Confession of those Violences 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 no 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 this NATION in a Lawful Parliament Given under Our Hand and Seal at Our Court in the Hague the 24th Day of October in the Year of Our Lord 1688. WILLIAM HENRY Prince of Orange By His Highness's Special Command C. HUYGENS. At the same time an Extract of the States-General's Resolution was privately Printed at London wherein among other Reasons why they had intrusted the Prince of Orange with such a Fleet and Army is this which follows THE King of France hath upon several Occasions shewed himself dissatisfied with this State which gave Cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to compass within his Kingdom and obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of the Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring this State to confusion and if possible quite to subject it There was also Printed about the same Juncture this Letter of the Prince of Orange to the Officers of the Army 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 ruine the Protestant Religion and when that is done you may judge what ye 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 your Means be brought out of those Streights 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 Country to your Selves 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 Country 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 join their Arms with Ours And you shall find Us to be your Well-wishing and assured Friend W. H. P. O. This Letter was spread under-hand over the whole Kingdom and read by all sorts of Men and the Reason of it being undeniable it had a great Force on the Spirits of the Soldiery so that those who did not presently comply with it yet resolved they would never strike one stroke in this 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 granted till the Prince of Orange with his Army was expelled out of the Nation and till all those that had submitted to him which were not many then were reduced into their Power to be treated as they thought fit In the mean time the Fleet came about from the Buoy in the Nâ—re to Portsmouth under the Command of the Lord Dartmouth where it arrived on Saturday the 17th of November and on the Monday following the KING entred Salisbury which was then the Head Quarters of the whole Army But on the 16th of the aforesaid Month the Lord Delamere having received certain Intelligence of the Landing of the Prince of Orange in the West and seeing the Irish throng over in Arms under pretence of Assisting the King but in reality to enslave us at Home as they had already reduced our Country-Men in Ireland to the lowest Degree of Danger and Impuissance that they have at any time been in since the Conquest of Ireland in the Reign of King Henry II. He thereupon Assembled Fifty Horse-Men and at the Head of them marched to Manchester and the next Day he went to Bodon-Downes his Forces being then 150 strong declaring his Design was To join with the Prince of Orange This small Party of Men by degrees drew in all the North and could never be suppressed Now before His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange left Exeter there was an Association drawn up and signed by all the Lords and Gentlemen that were with him the Date of which I cannot assign but the Words thereof are as follow VVE whose Names are hereunto subscribed who have now joined with the Prince of Orange for the Defence of the Protestant Religion and for the maintaining the Antient Government and the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland do engage to Almighty God to His Highness the Prince of Orange and to one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in Defence of it and never to depart from it 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 into Popery and Slavery And whereas we are engaged in this Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which means 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 Ruine 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 Rigour that so barbarous a Practice shall deserve On the 20th of November there happened a Skirmish at Wincanton between a Detachment of 70 Horse and 50 Dragoons and Granadiers commanded by Colonel Sarsfeild and about 30 of the Prince of Orange's Men Commanded by one Cambel where notwithstanding the great Inequality of Numbers yet the latter fought with that desperate Bravery that it struck a Terrour into the Minds of the Army who were otherwise sufficiently averse from Fighting And besides the Action was every where magnified so much above the real Truth that it shewed clearly how much Men wished the Prosperity of the Prince's Arms. On the 22th of November the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty then assembled at Nottingham made this Declaration VVE 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 Iâ—fringers 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 1. 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 Established 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 consciencious 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 justifie the Laws in a Legal Course against the Arbitrary Proceedings of the King or any of his corrupt Ministers 7. By burthening the Nation with an Army to maintain the Violation of the Rights of the Subjects and by discountenancing the Established Religion 8. By forbidding the Subjects the Benefit of Petitioning and construing them Libellers so rendering the Laws a Nose of Wax to serve their Arbitrary Ends. And many more such like too long here to enumerate We being thus made sadly sensible of the Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government that is by the Influence of Jesuitical Counsels coming upon us do 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 and will use our utmost Endeavours for the Recovery of our almost-ruined 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 affright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpatations For we assure our selves that no rational and unbyassed Person will judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have at their Coronation sworn to do Which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have the Consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law But he was always accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such an one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And on this Consideration we doubt not of all honest Mens Assistance and humbly hope for and implore the Great GOD's Protection who 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 the Fellows of Magdalen College 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-settled the former Oppression will be put on with greater Vigour But we hope In vain is the Net spread in sight of the Birds For 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 Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk Men that helped her to her Throne And above all 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 In the mean time the Nobility about the King having used all the Arguments they could invent to persuade him to call a Free Parliament and finding him immovable fix'd iâ— a contrary Resolution and the Army in great Discontent Disorder and Fear and the whole Nation ready to take fire the Duke of Grafton the Lord Churchill and many other Protestant Nobility left him and went over to the Prince of Orange who was then at Sherburn as did also Prince George of Denmark the Duke of Ormond and Sir George Hewet Nov. 25th The Prince at his going away left the following Letter for the King SIR WIth an Heart full of Grief am I forced to write what Prudence will not permit me to say to your Face And may I eâ—er find Credit with Your Majesty and Protection from Heaven as what I now do is free from Passion Vanity or Design with which Actions of this Nature
The Keys of the City shall remain in the Custody of the President Burgomaster who shall also give the Word 15. The Old City shall be guarded by the City Soldiers except the Burgesses Gate and the Middle Post 16. If any of the Inhabitants will remove to any other Place they shall be permitted to depart with their Families and Effects 17. All Hostilities committed on either side shall be abolish'd by an Amnesty and the Soldiers that shall be oblig'd to quit some Posts shall do it with Drums beating lighted Matches and other Marks of Military Honour granted upon the like Occasions 18. General Brandt promises to obtain a just Ratification of the Articles above-mention'd These the Elector ratified with some Variation wherein in respect to the first Head he consented that the Oath which the City had taken to the King of Poland should remain inviolable he contenting himself for the present with the Assurances which the Magistrates gave him of their â—idelity But in case of a Rupture between him and the King and that their City was to be attack'd the said Article was to be void and they were to take the same Oath of Fidelity to him The Elector was also willing to contribute all that he had promised on his part for the Preservation and Defence of the City in case it were attack'd and to satisfie the Inhabitants for any Losses they might sustain by any new Fortifications he might be obliged to raise for the Defence of the Place he is farther content that the President of the Burgomasters should have the Custody of the City-Keys and give the Word and that the Guard of the old Town c. should be entrusted with the Soldiers in their Pay except the Burgesses Port and another Post granted to the Brandenburgers so long as the City should not be attack'd But if otherwise he would have his own Soldiers employ'd in all the Posts where there should be occasion for the Security and Defence of the City The Poles have blustred mightily about this Matter and the King at least wise in outward appearance shewed a mighty concern at it So that with many of them nothing but a War upon the Elector must serve However 't is hoped things are somewhat cooled and that the Interposition of the Emperor King of Denmark and the States General may bring all things again to an amicable Composure either to bring the Poles to pay the Elector his Money or confirm Elbing to him I confess as it fell out I do not think Elbing unhappy in the Change of Masters the Elector being a Protestant Prince who is under no Obligation to disturb her in the Exercise of her Religion and withal so famous for his Prudence Moderation and other admirable Qualities that he cannot but promote the Interests of it However I cannot without some sort of Indignation think of that Liberty some Princes have assumed to themselves of Mortgaging or out-right Selling of Cities and their Subjects as Men do Horses and Cows and not only so but many times also their Religion Lives and Properties Tho' by what divine or humane Right is beyond my Capacity to understand But to leave this ungrateful Subject and return to Lithuania We told you before of Oginski's Defeat and Flight which by the Consequence thereof did not appear to be so entire as was at first represented For he quickly recovered again and most part of the Nobility joyning in with him he in his turn before the end of November with a body of 15000 Men fights and defeats the General Sapieha's Army consisting of about 8000 and slew to the number of 2000 of them But tho this Loss began to open the Eyes of several of the chief Leaders of them and that being inferiour in Number they plainly saw the Dangers they expos'd themselves too if they persisted longer to trouble the Repose of the Dutchy and that thereupon they began to lend an Ear to the Remonstrances and good Offices of the Bishop of Wilna for the Re-union of the contending Parties Yet such was the Obstinacy of Prince Sapieha that he got what Troopâ— he could together and posted himself at some distance from the City of Grodno while the other Quartered himself on the other side of the said City with the Nobility of the Country and his other Adherents who far surpassed the Prince in Strength and where they seemed to be ready to engage when General Fleming suddenly came and posted himself with 28 Saxon Companies between both Armies with Orders to fire upon those that committed the first act of Hostility This he had no sooner done but he sent Orders to Prince Sapieha in the King and Republick's Name to disband his Army upon the Place Which tho' the Prince at first made a scruple to obey yet considering the pernicious Consequences of a Refusal and the vast inequality of Force between them his Enemy being computed to be thrice his Strength he resolved to yield Obedience Upon which Commissioners were appointed on both sides in the Presence of General Fleming whom the King had appointed as Mediator and a Treaty of Accommodation was signed December the 20th Importing That Sapieha's Army which was the chief Cause of the Contest in so severe a Season should be forthwith disbanded 2620 Foot should be kept still in Pay comprehending the Regiment allow'd by the Republick That the Officers should Swear an Oath of Fidelity and engage never to Attempt any thing against the Republick and faithfully to serve the King That the Hungarian Troops should be disbanded 1140 Dragoons should be kept on foot That the Soldiers as well disbanded as otherwise should be promised free Quarters in lieu of all their Pretensions That all Hostilities committed on both sides should be obliterated by a General Amnesty That the Money which the King had promised the Army by the Pacta Conventa should be paid and that the Republick should press the Performance of the said Pacta Conventa But as for the four Quarters promised by the Republick Deputies should be sent to the next Dyet that the Money might be paid to the Respective Companies No new Levies should be made without the Dyet and that till the same met all possible care should be taken that the General of Lithuania might exactly observe the Institution of the Coaequation And whereas some Palatines had hitherto refused Winter Quarters and other Contributions Commissioners should be sent to the Dyet to demand Satisfaction That the Right of Coaequation Partition c. as also the Tribunal of Lithuania should be preserved inviolable and that all Manifesto's for that end should remain in full Force as to that particular But should be annull'd in every thing that concern'd the General of Lithuania his Family and other Persons in particular comprehended in the said Manifesto's and that all possible security should be procured for their Persons Estates and Dignities That the Government of General should subsist upon the Terms of
very probably might have been as much Glorious to him in the Consequence as it was Honourable at the present according to the Confession of a brave Enemy that was in the Battle who said That he esteemed this the only Heroick Action that had been done in the whole Course or Progress of the War The Prince sent to give the Duke of Luxemburg notice of the Peace who thereupon desired an Interview with him which was agreed to and all things past with great Civilities on both sides the French crowding about a Young Prince that had made so much noise in the World and but the Day before given Life and Vigour to such a desperate Action as all Men esteemed this Battle of St. Dennis to be yet many Reflections were made upon it both by his Friends and Enemies some saying That he knew the Peace was Signed before the Fight began but that if it were true could not Prejudice him since he was not obliged to take notice of it till he received Advice from the States and that it was too great a venture both to himself and the States and too great a Sacrifice to his own Honour since it could be to no other Advantage others laid the blame upon the Marquess de Grana That he had Intercepted or Concealed the States Packet to the Prince but this was an uncertain Report However the Prince could not have ended the War with greater Glory and with more spight to see such a mighty occasion wrested out of his Hands by the sudden and unexpected Signing of the Peace which he had assured himself the States would not have consented to without the Spaniards But the Business was done and therefore he left the Army went first to the Hague then to Dieren to Hunt as having little else to do leaving the States at liberty to pursue their own paces as to the finishing of the Treaty between France and Spain wherein their Embassadors at Nimeguen imployed themselves with great Zeal and Application and no longer as Parties and Confederates but rather as Mediators the English declining that Function as being a Matter wherein our Court would take no part The Northern Confederates were still mightily chafed at the Dutch Proceedings and tho' with all their Remonstrances they were not able to stave off the Separate Peace of Holland yet they imployed their last Effort now to prevent the Spaniards agreeing to that part of the Peace as accepted for them by the Dutch and to that end exclaimed mightily against their Breach of Honour and Interest citing the very Articles of their Treaty with them for it and said That what was left the Spaniards in Flanders by those Terms was Indefensible and would serve but to exhaust their Men and Treasure to no purpose That France had no other Design than to break the present Confederacy by such Separate Treaties and so leave the Spaniards abandoned by all their Allies upon the next occasion which they could no less than expect if Spain should use them with as little regard of their Honour and Treaties as the Dutch Embassadors seemed to design these and especially some difficulties that did arise on the part of France about giving up the Country of Beaumont and the Town of Bovines to the Spaniards as being Matters not mentioned in the Dutch Treaty with the French upon the Score of Spain before the Peace was Signed made Matters very doubtful and uncertain whether the Dutch would Ratifie their Treaty or the Spaniards Sign theirs Whilst Mens minds were busied with various Conjectures and Presages upon the present Conjuncture about the middle of Aug. Mr. Hide was suddenly dispatcht over from England to the surprize even of all in Holland and more especially of our Embassador there who had not the least Intimation of it and if the Journey was surpriâ—ing the Message was no less which is included in the following Memorial That his Majesty having understood that a Separate Treaty of Peace had been Concluded and Signed between the Most Christian King's Embassadors and those of this State he was extreamly surprized at the Manner of the Procedure of the the States Embassadors at Nimeguen and having seriously reflected thereon he hath commanded my Lord Embassador to hasten hither with all expedition in order to represent the same to the Lords the States that his Majesty cannot find there is any Declaration or Promise made by the Most Christian King for the Evacuating the Towns upon the Ratification of the Peace Signed at Nimeguen That in the next place there is no Article between the Most Christian King's Embassadors and those of this State to assure the said Evacuation Thirdly That France has retarded the said Evacuation by the new Proposals she has made to the Spaniards whereof there were no mention made in their own Propositions which had been accepted by Spain particularly by a Detention of some Places till Dinant were yielded up by the Empire and by keeping the County of Beaumont and Bovines with other Places of which there had been no mention made in the said Proposals And as it has been agreed upon in the last Treaty which was concluded and ratified between his Majesty and this State that in case his Most Christian Majesty did retard or retract from the said Evacuation whether upon account of procuring Satisfaction to the Swede or for any other Cause whatsoever that the King and this State were obliged to enter into a Conjoint War against France his Majesty does believe that the Substance of that Treaty is come to pass by the fore-mentioned Conditions and that his Majesty and this State were equally obliged to pursue the said Treaty and to give the said Embassador Orders to demand of this State the Execution of it And as his Majesty does not at all doubt but this State has the same Sentiments with himself in respect to the Mutual Obligation that lies upon them from the said Treaty he has commanded the said Embassador in his Name and on his part to assure them that if the Lords the States will refuse to Ratifie that which was Signed by their Embassadors at Nimeguen his Majesty 3 Days after such a Declaration shall be notified to him on the part of this State will declare actual War against France and punctually put in Execution all the Contents of his last Treaty with this State And his Majesty having taken into Consideration those Representations which have been made unto him on the part of this State concerning a Neutrality for Cleve and Juliers his Majesty is so sensible of the great Danger that may befal this State without a sufficient Barrier on that side as well as on that of Flanders that he has commanded the said Embassador to assure the Lords the States that he is ready to Concert with them and enter upon all the Measures that can be taken for their Security on that side as well as on the other and that it shall be their Fault if they
