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 Subjects 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 determin 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 all 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 injust Violences that have been in a course of so many years committed there 27. 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's special Command C. HUY GENS THus you have an exact and full Account of the Prince of Orange 's Declaration And can you find one word of a Treaty with France to extirpate all Protestants Or can you imagine that if they had the least Reason for such a Talk they who aggravate every little thing would let this Declaration pass without the least mentioning of what is so momentous and important And is there any thing more than a violent Presumption suggested about the Prince of Wales And is the very Noise of such a Presumption reason enough to justifie a real War As for tâ—e other things urg'd are they not redressable by a Parliament and so far as it 's possible without one already Redressed 'T is a Parliament then that is the main thing to be insisted on which though Chosen as the last was would be too see le an Argument to clear the present Invasion from the charge of being Injust and Vnrighteous The Great Men of this Kingdom ever thought a Parliament Irregularly Chosen more eligible than either a War or a rash Enquiry into the manner of the Choice Did Queen Elizabeth 's Parliament admit of a Words being spoken to bring Queen Mary 's Parliament into doubt Did they not look on it as most dangerous to do so And although by the Triennial Bill the long Parliament in the late King's Reign was actually Dissolved Nine Months before it thought on the Repeal thereof yet even after 't was destroyed by it the Dissolved Parliament sate and repealed the Dissolving Bill and made the conventicle-Conventicle-Act the Test-Laws repealed the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo and pass'd the Habeas Corpus Bill into a Law. But was the Assembly that acted thus Irregularly ever call'd to an Account for it or any of their Laws declared Void and Null Or was it ever esteemed a Good Reason for a War And yet this is much more than hath been ever done by His Present Majesty Besides 't was the late King that took away the Charters and those who were entring on violent Courses for their Restauration were proclaimed Traytâ—rs and several executed for it while all the Pulpits throughout England sounded of the Horridness Blackness Vileness Devilishness of that Conspiracy And is what was Black and Horrid then become Noble Great Generous and Glorious now Thus much was also a part of the late Duke of Monmouth 's Declaration and yet as Parliament chosen by the Garbled Corporations proclaim'd him a raytor and Attainted him But doth the Blood of Monmouth as well as of the fore-mentioned Conspirators and of all those in the West lye on the Judges Juries Nobility and other Gentry of the Church of England that had a hand in condemning such as by violent Methods would have restor'd the Charters If these things could not vindicate the Presbyterian Plotters in the late King's Reign or Monmouth 's Rebellion it cannot excuse the present Vndertaking for this doth infinitely exceed those and the Civil War too for neither of them brought in a Foreign Power upon us as now is done But it must be observed that how great soever our Grievances have been yet now all that Relief that can reasonably de desired
those whose Right it is to chuse Members of Parliament should be under any Prejudices and Mistakes thro' the Artifices of disaffected Persons We think fit to declare That it is Our Royal Purpose to endeavour a legal Establishment of an Universal Liberty of Conscience for all Our Subjects it is also our Resolution inviolably to preserve the Church of England by such a Confirmation of the several Acts of Uniformity that they shall never be altered by any other ways than by repealing the several Clauses which inflict Penalties upon Persons not promoted or to be promoted to any Ecclesiastical Benefices or Promotions within the meaning of the said Acts for using and exercising their Religion contrary to the Tenor and Purport of the said Acts of Uniformity And for the further securing not only the Church of England but the Protestant Religion in general We are willing the Roman Catholicks shall remain incapable to be Members of the House of Commons whereby those Fears and Apprehensions will be removed which many persons have had That the Legislative Authority would be engrossed by them and turn'd against Protestants We do likewise assure all our loving Subjects that We shall be ready to do every thing else for their safety and advantage that becomes a King who will always take care of his People and if they desire the happiness of their Country We exhort them to lay by all Animosities and dispose themselves to think of such Persons to represent them in Parliament whose Abilities and Temper render them fit for so great and good a Work. And for the preventing any Disorders Irregularities or undue Proceedings whatsoever that may happen either before or at the time of Election of Members for the insuing Parliament We do hereby strictly require and command all Mayors Sheriffs Bailiffs and other Officers whatsoever to whom the execution of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for