the Princes coming to Town that it was really publish'd by his Order and no Counterfeit 13. On Sunday the 9th of December Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from VVhite-hall and the next morning the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Graves-end where they embarked for France It 's supposed she carried the Seal from VVhite-hall and caus'd it to be thrown into the Thames for on the 3d of May afterwards it was found in the bottom of the River by a Fisher-man in a Red-bag between Lambeth and Faux-hall and presented to the King Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THE King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth That in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or any that have come to Us or declared for Us be re-called and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if His Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned Us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Littlecot Decemb 9. 1688. This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the 10th of December by an Express which when he received he gave this Just Character of the Prince's Proposals That they were fairer than he could or did expect So that he had no reason then to be afraid of his Person but might have continued securely in his Palace and taken care of the Government and called such a Parliament as both himself and the Prince desired which might quietly and effectually have setled this Nation and prevented all ill Consequences to his Person or Affairs Yet he resolved to leave the Nation and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time ordered the Earl of Feversham to disband the Army and dismiss the Soldiers 15. On December the 11th about Three of the Clock in the Morning the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The Principal Officers of the Army thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at White-hall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Soldiers to enter into his Service 16. The same day the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town the then Bishop of Canterbury Ely and Peterborough being of the number came to Guild-hall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply our selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will without utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties
may be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Beligion and Interest over the whole World may be supported and encouraged to the Glory of GOD the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjacent by taking care to disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests who are in or about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us for promoting his Highness's Generous Intentions for the publick good we shall be ready to do it as occasion requires Signed W. Cant. T. Ebor. Pembrook Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Berkeley Rochester Newport Weymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph F. Ely Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandois Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crewe Osulston Whereas his Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself We the Lord Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are hereunto Subscribed being assembled in Guild-hall in London having agreed upon and Signed a Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster assembled at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook the Right Honourable the Lord Viscout Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same time to acquaint his Highness with what we have further done at this Meeting Dated at Guild-hall the 11th of December 1688. The Lords before they came down to the City had appointed the Lord Mayor Court of Aldermen and the Common-Council to be assembled to concert with them the means of preserving the City and Kingdom and when the Peers had thus led the way they presently resolved also on the following Address to his Highness the Prince of Orange May it please Your Highness WE taking into consideration your Highness's fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion manifested to the World in your many hazardous Enterprises wherein it hath pleased Almighty God to bless you with miraculous Success do render our deepest thanks to the Divine Majesty for the same and beg leave to present our most humble Thanks to your Highness particularly for your appearing in Arms in this Kingdom to carry on and perfect your glorious Designs to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Slavery and Popery and in a Free Parliament to establish the Religion and the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms upon a sure and lasting Foundation We have hitherto look'd for some remedy for those Oppressions and imminent Dangers which we together with our Protestant Fellow-Subjects laboured under from his Majesties Concessions and Concurrences with your Highness's just and pious purposes expressed in your Gracious Declaration But herein finding our selves finally disappointed by his Majesties withdrawing himself we presume to make your Highness our Refuge and do in the Name of this Capital City implore your Highness's Protection and most humbly beseech your Highness to repair to this City where your Highness will be received with universal Joy and Satisfaction This Address being approved and Signed four Aldermen and eight Commoners were appointed to attend his Highness with it The same day the Lieutenancy of London Signed this following address to the Prince of Orange at Guild-hall and sent it by Sir Robert Clayton Knight Sir William Russel Sir Basil Firebrace Knights and Charles Duncomb Esquire May it please Your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep sense we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts that your Highness has exposed your Person to so many Dangers by Sea and Land for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we had not any seasonable opportunity to give your Highness and the World a real Testimony That it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is