being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law. That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law. That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free. That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannel'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthing and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do Delare that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminece or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Jo. Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The same day this Delaration bears Date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such Occasions The 13th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas It hath pleased Allmighty God in his Great Mercy to this Kingdom to Vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is Due next under GOD to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of ORANGE whom GOD hath Chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being Highly Sensible and Fully Perswaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of ORANGE whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And Whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and Presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of ORANGE and therein Desired Them to Accept the Crown who have Accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are Accordingly so to be Owned Deemed and Taken by All the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to acknowledg and pay unto them All Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching GOD by whom Kings Reign to Bless King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with Long and Happy Years to Riegn over us GOD Save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The 15th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered That His Majesties most Gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be
all Offices of Trust and Advantage and placing others in their room that are known Papists deservedly made incapable by the Establish'd 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 meerly 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 9. 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 Councils coming upon us do unanimously declare That not being willing to deliver our Posterity over to such a condition of Popery and Slavery as the aforesaid oppressions do inevitably threaten we will to the utmost of our power oppose the same by joining with the Prince of Orange whom we hope God Almighty hath sent to rescue us from the Oppressions aforesaid will use our utmost endeavours for the recovery of our almost-ruin'd Laws Liberties and Religion and herein we hope all good Protestant Subjects will with their Lives and Fortunes be assistant to us and not be bug bear'd with the opprobrious Terms of Rebels by which they would fright us to become perfect Slaves to their Tyrannical Insolencies and Usurpations For we assure our selves that no rational and unbyass'd Person will judge it Rebellion to defend our Laws and Religion which all our Princes have Sworn at their Coronation which Oath how well it hath been observed of late we desire a Free Parliament may have the consideration of We own it Rebellion to resist a King that governs by Law but he was alwaies accounted a Tyrant that made his Will the Law and to resist such a one we justly esteem no Rebellion but a necessary Defence And in this Consideration we doubt not of all honest mens assistance and humbly hope for and implore the Great God's protection that turneth the Hearts of His People as pleaseth Him best it having been observed that People can never be of one mind without His Inspiration which hath in all Ages confirmed that Observation Vox Populi est vox Dei. The present Restoring the Charters and reversing the oppressing and unjust Judgment given on Magdalen-College Fellows is plain are but to still the People like Plumbs to Children by deceiving them for a while But if they shall by this Stratagem be fooled till this present Storm that threatens the Papists be past as soon as they shall be re-settled the former Oppression will be put on with greater vigour but we hope In vain is the Net spread in the sight of the Birds for First The Papists old Rule is that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks as they term Protestants tho the Popish Religion is the greatest Heresie And 2ly Queen Mary's so ill observing her Promises to the Suffolk men that help'd her to her Throne And above all 3ly 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 referr our Cause In the mean time the Nobility about the King having used all the Arguments they could invent to perswade him to call a Free Parliament and finding him unmoveably fixed in a contrary resolution and the Army in great discontent disorder and fear and the whole Nation just ready to take fire Prince George of Denmark the Duke of Grasion the Lord Churchil and many others of the Protestant Nobility left him and went over to the Prince of Orange who was then at Sherborn the Prince left this 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 e'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 are too often accompanied I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by factious pretences of Religion but were not Religion the most justifiable Cause it would not be made the most specious pretence And your Majesty has alwaies shewn too uninterested a Sense of Religion to doubt the just effects of it in one whose practices have I hope never given the World cause to censure his real Conviction of it or his backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to How then can I longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily educated which my Judgment throughly convinceth me to be the Best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested in my native Country and Is not England now by the most endearing Tye become so Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the REFORMED RELIGION back'd by the cruel Zeal and prevailing Power of France justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and engage them in so vast an Expence for the support of it Can I act so degenerous and mean a part as to deny my concurrence to such worthy Endeavours for the disabusing of your Majesty by the re-inforcement of those Laws and re-establishment of that Government on which alone depends the well being of your Majesty and of the Protestant Religion in Europe This Sir is that irresistable and only Cause that could come in competition with my Duty and Obligations to your Majesty and be able to tear me from you whilst the same affectionate desire of serving you continues in me Could I secure your person by the hazard of my Life I should think it could not be better imployed And wou'd to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory compliance from your Majesty in all their justifiable pretensions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and as strongly unite the Hearts of all your Subjects to you as is that of SIR Your Majesty's most humble and most obedient Son and Servant The Lord Churchil left a Letter to the same purpose which runs thus SIR SInce Men are seldom