whatsoever over the said Countries Places Castles Forts Lands Lordships Demesnes Castellanies and Bailiffwicks and over all Places thereon depending as hath been said notwithstanding any Laws Customs and Constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding though confirm'd by Oath From all which and from the derogating Clauses of derogating Clauses it is expresly derogated by this present Treaty in order to the said Renunciations and Cessions which shall be valid and take place without that the Particular expressing or specification of any one shall derogate from the General nor the General from Particular and excluding for ever all Exceptions upon what Rights Titles Causes or Pretences whatsoever grounded And the said Most Christian King declareth consenteth willeth and intendeth That the Men Vassals and Subjects of the said Countries Towns and Lands yielded to the Crown of Spain as aforesaid shall be and remain discharg'd and absolv'd from this time forward and for ever from the Faith Homages Services and Oaths of Allegiance that they may have made to himself or the Most Christian Kings his Predecessors as also from all Obedience Subjection and Vassalage which they owe him by reason thereof it being the Intention of the said Most Christian King that the said Faith Homages and Oaths of Allegiance shall be void and of no force as fully as if they never had been made or taken VII The said Most Christian King shall also cause to be restor'd to the said Catholick King all the Towns Places Forts Castles and Posts that have or may have been seized by his Arms in whatsoever Parts of the World to the Day of the Publication of the Peace And in like manner his Catholick Majesty shall cause to be restor'd to his Most Christian Majesty whatever Places Forts Castles and Posts may have been seized by his Arms during the present War in any Parts of the World unto the Day of the Publication of the Peace VIII The Restitution of the said Places as aforesaid shall be made by the Most Christian King or his Ministers Really and Truly without any Delay or Difficulty for any Cause or upon any Occasion whatsoever to him or them that shall be deputed by the Catholick King in Time and Manner aforesaid in the Condition they now are without Demolishing Weakening Diminishing or Endammaging the â—ame in any sort and without pretending to or demanding any re-imbursement for fortifying the said Places or for paying what might be due to the Soldiers and People of War there IX It is further agreed That all Proceedings Judgments and Sentences given and made by the Judges and other the Officers of his Most Christian Majesty in such Towns and Places as his Majesty enjoy'd by Virtue of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle and quitted as above to his Catholick Majesty or by the Parliament of Tournay by reason of Controversies and Suits at Law prosecuted as well by the Inhabitants of the said Towns and their Dependances as by others during the Time they were under the Obedience of the said Most Christian King shall take place and be of as full Force and Effect as if the said King continu'd Master and actually possess'd of the said Towns and Countries Nor shall the said Judgments and Sentences be called in question or annull'd nor the Execution thereof be otherwise retarded or hindred nevertheless it shall be lawful for the Parties to seek Relief by Review of the Cause and Course of Law and Order prescrib'd by the Statutes yet so as the Judgments shall in the mean time remain in full Force and Virtue though without Prejudice to what is stipulated in that respect in the 21th Article of this present Treaty X. Whereas his Most Christian Majesty's Ministers after the Peace of Aix la Chapelle maintain'd at the Conference at Lisle That the Sluces both on the West and East-side of the Town of Newport and the Fort Vierboet at the end of the Western Sluce near the Mouth of Newport-Haven and one part of the Fort of Nieuven Dam built upon the Eastern Sluce with the Piers of the said Haven being kept in Repair by those of Furnes were within the Territory and Jurisdiction of the Castellany of Furnes and that consequently they belonged to his Most Christian Majesty And his Catholick Majesty's Ministers held the contrary that they did not and whether they did or did not that it ought to suffice that since the said Fortifications were made as well with respect to the Castellany of Furnes as to the Town of Newport his Catholick Majesty being a Sovereign Prince might Incorporate and Appropriate the said Parts thereof to the Haven and Fortifications of Newport and by that means make them inseparable from that Town It is agreed That the said Sluces and other Parts of the Fortifications of Newport above-mentioned shall remain to his Catholick Majesty as well as the Town it self without any Pretensions ever to be made to the same by his Most Christian Majesty by reason of the Town and Castellany of Furnes being his or otherwise And for the Draining of the Waters of the Castellany of Furnes it shall be continued and his Catholick Majesty shall enjoy the same in Manner and Form as hath been used till now XI The said most Christian King shall retain continue seized of and actually enjoy the whole County of Burgundy commonly called the Franche Comte and the Towns Places and Countries thereto belonging together with the Town of Bezaâ—con and the Liberties thereof and the Towns of Valenciennes and its Dependancies Bouchain and its Dependances Conde and its Dependances though heretofore pretended to be a Member of the Castellany of Aeth Cambray Cambresis Air St. Omer and their Dependances Ipre and its Castellany Warwick and Warneton upon the Lys Poperinghen Bailleul and Cassel with their Dependances Bavay and Maubeuge with their Dependances XII The said County of Burgundy the Towns Places and Countries thereto belonging together with the Town of Bezancon and the Liberties thereof as also the said Towns and Places of Valenciennes Bouchain Conde Cambray Aire St. Omer Ipres Warwik and Warneton Poperinghen Baileul Cassal Bavay and Maubeuge their Bailiffwicks Castellanies Governments Provostships and Territories Demesnes Lordships Appurtenances Dependances and all thereunto annexed by what Names soever called with all the Men Vassals Subjects Towns Boroughs Villages Hamlets Forests Rivers Plain-Countries Salt-Pits and all other Things whatsoever thereunto belonging shall remain by Virtue of the said present Treaty of Peace to his Most Christian Majesty his Heirs Successors and Assignes irrecoverably and for ever with the same Rights of Sovereignty Propriety Regality Patronage Guardianship and Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogative and Preheminence over Bishopricks Cathedral-Churches and other Abbies Priories Dignities Curacies and all other Benefices whatsoever within the Compass of the said Countries Places and Bailiffwicks so yielded up of what Abbies soever the said Priories hold Lands and have dependance upon and all other Rights that heretofore belonged to the Catholick King though not here
particularly expressed So that his Most Christian Majesty shall not in time to come be Troubled or Molested by any means whatsoever in Right or in Deed by the said Catholick King or his Successors or any the Princes of his Family or by any other or for any Cause or Pretence with Relation to the said Sovereignty Propriety and Jurisdiction Appeal Possession and Enjoyment of all the said Countries Towns and Places Castles Lands and Lordships Provostships Demesnes Castellanies and Bailiffwicks of the said Places and of all Things whatsoever thereunto belonging And to this end the said Catholick King for himself his Heirs Successors and Assignes doth renounce quit-claim yield up and transfer as his said Plenipotentiaries in his Name by this present irrevocable Treaty of Peace have renounced given up and for ever transferr'd in favour of the Most Christian King his Heirs Successors and Assignes all the Rights Actions Pretensions Rights of Royalty Patronage Guardianship Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogatives and Preheminences over Bishopricks Cathedral Churches and all other Benefices within the compass of the said Places Countries and Baliffwicks yielded up of what Abbies soever the said Priories held Lands and had dependance upon and in general without any reservation or with-holding all other Rights that the said Catholick King his Heirs and Successors have and challenge or may have and challenge for any cause or upon any occasion whatsoever over the said Countries Places Castles Forts Lands Lordships Demesnes Castellanies and Bayliffwicks and over all Places thereunto belonging as aforesaid any Laws Customs or Constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding tho' confirmed by Oath From all which and all derogating Clauses of Derogatories it is expresly derogated by this present Treaty in order to the said Renunciations and Sessions which shall be valid and take place without any derogation from a general Clause by a particular Specification or from a particular by a general one and for ever excluding all Exceptions on what Rights Titles Cause or Pretence soever grounded And the said Catholick King declareth consenteth willeth and intendeth That the Men Vassals and Subjects of the said Countries Towns and Lands yielded to the Crown of France as aforesaid shall be and remain discharged and absolved henceforward and for ever from the Faith Hommage Service and Oath of Allegiance that all and every of them may have taken or made to himself or to the Catholick King 's Predecessors together with all Obedience Subjection and Vassalage that are owing to him by reason thereof it being the Intention of the said Catholick King that the said Faith Hommages and Oaths of Allegiance shall bâ— void and of no force as if they never had been taken or made XIII And whereas his Most Christian Majesty hath declared by the Conditions of Peace which he offered that he was willing to restore the Town of Charlemont or in lieu thereof that of Dinant at his Catholick Majesty's Choice upon Condition that his said Catholick Majesty would charge himself to obtain from the Bishop of Liege the Cession of Dinant and that the Emperor and Empire should consent thereunto his Catholick Majesty has chosen to retain the Town of Charlemont as heretofore and consequently doth oblige himself and promise to obtain from the Lord Bishop and Chapter of Liege an Authentick Cession of the said Town of Dinant and the Emperor and Empire's assent within a Year to be computed from the Day of the Date of the Ratification of the Treaty of Peace which shall be betwixt the Emperor and the Most Christian King And in case his said Catholick Majesty shall not be able to obtain the said Cessions of the Bishop and Chapter of Liege and Emperor and Empire's assent he obligeth himself and promiseth after the Expiration of the said Term to cause the said Town of Charlemont to be put into his Most Christian Majesty's Power for him to enjoy the same in like manner as he shall enjoy all other Places and Countries yielded to the said Most Christian King by the 11th and 12th Articles of this present Treaty XIV And for the Preventing all such Difficulties as the Borders caused in the Execution of the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and the Re-establishing for ever a good Intelligence between the Two Crowns it is agreed That the Lands Boroughs and Villages reduced within the Provostships that are yielded or that belong to his Most Christian Majesty before this present Treaty or are on the other side of the Sambre shall be exchanged for others nearer to the Places for his Catholick Majesty's Convenience And likewise that the Villages of the Verge of Menin situated too near Courtray shall be changed for others nearer for his Most Christian Majesty's Convenience And likewise that such Villages of the Provostship of Mons as are so far up in the Country quitted to his Most Christian Majesty in Hanault that intercept Communication shall be exchanged for others belonging to the Countries quitted to his Most Christian Majesty that are nearer for the Convenience of his Catholick Majesty and generally that all Lands inclosed within Countries yielded or restored to either of the said Kings shall be exchanged for others of equal value provided that such Exchanges can be agreed upon XV. Commissioners shall be deputed on both sides 2 Months after the Publication of the present Treaty who shall assemble where it shall be respectively agreed as well to proceed to make the said Exchanges as to settle the Bounds between such Estates and Lordships as must remain to each of the said Kings in the Low-Countries by Virtue of this present Treaty as also to clear the real Debts lawfully secured by the Lands and Lordships yielded or restored to either of the Two Crowns and to settle how much each shall pay for the future and in general to make an amicable End of all Differences that may arise in the Execution of the present Treaty XVI If any such Difficulties should arise in the Exchanges aforesaid as may hinder their taking Effect no Custom-Houses shall be appointed on either side to perplex one another and to render the Communication more difficult betwixt Places under the same Dominion and such as shall be settled shall exact no Duties but of such Merchandizes as shall be conveyed from one Dominion to another to be consum'd there or to be carried to Places remote XVII The said King's giving back and restoring respectively the Places afore-mentioned may cause to be taken and carried away all manner of Artillery Powder Bullets Arms Provision and other Warlike Ammunitions that shall be found in the said Places at the time of their Restitution and such as they shall appoint for that Purpose may for 2 Months make use of the Waggons and Boats of the Country and shall have a free Passage by Water and Land to carry away the said Ammunitions And the Governours and Commanders Officers and Magistrates of the several Places and Countries shall give them all the Facilities they can