dear to us to attain those glorious Ends which your Highness has propos'd for restoring and setling these distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to your Highness our just and due acknowledgments for that happy Relief you have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a posture that by the blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which your Highness has so happily begun to the general joy and satisfaction of us all 17. After his Highness had received certain Intelligence that the King was gone back from Salisbury to London he came forward by easie Journeys and entred Salisbury on Tuesday the 4th of December On the 5th the Earl of Oxford came thither to him The same day the Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Sir Edward Harley and most of the Gentry of VVorcestershire and Herefordshire met at VVorcester and declared for the Prince of Orange Ludlow Castle was also taken in for him by the Lord Herbert and Sir VValter Blunt and the Popish Sheriff of Worcester secured in it by that Peer The 7th of December his Highness came on to Hungerford the 8th the Lords sent by the King came thither to him and had the Dispatch already mentioned after Dinner he went to Lidcot The 14th The Commissioners of the Peers Common-Council and Lieutenancy of London presented three Addresses to the Prince at Henly The 15th his Highness entred Windsor 18. The King was stopt in his passage by some who knew him not but seiz'd him and his Company as suspected Jesuits c. but being at last discovered and the noise of his being detained at Feversham coming to the Lords at London the Lords Feversham Aylesbury Yarmouth and Middleton were sent to entreat his return to White-hall whither he came on the 16th in the Evening But in the mean time the Rabble at London demolished the Popish Chappel and Convent at St. John's the Convent and Chappel of Fryars in Lincolns-Inn-Fields and the Popish Chappels in Limestreet and Bucklers-Bury and the Chappel at Wild-house 19. The King being now at White-hall and the Prince at Windsor the King invites the Prince to St. James's but the Lords at Windsor did not think it reasonable nor safe either
the hazard of losing both the Favour of the Court and their employments and since the English Nation has ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our Dearest Consort the Princess and to Our selves We cannot excuse our selves from Espousing their Interests in a Matter of such high Consequence and from contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the Securing to them the continual enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which We are most earnestly solicited by a great many Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks 21. Therefore it is that We have thought fit to go over to England and to carry over with us a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors And We being desirous that our Intentions in this may be rightly understood have for this end prepared this Declaration in which as we have hitherto given a True Account of the Reasons inducing us to it so we now think fit to declare That this our Expedition is intended for no other design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as is possible And that in order to this all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limited contrary to the Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no force And likewise all Magistrates who have been unjustly turned out shall forthwith resurne their former employments as well as all the Burroughs of England shall return again to their Ancient prescriptions and Charters and more particularly that the Ancient Charter of the Great and Famous City of London shall again be in force And that the Writs for the Members of parliament shall be addressed to the proper Officers according to Law and Custome That also none be suffered to chuse or to be chosen Members of Parliament but such as are qualified by Law And that the Members of Parliament being thus lawfully Chosen they shall meet and sit in full Freedom that so the two Houses may concur in the preparing of such Laws as they upon full and free Debate shall judge necessary and convenient both for the confirming and executing the Law concerning the Test and such other Laws as are necessary for the security and maintenance of the Protestant Religion as likewise for making such Laws as may establish a good agreement between the Church of England and all Protestant Dissenters as also for the covering and securing of all such who will live peaceably under the Government as becomes good Subject from all persecution upon the account of their Religion even Papists themselves not excepted and for the doing of 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 Arbitrary Government To this Parliament we will also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and of all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession 22. And We for our part will concur in every thing that may procure the Peace and Happiness of the Nation which a Free and Lawful Parliament shall determine since we have nothing before our Eyes in this our undertaking but the preservation of the Protestant Religion the Covering of all men from persecution for their Consciences and the securing to the whole Nation the free enjoyment of all their Laws Rights and Liberties under a Just and Legal Government 23. This is the Design that we have proposed to our selves in appearing upon this occasion in Arms In the Conduct of which We will keep the Forces under our Command under all the strictness of Martial Discipline and take a special care that the people of the Countries through which we must March shall not suffer by their means and as soon as the state of the Nation will admit of it We promise that we will send back all those Foreign Forces that We have brought along with us 24. We do therefore hope that all people will judge rightly of us and approve of these our proceedings But We chiefly rely on the Blessing of God for the Success of this our Undertaking in which We place our whole and only Confidence 25. We do in the last place invite and