us to the Ruin of Europe The King of England saith the Prince of Orange in his Declaration have given the greatest credit to those Counsellors who have overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of his Realms And subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liherties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in open and undisguised manner §. 2 Pag. 10. § 17. he informs us That both he and his dearest and most entirely beloved Consort the Princess have endeavoured to signifie in terms full of respect to the King the just and deep regret which all these proceedings have given us c. But those evil Counsellors have put such ill Constructions on these our good intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if we had designed to disturb the peace and happiness of the Kingdom Sect. 19. To crown all there are great and violent presumptions inducing us to believe that these evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on their ill designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the encouraging of their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects they have published that the Queen have brought forth a Son tho there have appeared both during the Queens pretended bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible Grounds of suspicion that not only we our selves but all the good Subjects of those Kingdoms do vehemently suspect that the Pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it is notoriously known to all the world that many both doubted of the Queens bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or to put an end to their Doubts Things being in this state He resolved to go over to England Sect. 21. and to carry with him sufficient force to defend him from the violence of those evil Counsellors and then he declares that this Expedition was intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible Sect. 25. To the end that all the violences and disorders which have overturned the whole Constitution of the English Government may be fully redressed in a Free and Legal Parliament to which he would also refer the Enquiry into the Birth of the Pretended Prince of Wales and all things relating to it and to the Right of Succession Now if all this is true which no English man can deny then had the Prince of Orange the justest cause that ever man had to do what he did and the King of England was bound in justice to have Summoned a Parliament and to have referr'd the things in question to them there being no other competent Judg on Earth of the things in dispute but if he would not suffer a Parliament to meet then the Sword must determine the Question between them for they were both Soveraign Princes and had no Superior over them to decide it The King accordingly referr'd it to the Sword for he refused to the last to suffer a Parliament to meet till the Invasion was over and the Prince had no reason to take his word for it The Protestants of England had no reason to fight against this Prince who came to right their Cause and offered to refer all to a Parliament of English Nobility and Gentry and the Papists alone were not able to resist the Prince's Army especially after many of the King's Army were gone over to the Prince so that the King was at last forced to call a Parliament in the manner I have set forth and he promised both the Nation and the Prince the Parliament should meet and act freely but before this was possible to be brought about without any cause given or alledged he disbanded his Army sent away the Queen the Child and the Seals and then followed them himself leaving the Nation in Anarchy and confusion Now I will refer this to the World whether this absence was not voluntary unforced and criminal after he had thus passed his word For supposing he had stayed on the Princes terms and the Parliament had met no Act could have passed without his own consent and if any thing had been required that had not been just and legal if then he had withdrawn his case would have been more justifiable and perhaps he should have found enough to have defended it and so needed not to have withdrawn The Story of the French League and the Prince of Wales are not passed so over tho they are postponed but we may hear more of them in due time tho when all is done there will be no reason to expect that all the Prate of this populous Town should be proved to be true it will be sufficient if his now Majesty justifie his own Publick Declarations which I believe no man doubts but he can and has done the Three Estates having in their Declaration subscribed to the truth of all the main parts of his The King being thus gone some way or other must be taken to bring us again to a settlement and that of a Convention of the Three Estates was taken as least liable to Exception and Mistake but then he tells us Sect. 2. That the Necessity alledged for their justification is either of their own making or of their own submitting to which is the same thing and therefore ought not to be pleaded in justification of their Proceedings Now this is not True The King would never have left his people if he had not first lost their hearts by the things charged upon his Counsellors nor then neither if he had not first resolved never to do them right against those Counsellors because he had reason to believe this would have satisfied them so that his late Majesty was not driven out of his Dominions by his Enemies as he stiled them but by his pretended Friends who put him upon doing ill things and then would not suffer him to Redress them Well but If he had been invited back upon Honourable Terms they needed not have had recourse to these singular Methods Why how does he know that The King had Honourable Terms offered him before he went and they would not stop him from going and if they had sent more Honourable Terms after him who can tell whether he would have accepted or have stood to them He had passed his Word before that a Parliament should meet yet he Burnt the Writs and withdrew Well but however our Author is resolved the late Kings withdrawing himself is no resigning of his Crown or discharging of his Subjects of their Allegiance In order to which he undertakes to shew that his late Majesty before his withdrawing had sufficient Grounds to make him apprehensive of danger and therefore it cannot be call'd an Abdication 2. That the leaving any representative behind him
