and Passion to create suitable Thoughts in the Hearts of those who had less Interest in the Defeat of the Prince's Army than the R. C's had The Birth of the Prince of Wales being thus worded made Men smile and they could presently recollect the Force and Value of the Deposers Evidence which had now been some time published but then nothing disgusted the Generality of Men more than to see the King continue so averse to the holding a Parliament till the Prince was expell'd out of the Nation the Consequence of which was notorious To what end said they should we fight when the Prince of Orange offereth at first to submit to a Free Parliament What shall we drive him out that we may never have one that shall sit to do us good Are the Jesuits such Reverers of Promises as to regard them when they can chuse No let us have a Parliament while the Prince is here to see us have Right or fight who will for me The same 5th day of November an Account was sent from Brixham That about 300 of the Dutch Fleet were come into Torbay several of which came directly to Brixham Key and Landed some Soldiers and the rest were sending them on Shore in Boats about 5 or 600 being then Landed and it was then said the Prince of Orange was come on Shore This Fleet consisted of 51 Men of War 18 Fire ships and 330 Tenders for the carriage of Men Horses Arms and Ammunition At his first Attempt he lost 400 Horse in a Storm and a Vessel was separated with 400 Foot which after came back to the Texel Hereupon order was given to the Harlem and Amsterdam Gazetteers to make a dreadful Representation of this Loss which had its effect upon our credulous Court. The Fleet was soon got in order again and sailed the first of November There lay then an English Fleet in the Buoy and Nore consisting of 34 Sail of Men of War and there were three in the Downs but the Wind was at E. N. E. and so they could not get out and they had no mind besides to do it At his Landing the People in great numbers from the Shore welcom'd his Highness with loud Acclamations of Joy. The first that Landed were six Regiments of English and Scoth under Mackay who met with no opposition but a hearty Welcome with all manner of Refreshments Thus the 5th 6th and 7th of November were employed in Landing the Army the Country-men bringing them in Provisions in great plenty The 6th of November an Account was sent from Exeter That the Prince of Orange was marching towards that City and they being in no Condition to oppose him the Bishop of that Diocess thought fit to leave the Town and to go to London which so pleased the King that he ordered him to be Translated to the See of York which was then vacant the 16th of November November the 7th the King published this Account of the Forces brought over by the Prince of Orange Horse The Life Guard. Regiment of Guards commanded by Benting Waldeck's Regiment Nassaw Mompellian Ginckel Count Vander Lip. The Princes Dragoons Marrewis Dragoons Sgravemoer Sapbroeck Floddorp Seyde Suylestein In all Troopers 1683 Life Guard 197 Benting's 480 Princes Dragoons 860 Marrewis 440 Â 3660 Foot. Companies Foot-Guard under Count Solmes 2000 25 Mackay 12 Balfort 12 Talmash 12 Bellises 12 Washops 12 Ossories 10 Berkevelt 10 Holstein 10 Wirtemberg 12 Hagendorn 10 Fagel 10 Nassaw 10 Carelson 12 Brander 10 Prince of Berkevelt 10 In all 164 Companies at 53 in a Company 8692 Guards 2000 Â 10692 Horse 3660 Foot 10692 Â 14352 List of the Fleet. Men of War 65 Fly-boats 500 Pinks 60 Fire-ships 10 In all 635 However Men were not easily then induced to believe that this was above one half of the Number brought over they concluding from the Number of Ships and the Companies taken in the Fly-boat by the Swallow-Frigat that the Army must be at least double to this Number though afterwards it appeared to be very near a true Account November the 8th the Prince went from Chudleigh towards Exeter where he arrived about One of the Clock and made a very splendid Entry with his Army the People much rejoycing at it and looking upon him as their Deliverer from Popery and Slavery That Night the Prince lodged at the Deanry the Dean as well as the Bishop having left the Town The 9th Dr. Burnet was sent to order the Priest and Vicars of the Cathedral not to pray for the Pretended Prince of Wales which they would not comply with till they were severely threatned The same day the Prince went to the Cathedral and was present at the singing Te Deum after which his Declaration was publickly read to the People The same day the late King published this Order FOr the more punctual and regular Payment of Quarters in the March of Our Forces We do hereby strictly charge and require That upon the Arrival of any Regiment Troop or Company in any Town or Village Publication be immediately made by Beat of Drum or otherwise and Notice given to the Chief Magistrate or Civil Officer of Our Pleasure That all Officers and Private Soldiers shall duely pay their Quarters and that such Chief Magistrate or Civil Officer do the next Morning come to the Place where such Regiment Troop or