some other Country § 7. And since his Majesty had sufficient reasons to withdraw these can be no pretence for an Abdication For we are to observe that to Abdicate an Office always supposes the Consent of him who Quits it That this is the signification of the Word Abdico appears from Tully Salust and Livie to which I shall only add the Learned Grotius De Jure Belli c. Libr. 1. Cap. 4. Sect. 9. Where he makes Abdicating the Government and plainly Giving it up to be Terms of the same importance § 8. And to prevent unreasonable Cavils he adds that a Neglect or Omission in the Administration of Government is by no means to be Interpretated a Renunciation of it We have but two Instances with us which looks like an Abdication since the Conquest which are in the Reign of Edward II. and Richard II. both which were unjustly Deposed by their Subjects However they did not renounce their Allegiance and declare the Throne void till they had a formal Resignation under the Hands of both those unfortunate Princes And hence it appears how unlucky our Enquirer is at citing the Laws For pag. 12. He tells us That since these Two Princes have been judged in Parliament for their Male Administration and since these Judgments have never been vacated by any subsequent Parliaments these Proceedings are part of our Law. From hence I observe § 9. 1. That our Author contradicts himself For here he owns that Male Administration is sufficient to warrant Deposition and Resistance But in his Enquiry into the Measures of Submission c. For both these Papers are generally supposed to come from the same Hand Pag. 5. Par. 14. He is much kinder to the Crown for there he asserts That it is not Lawful to resist the King upon any pretence of Ill Administration and that nothing less than subverting the Fundamentals of Government will justifie an Opposition Now I am much mistaken if Deposing of Kings is not Resisting them with a Witness But besides his self Contradiction the case is not to his purpose For § 10. 1. These Parliaments were called in Tumultuous times when the Subjects were so hardy as to put their Kings under Confinement Now if it is against the Constitution of Parliaments to Menace the Two Houses out of their Liberty of Voting freely then certainly Kings ought not to be overawed by Armies and Prisons These Parliaments therefore are very improper to make Precedents of § 11. 2. Those Princes were wrought upon so far as to resign their Crowns which each of them did though unwillingly Let this Enquirer produce such a Resignation from His Majesty and he says something § 12. 3. He is much mistaken in saying these Judgments as he calls them have not been vacated by subsequent Praliaments For all those subsequent Parliaments which declare it Unlawful to take up Arms against the King do by necessary implication condemn these Deposing Precedents for it 's impossible for Subjects to Depose their Princes without Resisting them § 13. 2. By Act of Parliament the First of Edw. 4. yet remaining at large upon the Parliament Rolls and for the greater part recited verbatim in the Pleadings in Baggett's Case in the Year Books Trin. Term. 9. Edw. 4. The Title of Edw. 4. by Descent and Inheritance and is set forth very particularly And that upon the Decease of Rich. 2. the Crown by Law Custom and Conscience Descended and Belonged to Edmund Earl of March under whom King Edw. 4. claimed § 14. It is likewise further declared That Hen. 4. against Law Conscience and Custom of the Realm of England Usurped upon the Crown and Lordship thereof and Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. occupied the said Realm by Unrighteous Intrusion and Vsurpation and no otherwise § 15. And in 39. Hen. 6. Rot. Parl. when Richard Plantagenet Duke of York laid claim to the Crown as belonging to him by right of Succession it was § 16. 1. Objected in behalf of Hen. 6. that Hen. 4. took the Crown upon him as next Heir in Blood to Hen. 3. not as Conqueror § 17. To this it was Answered That the pretence of Right as next Heir to Hen. 3. was false and only made use of as a Cloak to shadow the violent Usurpations of Hen. 4. § 18. 2. It was Objected against the Duke of York That the Crown was by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Hen. 4. and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Hen. 6. did Lineally Descend The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title To which the Duke of York replied That if Hen. 4. might have obtained and enjoyed the Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which takes no Place nor is of any Force or Effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with Gods Laws and all Natural Laws Which Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expressly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Cotton's Abridgment Fol. 665 666. § 19. From these Recognitions it plainly follows 1. That the Succession cannot be interrupted by an Act of Parliament especially when the Royal Assent is given by a King De Facto and not De Jure 2. The Act 9. of Edw. 4. by declaring the Crown to Descend upon Edmund Earl of March by the Decease of Rich. 2. does evidently imply that the said Richard was rightful King during his Life and consequently that his Deposition was Null and Unlawful If it 's demanded Why his Majesty did not leave Seals and Commissioners to supply his Absence This Question brings me to the Second Point viz. to shew That the leaving sufficient Representatives was impracticable at this Juncture For 1. When the Nation was so much embroiled and the King's Interest reduced to such an unfortunate Ebb It would have been very difficult if not impossible to have found Persons who would have undertaken such a dangerous Charge That Man must have had a Resolution of an extraordinary Size who would venture upon Representing a Prince who had been so much disrepected in his own Person whose Authority had been set aside and his Ambassador clapt up at Windsor when he carried not only an inoffensive but an obliging Letter But granting such a Representation had been ingaged in the Commissions must either have extended to the Calling of Parliaments or not if not they would neither have been Satisfactory nor absolutely necessary Not Satisfactory For the want of a Parliament was that which was accounted the great Grievance of the Nation as appears from the Prince of Orange's Declaration Where he says expresly That his Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible Declar. P. 12. § 21.