require all persons whatsoever all the Peers of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal all Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants and all Gentlemen Citizens and other Commons of all ranks to come and assist us in order to the Executing of this our Design against all such as shall endeavour to Oppose us that so we may prevent all those Miseries which must needs follow upon the Nations being kept under Arbitrary Government and Slavery And that the Violences and Disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament 26. And we do likewise resolve that as soon as the Nations are brought to a state of Quiet We will take care that a Parliament shall be called in Scotland for the restoring the Ancient Constitution of that Kingdom and for bringing the Matters of Religion to such a Settlement that the people may live 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 We 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 there may be secured And we 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 Honour and Happiness of those Nations may be established upon lasting Foundations Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague the Tenth day of October in the year of our Lord 1688. William Henry Prince of Orange By his Highness special Command C. Huygens The King having received advice that the preparations in Holland were designed for England cast about how to prevent the Peoples running to joyn with the Prince In order to which he was advised to appease them by seeming to step backward and undo some things that he knew had given a general distaste against his Government Hereupon the Ecclesiastical Commission was taken away the Bishop of London and the Master and Fellows of Magdalen-College restored as likewise the Ancient Charters of Cities and Boroughs and a Free Parliament promised to be called when the Kingdom should be freed from a Foreign Force This occasioned the Prince to publish his Additional Declaration His Highness's additional Declaration c. AFter we had Prepared and Printed this our Declartion
your means be brought out of those straights to which they are at present reduced We hope likewise that ye will not suffer your selves to be abused by a false Notion of Honour but that you will in the first place consider what you owe to Almighty God and your Religion to your Countrey to your Selves and to your Posterity which you as Men of Honour ought to prefer to all private Considerations and Engagements whatsoever We do therefore expect that you will consider the Honour that is now set before you of being the Instruments of serving your Countrey and securing your Religion and we shall ever remember the Service you shall do Us upon this occasion and will promise you That we shall place such particular Marks of our Favour on every one of you as your Behaviour at this time shall deserve of Us and the Nation in which we shall make a great distinction of those that shall come seasonably to joyn their Arms with Ours and you shall find Us to be your well-wishing and assured Friend W. H. P. O. And another to all the Officers and Seamen in the English Fleet. Gentlemen and Friends AS We have given to our Faithful and Well-beloved Admiral Herbert a full power so we hope that you will give him an intire credit as to all he shall say to you on our part We have published a Declaration which contains the Reasons which moved Us to enter upon this Expedition in which you will see We had no other design than the preservation of the Protestant Religion and the re-establishment of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom of England because it is evident that the Papists have resolved the intire ruin of Our Religion in Great Britain as it is effected already in France And to you it is only to be imputed if they are Masters We are persuaded that you already perceive that you are made use of only as an Instrument for the bringing your selves and your Countrey under the yoke of the Papacy and into Slavery by the means of the Irish and other Foreigners who are prepared to finish your Destruction And therefore we hope God will inspire you with more salutary thoughts for the facilitating your Deliverance and for the delivering you from all your Miseries with your Countrey and Religion And this is in all appearance impossible without your joyning with us and assisting us who seek nothing but your Deliverance And we also assure you That we wlll never forget the Services which you shall do us on this occasion and we promise to give every one particular marks of our favour who shall deserve it of us and the Nation We are sincerely your very affectionate Friend W. H. P. O. These Letters were spread underhand over the whole Kingdom and read by all sorts of men and the reason of them being undeniable it had a great force on the Spirits of the Soldiery and Seamen so that those who did not presently comply with them yet resolved they would never strike one stroke in the quarrel till they had a Parliament to secure the Religion Laws and Liberties of England which the Court on the other side had resolved should not be called till the Prince of Orange with his Army were expelled out of the Nation and all those who had submitted to him were reduced into their power to be treated as they thought fit The particulars of the Prince's March to London where he arrived on the 18th of December and the very few Skirmishes that hapned betwixt some of his and the King's Soldiers being inconsiderable shall not be recounted But betwixt his Landing and coming to Town 1. The Lord Delamere assembled Fifty Horsemen and at the head of them marched to Manchester and the next day to Boden-Downs being then a Hundred and fifty strong declaring his design to join with the Prince of Orange which he did 2. On the 22d day of November the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty at Nottingham made this Declaration WE the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of these Northern Counties assembled at Nottingham for the defence of the Laws Religion and Properties according to the free-born Liberties and Privileges descended to Us from our Ancestors