Nation in which we shall make a great distinction of those that shall come seasonably to joyn their Arms with ours and you shall find us to be your well wishing and assured Friend W. H. P. O. 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 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 and Ore to Portsmouth under the Command of the Lord Dartmouth where it arrived the Seventeenth of November and on Monday the Ninteenth day of November the King entred Salisbury which was then the Head Quarters of the Army The Sixteenth of November 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 Impusance that they have at any time been in since the Conquest of Ireland in the Reign of Henry Il. he thereupon assembled fifty Horsemen and at the Head of them marched to Manchester and the next day he went to Bodon Downs his Forces being then an hundred and fifty strong declaring his design was to joyn with the Prince of Orange This small Party of Men by degrees drew in all the North and could never be suppress'd 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 WE whose Names are hereunto subscribed who have now joyned with the Prince of Orange for the defence of the Protestant Religion and for the maintaining the Ancient Government and the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland do engage to Almighty God to his Highness the Prince of Orange and to one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in the defence of it and never to depart from it until our Religion Laws and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free Parliament that we shall be no more in danger of falling under Popery and Slavery And whereas we are engaged in this common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which in case his Person may be exposed to danger and to the cursed attempts of Papists and other bloody Men we do therefore solemnly engage to God and one another That if any such attempt be made upon him we will pursue not only those who make it but all their Adherents and all that we find in Arms against us with the utmost severity of a just Revenge to their 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 November the Twentieth there happened a Skirmish at Wincanton between a Detachment of seventy Horse and fifty Dragoons and Grenadiers commanded by one Colonel Sarsfeild and about thirty of the Prince of Orange's Men commanded by one Cambel where notwithstanding the great inequality of the Numbers yet the latter fought with that desperate bravery that it struck a terror 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 shew'd clearly how much Men wished the Prosperity of that Prince's Arms. The Twenty second of November the King at Salisbury put out a Proclamation of Pardon which was regarded by no body FOrasmuch as several of our Subjects have been seduced to take up Arms and contrary to the Laws of God and Man to joyn themselves with Foreigners and Strangers in a most unnatural Invasion upon us and this their Native Country many of whom we are persuaded have been wrought upon by false Suggestions and misrepresentations made by our Enemies And we desiring as far as is possible to reduce our said Subjects to Duty and Obedience by Acts of Clemency at least resolving to leave all such as shall persist in so wicked an Enterprize without Excuse do therefore promise grant and declare and by this our Royal Proclamation publish our Free and Absolute Pardon to all our Subjects who have taken up Arms and joyn'd with the Prince of Orange and his Adherents in the present Invasion of this our Kingdom provided they quit and desert our said Enemies and within the space of twenty days from the Date of this our Royal Proclamation render themselves to some one of our Officers Civil or Military and do not again after they have rendred themselves as aforesaid return to our Enemies or be any way aiding or assisting to them And they who refuse or neglect to lay hold of this our Free and Gracious Offer must never expect our Pardon hereafter but will be wholly and justly excluded of and from all hopes thereof And lastly We do also promise and grant our Pardon and Protection to all such Foreigners as do or shall come over to us whom we will either entertain in our Service or otherwise grant them if they shall desire it freedom of passage and liberty to return to the respective Countries from whence they came The same day the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty then assembled at Nottingham made this Declaration WEE the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of these Northern Counties assembled at Nottingham for the Desence of the Laws Religion and Properties according to the free born Liberties and Priviledges descended to Us from our Ancestors as the undoubted Birth-right of the Subjects of this Kingdom of England not doubting but the Infringers and Invaders of our Rights will represent us to the rest of the Nation in the most malicious Dress they can put upon us do here unanimously think it our Duty to declare to the rest of our Protestant fellow-Subjects the grounds of our present Undertaking We are by innumerable Grievances made sensible that the very Fundamentals of our Religion Liberties and Properties are about to be rooted out by our late Jesuitical Privy Council as has been of late too apparent First by the King 's dispensing with all the Establish'd Laws at his pleasure 2. By displacing all Officers out of
suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and tho' my dutiful Behaviour to your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much overpay'd may not be sufficient to incline you to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions yet I hope the great advantage I enjoy under your Majesty which I can never expect in any other change of Government may reasonably convince your Majesty and the World that I am acted by an higher Principle when I offer that Violence to my Inclination and Interest as to desert your Majesty at a time when your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all your Subjects much more from one who lies under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to your Majesty This Sir could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my Conscience and a necessary Concern for my Religion which no good man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in competition Heaven knows with what Partiality my dutiful Opinion of your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs which inconsiderate and self-interested men have framed against your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer join with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so I will alwaies with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much your Majesty's due endeavour to preserve your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes SIR Your Majesty's Most dutiful and most obliged Subject and Servant The going off of these Great Men struck the King himself with Terror and Affliction and the Army which was before in very much disorder became thereby so full of Fear and Suspicion that a false Alarm being made by design or accident on Sunday the 25th of November the King and the whole Army left Salisbury the Army retreating to Reading and the King to Andover and on Monday the 26th of November returned in the Evening to London The Princess Ann of Denmark his second Daughter was gone privately the night before from Whitehall with the Lady Churchil and if she had not left a Letter too behind her which shew'd the reason of her retiring in all probability all the Popish Party about Whitehall had been cut in pieces by the King 's own Guards upon a surmise they had made away this beloved Princess So that they were forced to print her Letter to the Queen to secure them selves from Violence The first thing the King did after his return to London was to remove Sir Edward Hales from being Lieutenant of the Tower and to put Sir Bevil Skelton a Protestant in his place Sir Edward had angered the whole City to the utmost by planting several Mortar pieces on the Walls towards the City which tho' designed only to awe it had enraged more than frighted them So that His Majesty saw he was not safe at Whitehall as long as Sir Edward was Master of the Tower. The 28th day His Majesty ordered in a Privy-Council the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament at Westminster the 15th day of January following But it was now too late and the Nation was in that Ferment that it was not much regarded what the Court did or said The 30th day of November the King to appease the Minds of the People issued out this Proclamation WEE have thought fit as the best and most proper means to Establish a lasting Peace in this our Kingdom to call a Parliament and have therefore ordered our Chancellor to cause Writs to be issued forth for summoning a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the Fifteenth day of January next ensuing the Date of this our Royal Proclamation And that nothing may be wanting on our part towards the Freedom of Elections as we have already restored all Cities Towns Corporate and Burroughs throughout our Kingdom to their ancient Charters Rights and Priviledges so we command and require all Persons whatsoever that they presume not by Menace or any other undue means to influence Elections or procure the Vote of any Elector And we do also strictly require and command all Sheriffs Mayors Bailiffs and other Officers to whom the Execution or Return of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for Members to the ensuing Parliament shall belong that they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed and Returns thereupon fairly made according to the true merits of such Elections And for the Security of all Persons both in their Elections and Service in Parliament we do hereby publish and declare That all our Subjects shall have free Liberty to elect and all our Peers and such as shall be elected Members of our House of Commons shall have free Liberty and Freedom to serve and sit in Parliament notwithstanding they have taken Arms or committed any act of Hostility or been any way aiding or assisting therein And for the better assurance hereof We have graciously directed a general Pardon to our Subjects to be forthwith prepared to pass our Great Seal And for the reconciling all publick Breaches and obliterating the very Memory of all past Miscarriages We do hereby exhort and kindly admonish all our Subjects to dispose themselves to elect such persons for their Representatives in Parliament as may not be byassed by Prejudice or Passion but qualify'd with Parts Experience and Prudence proper for this Conjuncture and agreeable to the ends and purposes of this our Gracious Proclamation month December The Account of this Resolution going to the Fleot all the Officers and the Admirals drew up this Address To the KING' 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of George Lord Dartmouth Admiral of your Majesty's Fleet for the present Expedition and the Commanders of your Majesty's Ships of War now actually at the Spithead in your Majesty's Service under his Lordship's Command Most Dread Soveraign THE deep Sense we have had of the great Dangers your Majesty's Sacred Person has been in and the great effusion of Christian Blood that threatned this your Majesty's Kingdoms and in all probability would have been shed unless God of His infinite Mercy had put it into your Majesty's Heart to call a Parliament the only means in our Opinions under the Almighty left to quiet the Minds of your People we do give your Majesty our most humble and hearty Thanks for your gracious Condescension beseeching Almighty God to give your Majesty all imaginable Happiness and Prosperity and to grant that such Counsels and Resolutions may be promoted as conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and tend to the Peace and Settlement of this Realm both in Church and State according to the established Laws of the Kingdom On board the Resolution at Spithead Decemb. 1. 1688. Signed Dartmouth Berkley Ro. Strickland And under them by 38. other Commanders In the week following the pretended Prince of Wales