Collector of the Excise at Exeter and committed the Officer to Custody and that not one Person of Quality was yet come in to them This last was again confirm'd by another Express the next day The 13th an Account came from Cirencester That the Lord Lovelace going to the Prince with between 60 and 70 Horse was there seised by the Militia by Order of the Duke of Beaufort with about 13 of the Party one Major Lorege being slain in the Action together with his Son Captain Lee and Leiutenant Williams and six Common Soldiers wounded but notwithstanding this Resistance the Lord Lovelace was at last forced to yield and secured by the Duke of Beaufort and this was very acceptable News at Whitehall but the Joy was short and not well founded The 14th there came an Account from Salisbury That upon the 12th the Lord Cornbury pretending to have received Orders from his Majesty caused the Royal Regiment of Horse the Royal Regiment of Dragoons whereof he was Colonel and the Duke of St. Albans Regiment of Horse commanded by Colonel Langston to march from Salisbury to Dorchester where they refreshed themselves and then they went to Bridport and Axminster Several of the Officers thereupon apprehending some Design asked the Lord Cornbury as was said whither they were going Who answered To beat up the Enemies Quarters at Honiton But he finding the Royal Regiment of Horse and several Officers of the Dragoons did more and more suspect him he marched with those that would follow him towards Honiton Langston going before with the Regiment of St. Albans but the Royal Regiment of Horse and several of the Dragoons return'd to Bridport And the same day the Earl of Feversham came to Salisbury to Command the Forces in Chief The next day these Regiments return'd from Bridport to Salisbury and we were told there was not ten Troopers of the Royal Regiment wanting which sufficiently shews how firm they were in their Fidelity to his Majesty But notwithstanding this Flourish this News caused a great Consternation at Whitehall The 16th there was published a Proclamation to prohibit the keeping of Exeter Fair and other Fairs thereabouts because many on that Pretence went over to the Prince of Orange The same day the Reverend Dr. Lamplu then Bishop of Exeter was Translated to the Archbishoprick of York and Dr. Trelawny from the See of Bristol to that of Exeter And his Majesty also ordered a Publick Collection to be made thorow the City of London the Liberties and Suburbs thereof for the Relief of the poor and distressed Inhabitants of the City who were by the Distractions of the Times and the Interruption of Trade reduced to great Want and Misery The 17th of November the Archbishop of Canterbury the Archbishop of York Elect the Bishop of Ely and the Bishop of Rochester presented this Petition to the King. May it please Your Majesty WE Your Majesties 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 Majesties Sacred Person is thereby like to be exposed as 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 a Parliament Regular and Free in all its Circumstances We therefore 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 Majesties Honour and Safety and to the quieting of the Minds of Your People We do likewise 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 W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon Burlingten Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph F. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg T. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston It was said there was a sharp Answer given to this excellent Petition which was the Sense of all the King's Friends in the Nation except a few desparate Men whose Crimes had rendred them uncapable of the Mercy of a Parliament and some others who designed the Ruine of the English Liberties and Religion with the utmost hazard of the King and Kingdom The same day in the Afternoon the King left the City and with his Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark went to Windsor and the next Morning he went to Salisbury appointing in his absence the Privy-Council to meet for the Dispatch of all Affairs as occasion should require The 19th of November the Lords for their own Vindication published the Petition afore-represented and the next day the King's Answer to it was printed also which was this His Majesties 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 whilst an Enemy is in the Kingdom and can make a Return of near an hundred Voices This was sufficiently disobliging considering the State of Affairs and the Temper of the Nation at that time but the Jesuits were so enraged at the printing the Petition that they published a Paper with this Title Some Reflections upon the Humble Petition to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal who subscribed the same presented November 17th 1688. which follows in these words THat the Peace-makers are blessed is a Truth our Saviour hath left recorded in the holy Scriptures and those are truly to be honoured who can contribute any thing to so happy a work But that either this way of Petitioning or the matter in it desired is likely to produce so great a Blessing is a Question worthy thy serious Consideration I shall first therefore take notice of some of the dubious Expressions in the Petition and then lay down some few Reasons why I judge the Petition in it self unseasonable and lastly endeavour to shew how unpracticable the summoning of a Parliament is at this present The Expression That a War is now breaking forth in the Bowels of the Kingdom shews that their Lordships either know or foresee that a Civil War is fomenting and I pray God this Petition do not more than any thing else occasion it or that the Prince of Orange intends to carry on the War through the Bowels of the Kingdom whereas those that wish well to the King hope it will be