next Day and most part of the Night that followed But by how much the more Affectionate the Citizens and Nation appeared to be towards him the King and his Court proved to be so much the less so For all his Places of Profit and Trust were immediately taken from him Whereas the Duke of York was sent High Commissioner into Scotland where the Duke of Monmouth's Victory at Blackbourn had left a clear Field for the other to play his Game But this did not well agree with the King's Speech at the Opening of the last Parliament When he said That he had commanded his Brother to absent himself from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say that he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him to Popish Councils and a little Time will shew it You have heard before that the King by Proclamation dissolved the Parliament upon the 12th of July and issued out Writs for the Meeting of another on the 17th of Oct. following But like the usual Methods of many other Things in this Reign when they met they were prorogued to the 26th of Jan. and from thence to the 5th of Ap. 1680. and further from thence to the 21st of Oct. when he graciously declared they should Sit and do Business These were strange doings and therefore the more sober Part of the Nation and such as had a due Regard to the publick Good bestirred themselves in the Interval of the first Prorogation to move the King in the most dutiful Manner for the Sitting of the Parliament and that you may have a true Idea of the Matter we will give you an Instance or two of the Entertainment they met with at Court upon this Occasion There came several Petitions to this end from divers Counties and Corporations and among the rest one from Wiltshire was on the 22th of Jan. presented to the King by Thomas Thynne Esq accompanied by Sir Walter St. Johns and Sir Edward Hungerford He asked them Whether they had Directions from the Grand Jury for what they did And Mr. Thynne having answered No the King replied Why say you then that you come from the Country You came from a Company of loose disaffected People What do they take me to be And what do you take your selves to be I admire Gentlemen of your Estates should animate People to Mutiny and Rebellion you would not take it well I should meddle with your Affairs and I desire you will not meddle with mine especially with a Matter that is so essential a Part of my Prerogative Another Petition of the like Nature being presented to him the Day following by Sir Gabriel Barrington Coll. Mildmay Mr. Honywood c. in the Names of themselves and others the Inhabitants of the County of Essex the Answer was That he was extreamly surprized to see them meddle with Matters that so immediately concerned the Crown and him and that against the Sense of the best and chiefest Men in the County that he believed that some of those that had Signed the Petition might mean well but that they were abused by those that did not To which he was pleased to add in my Mind a very strange Passage That he was not willing to call to mind Things past yet that he could not but remember the Act of Oblivion tho' not as some did That those who had stood in need of that Act would do well not to take such Courses as might need another and that he very well remembred 40 and so turned away And for the Berkshire Gentlemen and their Petition which was presented the same Day from their Quarter-Sessions he was pleased to droll it out saying That they would agree that Matter over a Cup of Ale when they met at Windsor tho' he wondered that his Neighbours would meddle with his Business Farther that the Nation as well as these respective Gentlemen might not be ignorant of the Court-Sentiments in these Matters these Answers were publickly inserted in the Gazzettes but without the Petitions as if they would have it suggested slily to the World that there were some audacious and very criminal Things contained in them Whereas the Abhorrers of Petitioning and consequently of Parliaments and of the Fundamental Constitution of our Government had the Honour of having their Addresses put in ample Manner into the Publick Prints which in these Times were stuffed with nothing else many of them to be Dubbed Knights and a good Soak of Wine in the King's Cellar to boot by particular Order which I know to be true on my own Knowledge The King being found to be of this Humour and there happening to be so long an Interval of Parliament by the several Prorogations that were made and the Duke doing what he pleased in Scotland there could be no very earnest Prosecution of the Popish Plot you may well imagine nay it was so far ridiculed in this Time by L'Estrange and others Pensioners of the Tory Party that indifferent Men began to doubt whether there were any such Thing or no while the Popish Faction began to trump up a new Plot upon the Whigs or Dissenters But their Designs being not laid close enough though the Devil was at the Bottom of them they failed and so I will leave Matters till the Sitting of the Parliament and see what they are doing all this while beyond the Seas King Charles finding himself weak at Home tho' I must speak my Conscience I know of no one so great an Instrument of it as himself it was high time to make some Alliances Abroad and the rather since France by the late Peace was grown so extream Powerful and in the Main had no great Reason to be satisfied with his Conduct whatever good Meen they were pleased from time to time to put upon it he sent Mr. Sidney into Holland towards the latter end of the last Year to propose to the States the making a Treaty of Guarranty for the Peace concluded at Nimeguen France did then most industriously oppose that Alliance but yet in a covert Manner at first by a Stratagem as odd as it might seem to some Extravagant There being a Letter conveyed to the States-General from an unknown Hand wherein was represented at large the ill Posture those Provinces were fallen to which was the Reason the Neighbouring Princes had not the same Regard for their Republick as formerly witness the Menaces of Spain Denmark Brandenburg c. and that the only way to restore the States into the Condition it was in formerly was to enter into a strict Alliance with France in pursuance of which the French King would maintain 50000 Men in Arms and the States need not keep above 10000 Foot and 6000 Horse and Dragoons in their Pay That by that means those Provinces would be able to defend themselves against any whomsoever that should attack them That that Alliance should be confirmed every Year by mutual Oaths by the
French Embassador at the Hague and the Dutch one at Paris And this being effected the Subjects of their Republick should have alone the Trade in that King's Dominions to the Exclusion of all other Nations This was soon after seconded with a Memorial by the French Embassador concerning an Alliance the King his Master offered to enter into with the States to be founded upon the Foot of the Treaty made An. 1662. which Offers were further enforced by representing unto them as well the Advantage that would accrue to them upon their accepting as the Inconveniencies that might follow upon their refusal of it and telling them that any Delay in the Affair would be looked upon as a Refusal and that his Master would regulate himself accordingly But the States taking some time to deliberate and demurring upon the Matter they received Letters in the mean while from their Embassadors at Paris importing That being sent for by Monsieur Colbert and going to him he had put them in mind of the many Obligations the States had to the King his Master and of the particular Demonstration he had given them of his Affection in offering them a Peace in the midst of his Conquests upon the Terms he did That he had since expected Overtures from them of a nearer Alliance But they having been wanting he had himself for some time since made an Offer of the same by his Embassadors at the Hague That it had been debated in the Assembly of the States of Holland and that the said States had Adjourned themselves without coming to any Resolution therein That the King was much surprized to find them make so small an Account of an Alliance which they themselves had sought for some Years before by an Extraordinary Embassadors now the same was offered them That this Alliance proposed was only Defensive which the States could receive no Prejudice by but much Advantage That his Majesty understood that the King of England did oppose them while he pretended to make himself an Alliance with them and that his Majesty would have great Cause to be dissatisfied with the States if they should refuse the Overtures made by him and instead thereof close with those of the King of England concluding That his Majesty as his Embassador the Count d' Avaux had already told them would take their Delay for a Refusal That however he would keep the Peace with them but would at the same time look upon them as a State that did not deserve to live in good Amity with him and would not favour their Commerce Mr. Henry Sidney the King's Embassadors in Holland as I told you and now Earl of Rumney was no sooner informed of the foresaid Memorial and Proceedings of France but he put in a like Memorial to the States shewing That the King his Master having understood the Proposals that had been made them by the French Embassadors could not believe that the States could so far forget their own and common Interests of Christendom as to accept of them That his Majesty particularly would have Cause after their having refused the Act of Guarranty which he lately offered to enter into with them for securing their present Peace to resent their entring into any new Engagements with France especially since his Majesty might have just Cause to be jealous that the same could have no other end than to enable the French King to shew his Resentments of the Peace his Majesty had made with the States in 1674 and of what his Majesty did afterward in order to the procuring a more advantageous Peace for them and their Allies than that which was made at Nimeguen That such a Resolution in the States would certainly prejudice that strict Union and Friendship that was established between him and them and oblige his Majesty to take other Measures But that his Majesty for his part would not only punctually comply with what was stipulated and agreed in the Defensive Treaty made between England and Holland the 3d of Mar. 1678 if they would reject the French Alliance but also stand by them to the uttermost if they should be attack'd by France Mr. Sidney's Address and Diligence in the Prosecution of this Matter was admirable and succeeded so well that the States determined civilly to refuse the Alliance proposed by France But the French King having declared he was not satisfied therewith his said Embassador made another Effort to divert the States from their intended Resolution shewing That he had received further Orders from the King his Master to acquaint them That his Majesty was extreamly astonished at their manner of Proceedings in the Matter of the Alliance by him proposed and highly resented it That he was commanded to expect some Days longer their final Resolution in that Affair but that afterward he should say no more of it nor accept any Act which they should offer and that then they must expect his Master would take such Measures as he thought necessary for the Good of his Kingdoms and the Advantage of his Subjects in their Commerce That Mons Colbert had told their Embassadors at Paris The King his Master wonder'd extreamly to find all Persons in Holland full of Hopes which their Letters had given them That his Majesty would not depart from the Execution of the Peace and that if they would not enter into that Alliance with him they should only suffer somewhat in their Commerce That the Sense of what he had then told them from the King his Master had been wrong delivered by them and worse interpreted at the Hague That his Majesty did not threaten them with his Indignation but the Dissatisfaction which he had conceived at their Proceedings might perhaps be the Occasion of greater Prejudice to them than the Indignation of others and that they would do well to consider what had happened to them within 8 or 10 Years past the Beginnings whereof had been less considerable than the just Dissatisfaction which their present Conduct gave the King his Master D' Avaux had no sooner ended but Mr. Sidney was ready to oppose who after he had take notice to the States of the great Earnestness of the French to press them into their Alliance he thought fit to repeat his Instances to disswade them from it That the King his Master did not pretend to make use of Threats of which the Memorials of the French â—mbassador were full but would leave them wholly to be guided by the Consideration of their own Interests That his Majesty did perswade himself that after the Assurances of Assistance he had given them in whatever might happen they would not enter into any Engagements which his Majesty should have Cause to look upon as intended against him and that the Instances of the French King which were too sharp and pressing for a Free Republick would not divert them from their true Interests and from that strict Friendship that was between his Majesty and their State and of which his Majesty had
during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given a Charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly Read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Forenoon to Read the same twice in every Year That is to say on the 25th of Dec. and upon Easter-day during the Life of the said James Duke of York But the Lords Rancounter to the Commons in this Bill tho' they made a Sift upon the others Impeachment to Try and Sentence William Lord Viscount Stafford to Death for the Popish Conspiracy who on the 7th of Dec. was executed accordingly For after the Reading it the First time in the Upper-House the Question being put Whether it should be read the Second time it was resolved in the Negative by above a double Majority of Votes and so this great Affair dropp'd The Commons imployed much of their Time to prosecute and impeach all those that had countenanced the Popish Plot or were Abhorrers of Petitioning the King for the Meeting of the Parliament in the several Prorogations of it and voted That it ever had been the undoubted Right of the Subjects of England to Petition the King for the Calling and Sitting of Parliaments and Redress of Grievances And that to traduce such Petitioning as a Violation of Duty and to represent the same to his Majesty as Tumultuous and Seditious was to betray the Liberty of the Subject and contributed to the Designs of subverting the ancient Legal Constitutions of the Kingdom of England and introducing Arbitrary Power The first that fell under their Lash was Sir Francis Withens since a Judge a Member then of their own House whom they voted to be a Betrayer of the undoubted Rights of the Subjects of England and for that his high Crime expelled him the House receiving first the Sentence at the Bar upon his Marrow-bones Sir George Jefferys was the next then Recorder of London who for the present by Virtue of the House's Address to the King for that End was put out of all publick Offices tho' we have seen him since act the Tyrant in the highest Station the late King his good Master could advance him to but at last being left in the Lurch by him was found in a Seaman's Habit at Wapping and died in the Tower because he had not Courage enough to live a little longer to be hang'd Several others were censured upon the like Account and among the rest the House voted That it was a sufficient Ground for them to proceed against Sir Thomas Jones one of the Judges of the King's Bench and Sir Richard Westone a Baron of the Exchequer for high Crimes and Misdemeanors because they had advised and were assisting to draw up a Proclamation against Petitioning for the Sitting of the Parliament The like was passed against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas for the same who for murdering poor Stephen Colledge under Colour of Law at Oxford had the Great Seal of England committed to his Custody and therewith the Care of the King's Conscience who had none at all of his own All this while we hear nothing of the King's Business which was to get Money for the Preservation of Tangier and Perfecting the Alliance made with Spain But the Commons had Three Reasons why they would not comply with his Majesty in his first Demand One was for that the State of the Nation was such at that time that their giving any Money for that End might augment the Strength of the Popish Party and further endanger the Nation 's Safety Another was Seeing there were several Regiments besides Guards in England then in Pay they might be transported to Tangier with little Charge and be maintain'd there as cheap as at Home which Two Reasons they clench'd with this Third That that Garrison was the Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers And if Things went ill with the King on this Head he is like to fare no better with the other For the House had as many Reasons for not giving him Money for the Alliance of Mutual Obligations of Succour and Defence which he pretended to have made with Spain For first they seemed to be jealous of the King's Sincerity therein and the more because he had not declared to them what manner of Alliance that was and that it might be more to the Prejudice than Benefit of the Kingdom or if it should have been to the Advantage of it they could have no more Assurance of the Performance than they had of the Triple League That which was made with the Prince of Orange when he was in England Or that between the King and States of Holland by Mr. Hyde on the King's Part which were all broken almost as soon as made Besides it was impossible any great Benefit should arise to England and Spain by such an Alliance For if all Christendom after the separate Peace made by the Dutch at Nimeguen could not uphold Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from falling under the Dominion of France how could the King in the feeble and distracted State of the Nation be in a Condition to support it without them Add to this the Unreasonableness of giving Money upon such an Account For tho' the Kings of England have frequently demanded Supplies for maintaining vast Wars yet never any one of them before demanded Supplies for making Alliances And indeed whatever Alliance the King had made with Spain it will be found before his Reign has spun out that it was very ill performed on his part And if the Commons were not a little mortified at the Proceedings of the Lords and of the Court in respect to the Bill of Exclusion the King could not be well pleased to be sure with the Methods they took to answer his Demands of a present Supply in the ordinary way but was undoubtedly much more nettled at their Resolutions to hinder him from being relieved by extraordinary Methods afterwards For the House considering the weak and dangerous Condition of the Nation as well by the Debt the King had contracted by shutting up of the Exchequer as by his squandering away almost all the ancient Revenues of the Crown did in order to prevent the like upon the Revenue settled upon the King since his Restoration on the 17th of Jan. resolve 1. That whosoever should lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Custom Excise or Hearth-money should be adjudged an Hinderer of the Sitting of Parlaiment and be responsible for the same 2. That whosoever should buy any Tally or Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever should pay such Tally hereafter to be struck should
