highness the Address agreed by the Lieutenancy for that purpose And that they begin their Journey to Morrow Morning By the Commissioners Command Geo. Evans Cl. Lieut. London To His Highness the Prince of Orange The Humble Address of the Lieutenancy of the City of London May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sence we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts That Your Highness has exposed Your Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we have not had any seasonable Opportunity to give Your Highness and the World a real Testimony that it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is Dear to Us to attain those Glorious Ends which Your Highness has proposed for restoring and settling these Distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to Your Highness our just and due Acknowledgments for the Happy Relief You have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a Posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's Happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which Your Highness has so happily begun to the general Joy and Satisfaction of us all December the 17 th 1688. THE said Committee this day made Report to the Lieutenancy that they had presented the said Address to the Prince of Orange and that His Highness received them very kindly December the 17 th 1688. By the Lieutenancy Ordered That the said Order and Address be forthwith Printed Geo. Evans To His Highness the Prince of ORANGE The Humble ADDRESS of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled May it please Your Highness WE taking into Consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many and hazardous Enterprizes which it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success We render our deepest Thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same And beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your Glorious Design to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some Remedy for these Oppressions and Imminent Dangers We together with Our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from His Majesty's Concessions and Concurrences with Your Highness's Just and Pious purposes expressed in Your Gracious Declarations But herein finding Our Selves finally disappointed by His Majesty's withdrawing Himself We presume to make Your Highness Our Refuge And do in the Name of this Capital CITY implore Your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech Your Highness to vouchsafe to repair to this CITY where Your Highness will be received with Universal Joy and Satisfaction The Speech of Sir GEORGE TREBY Kt. Recorder of the Honourable City of London to his Highness the Prince of Orange Dec. 20. 1688. May it please your Highness THE Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom deputed to Congratulate your Highness upon this great and glorious Occasion In which labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State over-run by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the Point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all Times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind To have the Title of Sovereign Prince Stadtholder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are among their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Souldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon your appearing GREAT SIR When we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and Fullness of our present Deliverance astonish'd we think it miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and called by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity restor'd Our Laws which are our ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can We make to your Highness Our Thoughts are full-charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all Good Men amongst us And late Posterity will celebrate your ever-glorious Name till Time shall be no more Chapman Mayor Cur ' special ' tent ' die Iovis xx die Decemb ' 1688. Annoque R R. Iacobi Secundi Angl ' c. quarto THis Court doth desire Mr. Recorder to print his Speech this day made to the Prince of Orange at the time of this Court 's attending his Highness with the Deputies of the several Wards and other Members of the Common-Council Wagstaffe FINIS A FIFTH Collection of Papers Relating to the Present Juncture of Affairs in England VIZ. I. The hard Case of Protestant Subjects under the Dominion of a Popish Prince II. An Answer to a late Pamphlet entitled A Short Scheme of the Vsurpations of the Crown of England c. III. An humble and hearty Address to all English Protestants in the Army Published by Mr. Iohnson in the Year 1686. IV. Several Reasons against the Establishment of a standing Army and Dissolving the Militia V. A Discourse of Magistracy of Prerogative by Divine Right of Obedience and of the Laws VI. The Definition of a Tyrant by Abr. Cowley With several Queries thereupon proposed to the Lawyers VII A Letter to the King inducing him to return to the Protestant Religion VIII Ten Seasonable Queries proposed by an English Gentleman at Amsterdam to his Friends in England Licensed and Entred according to Order London printed and are to be
one of them is not the other for he may be any one of these who is none of the rest IV. This distinction proceeds from the different Reasons upon which these Relations are founded V. The Reason or Foundation from whence arises the Relation of a Father is from having begotten his Son who may as properly call every old Man he meets his Father as any other Person whatsoever excepting him only who begat him VI. The Relation of an Husband and Wife is founded in Weâ—lock whereby they mutually consent to become one Fleâ—h VII The Relation of a Maâ—ter is founded in that Right and Title which he has to the Possession or Service of his Slave or Servant VIII In these Relations the Names of Father Husband and Master imply Soveraignty and Superiority which varies notwithstanding and is more or less absolute according to the Foundation of these several Relations IX The Superiority of a Father is founded in that Power Priority and Dignity of Nature which a Cause hath over its Effect X. The distance is not so great in Wedlock but the Superiority of the Husband over the Wife is like that of the Right-Hand over the Left in the same Body XI The Superiority of a Master is an absolute Dominion over his Slave a limited and conditionate Command over his Servant XII The Titles of Pater Patriae and Sponsus Regni Father of the Country and Husband of the Realm are Metaphors and improper Speeches