as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious dress they can put upon us do here unanimously think it our duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant Fellow-Subjects the grounds of our present Undertaking We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible That the very Fundamentals of our Religion Liberties and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy-Council as has been of late too apparent First By the King's dispensing with all the Established Laws at his pleasure 2. By displacing all Officers out of all Offices of Trust and Advantage and placing others in their room that are known Papists deservedly made incapable by the Estastlished Laws of this Land 3. By destroying the Charters of most Corporations in the land 4. By discouraging all persons that are not Papists and preferring such as turn to Popery 5. By displacing all honest and conscientious Judges unless they would contrary to their Consciences declare that to be Law which was merely Arbitrary 6. By branding all Men with the name of Rebels that but offered to justify the Laws in a legal course against the Arbitrary Proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects and by discountenancing the Established Religion 8. 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 Tyrannical Government that is by the influence of Jesuitical Councils 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 do 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 Insolences and Usurpations For we assure our selves that no rational and unbiass'd Person will judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have sworn at their Coronation which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have
that Door And whereas the Parliament that is now in being recognized Their Present Majesties to be Rightful and Lawful King and Queen of this Realm according to the Laws of the same They ought to have acknowledged him King as being set up by God who is not bound by Humane Laws and the Queen as set up by God-knows who who is not bound by Humane Laws neither and at the same time to have own'd that this Providence of God in setting up the King and this Providence of God-knows-who in setting up the Queen does not take away the Legal Right of the Late King but that he having a Legal Right may assert and vindicate it in opposition to the Providence of God and the Providence of God-knows-who and that all who are not under any obligation to Their Present Majesties may lawfully assist him in order to the recovery of this Legal Right Tho we who are under an obligation to Their Present Majesties are bound to obey them by reason of the Events of the Providence of God and of the Providence of God-knows-who Other Instances of this kind might be added and it were a very easie matter to word some parts of the then Prince's Declaration the Votes of Parliament the Instrument of Government and some few Laws made since the Settlement as they ought to and would have been worded if the Prince the Two Houses and the People of England had proceded upon these Gentlemens Principles But that I forbear because it would seem scurrilous I leave it to be the result of comparing the two Columes of these ensuing Papers In short here 's the Sense of the Legislative Body of the Realm and of the People of England set Cheek by Jowle with the Sense of a few Gentlemen of the Sacred Order who would persuade us that our Government is drop'd out of the Skies like the Image that fell down from Jupiter or as the Egyptian Priests persuaded Alexander the Great that he was the Son of their God being convinced of it themselves I suppose by the Events of Providence and his Success in a War Just or Vnjust God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms AND Some Clergy-mens Ways of Disposing of Them THE Measures that were taken in the late King's Reign for the introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Power were so open and undisguised That the most purblind amongst us could not but see them and all Protestants that is the whole Body of the People were uneasie under their then present Circumstances and dreadfully apprehensive of their future Instead of enumerating the several Illegal Practices then on foot to subvert the Establish'd Religion and Government I shall insert verbatim the Declaration of his present Majesty then Prince of Orange which gives a true and lively Scheme of the Condition of the People of England under King James his Government and grounds the Lawfulness and Justice of his Arms who had so near a concern in the Succession upon the Obligation he was under for his Princess's his Own and the Nation 's Interest to interpose in order to their deliverance God's Ways of Disposing of Kingdoms The Declaration of his Highness William Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Orange c. of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving of the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland 1. IT is both certain and evident to all men That the Publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the lawful Authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled More especially where the Alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to preserve and maintain the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants of the said State or Kingdom may neither be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs 2. Upon these grounds it is that we cannot any longer forbear to declare That to our great Regret we see that those Counsellors who have now the chief Credit with the King have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of those Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner 3. Those Evil Counsellors for the advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretexts did invent and set on foot the King 's Dispensing Power by Virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of the King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and so have rendred those laws of no effect tho there is nothing more certain than that as no Laws can be made but by the joynt concurrence of King and Parliament so