or concerning the choice of Members for the ensuing Parliament shall belong That they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed according to the Tenor thereof And the Members that shall be chosen to be fairly return'd according to the Merits of the Choice The Nation was by this time become so distrustful of all the Proceedings of the Court that this Declaration was thought absolutely necessary to assure them a Parliament should be holden and yet after all it was little believed The Preparations in Holland had made it necessary to wheedle the Church of England-men and therefore they were told only the Penalties of the Acts of Uniformity should be repeal'd that an Universal Liberty of Conscience might be established And the Roman Catholicks not being likely to be chosen for Members of the lower House in this Parliament they were contented to continue uncapable of being chosen in there intimating they intended however to sit in the House of Lords The 26th of September there was an Order made to authorize and empower the Lords Lieutenants many of which were Roman Catholicks or unqualified persons of the several Counties to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from being Deputy-Lieutenants and his Majesty also gave directions to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of England to put into the Commission of the Peace such Gentlemen as had been lately laid aside and shall be recommended by the said Lords-Lieutenants In the Interim certain Intelligence being brought that the Preparations in Holland were designed against England The 24th of September were summoned the Bishop of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester and Bristol and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 28th of Septemb. they appeared at Whitehall and there waited accordingly that day upon the King in a Body Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough but London and Bristol came not then to Town and the Archbishop was sick and came alone the next day There passed nothing then but general Expressions of his Favour and Promises of Duty on the Bishops part Whereupon they all desired the Archbishop to beg a second-Admission which was appointed on Tuesday the 2d of October but was put off till the next day The 28th of September his Majesty put out this following Declaration WE have received undoubted Advice That a great and sudden invasion from Holland with an armed Force of Foreigners and Strangers will speedily be made in an hostile manner upon this Our Kingdom and altho' some false Pretences relating to Liberty Property and Religion contrived or worded with Art and Subtilty may be given out as shall be thought useful upon such an Attempt it is manifest however considering the great Preparations that are making that no less matter by this Invasion is propos'd than an absolute Conquest of these Our Kingdoms and the utter subduing and subjecting Us and all Our People to a foreign Power which is promoted as We understand altho' it may seem almost incredible by some of Our Subjects being persons of wicked and restless Spirits implacable Malice and desperate Designs who having no sense of former intestine Distractions the Memory and Misery whereof should endear and put a value upon that Peace and Happiness which hath long been enjoyed nor being moved by Our reiterated Acts of Grace and Mercy wherein we have studied and delighted to abound towards all Our Subjects and even towards those who were once avowed and open Enemies and who do again endeavour to imbroil this Kingdom in Blood and Ruine to gratifie their own Ambition and Malice proposing to themselves a Prey and Booty in such a publick Confusion We cannot omit to make it known that altho' We had notice some time since that a foreign force was preparing against Us yet We have always declined any foreign Succours but rather have chosen next under God to rely upon the true and ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of our own People with whom we have often ventur'd Our life for the honour of this Nation and in whose defence against all Enemies We are firmly resolved to live and die And therefore We solemnly conjure Our Subjects to lay aside all manner of Animosities Jealousies and Prejudices and heartily and chearfully to unite together in the defence of Us and their native Country which thing alone will under God defeat and frustrate the principal Hope and Design of Our Enemies who expect to find Our People divided and by publishing perhaps some plausible Reasons of their coming hither as the specious tho' false pretences of maintaining the Protestant Religion or asserting the Liberties and Properties of Our People do hope thereby to conquer this great and renowned Kingdom But albeit the design hath been carried on with all imaginable Secresie and Endeavour to surprize and deceive Us We have not been wanting on our part to make such Provisions as did become Us and by Gods Blessing We make no doubt of being found in so good a Posture that Our Enemies may have cause to repent such their