Company is drawn up before their March and make their Complaint to the Commander in Chief of any Wrong done or Quarters left unpaid Whereupon Our express Will and Pleasure is That such Commander in Chief shall cause Satisfaction to be made to the Party injured and the Debt to be paid And if any Commander in Chief shall fail therein We do hereby declare Our Resolution upon Complaint to punish such Commander in Chief by Cashiering or otherwise and to cause such Injury to be redressed and the Debt to be duely satisfied without delay The Soldiery had lived with very little Discipline in the Times of Peace and now the War was opening became more Insolent So that the ill observing this Order was one of those things which tended as much as any thing to the Ruine of that Army they being reduced to a great Want of all Necessaries by the People who feared their Payment and hated both them and the Cause they were embarked in About the same time there was published a very advantagious Character of the Prince of Orange which was greedily read and industriously spread under-hand The Prince continued three days at Exeter before any of the Gentry or Nobility appeared for him which caused a great Wonder in his Army and was published here the 18th we being told that some of the Rabble listed themselves for him and had Arms given them but the Mayor and Clergy of the City stood their Ground The 11th of November the King published an Account That the Enemy seised all the King's Money was found in the West and that they had taken 300 l. from the
no such Court as that Commission sets up may be erected for the future III. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annexed to them and in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxford IV. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Publick Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly debated and argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the four Foreign Bishops who stile themselves Vicars Apostolical from further invading the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That your Majesty will be pleased graciously to fill the vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with men of Learning and Piety and in particular which I must own to be my peculiar boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have now here before you a very fair Choice VIII That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all further Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to restore to them their ancient Charters Priviledges and Franchises as we hear God hath put into your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our principal Requests IX That if it so please your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the calling of a free and regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be established between your Majesty and all your People X. Above all That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be effectual to perswade your Majecty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most holy Catholick Faith you were baptized and in which you were educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be re-united These Sir are the humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to your Majesty as suitable to the present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to dispose and govern yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to your own both temporal and eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Jo. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath Wells Tho. Petriburg We may guess at the Rages the Priests were in at these Advices by the resentment they expressed afterwards against these innocent and good Proposals when their Affairs were in a much worse state than now they were The Bishop of Rochester observes that they were drawn at Lambeth on Mâ—nday the first of October and presented the third and the Prince of Orange's Declaration was signed in Holland the tenth New Stile which was the first of our Month and the matter of them is very near the same except one or two particulars too high for Subjects to meddle with and all this at a time when the King thought of nothing but Victory when in all probability he was the strongest both at Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him and when the very Winds and Seas seemed hitherto as much on his side as they all afterwards turned against him October the 5th two days after the Bishops had made the Ten famous Proposals above-recited the King declared in Council That in pursuance of his Resolution and Intentions to protect the Church of England and that all Suspicions and Jealousies to the contrary may be removed he had thought fit to dissolve the Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical c. and accordingly did give Directions to the Lord Chancellor of England to cause the same to be forthwith done Now this was only half what was asked it not being declared illegal nor any Promise made so soon as ever the times would serve it should