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
offered to justifie the Laws in a legal Course against the Arbitrary Proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By Burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects 8. By discountenancing the Establisht Reform'd Religion 9. By forbidding the Subjects the Benefit of Petitioning and Construing them Libellers so rendring 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 Councels coming upon us do unanimously 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 joining with the Prince of Orange whom we Hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid will use our utmost Endeavours for the recovery of our almost ruin'd Laws Liberties and Religion and herein we Hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us and not be bugbear'd with the Opprobrious Terms of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpations for we assure our selves that no rational and unbyassed Person will Judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have Sworn at their Coronations which Oath how well it hath 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 an one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence and in this Consideration we doubt not of all Honest Mens Assistance and humbly hope for and implore the great God's Protection that turneth the Hearts of his People as pleaseth him best it having been observed That People can never be of one Mind without his Inspiration which hath in all Ages Confirmed that Observation Vox Populi est Vox Dei The present restoring of Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen Colledge Fellows is plain are but to still the People liâ—e Plums to Children by deceiving them for a while but it they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present storm that threatens the Papists he past affoon as they shall be resetled the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour but we hope in vain is the Neâ— spread in the sight of the Birds For 1. The Papists old Rule is That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho' the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresie And 2. Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk-men that helpt her to her Throne And above all 3 The Popes Dispensing with the breach of Oaths Treaties or Promises at his Pleasure when it makes for the Service of Holy Church as they term it These we say are such convincing Reasâ—ns to hinder us 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 The Lord Delamere being assured of the Resolution and Couragious Zeal of all his Followers continued a while in those Parts to watch the Morions of the Papists in Lancashire who began to take Arms under the Lord Molineux and for a time assisted to Guard Chester for the King but upon the surprizal of that Garrison for the Prince were soon after beaten or rather run away out of the Town and disbanded of themselves In the North the Earl of Danby the Lord Fairfax and other Persons of Quality seized upon the City of York and turned out the Lord Mayor and other Magistrates that were Papists or ill-affected Collonel Copley the Deputy Governour of Hull seized upon all the Guards of that Garrison and with the Assistance of some of the Townsmen and some Seamen made the Lord Langdale the Governour and the Lord Montgomery the Marquess of Powis his Sons Prisoners till he had secured the Citadel wherein was a plentiful Magazine of Powder and all sorts of Provisions with a Train of Artillery ready fixed to be drawn out into the Field Plymouth also with the Earl of Huntington and all the Popish Officers and Souldiers was seized by the Earl of Bath for his Highness and at the same time all the chief Sea-Port Towns in Cornwal declared for the Prince so that there was no Enemy behind him to disturb the Râ—re of his advancing Army But the King being as yet in hopes to force his way through all the great Opposition made him by the whole Kingdom having sent his Army before to Salisbury goes thither to them yet before he went he thought it requisite to provide for the Safety of the pretended Prince of Wales and not daring to trust to the Validity of the forementioned Affidavits for more Security he sent him away with a strong Guard to Portsmouth that if things went ill he should be conveyed over to France when the King came to Salisbury he began to bleed at the Nose and was observed to continue bleeding for some time which seened at that time Ominous to him But in the midst of these sarprizes more ill News arrives to increase his Astonishment for besides the Lord Cornbury who had carried off a consideraâ—â—â— Party of Horse to the Prince some time before several other Regiments of Foot had now Deserted and were gone the same way upon His arrival near to Salisbury he was met by the Duke of Berwick the Earl of Feversham and several other Officers on Horseback and by them attended to the Gates of the Town being met by the Mayor and Aldermen in their Formalities and Conducted to the Bishops Pallace but these flatteâ—ing appearances soon vanisht He quickly perceiving that his English Forces were generally dissatisfied and seem'd unwilling to engage in Civil Bloodshed against their own Countreymen and of their own Religion which was to Fight with their Bodies against their Consciences and likewise discovered the Discontents of the People who supplied the Machels very sparingly for his Army so that not judging himself safe among them and upon a false Alarm that Marshal Schomberg was within thirty or twenty Miles of him he returned back in all haste to Windsor and from thence to London being extreamly discouraged that Prince George and the Lord Churchil were gone both to the Prince and that the Princess Ann of Denmark was also retired from the Court The Prince of Denmark and the Lord Churchil left each of them the following Letters behind them directed to the King SIR with a Heart full of Grief am I forced to write that Prudence will not permit me
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
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
full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence That his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here Asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster do Resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be Declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions ' to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint Lives And after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess And for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them And that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as impious and Heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murdered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do Declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God This Declaration being Presented to their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange in the Banqueting House at White-Hall on Wednesday Feb. 13. 1688. and their Consent thereunto Received they were both the same Day Proclaimed King and Queen of England France and Ireland c. at White-Hall Gate Temple-Bar and the Royal Exchange many of the Lords and Commons attending and the People proclaiming their Joys by Repeated Shouts and Acclamations The Tenor of the Proclamation was as followeth Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly Sensible and fully perswaded of the Great and Eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with her upon this Nation and where as the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Oranâ—e and therein desired them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Reaim do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging who are accordingly so to be owned Deemed and taken by all the People of the afore said Realms and Dominions who are from hence forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to Bless King William and Queen Mary with long and Happy Years to Reign over us God Save King William and Queen Mary John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum It is Reported that his Majesty should thus generously express himself upon this Occasion That though the Regulations seem'd somewhat harsh they were easy to him that desired only to be a great King But in respect to one that Aim'd to be a Tyrant they were not strict enough Having thus brought their Majesty to the Throne let us make a few Remarks upon this Wonderful and Unparallel'd Revolution and so conclude the History of the House of Orange Had a Prince of less Secresie Prudence Courage and Interest undertaken this mighty Affair it might probably have miscarryed but as his Cause was better so his Reputation Conduct and Patience infinitely exceeded that of King James He would not stir till he saw the French Forces sit down before Philipsburg and that he was sure France and Germany were irrecoverably ingaged and that he should have no other Opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must have Determined every thing in Controversy except they were Resolved once for all to have given up their Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the Will of their Arbitrary Kings and submitted for ever to a French Government and indeed a Nation of less Sense than the English might have been imposed upon Of less Bravery and Valour might have been frighted Of a more Servile Temper might have neglected their Liberties till it had been too late to recover them again And none but a parcel of Jesuits unacquainted with their Temper and Constitution would ever have hoped to have carryed two such things as Popery and Arbitrary Power both at once upon a People so Jealous as the English are and who hate Idolatry and Tyranny above any Nation in the World As for King James II. had he undertaken any thing but these two his vast Revenue his Reputed Personal Valour and the Fame he had gained both at Home and Abroad by the Defeat of Monmouths Invasion would have gone near to have effected it And after all if he had in the beginning of October freely granted all the Proposals made him by the Nobility and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up his Evil Ministers to Justice and permitted the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales to have been freely Debated and Determined in Parliament it would in all probability have prevented this Expedition of the Prince of Orange But whilst he thought to preserve the pretended Succession the