those whose Right it is to chuse Members of Parliament should be under any Prejudices and Mistakes thro' the Artifices of disaffected Persons We think fit to declare That it is Our Royal Purpose to endeavour a legal Establishment of an Universal Liberty of Conscience for all Our Subjects it is also our Resolution inviolably to preserve the Church of England by such a Confirmation of the several Acts of Uniformity that they shall never be altered by any other ways than by repealing the several Clauses which inflict Penalties upon Persons not promoted or to be promoted to any Ecclesiastical Benefices or Promotions within the meaning of the said Acts for using and exercising their Religion contrary to the Tenor and Purport of the said Acts of Uniformity And for the further securing not only the Church of England but the Protestant Religion in general We are willing the Roman Catholicks shall remain incapable to be Members of the House of Commons whereby those Fears and Apprehensions will be removed which many persons have had That the Legislative Authority would be engrossed by them and turn'd against Protestants We do likewise assure all our loving Subjects that We shall be ready to do every thing else for their safety and advantage that becomes a King who will always take care of his People and if they desire the happiness of their Country We exhort them to lay by all Animosities and dispose themselves to think of such Persons to represent them in Parliament whose Abilities and Temper render them fit for so great and good a Work. And for the preventing any Disorders Irregularities or undue Proceedings whatsoever that may happen either before or at the time of Election of Members for the insuing Parliament We do hereby strictly require and command all Mayors Sheriffs Bailiffs and other Officers whatsoever to whom the execution of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for or concerning the choice of Members for the ensuing Parliament shall belong That they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed according to the Tenor thereof And the Members that shall be chosen to be fairly return'd according to the Merits of the Choice The Nation was by this time become so distrustful of all the Proceedings of the Court that this Declaration was thought absolutely necessary to assure them a Parliament should be holden and yet after all it was little believed The Preparations in Holland had made it necessary to wheedle the Church of England-men and therefore they were told only the Penalties of the Acts of Uniformity should be repeal'd that an Universal Liberty of Conscience might be established And the Roman Catholicks not being likely to be chosen for Members of the lower House in this Parliament they were contented to continue uncapable of being chosen in there intimating they intended however to sit in the House of Lords The 26th of September there was an Order made to authorize and empower the Lords Lieutenants many of which were Roman Catholicks or unqualified persons of the several Counties to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from being Deputy-Lieutenants and his Majesty also gave directions to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of England to put into the Commission of the Peace such Gentlemen as had been lately laid aside and shall be recommended by the said Lords-Lieutenants In the Interim certain Intelligence being brought that the Preparations in Holland were designed against England The 24th of September were summoned the Bishop of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester and Bristol and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 28th of Septemb. they appeared at Whitehall and there waited accordingly that day upon the King in a Body Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough but London and Bristol came not then to Town and the Archbishop was sick and came alone the next day There passed nothing then but general Expressions of his Favour and Promises of Duty on the Bishops part Whereupon they all desired the Archbishop to beg a second-Admission which was appointed on Tuesday the 2d of October but was put off till the next day The 28th of September his Majesty put out this following Declaration WE have received undoubted Advice That a great and sudden invasion from Holland with an armed Force of Foreigners and Strangers will speedily be made in an hostile manner upon this Our Kingdom and altho' some false Pretences relating to Liberty Property and Religion contrived or worded with Art and Subtilty may be given out as shall be thought useful upon such an Attempt it is manifest however considering the great Preparations that are making that no less matter by this Invasion is propos'd than an absolute Conquest of these Our Kingdoms and the utter subduing