the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempts upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his Most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajolled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt and destroyed by Treachery and Cowardize Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head Quarters at Sherburn Castle the Twenty eight of November 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By his Highness's special Command C. HUYGENS. This was the boldest Attempt that ever was made by a private Person for it is certain the Prince knew nothing of this Declaration and disowned it so soon as he heard of it but yet it was printed in London and a quantity of them were sent in a Penny-Post Letter to the Lord Mayor of London who forthwith carried them to the King to Whitehall and it is thought this sham Paper contributed very much to the fixing and hastning his Resolution of leaving the Nation however there was no enquiry made after the Author or Printer of it that I could take notice of On Sunday the Ninth of December it is said Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from Whitehall and the next Morning about three or four of the Clock the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches each of six Horses and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Gravesend where they imbarked on a Yatch for France And it is supposed she carried the Great Seal of England with her it having never appeared after this Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THe King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or at any time have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if his Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade
II. having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom have abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby vacant Resolved That this Vote be sent up to the Lords-House tomorrow morning for their Concurrence This Vote occasioned the Letter I am to Examine Hereupon followed several Conferences between the Lords and the Commons none of which being Printed and the Written Copies dispersed about the Town being of no good Authority I must leave them unrelated month February The sixth of February the Lords at last assented to the Vote above The 29th of January this Question was proposed in the Lords-House Whether a Regency with the Administration of Regal power under the name and stile of King James the Second during the Life of the said King James be the best and safest way to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdom Upon which the House divided Contents 48. Non-contents 51. This very much facilitated the Concurrence of the two Houses in the other Vote The Throne being thus declared vacant some were for the Prince of Orange to be Elected King alone others for the Princess to be forthwith proclaimed and acknowledged as next Immediate Heir of the Crown of England and others were for a Commonwealth But the two strongest parties were those who were for the Prince and those that were for the Princess so that at last there was a way found to twist these two into one by giving the Title indifferently to both and the Administration solely to the Prince to avoid the inconvenience of two co-ordinate Soveraigns Whilest these things were warmly debated in the Convention and the Town and all men were yet in suspence which way they would be determin'd some that were over zealous set a foot the following Petition the first of February and endeavoured to have it subscribed by the Multitude indifferently going up and down to publick places to solicite Subscriptions To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in the Grand Convention the Humble Petition of Great Numbers of Citizens and other Inhabitants of the Cities of London and Westminster WHereas we are in a deep sense of the danger of Delays and perplext Debates about settling the Government at this time Vacant by reason whereof the necessary ends of Government cannot be duly administred We humbly desire that his most Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange and his Royal Consort the Princess may be speedily setled in the Throne by whose Courage Conduct and Reputation this Nation and the Protestant Religion may be defended from our Enemies at Home and abroad And that Ireland now in a bleeding and deplorable condition may be rescued from its miseries and these Kingdoms settled on a lasting foundation in Peace and Liberty Whereupon his Highness being informed of the ill consequences and scandal of this way of proceeding caused this Order to be made and published to suppress it By the Mayor WHereas his Highness the Prince of Orange hath been pleased to signifie to me this day That divers persons pretending themselves to be Citizens of London in a tumultuous and a disorderly manner have lately disturbed the present Convention of the Lords and Commons at Westminster upon pretence of Petitioning It being regular and usual for the Citizens of this City that are under the apprehension of any Grievance to make their application to my self and the Court of Aldermen Therefore with the Advice of my Brethren the Aldermen of this City these are to require you That you command within your Ward that they forbear any such tumultuous Disturbance or Assembly as they will answer the contrary at their utmost peril Dated the third day of February 1688. The twelfth of February the two Houses at last fully agreed all things in dispute between them in this manner The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to subject and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By assuming and exercising a power of Dispensing with and suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By committing and prosecuting divers worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said Assumed Power By issuing and causing to be Executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was Granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law. By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Aimed and imployed contrary to Law. By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings-Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal courses And whereas of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High Treason which were not Freeholders And Excessive Bail hath been required of persons committed in Criminal cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and cruel punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the 22d day of January 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections
was impracticable at this juncture But there are two other things which he has not mentioned the first of which is who gave the occasion of these Dangers which he apprehended and the Second whether he had no other way to avoid those Dangers but by withdrawing Now it is plain that the ill courses taken under his Government had brought upon him those Dangers and that if he would have suffered a Parliament to meet he needed not to have withdrawn and consequently his going away rather than submitting the things in dispute to a Parliament was a voluntary Abdication Sect. 4. Our Author has a scruple whether the Kings going away signifies any thing to Scotland and Ireland now all this is no better than banter for when he left England he left them too tho' the one was for sometime and the other still is under the Regular Administration of the Lord Lieutenant as he tells us but those that have since come from thence assure us there is nothing Regular in his Administration but the British Protestants are treated as Enemies by this Minister of his so that Ireland being an Appendage of England and thus treating our Brethren ought by us to be taken for a Rebel and an Enemy let the pretence be what it will Their Loyalty to the Late King not excusing but Aggravating their Injuries to his Country men who have done nothing to deserve this usage but it is to be hoped will find hands enough to revenge it in due time Our Author in the 5 Sect. is to prove the late King had sufficient Grounds c. omitting his Rhetorick Had not his Majesty faith he great Reason to Retire to secure his Person and Honour at his first withdrawing from Whitchal When he had met with so many unfortunate disappointments with so many surprizing and unparallell'd Accidents c. I say no he ought to have considered what was the Cause of all these Misfortunes and to have applied himself with so much the more Industry to the quieting of his people which the sitting of the Parliament would in all probability have effected But what could he promise himself by withdrawing but the bare saving of his Life and Liberty with the loss of his Crown now his Life and Liberty were in no Danger as is plain for after he was brought back a Prisoner and suffered to go away again without any hinderance There are many indiscreet things said in this Paragraph which I could easily expose but I would not make this Answer too long nor exasperate any body against the Author and therefore I will pass them over To be obliged saith he to Pay a Foreign Army which came over to enable his Subjects to drive him out of his Dominions Looked as if there was a design to reduce him as low in his Honour as in his Fortune The Prince saith in his Declaration Sect. 21. That he intended nothing but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as was possible And this might have been done without driving the King out of his Kingdom and it is very difficult to imagine how he could at first propose more to himself nor would it have been any diminution of the Kings Honour to have paid the Dutch Army a few Weeks or Months till things could have been setled When the Forts and Revenues were thus disposed off when the Papists were to be disbanded And the Protestants could not be trusted when the Nation was under such violent and general dissatisfactions when the King in case of a Rupture which was not unlikely had nothing but his single Person to oppose against the Princes Arms and those of his own Subjects Well what then Why it was time to be gone No Sir it was time to be better Advised than he had been by those that had brought him into this deplorable State. It was time to despair of ever being able to Set up Popery and an Arbitrary Power in England to have reflected on the breach of his former Promises and Oaths which had so Exasperated his Subjects against him but by other measures might very easily have been again appeased and deserved after all rather to be trusted than those Popish Souldiers he was so fond of to his Ruine because he had formerly had sufficient Experience of their Loyalty till he had made it impossible for them to serve him without destroying their Religion and their Civil Liberties When his Mortal Enemies and those who were under the highest forfeitures to his Majesty were to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity if no further c. The Power of an heated Imagination Why after all these were the three Estates of England whom he thus blackens or a part of them or rather the Church of England Nobility and Gentry the same men that were chosen and for the most part must be chosen again if we were to choose to morrow as to the Lower House and as to the Upper the Bishops and the Peers always are and must the be same Nor were they to sit Judges of his Crown and Dignity for they must have Sworn Allegiance to him again at their meeting much less of his Life or Liberty but only of his former Actions his Ministers and of the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales And he had Reason to have expected great Candor from them having had so great Experience of them before When a Gentleman of the Church of England could thus harangue it against his own Party and Interest we need not wonder if that Unfortunate Prince found some Jesuits about him who would perswade him rather to abandon his Crown Kingdom and People then the Glorious design of forcing England once more to submit to the yoke of Rome Section 6. Our Author is at a loss to find the Reason why his coming from Feversham to Whitehal is not allowed to be a return to his people now if he please to look into the former History he will find it was not voluntary but forced tho he was not then known and in all probability the fear continued upon him when the force was removed for then he saw he could not go away without the Prince's leave and that was the true reason of his inviting the Prince to London when he could not keep him out if he would Pray what had the King done to incur a Forfeiture by his first retirement had he quitted the Realm Yes he had and the Government too and necessitated his own Menial Servants to submit to the Prince by the Famous Address made at Guild-hall the 11th of December So that the Prince was now actually invested with the Government the whole Nation having submitted to him and it was at his choice whether he would treat him as a King now nor had he any great reason to do so considering how lately he had broke his word to him and the Nation His return after some assurance of Fair Treatment is a plain Discovery of the Motives of his withdrawing