THE HISTORY OF THE House of Orange OR A Brief Relation of the Glorious and Magnanimous Atchievements of His Majesties Renowned Predecessors and likewise of His own Heroick Actions till the Late Wonderful Revolution Together with The HISTORY of William and Mary King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Being an Impartial Account of the most Remarkable Passages and Transactions in these Kingdoms from Their Majesties Happy Accession to the Throne to this time By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693. TO THE READER I Am very sensible that the greatness of the Subject is a sufficient reason to deter me from adventuring to publish my mean endeavours in Relating the Glorious and Magnanimous Atchievements of His Majesties Renowned Ancestors as well as His own Or of the excellent Conduct of Their Majesties since Their happy Accession to the Throne But because we have such a furious Generation of Murmurers who if they had their desires would ruine both themselves and their Countrey and reduce us to French Popery and Slavery It may seem to be the Interest of every man to strive to undeceive those whom these Miscreants would delude since both our Eternal and Temporal happiness very much depends upon the supporting the present Government against all its Forreign and Domestick Enemies A Government founded upon Law and Justice A Government calculated for the support of the Protestant Interest throughout the World wherein we have a King and Queen of the same excellent Religion with our selves a happiness which we have been deprived of for almost an Age past Princes of such exemplary Virtue and Piety that they discourage Vice and Prophaneness and constantly endeavour to support Goodness and Modesty which seem'd lately designed to be hissed out of the Nation God grant that our ingratitude and impenitence may never deprive us of such inestimable blessings and that we do not fall a Sacrifice to our stupendious folly and discontents THE HISTORY OF THE House of Orange THE Family of Nassau from whom our Gracious Soveraign is descended is not undeservedly accounted one of the most Antient and Honourable in Europe not only for its great Allianceâ— and Branches but also by the Advancement of one of this House to the Empire of Germany Adolphus Nassau by name about the Year 1200 and that there has been a Succession of the Family in a direct Line for above a thousand years past and among them OTHO Count of Nassau who lived about six hundred years since and had two Wives with the first of whom he had the Province of Gueldres and with the other that of Zutphen About three hundred years after a second Count OTHO of Nassau married the Countess of Vranden whereby he became possest of several other Territories in the Netherlands In the Year 1404. Engilbert who was his Grandchild married the Heiress of the Town of Breda and Loeke and was Grandfather to Engilbert 2d Earl of Nassau who in 1491. was by Maximilian King of the Romans going into Hungary made Governour Lieutenant and Captain General of Flanders and afterwards in 1501. Arch-Duke Philip going into Spain constituted him Governour General of the Netherlands an experienced Prince both in War and Peace but dying Childless left his Brother John his large Territories this John had two Sons upon Henry the eldest he bestowed all his Possessions in the Low-Countries and to his youngest Son William he bequeathed all his Inheritance in Germany By the earnest Endeavours of Henry Nassau Charles the 5th was advanced to the Empire against the pretensions of Francis I. the French King and at his Coronation placed the Crown on his Head And yet when upon concluding Peace between these two Monarchs Henry was sent by the Emperor to do Homage to King Francis for the County of Flanders and Artois that Prince forgetting former differences and being fully sensible of his extraordinary Merits married him to Claudia only Sister to Philibert Chalon Prince of Orange by which Marriage his only Son Revens of Orange and Chalons became Prince of Orange William Earl of Nassau Brother to Prince Henry profâ—ssed the Protestant Religion and expell'd Popery out of his Territories and was Father to the great William of Nassau who attained to be Prince of Orange and Lord of all the Possessions of the House of Chalens by the Last Will of Revens de Nassau who died Childless The Emperor Charles the 5th having a favour for the House of Orange and received great services from them was concerned that the young Prince William should be educated in the Reformed Religion and therefore took him with much regret from his Father and endeavoured to instruct him in the Romish Faith but afterward the former Opinions which he had suckt in with his Mothers Milk prevailed upon him so that he became an earnest Professor of Protestantism William Count of Nassau his Father had five Sons and seven Daughters by Juliana Countess of Stolberg WILLIAM the eldest was born in 1533. at the Castle of Dillemberg in the County of Nassau and being taken from his Father by the Emperor Charles as we said he became a great Favourite by his extraordinary Wisdom and Modesty so that the Emperor confest this young Prince often furnisht him with notions and hints he should else never have thought of and upon giving of private Audiences to Ambassadors when the Prince would discreetly offer to withdraw the Emperor mildly remanded him saving Stay Prince and it was admired by the whole Court that a Prince not above twenty years old should be intrusted with all the Secrets of the Empire and carry the Imperial Crown upon his resignation to his Brother Ferdinand though the Prince with some reluctancy seemed to refuse the Imployment by alledging That it was no ways proper for him to carry to another that Crown which his Uncle Henry of Nassau had set upon his Head Yea the Emperor had so much confidence in his Conduct that in the absence of the D. of Savoy his General of the Low Countries though the Prince were not above 22 years old yet contrary to the Advice of all his Council rejecting all other experienc'd Generals he constituted him Generalissimo who managed that great Imploy with such discretion and courage that he caused Philipville and Charlemont to be built in the fight of the French Army which was then commanded by Admiral Castillon that great Captain These Magnanimous actions caused the Emperor to recommend the Prince of Orage to Philip II. his Son but his Virtue and Courage were so emulated by the Spaniards that all his most innocent words and actions were misinterpreted and the opposition that the Provinces made to the Kings Will and Pleasure in defence of their Priviledges were attributed to his contrivance which King Philip made him sensible of when he was imbarking from Flushing for Spain charging him with preventing all his private Intrigues with a furious countenance And when
tht Attempt And the Prince of Orange observing himself so roughly and unjustly used being reproached as a publick Enemy and exposed to the malice of his implacable Adversaries having his innocent Son and his great Estate ravished from him he thought it high time to defend his Honour and his Life by force of Arms and to engage for Religion and Liberty in the Common quarrel of his Countrey And thereupon he raised an Army in Germany which he sent unto Friz and under his brother Lewis and Adolphus of Nassaw and being met by Count Aremburgh with a considerable Force a battle followed wherein the Nassovians gained a considerable Victory the Spanish Army being totally routed and Arembergh himself with the principal Commanders slain and all their Cannon Baggage and a great summ of Money sent to pay the Souldiers taken This defeat happened in 1568. But Count Lowis enjoyed this Victory very little for the Duke of Alva pursuing him fell upon him just at the time when the Germans were all in a mutiny for their pay who rather chose to be miserably slain than to defend themselves so that six thousand were killed or drowned Adolphus hardly making his escape The Prince nothing discouraged at this misfortune raised another Army of Twenty eight thousand French and Germans and published a Declaration wherein he cleared his Innocence of those crimes objected against him charging the Duke and the Council of Bloud with the Causes of the War and then passing the Rhyne by tying his Horses together to break the force of the River the Foot arrived silently in the night to the other Shore which so surprized that Duke of Alva that he would not believe it at first saying Sure yo do not think them an Army of Birds Arriving thus into Brabant he offered Alva Battel which the other declined so that after 29 several attempts to engage him to a Combate and the City 's not revolting to the Prince as he expected and the Germans being again ready to mutiny for want of Pay it was thought adviseable to dismiss his Army paying part of their Arreas by the sale of his Plate Artillery and Baggage and engaging his Principality of Orange to his chief Officers for the remainder yet before their disbanding he routed eighteen Companies of the Enemies Foot and three hundred Horse of the Spaniards near Cambray most of the Commanders being taken Prisoners and the Duke of