and subjecting Us and all Our People to a foreign Power which is promoted as We understand altho' it may seem almost incredible by some of Our Subjects being persons of wicked and restless Spirits implacable Malice and desperate Designs who having no sense of former intestine Distractions the Memory and Misery whereof should endear and put a value upon that Peace and Happiness which hath long been enjoyed nor being moved by Our reiterated Acts of Grace and Mercy wherein we have studied and delighted to abound towards all Our Subjects and even towards those who were once avowed and open Enemies and who do again endeavour to imbroil this Kingdom in Blood and Ruine to gratifie their own Ambition and Malice proposing to themselves a Prey and Booty in such a publick Confusion We cannot omit to make it known that altho' We had notice some time since that a foreign force was preparing against Us yet We have always declined any foreign Succours but rather have chosen next under God to rely upon the true and ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of our own People with whom we have often ventur'd Our life for the honour of this Nation and in whose defence against all Enemies We are firmly resolved to live and die And therefore We solemnly conjure Our Subjects to lay aside all manner of Animosities Jealousies and Prejudices and heartily and chearfully to unite together in the defence of Us and their native Country which thing alone will under God defeat and frustrate the principal Hope and Design of Our Enemies who expect to find Our People divided and by publishing perhaps some plausible Reasons of their coming hither as the specious tho' false pretences of maintaining the Protestant Religion or asserting the Liberties and Properties of Our People do hope thereby to conquer this great and renowned Kingdom But albeit the design hath been carried on with all imaginable Secresie and Endeavour to surprize and deceive Us We have not been wanting on our part to make such Provisions as did become Us and by Gods Blessing We make no doubt of being found in so good a Posture that Our Enemies may have cause to repent such their
suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and tho' my dutiful Behaviour to your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much overpay'd may not be sufficient to incline you to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions yet I hope the great advantage I enjoy under your Majesty which I can never expect in any other change of Government may reasonably convince your Majesty and the World that I am acted by an higher Principle when I offer that Violence to my Inclination and Interest as to desert your Majesty at a time when your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all your Subjects much more from one who lies under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to your Majesty This Sir could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my Conscience and a necessary Concern for my Religion which no good man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in competition Heaven knows with what Partiality my dutiful Opinion of your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs which inconsiderate and self-interested men have framed against your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer join with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so I will alwaies with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much your Majesty's due endeavour to preserve your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes SIR Your Majesty's Most dutiful and most obliged Subject and Servant The going off of these Great Men struck the King himself with Terror and Affliction and the Army which was before in very much disorder became thereby so full of Fear and Suspicion that a false Alarm being made by design or accident on Sunday the 25th of November the King and the whole Army left Salisbury the Army retreating to Reading and the King to Andover and on Monday the 26th of November returned in the Evening to London The Princess Ann of Denmark his second Daughter was gone privately the night before from Whitehall with the Lady Churchil and if she had not left a Letter too behind her which shew'd the reason of her retiring in all probability all the Popish Party about Whitehall had been cut in pieces by the King 's own Guards upon a surmise they had made away this beloved Princess So that they were forced to print her Letter to the Queen to secure them selves from Violence The first thing the King did after his return to London was to remove Sir Edward Hales from being Lieutenant of the Tower and to put Sir Bevil Skelton a Protestant in his place Sir Edward had angered the whole City to the utmost by planting several Mortar pieces on the Walls towards the City which tho' designed only to awe it had enraged more than frighted them So that His Majesty saw he was not safe at Whitehall as long as Sir Edward was Master of the Tower. The 28th day His Majesty ordered in a Privy-Council the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament at Westminster the 15th day of January following But it was now too late and the Nation was in that Ferment that it was not much regarded what the Court did or said The 30th day of November the King to appease the Minds