For no Prince ever begat a whole Country of Subjects nor can a Kingdom more propâ—rly be said to be married than the City of Venice is to be Adriatick Gulph XIII And to shew further that Magistracy is not Paternal Authority nor Monarchy founded in Fatherhood it is undeniably plain that a Son may be the Natural Soveraign Lord of his own Father as Henry the Second had been of Ieffeâ—y Plantagenet if he had been an English-man which they say Henry the Seventh did not love to think of when his Sons grew up to Years And this Case alone is an eternal Confutation of the Patriarchate XIV Neither is Magistracy a Marital Power for the Husband may be the obedient Subject of his own Wife as Philip was of Queen Maâ—y XV. Nor is it that Dominion which a Master has over his Slave for then a Prince might lawfully sell all hiâ— Subjects like so many Head of Cattel and make Mony of his whole Stock when ever he pleases as a Patron of Algiers does XVI Neither is the Relation of Prince and Subject the same with that of a Master and hired Servant for he does not hire them but as St. Paul saith They pay him Tribute in consideration of his continual Attendance and Imployment for the Publick Good. XVII That Publick Office and Imployment is the Foundation of the Relation of King and Subject as many other Relations are likewise founded upon other Functions and Administrations Such as Guardian and Ward c. XVIII The Office of a King is set down at large in the 17 th Chapter of the Laws of King Edward the Confessor to which the succeeding Kings have been sworn at their Coronation And it is affirmed in the Preambles of the Statutes of Malbridg and of the Statute of Quo Warranto made at Glocester That the calling of Parliaments to make Laws for the better Estate of the Realm and the more full Administration of Justice belongeth to the Office of a King. But the fullest account of it in few words is in Chancellor Fortescue Chap. XIII which Passage is quoted in Calvin's Case Coke VII Rep. Fol. 5. Ad Tutelam namque Legis Subditorum ac eorum Corporum bonorum Rex hujusmodi erectus est ad hanc potestatem à populo effluxam ipse habet quo ei non licet potestate alia suo populo Dominari For such a King that is of every Political Kingdom as this is is made and ordained for the Defence or Guardianship of the Laws of his Subjects and of their Bodies and Goods whereunto he receiveth Power of his People so that he cannot govern his People by any other Power Corolary A Bargain 's a Bargain CHAP. II. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right I. GOvernment is not matter of Revelation if it were then those Nations that wanted Scripture must have been without Government whereas Scripture it self says that Government is the Ordinance of Man and of Human Extraction And King Charles the First says of this Government in particular That it was moulded by the Wisdom and Experience of the Peoplâ— Answ. to XIX Prop. II. All just Governments are highly beneficial to Mankind and are of God the Author of all Good they are his his Ordinances and Institutions Rom. 13.1 2. III. Plowing and sowing and the whole business of preparing Bread Corn is absâ—luely necessary to the Subsistence of Mankind This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in Working Isa. 28. from 23 d to 29 th Verse IV. Wisdom saith Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have Strength by me Kings reign and Princes decree Iustice By me Prinees rule and Nobles even all the Iudges of the Earth Prov. 13.14 V. The Prophet speaking of the Plow-man saith His God doth instruct him to Discretion and doth teach him Isa. 28.26 VI. Scripture neither gives nor takes away Mens Civil Rights but leaves them as it found them and as our Saviour said of himself is no Divider of Inheritances VII Civil Authority is a Civil Right VIII The Law of England gives the King his Title to the Crown For where is it said in Scripture that such a Person or Family by Name shall enjoy it And the same Law of England which has made him King has made him King according to the English Laws and not otherwise IX The King of England has no more Right to set up a French Government than the French King has to be King of England which none at all X. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars neither makes a Caesar nor tells who Caesar is nor what belongs to him but only requires Men to be just in giving him those supposed Rights which the Laws have determined to be his XI The Scripture supposes Property when it forbids Stealing it supposes Mens Lands to be already butted and bounded when it forbids removing the Ancient Land-marks And as it is impossible for any Man to prove what Estate he has by Scripture or to find a Terrier of his Lands there so it is a vain thing to look for Statutes of Prerogative in Scripture XII If Mishpat Hamelech the manner of the King 1 Sam 8.11 be a Statute of Prerogative and prove all those Particulars to be the Right of the King then Mishpat Haccohanim the Priests custom of Sacrilegious Rapine Chap. 2.13 proves that to be the Right of the Priests the same word being used in both places XIII It is the Resolution
went first to the Chappel forced the Doors broke all to pieces and carried several parcels in Triumph up to the Cross and burnt them there The next day strong Guards were set through the whole City and Suburbs in convenient places to repress any farther Tumults and so all was quiet and continues so This Morning there was coming into Leith a Boat from Burnt-Island with eighty Men aboard being a part of two or three hundred which had been sent for by the Duke of Gordon from the North to reinforce the Castle and the rest to follow But the Bayliff of Leith having notice before-hand of their coming sent on Board and discharged their coming into the Harbor and desired to speak with their Commander who came ashoar and owned the Design being believed to be all Papists He was seized and the Men commanded back to the other Shoar under the highest Pains The Lords of the Treasury have called in all Commissions given to Papists for collecting His Majesty's Revenue Edinburgh Decemb. 