Alva's Son slain After this with only 1200 Horse the Prince and his two Brothers went into France to the Assistance of the Protestants against the Duke of Guize and his Partisans where he was very successful in several Encounters and at length by the Advice of the great Admiral Coligni he gave out Commissions to several Persons of Quality Fugitives of the Low Countries to infest the Spaniards by Sea by which means he soon became Master of all Holland and Zealand The Germans being driven out of the Netherlands the D. of Alva as if he had conspired to lose these Countries instantly levied new Taxes even the Tenths of all Goods and Estates which so inraged the People that were already near ruined by the War that upon the Privateers who were sent abroad by the Princes Commission taking the Town of Brill a Port in Zealand eight Cities in Holland and all the Cities in Zealand except Middleburgh declared for the Prince of Orange and Flushing a considerable City being animated by the Priest at Mass on Easter day in the Morning turned out the Spanish Garrisons in such fury that they hang'd Alvarez Kinsman to the Duke of Alva And William Count of Bergen at the same time took several other Towns in Friezeland and which most astonisht Alva Lewis of Nassau by the Assistance of the French took Mons the chief City of Heynault Mean while the Prince of Orange with an Army of 11000 Foot and 6000 Horse marches to Lovain which presented him with 16000 Crowns and was received into Mechlin and from thence comes within fight of Alva's Army which was strongly fortified yet the Prince resolved to force his Intrenchments or oblige him to a Battel which whilst he was consulting he received Advice of the horrid Massacre at Paris whereby he lost the Admiral Chastillon and many other of his dearest Friends together with all hopes of any more Relief from France so that not being able to oblige the Duke to a Battel and doubting the French Commanders manders who were his chief strength should desert him upon News of the bloody Massacre he writ to his Brother Lewis to make Terms for delivering up Mons then besieged by Alva and then with slow Marches retreated to the Rhyne yet with some loss and danger for a Detatchment of Spanish Horse and Foot breaking into his Camp in the night kill'd and burnt all before them as far as his own Tent where he was fast asleep but a little Dog which us'd to lie on his Bed never left barking and scratching his face till he had waked him so that leaping out of his Bed and perceiving the peril he was in he hastened to his Men who were now coming to his Rescue and fell upon the Spaniards so furiously that most of the Party which were about a thousand Horse and Foot were cut off in their retreat After which the Prince dismissed his Army and came into Holland these States with those of Zealand having already acknowledged him for their Governour and taken an Oath to stand by him with their Lives and Fortunes But though the Prince had the full power of the Government in his own hands yet he acted all matters in the name of the States and by his extream dilligence in four months time he had provided a Fleet of 150 Sail well Rigged and Manned in the Port of Flushing who for ten years after did unspeakable damage to the Spaniards and were never but once worsted by them He likewise banished all Romish superstitions out of the Churches that difference in Religion might render them more irreconcileable to their old Adversary But the Duke of Alva having retaken Mons sent his Son to reduce some other Cities in Holland and Guelderland and because the Town of Haerlem had formerly received the Prince of Orange after the Duke had reduced it by Famine whereof near thirteen thousand died he made a dreadful example of this place the Spaniards first hanging the Governour and for several days together hanging and drowning the Ministers Magistrates and People of the City to the number of near two thousand which butcheries made the Hollanders to be still more resolved and obstinate against them so that the other Towns made a more Vigorous defence for fear of falling into the hands of such cruel blood hounds Soon after the Duke of Alva was recalled out of the Netherlands and Lowis Requiesens of a milder temper was sent to succeed him King Philip now finding that Rigor and Barbarity did but inrage the Netherlanders and made them more averse to
his Government This new Governour had the fortune at his arrival to be an eye-witness of the deseat of his Masters Fleet by that of the Prince of Orange but yet was more fortunate by Land for Prince Lowis of Nassaw having brought a fourth Army out of Germany of seven thousand Foot and four thousand Horse was defeated by the Spaniards near Nimmeguen the Germans according to their usual custom calling for their pay just as the battle began and thereby were the ruine of themselves as well as of their Generals honour Prince Lowis with his brother Prince Henry and the Count Palatine being all three killed in this fight Upon which Victory the Spaniards besieged Leyden and reduced it to very great extremity so that they were ready to Capitulate But the Prince having an account of their condition by Letters tyed to Pigeons and sent into the Town Resolved to make the utmost effort possible to relieve it and having provided two hundred Flat bottom Boates of fourteen or sixteen Oars and two Guns a piece which he filled with Seamen and Provisions when all things were prepared the Hollanders broke down the Damm that kept out the Sea which thereupon entred with such fury into the Countrey that it was overwhelmed with water and and the Camp of the Spaniards was overflowed so that the City received supplies forty mile off by water and the Spaniards having sunk their Cannon after four months fruitless labour were forced to raise the Seige being pursued by the Dutch in their Boats with long grapling Irons wherewith they drowned and destroyed a great number of their enemies This deliverance from a Barbarous and Inhumane Enemy endeared the Prince of Orange to those of Leyden who to recompence their losses by the inundation erected a University there which he indowed with ample Revenues and Priviledges But to recompence this loss Requesones reduced Zurich-zee but the Spaniards and Germans falling at variance about their pay and Requesones dying at the same time the unruly Souldiers fell upon Mastriccht and Antwerp both which Towns they plundred and ransackt of an immense Treasure rated at above Twenty Millions The Robberies of those Forreign Mutineers caused such an abhorrence and detestation of the Government in the People that those which had hitherto continued obedient to the Spanish Government now declared the Spaniards enemies to their King and Countrey and called in the Prince of Orange to their assistance All the Provinces except Luxemburg entring into an Association and Solemnly Swearing to assist each other in delivering their Countrey from Spanish Slavery This happened in 1576. when King Philip to remedy these disorders sent Don John of Austria to be Governour of the Netherlands who by his Mild and Affable behaviour wheedled the Provinces for a time to desist from their gallant resolution and though the Prince of Orange who saw the bottom of the Spaniards designs continually forewarned them not to be deluded with guilded promises yet Don John having solemnly agreed That the States General should assemble and that the Spaniards and Germans should depart out of the Netherlands several of the Provinces again submitted to King Philip the Prince of Orange with the States of Holland and Zealand protesting against their proceedings especially as to the Articles about Religion But Don John was no sooner setled in his Government being received with much magnificence at Brussels but he quickly made good the Princes Premonitions for he seized upon Namur and Charlemont and sent for the Forreign Troops Whereupon the States finding themselves deluded they resolved to oppose him by Arms and having demolished the Castle of Antwerp they joyned with the Prince of Orange and sent to desire his presence at Brussels where he was received with all kinds of Joy and the Acclamations of the People and declared Governour of Brabant and Super-Intendant of the Revenues of the Provinces The States General having declared Don John of Austria the publick Enemy of their Countrey he thereupon recall'd the Italians and other Forreigners who were banished by the perpetual Edict as it was called and with them defeated the Army of the States at Gemblours though this loss was recompensed by the surrender of the famous City of Amsterdam eight days after which was then united to the Body of Holland In the year 1579. the Prince of Orange laid the Foundation of the Republick of the Low-Countreys by the strict Union he made between the Provinces of Gueldres Zutphen Holland Zealand Friezeland and the Ommelands consisting of 25 Articles the chief whereof was That these Provinces should mutually assist each other against the common Enemy and not treat of War or Peace without general consent This was called The Treaty of Vtrecht because signed in that City and to shew that Union was absolutely necessary for their preservation the States took this for their Motto Concordia parvae res crescunt By Concord little things grow great But the Prince finding the power of these few Provinces not sufficient to defend themselves against the other Provinces that had reconciled themselves to Spain nor against that potent Crown he thought it adviseable to chuse some Neighbour Prince to be their Protector and judged none more proper than the Duke of Anjou and Alenson the only Brother of Henry III. King of France and Commissioners being sent to him it was soon agreed that these six Provinces of Holland Zealand Brabant Flanders Utrecht and Friezeland should acknowledge him for