be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and be responsible therefore in Parliament Things being brought to this desperate pass between them without any visible Hopes of a better Understanding the Thoughts of the Court now began to think of a Prorogation or Dissolution and the Commons were it seems aware of it For on Monday Jan. the 10th before the Usher of the Black-Rod came into the House to command their Attendance on the King in the House of Lords they had resolved That whosoever advised the King to prorogue this Parliament to any Purpose than in order to the Passing of a Bill for the Exclusion of James Duke of York was a Betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom of England a Promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner to France Which was no sooner done but they were Prorogued to the 20th of Jan. and upon the 18th he Dissolved them And so ended this Sessions of Parliament with which having run out a few Days into the new Year we conclude the Year 1680 only we shall note first two or three Particulars On the 30th of July this Year died at Whitehall the Right and truly Honourable Thomas Earl of Ossory Son and Heir apparent to his Grace the Duke of Ormond after some few Days sickness of a violent Feaver whose Heroick Bravery and forward Zeal to serve his King and Country on all commendable Occasions was manifested by many brave and generous Actions Which as they made him be honoured and esteemed by all while living made him dying to be as generally lamented He was the Father of his Grace the present Duke of Ormond who to his great Glory has been so far from degenerating from him that he hath to the Height express'd his Vertues and Excellencies both in Peace and Way and is a Person that deserves as much and if all Circumstances be considered a great deal more of his Country than any other Nobleman whatsoever Sept. following was remarkable for the Death of Two Electors of the Empire viz. on the 2d John George Duke of Saxony dying at Friburg after a long Indisposition in the 68th Year of his Age leaving only one Son by his Wife Magdaline Sibille of Brandenburg Ansbach John George the Third of that Name who succeeded him in his Dominions and Dignities And but 5 Days after departed also this Life Charles Lovis Count Palatine of the Rhine suddenly in the Way between Manheim and Frankendal after a light Indisposition of 2 or 3 Days he was 63 Years old and left by his Wife Charlotte Daughter of William Landgrave of Hesse one Son Charles then in England and to whom an Express was immediately dispatch'd to give him advice of his Father's Death and a Daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Wife to the now Duke of Orleans And towards the middle of Nov. appeared a Comet with a prodigious Stream of Light in the West The Star from which the Blaze proceeded was but small and when first discovered seemed to be not much above the Horizon but every Night afterward it appeared higher and higher in the Beginning of the Night and consequently setting latter and latter its Magnitude and Lustre also proportionably decaying year 1681 The Nation at the Dissolution of the last Parliament upon the 18th of Jan. as already mentioned were strangely amazed and began now in general to be very doubtful of any good Issue in their common Concerns which the Court was not unaware of and therefore in some measure to allay Things the King summoned another to meet on the 21st of March following at Oxford which was no sooner publickly known but it rather heightned than alleviated the Jealousies of the more intelligent Persons that there might be some hidden Design nourished in the Court that might have dangerous Influences both upon the Nation and Parliament Whereupon several of the Nobility after mature Consideration of the Matter resolved to petition the King against the Meeting of the Parliament at the forementioned Place which Petition was delivered by the Earl of Essex with which he made a short pithy Speech and both which we have hereunto subjoined May it please your Majesty THE Lords here present together with divers others of the Peers of the Realm taking notice that by the late Proclamation Your Majesty has declared an Intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from History and Records how unfortunate many Assemblies have been when called at a Place remote from the Capital City as particularly the Congress in King Henry the II's Time at Clarendon 3 several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the III's Time and at Coventry in Henry the VI's Time with divers others which have proved fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great Mischief on the whole Kingdom And considering the present Posture of Affairs the many Jealousies and Discontents that are among the People they have great Cause to apprehend that the Consequences of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to Your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to them Reigning Kings And therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to Your Majesty or to the People if we being Peers of the Realm should not on so important an Occasion humbly offer our Advice to Your Majesty that if possible Your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend reasonable Resolution the Grounds and Reasons of our Opinions are contained in this our Petition which we humbly present to Your Majesty TO THE KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY The Humble PETITION and ADVICE of the Lords undernamed Peers of the Realm Humbly Sheweth THAT whereas Your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Speeches and Passages to Your Houses of Parliament rightly to represent to them the Dangers that threatned Your Majesty's Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the suddain Growth of a Power unto which no Stop or Remedy could be provided unless it were by Parliament and an Union of Your Majesty's Protestant Subjects in one Mind and one Interest And the Lord-Chancellor in pursuance of your Majesty's Commands having more at large demonstrated the said Dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our Fears could imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would be certainly lost if a speedy Provision were not made against them And Your Majesty on the 21st of Apr. 1679 having called unto Your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and declared to them and the whole Kingdom that being sensible of the evil Effects of a Single Ministry or Private Advice or Foreign Committee for the general Direction of Your Affairs Your Majesty would for the future refer all Things unto the Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent Use of Your Great Council the Parliament Your Majesty had hereafter resolved to govern the
Truth and even by the Confession of my Opposers for that OLD CAVSE in which I was from my Youth engaged and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thy self Yet notwithstanding all these Points gained there was something to be done before it could be be said That the King was a Despotical â—rince and would make his Will his Law For tho' the City of London was now absolutely dependant upon his Majesty in respect of the Magistracy thereof and that the naming of the other Sheriffs of all the Countles and Shires of the Kingdom belonged unto him yet there were many other Cities in England who still chose their own Sheriffs but something must have been done with these before the Constitution of the Parliament could be subverted which seemed to be the only White in the Butt they had been aiming at all this while For you are to note that the House of Commons consists of 513 Members whereof but 92 only are Knights of the Shires so that near 5 Parts in 6 are Burgesses Citizens and Barons of the Cinque-Ports and the generality of the Corporations which send these Members are poor decay'd Places and so not in a Condition as the City of London was to contest their Charters or if they should there were but little hopes to keep them now London had not been able to hold hers Yet it was considered also that it would cost the Court-Agents a great deal of time to bring Quo Warranto's against above 200 Corporations wherefore all Hands were set on work to induce these poor Inhabitants to surrender up their Rights and mighty Rewards proposed unto those who should shew themselves forward and instrumental therein But because Moneys were scarce there were Bargains made wiâ—h Multitudes of them to have Grants of Fairs for the Surrender of their Charters and those who refused must have Quo Warranto's brought against them However before these things were fully put in Execution it was thought necessary to augment the standing Forces in England who were already too many in time of Peace For some Umbrages were taken that Disturbances might arise before they could be brought to Perfection For tho' the Duke had secur'd Scotland and had 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse and a Years Pay to be assisting upon all Occasions and that greater Liberty than ever was given to the Irish yet all this was not thought enough and therefore Tangier part of Queen Catherine's hopeful Portion which cost the King her Husband above 100000 l. a Year the keeping for 20 Years together must now at last the Mould was near finished be utterly demolished and the Garrison brought over which had been a Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers and quartered in the most considerable parts of the Kingdom And in this pittiful State we shall leave England and see what mighty Changes have been made in the Face of Things in other Parts of Europe and more particularly in the Kingdom of Hungary where brake out the cruellest War between the Emperor and the Turks and that has been intermixt with such Variety of Actions and Fortune in the long Course of it as I think no Age nor History can parallel the exact Particulars whereof we shall endeavour to give as they shall fall out in due Series of Time and their proper Order But before we enter immediately upon that mighty Affair it will be necessary to premise somewhat in this place how things stood on this side the Empire towards France and in the Netherlands We have said something before concerning the Re-unions pretended to be made by France after the Treaty of Nimeguen But yet to be a little more particular It was not long after the Conclusion of the said Peace that that Crown possessed her self of Homhurg and Bisstel the only two Places remaining to the Duke of Lorain of all his Dutchy However tho' the Duke who had â—ut little Power of his own was forced tamely to submit to it yet it could not be thought that others would be so willing to do it And therefore First Monsieur Ravaux who had searched all the Monuments of the Parliaments of Metz and the Cities thereabouts endeavoured from thence to prove That in time of old all Alsatia Lorain the Counties of Chiney Arlon Vierton St. Armand all the Country of Luxemburg except the City of that Name divers Villages and Seigniories in Germany Flanders Brabant Hegenow and the Country of Liege did really and of just Right belong to the King of France as Dependences upon the three Bishopricks of Metz Toul and Verdun or upon other Places that had been yielded to them by the Treaty of Nimeguen In pursâ—ance hereof they erected in France 2 Tribunals of Justice or Sovereign Courts one at Metz and the other at Brisac by the Name of The Chambers of Re-unions where the Inhabitants and Lords of all the fore-mentioned Places were gravely cited to appear before the Commissioners Judges and Parties to see themselves condemned to make their Submission to the French King and to receive his Orders thereupon and in case of Refusal to be condemned for Default and Contumacy It was under such Pretensions that Strasburg was seized on by that Crown and by the same pretended Reasons Luxemburg had been blocked up in a manner ever since the Peace and that as it were by way of Reprisal because the Spaniards would not yield up to them several Places in Flanders which they laid claim to Which way of Procedure did at length alarm all the Potentates upon the Continent so that the Emperor Swedeland the States of Holland Franconia and several other Free and Imperial Cities entred into a mutual League of Defence which was called The League of Ausburg and to the Glory of the then Prince of Orange it must be said and is what his Enemies have own'd he was the greatest Instrument to bring it about of any in Europe Good God! What shall we think of England all this while But I have told you already our King had other Fish to fry and 't is very remarkable that he was by this time fallen into such an abject State in the Opinion of all the Neighbouring Princes and States that it does not appear they ever sought as much as his Concurrence in or Approbation of this League though otherwise generally speaking England was the only Kingdom that was wont to keep the Scales even between the contending Parties for many Ages together However whether it were out of the Apprehensions of the impending Storm upon Christendom from the Mahometan Quarters or out of a meer Act of Generosity this is certain that as soon as the French King came to know that the Turk was bending all his Forces against the Empire and to that End had ordered his Army to march towards Belgrade not only with a Design to possess himself of all Hungary but even to invade the Neighbouring Provinces he withdrew his Forces from before Luxemburg though almost ready
King of Great Britain provided no Complaint shall be received on this Subject three Months after the Exchange of the Spanish Ratifâ—cations VII The Contributions shall be continued on both sides till the Day of the Exchange of the Spanish Ratification and the Arrears then due shall be paid within three Months after and during that time there shall be no Military Execution on that Account provided the Places give good Security to pay the same and if any Difference arise concerning the said Contributions it shall be referred to the Arbitrage of the King of Great Britain VIII The most Christian King obliges himself to cause from this present time all Hostilities to cease in the Low Countries against the Places belonging to the King of Spain and even in the open Country in case the Spaniards do abstain from them IX In case the King of Spain do not accept the said Truce within the said Term of 6 Weeks and cause the Ratifications to be furnished in due Form the States-General do oblige themselves immediately afterwards to withdraw their Troops out of the Spanish Netherlands and not to give the Crown of Spain any Assistance during the present War and do further oblige themselves not to commit any Hostilities against his Majesty or his Allies and his most Christian Majesty likewise obliges himself not to attack or possess with his own Troops or those of his Allies any Place in the Low-Countries and even not to make War in the open Country if the Spaniards do abstain from it X. In case the War shall continue and that his most Christian Majesty shall make any Conquest upon Spain his Majesty promises not to accept any Equivalent in the Spanish Netherlands for the Conquests he shall make elsewhere during the present War and that he will not during the said time possess himself of any Places in the Low-Countries either by Revolt Exchange voluntary Cession or any other way whetever XI His Majesty obliges himself to give a Month longer to the Dyet at Ratisbone to accept the Truce upon the Conditions already offered them XII The King of Great Britain and generally all Princes that are willing to enter into a like Engagement may be Guarantees of this Treaty XIII Nothing shall be innovated in the said Treaty concluded at Nimeguen between his most Christian Majesty and this State XIV This Treaty shall be ratified by his Majesty and the said States within 3 Weeks from the Date thereof At the same time that this Truce was proposed in Holland there was also another put to the Dyet at Ratisbonne importing in a manner the same thing and was accepted of by them the more readily to be sure because of the War the Empire was now deeply engaged in with the Turks In both which we find the Republick of Genoua mentioned but for what Reason it is time we should here mention it being the same as was transmitted from the place it self when the Occasion happened The French Fleet arriving about the 17th of May before that City the Fort on the Mole saluted them with 11 Guns which was answered by the French Admiral with 9 when the Fort a little after saluted the Admiral again with 20 Chambers and 10 Guns which he returned with 7 so that they seemed yet to be in the dark what to think of it Next Morning the Senate sent 6 Deputies on Board the Admiral to complement him and to know the occasion of the Fleet 's coming thither which they knew no doubt well enough before and being returned they reported to the Senate that Monsieur Saignelay had told them the King was very much dissatisfied with the late Conduct of the Republick and that his Demands of them were That they should quit the Protection of Spain That they should join the 4 Gallies they had lately built with those of his Majesty That they would permit the French to have a Magazine of Salt at Savona That they should send 4 Senators on Board to beg his Majesty's Pardon c. The Senate resolved not to grant these Demands and therefore let the French know if they drew not farther off they would look upon them as Enemies But they taking no notice of it the Genoese about 3 in the Afternoon shot towards the Admiral without Bullet and an Hour after the several Forts fired with Shot which made the French Ships and Gallies draw further off But the 〈◊〉 Galliots continued all in a Row to fire one part of the City and began to throw their Bombs into the plate which put the People into a very great Consternation having never heard and much less seen and felt such 〈◊〉 thing before for I think this Action of the French was the first of Bombing any place by Sea before But it did not end here and they themselves have since felt the dire Effects of it On the 21th the Doge's Palace was quite beaten down and the Doge and Senate removed to the Albergho a great Fabrick built by the Publick where the Bombs 〈◊〉 not reach The next Morning being the 22th the French sent ashoar to let the Senate know That they were sorry to â—uine so fine a City and that they would yet give them 24 Hours to agree to the King's Demands Upon this the Great Council was called the 23th early in the Morning who resolved not to submit to the French Demands and this Answer was given them at the Mole the People now beginning to be couragious and with a great Shout crying Vive St. Georgio whereupon the French began again to shoot their Bombs into the Town and they from the Shoar fired upon the Fleet. The Inhabitants upon this occasion removed most of their movable Effects into the neighbouring Villages and to quiet the Rabble there was leave given them to break open all the French men's Houses and Shops which was soon done but it had an ill Consequence For the same Rabble began to rob and plunder what other Houses they pleased Whereupon the Senate gave the Serjeant General of the City leave to hang up whomsoever he should find stealing which after some Examples made of them brought all things quiet again On the 23th at Sun-set the French Ships and Gallies came very near and severely batter'd the Town for 7 Hours together and in the mean time landed 500 Men to the Westward and another Body on the East side of the City but they were so warmly received that they were forced at last to return to their Gallies excepting several they left slain and divers Prisoners behind them But on the 24th the Sea growing high the French Fleet weighed off which the Genoese were not a little glad of For besides the vast Loss they suffered by this Bombardment already they had dreadful Apprehensions of being entirely ruined which made them bethink themselves of giving the King Satisfaction before such another Return and therefore at last they were constrained sore against their Wills to send their Doge