22. THE Chancellor thinking as Affairs stood he was not secure at home resolved for France and with all the Privacy imaginable he in Womans and his Lady in Mans Clothes got aboard a Vessel bound from this Firth the 20 th instant being Thursday which set Sail the Wind being fair But a certain Person on Horse-back riding by Kircaldie where the Seamen use to walk called to them and told them there was a good Prize in that Ship under Sail namely the Chancellor of Scotland Whereupon about thirty six common Sea-men commanded by one Wilson that had been a Bucaneer in America which had Guns or Muskets manag'd a light Boat and without any Provision save a little Brandy or any Order from a Magistrate set Sail immediately and came up with the Ship that Night boarded her inquired for the Chancellor whom they denied to be aboard but after search found him and his Lady cloathed as aforesaid brought the Ship back and carried the Prisoners with Mr. Nicolson a Priest late Regent in the Colledg of Glasgow ashoar to Kircaldie Talbooth or Prison The Chancellor wrote Letters yesterday to several of the Privy-Council complaining of the Injury done him The Council have ordered him to be carried by the Earl of Marr and a Company of the Militia to Sterling-Castle The Duke of Gordon has been desired by the Council to lay down his Charge of Governour of the Castle but he still declines it alledging that seeing he has his Commission immediately from the King and to be accountable to none else he cannot in Honour lay it down till he has His Majesty's Command for it and says he had sent a Gentleman expresly to know His Majesty's Pleasure upon that point fourteen days ago and expects his return every day And in the mean time has assured the Council by Letters and this day the Provost and Magistrates of the City whom he sent for to speak with that he will upon his Word and Honour be a good Neighbour and not do them or the City any Prejudice Two days ago his Captain put an Oath to the Souldiers whereby they bound themselves to be faithful to His Majesty and their Superior Officers and to defend the Protestant Religion which being refused by twenty or thirty whereof five were Papists they were turned out There was a Pink arrived at Leith on Thursday sent by His Majesty The Searchers seized two Boxes in it directed to the Chancellor c. and being brought to the Council there were found in them several Precepts upon the Treasury for payment of certain Sums to Papists and some Commissions in particular a Commission to one Peter Winste a Papist to be Major of the Gates of the Castle and have Power of all the Keys without being accountable to the Lieutenant who is a Protestant but only to the Duke and his Deputy who is a Papist too Edinburgh Decemb. 25. THis Day the Students burnt the Pope solemnly at the Cross before Thousands of Spectators our Privy Counsellors and Magistrates were Spectators and no Inconveniences followed The Students were divided according to their Classes that is their Years of standing each Class with its Captain They advanced orderly with Swords in their Hands and Hoitboys before them the College Mace was carried before them by the under-Janitor in his Gown and bare We have many Reports here of the Landing of Irish-men but false the whole Country is in Arms and Apprehends the Papists and at Dumfriese they have taken and imprisoned the Provost with some other Papists and Priests and guard their Town with Six Companies a-night and have planted Cannon taken from their Ships at the Cross and Ports and recovered their Ammunition which was sent to Carlavorock Castle Edinburgh Decemb. 27. OUR Council has sent an Address to the Prince of Orange at least it may go hence on Saturday next At Glasgow the Prince of Orange was Proclaimed the Protestant Protector The whole Country is up for the Prince or at least under pretence for their Safety against Papists but there is no fear of them in this Kingdom unless it be in Nithisdale and Galloway and I think neither there However there were some long Knives or Bagonets of a strange shape taken at Kirkudbright His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE his SPEECH to the Scots Lords and Gentlemen VVith their Advice and his Highness's Answer VVith a True Account of what past at their Meeting in the Council-Chamber at Whitehal Ianuary 7. 1688 9. His Highness the PRINCE of Orange having caused Advertise such of the Scots Lords and Gentlemen as were in Town met them in a Room at St. Iames's upon Monday the Seventh of Ianuary at Three of the Clock in the Afternoon and had this Speech to them My Lords and Gentlemen THE only Reason that induced me to undergo so Great an Vndertaking 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 Securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration As soon as his Highness had retired the Lords and Gentlemen went to the Council-Chamber at Whitehall and having chosen the Duke of Hamilton their President they fell a consulting what Advice was fit to be given to his Highness in this Conjuncture And after some Hours Reasoning they agreed upon the Materials of it and appointed the Clerks with such as were to assist them to draw up in writing what the Meeting thought expâ—dient to advise his Highness and to bring it in to the Meeting the next in the Afternoon Tuesday the Eighth Instant the Writing was presented in the Meeting And some time being spent in Reasoning about the fittest way of Coveening a General Meeting of the Estates of Scotland At last the Meeting came to agree in their Opinion and appointed
the Advice to be writ clean over according to the Amendments But as they were about to part for that Dyet the Earl of Arran proposed to them as his Lordship's Advice that they should move the Prince of Orange to desire the King to return and call a Free-Parliament which would the best way to Secure the Protestant Religion and Property and to Heal all Breaches This Proposal seemed to dissatisfy the whole Meeting and the Duke of Hamilton their President Father to the Earl but they presently parted Wednesday the Ninth of Ianuary they met at three of the Clock in the same Room and Sir Patrick Hume took notice of â—he Proposal made by the Earl of Arran and desired to know if there was any there that would second it But none appearing to do it he said That what the Earl had proposed was evidently opposite and inimicous to his Highness the Prince of Orange's Undertaking his Declaration and the Good Intentions of preserving the Protestant Religion and of Restoring their Laws and Liberties exprest in it and further desired that the Meeting should declare this to be their Opinion of it The Lord Cardross seconded Sir Patrick's Motion it was answered by the Duke of Hamilton President of the Meeting That their Business was to prepare an Advice to be offered to the Prince and the Advice being now ready to go to the Vote there was no need that the Meeting should give their Sense of the Earl's Proposal which neither before nor after Sir Patrick's Motion any had pretended to own or second so that it was fallen and out of doors and