their Soveraign upon condition That he should maintain them in their present Priviledges and Religion that he should assemble the States General once a year or oftner if they thought fit That he should not dispose of any Offices or Preferments without the consent of the States Lastly That if he should endeavour to infringe or violate this Treaty he should immediately forfeit his Soveraignty and they be fully absolved from any Allegiance to him and be at liberty to chuse another Soveraign This Agreement being made Arch-Duke Matthias Brother to Rodolphus Emperor of Germany who had been sent for some time before by some factious Lords who envied the Virtue and Glory of the Prince of Orange finding that the States sought for a more powerful Protector took his leave and retired into Germany though not without large Acknowledgment and Presents from the States General The Prince of Orange hastened the March of the Duke of Alenson whose presence he knew was very considerable especially since in this year 1580 the King of Spain had published a most bloody Proscription against him Reproaching him with the favours bestowed on him by his Father Charles the V and declaring him to be a Rebel Heretick Hypocrite like to Cain and Judas of an obdurate Conscience a Villain the Head of the Netherland Troubles a Plague to Christendom and an Enemy to all Mankind Declaring further That he did prosecute and banish him out of his Countreys and Estates forbidding any of his Subjects to converse with or relieve him
to govern the People with mildness and to endeavour to gain their Affections which would be the most durable Foundation that he could lay for the security of his Government The Duke was received at Antwerp with all kind of Magnificence being made Duke of Brabant with much solemnity and having taken an Oath to protect and defend them in all their Rights afterward the Nobility and Gentry swore Allegiance to him as their Prince and Governour Soon after a Plot was laid to kill the Prince of Orange which was thus managed Gaspar de Anastro a Spanish Merchant living in Antwerp finding his Affairs in a very low condition by reason of the many Debts he had contracted and was not able to pay he bethought himself of the great Reward promised by the King of Spain to the Murtherers of the Prince of Orange and being greedy of this prey which he thought might again retrieve his credit he consulted with the Governour of Gravelin how to put this Fact in execution and at length concluded to imploy a wicked Boy he had called Joanille to perpetrate it who no sooner was acquainted with it but he readily undertook it The day appointed for this execrable deed was on a Sunday when the Duke of Anjou making a great Feast the Prince of Orange was present the Boy accordingly came to the house where he was confest by a Jacobin Fyrer and promised the pardon of all his sins the Priest likewise deluding him and saying that he should go invisible having given him some Characters in Papers with Frogs Bones and other Trifles that were found in his pocket Being thus strengthened in his Resolution he drank a Glass or two of Wine and the Ghostly Father having given him his Blessing at the stairs foot left him Joanille comes into the Room where the Prince and several Lords were at Dinner clad like a French-man and was thought a Servant to one of the French Noblemen he endeavoured to come near the Prince having charged his Pistol with two Bullets designing to shoot him behind as he had been instructed but was still hindered The Prince having dined went toward his Withdrawing Room shewing by the way to a Noble-man the Cruelties of the Spaniards in the Netherlands wrought in Tapestry when the Murtherer having placed himself in a Window of the Hall discharged his Pistol against the hinder part of his head but the Prince turning his face at the same instant the Bullet entred in at the throat it being so near that the fire entred with the wound burning his Ruff and his Beard and breaking one of his Teeth the Bullet coming out at the left Cheek near his Nose without hurting his Tongue This terrible blow being given all present were amazed and one of the Halberdiers in a rage thrust the Villain thorow and a Page presently after dispatcht him The Boy was quickly known to belong to Anastro who was imprisoned together with the Monk the first was released but the Fryer together with the Carcass of the Murtherer were both hang'd and after quartered The Princes wound was somewhat dangerous for the bleeding of the Jugular Vein could by no art nor means be stopt till they contrived that for nine days together several persons appointed should hold their Thumbs upon the wound night and day so that at length it closed and the danger was over At first the French were thought to have committed the Fact but the Prince of Orange though weak writing with his own hands to the Magistrates of Antwerp to let them know it was a Spaniard they at length were satisfied The grief of that great City was extraordinary upon the Princes being wounded the Magistrates commanding Fasts to be kept to pray for his Recovery and their Joy was as great when they heard he was out of danger The Prince of Parma Governour of the Spanish Netherlands concluded him dead and sent mild Letters to several Cities to surrender to him After this the Duke of Anjou envying the Power of the Prince of Orange which he thought eclipsed his own and not enduring to be a Soveraign only in name with such a limited Authority by the Advice of some of his young Councillors he resolved to seize upon the principal Places in the Netherlands that is Antwerp Bruges Dunkirk and Dendermond upon pretence that the People of Antwerp had incompassed his Pallace with design to murther him The two last he took possession of but the Citizens of Bruges and Antwerp defended themselves with so much courage that the French were kill'd in such heaps before the Gates as prevented those without from enering in to their Relief The Flemmings had some suspitions the Prince was concerned in the attempt which was somewhat occasioned by his fourth Marriage with Lovise de Coligny a French Lady But he perceiving it and that the States party grew every day weaker in the Walloon Provinces retired into Holland where he thought himself more secure and his Life less exposed to the Bigotted Papists and setled at the City of Delph where Henry Frederick Grandfather to our present Gracious Soveraign was born The Duke of Anjous Party being defeated he was obliged to restore those places of which he had made himself Master And returning into France dyed soon after some say of poyson others of meer vexation for this inglorious enterprize The Spaniards thinking they had no greater Enemy in the World than the Prince of Orange and that he being gone they should attain their full purposes for inslaving the Netherlands they used all manner of base and treacherous practices to murder and destroy him which they too succes-fully effected in the manner following In May 1584. A Young man of above twenty seven coming to the Princes Court at Delph delivered him a Letter as he passed along the Prince demanding whence it came the Youth being of a seeming innocent countenance replyed that it was his own Letter and contained matter of concernment for the service of the Countrey It was subscribed Francis Guyon The Prince went away and the next day the fellow desiring a Councellor of the Princes that he might be heard and receive an Auswer of his Letter and that he had several other things of importance to discover both concerning the Countrey and Religion The Prince having notice of it commanded one of his Council to examine him to whom he gave a large account of his pretended adventures and that he had procured several blanks which he produced with Count Mansfields Seal which were given him for the use of Pass-ports for Victualers but might be serviceable to the Prince upon other occasions The Prince recovered the blank Pass-ports intending to try some experiment with them And by this means he became so familiar at Court that the Prince some days after having an account of the death of the Duke of Anjou he sent for this Villain into his chamber to inquire something of him while he was in bed and the wretch afterwards confest in
Prison that if he had then had a Dagger or Penknise he would have certainly slain him then After this he came constantly to Prayers and Sermons and was observed to read Du Bartas Works particularly the History of Judith and Holofernes where there are certain persuasions and incouragements to cut off Tyrants Sometimes he borrowed a Bible of the Porter upon pretence of Religion so that at length he went about the Court without suspition A while after the Prince ordered him to be sent to Count Biron into France to try if he could make any advantage of the Pass-ports upon which he desired money to buy Shoes and Stockings being in an ill condition The Prince ordered him ten or twelve Crowns Next day he bought a Pistol of one of the Guard but finding it did not shoot true he bought two more which were according to his mind After this he watched when the Prince went down to the Hall to Dinner and demanded a Pass-port of him but in such a hollow and contused Voice that the Princess askt what he was for she did not like his countenance the Prince told ber his business After Dinner the Prince going out of the Hall the Villain stood behind a Pillar in the Gallery with his Cloak on one Shoulder having two Pistols under his left Arm holding in his right hand a paper like a Pass-port as it to have the Prince sign it As the Prince passed along having one foot upon the first step of the Stairs the Traytor advanceing drew forth one of his pistols so suddenly that he was not perceived till the blow was given the three builets wherewith the pistol was charged entring in at his left side and