in the first Place Secondly How unwarily it was it drawn for though it was to be thought every one understood the Design of the Commission was to introduce a Roman Hierarchy which assumes a Power over the Temporal in order to the Spiritual Good yet that Commission granted the Temporal Power viz. The Lord Chancellor and any other two viz. Lord Treasurer President or Lord Chief Justice a Power of Excommunication which is a pure Spiritual Act. This Commission thus granted and opened the first Lightning of it fell upon the Bishop of London whose pretended Crime was That by Virtue of the King's Letter he did not suspend Dr. Sharp then Dean of Norwich now Archbishop of York for Preaching a Sermon in his Parish-Church of St. Giles against the Frauds and Corruptions of the Church of Rome by a Power as Arbitrary as that by which the Commissioners acted But though the Romanists might be sufficiently incensed against the Bishop for his Non-compliance herein the King had another Cause of Offence with his Lordship for when the Lords in the last Parliament had Voted an Address of Thanks to the King as I have already noted for his Speech the Bishop moved in his own and his Brethren's Name that the House might debate the King's Speech which as it was extraordinary and unusual in the House so it was no less surprizing to the King and Court who now dreaded the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address and construed this Pace to be a Piece of Presumption in the Bishop for which in due time he should be sure to be remembred and so indeed it happened For notwithstanding the Bishops just Plea before the Commissioners in his own Defence and that Jefferies the Mouth of them had in a manner nothing else to say but Must not the King be obeyed Must not the King be obeyed As if a Man was bound to hang himself if the King commanded it yet they suspended him ab Officio where we leave him at present and proceed to shew you the further Effects of this goodly Commission when there was the least Opportunity to put it in Execution You must know the Presidentship of Magdalen College in Oxford falling vacant about this time and the Fellows fearing a Mandamus would be imposed upon them for some Person or other not qualified by their Statutes and whom by their Oaths they could not submit to chose Dr. Hough a Person every way qualified for their President which was no sooner done but the King sent them a Peremptory Mandamus to make choice of the Bishop of Oxford for their President who as being not qualified by their Statutes they rejected and in an humble Answer excused themselves as being otherwise obliged as well by their Oaths as Statutes with which the King was so Angry and used such Expressions upon the Occasion as were never perhaps before used by a Prince But finding his harsh Language could not frighten the Fellows out of their Duty he sent his Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs among them to turn them out of their Fellowships to which they had as much Right as any other Man to his Estate But the good Commissioners were so far from boggling at this that they yet went further and by a new strain of Tyranny never practised but by Absolute Tyrants made the Fellows uncapable of any other Ecclesiastical Preferments and a Seminary of Jesuits and Popish Priests were introduced into their rooms as much to the Subvertion of the Established Church as the Statutes of the College While Things were thus carried on with an high Hand by Virtue of this extraordinary Commission you cannot think they were more moderate in the Administration of ordinary Justice in the Westminster Courts you know how severely Oats was treated for discovering the Popish Plot. Now comes Thomas Dangerfield's Turn for his discovering of the Meal-Tub-Plot but with a worse-Fate For this Man having in King Charles his Time in his Depositions before the Parliament revealed that he was imploy'd by the Popish Party and chiefly by the Lords in the Tower and the Countess of Powis to kill the King and that he was incouraged and promised Impunity and Reward and part of it given him by the D. of York for that End he was now prosecuted upon a Scandalum Magnatum and as Juries went found guilty and had the same Sentence of Whipping with Oats But in his return from Tyburn towards Newgate after his Whipping he was run into the Eye with a Tuck at the end of a Cane by one Robert Francis a Red-hot Papist of which with the Agony of the Whipping he soon after died But his Body was so swoln and martyred with his Whipping that it was a Question whether he died of that or of the Wound in his Eye for which Francis however was justly Hanged the King thinking it would appear to be too base a Partiality to pardon him for so foul a Fact Much about the same time Mr. Sam. Johnson commonly known by the Name of Julian Johnson because of his being the Author of a Book so called was Sentenced by the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice to stand 3 times in the Pillory and to be Whipped from Newgate to Tyburn which was severely Executed without any regard to his Gown he being a Clergy-man for making this humble and hearty Address to all the English Protestants in the Army which the King had raised GENTLEMEN NExt to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hands and often look Death in the Face the second Thing that deserves your Consideration is the Service of your Native Country wherein you drew the first Breath and breathed a free English Air Now I would desire you to consider how well you comply with these Two main Points by engaging in this present Service Is it in the Name of God and for his Service that you have joined your selves with Papists which will indeed fight for the Mass-book but burn the Bible and who seek to extirpate the Protestant Religion with your Swords because they cannot do it with their own and will you be aiding and assisting to set up Mass-houses to erect the Popish Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst us and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these Things and yet call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a Foreign Yoak Will you help them to make a forcible Entry into the Houses of your Country-men under the Name of Quartering directly contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Will you be aiding and assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions which were declared illegal and sufficiently
Designs he proceeded now to shew how Absolute he would be in them and therefore on the 4th of May he passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be Read in all Churches and Chappels throughout England and Wales in Time of Divine Service and that all the Bishops in their respective Diocesses should take Care to have the same accordingly performed There is no question to be made but they understood the King's Meaning well enough and that under a Shadow of Favour to be intended hereby to Protestant Dissenters all the Good imaginable was meant to the Roman Catholicks and that whatever was intended by it there was no Good meant to them nor their Church and therefore it was their Business to ward off the Blow which 7 of them endeavoured to do in an humble Petition to the King wherein their Reasons were set forth why they could not comply with the Order of Council But they were so cautious in the Matter that after it was drawn up they would let no other see it before it was presented And the same was as also the King's Answer to this Effect TO THE KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY The Humble PETITION of William Archbishop of Canterbury and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province now present with him in behalf of themselves and others of their absent Brethren and of the Inferior Clergy of their respective Diocesses Humbly Sheweth THAT the great Aversness they find in themselves to the Distributing and Publishing in all their Churches Your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any Want of Duty and Obedience to Your Majesty our holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more than once publickly acknowledged to be so by Your Gracious Majesty nor yet from any Want of Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom we are willing to come to such a Temper as shall be thought fit when the Matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other Considerations from this especially Because that Declaration is founded upon such a Dispencing Power as hath been often declared Illegal in Parliament and particularly in the Years 1662 and 1672 and in the Beginning of Your Majesty's Reign and is a Matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation both in Church and State that Your Petitioners cannot in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the Distribution of it all over the Nation and the solemn Publication of it once and again even in GOD's House and in the Time of His Divine Service must amount to in common and unreasonable Construction Your Petitioners therefore most humbly and earnestly beseech Your Majesty that You will be pleased not to insist upon their Distributing and Reading Your Majesty's said Declaration And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray c. Will. Cant. Will. Asaph Fr. Ely Jo. Cicestr Tho. Bathon Wellen. Tho. Peterburgen Jonath Bristol His MAJESTY'S ANSWER I Have heard of this before but did not believe it I did not expect this from the Church of England especially from some of you If I change my Mind ye shall hear from me If not I expect my Command shall be obeyed But how unpleasing soever the Petition might be to the King which is sufficiently evinced by his Answer and what Revenge soever he might ruminate within himself to take upon the Bishops for it the Chancellor though he thought his Ecclâ—siastical Commission big enough to suspend the Bishop of London and the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and to expel the Master and Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford yet is seems he did not believe it sufficient to suspend these Bishop And therefore it was said he advised the King to Try them upon an Information of High-Treason at the King 's Beneh-Bar In order to this they were committed Prisoner to the Tower and that on the Day before I think the Legendary Birth of the Prince of Wales who came to Town on Sunday Morning the 10th of June that they might not have the Opportunity as it was the Place at least of some of them to be present thereat and make any Inspection into that pious Fraud But though the Nation was mightily alarm'd at their Commitment and more particularly with the Time and Circumstance of it and that this Discontent might have been read in the Faces of almost all Men â—â—ve Romanists yet the Court unconcerned held on their Pace and accordingly the Bishops were Tryed in Trinity Term following at the King 's Beneh-Bar upon an Information of High-Misdemeanor as aforesaid for their Petition to the King But how secure soever the King and his Chancellor thought themselves of the Judges and though Sir Robert Wright who was Chief Justice and Sir Richard Allibone a known Papist were Two of them yet they were not all of a Piece for Mr. Justice Powell both learnedly and stoutly defended the Cause of the Bishops And though I believe the Jury of themselves upon considering the Merit of the Cause were sufficiently disposed to acquit them as they did accordingly yet surely if they had done otherwise I question whether all the King's Guards could have secured them from the Fury of the People who were not a little chafed with these Proceedings and wrought such Seeds of Discontent in the Minds of most Men that afterwards broke forth with a Witness And though it is not to be doubted but the Great Men of our Nation began before this to look about them and to have a watchful Eye upon every Motion of the Court yet this awaken'd them to purpose to seek for a Remedy against the impending Evil by such Methods and from such Persons as were most interested to divert the Course of them But of this we shall more particularly speak hereafter the Course of our History leading us 〈◊〉 to the Prosecution of Foreign Affairs and Campaigns 〈◊〉 ready to begin And first we shall again begin with Hungary We left off last Year with the Surrender of Agria a most pleasing Piece of News to the Imperial Court as was that of the Fortress of Mâ—ngaâ—z early this Spring no less grateful to it Famine and no other Reason was the Occasion of the Surrender of this Place as well as the preceding one The Fortress had been held out by the Princess Ragotzi Count Tecâ—eley's Lady in a manner ever since the Beginning of the War But now dire Necessity constrained that Noble Lady to surrender both it and her self into the Emperor's Hands as it appear'd evidently by her saying when the Capitulation was brought from Count Caraffa to be signed by her Must I Sign my Husband's Death For I am perswaded that as soon as the Turks come to know I have abandoned this Place they will take off his Head The Terms of
an Oath without Authority of Parliament was contrary to Law That the raising of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention was contrary to Law That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges c. was contrary to Law That the imposing extraordinary Fines c. was contrary to Law That the imprisoning of Persons without expressing the Reasons c. was the same That the prosecuting and seizing Mens Estates as forfeited upon stretches of the old and obsolete Laws c. was contrary to Law That the nominating and imposing Magistrates c. upon Burroughs contrary to their express Charters was the same That the sending Letters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to desist from determining of Causes and ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them c. was contrary to Law That the granting of personal Protections c. was the same That the forcing the Subjects to depose against themselves in capital Causes however the Punishment were restricted was contrary to Law That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes was contrary to Law That the sending of an Army in a Hostile manner into any part of the Kingdom in time of Peace and exacting Locality and free Quarter was the same That charging the Subjects with Law-burroughs at the King's Instance and imposing Bonds without Authority of Parliament and the suspending Advocates for not appearing when Bonds were offer'd was contrary to Law That the putting Garrisons into private Mens Houses in time of Peace without Authority of Parliament was illegal That the Opinions of the Lords of the Sessions in the two Cases following were illegal viz. That the concerting the demand of Supply of a forefaulted Person although not given was Treason That Persons refusing to discover their private Thoughts in relation to points of Treason or other Mens Actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from Church was illegal The Prelates and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyter is and has been a great and unsupportable burthen to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having reformâ—d Popery by Presbytery and therefore ought to be abolish'd That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subject to protest for remedy of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounc'd by the Lords of the Sessions provided the same do not stop executions of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subject to petition the King and that all Prosecutions and Imprisonments for such petitioning are and were contrary to Law Therefore for the redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving the Laws they claim'd that Parliaments ought to be frequently call'd and allow'd to â—it and freedom of Speech and Debate allow'd the Members And then they farther claim'd and insisted upon all and sundry the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declaration or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter in Example but that all Forfeitures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Prosecutions Persecutions and rigorous Executions be consider'd and the Parties redress'd To which demand of their Rights and redress of their Grievances they took themselves to be encourag'd by the King of England's Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland in October last as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Therefore Forasmuch as they had an entire Confidence that His Majesty of England would perfect the Deliverance so far advanc'd by him and would still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they had asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland had resolv'd That William and Mary King and Queen of England be declared King and Queen of Scotland to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full Exercise of the Power be only in and exercis'd by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their Lives And after their Decease that the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which failing to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which also failing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And then withal they pray'd the said King and Queen to accept the same accordingly It was also declar'd by the Instrument That the Oath hereafter mention'd should be taken by all Protestants by whom the Oath of Allegiance or any other Oaths and Declarations might be requir'd by Law instead of it and that the Oath of Allegiance and all other Oaths and Declarations should be abrogated The Oath was but short and conformable to that which was prescrib'd in England I A. B. Do sincerely promise and swear That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary So help me God This Act being brought to perfection the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners were dispatch'd away with it for London to present it to the King and Queen and to take their Oath which being done the same day as Their Majesties were Crowned King and Queen of England they were also proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland and May 11th the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners tender'd the Coronation Oath to their Majesties which was distinctly pronounced word by word by the Earl while their Majesties repeated the Sentences after him holding up their Right-hands all the while according to the Custom of Scotland but when the King came to that Clause in the Oath We shall be careful to root out Hereticks he declared that he did not mean by those words that he was under any obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners replied That neither the meaning of the Oath nor the Law of Scotland did import it Whereupon the King said That he took the Oath in that sense and called the Commissioners and other 's there present to be Witnesses of his so doing Then the Convention was turn'd into a Parliament who abolish'd Episcopal Church-Government and restor'd the Presbyterian one which with other concurring Causes made things somewhat uneasie in that Kingdom for a time For tho Edenburgh Castle was June 13th surrender'd to Sir John Lamier yet Dundee gathered strength in the North for the late King between whose Party and Mackays past several Actions and the first was July 16th near Blaine in the County of Athol where Mackay with 4000 Foot and 4 Troops of Horse and Dragoons attack'd Dundee who had 6000 Foot and 100 Horse on his side and between whom there was a