likewise Laws so enacted which secure the Publick Peace and Safety of the nation and the Lives and Liberties of every Subject in it cannot be Repealed or Suspended but by the same Authority 4. for tho the King may pardon the Punishment that a Transgressor has incurred and to which he is condemned as in the Cases of Treason or Felony yet it cannot be with any colour of Reason inferred from thence That the King can entirely suspend the Execution of those Laws relating to Treason or Felony unless it is pretended that he is clothed with a Despotick and Arbitrary Power and that the Lives Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly on his good Will and Pleasure and are intirely subject to him which must infallibly follow on the King 's having a power to suspend the Execution of the Laws and to dispence with them 5. those Evil Counsellors in order to the giving some Credit to this strange and execrable Maxim have so conducted the Matter that they have obtained a Sentence from the Judges declaring That this Dispensing Power is a Right belonging to the Crown as if it were in the power of the Twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the King to be disposed of by him Arbitrarily and at his Pleasure and expresly contrary to Laws enacted for the Security of the Subjects In order to the obtaining this Judgment those Evil Counsellors did before-hand examine secretly the Opinion
We have understood that the Subverters of the Religion and Laws of those Kingdoms hearing of Our Preparations to assist the People against them have begun to retract some of the Arbitrary and Despotick Powers that they had assumed and to vacate some of their Injust Judgments and Decrees The sense of their Guilt and the distrust of their Force have induced them to offer to the City of London some seeming Relief from their great Oppressions hoping thereby to quiet the People and to divert them from demanding a Re-establishment of their Religion and Laws under the shelter of our Arms They do also give out That we do intend to Conquer and Enslave the Nation and therefore it is that we have thought fit to add a few words to our Declaration We are confident that no Persons can have such hard thoughts of us As to imagine that we have any other Design in this Undertaking than to procure a Settlement of the Religion and of the Liberties and Properties of the Subjects 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 we have brought along with us are utterly disproportioned to that wicked Design of Conquering the Nation if we were capable of Intending it so the great numbers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry that are Men of Eminent Quality and Estates and Persons of known Integrity and Zeal both for the Religion and Government of England many of them being also distinguished by their constant Fidelity to the Crown who do both accompany us in this Expedition and have earnestly solicited us to it will cover us from all such malicious Insinuations For it is not to be imagin'd that either those who have Invited us or those that are already come to Assist us can join in a wicked attempt of Conquest to make void their own lawful Titles to their Honours Estates and Interests We are also confident that all Men see how little weight there is to be laid on all Promises and Engagements that can be now made since there has been so little regard had in the time past to the most solemn Promises And as that imperfect Redress that is now offered is a plain Confession of those Violations of the Government that we have set forth so the Defectiveness of it is no less apparent For they lay down nothing which they may not take up at pleasure and they reserve entire and not so much as mentioned their Claims and Pretences to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power which has been the Root of all their Oppression and of the total Subversion of the Government And it is plain that there can be no Redress nor Remedy offered 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 we have thought fit to declare That we will refer all to a Free Assembly of the Nation in a Lawful Parliament Given under our Hand and Seal at our Court in the Hague the Twenty fourth day of October in the year of our Lord 1688. William Henry Prince of Orange By his Highness's special Command C. Huygens Pursuant to the Peoples Invitation and to carry on the ends os the foregoing Declaration the Prince set Sail from Holland with betwixt Four and Five Hundred Capital Ships Fire-Ships Pinks and Tenders And upon the Fifth of November landed in Torbay in Devonshire The people in great Numbers welcom'd his Highness with loud Acclamations of Joy His Army consisted of about 15000 Horse and Foot After the Army was landed and the Prince come to Exeter the Gentry from all parts of Devonshire Somersetshire c. flock'd to him in great numbers few absenting themselves Several of the Nobility came to him likewise whilst in and about Exeter others afterwards when he was farther advanced towards London Before his Roayl Highness left Exeter there was an Association drawn up and signed by all the Lords and Gentlemen that were with him in these words viz. WE whose Names are hereunto subscribed who have now joyned with the Prince of Orange for the defence of the Protestant Religion and for the 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 the defence of it and never to depart from it until our Religion 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 engaged in this common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which in case his Person may be exposed to danger and to the cursed attempts of Papists and other bloody men we do therefore solemnly engage to God and one another That if any such attempt be made upon him we will pursue not only those who make it but all their Adherents and all that we find in Arms against us with the utmost severity of a just Revenge to their Ruin and Destruction And that the execution of any such Attempt which God of his Infinite Mercy forbid shall not divert us from prosecuting this Cause which we do now undertake but that it shall engage us to carry it on with all the rigor that so