some other Country § 7. And since his Majesty had sufficient reasons to withdraw these can be no pretence for an Abdication For we are to observe that to Abdicate an Office always supposes the Consent of him who Quits it That this is the signification of the Word Abdico appears from Tully Salust and Livie to which I shall only add the Learned Grotius De Jure Belli c. Libr. 1. Cap. 4. Sect. 9. Where he makes Abdicating the Government and plainly Giving it up to be Terms of the same importance § 8. And to prevent unreasonable Cavils he adds that a Neglect or Omission in the Administration of Government is by no means to be Interpretated a Renunciation of it We have but two Instances with us which looks like an Abdication since the Conquest which are in the Reign of Edward II. and Richard II. both which were unjustly Deposed by their Subjects However they did not renounce their Allegiance and declare the Throne void till they had a formal Resignation under the Hands of both those unfortunate Princes And hence it appears how unlucky our Enquirer is at citing the Laws For pag. 12. He tells us That since these Two Princes have been judged in Parliament for their Male Administration and since these Judgments have never been vacated by any subsequent Parliaments these Proceedings are part of our Law. From hence I observe § 9. 1. That our Author contradicts himself For here he owns that Male Administration is sufficient to warrant Deposition and Resistance But in his Enquiry into the Measures of Submission c. For both these Papers are generally supposed to come from the same Hand Pag. 5. Par. 14. He is much kinder to the Crown for there he asserts That it is not Lawful to resist the King upon any pretence of Ill Administration and that nothing less than subverting the Fundamentals of Government will justifie an Opposition Now I am much mistaken if Deposing of Kings is not Resisting them with a Witness But besides his self Contradiction the case is not to his purpose For § 10. 1. These Parliaments were called in Tumultuous times when the Subjects were so hardy as to put their Kings under Confinement Now if it is against the Constitution of Parliaments to Menace the Two Houses out of their Liberty of Voting freely then certainly Kings ought not to be overawed by Armies and Prisons These Parliaments therefore are very improper to make Precedents of § 11. 2. Those Princes were wrought upon so far as to resign their Crowns which each of them did though unwillingly Let this Enquirer produce such a Resignation from His Majesty and he says something § 12. 3. He is much mistaken in saying these Judgments as he calls them have not been vacated by subsequent Praliaments For all those subsequent Parliaments which declare it Unlawful to take up Arms against the King do by necessary implication condemn these Deposing Precedents for it 's impossible for Subjects to Depose their Princes without Resisting them § 13. 2. By Act of Parliament the First of Edw. 4. yet remaining at large upon the Parliament Rolls and for the greater part recited verbatim in the Pleadings in Baggett's Case in the Year Books Trin. Term. 9. Edw. 4. The Title of Edw. 4. by Descent and Inheritance and is set forth very particularly And that upon the Decease of Rich. 2. the Crown by Law Custom and Conscience Descended and Belonged to Edmund Earl of March under whom King Edw. 4. claimed § 14. It is likewise further declared That Hen. 4. against Law Conscience and Custom of the Realm of England Usurped upon the Crown and Lordship thereof and Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. occupied the said Realm by Unrighteous Intrusion and Vsurpation and no otherwise § 15. And in 39. Hen. 6. Rot. Parl. when Richard Plantagenet Duke of York laid claim to the Crown as belonging to him by right of Succession it was § 16. 1. Objected in behalf of Hen. 6. that Hen. 4. took the Crown upon him as next Heir in Blood to Hen. 3. not as Conqueror § 17. To this it was Answered That the pretence of Right as next Heir to Hen. 3. was false and only made use of as a Cloak to shadow the violent Usurpations of Hen. 4. § 18. 2. It was Objected against the Duke of York That the Crown was by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Hen. 4. and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Hen. 6. did Lineally Descend The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title To which the Duke of York replied That if Hen. 4. might have obtained and enjoyed the Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which takes no Place nor is of any Force or Effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with Gods Laws and all Natural Laws Which Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expressly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Cotton's Abridgment Fol. 665 666. § 19. From these Recognitions it plainly follows 1. That the Succession cannot be interrupted by an Act of Parliament especially when the Royal Assent is given by a King De Facto and not De Jure 2. The Act 9. of Edw. 4. by declaring the Crown to Descend upon Edmund Earl of March by the Decease of Rich. 2. does evidently imply that the said Richard was rightful King during his Life and consequently that his Deposition was Null and Unlawful If it 's demanded Why his Majesty did not leave Seals and Commissioners to supply his Absence This Question brings me to the Second Point viz. to shew That the leaving sufficient Representatives was impracticable at this Juncture For 1. When the Nation was so much embroiled and the King's Interest reduced to such an unfortunate Ebb It would have been very difficult if not impossible to have found Persons who would have undertaken such a dangerous Charge That Man must have had a Resolution of an extraordinary Size who would venture upon Representing a Prince who had been so much disrepected in his own Person whose Authority had been set aside and his Ambassador clapt up at Windsor when he carried not only an inoffensive but an obliging Letter But granting such a Representation had been ingaged in the Commissions must either have extended to the Calling of Parliaments or not if not they would neither have been Satisfactory nor absolutely necessary Not Satisfactory For the want of a Parliament was that which was accounted the great Grievance of the Nation as appears from the Prince of Orange's Declaration Where he says expresly That his Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible Declar. P. 12. § 21.