Grand Master of the Tutonick Order to be their Prince and Bishop both which sent to the Emperor and Court of Rome about it and this was as likely to imbroil the Confederates Affairs as any thing that had yet hapned the last named of the Candidates or Princes Elect being no less than Brother-in-Law to the Emperor who we might reasonably suppose would espouse his Cause with all the Interest he had as the other was Brother to the Elector of Bavaria who besides his own Interest that was considerable had 't was generally believed that of the King of England and the States of Holland on his side But while things hung thus in suspence and that particularly both Parties were expecting the Decision of the See of Rome Heaven decided the Contest in an unexpected manner by the Death of the Grand Master of a certain contagious Distemper that had for some time been rise in the City of Liege and so the Elector of Cologn in some time after got the peaceable Possession of the Principality which together with the great Power of the Confederates in Flanders made things look with an ill Aspect upon the Affairs of France For the Confederate Army now under the King's Command encamped at Mont St. Andrew where they all joined amounting in Horse and Dragoons to no less than 31800 Men all very well Mounted and Armed and of the Dragoons more especially it may be said that such a Body either for Number or the good Order they were in has hardly ever been in the Field and in Foot to 51000 besides a Body of about 7000 Men under the Command of Count Thien near Ghendt But tho' the French were not far inferiour in Number yet the Dauphine used all his Endeavours to decline Fighting and the King put him hard to it so that the French Army was in a manner couped up by him for a time under the Walls of their Garrison of Huy and reduced to considerable streights where we shall leave them and the Confederates in their respective Camps and where they continued while the English Fleet in the Channel were Bombing the Maritime-Towns of France to the great Consternation of the poor Inhabitants as well as their utter Ruin And what good Mein soever the French Court put upon it it was a business that made them Heart-sick as afterwards appeared when they came to Bombard Brussells Diep in Normandy was the first Town that felt the Fuâ—â— of the English Bombs before which my Lord Berkley oâ— the 12th of July brought the Fleet as near as possible and sent 6 Ment of War and 9 Bomb Galliots away to take their Stations and from that day at Night till 4 the next Morning they threw into the City 1100 Bombs and Carcasseâ— that set the Houses on Fire in several places so that the Townsmen not knowing whither to run and despairing to quench it took a fright and began to run away in Disorder which made the Marquess of Bearon send 2 Battalions of the Militia of Bretaign to encourage the Inhabitants but the Disorders were so great and the Fire so terrible that the Soldiers fled with the rest So that if the Confederates had known what had passed they might in all probability have possest themselves of the Place however they so ruin'd it that there was hardly a House left unshattered but the greatest part were intirely reduced to Ashes From hence the Fleet allarming all the Coast sailed towards Havre de Grace where on the 26th about 3 in the Afternoon they begaâ— to approach the Town under the Direction of Captain Bembâ— into which between 4 and 5 they began to throw their Bombs which they continued till next Morning when the Wind blowing hard they gave over shooting but tho' Havre de Grace was not entirely ruined as Deâ—p was yet a great part of it was Burnt and so considerable Damage done to the Place as was not soon repaired And if the French were thus put to it on the Coast their Army was not a little streightned by that of the Confederates in the Netherlands for though the Dauphine declared he had received Orders from his Father not to budge from his Camp at Vignamont as long as the Confederates continued at theirs at Mont St. Andre yet being not able possibly to subsist there any longer he resolved to decamp first and though he thought to have concealed his design by sending forth several little Bodies of Horse under Pretence of Forraging to reinforce the Marquess of Harcourt's Body on the other side of the Meuse who was to seize the advantageous Post of Picton and by that means get before the Confederates yet the King who was aware of the Design decamped before him on the 8th of Aug. and soon gained the Posts of Picton where there was not Forrage for above 4 days and being informed of the Enemies March moved towards Neville thence to Lessines having sent Orders before for the Baking of Bread at Ghent and Aeth On the 12th the Army posted it self at Chieere from whence that Evening a numerous Detachment of Horse and Foot with some Pieces of Cannon went to possess themselves of a Post upon the Scheld and the Army followed on the 14th with an intention to have passed the River at Pont Espeires But tho' the Confederates made great haste to get thither the French made more to prevent them For on the 15th the Elector of Bavaria having advanced towards Pont de Eschaieâ—â—e with a numerous Detachment in order to attack the Passage of the River he found the French to the number of 30000 Men entrenched on the other side up to their Teeth so as that he did not think it convenient to proceed But that hasty March of the French cost them more Men and Horses than they have been willing to own they had lost in some of their Battles However it must be said it was a business that was worth while to hinder the Confederates to enter into French Flanders where if they had once done so they would in all probability together with some important Conquest have secured some Winter Quarters at least Besides other losses that would almost inevitably have followed And this the French King was so sensible of that he writ a Letter with Orders for the reading it at the Head of the Army wherein he returned thanks in the first place to the Princes of the Blood then to the Mareshal de Luxemburg as having a principal share in the Conduct to the rest of the Marshals of France and all the General Officers and lastly to all the French and Swiss Infantry Regiment by Regiment beginning with that of the Guards and acknowledged how much beholding he was to their Zeal and infinite Diligence for the Preservation of their Country Lives and most inportant Places on the Sea-side and assured them he would acknowledge upon all Occasions that same Testimony of their Affection and desired a continuation of it But
that I should have been very glad to have had a Horse but never had any And as for being concern'd in any Bloody Affair I never was in my Life but have done my Endeavour to prevent as much as I could on all Occasions and if the Killing the most miserable Creature in the World or greatest Enemy would now save my Life restore the King and make me one of the greatest Men in England I first would chuse to die because against the Law of God If any who are now Sufferers on this Account think I have been too forward and a Promoter of this Design I do now declare it was never my Inclination to do any rash thing However I beg their Pardons and of all the World I have offended either in Thought Word or any Action whatsoever and do freely forgive my Enemies and hope through the Mercy of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have Remission of all my Sins Good God preserve the King Queen Prince and Princess and all that Royal Blood of Stewards and may England never want one of that direct Line to Govern them and make them once more Happy I have had the Honour to serve my Royal Master in several Commissions and the last as Major and strove ever to serve him to the best of my Power and even to be Just to those who I had the Honour to Command Lord Jesus into thy Hands I recommend my Spirit O Jesus receive my Soul Robert Lowick Brigadier ROOKWOOD's Paper HAving committed the Justice of my Cause and recommended my Soul to God on whose Mercies through the Merits of Jesus Christ I wholly cast my self I had once resolved to die in Silence but second Thoughts of my Duty to others chiefly to my True and Liege Soveraign King James moved me to leave this behind me I do therefore with all Truth and Sincerity declare and avow That I never knew saw or heard of any Order or Commission from King James for the Assassinating the Prince of Orange and Attacking his Guards but I am certainly inform'd That he the best of Kings had often rejected Proposals of that Nature when made unto him Nor do I think he knew the least of the particular Design of the Attacking the Guards at his Landing so much talk'd of in which I was engaged as a Soldier by my immediate Commander much against my Judgment but his Soldier I was and as such I was to obey and act according to Command These twelve Years I have served my true King and Master King James and freely now lay down my Life in his Cause I ever abhorr'd Treachery even to an Enemy If it be a guilt to have complied with what I thought and still think to have been my Duty I am guilty No other guilt do I own As I beg all to forgive me so I forgive all from my Heart even the Prince of Orange who as a Soldier ought to have consider'd my Case before he Sign'd the Warrant for my Death I pray God may open his Eyes and render him sensible of the much Blood from all Parts crying out against him so to prevent a heavier Execution hanging over his Head than what he inflicts on me Amb. Rookwood But I confess after all that the Shouting of the People at the Execution of some of these wretched Assassins was cruel and inhumane and two base a Triumphing over Misery which always deserves our Christian Compassion As soon as the News reached Flanders that the King was safe and England happily delivered from the two bloody Tempests that threaten'd her the Generals and it was thought to be the particular Contrivance of Prince Vaudemont bethought themselves of making an extraordinary Bonfire for Joy by burning the French Magazine at Givet To which End after several Orders and Countermands given to the Garrison of Namur the greatest part of them were ordered to march with Provision for six Days and being joined by several other Troops they crossed the Meuse on the 12th of March and were followed the next Day by the Horse under the Conduct of the Earl of Athlone and Major-General Cohorne and having crossed the River Leile the Earl with one part of this Body marched towards Dinant while Cohorne with the rest sate down before Givet And having got all things ready by the 16th in the Morning he began his Work about Seven a Clock with Bombs and Red-hot Bullets which first set fire to the Forage and at the same time a certain Number of Soldiers were commanded to enter the Town with lighted Flambeaux in their Hands who fired the Cazerns and other Edifices where the Magazines of Oats and other Provisions lay So that that vast Magazine was utterly consumed and all this performed with the Loss of not above 9 or 10 Men. But notwithstanding this considerable Advantage to the Confederates the Conspiracy in England and other more than ordinary Affairs before the Parliament had spun out so much Time that the King could not be so early in the Camp this Year as was designed who was himself also unwilling to leave his Kingdoms till the Arrival of the Fleet from Cales under Sir George Rook who had upon occasion of the first breaking out of the Plot Orders sent him to return home and safely came upon the Coast towards the latter end of April to the dissipating of the great Fears we were in lest the French Fleet from Thoulon should overtake and ruine him And indeed they were not far behind for before the Junction of those Men of War we had then in the Downs with some of Sir George's Squadron and that he could get upon the Coast of Brest in order to intercept and fight them they were got safe into that and the other Harbours of France So that the French took the Field before the Confederates to whom they were superiour at first in number till the Junction of the German Troops who ever came late which was at all times a prodigious Disadvantage to the Confederates So that what with these things but most of all for the extream Want of Mony to pay the Army now our Coin was called in the Confederates could not act Offensively as they had done the preceding Year But about the time that the King arrived at the Hague there happen'd something to fall out which began to savour of somewhat else than the Toils and Inconveniences of War for Monsieur Caillieri was come thither from France with Proposals towards concluding a general Peace by setling such Preliminaries as might be a sufficient Basis to ground a Treaty upon I do not know whether there was any real Disposition in the French Court to a general Peace before the Year 1695 but the loss of Namur Casall and other Disadvantages did without all doubt powerfully operate towards it and nothing could have retarded their Motions in order to it but the Plausibility of the Invasion against England and that in such an hazardous Juncture when our Coin was
Propositions France had made which were That the Plenipotentiaries of the Allies should treat upon the Foundation proposed on the 10th of Febr. last and advance no other Points save those whereof there had been mention made before to the end there might be a Basis and Foundation made for a Treaty the which Proposals being not yet agreed upon seeing the French gave out the Neutrality in Catalonia was concluded on the Imperialists did afterwards make answer That these Propositions were but preliminary ones and not absolute and that they were allowed of but upon this Condition that in case any one point were found to be imperfect or faulty the same ought to be amended by the succeeding Treaties To this was also added That they were very desirous to know the answer of the French as to every particular point proposed by the Emperor and his Allies These Articles were allowed of but not to be inserted in the first project of the Emperors Plenipotentiaries and the same was admitted at the importunity of the States Ambassadors as being some what more particularly relating to their Interest and that of England But the Spaniards were of Opinion theâ— ought to keep close to the points that had been once agreed on and that to do otherwise would but retard the Negotiation And seeing that the first preliminary point agreed on did import that the Treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen should be the Basis and Foundation of this Negotiation according to the express consent of the French King It was consequently very evident that those Preliminary Positions could not be the foundation of all pretensions that the Allies could have upon France But on the other hand if the preceding Treaties had no Effect at all it was then in vain that they had made choise of a place to confer in That the French had better have staid in Paris and that it was to no purpose that Pasports had been granted and the assistance and mediation of the King of Sweden desired That the Imperialists were amazed that so unnecessary a Difficulty should have been raised in so clear and evident a thing to which was also added That they did not doubt but that the Mediator and the States were of the same Opinion that same point having been long enough Debated in the Preliminaries and terminated in a general and unanimons Consent This was no sooner over but that the French dispatched a Courier to their Master on whose part there were Proposals made again concerning a Truce and a free Trade as being the first step towards a Peace But these things came to nothing so that the French Embassadors now replying to those Answers made by the Imperialists and Spaniards said that they were so strictly limitted to their Instructions that they durst not any manner of way exceed or change any thing from the Treaty of Nimeguen as the Basis proposed unto them by their King and that consequently it was in vain for the Allies to require any thing beyond the Articles of the said Treaty seeing their King would grant them no power for it with which Declaration of theirs the Allies were so far from being satisfied that they gave them to understand by the Mediator that their answer was frivolous and had no other tendency in it than to break off the Treaty or at least to protract it This their Declaration being directly contrary to what had been fully regulated and absolutely agreed on in the Preliminaâ—ies and the Mediator himself being of the same Sentiments he did thereupon lay the full Pretentions of the Allies before the French Plenipotentiaries who made him answer That the retarding of the Negotiation should with much Reason be attributed to the Allies the last Instrument that had been presented on the Emperor's part being conceived in such