to say to your Face And may I e're find Credit with your Majesty and Protection from Heaven as what I now do is free from Passion Vanity or Design with which Actions of this Nature are too often accompanied I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by Factious Pretences of Religion but were not Religion the most justifiable Cause it would not be made the most specious Pretence And your Majesty has always shewn too uninterested a Sence of Religion to doubt the just Effects of it in one whose Practices have I hope never given the World cause to censure his real Conviction of it or his backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to how then can I longer disguise my just concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily Educated which my Judgment throughly convinces me to be the best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested in my Native Countrey and is not England now by the most endearing Tye become so Whilest the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the REFORMED RELIGION back'd by the Cruel Zeal of France justly Alarm and Unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and engage them in so vast an Expence for the Support of it can I Act so Degenerous and mean a part as to deny my Concurrence to such worthy Endeavours for disabusing of your Majesty by the Re-inforcement of those Laws and Establishment of that Government on which alone depends the Well-being of your Majesty and of the PROTESTANT RELIGION in Europe This Sir is that irresistible and only Cause that could come in Competition with my Duty and Obligations with your Majesty and be able to tear me from you whilst the same Affectionate Desire of serving you continues in me Could I secure your Person by the Hazard of my Life I should think it could not be better employed And wou'd to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Complyance from your Majesty in all their justifiable Pretentions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and as strongly unite the Hearts of all your Subjects to you as is that of Sir Your Majesties most Humble and most Obedient Son and Servant The Lord Churchil's Leâ—ter ran thus Sir Men are seldom 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 over paid may not be sufficient so 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 a 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 Thiâ— Sir could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my CONSCIENCE and necessary concern for my RELIGION which no good Man can oppose and wiâ—h 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 Majesties true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer joyn with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so will I always with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much Your Majesties due endeavour to preserve Your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes Sir Your Majesties most dutiful and most obliged Subject and Servant The Princess Ann of Denmark likewise directed the following Letter to the Queen upon her withdrawing Madam I beg your Pardon if I am so deeply affected with the surprizing News of the Princes being gone as not to be able to see You but to leave this Paper to Express my humble Duty to the King and your Self and to let You know that I am gone to Absent my self to avoid the Kings Displeasure which I am not able to bear either against the Prince or my Self And I shall stay at so great a distance as not to return before I hear the Happy News of a Reconcilement And as I am Confident the Prince did not leave the KING with any other design than to use all possible means for his Preservation so I hope You will do me the Justice to believe that I am uncapable of following him for any other End Never was any one in such an unhappy Condition so divided between Duty and Affect on to a Father and a Husband and therefore I know not what to do but to follow one to preserve the other I see the general falling off of the the Nobility and Gentry who avow to have no other end than to prevail with the King to secure their Religion which they saw in so much danger by the Violent Counsels of the Priests who to promote their own Religion did not care to what dangers they exposed the King I am fully perswaded that the Prince of Orange designs the King's Safety and Preservation and hope all things may be Compâ—sâ—d without more Bloodshed by the Calling a Parliament God grant a Happy end to these Troubles that the King's Reign may be prosperous and that I may shortly meet You in perfect Peace and Safety till when let me beg You to continue the same favourable Opinion that You have hitherto had of Your most Obedient Daughter and Servant Ann. The King now issued out a Proclamation of Pardon to all his Subjects that had taken up Arms under the Prince if they returned in twenty days but very few or none came back and about the same time a Party of the Princes Men being abroad and advancing beyond their Strength were pursued and charged by Collonel Sarsfield with seventy horse and thirty Dragoons and Granadiers who overtaking them at Wincanton they posted themselves behind the Hedges Whereupon the Kings Party dismounted and marched up to them and they began to Fire â—riskly several being killed and wounded But â—olonel Sarsfield getting into the Field with his Horse and Charging them in the Reer they were most of them killed or taken Prisoners Lieutenant Cambel who commanded them being slain and of the Kings Party four were killed and Cornet Web mortally wounded This slender success was soon damped by an Address from the Fleet for a Free Parliament which now began to grow Cold in his Service and the continual Desertions of his Army So that the King not thinking it Convenient to hazard a Battel with them upon the approach of the Princes Forces with
Interest and thereby forcing the Dutch to comply with that King almost upon his own Terms and therefore to divert the humour King Charles pretended to be in earnest for engaging in a War against France which for some time hinder'd the Ratification of the Treaty and English Forces were daily transported into Flanders as if the War were really to have been carried on which encouraged those that were against the Peace in Holland and occasioned the Spaniards to use their utmost endeavours to prevent the concluding it But the French King being unwilling to lose the great Advantages he had obtained by this Treaty resolved to remove all difficulties and satisfie the States in their demands Yea he dispatched Ambassadors to the Hague with full Authority to remit all the differences about the Treaty with Spain and himself to their Determination which raised in the States such a good Opinion of the sincerity of that Kings proceedings that they quickly adjusted all matters in contest between the two Crowns so that the Treaty was signed September 20. 1678. The other Confederates as the Emperor the King of Denmark the Duke of Brandenburg c. were very much inraged that they were left to treat singly with their potent Enemy who demanded very severe Conditions from them so that the Ratification of the Treaty with Spain being hereby delayed the French King to quicken it sent Marshal de Humieres with a great Army into Fianders plundering and burning all before them and putting these Countries under Contribution with so much fury and insolence that the common people complained heavily of the Calamities and Miseries which they undeservedly suffered by the flowness of the Spanish Conncils so that at length both the Spaniard and Emperor were obliged to comply with the offers of France who else threatned in a few days to make the Terms much higher The other Princes though they very much resented this sudden Conclusion of a Peace at such disadvantage yet knowing their own inability were forced to be contented to make a separate Peace for themselves The King of England observing that he could not hinder it sent his Plenipotentiaries again to Nimegen to sign the General Treaty but in the interval some new pretences arising between the Spaniards and French the States General were very diligent to compose them the Transactions being seldom managed by them but in the presence of His Highness the Prince of Orange whose prudence was still consulted in matters of gre atest difficulty he himself discovering an extraordinary Generosity that while others preferr'd Points of Honour before the publick Peace His Highness quitted his own Interest in post-poning his demands for Reparation of the devastations in his own Estates and Territories so as not to impede the Tranquillity of his Countrey many of his Lands being ruined and destroyed in the Spanish Netherlands and other adjacent parts Of which and several other injustices in seizing upon His large possessions in other places though the Provinces of Guelderland Zealand and Utrecht made loud complaints against the French in his Highness behalf yet could the Prince obtain no satisfaction But the States and their Subjects being quite tired out out with the War the General Peace was signed in January 1678. And the English Mediators were called home by that King who was fully imployed at home about the matter of the Popish Plot which both Houses of Parliament and the generality of the Nation believed to be real though the King and some of the Court credited no more of it than what themselves were concerned in and the Prince of Orange at that time told a publick Minister That He had reason to be confident that the King was a Roman Catholick though he durst not profess it Thus Europe for the present was left in a General Peace though the French King soon after made such shameful pretences to the Dependancies upon his late Conquests both in Flandets and Germany that he gained more after the Peace than by his Arms in the War no Prince nor State being either willing or able to oppose him therein These disputes began in 1681 and continued some years at which time that King likewise began to raise a violent Persecution against his own Protestant Subjects proceeding from the Perfidiousness and ingratitude peculiar to Lewis the XIV For it is well known that for the signal Services which they performed to Henry IV. His Grand-Father in asserting the Rights of the Crown against the Papists who were then in rebellion against him that great Prince in acknowledgment thereof confirmed to them an Edict for the free exercise of their Religion which was called the Edict of Nants whereby they were to enjoy all Liberties and Priviledges both in Religious and Civil matters and to be as capable of all Offices and Imployments as his other Subjects This he declared should be inviolable and it was accordingly confirmed both by his Son Lewis XIII and likewise by the present King upon a very remarkable occasion For he being very Young when he ascended the Throne the Prince of Conde soon after raised a Civil War in the Kingdom against him but the Protestants by their unshaken Loyalty to him defeated the designs of his enemies and setled that Crown upon His Head which he wears this day of which eminent Service he seemed to be so sensible that in 1652. he made a publick Declaration of it at St. Germans and every one endeavoured to exceed in proclaiming the merits of the Protestants the Queen Mother her self acknowledging that they had preserved the State But since by the Maxims of the Roman Religion No Faith is to be kept with Hereticks the Jesuits and Ministers of State endeavoured to instil into the Kings mind this Treacherous Notion That since the Protestants were so potent to advance the King they might likewise upon another occasion remove him again from this infernal reasoning without their having given the least umbrage or suspition of disloyalty it was resolved they must be supprest and ruined Therefore so soon as the Kingdom was setled in Peace the Protestant Towns of Rochel Montauban c. Which had shewed the greatest Zeal for the Kings service were plundred by the Souldiers and otherwise impoverisht Then their Churches and Exercises of Religion were prohibited them under false pretences that they exceeded the Grants allowed them Yea in matters of Law Religion was urg'd by the Advocates at the instigation of the Priests so that they cryed out I plead against a Heretick an enemy to the State and to the Kings Religion whom he would have to be destroyed So that the Judge durst not do them justice for fear of being counted a Favourer of Hereticks and upon complaint they were told You have your remedy in your own hands why do not you turn Catholicks This was succeeded by Processes throughout the Kingdom to inquire what the Protestants had said or done for twenty years past about Religion or other matters and there being no
and against the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and the Follows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford this year were such evident breaches of his Indulgence to Tender Consciences that it gave still greater dissatisfaction to the Nation and portended some sudden alteration The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge being deprived of his Office and suspended of his Headship or refusing to admit one Alban Francis a Benedictine Monk to be Master of Arts without taking the Oaths by virtue of the Dispensing power though contrary to the Statutes which he was sworn to maintain And the fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford being 26 in number for refusing to admit one Farmer a scandalous Popish Priest to the Presidentship of that Colledge and Electing Dr. Hough were pronourced guilty of disobedience to his Majesties Commands and deprived and expelled from their respective Fellowships And the Bishops judging that their distributing the Declaration would be an owning and asserting the Kings assumed Dispensing Power and foreseeing the pernicious consequences thereof the Archbishop of Canterbury and six others drew up a Petition in behalf of themselves and their Brethren setting forth the Reasons why they could not comply therewith This was so ill resented by the King and his Popish Councellors that the Petition was judged Tumultuary and all the seven Bishops were committed Prisoners to the Tower And now the Jesnits acted their Master piece of Policy as they imagined though it proved very fural to them For knowing that the King grew old and that on his life the hopes of Restoring their Religion depended since the Heir Apparent was a Protestant who would soon ruin all their Machinations They resolved if possible to advance a Popish Successor and thereby ensure Popery and Slavery to the Nation Hereupon they raised a report sometime before that the Queen was with Child though the People did not believe it and several Lampoons were made upon that Subject And the Bishops being now secured this was thought the proper time for the Queen to fall in Labour and accordingly June 10. 1683. It was published that she was Delivered of a Frince for which the King ordered all signs of rejoicing to be made and a day of Thanksgiving was appointed as being a thing of mighty consequence for advancing the Catholick Cause though the joy was somewhat abated by the Acquittal of the seven Bishops five days after who being Tried at the Kings Bench Bar were brought in Not Guilty at which the People yea the Kings own Army at Hounslow Heath shouted for joy to the severe mortification of the Court. The King having declared that he intended to call a Parliament to turn his Declaration of Liberty of Conscience into a Law and likewise to abrogate all the Penal Laws and Tests both against the Dissenters and the Roman Catholicks the Jesuits had a great desire to sound the intentions and thoughts of their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange upon that Subject To which purpose Mr. James Steward undertook to write a Letter to Pensionary Fagell not without the knowledge and approbation of the King which occasioned Minheer Fagels answer to this effect That Their Highnesses had often declared as they did more particularly to the Marquess Albeville His Majesties Envoy Extraordinary to the States That it is their Opinion that no Christian ought to be persecuted for his Conscience or be ill used because he dissers from the Publick and Established Religion and therefore they could be content that even the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland might be suffered to continue to their Religion with as much Liberty as is allowed the by the States of the United Provinces And as for the Protestant Dissenters Their Highnesses did not only consent but heartily approve of their having an Intire Liberty for the full exercise of their Religion without any trouble or hindrance That Their Highnesses were ready in case His Majesty of England should desire it to declare their willingness to concur in the setling and confirming this Liberty as far as it lay in them and were ready if desired to concur in Repealing the Laws provided always that those Laws remain still in their full force and vigor whereby the Roman Catholicks are excluded out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all publick Imployments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military as likewise all those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secure it against all the attempts of the Roman Catholicks But that Their Highnesses could not agree to the Repealing of the Tests or those Penal Laws that tend to the security of the Protestant Religion since the Roman Catholicks receive no other prejudice from these than the being excluded from Parliaments or from Publick Imployments and that by them the Protestant Religion is covered from all the designs of the Roman Catholicks against it or against the publick safety and neither the Tests nor those other Laws can be said to carry in them any severity against the Roman Catholicks upon account of their Consciences they being only Provisions Qualifying men to be Members of Parliament or to be capable of bearing Offices by which they must declare before God and Men that they are for the Protestant Religion so that all this amounts to no more than a securing the Protestant Religion from any prejudice that it may receive from the Roman Catholicks That Their Highnesses have thought and do still think that more than this ought not be asked nor expected from them since by this means the Roman Catholicks and their Posterity would be for ever secured from all Troubles in their Persons and Estates or in the Exercise of their Religion and that the Roman Catholicks ought to be satisfied with this and not to disquiet the Kingdom because they cannot be admitted to sit in Parliament or to be in imployment or because those Laws wherein the security of the Protestant Religion chiefly consists are not repealed by which they may be in a condition to overturn it That their Highnesses also believed that the Dissenters would be for ever satisfied when they should be for ever covered from all danger of being disturbed or punished for the free Exercise of their Religion upon any pretence whatsoever This was the substance of the Letter written by that Great Minister of State as discovering the just sentiments of Their Highnesses which did no ways please the Papists who had high expectations of carrying all before them and therefore Mr. Steward in his second Letter to the Pensioner a while after says That the Court was quite beyond it and had taken other measures And what they were soon after appeared namely to defeat their Royal Highnesses of their just Interest and Right to the Succession of the Crown by pretending that the Queen was delivered of a Prince of Wales But the Nobility and Gentry of England beholding the deplorable State of the Nation and foreseeing the subversion of their Ancient Laws and Established Religion to be designed by him who
sides the Irish Dragoons bearing the Brunt of the Encounter and though the Scotch Horse in small Detached Bodies made some Fire yet they were over-poured driven out of Town and obliged to Retreat to Twyford-Bridge and at length many of the Kings Party Deserted and the rest were Constrained to quit the Pass and make the best of their Retreat there being about thirty killed and several wounded in this Skirmish Upon this ill Success and the King having no Considerable Forces left the Day before his going away he sent a Letter to his General the Earl of Feversham to this Effect That things being come to that Extremity that he had been forced to send away the Queen and his Son the Prince of Wales lest they should fall into his Enemies Hands He was resolved to secure himself the best he could that if he could have relyed on all his Troops he was resolved to have had at least one Blow for it But that his Lordship knew that both his Lordship and several of the General Officers of the Army had told him that it was not safe to venture himself at the Head of his Troops or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them and therefore it only remained for him to thank those Officers and Souldiers that had been truly Loyal to him not expecting they sheuld farther expose themselves in resisting a Foreign Enemy and a Poysoned Nation In pursuance of this Letter the Earl of Feversham sent another to his Highness the Prince of Orange to let him understand That he had received a Letter from the King with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England and he was actually gone with Orders to make no Opposition against any Body which he thought Convenient to let his Highness know so soon as it was possible to hinder the effusion of Blood having already given Order to that purpose to all the Troops under his Command which would be the last Order they should receive from him c. The Kings Departure being publickly known the Multitude got together in divers places as is usual in such Disturbances and Dissolutions of Government Spoiling and Demolishing the new erected Mass-Houses and Chappels pulling down Burning and Destroying all before them they pluckt down the New Convent for Monks at St. John's which had been two years in Building at vast Expence and burnt the greatest part of the Timber and Materials in Smithfield having before Seized upon the Goods as they were Removing and burnt them in Holborn they likewise Defaced the Chappels in Limestreet and Lincolns Inn Fields with that of the Spanish Ambassadors at Wild-House where some common Thieves mixing with the more harmless Boys they got great store of Plunder in Plate Money and Rich Goods They likewise committed Violences at the Lodgings of the Resident of the Duke of Florence and much Defaced the Dwelling-Houses of several Eminent Papists who were fled for fear of being Secured and though the Magistrates Laboured to quiet these Tumults and Disorders Yet they found their Authority too weak till the Mobile had in some measure vented their Rage they being grown so Numerous that neither the Watches nor Trained Bands thought it safe to oppose their Fury Therefore for Redress of these Mischiefs the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then in Town Repaired to Guild-Hall and sending for Colonel Skelton then Lieutenant of the Tower Demanded the Keys which being by him readily Resigned they committed the Charge of that Important Place to the Lord Lucas a Person of known Honour and Integrity to his Country Nor were they less Active in Suppressing those Lawless Rioters So that in a short time they were all Dispersed and Quelled and some of the Principal committed to Prison and then taking into Consideration the Great and Dangerous Conjuncture of the Time in regard of the Kings having withdrawn himself they drew up a Declaration to this Effect That they did Reasonably hope that the King having Issued out his Proclamation and Writs for Calling a Free Parliament they might have rested securely under the Expectation of that Meeting but that the King having withdrawn himself as they apprehended in Order to his Departure out of the Kingdom by the Pernicious Councils of Persons ill Affected to the Nation they cannot without being wanting to their Duty be silent under the Calamities wherein the Popish Councils which have so long prevailed had miserably involved them and therefore unanimously resolved to apply themselves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard to his own Person had undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to Rescue them with as little Effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the Imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery Declaring further that they would with their utmost Endeavours Assist his Highness in the Obtaining of such a Parliament with all Speed wherein their Laws Liberties and Properties might be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in General the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World might be Supported and Encouraged to the Glory of God the Happiness of the Established Government and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be therein Concerned This was Signed by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury 22 Temporal Lords and 5 Bishops and the Earl of Pembroke Lord Weymouth Lord Bishop of Ely and the Dord Culpeper were Ordered to Attend his Highness with the said Declaration at Henley upon Thames the same Day the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council Assembled in the same place and Drew up an Humble Address to be Presented to his Highness in their Names on the behalf of the City of like Effect with the Declaration four Aldermen being appointed to Wait upon the Prince therewith and the Lieutenancy of London meeting that Day also Drew up an Address to his Highness on the behalf of themselves and the rest of the Militia to the like purpose which were accordingly Presented to the Prince and very favourably Received Imploring his Highness Protection and beseeching him to Repair to the City where he would be received with Universal Satisfaction The next day the Tumults being somewhat allayed search was made in divers places for such as were fled from Justice and among others to the great Rejoicing of the People the Lord Chancellor Jeffery's was taken in an obscure House at Wapping Disguised like a Saylor and endeavouring to make his Escape in a Vessel that lay there for Hamburg who being brought before the Lord Mayor with a Numerous and inraged Guard of Attendants his Lordship was suddenly Seized with such a frightful Indisposition that he was incapable of examining the Matter So that the Chancellor was carryed to the Tower by his own Consent to preserve himself from the Fury of the Rabble Dec. 14. His Highness by easy Marches came to Windsor where
willing to assist them in every thing that concerns the Well 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 tendered to Their Majesties which the Earl of Argile 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 Authorise 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 theâ— both their Majesties Signed the said Coronation Oath After which the Commissioners and several of the Scotch Nobility Kissed their Majesties Hands The Parliament in England proceeded to enact many Laws for the ease of the People and Security of the Kingdom One for taking away the Revenue arising from the Hearth-Money by his Majesties own desire who willingly resigned up his Right therein because it was found grievous to the People though it occasioned a great Diminution to the Revenue of the Crown another Act was passed for exempting their Majesties Protestant Subjects Dissenting from the Church of England from the Penaltier of certain Laws another for Abrogating the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and appointing other Oaths another for Prohibiting all Trade and Commerce with France with divers more and about the same time the House of Commons presented His Majesty the following Address We your Majesties most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled most Humbly lay before your Majesty our earnest Desires that your Majesty would be pleased to take into your most Serious Consideration the Destructive Methods taken of late years by the French King against the Trade Quiet and Interest of your Kingdom and particularly the present Invasion of your Kingdom of Ireland and Supporting your Majesty Rebellious Subjects and we not doubting in the least but through your Majesties Wisdom the Alliances already made as well as those that may be hereafter concluded on this occasion by your Majesty may be effectual to Reduce the French King to such a Condition that it may not be in his Power hereafter to violate the Peace of Christendom nor prejudice the Trade and Prosperity of this your Majesties Kingdom To this end we most humbly beseech your Majesty to rest assured upon this our Hearty and Solemn Promise and Ingagement That when your Majesty shall think fit to enter into a War with the French King we will give your Majesty such Assistance in a Parliamentary way as may enable your Majesty under the Protection and Blessing that Almighty God has ever afforded you to support and go through with the same To this Request and Resolution of the House of Commons which was so graceful to the Nation in general his Majesty was pleased to return this Answer Gentlemen I receive this Address as a Mark of the Confidence you have in me which I take very kindly and shall endeavour by all my Actions to Confirm you in it I assure you that my own Ambition shall never be an Argument to incline me to ingage in a War that may expose the Nation either to Danger or Expence but in the present Case I look upon the War so much already declared in effect by France against England that it is not so much an Act of Choice as an inevitable necessity in our own Defence I shall only tell you that as I have ventured my Life and all that is Dear to me to rescue the Nation from what it suffered so I am ready still to do the same in order to the preserving it from all its Enemies and as I doubt not of such an Assistance from you as shall be Suitable to your Advice to me to Declare War against a powerful Enemy so you may Rely upon me that no part of that which you shall give for the carrying it on with Success shall by me be Diverted to any other use Soon after a Declaration of War was published against France and the Reasons thereof Namely The unjust Methods of the French King these late years to gratifie his Ambition by Invading the Territories of the Empire now in Amity with us and in manifest Violation of the Treaties Confirmed by the Guaranty of the Crown of England His Majesty therefore can do no less than joyn with his Allies in Opposing that Kings Designs as the Disturber of the Peace and the Common Enemy of the Christian World Likewise the many Injuries done to his Majesty and his Subjects are a sufficient Justification for their taking Arms since they have called upon his Majesty so to do and though no notice has been taken nor Reparation demanded of late years for Reasons well known to the World yet his Majesty will not pass them over without a publick and just Resentment of such Outrages Also the Incroachments and Invasions of the French on our Trade and Fishing of Newfound Land and their Hostilities upon the Charibbee Islands New York and Hudsons-Bay Seizing the Forts burning the Houses Robbing the English of their Goods imprisoning some inhumanly killing others and driving the rest to Sea in a small Vessel without Food or Necessaries and this even at a time when that King was Negotiating a Treaty in England of Neutrality and good Correspondence in America also his Countenancing the Seizure of English Ships by French Privateers His Disputing the Right of the Flag in the Narrow Seas which in all Ages has been asserted by his Majesties Predecessors and which he is resolved to maintain for the Honour of the Crown and of the English Nation And that which most nearly touches his Majesty is His Unchristian Persecution of many English Protestants in France contrary to the Law of Nations and express Treaties forcing them to abjure their Religion by strange and unusual Cruelties imprisoning some English Masters and Seamen and Condemning other to the Gallies upon pretence of having on Board either the Persons or Goods of some of his own Miserable Protestant Subjects Lastly as he has for some years past endeavoured by Insinuation and Promises of Assistance to overthrow the Government of England so now by Open and Violent Methods
the English Religion which his Majesty has also resolved to destroy Both which enterprises being so contrary to the Laws of God and Man and particularly of those of the Kingdom of which they threaten the utter Subversion the Prince of Orange instigated by the Motives of his own innate Piety which will not permit him to suffer the ruine of Religion nor the overturning of so fair a Kingdom has resolved to call a Free Parliament c. For which Reasons and because the Design of the King of England is manifestly apparent by the striâ—t Alliance which he has Contracted with the most Christian King who bears no good will to the United Provinces and whose Proceedings are justly therefore by them to be suspected so that if His Britâ—â—niek Majesty should be suffered to become Absolute in his Dominions the United Provinces could no longer be in Security and therefore it being their Interest that the Fundamental Laws of that Kingdom and the English Religion should be preserved they hoped that God would bless the Prince of Orange with Happy Success King James though at first he would not believe that the Vast Preparations in Holland concerned him though the French King had given him notice of them some time before was now fully convinced thereof by this Mâ—nifesto and all of a sudden the Bells 〈◊〉 to ring 〈…〉 at White-Hall and the first Nâ—â—â— we heard of thâ—â—â— disturbance was a Proclamatiâ—n 〈…〉 28 1688 by which it was intimated That the King had received undoubted Intelligence that a great and sudden Invasion from Holland was to be speedily made in an Hostile manner upon this Kingdom under the false pretences of Liberty Prop my and Religion but that an absolute Conquest of his Kingdoms and the subduing him and his Dominions to a Foreign Power c. However relying upon the Ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of his People as he had formerly ventured his Life for she Honour and Safety of the Nation so he was now resolved to Live and Dye in Defence thereof against all Enemies whatsoever c. After this the King published a Proclamation of General Pardon with some few Exceptions Restored the injured Gentlemen of Oxford and Cambridge to their Rights Dissolved the Ecclesiastical Commissions Vacated the Quo Warranto against the City of London and issued forth a Proclamation for restoring all Corporations to their Ancient Charters Liberties Rights and Franchises In short He undid almost in one day all that he had been doing since his first coming to the Crown Yet such was the Folly of the Romish Party in the midst of this Consternation that the show of the Prince of Wales still went on and Oct. 15 the â—hild was Christned the Pope represented by his Nuncio being God-father and the Queen 〈◊〉 onâ—ger God-mother and two days after the King to secure his Territories commanded his Lord and Deputy-Leiutenants and all other Officers concerned to cause the Coasts to be strictly Guarded and that upon the first approach of the Enemy all the Oxâ—n Horses and Cattel which might be fit for Draught should be driven twenty Miles from the Place where the Enemy should attempt to Land Oct. 22. The King commanded a particular Assâ—mbly of his Privy Council and sent for all such Peers Spiritual and Temporal as were in Town together with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London the Judges and several of his Council Learned in the Law telling them That he had called them together upon a very extraordinary Occasion but that extraordinary Diseases must have extraordinary Remedies that the Malicious Endeavours of his Adversaries had so poysoned the Minds of some of his Subjects that very many of them did not believe that the Child wherewith God had blest him was his but a supposed Child However he could say that by a particular Providence scarce ever any Prince was born where there were so many Persons present that he had taken time to have the matter heard and examined expecting that the Prince of Orange with the first Easterly Wind would Invade the Kingdom and therefore as he had often ventured his Life for the Nation before he came to the Crown so he thought himself more obliged to do the same being King and did intend to go against him in Person by which in regard he might be exposed to various Accidents he therefore thought it necessary to have this done first to satisfie his Subjects and prevent the Kingdoms being ingaged in Blood and Confusion after his Death After this the Affidavits of several Ladies were produced of which some swore that they saw Milk upon her Majesties Smock for they did not think fit to mince the matter others that they saw the Midwife take the Child out of the Bed another that she stood by the Bedside when her Majesty was delivered of the Prince another swore that having had the Honour to put on her Majesties Smock she saw the Queens Milk another deposed that she saw the Queen in Labour and heard her cry out much another that she saw the Midwife give the Prince three drops of the Blood of the Navel-string mixt with Black Cherry-water with a great deal of other Nauseous stuff Then the Affidavits of the Lords were produced among whom one swore that he saw Mistris Labadie carry the Child into another Room whither he followed her and saw the Child when she first opened it and that it was Black and Reeking another swore that he saw the Child and that it had the Marks of being new Born another that he heard the Queen make three Groans or Squeeks and that at the last of the three the Queen was delivered of a Child the Physicians swore what was proper but not fit to be repeated However the whole was at length published to the shame and scandal of all modest Eyes and Ears And now my Lords said the King after all the the Depositions were read although I did not Question but that every Person here present was satisfied before yet by what you have heard you will be the better able to satisfie others Besides could I and the Queen have been thought so wicked as to impose a Child upon the Nation we saw how impossible it would have been neither could I my self have been imposed upon having constantly been with the Queen during her being with Child and the whole time of her Labour and therefore there is none of you but will easily believe that I who have suffered so much for Conscience-sake cannot be capable of so great a Viliany to the prejudice of my own Children I thank God that those that know me know well that it is my Principle to do as I would be done by and that I would rather die a thousand Deaths than do the least wrong to any of my Children Yet this Zealous Harangue had but little Influence upon the Generality of the People with whom the King by his late Actions had wholly forfeited his Reputation who
for restoring the ancient Constitution of that Kingdom and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a settlement that the People may be Easie and Happy and for putting an end to all the unjust Violences that have been in a course of so many Years committed there and that his Highness will also Study to bring the Kingdom of Ireland to such a State that the Settlement there may be Religiously observed and that the Protestant and British Interest may be secured and will endeavour by all possible means to procure such an Establishment in all the three Kingdoms that they may all live in a Happy Union and Correspondence together and that the Protestant Religion and the Peace and Happiness of these Nations may be established upon Lasting Foundations Soon after his Highness published an Additional Declaration to this Effect That after He had prepared and Printed the former Declaration his Highness understood that the Subverters of the Religion and Laws of the Kingdom hearing of his Preparations to assist the People against them had began to Retract some of their Arbitrary and Des potick Powers and vacated some unjust Judgments and Decrees occasioned by the Sence of their Guilt and the distrust of their Force hoping thereby to quiet the People and divert them from demanding the re-establishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of his Highness Arms and do also give out that his Highness intended to Conquer and Inslave the Nation though his Highness is Confident that no Persons can have such hard thoughts of Him as to imagine that He hath any other Design in this Undertaking than to procure a Settlement of Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subject upon so sure a Foundation that there may be no danger of the Nations relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter and as the Forces that his Highness brought along with Him are utterly Disproportioned to that wicked Design of Conquering the Nation if he were capable of Intending it so the great numbers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry that are men of eminent Quality and Estates and of known Integrity and Zeal for the Religion and Government of England who do accompany and have earnestly sollicited his Highness to this Expedition will cover him from all such malicious Insinuations since it cannot be imagined that these should join in a wicked attempt of Conquest to make void their own Lawful Titles to their Honours Estates and Interests His Highness is likewise Confident that all men see how little weight is to be laid on all the Promises and Ingagements that can be now made since there has been so little Regard had to them in times past and the imperfect Redress that is now offered as it is a plain Confession of the Violations of the Government which his Highness hath set forth so the defect thereof appears since they lay down nothing but what they can can take up at Pleasure still reserving entire their Claims and Pretences to that Absolute Power which has been the root of all their Oppression and the Subversion of the Government and it is plain there can be no remedy no Redress but in Parliament by a Declaration of the Rights of the Subjects that have been Invaded and not by any pretended Acts of Grace to which the Extremity of their Affairs has driven them therefore it is that his Highness hath thought fit to declare that he will refer all to a Free Assembly of this Nation in a Lawful Parliament His Highness likewise sent the following Letter to all the Officers and Seamen of the English Fleet Gentlemen and Friends We have published a Declaration containing a full and true Account of our Intentions in this Expedition since it is evident that the Papists have resolv'd the total Extirpation of the Protestant Religion in Great Britain and will infallibly reduce you to the same Condition in which you see France if they can once get the upper hand You are now at last sensible that you are made use of only as Instruments to bring this Nation under Popery and Slavery by means of the Irish and other Foreigners that are assembling for your Destruction Therefore we hope that Almighty God will inspire you with such Thoughts as may facilitate your Deliverance and preserve you your Countrey and Religion from all these impending Miscries And whereas in all probability this can never be effected unless You joyn with Us who labour for your Deliverance we do expect your Assistance herein And shall always remember c. The Prince sent a Letter also to the Kings Army to the same purpose intimating to them What they might expect both from the Cashiering of all the Protestant and English Officers and Souldiers in Ireland and by the Irish being brought over to be put in their places when it should be thought convenient for themselves to be turned out Hoping withal that they would not be abused by a false Notion of Honour but would consider what they owed to God their Religion and their Countrey Themselves and their Posterity which were to be prefer'd before all Private Considerations and Engagements whatsoever Whilst his Highness continued at Exeter the King seemed very resolute at London to oppose him in Person mustering his Army at Hounslow Heath and beating up for Volunteers in the Streets though with little Success He then sent for the Bishops whom he had lately so contemptuously used to advise him what measures to take in this Exigency who accordingly came in a Body and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the Name of the rest delivered himself to this Effect That it was necessary for him to restore all things to the State wherein he found them when he came to the Crown by committing all Offices of Trust to those qualified by Law and to redress such Grievances as were generally complained of to put an effectual stop to all Dispensations and recal and cancel those which had been obtained of him To Dissolve the Ecclesiastical Commission and Promise the People never to erect the like for the future To restore the Universities to their Legal State particularly both the Magdalen Colledges and not permit any to enjoy Preferment but those qualified by the Statutes of the University and Laws of the Land To suppress the Jesuits Schools and grant no more Licenses to such being apparently against Law and his own Interest To send Inhibitions after those four Romish Bishops who under the Title of Apostolick Vicars presumed to exercise Illegal Jurisdiction within the Bingdom to suffer no more Quo Warraâ—o's against Corporations and to restore those Charters which had been taken away To fill up the vacant Bishopricks with Persons qualified by Law To Act no more by Virtue of a Dispenting Power but permit it to be setled by Act of Parliament That upon the Restoration of Corporations he would call a Free Parliament and suffer them to sit to redress Grievances Lastly to permit the Bishops to
lay such Motives and Arguments before him as by the Blessing of God might bring him back to the Communion of the Church of England into whose Catholick Faith he had been Baptized Not long after the Lords Spiritual and Temporal presented the King the following Petition VVE your Majesties most Loyal Subjects in a deep Sence 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 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 Countrey 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 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 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 And your Petitioners shall ever Pray c. W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon Burlington Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph Fran. Ely Tho. Roffen Th. Petriburg T. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston Presented by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Arch-Bishop of York Elect the Bishop of Ely and the Bishop of Rochester the 17th of November 1688. To which the King returned the following Answer My Lords VVHat 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 His Highness lay some days at Exeter expecting that such Gentlemen as resided nearest his Court should have come to him sooner than those at a Distance but finding something of an unexpected slowness he could not forbear to signifie some little Resentment to some of the Principal Gentlemen of Somersetshire and Devonshire that came to join him Nov. 15. 1688. in the following Speech THo' we know not all your Persons yet we have a Catalogue of your Names and remember the Character of your Worth and Interest in your Countrey You see we are come according to your Invitation and our Promise Our Duty to God obliges us to Protect the Protestant Religion and our Love to Mankind your Liberties and Properties We expected you that dwels so near the Place of our Landing would have join'd us sooner not that it is now too late nor that we want your Military Assistance so much as your Countenance and Presence to justifie our Declar'd Pretensions rather than accomplish our good and gracious Designs Tho' we have brought both a good Fleet and a good Army to render these Kingdoms Happy by Rescuing all Protestants from Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power by Restoring them to their Rights and Properties Established by Law and by Promoting of Peace and Trade which is the Soul of Government and the very Life-Blood of a Nation yet we rely more on the Goodness of God and the Justice of our Cause than on any Humane Force and Power whatever Yet since God is pleased we shall make use of Humane means and not expect Miracles for our Preservation and Happiness Let us not neglect making use of this Gracious Opportunity but with Prudence and Courage put in Execution our so honourable purposes Therefore Gentlemen Friends and Fellow-Protestants we bid you and all your Followers most heartily Welcome to our Court and Camp Let the whole World now Judge if our Pretentions are not Just Generous Sincere and above Price since we might have even a Bridge of Gold to Return back But it is our Principle and Resolution rather to die in a Good Cause than live in a Bad one well knowing That Virtue and True Honour is its own Reward and the Happiness of Mankind our Great and Only Design But quickly after his Highness found the English Nobility and Gentry no less faithful to him than he had been to them and that His several Declarations had the wished Effect the Lord Wharton and the Lord Colchester with a strong Party marched through Oxford to his Highnesses Camp without Opposition The Lord Lovelace with another Party out of Oxfordshire got as far as Cirencester but were opposed and himself taken Prisoner by the County Militia yet his whole Party except four or five that were slain or maimed in the Skirmish broke there way through and his Lordship was soon after released out of Glocester Prison by a Young Gentleman of that County who took up arms for the Prince and drove out all the Popish Crâ—â—â— that were setled in that City the Lord Delamere having raised a Considerable Force in Cheshire advanced to Nottingham to join the Gentlemen of that County who were ready to receive him And Nov. 22. at the Rendezvous there the following Declaration was publisht VVE the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of these Northern Counties Assembled together at Nottingham for the defence of the Laws Religion and Properties according to those Free-born Liberties and Priviledges descended to us from our Ancestors as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious dress they can put upon us do here unanimously think it our Duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant Fellow-Subjects the Grounds of our present Undertaking We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible that the very Fundamentals of our Religion Liberties and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy-Council as hath been of late too apparent 1. By the Kings Dispensing with all the Establisht Laws at his Pleasure 2. By displacing all Officers out of all Offices of Trust and Advantage and placing others in their room that are known Papists deservedly made incapable by the Establisht Laws of our Land 3. By destroying the Charters of most Corporations in the Land 4. By discouraging all Persons that are not Papists preferring such as turn to Popery 5. By displacing all honest and conscientious Judges unless they would contrary to their Consciences declare that to be Law which was meerly Arbitrary 6. By branding all men with the Name of Rebels that but
Chrissians ought to do and not to be obliged to Transplant themselves which would be very grievous especially to such as love their own Countrey and I appeal to all Men who are considering Men and have had Experience Whether any thing can make this Nation so great and flourishing as Liberty of Conscience Some of our Neighbours dread it I could add much more to confirm all I have said but now is not the proper time Rochester Decemb. 22. 1688. Upon these Reasons we may make these few Cursory Remarks That as to the detaining of the Earl of Feversham who was sent without a Pass in a time of open War it may be very well justified He having likewise disbanded the Army and left them at large to lie upon the Countrey The Message for his removal from Whitehall was managed as we have heard with all the respect and decency imaginable and absolutely necessary upon several accounts as well as for the preservation of his own Person whose late Actions especially his extraordinary Severity in the West had raised him many inveterate Enemies who now might have taken the opportunity of offering Violence to him that his Highness had sufficient Reason for this Glorious Expedition the King had made the Nation too sensible of and as to the business of the Child it is well known that his Zeal for the Catholick Cause made him shut his Eyes to all other Considerations whatsoever and besides it was managed with such a number of Suspitious Circumstances that we are told one of his own Commanders in Ireland should say That the Prince of Orange had one plausible pretence for his Invasion namely that of the Prince of Wales since if it was a real Birth the Court managed the matter so as if they had Industriously contrived the Nation should give no Credit to it as to his Hopes of Conquering is we have as great Hopes and better Reason to believe the contrary since the People will scarce be ever fond of giving up their Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the Will of an Arbitrary Prince or ever submit to a French Government as to a Parhament we may think he did not design to call any since some time before his departure he ordered all the Writs that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of such as were already sent into the Countreys as to Liberty of Conscience which he seems so much to value his Proceedings in freland and against the Universities together with his recalling the Protestant Ministers from Preaching to the English Merchants in Popish Countreys with many other Instances that might be given are sufficient Demonstrations of the reality of his Intentions therein Soon after we had an account that the King was arrived in France and gone to the Court where his Queen came some time before having as soon as she landed sent as it is said the following Letter to that King An unfortunate Queen all bathed in Tears has Deemed it no trouble to expose her self to the greatest Perils of the Sea on purpose to seek an Asy lum and Protection in the Dominions of the greatest and most Glorious Monarch in the World Her bad Fortune has procured her a Happiness which far distant Nations have sought with eagerness nor does the necessity lessen the value while she makes choice of this same Sanctuary before any other that she might have found in any other place She is perswaded his Majesty will look upon it as a Demonstration of the singular Esteem she has of his Great and Royal Qualities that she intrusts him with the Prince of Wales who is all she has most dear and precious in the World He is too Young to partake with her in the acknowledgments due for his Protection that acknowledgment is entirely in the Heart of his Mother who in the midst of all her sorrows enjoys this Consolation to live sheltred under the Lawrels of a Prince who surpasses all that ever was of most Exalted and Mighty upon Earth These fulsom Flatteries which are so admired by that King doubtless moved him to entertain her with great Tenderness and made way for the Reception of the King her Husband who soon after Arrived there and had St. Germains allowed for their Residence with such a Revenue as that King can spare from his other mighty Expences for their Subsistance though it is a question whether King James consulted his own Interest in Flying to the French King for certainly after all that he had done at home to see him Harbour himself with the Enemy of the English Name the Contriver and Adviser of all the Mischiefs for several years perpetrated in the Kingdom what could more Convict him of the Oppressions of his Reign or more Inveterately Alienate the Peoples Affections from him Upon the Kings second withdrawing Portsmouth that held out with some Obstinacy under the D. of Berwick and Sir Edward Scot Deputy Governor submitted and Received a Garrison sent thither by the Princes Order And now to fill up this Breach and Rupture in the Government the Lords Spiritual and Temporal immediately met in the House of Peers at Westminster where they drew up an Humble Address which they presented to his Highness Requesting him in this Conjuncture to take upon him the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion Rights Laws Liberties Properties and the Peace of the Nation and to take into his particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and to use Speedy and Effectual means to prevent the danger threatning that Kingdom At the same time these Honourable Lords further Humbly Requested That His Highness would please to cause Letters to be Written Subseribed by himself and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants to the several Counties Universities Cities and Boroughs c. directed to the Chief Magistrates of each within Ten Days after the Receipt thereof to chuse such a Number of Persons to Represent them as are of Right to be sent to Parliament Both which Addresses were Presented to the Prince at St. Jamese's who answered that he had considered their Advice and that he would endeavour to secure the Peace of the Nation till the meeting of the Convention Jan. 22. next and that he would forthwith Issue out Letters to that purpose and that he would apply the Publick Revenues to their proper use and likewise Endeavour to put Ireland into such a Condition as that the Protestant Religion and the English Interest might be maintained in that Kingdom Further assuring them that as he came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom so he should always be ready to Expose himself in any Hazard for the Defence of the same His Highness likewise sent for all such as had been Members of Parliament in the Reign of Charles the II. together with
the Aldermen and Common-Council of the City of London to meet him at St James's to advise the best manner how to pursue the ends of his Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the Restoring of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and Setling the same that they may not be in Danger of being again Subverted Upon which they met accordingly and after his Highness had thus Graciously exprest himself to them they instantly Concluded to go to the House of Commons where being Sate they chose Henry Powle Esq their Chair-man and then drew up an Address to the Prince returning his Highness their hearty Thanks and expressing their Extraordinary Acknowledgment for the Care he had taken of their Religion Laws and Liberties Humbly Intreating him to take upon him the Administration of the Government c. which being presented to his Highness at St. James's he returned the same answer as he had done to the Lords The News of his Highness Snccess and Prosperous proceedings Arriving in Holland all the Persons of Quality that were at the Hague appeared at Court to Complement Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange thereupon and soon after their Electoral Highnesses of Brandenburg arrived there and were Entertained very Splendidly upon that Occasion And the States General sent three Deputies to England to Congratulate his Highness who Landing at the Tower were received with the Discharge of the Cannon and Conducted to the Lodgings appointed for them with a very Spleudid Equipage Dec. 30. His Highness Issued out a Declaration to Authorize Sheriffs Justices of Peace and all other Officers except Papists to Continue and Act in their Respective Places till further Order And a second Declaration for the better Quartering of Souldiers That none should be Quartered upon Private Houses without the free and voluntary Consent of the Owner And a while after the following Association for the Preservation of his Highnesses Person which had been promoted and Signed through most Counties of England with great Cheerfulness and Alacrity was Signed also by several Noblemen and others at St. James's We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed who have Joyned with the Prince of Orange for the Defence of the Protestant Religion and for maintaining the Ancient Government and the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland Do engage to Almighty God to his Highness the Prince of Orange and to one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in Defence of it and never to depart from it till our Religion our Laws and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free Parliament that we shall be no more in Danger of Falling under Popery and Slavery And whereas we are ingaged in this Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which means his Person may be exposed to Dangers and to the Desperate and Cursed Attempts of the Papists and other Bloody Men We do therefore Solemnly engage both to God and to one another that if any such Attempts are made upon him we will pursue not only those that make them but all their Adherents and all that we find in Arms against us with the utmost Severities of a just Revenge to their Ruin and final Destruction and that the Execution of any such Attempt which God of his Mercy forbid shall not divert us from prosecuting this Cause which we do now undertake but that it shall ingage us to carry it on with all the vigor that so Barbarous a Practice shall deserve After this His Highness published a Declaration to Command all Papists to depart within three Days out of London and Westminster and Ten Miles about under penalty of Suffering the utmost Severity of the Law and about the same time the Country People Seized a great number of Persons in Kent and other places endeavouring to make their escape beyond Sea who were committed to several Prisons till further Order And to shew the readiness and zeal of the People to Support his Highness He had no sooner signified to the City of London that the necessary Expences he had been at had near exhausted the publick Revenues but that they instantly ordered a Committee to attend him to know what Sum might be necessary and 100000 l. being Named the Generous Citizens immediately came to Guild-Hall and made Subscriptions for 300000 l. which was paid in to Admiration within a very few days Affairs being now in a promising way of settlement in England let us take a brief view of Scotland to whom his Highness before his arrival had likewise sent a Declaration to the same effect with that sent to England some Expressions only being varied according to the different Circumstances of both Nations his Highness declaring That by the influence of those evil Counsellors who designed to render themselves the absolute Masters of the Lives Honours and Estates of the Subjects without being restrained by any Rule or Law a most exorbliant Power had been exercised in imposing Bonds and Oaths upon whole Shires In permitting Free Quarters to Souldiers In imprisoning Gentlemen without any Reason forcing them to accuse and witness against themselves In imposing Arbitrary Fines frighting and haressing many parts of the Countrey with intercommuning making some incur the forfeiture of Life and Fortune for the most general and harmless converse even with their nearest Relations Outlawed Impowering Officers and Souldiers to act upon the Subjects living in quiet and full Peace the greatest Barbarities in destroying them by Hanging Shooting and drowning them without any Form of Law or respect to Age or Sex not giving some of them time to pray to God for Mercy and this for no other Reason but because they would not answer or satisfie them in such Questions as they proposed to them without any warrant of Law and against the common Interest of mankind which frees all men from being obliged to discover their secret Thoughts besides a great many other Violences and Oppressions to which that poor Nation hath been exposed without any hope of having any end put to them or to have relief from them And that the Arbitrary and illegal Proceedings of there Evil Counsellors might be justified such a Declaration hath been procured by them as strikes at the root of the Government and overturns the most Sacred Rights of it in making all Parliaments unncressary and taking away all Defences of Religion Liberty and Property 〈…〉 assumed and asserted Absolute Power to which Obedience is required without reserve Which every good Christian is perswaded is due to God Almighty alone all whose Commandments are always Just and Good c. Upon his Highness Arrival and Happy Progress in England the Terror thereof wrought so effectually upon those Popish and Arbitrary Ministers of State in Scotland who were sensible of their own guilt that they thought of nothing but to make their escape from Justice which some had the luck to do others were seized and the Multitude
Parties of Irish and Fortified London-Derry Slego the Isle of Inniskilling and other places which they thought Tenable For now Tyrconnel gave Order for stopping the Ports to prevent any more from going away and made many large and plausible Proposals to induce them to join with him though they had very little effect upon them The Convention at Westminster were still upon serious Debates about the present Condition of the Kingdom and in the mean time it was thought necessary to have the Presence of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange in England Whereupon a Squadron of English and Dutch Men of War were Ordered to wait upon her till her Equipage could be got ready and the Wind served to bring over her Highness And after the Lords and Commons had duly weighed the Circumstances of the Kings Departure they at length came to the following Resolution Resolved that King James II. Having endeavoured to Subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked Persons having Violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath Abdicated the Government and the Throne is thereby Vacant In pursuance of which Resolution the following Declaration was drawn up in Order to such an Establishment as that the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom might not again be in Danger and for Vindicating the Ancient Rights and Liberties of the People in these words VVHereas the Late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Councellors Judges and Ministers Employed 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 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 Money 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 Soldiers contrary to Law By Causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be Disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Employed 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 Illegal Courses And whereas of late years Partial Corrupt and Urqualified Persous have been Returned and Served on Juaries 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 Benefiâ— 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 Levyed All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the said late King James the Second 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 Boroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Choosing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the Two and twentieth day of January in this Year One thousand six hundred eighty and eight 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 Lords 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 pretended Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal legal 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 like nature are Illegal and Pernicious That Levying Money for or to the Use of the Crown by protence 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 Conditions 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 Impannelled and Returned 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 Premisses 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 Premisses ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Right they are particularly Encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a
come over to the French but he soon found himself deceived and that it was Admiral Russell he had to do withal and that the Intriagues of his Jacobites had not succeeded Thus it pleased Heaven to Crown their Majesties Navy with a Glorious Victory and to preserve us from the Chains prepared for us by the two dear Allies for notwithstanding the specious Declaration published by King James upon his Assurance of being restored yet we have all the Reason in the World to believe his Pardon would not have secured the Nation from Popish Vengeance but that we should have all felt the utmost effects of his Rage and Fury as well as the Honourable and Worthy Persons following whom he excluded from all hopes of Mercy that is the Duke of Ormond the Marquis of Winchester the Earls of Sunderland Bath Danby and Nottingham the Lords Newport Delamere Wiltshire Colchester â—â—â—â—bury Dumblane and Churchill the bishops of St. Asaph and London Dr. Tillotson and Dr. Burnet Knights Sir Ro. Howard Sir J. Worden Sir S. Grimston Sir S. Fox Sir George Treby Sir Baâ—il Dixwel and Sir John Oxenden Esquires F. Russel R. Levison J. Trenchard C. Duncomb Citizens of London Edwards Napleton and Hunt Fishermen with all others that offered Indignities to him at Feversham with Ashton and Crosses Judges and Jurymen also all Spies and those that have betrayed his councils in his absence May 15 1692. The French Army after having made many Marches and Countermarches invested the strong Fortress of Namur being incouraged thereto by the treacherous Baron de Bersey who being born a Subject of Spain and having received some disgust from that Court was corrupted by the French and making his escape out of the Town informed the Enemy of the Condition thereof which he had got full Information of by his Intimacy with the Governour the Prince of Brabancon so as to inform them of the best places for the attack which was strong and which weak so that the Town was surrendered in five days and awhile after Williams Fort and the Castle were likewise delivered up It is very well known that the King of England took all the pains imaginable to get his Army of several Nations together before the Siege and that the Duke of Luxemburg who lay with a strong Detachment to cover the Besiegers used all manner of Caution to avoid a Battle by Incamping in places where he could not be assaulted being sufficiently acquainted with the temper of King William to whom it was natural to despise danger and who pushed onthe relief of the Place to the utmost for as soon as be came to Mehaine he instantly caused Bridges to be built in the Night to cross the River next Morning and to attack Duke Luxemburg in the Morasses which he had certainly done if a very extraordinary Rain had not fallen and if all the Generals had not unanimously dissuaded him from it because of the impossibility of forming a Line of Battel in a place so full of Water after the surrender of Namur the King being informed that the Duke of Luxemburg was upon his March from Enguien resolved to advance with all speed to the same place but the French got there before him and posted themselves between that place and Steinkerken among Hedges and Woods however King William resolved to attack him there which much surprized Luxemburg who upon view of the advantageous Seituation of his Camp had said That none but an Alexander or a Caesar durst attack him in that place but it was William the Great who performed that part and marching silently all Night fell upon the French with such fury next Morning that in a few hours above 7000 of the Enemy were slain with a great number of Nobility and Officers and afterwards retreated at leisure the French not having the Courage to follow them So that the attack and retreat were equally Glorious the King having exposed himself amidst the Cannon and Muskets shots where the fight was hottest riding continually from one end to the other to give necessary Orders so that it was next to a Miracle that his Sacred Person was preserved among so many imminent dangers Thus His Majesty gloriously ended this Campaign by a Signal Victory over the French at Sea and by having several times braved his Enemies by land harassing them by his continual Marches and attacking them in their Retrenchments seeking only an opportunity of putting an end to the War by a General Battle and so to procure to Europe a solid and durable Peace On the Contrary the French King dares never to appear in the Head of his Troops but endeavours to make himself renowned by Treachery and Violation of Oaths These are his Fortress and Assassinations and Poisonings are Crimes which in that Court are not prohibited Witness the Valet de Chambre who poisoned the Duke of Lorrain the French Cook who at the Instigation of the French Ambassador poisoned Mr. Harbord at Belgrade for being vigorous in procuring a Peace betwixt the Emperor and the Turks and lastly the Sieur de Granval who with some others was hired by the Marquess of Barbesieux Secretary to the French King to Murder King William being also incouraged hereto by K. James and his Queen who told him If you and the rest do me this service you shall never want but this horrid Villany being happily discovered Granval was about this time deservedly executed for the same In October His Majesty returned again to England and the Parliament being met he made a Gracious Speech to them after which they unanimously Voted a supply of near five Millions for carrying on a vigorous War against France Having thus given a brief account of the most considerable Transactions in these Kingdoms till the beginning of the year 1693. and the fifth of their Majesties Happy Reign I shall here conclude and that they may continue to Reâ—gn long and prosperously over us ought to be the Prayer of every good Protestant throughout these three Nations FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for N. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside History I. ENglands Monarch Or A Compendious Relation of the most remarkable Transactions from Julius Caesar to this present adorned with Poems and the Picture of every Monarch from King William the Conquerer to the third year of K. William and Q. Mary With a List of the Nobility the Knights of the Garter the number of the Lords and Commons who have Votes in both Houses of Parliament and many other useful particulars Price One Shilling II. THE Wars in England Scotland and Ireland containing a particular and Impartial Account of all the Battels Sieges and other Remarkable Transactions Revolutions and Accidents which happened from the beginning of the Reign of K. Charles I. 1625. to His Majesties happy Restauration The illegal Tryal of K. Charles I. at large with his last Speech at his suffering and the most considerable matters till 1660 with Pictures of several accidents