Secondly This Expedient was not absolutely Necessary for the Administration of Justice might have proceeded Regularly without any such Deputation by Virtue of those Commissions which the Popish Judges and Justices of the Peace had already from the King. This I shall prove § 22. 1. From a parallel Instance King Charles the I. took a Journy into Scotland in 41. during the Session of Parliament at Westminster where though he appointed Five Lords to sign Bills in his Name The Continuation of Bak. Chron. yet the Judges and Justices Acted by vertue of their former Commissions without any new Authority from any Representatives of His Majesty Now Scotland is as much a distinct Kingdom from England as France and France as much His Majesties Dominions as Scotland And therefore if Commissions will hold in the King's Absence in one Place why not in the other § 23. Secondly The present Judges met in January last at Westminster to dispatch some Business in order to keep the Term but were forbidden to proceed by the Prince of Orange's Secretary So that it is plain it was the Opinion of these Reverend Judges that their Commissions from His Majesty were still in Force But in the next place § 24. If His Majesty had deputed any Persons to Represent him in Parliament this Method would have been attended with new and insuperable Difficulties For § 25. 1. If they had been Limited they would not have given Satisfaction For it being impossible to foresee the Business and Votes of a Parliament at a distance If they had been restrained to certain Points in all probability they would have wanted Power to have passed all the Bills and and so their Deputation would not have Answered the Desire of the Houses and the greatest part of their Grievances might have been counted unredressed If it 's said that the Parliament might have requested an Enlargement of their Commission from His Majesty To this I Answer That the Convention may send to His Majesty for an Expedient now if they please And I hope they will for I hear his Majesty has been so gracious as to send to them But 2. If these Commissioners were unlimited it would be in their Power to do a great many things prejudicial to the Crown In such a Case they might alter the Monarchy into a Commonwealth or Sign the Deposing of his Majesty if such Bills should happen to be offered And though there may be many Persons of Honour and Conscience enough to lodge such a Trust with Yet in regard his Majesty has been lately mistaken in some of whose Fidelity he had so great and Assurance he has small encouragement to be over confideing for the Future Indeed no Wise Prince will Trust so vast a Concern as a Kingdom with the Honesty of another especially when many of his Subjects are disaffected and in a Ferment So that nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect such Plenipotentiary and Absolute Commissioners § 26. 3. I shall prove in the last place That we have no Grounds either from the Laws of the Realm or from those of Nature to pronounce the Throne void upon such a Retreat of a Prince as we have before us 1. To begin with the Laws of the Realm which are either Acts of Parliament or those we call Common Laws Now there is no Statute so much as pretended to support this Deserting Doctrine and if there was it 's certain no such can be produced Indeed a Prince must be very weary of Governing and void of the common Inclinations of Mankind who would sign a Bill of this Nature and give his Subjects such a dangerous Advantage against himself and his Posterity Neither has this Opinion any better Countenance from Common Law For Common Law is nothing but Antient Usage and Immemorial Custom Now Custom supposes Precedents and Parallel Cases But it 's granted of all Hands That the Crown of England was never judged to be Demifed by the withdrawing of the Prince before now And therefore it follows by undeniable Consequence that this Opinion can have no Foundation in the Common Law because there is not so much as one Ruled Case to prove it by Nay our Laws are not only silent in the maintenance of this Paradox but against it as I shall make good by Two Precedents § 27. 