coming out on the right through the Stomach and Vital parts The Prince feeling himself hurt said only thus O my God take pity of my Soul I am sore wounded My God take pity of my Soul and of this poor People After which he began to stagger but his Gentleman Usher supported him and set him upon the Stairs the Countess of Swartsenburg his Sister asked him if he did not recommend his Soul to Jesus Christ he answered Yes and never spake a word more dying in a few minutes after The Murtherer endeavoured to escape but being taken and told he was a wicked Traytor to endeavour to kill the Prince I am no Yraytor said he but have done what the King of Spain commanded me and if I have not slain him cursed be my ill Fortune After this he freely consessed the whole matter and that he had done it by the instigation of the Jesuits and the incouragement of the Prince of Parma who assured him of the reward promised to the Assassinate by the King of Spain For this horrid Crime a particular and tremendous sentence was pronounced against him by the Judges That Baltazar Gerrard which he confest was his true name should be la'id upon a Scaffold in the Market place of Delft to have his right hand wherewith he committed that execrable deed torn with two burning hot pincers and the like to be done in six several parts of his Body as his Arms Thight and several other Fleshly parts his privy Members to be cut off and he to be Quartered alive to have his Heart plackt our and thrown in his Face and lastly his Head to be cut off and to be set upon a Pole upon the watch Tower behind the Princes lodgings His four Quarters to be hanged upon Gibbets upon the four Bulwarks of the Town This Sentence said the Judges we think fit to pronounce against this wicked Murtherer for having to the great grief and sorrow of all good men committed a most execrable Crime and abominable Treason upon the Person of so Famous and Renown'd a Prince as the Prince of Orange was for which he ought in no wise to remain unpunished but rather with all rigor and severity to be made an Example to future Ages Having notice of his Death he was at first astonished cursing the hour of his birth and wishing he had never learned the wicked Principles of the Jesuits at Dole but had been still a mean Tradesman and not fallen into this folly But since it is done said he there is no remedy and I must now suffer for it This dreadful Sentence was fully executed and yet in all his torments he never cryed out nor seemed to be in any pain Yea smiled at an accident that happened in the midst of his Tortures Having often boasted that he would not shew the least sign of fear Thus died the renowned William Prince of Orange at fifty one Years of Age. He was of an active Spirit and a strong memory and his Wisdom Constancy Magnanimity his Courage Patience and Labours were all so extraordinary that they are rather to be admired than described A Person in whom concurred a solid Judgment to undertake so great and difficult an Enterprize and an unparallelled Courage to carry it on and a very great Constancy to finish the Freedom of his Countrey against the mighty power of Spain and the Treacheries of many of his own Countreymen So that the States and People of the Netherlands who had so often experienced his Conduct and Magnanimity in their most pressing extremities admired his Virtues which scarce ever mâ—t before in one Person bewailing him as if no greater loss could have befallen them in this World and solemnized his Funeral with all imaginable magnificence that being the last Honour they could pay to his glorious memory He had four Wives by whom he had four Sons and eight Daughters Phillip William of Nassaw Was Eldest Son to the Great W. P. of Orange Philip II. K. of Spain being his Godfather who when his Father was compell'd to take Arms in his own defence was a Student at the University of Lovain and was taken thence by force to the Infringement of the Liberties of the Place notwithstanding all the Protestations of the Rector to the contrary and the Complaints of the Prince his Father who publickly exclaimed against the Cruelty of the Spaniards since no Privilege nor Innocence of Age could secure any from their Tyranny and Injustice He was carried from thence into Spain at 13 Years of Age and educated in the Roman Catholick Religion where he continued a Prisoner above 30 Years during which his Jailor presuming to speak abusively of the Proceedings of his Father the Prince who inherited his gallant temper not enduring his insolent discourse took him about the middle and throwing him out of the Window broke his Neck The K. of Spain consulted with his Council what Punishment to inflict for this great Action but at length by the interposing of a generous young Spaniard who was present and affirmed that the Captain 's ill carriage was the occasion of his Death it was passed over But at length in hope to create some Jealousies between his Brother Maurice and himself K. Philip released him and sent him into Flanders where
for the great services he had performed About this time by a publick Edict declared That all the Dignities Honours and Employments which he then enjoyed shall descend to his Eldest Son Prince William the Instruments whereof being drawn up and sealed by the States were presented to the young Prince in a Box of Gold After this Prince Henry continued still more successful taking the Towns of Ruâ—emond Veulo and Strall and lastly undertaking the Seige of Mastricht where he surrounded his Trenches with such strong circumvallations that both the Spanish and German Forces were obliged to march away with dishonour and leave him the honour of reducing so important a place Divers other prosperous attempts he made as his retaking the Fort of Skink Scans and regaining the Castle and City of Breda which the Marquess Spinola had been a whole year in taking with vast loss and expence and yet the Prince now reduced it to his Immortal honour in four months and answerable was his Fortune at Sea where Admiral Trump falling upon a numerous Fleet of the Spaniards in the Downs of 67 Men of War destroyed the greatest part of them to the number of 40 Ships sunk wherein above 7000 men were lost and 2000 carried Prisoners into Holland amongst whom was the great Gallion of Portugal called Maria Teresa carrying 800 men whereof not one escaped In 1641. Prince William only Son of the Prince of Orange married the Princess Mary Eldest Daughter to King Charles I. And soon after Prince Henry gained the strong Fort of Hulst in Flanders which the Spaniards were not able to relieve Thus it may be observed That William Prince of Orange laid the Foundations of the Commonwealth of Holland Prince Maurice his Son fixed and strengthned them by his Victories and Henry Frederick the Younger Brother by continuing his Conquests and enlarging their Territories at length compelled the Spaniard to renounce his pretended right over them and to acknowledge them an Independent State treating with them by the title of The High and Mighty States General of the Vnited Provinces So that by the Swords of the Illustrious House of Orange this Potent Republick was first founded which is now arrived to that Grandeur as to send Ambassadors upon equal terms with the most Potent Princes of Christendom even to the K. of Spain himself whose Subjects they were not above 100 years and whose revolt has proved a great advantage to that Crown they having been so many years a Barrier to the Spanish Netherlands against the excessive power and ambition of France which without their assistance had long since swallowed them up Prince Henry Married the Daughter of John Albert Count of Solms who came with the Queen of Bohemia into Holland a Lady of excellent Beauty Modesty and Prudence by whom he had one Son and four Daughters The Eldest named Lovison was Married to Frederick William Prince Elector of Brandenburg by whom he had several Children The second Henrietia was Married to the Count of Nassaw the third Catharina was espoused to John George Duke of Anhalt The fourth was Married to the Duke of Simeren Prince Henry died March 1â— 1647. and was succeeded by William of Nassaw Prince of Orange Who was born in 1626. A Prince of worthy Hopes and Courage but was suddenly taken away by Death in the 24 year of his Age having been Married nine years to the Princess Mary Daughter to K. Charles the First by whom he had Prince William Henry who was born Nov. 4. 