that the Vote of the Meeting upon the Advice brought in by their Order would sufficiently declare their Opinion This being seconded by the Earl of Sutherland the Lord Cardross and Sir Patrick did acquiesce in it and the Meeting voted unaâ—imously the Advice following To His HIGHNESS the PRINCE of ORANGE 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 these Kingdoms In order to the Attaining 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 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 Fourteenth day of March next by your Letters or Proclamation to be published at the Market-Crosses of Edinburgh and other Head-Boroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient Intimation to All concerned and according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriffs 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 Burroughs 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 least Ten Days before the Meetings for Elections And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh qualified as above exprest 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 at the Council-Chamber in Whitehal the Tenth Day of January 1689. This Address being Subscribed by 30 Lords and about 80 Gentlemen was presented in their presence at St. Iames 's by the Duke of Hamilton their President to his Highness the Prince of Orange who thanked them for the Trust they reposed in him and desired a Time to consider upon so weighty an Affair Upon the Fourteenth of Ianuary his Highness the Prince of Orange met again with the Scots Lords and Gentlemen at St. Iames 's And spoke to them as follows My Lords and Gentlemen IN persuance of your Advice I will untill the Meeting of the States in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the Calling of the said Meeting for the Preserving of the Peace the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing Vses and putting 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 Earl of Crawfourd desired of his Highness That himself the Earl of Louthian and others come to Town since the Address was presented might have an opportunity to subscribe it which was accordingly done His Highness retireâ— and all shewed great Satisfaction with his Answer A LETTER to a Friend advising in this Extraordinary Iuncture how to free the Nation from SLAVERY for ever SIR I Doubt not but the Wisdom of the Nation will take the most effectual way to secure our Religion our Liberties and Property However being a Lover of all these I can't forbear communicating my Thoughts unto you with an assurance you 'l consider them God hath done great things for us and yet the greatest thing is not yet done there are many Difficulties in the way and many more will be thrown into it Slavery is most to be dreaded at this time What is done must be chiefly to guard against it How to do it is the principal business of the Great Men in the next Convention To know where we are is the first step to be taken Is the Government dissolved or only under some Disorders If the latter Are the Disorders such as must be laid to the Charge of the King or to his Ministers or both If to the King Are they sufficient to depose him If that be done Are we more secure from Slavery than now Will there be more than a Change of Persons in the Throne A Child for a Father a Protestant for a Papist And in a few Years the Succession may fall to the Queen of Spain or Dutchess of Savoy both Roman Catholicks and we in as great or greater danger of Popery and Slavery than we were the other day the Constitution remains the same the Iura Majestatis viz. the Militia the Power to make War or Peace the choosing Judges Sheriffs c. still in the Person of the King or if only by one Parliament restored to the People another Parliament may give them the King again Leges Posteriores priores abrogant And
and Setled in the Kingdom by the General Election of the People and in his Life-time the Nation was Sworn to the Succession of Edward the First before he went to the Holy Land. Edward the First being out of England by the Consent of Lords and Commons was declared King. Edward the Second being misled and relying too much upon his Favourites was Deposed and his Son was declared King in his Life-time Richard the Second for his evil Government had the Fate of the Second Edward Henry the Fourth came in by Election of the People to whom Succeeded Henry the Fifth and Henry the Sixth in whose time Richard Duke of York claimed the Crown and an Act of Parliament was made that Henry the Sixth should enjoy the Crown for his Life and the said Duke after him after which King Henry raises an Army by Assistance of the Queen and Prince and at Wakefield in Battel kills the Duke for which 1 Ed. 4. they were all by Act of Parliament Attainted of Treason and one principal Reason thereof was for that the Duke being declared Heir to the Crown after Henry by Act of Parliament they had killed him Edward the Fourth enters the Stage and leaves Ed. 5. to Succeed to whom Succeeds Richard the Third Confirmed King by Act of Parliament upon Two Reasons First That by reason of a Precontract of Edward the Fourth Edward the Fifth his Eldest Son and all his other Children were Bastards Secondly For that the Son of the Duke of Clarence second Brother to Edward the Fourth had no Right because the Duke was Attainted of Treason by a Parliament of Ed. the 4 th Henry the Seventh comes in but had no Title First Because Edward the Fourth's Daughter was then living Secondly His own Mother the Countess of Richmond was then living After him Henry the Eighth wore the Crown who could have no Title by the Father in his time the Succession of the Crown was Limitted several times and the whole Nation Sworn to the Observance Sir Thomas Moor declared That the Parliament had a Power to bind the Succession which was declared to be Law by 13 Eliz. cap. 1. and made a Praemunire to hold the contrary Edward the Sixth succeeded but his Mother was married to King Henry while Ann of Cleve his Wife was living Queen Mary was declared a Bastard and by Vertue of an Act of Parliament of Henry the Eighth she Succeeded which Act being Repealed in the First of her Reign and the Crown being Limitted otherwise by Parliament all the Limitations of the Crown in King Henry the Eighth's Reign were avoided so that Queen Elizabeth who was declared a Bastard by Act of Parliament in Henry the Eighth's time and limitted to Succeed in another Act in his time and that Act repealed by Queen Mary became Queen in the force of her own Act of Parliament which declares her Lawful Queen The Crown was Entail'd in Richard the