1. From the Case of Edward the IV. who having not sufficient Force to Encounter the Earl of Warick who had raised an Army for King Henry was obliged to fly the Kingdom but that he deputed any Persons to Represent him our Histories don't give us the least Intimation Neither was it Objected at his return that he had Abdicated the Government by omitting to Constitute a Regent Neither is it material to Object that all Disputes of this Nature were over-ruled by his Victorous Army For if it had been the known Law of this Realm that a Prince had ipso facto forfeited his Crown by going beyond Sea without leaving a Deputation though his Departure should happen to be Involuntary If this I say had been the Law of the Kingdom it would not only have been a great advantage to Henry the VI. and made the Nation ring of it of which there is altum Silentium but we may be well assured King Edward would not have conferr'd Honour worn the Crown and taken the State and Authority of the King upon him till he had been Re-Established by Parliaments But that he did Exercise all Acts of Soveraignty before the calling of a Parliament appears from Daniel Stow and Baker And when the Parliament was Convened those who had taken up Arms against him were found Guilty of Treason and his Adherents were restored to Blood and Estate Daniel But there was no Confirmation or Resisting or his Title which is a Demonstration there was no need of it and that this Abdicating Doctrine was perfectly unknown to that Age. § 28. 2. To come nearer our own Times what Seals or Commissioners did Charles the II. leave behind him after Worcester Fight And yet I beleive no Mortal ever urged this as an Argument against his Restauration If it be Answered that there was much more danger in this case than in that before us To this I reply that if we Examine the matter more narrowly we shall find the disparity very inconsiderable For was there not a numerous Army of Foreigners and Subjects in the Field against his present Majesty at his retiring What Power or Authority or so much as Liberty was there left him And I am afraid that at that time he had fewer Friends to stand by him than his Brother after that unfortunate Battle in 51. § 29. And since this pretended Dereliction has no manner of Protection from the Constitution it has no other refuge but the Laws of Nature to fly to but a very little Storming will serve to drive it from this last Retrenchment § 30. For the Law of Nature is nothing but the Reason of the
become as subject to him notwithstanding his Infallibility as the Mufty is to the Grand Signior who never makes any Scruple to depose or bow-string the Infallible Gentleman whenever he crosseth his Designs and to set up another in his stead whose Infallibility will be more complaisant The Emperor of Germany is as religious and as zealous a Prince for the Roman Catholick Religion as ever sprung out of that Family But he has no mind after all to lose his Life his Empire and his Liberty he had rather there should be some Hereticks in Germany than to suffer the French King to send his Apostolick Dragoons to convert them and drive him into Exile The King of Spain values the poor dispeopl'd share he has yet left him in Europe too well to put it into the Hands of the French in order to the reducing the Northern Hereticks to the See of Rome No wonder then that these Princes should all unite with his now Majesty of England against a Prince of their own Religion when they saw he had embraced a design which would certainly end in his and all their Ruins and which would raise France to such an height of Power as could never be retrieved This was very near the state of Affairs at home and abroad when Monsieur the Comte d' Avaux the French King's Ambassador at the Hague the 9th of September last published this Memorial which first opened the Eyes of our small States-men here in England My Lords THe sincere desire the King my Master has to maintain the Tranquility of Europe will not suffer his Majesty to see the great Preparations for War both by Sea and Land made by your Lordships without taking the measures that Prudence the continual Companion of all his Actions inspires him with to prevent the Mischiefs these War-like Preparations will certainly draw after them And altho' the King perswaded of the Wisdom of your Councils would not imagine that a Free state should so easily resolve to take up Arms and to kindle a War which in the present Juncture cannot but be fatal to all Christendom Nevertheless his Majesty cannot believe your Lordships would engage your selves in so great Expences both at home and abroad to entertain in pay so many Foreign Troops to put to Sea so numerous a Fleet so late in the year and to prepare so great Magazines if you had not a design form'd answerble to the greatness of these Preparations All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore his Majesty hath commanded me to declare to you on his part That the Bands of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him not only to assist him but also to look on the first act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops or your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown I leave to your Lordships Prudence to reflect on the Consequences that such Enterprises may have his Majesty not having ordered me to make you this Declaration on his Part without his sincere Intention to prevent as I have already had the Honour to tell you all that may trouble the Peace of Europe Given at the Hague the 9th of September 1688. month September In England all things were then in the utmost degree of Disorder and Security the Army committing the utmost degree of Insolence in all places where they were quartered and the People making frequent and loud Complaints Whereupon his late Majesty issued out again an old Order which