those whose Right it is to chuse Members of Parliament should be under any Prejudices and Mistakes thro' the Artifices of disaffected Persons We think fit to declare That it is Our Royal Purpose to endeavour a legal Establishment of an Universal Liberty of Conscience for all Our Subjects it is also our Resolution inviolably to preserve the Church of England by such a Confirmation of the several Acts of Uniformity that they shall never be altered by any other ways than by repealing the several Clauses which inflict Penalties upon Persons not promoted or to be promoted to any Ecclesiastical Benefices or Promotions within the meaning of the said Acts for using and exercising their Religion contrary to the Tenor and Purport of the said Acts of Uniformity And for the further securing not only the Church of England but the Protestant Religion in general We are willing the Roman Catholicks shall remain incapable to be Members of the House of Commons whereby those Fears and Apprehensions will be removed which many persons have had That the Legislative Authority would be engrossed by them and turn'd against Protestants We do likewise assure all our loving Subjects that We shall be ready to do every thing else for their safety and advantage that becomes a King who will always take care of his People and if they desire the happiness of their Country We exhort them to lay by all Animosities and dispose themselves to think of such Persons to represent them in Parliament whose Abilities and Temper render them fit for so great and good a Work. And for the preventing any Disorders Irregularities or undue Proceedings whatsoever that may happen either before or at the time of Election of Members for the insuing Parliament We do hereby strictly require and command all Mayors Sheriffs Bailiffs and other Officers whatsoever to whom the execution of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for or concerning the choice of Members for the ensuing Parliament shall belong That they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed according to the Tenor thereof And the Members that shall be chosen to be fairly return'd according to the Merits of the Choice The Nation was by this time become so distrustful of all the Proceedings of the Court that this Declaration was thought absolutely necessary to assure them a Parliament should be holden and yet after all it was little believed The Preparations in Holland had made it necessary to wheedle the Church of England-men and therefore they were told only the Penalties of the Acts of Uniformity should be repeal'd that an Universal Liberty of Conscience might be established And the Roman Catholicks not being likely to be chosen for Members of the lower House in this Parliament they were contented to continue uncapable of being chosen in there intimating they intended however to sit in the House of Lords The 26th of September there was an Order made to authorize and empower the Lords Lieutenants many of which were Roman Catholicks or unqualified persons of the several Counties to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from being Deputy-Lieutenants and his Majesty also gave directions to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of England to put into the Commission of the Peace such Gentlemen as had been lately laid aside and shall be recommended by the said Lords-Lieutenants In the Interim certain Intelligence being brought that the Preparations in Holland were designed against England The 24th of September were summoned the Bishop of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester and Bristol and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 28th of Septemb. they appeared at Whitehall and there waited accordingly that day upon the King in a Body Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough but London and Bristol came not then to Town and the Archbishop was sick and came alone the next day There passed nothing then but general Expressions of his Favour and Promises of Duty on the Bishops part Whereupon they all desired the Archbishop to beg a second-Admission which was appointed on Tuesday the 2d of October but was put off till the next day The 28th of September his Majesty put out this following Declaration WE have received undoubted Advice That a great and sudden invasion from Holland with an armed Force of Foreigners and Strangers will speedily be made in an hostile manner upon this Our Kingdom and altho' some false Pretences relating to Liberty Property and Religion contrived or worded with Art and Subtilty may be given out as shall be thought useful upon such an Attempt it is manifest however considering the great Preparations that are making that no less matter by this Invasion is propos'd than an absolute Conquest of these Our Kingdoms and the utter subduing and subjecting Us and all Our People to a foreign Power which is promoted as We understand altho' it may seem almost incredible by some of Our Subjects being persons of wicked and restless Spirits implacable Malice and desperate Designs who having no sense of former intestine Distractions the Memory and Misery whereof should endear and put a value upon that Peace and Happiness which hath long been enjoyed nor being moved by Our reiterated Acts of Grace and Mercy wherein we have studied and delighted to abound towards all Our Subjects and even towards those who were once avowed and open Enemies and who do again endeavour to imbroil this Kingdom in Blood and Ruine to gratifie their own Ambition and Malice proposing to themselves a Prey and Booty in such a publick Confusion We cannot omit to make it known that altho' We had notice some time since that a foreign force was preparing against Us yet We have always declined any foreign Succours but rather have chosen next under God to rely upon the true and ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of our own People with whom we have often ventur'd Our life for the honour of this Nation and in whose defence against all Enemies We are firmly resolved to live and die And therefore We solemnly conjure Our Subjects to lay aside all manner of Animosities Jealousies and Prejudices and heartily and chearfully to unite together in the defence of Us and their native Country which thing alone will under God defeat and frustrate the principal Hope and Design of Our Enemies who expect to find Our People divided and by publishing perhaps some plausible Reasons of their coming hither as the specious tho' false pretences of maintaining the Protestant Religion or asserting the Liberties and Properties of Our People do hope thereby to conquer this great and renowned Kingdom But albeit the design hath been carried on with all imaginable Secresie and Endeavour to surprize and deceive Us We have not been wanting on our part to make such Provisions as did become Us and by Gods Blessing We make no doubt of being found in so good a Posture that Our Enemies may have cause to repent such their