barbarous a Practice shall deserve About this time a Printed Letter was dispersed amongst the Army directed to the Officers and inviting them to join with the Prince in the Deliverance of their Countrey Gentlemen and Friends WE have given you so full and so true an Account of our Intentions in this Expedition in our Declaration that as we can add nothing to it so we are sure you can desire nothing more of us We are come to preserve your Religion and to restore and establish your Liberties and Properties and therefore we cannot suffer our selves to doubt but that all true English-men will come and concur with us in our desire to secure these Nations from Popery and Slavery You must all plainly see that you are only made use of as Instruments to enslave the Nation and ruin the Protestant Religion and when that is done you may judge what you your selves ought to expect both from the Cashiering all the Protestant and English Officers and Soldiers in Ireland and by the Irish Soldiers being brought over to be put in your places and of which you have seen so fresh an Instance that we need not put you in mind of it You know how many of your Fellow-Officers have been used for their standing firm to the Protestant Religion and to the Laws of England and you cannot flatter your selves so far as to expect to be better used if those who have broke their Word so often should by
the consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such a one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And in this 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 the Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen-College Fellows is plain are but to still the People like Plumbs to Children by deceiving them for a while But if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present Storm that threatens the Papists be past as soon as they shall be re-setled the former Oppressions will be put on with greater vigour but we hope in vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds For first 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 secondly Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk Men that help'd her to her Throne And above all thirdly the Pope's 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 Reasons 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 3. The King having marched his Army as far as Salisbury to meet the Prince published a Proclamation of Pardon to all such of his Subjects as had taken up Arms and sided with the Prince provided they deserted the Enemy within 20 days and promising Pardon and protection to such Foreigners as would come into his Service and freedom of passage to others to return into their respective Countries But this Proclamation was not at all regarded 4. When the King was at Salisbury the Popish Party seeing their Affairs grow every day more desperate began to employ all their Politicks to invent some Remedy for them and then first formed the Design of the King's with-drawing which they grounded upon this Supposition and Expectation That within two years or less the Nation would be in such Confusion that he might return and have his Ends of it 5. In the mean time the King being unmoveably fixed in a Resolution not to call a Parliament part of the Army revolted and went over to the Prince and the rest either discouraged by the desertion of them that went or by the averseness they found in the body of the People from making any opposition to the Prince's Arms or out of a sense that in fighting against him they should fight against their own Religion and native Country appeared so lukewarm in the Cause that the King did not think fit to hazard a Battel 6. Prince George of Denmark the Duke of Grafton the Lord Churchill and many others of the Protestant Nobility left the King and went over to the Prince of Orange then at Sherborne and on the 25th of November in the night Princess Ann the King 's Second Daughter withdrew privately from White-hall with the Lady Churchill 7. The going off of these Great Men struck the King with terror and the Army being before much in disorder became thereby so full of fear and suspicion that a false Alarm being made whether by design or accident the King and the whole Army left Salisbury the Army retreating to Reading and the King to Andover and on Monday the 26th of November he returned in the Evening to London 8. The first thing the King did being at London was to remove Sir Edward Hales from being Lieutenant of the Tower and to put Sir Bevill Skelton a Protestant in his room Sir Edward had displeased the whole City to the utmost by planting several Mortar-pieces on the Walls towards the City which tho designed only to awe it had more enraged than afrighted them So that his Majesty thought he was not safe at White-hall so long as Sir Edward was Master of the Tower 9. On the 28th His Majesty ordered in Privy Council the Lord Chancellor to issue Writs for the sitting of a Parliament at VVestminster the 15th of January following But it was now too late and the Nation in such a ferment that it was not regarded what the Court said or did 10. Scotland was by this time almost in as bad a Condition as England and some of the Nobility and Gentry were sent up with a Petition for a Free Parliament The Popish Chappels at Bristol York Glocester Worcester Shrewsbury Stafford Wolverhampton Bromingham Cambridge and St. Edmundsbury were about this time demolished and where-ever the Lords in Arms came the Papists were disarmed And in Norfolk the Duke of Norfolk their Lord Lieutenant had a great appearance of the Gentry with him where he and they declared for a Free Parliament and the Protection of the Protestant Religion This Meeting was at Norwich the first of December and after that the same Declaration was renewed at Yarmouth and Lyn and the Suffolk-Men approved of it but wanted a Lord Lieutenant to assemble and head them in order to the shewing their concurrence with safety 11. Bristol was seized by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John Guise the Lord Lovelace who had been seized as he was going to join the Prince was by the Gentry of Glocester-shire delivered out of the