of the People issued out this Proclamation WEE have thought fit as the best and most proper means to Establish a lasting Peace in this our Kingdom to call a Parliament and have therefore ordered our Chancellor to cause Writs to be issued forth for summoning a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the Fifteenth day of January next ensuing the Date of this our Royal Proclamation And that nothing may be wanting on our part towards the Freedom of Elections as we have already restored all Cities Towns Corporate and Burroughs throughout our Kingdom to their ancient Charters Rights and Priviledges so we command and require all Persons whatsoever that they presume not by Menace or any other undue means to influence Elections or procure the Vote of any Elector And we do also strictly require and command all Sheriffs Mayors Bailiffs and other Officers to whom the Execution or Return of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for Members to the ensuing Parliament shall belong that they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed and Returns thereupon fairly made according to the true merits of such Elections And for the Security of all Persons both in their Elections and Service in Parliament we do hereby publish and declare That all our Subjects shall have free Liberty to elect and all our Peers and such as shall be elected Members of our House of Commons shall have free Liberty and Freedom to serve and sit in Parliament notwithstanding they have taken Arms or committed any act of Hostility or been any way aiding or assisting therein And for the better assurance hereof We have graciously directed a general Pardon to our Subjects to be forthwith prepared to pass our Great Seal And for the reconciling all publick Breaches and obliterating the very Memory of all past Miscarriages We do hereby exhort and kindly admonish all our Subjects to dispose themselves to elect such persons for their Representatives in Parliament as may not be byassed by Prejudice or Passion but qualify'd with Parts Experience and Prudence proper for this Conjuncture and agreeable to the ends and purposes of this our Gracious Proclamation month December The Account of this Resolution going to the Fleot all the Officers and the Admirals drew up this Address To the KING' 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of George Lord Dartmouth Admiral of your Majesty's Fleet for the present Expedition and the Commanders of your Majesty's Ships of War now actually at the Spithead in your Majesty's Service under his Lordship's Command Most Dread Soveraign THE deep Sense we have had of the great Dangers your Majesty's Sacred Person has been in and the great effusion of Christian Blood that threatned this your Majesty's Kingdoms and in all probability would have been shed unless God of His infinite Mercy had put it into your Majesty's Heart to call a Parliament the only means in our Opinions under the Almighty left to quiet the Minds of your People we do give your Majesty our most humble and hearty Thanks for your gracious Condescension beseeching Almighty God to give your Majesty all imaginable Happiness and Prosperity and to grant that such Counsels and Resolutions may be promoted as conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and tend to the Peace and Settlement of this Realm both in Church and State according to the established Laws of the Kingdom On board the Resolution at Spithead Decemb. 1. 1688. Signed Dartmouth Berkley Ro. Strickland And under them by 38. other Commanders In the week following the pretended Prince of Wales
the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempts upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his Most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajolled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt and destroyed by Treachery and Cowardize Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head Quarters at Sherburn Castle the Twenty eight of November 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By his Highness's special Command C. HUYGENS. This was the boldest Attempt that ever was made by a private Person for it is certain the Prince knew nothing of this Declaration and disowned it so soon as he heard of it but yet it was printed in London and a quantity of them were sent in a Penny-Post Letter to the Lord Mayor of London who forthwith carried them to the King to Whitehall and it is thought this sham Paper contributed very much to the fixing and hastning his Resolution of leaving the Nation however there was no enquiry made after the Author or Printer of it that I could take notice of On Sunday the Ninth of December it is said Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from Whitehall and the next Morning about three or four of the Clock the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches each of six Horses and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Gravesend where they imbarked on a Yatch for France And it is supposed she carried the Great Seal of England with her it having never appeared after this Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THe King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or at any time have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if his Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade