Succession would not as he thought recoil and leave him now in the lurch who so lately had made unto them new Protestations of his particular Favour and Protection The Dissenters were then under the lash of the Law and not without some apprehension of the French Thus with this prospect of Things the King fell presently to work by feeling first under-hand the Pulse of Men in Credit and Authority amongst his Protestant Subjects But whilst he was taken up with these gentle Motions a Storm was raised all of a sudden in Scotland by the late Earl of Argile and at the same time another in the West of England by the late Duke of Monmouth Who both appeared in Arms with their Parties in their several Stations but so unsuccessfully that after the loss of many Mens Lives in the Field they lost their own upon the Scaffold These two Rebellions which startled so much the Popish Party till they saw the Issue of it gave them a great Advantage and raised their Expectations of Success to an Infallibility The King had now a great Army on foot And tho the VVork was done for which the same was raised yet he would not part with it but kept it still on foot contrary to Law for his further Designs and to keep the Nation in aw For the Preservation of our Laws Religion and Liberties it was provided by the Wisdom of our Parliaments upon the Growth of Popery in the late King's Reign That all Persons appointed to bear any Office in Church or State should declare themselves to be not Papists but Protestants by taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Test and receive thereupon the Sacrament according to the Church of England But upon the Raising of the foresaid Army the King was pleased to protect against those Laws many Popish Officers that served in the Army without taking the Oaths And in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament on the 9th of Novemb. 1685 he told the Parliament in plain words That though the said Officers were not Qualified according to the late Tests for their Employments yet he would neither expose them to Disgrace nor himself to the Want of them And tho the Parliament did highly except against it as an open Violation of those Laws which were our main Bulwark against Popery yet his Majesty would by no means recede from his Word A Debate was held to dispence those Unqualified Officers then actâ—ally in Service with the Fenalty of the Law provided no more were admitted But this would not serve the King's turn Who to prevent any further Heats about it prorogued the Parliament tâ—ll Feb. 10 following and so put it off by further Prorâ—gations till it was at last Dissolved Mean whiâ—e he made it his business to New-model his dearly beloved Army now consecrated to more pious I ses and kept on foot to accomplish the great Work of resturing Popery Both Officers and Soulâ—iers were Reformed and such of both sorts put in as would incourage and promote the Design â—o lose no Time whole Sholes of Priests and Jesuits with Multitudes of Lay-Papists came over daily from France and other Parts as often as the Wind would permit some to Convert us and others to Cut our Throats The first like the Pharisees came over by Sea and Land to make Proselytes and liked England so well that they stuck to it like Burr Whilst poor Lapland and other wretched Countries are left to their Temporal and Spiritual Darkness seldom visited by those Lights of the Roman Church And first to take off from our Minds the frightful Notions we had of Popery they laid aside the old way of Controversies from Scripture Tradition and Reason and so new-vamped their Roman Tenets after the Bishop of Meaux late invented Dress that it was hard to discern at first view the Popish from the Protestant Religion Such was their Resemblance that it was Alter Ego But the Cheat was quickly found out and hissed at here by all Men of Reason and Understanding Then was held a Disputation at White hall in the King's Presence wherein his Party came off so shamefully that his Majesty was fain to excuse their Weakness by saying That a good Cause might be baffled Yet notwithstanding these Repulses the Popish Emissaries having now contrary to Law the liberty of the Press ply'd it hard to get Proselytes but still with little Success Providence had so ordered it that the Church of England was never stocked with so many Sound Pious and Learned Divines as we had in this Juncture So that this Spiritual War begun by Priests and Jesuits ended to their Confusion The Church of England bore the brunt of it all and the Dissenters would not meddle for fear of giving Offence nor was there any need of it The King found by this time how little was to be expected from Roman Emissaries and that Compulsion at last must do the Work France shewed him the Way where the holy Design was now ripe for Execution without any fear of a Check from England For now King Lewis fairly pulled off the Mask and by his Edicts Anno 1â—85 told the World in plain terms that his Design of Reconciling his Protestant Subjects to the Holy Church was from his Coming to the Crown that all his former Edicts in their behalf his Acknowledging and Registring in Parliament their great Services to the Crown and his Advancement of many of them to the highest Dignities Civil and Military were but so many Blinds to cover his Design for which he calls God to witness to abolish their Religion by degrees And to shew what Opinion he had of Protestants he declared them Incapable to claim the benefit of Treaties Promises or Oaths made to them by the Papists According to these his Vnchristian Principles he broke the sacred Ties of Religious Oaths by Revoking his Protestant Subjects grand Charter of Priviledges the famous Edict of Nantes which from its very Foundation was counted Irrevocable and by forcing his Religion upon them through the miraculous Virtue of his Apostolick Dragoons Who 't is true had no Commission to take away their Lives but all the Comforts thereof by Want and barbarous Usage Spoiling and Plundering dark Prisons and loathsom Dungâ—oâ—s by parting the Husband and Wife and robbing Parents of their dearest Children But lest the VVorld should think that the French King's Zeal was confined within the Bounds of his Dominions he lost no Opportunity to make it known that his Design was against the whole Body of Protestants and first against the English whose Conversion would much facilitate that of other Protestant Nations This appears by that noted Speech made to him at Versailles in the Year 1685. by a French Bishop in the Name of the whole Clergy of France VVherein the Bishop having magnified the King for his Zeal in Suppressing the Protestant Religion in his Kingdom tells him that England offered to his Majesty one of the most glorious Occasions
that he could wish for and that his British Majesty wanted nothing but his Protection and the Support of his Arms to settle the Catholick Religion in his Dominions This Speech was published by the French King's Authority and the Translation of it suffered to come over freely into England VVhich lookt something odd and beneath a King of England to be thus expos'd to the VVorld as a Prince to come under the Protection of a King of France over whose Kings and Kingdom his Ancestors had so often Triumphed But nothing it seems was to be thought Inglorious that might serve the Popish Design of Rooting out the Protestant Religion Such was King James his Zeal for Mother Church that according to Father Peter's Relation his Majesty told him in his Chamber That he had rather Reign but one Year to an end tho in Troubles and die with the Conversion of England Scotland and Ireland than to Reign prosperously 30 years and leave them in Heresy as he sound them at his Accession to the Crown A Zeal in some sense like that of Moses who to save the People under his Government was willing to be blotted out of the Book of Life By this Saying and his Proceedings with the French King's Assistance we may guâ—ss what he intended for us To convert us he went about to subvert the Laws and to make us good Christians after his own Way he made his Will the measure of his Government without any regard to his Oaths and Promises to Justice or Equity However to colour what he did with some shew of Justice he set up a new Claim a Thing called the Dispensing Power unknown to former Ages and now suddenly started up as a Branch forsooth of the King's Prerogative By which means he threw aside those two great Stumbling-Blocks the Penal Laws the Tests being all our legal Securities for the Preservation of our Religion and Liberties and so shook the very Foundation thereof that we had no Security lest against his Will and Pleasure 'T is not denyed that in the Cases of Treason and Felony the King of England may by vertue of his Prerogative Pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred But it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence that the King can intirely-suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is Cloathed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power And as no Laws can be made but by the joint Concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so Enacted which secure the publick Peace and safety of the Nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority 'T is true the Judges declared this Dispensing Power to be a Right belonging to the Crown But before that pernicious Judgment could be obtained first the Opinion of the Judges was privately examined Such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence were turned out and others substituted till by the Changes which were made in the Courts of Judicature that Judgment was at last obtained to give some Credit to the Cause And amongst those that were raised to these Trusts some were professed Papists and consequently Incapable of all such Imployments However it does not appear how it is in the Power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by Him at his Will and Pleasure 'T was by vertue of this Imaginary Power which made the King break loose upon the Laws and govern by his Will that He imposed upon his Subjects such Magistrates as he thought fittest for his turn some true Papists and others false Protestants such as would go a great way if not through-stitch to serve his Popish-Designs And tho' they were admitted without taking the Oaths in that Case provided and consequently no lawful Magistrates yet all were threatned vexed and prosecuted who durst but say that they had no lawful Authority By Virtue of the same Power the Kingdoms Military Defence was put into such Hands as by many express Laws were Incapable of them Which justly gave the Protestants sad Apprehensions of imminent Danger seeing themselves put into the Power of Men that publickly professed to be in Union and Communion with the Church of Rome declaring themselves to be mortal Enemies to Protestants and bound upon their Salvation to seek their Ruin and Destruction if they persisted in their Religion Thus an Army of Papists and Mercenaries was maintained and dispersed through the Kingdom in full Peace to the great disquiet and terrour of the Protestants Who contrary to the Ancient Laws of the Kingdom and the express Words of the late Statutes were constrained to receive those Souldiers into their Houses whereby they were deprived of their Peace and Security at home of a free Converse abroad and of the Advantages they might make otherwise in their Ways of living The Church of England was by this time grown out of Favour with the King for her Steaâ—iness to the Laws and strong Zeal against Popery And who should now grow into favour with his Majesty at least in outward appearance but the Dissenting Party the Object of his Resentment and Indignation when he came to the Crown The King knew how to turn the stream of his Kindness and to shift from one Side to another that losing one Party he might make sure of another 'T is true some Leaders amongst the Dissenters made an advantage of this Turn for their private Interest but the thinking Part of them who knew where the Snake lay did not build much upon it Not could the King expect much from them considering how lame and falsify'd were most of the Addresses His Majesty receiv'd from that Party The King to aw the Church erected a Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs whose Commission was to proceed with a Nonâ—bstante that is without and against the Rules of our Laws And to please the Dissenters He put out a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to all sorts of Persuasions with a secret Intent that none should have it at last but the Papists The First was by Commission so far from any Colour of Law that it was against most express Laws to the Contrary and the extent of the Commission was to take Cognizance and Direction of all Ecclesiastical Matters The Illegality and Incompetency whereof was so notoriously known and the Design of it against our Religion so plain that the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being one in the Commission refused to fit or concur in it For the chief Design of this Court was to Raise none to any Church Dignities but such as had no Zeal for the Protestant Religion who cloaked their Unconcernedness for it with the specious Pretence of Moderation and to oppress such of the Clergy as were of eminent Learning Vertue and Piety In this Commission was a Noble
all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Power that by the Assistance of the Army they might be able to maintain and execute their wicked Designs by establishing Popery and Slavery But if our Case was desperate here it was rather worse in Ireland Where the whole Government was put into the hands of Papists and all the Protestants there under a perpetual sear of a new Massacre such as they fell under Anno 1641. Which made great Numbers of them leave that Kingdom and abandon their Estate in it As for Scotland the King declared himself to be cloathed with Absolute Power and all his Subjects there bound to obey Him without reserve and accordingly assumed an Arbitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom Whereby it plainly appeared what we must look for in England as soon as Matters were duly prepared here But during these Transactions the Popish Party grew Sensible that the Dispensing Power being raised but upon a weak Foundation would quickly sink and that they could not be safe unless the Penal Laws and the Tests were abrogated by the Authority of a Parliament or Something like it The King therefore made it his business to get such a Parliament as would bring this to pass 'T is well known that about four parts in five of the Members of the House of Commons are to be chosen by Cities and Boroughs To destroy therefore their Customs Priviledges Charters and Governments and to substitute therein such Magistrates as would either ignorantly or corruptly serve the Kings Designs Writs of Quo Warranto fell like Thunder upon those Corporations Which were seconded by Instruments appointed to terrifie the Magistrates thereof with the King 's severe Displeasure if they dared to insist upon their legal Right and contest with the King at Law He had Agents appointed to fright them with the vast Charge they must be at in case they would be so bold as to stand it out to possess them that it was to no purpose since he was resolved to have their Charters at his Command to tempt them with a Promise of New ones if they would but Resign their Old into his hands and to threaten them that the Names of all that refused it must be returned to the Attorney General Besides that Judges were prepared to damn the Pleas of all such Cities and Towns as would stand upon their Right Witness the Cities of Oxford and Winchester and the Borough of Tâ—tness which were declared to be Dissolved at the King's Pleasure whereby their respective Citizens and Burgess s were Disfranchised and divested of all their ancient Customs Freedoms and Priviledges This terrified most Cities and Boroughs into voluntary surrenders of their Charters which brought them to that condi ion as to have no Magistrates or Officers but at the Kings Will and during his Pleasure But this Proceeding of the King seemed the less strange it being but a Copy of what had been already done in the Reign of King Charles And whereas the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free and Indifferent without Pre-ingagement of the Electors by Bribes Promises or Threats infinite were the Tricks and Artifices used to get such a Parliament as would serve the King's turn Yet none more busie than the King himself in continual Attempts upon the personal Freedom and Indifferency of all the Electors for Parliaments throughout the Kingdom Such were his Personal Sollicitations in secret to accept of such for their Deputies in Parliament as were fit for his Designs that his Closetting of Electors was become a By-word amongst the People Nor was it possible for Persons that held Offices and Imyloyments of Profit and Trust to continue in the same but by their Concurrence therein with his Majesties Pleasure Witness his second Declaration for Liberty of Conscience under the Date of Apr. 7. 1688. wherein he declared his Mind that none ought to be Imployed under him in the Kingdom but such as would contribute to chuse such Members of Parliament as might do their part to finish what he had begun That in pursuance thereof he had turned out by his Absolute Will many Civil and Military Officers And that he lookt upon all Refusers as neither good Christians nor Lovers of their Countries Good To further this Design the Lord Lieutenants were ordered by the King to Summon in his Name the Chief Officers and Gentlemen in their respective Counties and to lay the Case before them so as to flatter or terrify them out of the Use of their Freedom in Electing for Parliament And Marks of the King's Displeasure were put upon those that resolved to keep their Freedom and Indifferency to Elect worthy and fit Deputies according to their Judgments and Consciences Another sort of Men were Commissionated to the same purpose Known by the Name of Regulators Amongst which several Anabaptist Preachers were imployed with good Weekly Allowances who were sent all over England to delude People by Caresses or Threats into a fatal Compliance with the King By which Illegâ—l Practices it appears how eager the Court was to introduce the Româ—n Religion and Laws by indeavouring to free the Papists and Popish Emissaries from the Punishments of our Penal Laws against such manifest Aâ—tempts upon the Freedom Properties and Rights of the Realm Which tended to nothing less than First to subject the Laws of the Realm and consequently the very Rights of the Crown to the Canons of the Church of Rome which Rights our ancient English Papists before the Reformation always indeavoured to maintain against the Inchroachments of the Papal See Secondly To declare all the Power of Magistracy in Protestants hands to be unlawful and all Right and Title to their Estates forfeited by their being Protestants to the Papists Thirdly To own and justify all Dispensations from Rome with our Obedience to all such Laws of the Realm as should be thought derogatory to the Popes Interest or Authority And Fourthly to hold Communion with the Church of Rome the French and all Foreign Papists tho professed Enemies to the Religion and Power of the Protestants so as to contrive with them the Suppressing or Extirpating of them out of the Realm Thus the Ax was laid to the Root and the Train laid to blow up our Laws Religion and Liberties Which was Provocation enough for a Free People that have a share in the Legislative Power to stand up for their Rights and Priviledges thus invaded and to oppose the Exorbitâ—nce and Abuses of an Executive Power which shaked the very Foundation of this ancient Monarchy Yet all was husht and these Things born with extraordinary Patience in hopes of a Redress upon the next Succession whilst the Princess of Orange now our gracious Queen was the Heiress apparent But to cut off at once these only remaining Hopes who should be now with Child but the Queen after she had been Childless several Years and very much decayed and weakned with Sickness Which unexpected Pregnancy some
you to defend the Laws Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to procure a Settlement in Church and State in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And so God Save the King In short the Genius of the whole Nation if you except the Papists and some false Protestants did run that Way and there was no stopping of so strong a Current Which his Highness the Prince of Orange was no sooner satisfied in but he marched from Exeter forward with his Army the Fort of Plimouth being already Surrendred to his Highness by the Earl of Bath At Exeter he only left a new raised Regiment to keep the City under the Command of Sir John Guyes then made Governour thereof The Army marching in three Lines and the Prince in the second Line his Highness marched out from Exoter Nov. 22. and came to Crook-horn on Saturday 24. Then the Gentlemen of the West came in apace and joined him almost at every Stage From Crook horn where he staid the 25th he came the next Day to Sherborn and lodged at the Castle where the Duke of Grafton and the Lord Churchill amongst others joyned him from the King's Army Whereupon the Lord Churchill who lay under particular Obligations to the King wrote a Letter to his Majesty in these following Terms SIR The Lord Churchills Letter to the King Since Men are seldom suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and though 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 to Incline You to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions Yet I hope the great Advantage I injoy 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 lyes 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 has hitherto represented those Vnhappy 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 indeavour 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 CHURCHILL By this Desertion the King grew more and more sensible how little he was to depend upon an Army which daily mouldred away Not for want of natural Affection to his Majesty but only to bring him off from his evil Counsellors and into a necessity of Complying with the general Desire of the Nation to have all Things Rectified by a Free and Legal Parliament Before the King left Salisbury there hapned such a sudden Gust of Wind as hurried down the Crown which had stood many Years upon the top of a Spire of the Cathedral This was lookt upon as an ill Omen to the King And so was his Majesties violent Bleeding at the Nose that could not be stopt for a long time any manner of way The Vangards of both Armies being now near each other a Party of the Prince's appeared not far from Salisbury Upon which King James and his Army thinking the Prince's whole Force were coming upon them took the Alarm so that his Majesty in the midst of his Bleeding ordered his Coach forthwith to be made ready and drive away to Windsor Upon whose Departure his Forces in great haste and disorder marched some one way some another The King being come to Andover which was his first Stage homeward his Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark accompanied by his Grace the Duke of Ormond and the Lord Drumlangrig withdrew from his Majesty in the Night in order to joyn the Prince of Orange at Sherborn which they did the 29th From whence Prince George sent a most tender Letter to the King in these following Terms SIR Prince George his Letter to the King With a Heart full of Grief I am forced to write what Prudence would not permit me to say to your Face And way I ever find Credit with your Majesty and Protection from Heaven as what I now do it free from Passion Vanity or Design 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 shews too Vninterested a Sense 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 I can therefore no longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily Educated which my Judgment throughly convinces me to be best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested both in my Native Country and in this your Kingdom Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the Reformed Religion backed by the cruel Zeal and the prevailing Power of France justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and ingage 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 Indeavours to disabuse Your Majesty by the Reinforcement of those Laws and Establishing 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 to 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 imploy'd And would to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Compliance from your Majesty in all their Justifiable Pretensions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and at strongly Vnite the Hearts of all your Subjects to You as is that of SIR Your Majesties most Humble and most Obedient Son and Servant This
A COMPLETE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION FROM The first Rise of it to this present Time In Three Parts SHEWING I. The Growth of Popery in England under the Reign of the late King CHARLES By his Connivence French Intrigues c. II. Our Imminent Ruin in his Popish Successor King JAMES his Reign By his Invading of our Laws Religion and Liberties With a Particular and Impartial Narrative of the fictitious Great Belly III. Our Wonderful and Happy Deliverance by the PRINCE of ORANGE Our present King 's famous Expedition over into England With an Account of the late King James's Desertion and Abdication of Their Majesties happy Succession to the Throne of Great Britain and of Their prosperous Reign hitherto by Defeating the Jacobites dark Plots in England by Suppressing their open Rebellion in Scotland and by the Total Reduction of Ireland To Which is Added A Postscript by way of Seasonable Advice to the Jacobite Party LONDON Printed for Samuel Clement at the Lute in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION PART I. Shewing the Growth of Popery in England under the Reign of the late King Charles TO demonstrate the Growth of Popery in this Kingdom as the first Occasion of all our late Distractions I shall begin at the Head and come up to the Original Cause All the World knows that the Ruin of the Protestants and the Inslaving all Europe have been the two grand Designs of the Reign of Lewis XIV the first influenced by an infused blind Zeal and the last being the product of his own insatiable and boundless Ambition To the first he was prompted by those Spiritual Engineers the Jesuits who ever made it their business to set the World in a Combustion And the last he attempted to please his own Humour and gratifie his excessive Pride The Holy Cabal had resolv'd upon the Extirpation of the Protestant Heresie And such has been the effect of their Inchanting Eloquence and reputed Skill in Politicks that they are in a manner become Companions for Princes and Crowned Heads of the Roman Communion In point of Conscience they are their usual Directors and their Decisions are to them as Laws and Oracles 'T is therefore no wonder that the French King being inspirited by these Men should follow their Directions Whose Confessors being of that Order always indulged him in his Criminal Courses with Assurances of Salvation if he did but apply himself with Zeal and Fervency to so meritorious a Work as the Extinguishing the Protestant Heresie This forsooth would make him the Favourite of Heaven and an Immortal Prince on Earth Infatuated with these Delusions he struck in with the Society subscribed to their Dictates and resolved upon their Project In short he dispos'd all things to purchase Heaven with a Hellish Zeal and to improve his Fame upon Earth with the infamous Character of a Tyrant and Persecutor His Protestant Subjects to whom he owed his Elevation on the Throne he undermined during several years and by degrees weakened their Party till he thought fit at last to pull off the Mask and to fall foul upon them Abroad he had his Agents to inspire other Princes with the same Unchristian Zeal and put them upon the same Methods of Cruelty for promoting of a Religion whose Principles chiefly tend to make the Clergy Great and the Laity Slaves Hungary Bohemia Poland and Piemont not long since have felt the fury of this Spirit of Persecution And England by his means was like but few years ago to feel the same Calamity so near it was to fall a Sacrifice to the ambitious Designs of Popery and with its fall to carry the Ruin of all the Protestant Interest in Europe That the Design was laid in the Reign of King Charles is apparent by the Growth of Popery here whilst he swayed the Scepter And for this we may thank our unhappy Civil Wars in the Reign of King Charles I. when that good King being put to death by a prevailing Party and the Royal Family dispersed thereupon into Popish Countries the Princes of the Royal Blood were easily poysoned with Popish Insinuations that the only Way for their Restauration and to Reign Arbitrarily was to imbrace or at least to favour the Roman Religion Tho' I am not fully satisfyed that King Charles II. was ever actually Reconciled to the Roman Church whatever has been reported to the contrary but rather that he was too clear-sighted to think well of her Principles yet it is plain by the whole Series of his Reign that he made his Government as easy and favourable to the Roman Party as his Circumstances would allow and that he gave 'em all possible Incouragement But as he was a Prince naturally inclined to Clemency and abhorrent from Cruelty so this Proceeding of his was rather look'd upon as an Effect of his good Nature than of any Design upon the Protestant Interest of these Kingdoms If we reflect upon the Course of his Life during his Reign it seems his Aim was to please all Parties that he might injoy himself and Reign in Quietness But still he kept to an outward Profession of the Reformed Religion as by Law established and from time to time soothed up his Parliaments with solemn Protestations of his faithfulness to their Religion and Liberties Such was the Posture of Affairs in his Reign that tho' he would not himself bring in Popery downright yet he made the way smooth for it For whilst he minded his Amours more than the Government the Thieves stole in and grew upon us Who being countenanced by his Brother the Duke of York a Prince more daring and gone over to the Roman Church began now to build all their Hopes upon him The King having no Issue by the Queen and in process of time no hopes of any by her the Duke remained the Heir apparent and was consequently lookt upon as the Rising Sun On whom His Majesty too much given to Ease and Pleasure disburdened himself of the active and troublesom part of the Government which he left in a great measure to his Care Thus his R. H. had a fair Opportunity to gratifie the Roman Party and improve their Interest here whilst the King connived at iâ— And tho' â—e did not openly profess himself a Papist his forsaking at last the Church of England wherein he was bred and born and espousing so much as he did the Popish Interest sufficiently evidenced his being of that Communion The King being a Prince bigotted to no Religion but linked to the French Interest gave him a great Latitude And this was so far improv'd by the French King that in the Interview which happened at Dover Anno 1670 between our King his Brother and their Sister the Dutchess of Orleans a Treaty was there managed by the Dutchess between both Kings whereby the French King did promise King Charles to Subject his Parliament to him and to Establish the Roman Religion in his Kingdom In
of England Party which stood stifly for the Succession The Tide now began to turn and the Popish Party to have a fair Prospect The Duke was called home and His Majesty disbanded Parliament after Parliament in hopes to get a healing one But failing thereof he published a plausible Declaration touching the Causes that moved him to Dissolve the two last Parliaments Which being read in all Churches and Chappels did very much strengthen the Court Party and turned the Hearts of many People against the late Proceedings of the House of Commons as having over-short the Mark. Which House consisting most of Dissenters gave a Jealousy to the House of Lords and indeed to all the Church-Party that under colour of rooting out Popery they design'd nothing less than the Ruin of the Church and so to kill two Birds with one Stone The Dissenters on the other side seeing the Church Party so stiff for the Dukes Right to the Succession tho upon the Grounds of Justice and Equity fail'd not to clamour against them as Abettors of Popery and Papists in Mascarade In short the Fewd grew so great between both Parties row distinguished by the Nicknames of TORIES and WHIGS that had not his Majesty who now bestirred himself in these difficult Times prevented it by his great Care and Wisdem it had certainly broke out into a Flame In the mean time these unhappy Differences gave fair play to the Papists who know best how to fish in troubled Waters The Popish Plot grew now out of date and lost much of its Credit Then up starts another called the Presbyterian Plot which proved fatal to several Persons of Quality and others of a lower Rank The King now exasperated in the highest degree against the Dissenting Party ordered the Penal Laws to be put in execution which made the Breach so much the wider betwixt Them and the Church Party And whilst the poor Dissenters lay under the lash an officious sort of Church of England Ministers made it their business to preach the stupid Doctrine of Non-Resistance with as much Zeal and Fervency as if there had been no Salvation without it Which some were hired for with a Promise of Church-Preferment whilst others did it meerly to shew their Parts but all wonderfully to the purpose of the Roman Catholick Party and to help forward the Designs of the next Reign The City of London which had strongly appeared against the Dukes Interest was now called to an Account and a Writ of Quo Warranto a dreadful piece of Latin before which no Reason could stand issued out against them to take away their Charter which was accordingly done Then other Corporations were prevailed upon fairly to surrender their Charters in expectation of new ones whereby all their Magistrates and Officers were dependant upon the King 's Will. And by the Duke's Interest many false Protestants were got into Places of Trust who upon the push would be ready to join with the Papists and lend them their helping hands Thus all Things were finely prepared against his Majesties Exit to make room for his Brother And which is observable at the very time when the King was resolved to sift out some Miscarriages and much inclined to call a new Parliament an odd kind of Fit seiz'd upon him which in four days time bereav'd him of his Life and Crown Thus died King Charles a Prince who was neither a sound Papist nor a zealous Protestant Admired for his great Sagacity beloved for his Clemency and the fittest Prince in the World to Reign had not his over-Indulgence to Ease and Pleasures made him averse from Business In which unhappy Temper he was too much followed by his Subjects of both Sexes THE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION PART II. Shewing Our Imminent Ruin in the Reign of the late King James With an Account of the suppos'd Great Belly KING Charles being dead the Lord knows how some wept upon his Tomb for Joy but most for Sorrow The Popish Party were the most concerned in the first and the Protestants whatever he was in the last We were but threatned before with the Danger of a Popish Succession now we had it The Papists had a blessed but doubtful prospect of it and now they were in possession To Secure which the Blood of the deceased King was hardly chilled in his Veins when his next Successor James Duke of York was Proclaimed King at White-hall and in the City in great haste that no Man might pretend Ignorance So that King Charles was scarce gone off the Stage when his Brother to play the last Act enters and ascends the Throne No Prince more courteous more obliging or more promising at first than he was to his new Subjects but particularly to the Church of England Party He came in like a Lamb but reigned like a Lion and followed in all things the Steps of King Lewis Not but that he had innate Vertues of his own but none that could stand proof against the precipitate Suggestions of the Roman Clergy and the irresistible Influence of those hot-brain'd States-men the Jesuites So great was the Opinion of his Justice and Valour when Duke of York that many Protestants durst rely upon his Justice and most promised themselves great Matters from his Valour Especially when upon his Accession to the Crown he declared to his Council that he would protect and favour the Church of England for her unshaken Loyalty and to his Parliament that he would carry the Glory of England beyond all his Predecessors Upon these Assurances he allayed for some time the Fears of his Protestant Subjects but especially the Church of England which thereupon Addressed him from all Parts of the Kingdom as their Tutelar Angel In short so great on a sudden were the Hopes of this King that Edward III and Henry V. the most glorious Monarchs of England were like upon his Account to be hissed out of our English Chronicles But it was not long before he pulled off the Mask And first to gratifie the Roman Catholick Party he declar'd himself of their Communion and made open Profession of it Which some Protestants lookt upon as a good Omen and the product of a generous Soul above Dissimulation whilst others more clear-sighted lookt upon it as an effect of a wilful Nature that thought it needless to Dissemble now the Power was in his own hands To Establish his Religion here was I confess a difficult Task considering how small the Popish Party was the Protestants then by the best Computation being reckon'd 200 to one But the Advantage of a Crown is a great Bait and has a mighty Influence The Hopes of worldly Preferment and the Dread of Majesty would in all probability draw in a great Party Besides what was expected by way of Persuasion from the Industry and Activity of Popish Emissaries Nor do I doubt but the King promised himself great Matters from the Church of England Party which having ventured so much to secure his
Peer who made publick Profession of the Popish Religion and who at the time of his first professing it declared that for a great while before he had believed that to be the only true Religion 'T was by virtue of this Illegal Commission that the Lord Bishop of London was Suspended only because he refused to obey an Order sent him to suspend Dr. Sharp then Rector of S. Giles without so much as Citing him before him to make his own Defence or observing the common Forms of Process By the same Court was Dr. Hough President of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford turned out tho' duly chosen by the Fellows of the said College and afterwards all the Fellows of the said College only for refusing to chuse for their President a Person recommended to them by the Kings Evil Counsellors Iustigation Tho' the Right of a Free Election belonged uâ— oubtedly to the said Fellows and that it is expresly provided in Magna Charta that no Man shall lose Lâ—fe or Goods but by the Law of the Land More than that the said College was wholly put into the hands of Papists who by the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the College are altogether Incapable of such Imployments By the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience His Majesty Commanded the same to be Read in all Churches and Chappels whereby he would have the Clergy to be his Cryers to proclaim his pretended Power to Suspend at once the Force and Use of our Penal Laws made for the Security of our Religion and Property And when the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and six other Bishops offered His Majesty an humble Petition in Terms full of Respect containing in short the Reasâ—ns why they could not Obey the Order sent them to appoint the Clergy to read the Declaration in their Churches the said Bishops were Committed to the Tower and afterwards brought to a Tryal whose Crime was only a due Regard to the Laws They were Acquitted and for that piece of Justice Judge Holloway and Judge Powel were Displaced And because their Acquittal had caused an universal Joy some were brought into Trouble for their innocent Expressions of it Then came out an Order from the Lords Commissioners requiring all the Chancellors and Arch-Deacons of England to return the Names of all such as had read the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and of those that had not read it whether they were injoyned or not injoyned to do it by their respective Bishops And 't is observable that in the Bishoprick of Durham the Bishop whereof was one of the Commissioners near 200 Ministers were Suspended for not Reading the Declaration Hitherto the Court had carried on their Interest bare-fac'd at least since the Ill-tim'd Rebellion of Monmouth and Argile and Dissimulation unless it were to Dissenters had no share in their Transactions But whilst the Church of England was under Persecution it was thought convenient to Protect such of the French Refugees as ventured to fly hither from the now raging Persecution in France Insomuch that notwithstanding King James's strict Friendship and Correspondence with the French King His Majesty Protected them with his Favour and Relieved them with his Royal Briefs But the Reason of the Thing is plain The Court of France were got over the Dissembling Part and all Things there were ripe for Action Whereas in England the Persecution of some was thought fit for a while to be Palliated by the Toleration of Others though all equally design'd for Destruction The same however of this Indulgence to the French Protestants invited Multitudes of them hither to feel the benefit of it in their distressed Condition The Sight whereof stirred the Compassion of most People even of Sober Papists whilst the Plurality of them made it their business all over the Kingdom to stem our Charity by crying down the Persecution Which as fam'd as it was all over Europe for the unparallell'd Cruelty of it these Men had the Face to deny representing the Poor Refugees as so many Cut-throats and Vagabonds whom we must be forsooth aware of A base Inhumane Thing it was thus to insult over the Oppressed and to add so cruelly Persecution to Persecution But this is true Roman Zeal Two Things did prompt them to it First their just Apprehension that this Spectacle would be a Caution for us to look to our selves and stand upon our Gard. Secondly That such an Addition of incensed Protestants to so great a Party as that they must struggle with was not at all agreeable to their Interest The Truth is we ought to admire the singular Providence of God in our behalf that this French Persecution should be so timed as to give us a seasonable Alarm to prevent the same here that our Persecutors Precipitation and Folly should be so great as to open their wicked Designs so early and to send us over so many Thousands of Witnesses as it were to awaken us and to let us see what we ought to look for whenever their Bloody Religion should come to prevail among us Whereas 't is probable otherwise that the good Nature of some and the Weakness and Corruption of others had put us to use Dr. Burnet's Words to a more melancholy and troublesome After-game In the mean time Nothing was omitted to Incourage Popery upon all Accounts tho' never so much against Law New Popish Chappels and Mass Houses were set up New Popish Schools and Monasteries Erected four Popish Provincial Bishops establish'd Priests and Jesuits so Incouraged that England swarmed with them as Egypt did of old with Frogs Lice and Locusts the Privy Council made up of Popish Lords and some Protestants not much better the Jesuit Father Petre a Member thereof and the chief Director of the Cabal Council a Nuncio admitted and a solemn Embassy sent to Rome in the person of the Earl of Castlemain All this in open Defiance to the Laws Such was besides the Corruption and Depravation of Justice in the Courts of Judicature that the Judges must either be biassed by the King's Will or expect a Quietus est as in the Case aforesaid of Holloway and Powel The Juries commonly returned by secret Contrivances and illegal Nominations being neither as the Law Requires of the most sufficient nor most indifferent of the nearest Neighbours to the Facts in question nor by sworn Sheriffs So that any Mans Life or Estate not well affected to the then Government was in great Jeopardy if called into Question Besides that by putting the Administration of Justice into the hands of Papists all Matters of Civil Justice were brought to great Uncertainties Who being under an Incapacity by Law there lay no obligation upon any Man to acknowledge or obey their Judgments and all Sentences by them given were null and void of themselves Thus in few years the Popish Party being become Masters of the Affairs of the Church of the Government of the Nation and of the Course of Justice subjected them
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 merely Arbitrary 6. By Branding all Men with the Name of Rebels that but offered to justify the Laws in a Legal Course against the Arbitrary Proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By Burdening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects 8. By Discountenancing the Established Reformed Religion 9. By Forbidding the Subjects the Benefit of Petitioning and construing them Libeliers so rendering the Laws a Nose of Wax to serve their Arbitrary Ends. And many more such like too long here to enumerate We being thus made sadly sensible of the Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Counsels coming upon us do Vnanimously Declare That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a Condition of Popery and Slavery as the aforesaid Oppressions inevitably threaten We will to the utmost of our Power Oppose the same by Joyning with the Prince of Orange whom we hope God Almighty has sent to Rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid and will use our utmost Indeavours for the Recovery of our almost ruined Laws Liberties and Religion Wherein we hope all good Protestant Subj cts will with their Lives and Fortunes be Assistant to us and not be Bug-beared with the Opprobrious Term of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolencies and Vsurpations For We assure our selves that no rational and unbiassed Person will judge it Rebellion to Defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have Sworn at their Coronation Which Oath how well it has been observed of late We desire a Free Parliament may have the Consideration of We own it Rebellion to Resist a King that Governs by Law But he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to Resist such a one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And in this Corsideration We doubt not of all honest Mons Assistance humbly hoping for and imploring the great God's Protection that turns the Hearts of the People as pleases him best For it has been observed that People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration which has confirmed the Saying Vox Populi Vox Dei The present Restoring of Charters and Reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given of Magdalen College Fellows is plain are but to still the People like Plums to Children by deceiving them for a while But if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled tâ—ll the present Storm that threatens the Papists be past as soon as thâ—y shall be Re-settled the former Oppression will be put on with greater Vigour But we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds The Old Rule of Papists is so well known that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresy 'T is well known how ill Q. Mary observed her Promises to the Suffolk Men that helped her to the Throne And how the Pope Dispenses with the Breach of Oaths Treatises or Promises at his Pleasure when it makes for the Service of the Holy Church as they term it These are such convincing Reasons to hinder Vs from giving Credit to the aforesaid Mock-shews of Redress that We think our selves bound in Conscience to rest on no Security that shall not be approved by a Freely Elected Parliament to whom under God we Refer our Cause To this Declaration the Northern Commonalty sensible of the Justice of it and Influenced besides by the Interest and Example of so many Lords and Gentlemen did readily Subscribe and the Militia was Raised upon it who gave a great Stroke towards the Revolution For the News of it coming to the Kings Ears at Salisbury struck such a Damp upon his Spirits that he began now to think his Case desperate To the same Effect was a Paper delivered from the Nobility and Gentry of the North by the Earl of Devonshire to the Mayor of Darby where his Lordship Quartered the 21 of November that is for the Meeting and Sitting of a Parliament freely and duly Chosen With a declared Resolution therein That in case any Interruption should be given to the Proceeding of a Parliament they the Nobility and Gentry of the Northern Parts of England would to their utmost Defend the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Kingdom and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject In the County of Norfolk the Duke who bears that Title found the Gentry and Common People in the same Disposition Being come to Lyn attended by many of the Principal Men in the County he received an Address in the Market-place presented in these Words to his Grace by the Mayor attended by the Body and many hundreds of the Inhabitants My Lord Address of Lyn to the Duke of Norfolk The Daily Alarms we receive as well from Foreign as Domestick Enemies give us just Apprehensions of the approaching Danger we conceive to be in and make us apply our selves with all earnestness to your Grace as our great Patron that we may be put into such posture by your Directions and Conduct as may make us appear as Zealous as any in the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Laws and Ancient Government of this Kingdom Which is the Desire of many Hundreds who most humbly challenge a Right of your Graces Protection To which his Grace was pleased to Answer thus Mr. Mayor The Duke of Norfolk's Answer I am very much obliged to You and the rest of your Body and all here present for your good Opinion of me and the Confidence you have that I will do what in me lyes to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion in which I will never deceive you And since the Coming of the Prince of Orange has given us an Opportunity to Declare for the Defence of them I can only assure you that no Man will venture his Life and Fortune more freely for the same than I will do especially with all these Gentlemen here present and many more of the same Principles In order to which you shall see all possible Care shall be taken to answer your Expectation Whereupon the Militia was ordered to be raised throughout the County Which being thus put into a posture of Defence his Grace was pleased to deliver himself in these Words to the said Corporation The Duke of Norfolk's second Speech I have indeavoured as you see to put you into the Posture you desired by sending both for Horse and Foot of the Militia and am very glad to see such an Appearance of this Town in so good a Condition I do again renew my former Assurances to you that I will ever stand by
they pulled down and plundered the Spanish Embassadors House whose Damages were afterwards abundantly made up by the Government Thus King James lest his Party to the Mercy of the Rabble whose unaccountable Outrages and Violences could not be prevented in that critical Time Yet their Rage fell much short of what the Papists expected considering their former Provocations for I could not hear of any Hurt they did to their Persons Whereas the major Part of them expected nothing less than Death and Destruction as it had been our Fate had our Case been their own Which piece of Moderation from a loose provoked and mighty Rabble without the Restraint of any Government is not to be parallel'd in History As for the false Alarm which hapned upon it of the desperate Irish Forces Burning and Plundering and putting to the Sword all they met in their Way as Improbable as the Thing was in it self yet it got such Credit all over the Kingdom that the whole Nation was in a ferment upon it and all the Militia in Arms to oppose the pretended Fury of a sort of Men which the Sound of a Horn had newly put to Flight at Reading and that of an old Barrel at Maidenhead But however the Alarm was given it was not without some Design and whatever was in the Top one might easily guess that Policy was in the Bottom For to imagine that four or five thousand Irish should all of a sudden be grown so Desperate as to think to Post away this Nation with Fire and Sword when the very sight of a less Number of resolute Men might have made them shew their Heels was a Thing fitter to laugh at than to be concerned for One Thing is Observable in the King's Desertion viz. the Great Seals being cast into the Thames as it was found out afterwards Which lookt like a wilful Desertion of the Government and an intire Abdication thereof At least he seemed thereby to imply that in case he should Return he was resolved not to Rule by Law of which the Great Seal seems always to carry some Prints King James being thus gone not able to bear the brunt of a Parliament and the Writs prepared for it being stopt made his Way by Water for France with all speed till he hapned to be stopt at Feversham in Kent as we shall see afterwards Upon the News of his being Gone there was a Meeting that very Day at Guild-hall of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster to the Number of nine and twenty who agreed upon and signed a Declaration In which having first expressed their Zealous Concern for the Nation in this dangerous Conjuncture upon the King 's having Withdrawn himself in order to his Departure out of this Kingdom they Unanimously Declared their Resolution to apply themselves to His Highness the Prince of Orange and to Assist him with their utmost Indeavours in the speedy Obtaining of a Parliament whereby our 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 Incouraged They further Declared That in the mean time they would Indeavour to Preserve to the utmost of their Power the Peace and Security of London and Westminster and the Parts adjacent And if any Thing more could be performed by Them for promoting His Highnesses generous Intentions for the Publick Good that they would be ready to do it as Occasion should require With which Declaration four of their Body Viz. the Earl of Pembroke the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Bishop of Ely and the Lord Culpeper were desired to attend His Highness Which they did accordingly The same day two Addresses were Agreed upon one from the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the Commons of the City of London in the Common Council Assembled and another from the Lieutenancy of London which were both presented to his Highness at Henly in Oxfordshire Dec. 13. with the Lords Declaration Which Addresses in short contained Their humble Acknowledgment of His Highnesses fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion and of his Vnparalled Generosity in Exposing his Person to so many Dangers both by Sea and Land to Rescue these Nations from Slavery and Popery With a Declaration that they presumed to make his Highness their Refuge and therefore begged his Protection And at last humbly beseeching his Highness to Repair with all convenient Speed to the Capital City for the perfecting the great Work He had so happily begun The Prince having now a certain Account of the King 's being gone away did put out a Declaration Requiring all colonels and Commanders in Chief of the Regiments Troops and Companies of the Royal Army that had Dispersed themselves to call together by Beat of Drum or otherwise the several Officers and Souldiers belonging to their respective Regiments Troops and Companies in such Places as they should find most convenient for their Rendez-vous and there to keep them in good Order and Discipline And all such Officers and Souldiers forthwith to Repair to such Places as should be appointed for that purpose by their respective Colonels and Commanders in Chief whereof His Highness required speedy Notice to be given unto Him for his further Orders The King in the mean time who was supposed to be near the Coast of France was unluckily stopt in a Smack nigh Feversham by some sturdy Fellows then Jesuite-hunting and was Secured for One till he came to be Known Then he was prevailed upon to Return to White-hall which he did on the 16th Where being Informed of divers Outrages and Disorders that had been committed in his Absence He was pleased that very Night in Council to give Orders for the preventing all such Outrages and Disorders for the future Which proved the last Publick Act of his Regal Power His Highness the Prince of Orange was now come to Windsor where he arived on Friday Dec. 14. From whence he had sent the Sieur de Zulestein to the King who likewise sent the Earl of Feversham to his Highness to Invite him to S. James's But his Lordship was secured in the Castle by the Prince's Order for his late Irregular Disbanding of the King's Forces Decemb. 17. In the Night the King's Gards were changed by the Prince's then arrived at S. James's Park Which Proceeding the Jacobites do exclaim against as a great piece of Iniquity and look upon as unaccountable But as the Case stood the Thing was unavoidable and as I am apt to think the King's Invitation was none of the more Cordial so I presume this Proceeding of the Prince was not free from Reluctancy Upon the King's Going off the Lords Assembled at Guild hall and the City had put themselves under the Prince's Protection as being left in a State of Anarchy and his Highness had now the Command of the King's Forces so that it was in his
the King Daclared That he did not mean by these Words that he was under any Obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners Authorized thereto by the Estates of Scotland made Answer That neither the Meaning of the Oath nor the Law of Scotland did impâ—â—â— it Then the King replied That he took the Oath in that sense and called for Witnesses the Commssioners and others present And then both Their Majesties signed the said Coâ—onation Oath After which the Commissioners and several of the Scottish Nobility kissed Their Majesties Hands Thus WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of Orange were by the Grace and Providence of God for the good of these Kingdoms made King and Queen of Great Britain in Opposition to all Malecontents A Race of Men content in no Condition who in a State of Slavery are eager for Liberty and when set at Liberty are again for Slavery These are the Tools hitherto made use of by King Lewis to distract these Kingdoms under the specious Pretence of Restoring the late King James to the Throne by their dark Plotting here against the Government and their open Rebellion in Scotland Where the Duke of Gourdon Governour of Edenburg Castle held it out for King James till the 13th of June and the Lord of Dundee at the Head of an Army of Rebels was killed in a Field-fight on the 1st of August From which time the Rebels there never thrived but were glad at last to imbrace Their Majesties most Gracious Pardon The greatest Difficulty was to Reduce Ireland then in the hands of Papists fortifyed with a great Army assisted by the French King and influenced by the late King James Who look'd upon ireland as a Back-door for him to return into England with a Crucifix in one hand and a Sword in the other Ireland that had been so often Conquered by the English was now to Conquer England and the Irish did not by their Shouls consider whether it was for King James or King Lewis They were pleased with the Notion of an Infallible Conquest and before they had drawn the Sword they fell forsooth dividing the Spoil amongst themselves Incouraged by King James's Presence now come from France to Dublin about the beginning of the Year 89 nothing was to stand before them London-Derry in the North of Ireland was the only place of Note that stood out for Their Majesties The French and Irish being resolved to reduce it by Fire Sword and Famine sat before it and brought it to that extremity that good part of the Town was by French Bombs reduced into Ashes and above 5000 of the Inhabitants died for want of Provisions Yet under these dismal Circumstances the Town held out under the Conduct of that Martial Clergy-Man the Reverend Dr. Walker till it was Relieved by Major General Kirk July 31. 1689. What happened since all the World knows The famous Battle at the River Boyne fought the next Year after is an eternal Monument of King William's incomparable Valour and Conduct and of God's wonderful Providence over his Royal Person By this Battle wherein he was blessed with a glorious Victory he drove King James with full speed out of Ireland he got possession of the Capital City of Dublin besides Drogheda Wexford Waterford and other places of less note so that two parts in three of Ireland were in a manner Reduced in one Campaign Afterwards Cork and Kingsale were happily Recovered by the Earl of Marlborough And this Years Expedition under the Chief Conduct of that Valiant Fortunate Wise and Skilful General the Baron de Gâ—â—okle will be eternally famous for Compleating so Successfully the Reduction of that Kingdom by the Surrender of Ballymore the Taking of Athlone by Storm the great Victory at Aghâ—im the surrender of Galloway and Slâ—gâ— and at last that of Limerick a Place lookt upon as almâ—st Impregnable So that we see now a Kingdom which besides its own Strength has been power-fully Assisted by the French and Countenanced by the late King James intirely Reduced to their Majesties Obedience at the end of two Campaigns Which I hope may convince the most Obstinate especially after a long Chain of unaccountable and unlookt for Providences that this great Revolution is not only by the Will or Permission of Almighty God but that it is his own Work who is free to dispose of Crowns and Kingdoms to shew Mercy and Judgment upon