not be renewed And we shall see the Jesuits were champing on it bye and bye The 6th of October the King was also graciously pleased to restore to the City of London all their ancient Franchises and Privileges as fully as they enjoyed them before the late Judgment upon the Quo Warranto and the Lord Chancellor did them the honour to bring down the Instrument of Restitution and Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And Sir John Chapman was thereby constituted Lord Mayor till the time of Election and was accordingly sworn in the Guild-hall with the usual Solemnity The same day the Aldermen now in being that were at the time of the said Judgment took their former Places and the Vacancies were to be supplied by the Election of the Citizens according to the Ancient Custom of the City And an Address of Thanks was forthwith voted and signed for the Favour granted to them October the 10th his Majesty having received several Complaints of great Abuses committed in the late Regulations of the Corporations he thereupon in Council thought fit to authorize and require the Lords Lieutenants of the several Counties to inform themselves of all such Abuses and Irregularities within their Lieutenancies and to make forthwith Report thereof to his Majesty together with what they conceive fit to be done for the redressing of the same Whereupon he would give such further Orders as should be requisite But pressing News
the great Sorrow of the Roman Catholicks and the Joy of the rest of the Nation And when all men expected the Invasion would fall on the North the third of November between ten and eleven of the Clock the Dutch Fleet was discovered about half Seas over and about five this numerous Fleet was passed by that Town steering a Channel course Westward the Wind at East North-East a fresh Gale. The same day Captain Aylmer Commander of the Swallow brought into the Downs a Fly-boat belonging to this Fleet which had on board four Companies of the Foot of Colonel Babington's Regiment commanded by Major Colambine They said the Prince sail'd from Goree on Thursday the first of November This Ship had had the misfortune to strike upon a Sand which had torn off her Rudder without doing her any other damage so that she was forced to float as the Winds and Seas drove her and could hold no Course which was the cause of her being taken And this small piece of good Fortune turn'd to their disadvantage men from the number taken in this Ship concluding that the Dutch Army was three times as great as it really was By this time they found that the Prince of Orange his Declaration could not be totally suppress'd and thereupon one of the Scribling Jesuits put out a Pamphlet against it intituled The Dutch Design Anatomized or the Discovery of the Wickedness and Unjustice of the intended Invasion and a clear Proof That it is the Interest of all the King's Subjects to defend his Majesty and their Country against it This Author has the Confidence to tell us That the forged Heads of the Prince's Declaration and the Bishops Ten Proposals are known to be the Contrivance of the King's Enemies framed on purpose to amuse the People and make them believe the setting us at rights is the only design of the Dutch and till those Proposals be granted we are not safe pag. 29. So that if the design had miscarried not only the Redress of those Grievances was utterly to be dispaired of but those that had made them to preserve the King from ruin were already arraigned for his Enemies and accordingly to be treated Page the 39. If saith he out of peevish stubbornness some will sit still and not assist the King in this Juncture or trayterously joyn with the Invaders what can they expect from his victorions Arms but the Punishment due to their Perfidiousness and Cowardice So that here was no Mercy for any but those who were very active in the ruine of the Invaders and by what followed upon the Defeat of the late Duke of Monmouth all men were able to make an Estimate what would be our Destiny now Another of the same Party comes forth soon after in Print under the Title of Reflections upon his Highness the Prince of Orange 's Declaration but then neither of the these were suffered to print the Declaration it self and therefore what they said of it was neither regarded nor believed by any of the Protestants and served only to exasperate the Nation the more against them The 5th of November the Dutch Fleet passed by Dartmouth and it being a hazy foggy Morning and full of Rain they over-shot Torbay where the Prince intended to land but about nine of the Clock the Weather cleared up and the Wind changed W. S. W. and the Fleet stood Eastward with a moderate Gale entring Torbay and being then about 4 or 500 Sail in Number This Change of the Wind was observed by Dr. Burnet to have been of no long duration but immediately it chopped into another Corner when it had executed its Commission Whilst the Prince was busie Landing his Army in the West the King puts out here the 6th of November this following Declaration AS We cannot consider this