Articles which they foresaw France neither could nor ought to accept Besides this they said the Spaniards thought it more convenient to take the Pyrenaean Treaty for the Basis of this which proposition said they was the cause that made the French insist upon that of Nimeguen To this the Mediator replied That he could not believe that the French King was offended That all and singular the Allies had joined together in the last Answer as in an Affair that was common to them all That they were of Opinion France would have declared the same thing were she in the same Condition Spain found her self in to wit that the Peace of the Pyrenaees should be renewed in its full force The Allies also offered it as their Opinion that for the avoiding of all these Difficulties and Disputes they thought it would be better the French should answer each of their Propositions a-part which was at length agreed unto The Imperialists in pursuance to this Resolution presented to the Mediator a Project of the Method to be used of Treating by Word of Mouth without any difficulty which being read first to the Confederates and a Copy of the said being afterwards delivered unto them before it was shewed to the French Plenipotentiaries but that same Copy being some-what delayed the other discontented Allies took an unanimous Resolution to Remonstrate to the Imperialists that themselves had also a share in the Alliance and consequently they ought to have Deliberated with them concerning the Points proposed as well on the Emperor's part as on that of France Yet things could not be brought so to bear but the Embassage of the Empire agreed on at Ratisbonne was frustrated of the Effect of its Vote About the same time the Mediator at the Request of the Imperialists proposed to the French Plenipotentiaries the making choice of some other Days besides the ordinary Ones to hold their Conferences on in order to hasten the finishing of the Negotiation But the latter supposing the Allies had some particular End in the same Proposal made answer They were not at Liberty to Comply with this Request but that they were always ready to Appear at the Appointed Times The last Instruments presented by the Imperialists were not pleasing to divers of the Allies who affirmed they had just Complaints to make in order to Redress The Elector of Hanover's Plenipotentiary insisting he ought to have a place in the Assembly as an Electoral Minister occasioned also some Dispute but the same being left to the Decision of the Mediator he gave it in favour of him Soon after the Imperialists and the French gave in respectively their Projects of Peace but all the Articles of the French being drawn word for word from the Treaty of Nimeguen the same were rejected by the Allies as being too opposite to the Interests of the Empire with which they could never Acquiesce as also because there was often mention made not only of the Allies of the Empire but also of those of France It being notoriously known they had no such in the War unless the Turks were meant by it wherefore it was insisted upon that the French should more fully Explain themselves
Occasion and that most truly to in their own Justification That they had bore alone the Burthen of the War by keeping of great Fleets and numerous Land-Forces which they had set out at their own Charge for the common Good and notwithstanding so many States and Princes of the Empire they had paid almost alone the Expences of the War all along the Rhine And that Trade not having its ordinary Course all this bore very hard upon them To this may be added the advantageous Conditions of Peace granted them and first to begin with that of the English for whom and himself no Man surely in his Wits will deny but King William made as honourable Terms as could in Reason under the Circumstances of things be expected But a better View hereof will be had by the Articles themselves which follow I. That there be an Universal Perpetual Peace and a Truce and Sincere Friendship between the Most Serene and Mighty Prince William the Third King of Great Britain and the most Serene and Mighty Prince Lewis the Fourteenth the most Christian King their Heirs and Successors and between the Kingdoms States and Subjects of Both and that the same be so Sincerely and Inviolably observed and kept that the one shall promote the Interest Honour and Advantage of the other and that on both sides a faithful Neighbourhood and true Observation of Peace and Friendship may daily Flourish and Encrease II. That all Enmities Hostilities Discords and Wars between the said King of Great Britain and the most Christian King and their Subjects cease and be abolished so that on both sides they forbear and abstain hereafter from all Plundring Depredation Harm-doing Injuries and Infestation whatsoever as well by Land as by Sea and on fresh Waters every where and especially throughout all the Kingdoms Territories Dominions and Places belonging to each other of what Condition soever they be III. That all Offences Injuries Damages which the said King of Great Britain and his Subjects or the said most Christian King and â—his Subjects have suffered from each other during this War shall be forgotten so that neither on Account of them or for any other Cause or Pretence neither Party or the Subjects of either shall hereafter do cause or suffer to be done any Hostility Enmity Molestation or Hindrance to the other by himself or others Secretly or Openly Directly or Indirectly by Colour of Right or Way of Fact IV. And since the most Christian King was never more desirous of any thing than that the Peace be firm and inviolable the said King Promises and Agrees for himself and his Successors That he will on no account whatsoever disturb the said King of Great Britain in the free Possession of the Kingdoms Countries Lands or Dominions which he now Enjoys and therefore Engages his Honour upon the Faith and Word of a King that he will not give or afford any Assistance directly or indirectly to any Enemy or Enemies of the said King of Great Britain And that he will in no manner whatsoever favour the Conspiraces or Plots which any Rebels or ill disposed Persons may in any place Excite or Contrive against the said King And for that end Promises and Engages That he will not assist with Arms Ships Ammunition Provisions or Money or in any other way by Sea or by Land any Person or Persons who shall hereafter under any pretence whatsoever Disturb or Molest the said King of Great Britain in the free and full Possession of his Kingdoms Countries Lands and Dominions The King of Great Britain likewise Promises and Engages for himself and Successors Kings of Great Britain That he will inviolably do and perform the same towards the said most Christian King his Kingdoms Countries Lands and Dominions V. That there be a free use of Navigation and Commerce between the Subjects of both the said Kings as was formerly in the time of Peace and before the Declaration of the late War so that every of them may freely come into the Kingdoms Marts Ports and Rivers of either of the said Kings with their Merchandizes and may there continue and Trade without any Molestation and shall use and enjoy all Liberties Immunities and Priviledges granted by solemn Treaties and ancient Custom VI. That the ordinary Administration of Justice shall be restored and sâ—t open throughout the Kingdoms and Dominions of both Kings so that it shall be free for all the Subjects of either to claim and obtain their Rights Pretensions and Actions according to the Laws Constitutions and Statutes of each Kingdom VII The most Christian King shall Restore to the said King of Great Britain all Countries Islands Forts and Colonies wheresoever Situated which the English did possess before the Declaration of this present War And in like manner the King of Great Britain shall restore to the most Christian King all Countries Islands Forts and Colonies wheresoever Situated which the French did Possess before the said Declaration of War And this Restitution shall be made on both Sides within the Space of Six Months or sooner if it can be done And to that end immediately after the Ratification of this Treaty each of the said Kings shall Deliver or cause to be Delivered to the other or to Commissioners Authorized in his Name for that Purpose all Acts of Concession Instruments and necessary Orders duly made and in proper Form so that they may have their Effect VIII Commissioners shall be appointed on both sides to Examine and Determine the Rights and Pretensions which either of the said Kings hath to the places Situated in Hudsons-Bay But the Possession of those Places which were taken by the French during the Peace that preceded this present War and were retaken by the English during this War shall be left to the French by virtue of the foregoing Article The Capitulation made by the English on the 5th of September 1696. shall be Observed according to its Form and Tenor The Merchandises therein mentioned shall be restored The Governour of the Fort taken there shall be set at Liberty if it be not already done The Differences arisen concerning the Execution of the said Capitulation and the value of the Goods there lost shall be adjudged and determined by the said Commissioners who immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty shall be Invested with sufficient Authority for settling the Limits and Confines of the Lands to be restored on either side by virtue of the foregoing Article and likewise for exchanging of Lands as may conduce to the mutual Interest and Advantage of both Kings And to this end the Commissioners so appointed shall within the space of 3 Months from the time of the Ratification of the present Treaty meet in the City of London and within six Months to be reckoned from their first Meeting shall Determine all Differences and Disputes which may arise concerning this matter After which the Articles the said Commissioners shall agree to shall be Ratified
by both Kings and shall have the same Force and Vigour as if they were inserted Word for Word in the present Treaty IX All Letters as well of Reprisal as of Marque and Counter-Marque which hitherto have for any cause been granted on either side shall be and remain null and void Nor shall any the like Letters be hereafter granted by either of the said Kings against the Subjects of the other unless it be first made manifest that Right hath been denied And it shall not be taken for a denial of Right unless the Petition of the Person who desires Letters of Reprisal to be granted to him be first shewn to the Minister residing there on the part of the King against whose Subjects those Letters are desired That within the space of 4 Months or sooner he may inquire into the contrary or procure that satisfaction be made with all speed from the Party offending to the Complainant But if the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are demanded have no Minister residing there Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted till after the space of 4 Months to be reckoned from the Day on which his Petition was made and presented to the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are desired or to his Privy Council X. For cutting off all matter of Dispute and Contention which may arise concerning the Restitution of Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which either Party may complain to be taken and detained from the other in Countries and on Coasts far distant after the Peace is concluded and before it be notified there All Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which shall be taken by either side after the Signing and Publication of the present Treaty within the space of Twelve Days in the British and North Seas as far as the Cape St. Vincent Within the space of Ten Weeks beyond the said Cape and on this side of the Equinoctial Line or Equator as well in the Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as elsewhere Lastly within the space of six Months beyond the said Line throughout the whole World shall belong and remain unto the Possessors without any Exception or further Distinction of Time or Place or any consideration to be had of Restitution or Compensation XI But if it happens through Inadvertency or Imprudence or any other Cause whatever that any Subject of either of the said two Kings shall do or commit any thing by Land or Sea or on fresh Water any where contrary to the present Treaty or that any Particular Article thereof is not fulfilled this Peace and good Correspondence between the said two Kings shall not on that account be Interrupted or Infringed but shall remain in its former Force Strength and Vigour and the said Subject only shall answer for his own Fact and undergo the Punishment to be Inflicted according to the Custom and Law of Nations XII But if which God forbid the Differences now Composed between the said Kings should at any time be renewed and break out into open War the Ships Merchandises and all kind of moveable Goods of either Party which shall be found to be and remain in the Ports and Dominions of the adverse Party shall not be Confiscated or brought under any Inconveniency but the whole space of six Months shall be allowed to the Subject of both of the said Kings that they may carry away and transport the aforesaid Goods and any thing else that is theirs whither they shall think fit without any Molestation XIII For what concerns the Principality of Orange and other Lands and Dominions belonging to the said King of Great Britain the separate Article of the Treaty of Nimeguen concluded between the most Christian King and the States General of the United Provinces the 10th Day of August 1678. shall according to its Form and Tenor have full effect and all things that have been Innovated and Altered shall be restored as they were before All Decrees Edicts and other Acts of what kind soever they be without Exception which are in a manner contrary to the said Treaty or were made after the conclusion thereof shall be held to be null and void without any revival or consequence for the future And all things shall be restored to the said King in the same state and in the same manner as he held and enjoyed them before he was dispossessed thereof in the time of the War which was ended by the said Treaty of Nimeguen or which he ought to have held and enjoyed according to the said Treaty And that an end may be put to all Trouble Differences Processes and Questions which may arise concerning the same both the said Kings will name Commissioners who with full and summary Power may compose and settle all these matters And forasmuch as by the Authority of the most Christian King the King of Great Britain was hindred from enjoying the Revenues Rights and Profits as well of his Principality of Orange as of other his Dominions which after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nimeguen until the Declaration of the present War were under the power of the said most Christian King the said most Christian King will restore and cause to be restored in reality with Effect and with the Interest due all those Revenues Rights and Profits according to the Declarations and Verifications that shall be made before the said Commissioners XIV That Treaty of Peace concluded between the most Christian King and the late Elector of Brandenburg at St. Germains in Laye the 29 June 1679. shall be restored in its Articles and remain in its former Vigour between his Sacred Most Christian Majesty and his Electoral Highness of Brandenburg XV. Whereas 't will greatly conduce to the publick Tranquility that the Treaty be observed which was concluded between his Sacred most Christian Majesty and his Royal Highness of Savoy on the Ninth of Aug. 1696. 't is agreed that the said Treaty shall be confirmed by this Article XVI Under this present Treaty of Peace shall be comprehended those who shall be named by either Party with common consent before the Exchange of Ratifications or within six Months after But in the mean time the most Serene and Mighty Prince William King of Great Britain and the most Serene and Mighty Prince â—ewis the most Christian King gratefully acknowledging the sincere Offices and Indefatigable Endeavours which have been employed by the most Serene and Mighty Prince Charles King of Sweden by the inter position of his Mediation in bringing this happy work of the Peace with the Divine Assistance to the desired Conclusion and to shew the like Affection to him 't is by consent of all Parties stipulated and agreed That his said Sacred Royal Majesty of Sweden shall with all his Kingdoms Countries Provinces and Rights be included in this Treaty and comprehended in the best manner in the present Pacification XVII Lastly The Solemn Ratifications of this present agreement and alliance made in due Form shall be delivered on