whom he pleases And if it be so I cannot imagine how Intailed Kings good or bad can be more de Jâ—â—e Divino than our Great King William Thus we see King James II. an Unfortunate Prince who might have been a most glorious Monarch fal'n with the Loss of three Crowns a Sacrifice to Priests and Jesuits and fain to creep under the Shelter of a King who is not like to hold out long himself if he must give an Account to God and Men of the abominable Transactions of his Reign Thus is the Curse of King James I. come upon King James II which he solemnly pronounced upon any of his Posterity that should forsake the Church of England to imbrace that of Rome And yet had it been possible for him to keep within some reasonable Bounds and his Religion to himself without trampling as he did upon the Laws he might have hitherto sat upon the Throne and 't is like the Nation upon his account would have been very Indulgent to the Roman Catholick Party But he would never be advised to Moderation and no Counsellors were welcome to him but such as prompted him to Violence The Issue whereof proved accordingly All Covet all Lose And 't is observable that as great as King James was with King Lewis yet the Court of France was allowed openly to declare his Errors to the World and passed this Verdict upon him That his whole Conduct had been very little Judicious The Emperor on the other side could not forbear in his Letter to him dated April 9. 1689. amongst his tender condoling Expressions to remind him of some of his false Politicks I am heartily sorry for his Fate but it is better so than to see three Kingdoms perish I remember one of his Expressions at his first coming to the Crown that he would carry the Glory of England beyond all his Predecessors which he has made good in some sense For by his Iâ—legal and Arbitrary Methods he has given us an Opportunity after some Years of tiresom Passive Obedience of shâ—wing to the World how loth we are to part with our Laws Religion and Liberties and impatient of that uneasy double Yoak which other Nations groan under Therefore far from deserving the Censure of Mankind we are applauded for it all the World over by all disinterested sensible and rational Men. And after two weak esseminate and inglorious Reigns which had sunk the Reâ—â—tation and Honour of this Nation and made us all over Europe an Object of Scorn and Contempt we have by this way of Reprisal recovered our Credit and
order to which the Hollanders must first be brought down and both Kings joyn in Arms to make them incapable of being any longer a Support or Refuge for Protestants Delenda est Carthago In short Anno 72 the Storm broke out upon Holland that Nest of Hereticks And in two Campaigns we saw that Potent State at that time our only Rival upon the Ocean brought by the French King's Land Forces to the last Extremity whilst we harassed them at Sea and fought them but without any great Advantage on our side We had indeed a Frenchy Squadron in conjunction with our Fleet but their business it seems was not to fight All their Care was to be Spectators of our Fights at a convenient distance and to see if the English did their Duty well In the mean time they learnt the Art of our Sea-fights and had the satisfaction to see these two Protestant Nations thus weaken one another which was the French King 's chief Aim This Conduct of the French at Sea with the amazing Progress of their Arms by Land happened to open our Eyes For till then we were possessed of the Justice of the War on our side considering the many Provocations of the States as they were mustered in the King's Declaration We could not imagine that King Charles had any other Design than to curb their Pride and lessen their Power at Sea for the benefit of our Trade and Navigation in order to which a little help tho' from France was not thought amiss The Dover-Treaty lay then under the Rose and we knew not what Snake lay in the Grass The King wanting Mony to prosecute the War convened his Parliament The Danger we were in by the apparent Ruin of a Neighbouring State of the same Religion with us and now become with our help a Prey to the French came soon under Debate The Parliament voted a Peace with the States And the King finding no Mony was to be had without it yielded to their Desire and made a separate Peace This startled King Lewis who from this very time concluded that King Charles was not to be relyed on for the execution of that grand Religious Design he had been so long big withal And to be even with him for his Desertion in this War he caused not long after the Dover Treaty to be published with his Priviledge by the Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland whereby he chiefly designed to make the King odious to his People The Duke of York upon this was look'd upon as the fitter Person for the Project in hand who wanting neither Zeal nor Ambition was a Vessel altogether prepared and moulded for his purpose Whereas King Charles was like the Church of Laodicea neither Cold nor Hot and therefore to be spued out The Dutchess of Orleans or rather the French King by her means had sent to King Charles a French Curtain Sollicitor but a true Member of the Holy Church as a Pledge or Memorandum of the Dover Treaty Who for her close and faithful Commerce with the King was made D. of P. The same Care he took of his R. H. to keep him in a right Cue and steady to his Principles but by way of Marriage So that he was both Procurer and Match-maker The Match was Mary the late Duke of Modena's Daughter an Italian Princess of no great Fortune but of an Ancient Family and which was most to the purpose a Princess intirely devoted to the present Interest The Duke had been three Years and a half a Widower And as the Case stood there was a Necessity for his R. H. to venture on a second Match that the Succession to the Crown might be Intailed either by Nature or Art to an Heir Male. The Lady Mary and the Lady Ann his two Daughters by Ann his first Wife were bred and born Protestants and such were not for the present Turn King Charles who was sensible how unacceptable this Match was to his People and fearing some ill Consequences of it upon himself resolved however to dispose of his Royal Nieces and to Marry them to Protestant Princes to allay the Jealousies and Fears from this New Match Which indeed were something the less for the then common Opinion That His Royal Highness was too much Frenchifi'd to get any durable Iâ—ue To the Lady Mary was given in Marriage to the Prince of Orange Anno 1677 and the Lady Ann to Prince George of Denmark in the Year 1683. But few days after the Lady MARY was married to the Prince of ORANGE the Dutchess of YORK was brought to bed of a Son created Duke of Cambridge who dying in four or five days the Popish Faction had but a short Joy of it In the mean time his R. H. being the next Heir to the Crown and the Papists resolved not to lose this Opportunity turned every Stone to make their Party good by Plotting and Conspiring even with Authority against the Government The KING was healthful and of a strong constitution but wanted zeal or boldness to secure their Interest The DUKE was zealous and bold but wanted a sound Body In short according to all humane probability the KING by the strength of Nature was the most likely to live These Considerations were like enough to give Birth to that famous Conspiracy which upon its breaking out made so great a Noise in the World I mean the Popish Plot. And tho I cannot believe it in all its Branches as made out by Dr. Oates yet in the main 't is more than probable that there was a Plot on foot against the Government Mr. Coleman the Dukes Secretary's intercepted Letters are a sufficient Proof of this who kept as appears by those Letters a close Correspondence with Father La Chaise the French King's Confessor for the Extirpating the Protestant Religion in these Kingdoms under the name of the Northern Heresy That to Extirpate imports a violent Act is a thing undeniable So that the Roman Religion was not to come in by fair means or by way of persuasion but by force and violence And 't is like a great deal more of that wicked Design had appeared if amongst Coleman's latest Letters for two years and a half that were brought to White-Hall many had not been there supprest and kept from the sight of the Parliament Yet upon his Trial he openly avowed the Design of Subverting the Protestant Religion wherein he owned himself a subordinate Minister This Plot kept for a while the Papists under Hatches and forced the Duke himself upon the King's Command to withdraw for some time out of the Kingdom so that he went first to Flanders and afterwards to Scotland Mean while the House of Commons who lookt upon him as the great Abettor and Supporter of the Popish Interest went so far as to attempt his Exclusion from the Crown But as vigorously as it was carried on in the House of Commons it was quashed in the House of Lords by the Church