Second's time again in the time of Henry the Fourth again in the time of Henry the Sixth again in the time of Edward the Fourth again in the time of Richard the Third again in the time of Henry the Seventh Thrice in the time of Henry the Eighth And upon the Marriage of Queen Mary to King Philip of Spain both the Crowns of England and Spain were Entailed whereby it was provided that of the several Children to be Begotten upon the Queen one was to have the Crown of England another Spain another the Low-Countries the Articles of Marriage to this purpose were Confirmed by Act of Parliament and the Pope's Bull. So that it was agreed by the States of both Kingdoms and the Low-Countries and therefore probably the Universal Opinion of the Great Men of that Age That Kings and Sovereign Princes with the Consent of their States had a Power to Alter and Bind the Succession of the Crown and never denied to be Law till the Reign of King Charles the Second True it is that this Doctrine doth not go down well with those that do pretend to Prerogative added as they say by the Act of Recognition made to King Iames and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance which do make so much talk conceâ—ning Inheritance and Heirs But let these Gentlemen consider that the Act of Recognition made no Law for the future nor doth the same cross the Statute of 13 Eliz. nor doth it take away the power of the Parliament from over-ruling the Course of the Common-Law for after-Ages Nor do the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy hold forth any such Obligation unto Heiâ—s otherwise than as supposing them to be Successors and in that Relation only And therefore was no such Allegiance due to Edward the Sixth Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth until they were actually possest of the Crown as may appear by the Oath forced by the Statute of H. 8. touching their Succession Nor did the Law suppose any Treason could be acted against the Heirs of Ed. 6. Queen Mary or Queen Eliz. until these Heirs were actually possest of the Crown and so were Kings and Queens as by the express words in the several Statutes do appear Nor did the Recognition by the Parliament made to Queen Elizabeth declare any engagement to the People to assist and defend Her and the Heirs of Her Body otherwise than with this Limitation being Kings and Queens of this Realm as by the Statute in that behalf made doth appear Moreover had these Oaths been otherwise understood the Crown had by virtue of them been preingaged so as it could never have Descended to Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth or King Iames but must have remained to the Heirs of Edward the Sixth for ever A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England by reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there THat a Colony so considerable as New-England is should be discouraged is not for the Honour and Interest of the English Nation in as much as the People there are generally Sober Industrious Well-Disciplin'd and apt for Martial Affairs so that he that is Sovereign of New-England may by means thereof when he pleaseth be Emperor of America Nevertheless the whole English Interest in that Territory has been of late in apparent danger of being lost and ruined and the Miseries of that People by an Arbitrary Government erected amongst them have been beyond Expression great The original of all which has been the Quo Warranto's issued out against their Charâ—ers by means whereof they have been deprived of their ancient Rights and Priviledges As for the Massachusets Colony whose Patent beareth date from the Year 1628. There was in the Year 1683 a Quo Warranto and after that in the Year 1684 a Writ of Scire Facias against them and they were required to make their appearance at Westminster in October which they knew nothing of till the month before so that it was impossible for them to answer at the time appointed yet Judgment was entred against them Plimouth Colony
those the Opportunity to retrieve the Credit they have lost by other Mens Faults We were also very apprehensive of the ill Consequences of the dispensing Power especially in the case of Sr. Edward Hales but it seems the Common Council of London are forbid to take the usual Oaths and yet required to act which is an unqualified Capacity We were in hopes we had lost a rude Army but we have found a ruder twenty places cry out of them and Kingstone certainly with great Justice that in two Nights time was two hundred Pounds the worse for them And for Closseting we have got Questioning that they that won't enter into Associations to protect the Prince of Orange without one of our King is to have no Imployment so that if the Prince should take the Crown I am bound to defend him against my own King and my sworn Allegiance though he come in the right of his Crown Believe me my Lords it is the boldest bid that ever Men made I see Forty one was a Fool to Eighty eight and that we Church of England Protestants shall cancel all the Merits of our Fathers overthrow the Ground and Consequence of their most exemplary Loyalty to King Charles the first and second render their Death the Death of Fools trample their Memories and Blood under our Feet subject our selves to the just Reproach of the Phanaticks whose Principles and Practices we have outdone even to that King that we forced upon them and by our Example had brought them to live well withal God help us this my Lords makes me say that either we must turn from being Church-of England-Men or steer another course for it is but too plain that Presbytery is leading us out of our ancient way and whether we believe it or no our Church sinks and will more for that is the Interest that suits best with a Dutch Humour and Conjunction and be sure if we are so base to leave our King God will be so just as to leave us and here my Lords I shall leave you with this humble motion that we make an humble Address to his Majesty to return home to us that we may act securely and not go out of the good old way which may intail Misery upon us and our Posterity I should think we have had enough of sending our Princes abroad in that much of the Inconveniency we have lain under since their Restoration has been chiefly owing to it We have driven him where we would not have him go and do what we can to provoke that League we have been afraid of and made a great part of the reason of this strange Alteration in the Kingdom Some tell us it is too late but I cannot comprehend the good sence of such an Objection Is it at any time too late for a King and his People to agree