had been frequently and to no good purpose published before commanding that no Souldier should be lodged in any private House without the free and voluntary Consent of the Owner and that all Houses should be deem'd private Houses except Victualling-Houses and Houses of publick Entertainment or such as have License to sell Wine or any other Liquor c. Under this pretence they brought in all Bakers Cooks c. This Order bears date the 2d of September at Windsor Tho' the English Army were become thus intolerable to the Nation and there was so great a Storm gathering in Holland yet so stupid were our Drivers that nothing would serve our then Masters but the filling the Army with Irish men who were likely to be more disorderly and more hated to that end Major Slingsby Lieutenant Governour of Portsmouth under his Grace the Duke of Berwick had ordered the Regiment there quartered to take in about thirty Irish Gentlemen which was opposed by John Beaumont Lieutenant Coll. Thomas Pastor Simon Parke Thomas Orme William Cook and John Port Officers and Commanders in that Regiment which they had rais'd at their own Costs and Charges during the Monmouth Invasion The first of these made this Speech by their appointment and in all their names to the Duke of Berwick Sir I am desired by these Gentlemen with whose Sense I concur to inform your Grace that we do not think it consistent with our Honours to have Foreigners imposed upon us without being complain'd of that our Companies were weak or Orders to recruit them not doubting but if such Orders had been given us We that first in very ill times raised them Hundreds could easily now have made them according to the Kings Complement We humbly Petition we may have leave to fill up our Companies with such men of our Nation we may judge most suitable for the Kings Service and to support our Honours or that we may be permitted with all imaganable Duty and Respect to lay down our Commissions The Account of this Opposition being forthwith sent to Windsor where the Court then was the Rage and Fury against these rebellious heretical Officers was unspeakable and in truth nothing could be more contrary to their Designs which was by degrees to fill up the English Army with Irish and Roman Catholicks because they found it was not possible to do it at once as they had done in Ireland And now nothing would serve them but the hanging the six honest Gentlmen by Martial Law and accordingly a Party of Horse were ordered to go down to Portsmouth to bring them up in custody and a Court Martial was ordered to proceed against them and if the Memorial of the French Ambassador had not â—ome in that very Morning to shew them their danger â—n all probability they had been so treated but upon this the â—0th of September they were only casheer'd after they had on the Road been treated with great Severity and Indignity However this was one of those things which contributed very much to what followed The 20th of September the King being then returned with the Court to Whitehall published this Declaration HAving already signified Our pleasure to call a Parliament to meet at Our City of Westminster in November next and Writs of Summon being issued accordingly lest
his birth is proved We have saith he an excellent Church and we do well to take due care to continue its Establishment but to dispossess our Prince upon this score has as little Divinity as Law in it I may answer this in the words of the Apostle But if the unbelieving depart let him depart A Brother or a Sister is not under bondage in such a case but God hath called us to Peace 1. Cor. 7. 15. We did not dispossess our Prince but he deserted us because we would not give up the Legal Establishment of our Church and our Civil Liberties to boot To endeavour to Preserve our Religion by such methods will make it more fatal to us in the Event than Atheism it self That is it were better to renounce the whole Apostles Creed and every article of it than to endeavour to preserve our Religion by a defection from a Persecuting Prince In truth this is Loyalty with a Vengeance 'T is a mistake to think the World was made for none but Protestants and if Dominion was founded in Grace I am afraid our share would not be great in the Division As to the first of these it is a silly insinuation and concludes nothing For tho it be true the world was not made for any one fort of men yet I may assert that part of it which is fallen to my Lot against the Invasion of the Jesuits and Roman Catholicks who pretend that the whole world ought to be Subject to the Vicar of Jesus Christ St. Peter's Successor and upon that Score will suffer no body to Live in Peace by them who will not be Subject to that old Gentleman and his Emissaries And if Dominion were founded in grace we of the Protestant Religion should be able to maintain our possession of what we have against any Religion that should pretend to out us if we were to be tried by any other Christian Judge but the Infallible Gentleman at Rome When I first read these two passages I concluded the piece was written by a R. C. but some of our own Brethren can sometimes speak as ill things of us as the worst of our Enemies so violent are the transports of a Friend when throughly insensed If it be objected that his Majesty not sending to his People upon his removal is an Argument that he intended to Govern them no Longer First He