Castle of Glocester where till then he had been imprisoned The Lords Molineux and Ashton in the mean time seized Chester for the King being Roman Catholicks and Berwick stood firm to him but Newcastle received the Lord Lumly and declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion York was in the hands of the Associated Lords and the Garison of Hull seized the Lord Langdale their Governour a Papist and the Lord Mountgomery and disarmed some Popish Forces newly sent thither and then declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion And Plimouth had long before submitted to the Prince of Orange 12. The Popish Party was grown so contemptible that on Thursday the 6th of December there was a Hue and Cry after Father Peters publickly cried and sold in the Streets of London And about the same time came out a Third Declaration in the Prince's name but not emitted by him which very much alarm'd the Popish Party and as it is thought contributed very much to the fixing and hastning the King's Resolution of leaving the Nation It was read in many Towns throughout England at the Market-cross the People universally believing till some time after
for the King 's or the Prince's person to be together in one place with their several Guards Whereupon the Guards at White-hall were dislodged by Count Solmes by the Prince's order and the Prince's Guards placed in their room And the King was that same night being the 17th of December desired by a Message from the Prince to remove to some place at a reasonable distance from London and Ham was proposed But the King chose to return into Kent which he did the next day and got away privately from the Guards and embark'd for France The same day that the King withdrew from White-hall the second time the Prince of Orange came to St. James's attended by Monsieur Schomberg and a great number of Nobility and Gentry and was entertain'd with a joy and concourse of the People which appear'd free and unconstrain'd and all the Bells of the City were rung and Bonfires in every Street Thus the body of the People being uneasie under the Late King's Government and not thinking it either their Interest or their Duty to support him in it who had made use of his Authority only to carry on an Interest inconsistent with the welfare of a Protestant Nation and that by all the Illegal Methods that his Evil Counsellors could advise or durst put in execution and who to awe the People from giving any check to his Career had not only Judges at hand that would wrest the Law to serve his Ends without any regard to their Oaths or the trust of their Places but had raised an Army in times of Peace directly against Law and in effect had thereby waged war against his own Subjects The People I say being thus affected either actually join'd with the Prince or openly declared for him or testified by other demonstrations their joy for his arrival and interposing betwixt them and utter ruine Whereupon the King was left to shift for himself and flew for protection to his old Ally the Enemy of God and Man The first thing the Prince did when come to Town after he had received the Congratulations of the City by all the Aldermen and two Common-Council-men for every Ward and taken care about the Army was to desire the Advice of such Lords as were in or about the Town and of such Gentlemen as had served in any Parliament in the Reign of the Late King Charles what course to take for the settlement of the Nation These advised him to take upon himself the Administration of publick Affairs Civil and Military and the disposal of the Publick Revenue and to issue out Circular Letters for the calling a Convention to meet and fit at Westminster on the 22d of January next ensuing Which was done accordingly and the Elections went on with the greatest liberty that could possibly be conceived The Two Houses met the 22d of January and the Upper House chose the Marquess of Halifax for their Speaker and the Commons Henry Powle Esq After which a Letter from the Prince of Orange was read to them Exhorting them to unity and speed in their Consultations The Houses ordered the 31st of January to be appointed for a day of Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God for delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power by means of his Highness the Prince of Orange That Day to be observed in London and Westminster and ten miles distance and the 14th of February after throughout the Kingdom On the 28th of January the Commons passed this Vote viz. Resolved That King James the IId having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of the Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby become Vacant On the 6th of February the Lords assented to the Vote It will not be material to give a particular Account of the Debates and Conferences that arose and were occasioned by this and other Votes of the Commons I hasten to the Conclusion which was That on the 12th of February the Two Houses fully agreed all things in dispute betwixt them on this manner viz. The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembed at Westminster WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to subject and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By assuming and exercising a power of Dispensing with and suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By committing and prosecuting divers worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said Assumed Power By issuing and causing to be executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and imployed contrary to Law By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal Courses And whereas of late Years partial corrupt and unqualified Persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High-Treason which were not Free-holders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the 22d day of January 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their
he brings them in from Foreign Countries Whistling for the Fly out of Egypt or the Bee out of the land of Assyria In plain words stirring up a Pharaoh or a Nebuchadnezzar against them God may employ such if he will tho none is too good for this work to execute his righteous Judgments And when God doth his work by their hands whatsoever the Instruments may be the Cause being so just and so evident as we have supposed All men that see it will say Doubtless there is a God that judges on the earth In the way of Justice But the Pr. of Orange was not a Sovereign Power being dispossest of his Principality God acts as a judge between Two Sovereign Powers when they bring their Causes before him that is when they make War upon one another And when he seeth his time that is when he finds the Cause ripe for Judgment if it proceeds so far then he gives Sentence for him that is injur'd against him that hath done the Injury The effect of this Sentence is a just Conquest and that is the other way in which God proceeding judicially pats down one and sets up another That this may be the better understood there are four things to be consider'd particularly First That War is an Appeal to the Justice of God Secondly That none can be Parties to this but they that are in Sovereign Power Thirdly That to make it a just War there must be a just and sufficient Cause Fourthly That Conquest in such a War is a decisive Judgment of God and gives one a Right to the Dominions that he has conquered from the others That War is an Appeal to God this appears in the nature of the thing p. 25 26 27 28. The Parties to this Appeal are properly such as have no Superior but God For them that have an earthly Superior their Appeal lies to him as God's Minister attending continually on this very thing p. 29. Subjects have no Right to make War without the leave of their Princes For as God has given Princes the power of the Sword so he forbids it to Subjects under a great Penalty They that take the Sword shall perish with the Sword And if he has not admitted them to be Parties in his Court then it is certain that they cannot sue there or if they do they can acquire no Flight by it There is an Original Nullity in all their Proceedings As none have right of making War but they that are in Sovereign Power so neither is it given to them that they may make what use of it they please Particularly they must not make War for the satisfying of their Lusts Ambition Covetousness Vain-glory or the like Nay the righteous God will not hold him guiltless that hath Justice in his Cause and yet in his Heart hath no such thing Lawful things must be done lawfully This Princes must look to as they will answer it to God But as far as man can judge it is a Lawful War that is made for a just and sufficient Cause p. 32. 33. One Prince may make War in defence of another King's Subjects if they see themselves in extreme danger of suffering an intolerable Injury by his Oppression of his own people And in these cases if one Lawfully may then it is certain he ought to do it p. 36. They are so much the more obliged to this when it is evident that the threatning mischief is like to fall upon others as well as themselves and them such as they are bound in Honour and Conscience to protect and support When by fitting still they should certainly expose not only themselves to be ruined but also their Friends and Allies to perish with them in that case Saevitia est voluisse mori it is a sort of bloody Peaceableness it is cruelty to Mankind to go to that degree of suffering Injuries But especially when the Cause of God is concern'd to whom we owe all things and ought to venture all for his sake Surely 't is his Cause when it touches Religion which is all that is dear to him in this world And tho Religion it self teaches us if it be possible as much as in us lies to live peaceably with all man yet as 't is there supposed there may be Cause to break the Peace so it adds infinitely to that Cause when it comes to concern our Religion p. 36 37. There is yet a greater Cause for this when the Suffering-Religion is that which is establish'd by the Laws of that Kingdom and yet the King that is sworn to those Laws and therefore bound to support that Religion is manifestly practising against it and endeavours to supplant and oppress and extinguish it What should other Princes or States that profess the same Religion do in this case They see that such a King is set upon the destroying of their Religion He hath declar'd a hostile mind towards the professors of it in judging them not capable of enjoying their Temporal Rights If he deals thus with his own People what are Foreigners to expect at his hands Can they think themselves secure because they are at peace with him They cannot unless Treaties are more Sacred than Laws Or can they rely upon his Oath But they see he hath broken it And therefore they have reason to judge That either he makes no Conscience of an Oath or he thinks Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks or he hath a Superior that can dispense with him or that will absolve him from the guilt of Perjury in such cases where Religion is concerned In short they are sure of his Will to destroy them and cannot be sure of his Oath to the contrary Wherein them can they be safe But in his want of power to do them hurt But he will not want power if they let him go on for he is getting it as fast as he can He is now strengthning himself by those ways that he takes to be absolute Lord of his own people And he is now weakning Them by oppressing all those among his people whom he knows to be their Friends and Well-wishers He doth both these things together He daily lessens their party and makes them as many more Enemies as he gains Men over to his Religion And if that be such a Religion as pretends to a Right of destroying Men of other Religions knowing this they know what they are to expect When this pretended Right is armed with power it will certainly fall upon them So that they must begin before he is ready for them or else it will be too late to do any thing for their own preservation But as it is necessary for them to do this for themselves so they ought to do it much the rather for the sakes of their oppressed Brethren That by a timely asserting of their own Right they may also deliver them from the Evils they suffer at present and save them from that Destruction which is coming upon