1650. some few days after his Fathers Death the Lords States General of Holland and Zealand and of the Cities of Deiâ—e Leyden and Amsterdam being his God fathers William Henry of Nassaw Prince of Orange THIS excellent Prince our present Gracious â—overeign 〈◊〉 endowed with all the Noble and Virtuous Qualities of his Ancestors of the Illustrious House of Orange which seem'd designed by Heaven to be the Protectors of Religion and Liberty for several Ages his Majesties glorious Predecessours being the Founders and Establishers and himself the Restorer of the half ruined Batavian Republick as well as the Deliverer of these three Kingdoms from the utmost danger of Popery and Slavery This excellent Prince suffered many affronts by Barnevels Party revived in the Persons of the De Wits expecting with inimitable patience the advancement to those Honours and Dignities which of right belonged to his Family and which by the Decree of a prevailing Faction he was deprived of presently after the Death of his Father But King Lewis his inveterate Enemy did accidentally very much contribute to his Exaltation for having in 1672. like a rapid Torrent over-run the flourishing Batavian Republick he thereby gave opportunity to the Prince to discover to the World the Spirit of his Ancestors in recovering the United Provinces from the ruine which seemed to attend them by the success of that King even beyond his hopes nay almost his wishes which put that People into such a consternation as occasioned them to complain of the unhappy Conduct of Cornelius and John De Wit who had then the sole management of all affairs and to believe that none but the glorious House of Nassaw was capable to support their tottering State in this Age against their Potent French Enemies as they had formerly rescued them from the Tyranny of Spain Neither was the Grandmother of the Prince wanting to engage the favourers of that Family to endeavour to remove that Eclipse under which it had so long sustered which Her Highness managed with a courage and magnanimity above her Sex so that being awakened by Her Remonstrances they began to consider how they themselves had of late been slighted and neglected whilst all the great Imployments of the Common-wealth were bestowed upon the Sons of Burgomasters and being seconded by the rage of the Commonalty who were dreadfully terrified to see a Victorious Army in the very bowels of their Countrey they obliged the States General in the beginning of 1672. to depute Monsieur Beverning John De Wit and Jasper Fagel to invest His Highness the Prince of Orange in the Dignities belonging to his Ancestors of Captain and Admiral General of the United Provinces who having accepted the same and taken his Oath presently went upon action against the French But the Province of Holland still suspected the fidelity of their Magistrates seeing their Frontier Towns and Garrisons fall daily into the hands of their Victorious Enemies and at Dort they raised a dangerous Mutiny and resolved that His Highness should be advanced to the Stadt-Holdership also as judging it absolutely necessary for the publick good Upon which an Act was instantly drawn up and read in the publick Hall by the Secretary wherein the Magistrates declared His Highness the Prince of Orange Stadtholder Captain and Admiral General of all their Forces by Sea and Land with the same Power and Authority that His Ancestors of glorious Memory had formerly enjoyed which occasioned great rejoycing in that City But Cornelius
longer able to suffer the continual Invasions of the French upon his Cities and Towns in Flanders and his cruel Treatment of his Subjects for not paying unjust and unreasonable Contributions he proclaimed War against him both by Sea and Land and ordered all the Effects of the French Merchants in his Dominions to be seized And sent to the States General to assist him in this just defensive War who thereupon concluded to raise a considerable Force both for his aid and their own security and accordingly his Highness gave out several Commissions and sent 8000 men toward Flanders In the mean time the French King according to his usual method having ordered great Detachments to be sent from all the Conquered Places toward Valenciennes in April 1684. he himself accompanied with the Dauphin and Dauphiness came from Paris thither The P. was very desirous to have perfected the new Levies and to have marcht at the Head of them to oppose him but the obstinacy of Amsterdam and some other Towns which refused to allow their Quota for maintaining them prevented his Highness worthy designs The French King having mustred his Army between Conde and Valenciennes he immediately inrested the City of Luxemburg and though the Governor made a very notable defence and the French lost a considerable number of Men yet the greatness of their Army which was posted so as to prevent any relief at length obliged the Town to Capitulate and June 7. following it was surrendred upon Articles and soon after a Trace being made with Spain they were forced to suffer the loss of this City with the same temper as they had done many before And as the French King continued thus Tyrannically to injure his Neighbours so he Treacherously proceeded to exercise horrid cruelties upon his own Protestant Subjects for though he had resolved upon their destruction yet at the same time he declared That he had not the least intention to infringe the Edict of Nants and accordingly in 1684. he absolutely concluded to cancel and make void that Edict and to banish all the Ministers out of the Kingdom and several young Priests were sent about the Country to inflame the Mobile against the Protestants and it was declared in Print That the Catholick Faith must be planted by Fire and Sword alledging the example of a King of Norway who converted the Nobles of his Countrey by threatning them to slay their Children before their Eyes if they would not consent to have them Baptized and to be Baptized themselves The Protestants were very sensible of the mischiefs design'd against them and exposed their grievances to the K. with all humility and submission which produced no other effect upon his Tyrannical Temper than to hasten their destruction by open force and violence in so terrible a manner as is scarce to be parallell'd At first they quartered Troops of bloudy and desperate Dragoons upon them who loudly bellowed That the K. would no longer suffer any Protestants in his Kingdom and that they must resolve to change their Religion or else to suffer the utmost cruelty that could be inflicted upon them To which these innocent Souls replied That they were ready to Sacrifice their Lives and Estates for the Kings Service but their Consciences being Gods they could not in the same manner dispose of them This answer did but inrage their hellish Adversaries so that they first seized their goods and then fell on their Persons inflicting all the Barbarities imaginable to induce them to renounce their Religion They hung up Men and Women by the Hair of the Head or by the Feet within their Chimneys smoaking them with wisps of wet Straw They threw them into great fires pluckt them thence half roasted They tied them on the Rack poured wine down their Throats till the fame had deprived them of their reason and then made them say they would be Catholicks They stript them stark naked larded them all over with Pins from head to foot They kept them from sleeping 7 or 8 days and nights together They tied Parents to Bed posts and ravished their Daughters before their eyes They pluckt off the Nails from the Hands and Toes of others with most intolerable pain and after these and a thousand other horrid indignities if they refused to abjure their Religion they threw them into close dark stinking Dungeons exercising upon them all manner of inhumanity And yet after all these barbarous usages they compelled those wretched People who had not courage and constancy enough to persist in the Faith and therefore turned Catholicks or new Converts as they called them to acknowledge That they had imbraced the Roman Religion of their own accord And had the impudence to declare even against the evidence of Millions of Witnesses That force and violence had no share in the Conversions but that they were soft calm and voluntary and that if there were any Dragoons concerned therein it was because the Protestants themselves desired them that they might have a handsome pretence to change their Religion In the mean time their Houses were demolished their Lands destroyed their Woods cut down and their Wives and Children seized and put into Monasteries and an Edict was published for plucking down all the Protestant Churches in the Kingdom and all for promoting the Catholick Peligion Yea the mischief did not terminate here for the French King being too potent to be resisted by the Duke of Savoy He compell'd that Prince to publish an Edict for prohibiting the poor Waldenses and Vaudois to exercise their Religion upon pain of death and being assisted with a great number of French Troops under Monsieur Catinat the Souldiers committed the like Violences and Barbarities against them as they had done in France His Highness the Prince of Orange highly disapproved of these Proceedings and was a silent Mourner for the miseries of the Protestant Church which now seemed to be threatned more than ever for King Charles II. dying in February 1685. the D. of York succeeded him who instantly declared himself a Roman Catholick And June 10 following the Duke of Monmouth landed with 150 Men at Lime in Dorsetshire declaring That he had taken Arms for the defence and vindication of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws Rights and Priviledges of England from the Invasion made upon them and for delivering the Kingdom from the Tyranny of James Duke of York About the same time the Earl of Argile setting sail from the Vlye in Holland landed in the West of Scotland publishing a Declaration to the same purpose but either by weakness or treachery they were both soon defeated and both beheaded and a multitude of their followers executed For which great success King James published a Proclamation for a Thanksgiving and among other expressions says That nothing now remained which could possibly disturb the future quiet of his Reign In confidence whereof he with the advice of his Popish Counsellors and their Adherents proceeded to commit