after bloody Battels it has not been thought so in all times and Nations and why it may not be without them I never heard a good reason yet If his going was unreasonable it has hurt him more than us since we may thence hope for the better terms if it was not a Fault to go it will be a great one in us if we can have him home upon good terms and will not for if I may with leave speak it his return is as much our Conveniency as his Advantage The offensive part of Him is gone that is to say the Power of Popery and what remains is our great Interest to keep and improve to our own Benefit and Safety I mean my Lords His undoubted Title and Kingship And whatever some hot Men say that are more governed by private Avarice and Revenge then the publick Good of these Kingdoms I cannot but renew my motion to your Lordships that we may send a Duke an Earl a Viscount and a Baron and two Spiritual Lords to invite his Majesty home upon the Constitution of the Government And my Lords forgive me if I say that if we can but get our Iuries Sheriffs Iudges High Courts of Chancery and Parliaments setled as they ought to be the Army at least reduced the Militia better regulated and a due Liberty of Conscience established to all Protestant Dissenters and so far to Papists only as the Law against Conventicles does admit we may yet be happy and upon these terms my Lords and no other will his Highness the Prince of Orange become truly meritorious with the English Nation Reflections on a Paper called a LORD'S Speech without Doors THIS Noble Lord would have done ingenuously in letting the World know his Name and whether he be a Lord or not for one cannot gather it from his Liberality of casting in a mite at this time when mean People such as Trades-men have more generosity and effectually contributed to the publick Peace and Honour of the Nation And as to his dissenting to some leading Lords on the account of Conscience we are in the dark as to what sort of Conscience his is whether Papist or Phanatick Conscience or indeed whether it be any Conscience at all which makes him differ from some leading Lords for the making of Speeches within or without Doors is no infallible Mark of either But he says He cannot forbear thinking that a greater Reproach can hardly come upon a People than is like to fall on us Protestants Ah good Soul what 's the matter Are the Protestants at length found to be the Firers of â—heir own City or Sr. Edm-B Godfrey and the Earl of Essex's Murtherers c. Why no O it s this unpresidented Vsage of our poor King. A good tender-hearted Jesuit I 'le warrant thee that has entred with Campian into an Holy League and Covenant to destroy all Protestant Kings and Princes unless they become as bigotted to the Society as the poor King was But let me take the Boldness to ask your Honour one Question Is there no time when compassion is due to the Country Religion is the Pretence but some fear a new Master is the thing And is it any wonder if a new Master be desired when the old one will not let me serve him but will destroy me and perhaps himself too this being a clear case and evident to all Orders and Degrees of Men among us We see how feeble a thing Popery is in England and it is I do not doubt your Lordships great Grief that your old Master may not be let in again to strengthen and revive her drooping and almost decayed Spirits But why did not the Prince stop when he heard a Free-Parliament was calling by the Kings Writs where all matters especially of the Prince of Wales might have been considered c. As to a Free-Parliament is it not evident to all the World that the King could not bear it Besides who told his Lordship that his old Master would abide by the Decisions of a Free-Parliament touching the Legitimacy or Spuriousness of his Prince of Wales The Kings Guards were changed and at
same Ruin upon the Kingdom as those Barons did by their Delay Lastly If the Discusser will not be convinc'd by what has hitherto been said Let him examine the King 's own words and try whether he can pick out any better Construction out of them then that which I shall make Says the late King in his Letter to the Earl of Feversham Things being come to that Extrâ—mity that I have been forc'd to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales that they might not fall into my Enemies hands I am oblig'd to do the same thing and to endeavour to secure my self the best I can c. Expresâ—ions of a disponding Mind and only full of Grief for the Disappointment of the Popish Career The King was afraid of the Queen and his Son the Prince of Wales as he calls him and therefore deeming it convenient to send Them out of the way believes himself oblig'd to follow them 'T is true there might be some Reason perhaps for him to send Them away but none to send away himself not being under the same Circumstances For let it be Paternal or Conjugal Affection or both together What could be a greater Desertion than this for the sake of a Wife and a Son to leave three Kingdoms at six and sevens He speaks of securing himself as well as he can but mentions nothing of Danger only leaves it to the Lord Feversham and others to presume the Causes of his Fears But certainly the apprehension of Danger can never excuse a Sovereign Magistrate from the Desertion of his Dominions at the same time striving and strugling under the Pangs of the Dissolution of Government If such a Desertion of his Territories in that forlorn and languishing Condition to accompany the Tribulations of a Wife and a Son be not a perfect Abdication of his Territories the Words relinquish desert forgo abandon abdicate have lost their Signification Thus Lysimachus in Plutarch de sera vindicta Dei after he had surrendered his Person and Dominions to the Getae for a Draught of Drink in the extremity of a parching Thirst when he had quench'd his Thirst cryed out O pravum Hominem that for so small a Pleasure have lost so great a Kingdom He would be thought very unfit to be the Master of a Ship that should throw himself into the Sea when his Vessel and Cargoe were almost ready to perish And I will appeal to the Lord of Wemm himself whether if he were to try an Abdicating Prince upon this Point with the same Huffing and Domineering as he did Inferiour Offenders he would take it for a good Justification to say I had thought or I apprehended my Person to be in Danger Rather it becomes a Prince at such a time to exert his Courage and contemn his own when the publick Security lies at stake especially when the Remedy propounded was so easy as the Convoking of a Free Parliament But to withdraw at such a perillous Conjuncture from the Application of his desir'd nay almost implor'd Assistance What can the Discusser think of himself to deny so plain an Abdication And this I take to be the Opinion of the late King's Abdication intimated by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal assembled at Guild-Hall Decemb. 1688. where they are pleased to say That they did reasonably hope that the King having sent forth his Proclamation and Writs for a free Parliament they might have rested secure as doubtless the King might also have done in that Meeting But his Majesty having withdrawn himself c. they did therefore unanimously resolve to apply themselves to his Highness the Prince of Orange c. That is to say The King having withdrawn himself from the Cure of the Grand Distempers of the Nation and consequently Abdicated the Government they resolv'd to apply themselves to a more Skilful at least a more Willing Physician Which had the Discusser more considerately discuss'd when he wrote his Discussion would have sav'd him a great deal of trouble and expence Thus much for the Reasons which the Discusser brings to prove that the King before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of Danger and that therefore it cannot be call'd an Abdication That which follows being altogether grounded upon certain Statutes and Laws of the Land to the knowledg of which the Discusser seems to be a great Pretender is answer'd in a Word That they who pronounc'd the Throne Vacant understood the Latitude of their Power and the Intent and Limits of the Laws and Statutes of this Realm to that Degree that if nothing else the Consideration of that might have deterr'd the Discusser from the Presumption of appearing so vainly and scandalously in the World. Nor would I be thought so impertinent to transgress the Bounds of my own Understanding as he has done For indeed to tell ye the Truth if the Discusser should come to a Trial at Westminster-Hall I am afraid the Lawyers will certainly inform him that he has very much either mistaken or misquoted his Authors FINIS SATISFACTION tendred to all that pretend Conscience for Non-submission to our present Governours and refusing of the New Oaths of FEALTY and ALLEGIANCE In a LETTER to a FRIEND By R. B. late Rector of St. Michael Querne London And now Rector of Icklingham All-Saints Suffolk SIR I Cannot but admire at the Stiffness not to say Obstinacy of some in not complying with the present Government considering the late danger of Popery and that an Arbitrary Power was exercised amongst us by our late Rulers in asserting their Dispensing Power by the Mercenary Judges declared to be Law. You may remember in our late Conference upon this Subject you pleaded in Defence of your selves and others the Obligation you lay under to the Oath of Allegiance with your Subscription to the Doctrine of the Church of England contained in the 37 th Article and the First Canon of the Church but if it appear that all this is rather grounded upon Mistake than any solid Reality I will not question your ready Submission Oaths I confess are very strong Ties upon Men of Conscience and they are to be tenderly dealt with until that Prejudice be removed give me leave therefore with Sobriety and Meekness to enquire Whether that Oath be still in Force with the Obligation to it if not that Plea must vanish and disappear And here first let me remind you of the occasion of imposing the Oath of Allegiance it was injoyn'd to distinguish betwixt Church and Court Loyal and Disloyal Papists upon that horrid Gunpowder-Treason which hath left a Stain of Villany and Cruelty upon that Religion never to be wiped off Read over the Anatomy of that Oath made by K. Iames the First in his Book of the Defence of it And what is there in if that can stick upon any Protestant except that Clause of denying all Foreign Jurisdiction Prince or Potentate And this you seem'd to hint at when you said the
without Consent of Parliament By Committing and Prosecuting divers Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be Excused from concurring to the said assumed Power By issuing and causing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court called The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes By Levying Mony for and to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within this Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and Quartering Souldiers contrary to Law. By causing several Good Subjâ—cts being Protestants to be Disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Imployed contrary to Law. By violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings-Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years Partial Corrupt and Unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Freeholders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subjects And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and Cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the said late K. Iames the 2 d having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of Right to be sent to Parliament to Meet and Sit at Westminster upon the 22 d Day of Ianuary in this Year 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted Upon which Letters Elections having been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lord's Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now Assembled in a Full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious Consideration the best Means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Case have usually done for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties Declare That the pretending Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is Illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like Nature are Illegal and Pernicious That levying of Mony for or to the Use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted is Illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are Illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with Consent of Parliament is against Law. That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Condition and as allowed by Law. That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free. That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or Questioned in any Court or place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly empannell'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon Men in Trials for High-Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void And that for redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of His Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only Means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by Him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Surviver of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. I A. B. do swear That I do from my Heart Abhor
Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Io. Browne Cleric ' Parl. Die Veneris 15 Feb. 1688. His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the greatest proof of the Trust you have in Vs that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully Accept what you have Offered And as I had no other Intention in coming hither than to preserve your Religion Laws and Liberties so you may be sure That I shall endeavour to support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to advance the Welfare and Glory of the Nation Die Veneris 15 Februarii 1688. ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That His Majesties Gracious Answer to the Declaration of both Houses and the Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published And that his Majesties Gracious Answer this Day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be Enrolled in Parliament and Chancery Io. Browne Cleric ' Parliamentorum The Declaration of the Estates of Scotland concerning the Mis-government of King James the Seventh and filling up the Throne with King William and Queen Mary THat King Iames the 7 th had acted irregularly 1. By His Erecting publick Schools and Societies of the Jesuits and not only allowing Mass to be publickly said but also inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to Publick Mass-houses contrair to the express Laws against saying and hearing of Mass. 2. By allowing Popish Books to be Printed and Dispersed by a Gift to a Popish Printer designing him Printer to his Majesties Houshold College and Chappel contrair to the Laws 3. By taking the Children of Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen sending them abroad to be bred Papists making great Funds and Donations to Popish Schools and Colleges abroad bestowing Pensions on Priests and perverting Protestants from their Religion by Offers of Places Preferments and Pensions 4. By disarming Protestants while at the same time he employed Papists in the Places of greatest Trust Civil and Military such as Chancellour Secretaries Privy Councellors and Lords of Session thrusting out Protestants to make room for Papists and intrusting the Forts and Magazines of the Kingdom in their hands 5. By Imposing Oaths contrair to Law. 6. By giving Gifts and Grants for exacting of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention of Estates 7. By Levying and keeping on foot a Standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament which Army did exact Locality free and day Quarters 8. By Employing the Officers of the Army as Judges through the Kingdom and imposing them where there were held Offices and Jurisdictions by whom many of the Leiges were put to Death summarily without legal Tryal Jury or Record 9. By imposing exorbitant Fines to the Value of the Parties Estates exacting extravagant Bail and disposing Fines and Forfaulture before any Process or Conviction 10. By Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to put them to Tryal 11. By causing pursue and forfault several Persons upon stretches of old and obsolete Laws upon frivolous and weak pretences upon lame and defective Probations as particularly the late Earl of Argyle to the scandal and reproach of the Justice of the Nation 12. By Subverting the Right of the Royal Boroughs the Third Estate of Parliament imposing upon them not only Magistrates but also the whole Town Council and Clerks contrair to the Liberties and express Charters without the pretence outher of Sentence Surrender or Consent So that the Commissioners to Parliaments being chosen by the Magistrates and Councils the King might in effect alsweel nominate that entire Estate of Parliament many of the said Magigrates put in by him were avowed Papists and the Burghs were forced to pay Mony for the Letters imposing these illegal Magistrates and Council upon them 13. By sending Letters to the Chief Courts of Justice not only ordering the Judges to stop and desist sine die to determine Causes but also ordering and commanding them how to proceed in Cases depending before them contrair to the express Laws And by changing the Nature of the Judges Gifts ad vitam aut culpam and giving them Commissions ad bene placitam to dispose them to compliance by Arbitrair Courses and turning them out of their Offices when they did not comply 14. By granting Personal Protections for Civil Debts contrair to Law. All which are utterly and directly contrair to the known Laws Freedoms and Statutes of this Realm Therefore the Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland find and declare That King Iames the Seventh being a profest Papist did assume the Regal Power and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law and have by advice of Evil and Wicked Counsellors invaded the Fundamental Constitution of the Kingdom and altered it from a Legal limited Monarchy to an Arbitrair and Despotick Power and hath exercised the same to the subversion of the Protestant Religion and the violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom Inverting all the Ends of Government whereby he hath forfaulted the Right to the Crown and the Throne is become vacant And whereas his Royal Highness William then Prince of Orange now King of England whom it hath pleased the Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of delivering these Kingdoms from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of this Nation at London for the time call the Estates of this Kingdom to meet the Fourteenth of March last in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not be again in danger of being subverted And the said Estates being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation taking to their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid Do in the first place as their Ancestors in the like cases have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That by the Law of this Kingdom no Papist can be King or Queen of the Realm nor bear any Office whatsoever therein nor can any Protestant Successor exercise the Regal Power until he or she swear the Coronation Oath That all Proclamations asserting an Absolute Power to cass annul and disable Laws the erecting Schools and Colledges for Jesuits the inverting Protestant Chappels and Churches to publick Mass-houses and the â—llowing Mass to be said are contrair to Law. That the allowing Popish Books