rash and unjust Attempt We did intend as we lately declared to have met our Parliament in November next and the Writs are issued forth accordingly proposing to Our selves amongst other things that We might be able to quiet the minds of all Our People in matters of Religion pursuant to the several Declarations We have published to that effect but in regard of this strange and unreasonable Attempt from our Neighbouring Country without any manner of Provocation design'd to divert Our said Gracious Purposes We find it necessary to recall Our said Writs which We do hereby recall accordingly commanding and requiring Our loving Subjects to take notice thereof and to surcease all further proceedings thereon And forasmuch as the approaching Danger which now is at hand will require a great and vigorous Defence We do hereby strictly charge and command all Our loving Subjects both by Sea and Land whose ready Concurrence Valour and Courage as true English-men We no way doubt in a just cause to be prepared to defend their Country And We do hereby require and command all Lords-Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants to use their best and utmost endeavours to resist repel and suppress Our Enemies who come with such Confidence and great Preparations to invade and conquer these Our Kingdoms And lastly We do most expresly and strictly enjoin and prohibit all and every Our Subjects of what degree or condition soever from giving any manner of Aid Assistance Countenance or Succor or from having or holding any Correspondence with these Our Enemies or any of their Complices upon pain of High Treason and being prosecuted and proceeded against with the utmost severity Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 28 of Septemb. 1688. The Reader may be pleased to observe that foreign Forces which must be French were declined which implies they were proffered and perhaps it had been never the worse for them if the Irish which considering their Religion and temper towards the English are as much Foreigners as the French hadbeen declined too for we shall see they did him much Mischief and little or no Service 2. That the meeting of the Parliament was discharged before ever there was any mention of restoring the Charters of the Corporations September the 30. his Grace the Duke of Newcastle the Earl of Lindsey the Earl of Derby and the Lord Germyns and others of the Nobility were said to have offered their Service to his Majesty and several of them had Commissions sent to them to raise men in their Countries None of these and very few other of the Nobility or Gentry coming up but only sending Letters which were now thought wonderful Obligations so dreadful was the thought of the Invasion at Court and so great the discontent of the whole Body of the Nation for the late Transactions month October On Tuesday the 2d of October the King declared publickly in Council that he would restore the Charter of the City of London so that the next day the Bishops turned that Request into Thanks for having prevented their Petition The Ministers by this time became so sensible of their Danger and of the temper of the Nation that the 2d day of October they procured a General Pardon in the beginning of which are these words It has always been our earnest Desire since Our Accession to the Crown that all Our People should live at ease and in full enjoyment of Peace and Happiness under Our Government and nothing can be more agreeable unto Us than that Offenders should be reformed by Acts of Mercy extended towards them rather than Punishment Our open Enemies having upon Repentance found Our Favour and altho' besides Our particular Pardons which have been granted to many Persons it be not long since We issued forth Our Royal Proclamation of General Pardon to all our People yet forasmuch as they who live most peaceably do often fall within the reach of some of Our Laws c. Besides the usual Exceptions were excepted all Treasons committed or done in the parts beyond the Seas or any other place out of this our Realm and by name Robert Parsons Edward Matthews Samuel Venner Andrew Fletcher Colonel John Rumsey Major John Mauly Isaac Manley Francis Charleton Fsque John Wildman Esq Titus Oats Robert Ferguson Gilbert Burnet Sir Robert Peyton Laurence Braddon Samuel Johnson Clerk Thomas Tripping Esq and Sir Rowland Guynne The Pardon here hinted at came out some few days before this and in that all Corporations and Bodies Politicks were excepted which looked so like a design against the Bishops Deans and Colledges that it was taken notice of and this new Pardon sent after the former to shew the World the Ministers were only a little too intent upon their own security as they had most need of this Pardon that they never thought of the other On Wednesday October the 3d. the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of London Winchester Asaph Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough all in a Body waited upon the King when the Archbishop spoke thus to him May it please Your Sacred Majesty WHen I had lately the Honour to wait upon you you were pleased briefly to acquaint me with what had passed two days before between your Majesty and these my Reverend Brethren by which and by the Account which they themselves gave me I perceived that in truth there passed nothing but in very general Terms and Expressions of your Majesties gracious and favourable Inclinations to the Church of England and of our reciprocal Duty and Loyalty to your Majesty Both which were sufficiently understoodand declared before and as one of my Brethren then told you would have been in the same state if the Bishops had not stir'd one foot out of their Diocesses Sir I found it grieved my Lords the Bishops to have come so far and to have done so little and I am assured they came then prepared to have given your Majesty some more particular Instances of their Duty and Zeal for your Service had they not apprehended from some words which fell from your Majesty That you were not then at leisure to receive them It was for this Reason that I then besought your Majesty to command us once more to attend you all together which your Majesty was pleased graciously to allow and encourage We therefore are here now before you with all Humility to beg your Permission that we may suggest to your Majesty such Advices as we think proper at this Season and conducing to your Service and so leave them to your Princely Consideration Which the King being graciously pleased to permit the Archbishop proceeded as followeth I. Our first humble Advice is That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to put the Management of your Government in the several Counties into the Hands of such of the Nobility and Gentry there as are legally qualified for it II. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to annul your Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that