had largely promised the Protection of both And at the same time seeing Popery and Arbitrary Power hovering over their Heads and ready to seize on their Liberties and Properties and that both were designed to be perpetuated and enâ—ailed upon them and their Posterity by a succession of Popish Princes Mrs. Cellier having declared in Print before the pretended Birth That it would be a Prince and that the Queen would likewise bring forth a Duke of York and a Duke of Glocester After several consultations whither to fly for succour at length they resolved to apply themselves to His Highness the Prince of Orange to whose Illustrious Family it had been an Inherent Glory for some Ages to relieve the Distressed and support the Protestant Cause His Highness they saw inherited all the surpassing Qualities of his Ancestors Their matchless Prudence Justice Courage their Truth and Magnanimity and besides all these excellent Endowments they were well assured of the fair Title he had to the Crown it self To him therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with a great number of the Chiefest Gentry of the Kingdom make their application and in an humble Memorial represent their Grievances to their Highnesses to this effect That their Highnesses cannot be ignorant that the Protestants of England who continue True to the Government and Religion have been many ways troubled and vexed by many Devices and Machinations of the Papists carried on under pretence of Royal Authority and things required of them unanswerable before God and Man Several Ecclesiastical Benefices of Churches taken from them without any other Reason given than the Kings Pleasure themselves Summoned and Sentenced by Commissioners appointed contrary to express Law deprived of their free choice of Magistrates divers Corporations dissolved The Legal Security of their Religion and Liberty established by King and Parliament abolished and taken away by a pretended Dispensing Power New and unheard of Maxims broached That Subjects have no Right but what is founded and derived from the Kings Will and Pleasure the Militia put into the Hands of Persons unqualified by Law and a Popish Mercenary Army maintained in the Kingdom in times of Peace directly contrary to Law executing of ancient Laws against several Crimes and Misdemeanors obstructed and prohibited and the Statutes against corresponding with the Court of Rome against Papal Jurisdictions and Popish Priests suspended in the Courts of Justice those Judges displaced who acquit any whom the Court would have condemned as happened to the Judges Holloway and Powel for acquitting the seven Bishops the free choice of Members of Parliament wholly taken away notwithstanding all the Care and Provision made by the Law in that behalf by the Quo Warranto's against Charters and proposing ensnaring Questions all things levell'd at the Propagation of Popery for which the Courts of England and France have now for a long time so strenously bestirr'd themselves Endeavours and Practices used to perswade their Highnesses to Consent to the abolishing the Penal Laws and Tests though herein disappointed The Queens being with Child first Proclaimed and Divulged by Popish Priests and in the Sequel thereof a Child produced without any clear Proof or Evidence of sufficient and unsuspected Witnesses besides that it cannot be believed that the said Child was ever born of the Queen by Reason of her known Sickness and Indisposition and many other Arguments as not being confirmed by any certain foregoing Signs of Conception the place of her lying in being often changed and her pretended Delivery Celebrated in the absence of the Princess of Denmark and while the English Ladies were at Church in a Bedstead which was provided with a Convenient Passage in the side of it by which means the Child was conveyed to the Queen by the Ladies L' Abadie and Teurarier that these be matters left to the Discretion of a Free Parliament and that in the Name of your Highnesses and the whole Nation the Queen may be desired to prove the real Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales by a competent number of credible Witnesses of both Sexes or in Case of a failure herein that the reports of any such Birth may be supprest for the time to come That they humbly crave the Protection of their Highnesses in this matter as well as with respect to the Abolition and Suspension of the Laws made to maintain the Protestant Religion their Civil Rights Fundamental Liberties and Free Government and that their Highnesses would be pleased to insist that besides the business of the Child the Government of England according to Law may be restored the Laws against Papal Jurisdiction Priests c. be put in Execution the Suspending and Dispensing Power be declared Null and Void and the Priviledges of the City of London Free Choice of Magistrates and all the other Liberties as well of that as other Corporations be restored and maintained Their Highnesses with no less Willingness than Generosity and out of their Zeal for the Protestant Religion and Compassion of the Oppressed listned to their Complaints And his Highness well weighing the justness of their Requests and the Reality of their Grievances instantly began to take Measures in Order to their Deliverance And soon after his Highness went to meet the Elector of Brandenburgh and some other Princes and Noblemen of Germany at Minden which so alarmed the French King that Monsieur D' Avaux his Ambassadour presented a Memorial to the States General intimating that the King his Master being informed of the Motions and Conferences that were made and held towards the Frontiers of Cologne against the Cardinal of Furstemburgh and the Chapter He was resolved to maintain the Cardinal and their Priviledges against all those who should go about to trouble them but herein the Politicks of King Lewis fail'd him his Highness the Prince of Orange managing his Affairs with such an exact Secrecy that neither that King nor his Sagacious Council could penetrate into the Design till it was upon the Point of Execution and out of danger of being Defeated For upon his Highness return from that Conference to Loe Orders were given for drawing the Forces the States had raised for his Highness Assistance and incamping them upon the Mocker Hyde and the Forces of those other Princes whom his Highness had ingaged to aid him in this Glorious Expedition had Orders to be upon their March as those of Brandenburgh Hesse-Cassel c. And the States General assembled at the Hague where his Highness was present and their Debates and Consultations having been kept very Private for some days at length they published the following Manifesto That the States had resolved with their Ships and Men to assist the Prince of Orange who being invited by the Reiterated Importunities of the Nobility and Gentry of England to oppose that Arbitrary Government which His Britannick Majesty is designing to introduce into that Kingdom has fully determined to go over to that Countrey as well for that Reason as to save
Evil Councillors proceeded with all Rigor against those that used those Methods particularly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and others who humbly offering their Reasons why they could not Order the Declaration of Liberty of Conscience to be read in the Churches were sent to Prison and after Tried as if guilty of some enormous Crime and obliged to appear before profest Papists and those Judges that gave their Opinion in their favour were turned out They have also Treated a Peer of the Realm as a Criminal for saying that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of Peace because they are put into Imployments contrary to Law That his Highness and his Dearest and most Beloved Consort the Princess have signified to the King in Terms full of respect the just and deep Regret these Proceedings have given them and in compliance with His desires have declared their Thoughts about Repealing the Penal Laws and Tests whereby they hoped there might have been an happy agreement among the Subjects of all Perswasions which yet these Evil Councillors have so misrepresented as to endeavour to alienate the King more and more from them as if they designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom and the last and great Remedy for all these Evils being the calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against the Practices of these Evil Councillors cannot be easily brought about since by a Parliament duly chosen they doubt to be called to account for all their open Violations of the Laws their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects their designing under the specious pretence of Liberty of Conscience to sow Divisions among Protestants and from their mutual quarrels to carry on their own Designs to prevent which the Electors and Elected for Parliament men are to be beforehand ingaged to comply with their wicked Desires and the returns are to be made by Popish Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns so that this only remedy of a Free Parliament is hereby made impracticable And to Crown all There are great and violent Presumptions inducing their Highnesses to believe that these Evil Councillors to gain more time to carry on their ill Designs for incouraging their Complices and discouraging all good Subjects they have published that the Queen hath brought forth a Son though there appeared both during the Queens pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible grounds of Suspition that not only their Highnesses but all the good Subjects of this Kingdom vehemently suspect that the pretended Prince of Wales was not born of the Queen and since their Highnesles have both so great an Interest in this matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession of the Crown and since the English Nation had ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem to them both their Highnesses cannot excuse themselves from espousing their Interests in a matter of such high consequence and from contributing all that in them lies for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which his Highness is most earnestly sollicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks Therefore it is that his Highness hath thought fit to go over into England and to carry over a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend him from the Violence of those Evil Councillors His Highness declaring that this Expedition is intended for â—o other design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as is possible and that in Order thereto all the late Charters limiting of Elections contrary to Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no force and all Magistrates to return to