at the time when it was taken as also the Banlieu and Provostship Appurtenances and Dependencies of the same City in all its Consistencies as the Catholick King enjoy'd it then and before the said Treaty as also the City of Aeth in the Condition it was at the time of its being last taken without breaking demolishing or weakning any thing or impairing its Works with the Artillery which was there at the same time together with the Banlieu Castlewick Appurtenances Dependencies and Annexes of the said City as they were yielded by the Treaty of Nimeguen the Places following excepted viz. The Bourg of Anthoin Vaux Guarrain Ramecroix Bethune Constantin the Fief de Paradise the last being intermingled within the Limits of Tournaisis and the said Fief of Paradise so far as it contributes with the Village of Kain Havines Meles Moncourt Kain le Mont de St. Audebert call'd de la Trinitie Frontenoy Maubray Hernies Caluelle and Viers with their Parishes Appurtenances and Dependencies without reserving any thing shall remain in the Possession and Soveraignty of his Most Christian Majesty nevertheless without any prejudice to what has been granted to his Most Christian Majesty by the Preceding Treaties VIII The City of Courtrary shall be surrender'd back into the Power Demesne and Possession of his Catholick Majesty in the Condition as now it is with the Artillery which was there at the time when it was taken together with the Castlewick of the said City the Appurtenances Dependencies and Annexes conformable to the Treaty of Nimeguen IX The said Most Christian King shall also cause to be restor'd to the Catholick King all the Cities Places Forts Castles and Ports which his Armies have or might have possess'd till the Day of the Peace and also since that in any place of the World where-ever situated as likewise his said Catholick Majesty shall cause to be restor'd to his Most Christian Majesty all the Places Forts Castles and Posts which his Arms may have possess'd during this War till the Day of the Publication of the Peace and in whatsoever Place situated X. All the Places Cities Burroughs strong Holds and Villages which the most Christian King has possess'd and reunited since the Treaty of Nimeghen within the Provinces of Luxemburg Namur Brabant Flanders Hainault and other Provinces of the Low-Countries according to the List of the said Reunions produc'd on the part of his Catholick Majesty in the Acts of that Negotiation a Copy of which shall be annex'd to this present Treaty shall remain to his Catholick Majesty except the Eighty two Cities Burroughs Places and Villages contain'd in the List of Exception which has been also produc'd on the Part of his Most Christian Majesty and to which he lays claim by reason of the Dependencies of the Cities of Charlemont Maubege and others surrender'd to his Majesty by the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and Nimeghen in respect of which Eighty two Places only a List of which shall be annex'd to the present Treaty it is agreed on both sides that immediately after the Signing this present Treaty that Commissioners shall be appointed on both sides as well to regulate to which of the two Kings the said Eighty two Cities Burroughs Places or Villages or any of them shall belong as to agree upon Exchanges to be made for the Places and Villages intermix'd in the Countries under the Dominion of either Prince And in case the said Commissioners cannot agree their Most Christian and Catholick Majesties shall refer the Ultimate Decision to the Judgment of the Lords the States General of the Vnited Provinces whom the said Kings have reciprocally consented to take for Arbitrators without prejudice nevertheless to the Plenipotentiary-Embassadors of the said Most Christian and Catholick Kings otherwise to agree the Matter in friendly Manner between themselves and before the Ratification of this present Treaty if it be possible so that all Difficulties as well touching the said Re-unions as Limits may be totally ended and determin'd In pursuance of which all Prosecutions Sentences Separations Incorporations Forfeitures Judgments Confiscations Re-unions Declarations Regulations Edicts and generally all Acts what-ever put forth in the Name and behalf of his Most Christian Majesty by reason of the said Re-unions whether made by the Parliament or Chamber settl'd at Metz or by any other Courts of Justice Intendants Commissioners or Delegates against his Catholick Majesty or his Subjects and shall be revok'd and annull'd for ever as if they had never been and moreover the Generality of the said Provinces shall remain to his Catholick Majesty except the Cities Towns and Places yielded to his Most Christian Majesty by the preceding Treaties with the Appurtenances and Dependencies XI All the Forts Cities Burroughs Places and Villages Circumstances Dependencies and Annexes hereabove restor'd and surrender'd back by his Most Christian Majesty without reserving or with-holding any thing shall return to the Possession of his Catholick Majesty to be by him enjoy'd with all the Prerogatives Advantages Profits and Revenues that depend upon 'em with the same Extent the same Rights of Property Demesne and Soveraignty which he enjoy'd before the last War at the time and before the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and Nimeghen and altogether as he might or ought to enjoy them XII The Restitution of the said Places shall be perform'd on the behalf of the most Christian King cordially and sincerely without delay or scruple for any Cause or upon any Occasion whatsoever to Him or Them who shall be appointed by the said Catholick King immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty without demolishing weak'ning or diminishing any thing in any manner within the said Cities nor shall there be any Pretensions or Demands for Reimbursments for the Fortifications Publick Edifices and Buildings rais'd in the said Places nor for the Payment of what may be due to the Soldiers that shall be there at the time of the Restitution XIII The Most Christian King shall cause to be remov'd out of all the said Places which he restores to the Catholick King all the Artillery which his said Majesty caus'd to be carry'd into the said Places after they were taken all the Powder Bullets Arms Provision and Ammunition which shall be therein at the time that they shall be restor'd to his said Catholick Majesty and they who shall be entrusted by the Most Christian King for that purpose shall for Two Months make use of the Waggons and Boats of the Country they shall have free Passage as well by Water as by Land for the Transportation of the said Ammunition to the Places belonging to his Most Christian Majesty which shall be nearest adjoining The Governours Commanders Officers and Magistrates of the Places so restor'd shall afford all Accommodations in their Power to facilitate the Carriage and Transportation of the said Artillery and Ammunition Also the Officers and Soldiers who shall march out of the said Places shall have Liberty to remove and
Client as could have been expected wherein however they were as notably answered by Mr. Sergeant Gould but I have not room to Cite the Arguments And so I proceed to shew that Sir John and the Council being ordered to withdraw and upon the Motion of some of the more aggrieved Members that the Prisoner should deal clearly and candidly with the House in giving an account of what he knew concerning several Persons of great Quality against whom he had given in the Informations formerly mentioned and he declining of the same it was resolved Mr. Vernon should give in his Evidence in respect to Sir John's getting his Tryal delayed by Offers of Information and that in his and the Counsels presence on both sides And the Counsel having no more to say they were discharged from their farther Attandance at that time and the Order of the Day for reading of the Bill a second time being read by the Clerk and the same being afterwards opened by the Speaker and having expected for some time and no member rising up to speak he asked whether he should put the Question of Commitment But then the Speaker had his Belly full on 't and the Debate ran very high both on the one side and the other about the extraordinary Method of Proceedings the Power and Justice of Parliaments compared with other inferiour Courts of Judicature with many Presidents of former Bills of Attainder Pro and Con and other Arguments that fell in which are too tedious for me particularly to enter upon But upon the whole towards Eleven at Night the Result was That the Bill should be Committed and on Friday the 20th the House resolved it self into a Committee of the whole House upon the said Bill and several Words having been offered as an Amendment to it importing Sir John Fenwicke's being Guilty at last these Words of which the said Sir John Fenwicke is Guilty were agreed on to be added to the Close thereof November the 25th the Bill was read the third time when the Contestation upon the Debate run as hot as ever and the Members were no less divided in their Opinions than before but at length the Question for Passing the Bill being put the House divided thereupon when there appearing for it an Hundred Eighty Nine and but an Hundred and Fifty Six against it it passed in the Affirmative It 's observable that tho' the Crime wherewith Sir John Fenwicke was Charged was of the highest Nature that could be against the Government yet that very many most honourable and worthy Persons in both Houses and such as are well known to be his Majesty's best Friends were very stiff against the Bill Yet that did not arise from any Intentions in them to Acquit the Guilty but they could not be satisfied with the manner of procedure and that of there being but one vivi voce Witness only stuck hard upon them especially since in all ordinary Courts two were always required for the Proof of such a Crime and that there had been an Act made but the very Sessions before that did possitively require the same in Cases of High Treason And it was looked upon very strange by some that such a President should be so quickly made and that in such a good Reign and the same might prove of very dangerous Consequence to the Liberty of the Subject in future Times which they should be always very regardful of But however the Matter were Sir John was Beheaded for it and none of them thought him unjustly to suffer though many boggled at the manner of his Condemnation At the Place of Execution he deliver'd the following Paper to the Sheriffs A true Copy of the Paper Delivered by Sir John Fenwicke Baronet to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex on Tower-Hill the Place of Execution on Thursday January the 28th 1697. SPeaking nor Writing was never my Talent I shall therefore give a very Short but Faithful Account first of my Religion and next what I suffer most innocently for to avoid the Calumnies I may reasonably expect my Enemies will cast upon me when dead since they have most falsely and maliciously aspersed me whilst under my Misfortunes As for my Religion I was brought up in the Church of England as it is establish'd by Law and have ever profess'd it tho' I confess I have been an unworthy Member of it in not living up to the strict and excellent Rules thereof for which I take Shame to my self and humbly ask Forgiveness of GOD. I come now to dye in that Communion trusting as an humble and hearty Penitent to be received by the Mercy of God through the Merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour My Religion taught me my Loyalty which I bless God is untainted And I have ever endeavoured in the Station wherein I have been placed to the utmost of my Power to support the Crown of England in the True and Lineal Course of Descent without interruption As for what I am now to dye I call God to witness I went not to that Meeting in Leadenhall-street with any such intention as to invite King James by Force to invade this Nation nor was I my self provided with either Horse or Arms or engaged for any number of Men or gave particular Consent foy any such Invasion as is most falsely Sworn against me I do also declare in the Presence of God That I knew nothing of King James's coming to Calais nor of any Invasion intended from thence till it was publickly known And the only Notion I had that something might be attempted was from the Thoulon Fleet coming to Brest I also call God to witness that I received the knowledge of what is contained in those Papers that I gave to a great Man that came to me in the Tower both from Letters and Messages that came from France and he told me when I â—ead them to him That the Prince of Orange had been acâ—uainted with most of those things before I might have expected Mercy from that Prince because I was Instrumental in saving his Life For when about April 95. an Attempt formed against him came to my Knowledge I did partly by Dissuasions and partly by Delays prevent that Design which I suppose was the Reason that the last Villanous Project was concealed from me If there be any Persons whom I have injur'd in Word oâ— Deed I heartily pray their Pardon and beg of God to Pardon those who have injured me particularly those who with great Zeal have sought my Life and brought the guilt of my Innocent Blood upon this Nation no Treason being proved upon me I return my most hearty Thanks to those Noble and Worthy Persons who gave me their Assistance by opposing this Bill of Attainder without which it had been impossible I could have fallen under the Sentence of Death God bless them and their Posterity though I am fully satisfied they Pleaded their own Cause while they Defended mine I pray God to bless my True and
Lawful Sovereign King James the Queen and Prince of Wales and Restore him and his Posterity to this Throne again for the Peace and Prosperity of this Nation which is impossible to prosper till the Government is settled upon a right Foot And now O God I do with all Humble Devotion Commâ—â—â— my Soul into thy Hands the great Maker and Preserver of Meâ— and Lover of Souls beseeching thee That it may be always 〈◊〉 and precious in thy Sight through the Merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen J. FENWICK But to leave this ungrateful Subject the Parliament besides the passing of the usual Land-Tax made an Act â—o Granting to His Majesty several Duties upon Parchment Papâ— and Vellum to encourage the Bringing of Plate and Hammer'â— Mony into the Mint to be Coined As there was also another Act To encourage the Bringing in of Wrought Plate to be Coineâ— There was also Divers Impositions upon Goods and Merchandizâ—â— continued The Deficiencies of Funds made good The Capâ—â— Stock of the Bank of England enlarged And For Raising the Publick Credit Besides which there were Impositions laid upon Leather and Malt A farther Subsidy of Tonnage and Pounâ—age granted and an Act made For Licensing Hawkers 〈◊〉 Pediars But before these Things were compleated in England the Preliminaries of the Peace were agreed on in Holland and signed the 10th of February And they are these that foâ—â—low I. THE French King doth consent and agree that the Treaties of Westphalia and Nimeguen shall be the Basis and Foundation of the Negotiation of the General Peace to be made with all the Allies II. That the City of Strasburgh be restored to the Empire in the State it was when taken by His Majesty III. That the City of Luxemburgh shall be restored to the King of Spain in the Condition it is now But here you are to observe that France made an Offer to the Allies by way of Equivalent for the said Cities IV. The Towns of Mons and Charleroy shall be given up in the Condition they are at present V. That those Places in Catalonia which are in the French King's Hands and which he hath taken since the Peace of Nimeguen shall be restored in the same State as they were taken VI. That the Town and Castle of Dinant shall be given up to the Bishop and Prince of Liege in the State they were taken VII That all the Re-unions which have been made since the Treaty of Nimeguen shall be void VIII Lorrain shall be restored according to the Conditions of the said Treaty But here it was agreed That in case the Concessions made in respect to Lorrain did not please this Article should be referred to the General Treaty with Promises that greater Offers should then be made and that it should be the first Point treated on in the Negotiation It was also farther agreed That upon the Conclusion of the Peace the Most Christian King should acknowledge the Prince of Orange for King of Great Britain without any manner of Difficulty Restriction Condition or Reserve That as for other Princes whether in the Confederacy or not their Pretensions should be reserved to the General Negotiation under the Mediation of the King of Sweden IX The Dutchy of Duux-Ponts to be restored to the King of Sweden with all its Dependancies X. Philipsburgh to be restored to the Bishop of Spire XI The Fort of Kehl and other Fortifications made on the Rhine to be rased XII As also Fort Louis and Hunninghen XIII That Trarbach and Mont-Royal should be given up but first dismantled upon Condition they should never be fortified again XIV The French King agreed to give up to the Elector Palatin not only all the Electorate but also the Dutchies of Simmeren and Lauthern with the Earldom of Shanheim as also all other Places whereof he had been dispossessed to this present Time XV. That Madam the Dutchess of Orleans was to do nothing upon Account of her Pretensions Via Facti but might bring her Action according to the Law in relation to the Electors XVI That the Castle and County of Veldens be restored to their lawful Owner XVII Bisweiler to the Count of Hanau XVIII The Seigniories of March Marmosy and Dagstein and the Counties of Louningue and Dagsbourgh should be delivered up to the Count of Overstein XIX That the Seigniories of Salms and Valkenstein should be given up to the Prince of Salms or to their Proprietors seeing that the same is still in question XX. The Seigniories of Latzensteim and Altheim to their Proprietors XXI Otweiler to the House of Nassau XXII That the City and County of Mompelgard Harcourt Blainont and Chatelette should be put into the Possession of the House of Wirtemburgh XXIII That Germersheim should be also given up to the Elector Palatin notwithstanding any former Treaties to the contrary XXIV That Stadeck and Landsbergue be given to the Count of Veldentz XXV That the Principality of Orange be given up to its Sovereign But for all this some of the Ministers of the Allies after having consulted their Masters hereupon Declared That as to what concerned the first Article they fully agreed to it But for Strasburg they further insisted it should be restored with its Fortifications and Dependances and that no equivalent should be accepted for it They accepted of the Third Fourth and Fifth Articles only they insisted that not only the City but the County of Luxemburg and that of Chinay should be given up As they did that the City and Castle of Dinant should be yielded together with the Dutchy of Bovillion in the same state they were They Declared themselves satisfied as to the Seventh Article touching the Re-unions but not so with the agreement made about Lorrain which they would have restored to the Duke its Sovereign without any manner of restriction In pursuance to the said Preliminaries and Reswick as the Place of Treaty being after many Difficulties and Scruples fully agreed to by all parties concerned The Conferences began about the 9th of May and were not carried on to any considerable length before there was a work of another Nature done in the Field Where the French as having made a Peace with Savoy as we have told you last Year and as being their last Effort were very powerful this Year especially in Flanders and Catalonia In the first whereof they had still the advantage over the Confederates from the remoteness of the German Troops and the slowness of their march and who hardly came into the Camp this Year â—ill the French had done their work in the Reduction of Aeth which tho' it gave some farther Reputation to their Arms and Cause yet it came far short of the Boasts they had made all the Spring of attacking a no less considerable place than Namur But their grand design upon 〈◊〉 His Majesty by his great Prudence Courage and Celerity utterly Disappointed so that their intentions to become sole Masters of the Peace and