Answers that the objecter doth not believe it In truth if any body did ever think or say that he was weary of Reigning or quitted England with a design to trouble himself no more about it he must be very Ignorant of the temper of the Late King and of the managment of affairs in the Last Scene of his Government We were not so happy he was resolved to be our Master when he was most resolutely bent not to do us that Justice which we had so much right to his going to France Added to that Expression in his Letter from Rochester Tho I have ventured my Life very frankly on several occasions for the Good and Honour of my Country and am as free to do it again and which I hope I shall yet do as old as I am to redeem it from the Slavery it is like to fall under Yet I think it not Convenient to Expose my self to be secured as not to be at Liberty to effect it and for that reason do withdraw my self These shew clearly he went away with a resolution to return and make a conquest of us and then we may conjecture at what rate we shall be redeemed from Slavery Secondly That his Majesty was scarcely Landed in France before the Administration was Conferred upon the Prince of Orange which Action might very well discourage his Majesty from sending any message so scon as he intended But since it is Known his Majesty has sent Letters to If not to the Privy Council as some affirm yet to the Convention There was in truth a Letter to the Privy Council Two to the Convention of England which I am informed were sealed up in Covers and never opened but there has since been a pretended copy of it printed and spread about the Town and another Letter has since that been sent to the Convention of Scotland and they all of them as far as is Known confirm his resolution of attacking England Thirdly They that were the occasion of his Majesties Departure should one would think have waited upon him and invited him back For without question the injuring person ought to make the first step towards an Accommodation Especially when wrong is done to a Prince Now whether his Majesty has been well used in this Revolution or not I leave to the World to Judge now but God will do it afterwards This Conclusion will serve me and him differently And therefore I shall add no more but this The Author of this Letter wrote it in an heat before things were well understood or at all Determin'd and therefore deserves much Compassion much that I have said in Answer to it was not known to him and I am perswaded he himself will now see and acknowledge too the weakness of many things which he then Advanced In short I design nothing by this Answer but the Service of their Majesties the Peace of England And the Preservation of our Religion our Laws and Ancient Government And could these have been preserved any otherways the Memory of his Late Majesty should have been still sacred to me notwithstanding his Mis-Government Whilest this Piece was preparing to the Press there was an Answer to his Paper printed in two sheets in Quarto wherein the Author has taken notice of some passages in this Letter which I thought fit to omit as not being of any moment as to the main question depending and therefore if the reader is not satisfied without so minute an Answer he may have recourse to that Paper FINIS N. S. October 30. 1688. ☞ ☜ The Bishop of Bath Wells * Dutch Design Anatomized p. 29. The Bishops Proposals are the contrivance of the King's Enemies framed of purpose to amuse the people as if till they be granted we are not safe ☞ ☜ ☜ ☞ ☞ N. S. Second Letter pag. 49. ☜ * The Means here hinted at was a Treaty with the Prince and the Nobility and Gentry who had Declared for him * They did so whilst the danger hung over our heads tho' now nothing less dreadful * This Modesty of the Expression is a Justification of the Sincerity and Civility of the Declarer †Nothing but a Free Parliament could re-establish our shattered Privileges and Liberties and therefore it was so stiffly denied ¶ True the Charters were taken away to secure the Succession and Monarchy then but now to ruine the English Liberty and Protestant Religion * Their Loyalty or rather Credulity had been too notoriously abus'd to be now again imposed on by this Argument So it fell on the Offerer and raised a just Indigration instead of Submission to a second Cheat. The Redresses granted had no certainty because the Dispersing Power was still defended the Bishop of London's Sentence remitted but not declared Illegal the Charters were restored but still subject to new Warranto's And as for the promised Parliament thoÌ„ it was after granted yet so dreadful it was that the abandoning the Throne was more eligible than the sight of that Assembly So all this Cant produced no good effect on the exasperated Minds of Mâ—n How the Bishops were uâ—ed on thâ—s score is set down in ' its proper place * These Gentlemen who now pretend to such extraordinary Loyalty should do well to consider this ☜ †It is said Prince George came back with the King to Andover and went away with the Duke of Ormond on Sunday night the 25th of Nov. from that place ☜ ☜ ☞ The Conclusion Declaration at Guild-Hall * The Administration of Affairs was in truth conferred on the 〈◊〉 Prince of Orange the very day the King left London by the Declaration made at Guild hal And all that followed till the 12th of February was but a confirming that first Act by after Acts.