their former Imployments and particularly the Ancient Charter of London to be again in force and none to be suffered to chuse or be chosen Parliament men but those qualified by Law and that the Members of Parliament so chosen shall sit in full Freedom for making Laws to secure the Protestant Religion and to establish a good Agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters as also for the securing and covering of Papists and all others who will live peaceably from all Persecution for Religion and for doing all other things which the two Houses of Parliament shall find necessary for the Peace Honour and Safety of the Nation so that there may be no more danger of the Nations falling at any time hereafter under Arbutrary Government to which Parliament his Highness will also refer the Inquiry into the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession And his Highness declares That for his Part be will concur in every thing that may produce the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine since his Highness hath nothing before his Eyes in this His Undertaking but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the covering of all men from Persecution 〈◊〉 their Consciences and the securing to the whole Natâ—on the Free Enjoyment of all their Laws Rights anâ— Liberties under a Just and Legal Government His Highness further declares that this is the Design he has proposed in appearing upon this occasion in Arms in the Conduct of which his Highneâ— would keep the Forces under his Command undeâ— all the strictness of Martial Discipline and take a special care that the People of the Countreys througâ— which He shall March shall not suffer by their meanâ— and as soon as the State of the Nation will permit iâ— his Highness promises that he will send back all thoâ— Foreign Troops that He hath brought along witâ— him his Highness does therefore hope that all People will judge rightly of his Proceedings though 〈◊〉 does chiefly rely on the Blessing of God for the sâ—â—cess of this his Undertaking in which he places 〈◊〉 whole and only Confidence Lastly his Highness doth invite and require all Perâ—ons whatsoever all the Peers of the Realm both Spâ—ritual and Temporal all Lords Lieutenants Depâ—â— Lieutenants and all Gentlemen Citizens and otheâ— Commons of all Ranks to come and assist him in Order to the executing of this His Design against all suâ—â— as shall endeavour to oppose Him that so all thoâ—â— Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nation being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slaveâ— may be prevented and that all the Violences anâ— Disorders which have overturned the whole Cons tâ—tution of the English Government may be fully Redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament his Highness likewise Resolving that as soon as the Nations are brought to a State of Quiet He will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland
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
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
rising in divers places demolished the Mass Houses and burnt the Popish Trinkets yea proceeded to several Violences and Disorders which occasioned the Death and Wounding of many Persons even in Edenburg it self of which the Scots Noblemen and Gentlemen in London having notice they resolved to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange and lay before him the willingness of the People of Scotland to submit to his Protection and his Highness having notice of their Intentions caused such of them as were in Town to be advertiz'd to meet him at St. Jameses Jan. 7. to whom he made the following Speech MY Lords and Gentlemen the only Reason that Induced me to undergo so great an undertaking was that I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in imminent Danger and seeing you are so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for the securing of the Protestant Religion and restoring your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration After which the Lords and Gentlemen went to the Council-Chamber at Whitehall and chusing Duke Hamilton their President they drew up an Address which they presented to the Prince to this Effect That they rendred his Highness their humble Thanks for his pious and generous Undertaking c. Desiring him to take upon him the Administration of Affairs Civil and Military in Scotland till the general Meeting of the Estates which they humbly prayed his Highness to call to be held at Edenburg March 14. following This Address was subscribed by thirty Lords and eighty Gentlemen his Highness assured them that He would do all that they required and the news thereof coming to Edenburgh was received with the utmost Demonstrations of Joy and Satisfaction The Elections for the Convention at Westminster had in some places been generally made without those strivings and hears that are usual upon such Occasions and seemed to be a good Prognostick that their Debates would be calm and tend to a speedy Settlement and accordingly the 〈◊〉 of January being come the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster the Lord Marquess of Hallifax Officiated as Speaker in the House of Lords and the Commons chose Henry Poule Esquire to be their Speaker after which a Letter from his Highness the Prince of Orange was read in both Houses on the Occasion of their Meeting wherein his Highness declared That he had endeavoured to the utmost of his Power to perform what was dented of him in Order to the Publick Peace and Safety and that he did not know any thing which had been omitted that might tend to the Preservation of them since the Administration of Affairs was put into his hands and that it now lay upon them to lay the Foundation of a firm Security for their Religion Laws and Liberties That he did not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as was then met the ends of his Declaration would be attained and since it had pleased God hitherto to bless his good Intentions with so great Success He trusted in Him that he would Compleâ—â— his own work by sending a Spirit of Peace and Union to influence their Councils that no interruption might be given to a Happy and lasting Settlement He then represented to them the dangerous Condition of the Protestants in Ireland and the present State of things abroad which required their early Assistance against a Powerful Enemy who had declared War against them and which he did not doubt but without any unseasonable Divisions among themselves they would take that Effectual care about This Letter being read and approved of the Lords and Commons presented an Address to his Highness That being highly sensible of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that their Preservation next under God was oweing to his Highness they returned Him their humble Thanks as the glorious Instrument of so great a blessing and did further acknowledg the great care he had taken in the administring the publick Affairs to that time humbly desiring that his Highness would continue the Administration thereof till further Application should be made by them which should be expedited with all convenient speed This Address being presented Jan. 23. 1688. His Highness returned them this Answer MY Lords and Gentlemen I am glad that what I have done hath pleased you and since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs I am willing to accept it I must recommend to you the Consideration of Affairs abroad which maketh it fit for you to expedite your business not only for making a Settlement at home upon a good Foundation but for the Safety of all Europe After this the Lords and Commons Ordered a day of publick Thanksgiving to be kept throughout the Kingdom to render Praise to Almighty God for having made his Highness the Prince of Orange the glorious Instrument of the great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power As to the Condition of Ireland the Earl of Tyrconnel a violent Papist being made Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by King James as a fit Instrument to carry on his Designs gave the Irish great Hopes of Subduing the English by his first Cashiering the Protestant Officers and Souldiers that were in Arms and then by turning out the Officers and Ministers of Justice and though Complaints were made against his proceedings in the Court of England yet they were not regarded but he rather incouraged in his Enterprizes which occasioned such Dread of future Mischiefs that divers left the Kingdom some going for Holland others for Scotland and England things continued in this Dangerous posture till the News of the intended Enterprize of the Prince of Orange Arrived there upon which Tyrconnel was very active to secure the Roman Catholick Interest in Ireland Imprisoning and Disarming the Protestants and sending over 3000 of the Choicest Irish Souldiers to Assist King James But upon notice of his Flight into France he called his Popish Council together and told them That now was the time for their standing up for their Country to secure it against all their Enemies and as for his part if his Master himself should command him to deliver up the Sword he should think it his Duty to refuse it in this Juncture and thereupon spreading the News all over the Country he caused the Irish every where to Arm themselves with such Weapons as they could get This Tumultuous Rabble Herding together plundred the Protestants Houses drove away their Cattle fired their Stack of Corn and Hay Murthered some and Barbarously used others insomuch that the Protestants being extreamly affrighted many of them fled for their Lives leaving their Estates behind them and though several of the Protestant Nobility and Gentry made Head in the North Yet they found themselves unable to Resist the Fury of their Numerous Adversaries However they Defeated several