Invasion of Our Kingdoms by the Prince of Orange without Horror for so unchristian and unnatural an Undertaking in a Person so nearly related to Us so it is Matter of the greatest Trouble and Concern to Us to reflect upon the many Mischiefs and Calamities which an Army of Foreigners and Rebels must unavoidably bring upon Our People It is but too evident by a late Declaration published by him That notwithstanding the many specious and plausible Pretences it carries his Designs at the bottom do tend to nothing less than an Absolute Usurping of Our Crown and Royal Authority As may fully appear by his assuming to himself in the said Declaration the Regal Style requiring the Peers of this Realm both Spiritual and Temporal and all other Persons of all Degrees to obey and assist him in the Execution of his Designs a Prerogative inseparable from the Imperial Crown of this Realm And for a more undeniable Proof of his immoderate Ambition and which nothing can satisfie but the immediate Possession of the Crown it self he calls in question the Legitimacy of the Prince of Wales Our Son and Heir apparent tho by the Providence of God there were present at his Birth so many Witnesses of unquestionable Credit as if it seem'd to have been the particular Care of Heaven on purpose to disappoint so wicked and unparallell'd an Attempt And in order to the effecting of his Ambitious Designs he seems desirous in the Close of his Declaration to submit all to the Determination of a Free Parliament hoping thereby to ingratiate himself with Our People though nothing is more evident than that a Parliament cannot be Free so long as there is an Army of Foreigners in the Heart of Our Kingdoms so that in truth he himself is the fole Obstructer of such a Free Parliament We being fully resolved as We have already declared so soon as by the Blessing of God Our Kingdoms shall be delivered from this Invasion to call a Parliament which can no longer be liable to the least Objection of not being freely chosen since We have actually restored all the Burroughs and Corporations of this Our Kingdom to their Ancient Rights and Privileges in which we shall be ready not only to receive and redress all the Just Complaints and Grievances of Our Good Subjects but also to repeat and confirm the Assurances We have already given to them in Our several Declarations of Our Resolution by God's Blessing to maintain them in their Religion their Liberties and Properties and all other their Just Rights and Privileges whatsoever Upon these Considerations and the Obligations of their Duty and Natural Allegiance we can no ways doubt but that all Our Faithful and Loving Subjects will readily and heartily concur and joyn with Us in the entire Suppressing and Repelling of those Our Enemies and Rebellious Subjects who have so injuriously and disloyally invaded and disturbed the Peace and Tranquility of these Our Kingdoms All this while the Prince's Declaration was kept in and few had seen it but Men had now a general Idea of it This Declaration in the mean time was pleasing to very few It was penn'd with too much Spleen
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
they receive this Report against the Right Reverend Bishops the Design in which they are said to Embarque being founded on that very Principle in pursuance of which the Head of Charles the Blessed Martyr was brought to the Block and Embarque they cannot but by joyning with a Foreign Army the chief part of which is made up of those who though they would willingly enough ensnare our Bishops cannot be reasonably supposed to be true in the Promises they make about supporting their Hierarchical Grandeur the utmost they must expect in the long-run can be no more than a turning their Lands into Money that to the end their dependance on the Government may be the more effectually secured instead of their present Lands Leases c. they may have an Yearly Salary answerable to their worth and desert which as 't will be uncertain so it cannot be hopâ—d that its utmost height shall arise to the State and Degree of a Baron for Baronies go with their Lands By this you may see how unlikely any sort of English-men should by this Invasion gain any thing but Misery TO this was subjoyned a short Discourse stiled Animad-versions upon the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange Which is about twelve Pages in Quarto supposed to be written by Steward but then attributed to Castlemain but whoever was the Author of it it is a spruce piece of Sophistry and he was a Person who well knew what could be said for a bad Case and where it was not possible to make any defence and there would insensibly glide by as if he had not minded the difficulty Page 21 he has this Expression Put it to the Nation and all the Nation must declare that every Man enjoys his Conscience his Liberty and his Property even to the envy of their less happy Neighbors and that there has been no proceeding against a single Man but for his single misdemeanor and this is not Arbitrary but Legal Power And then to asperse his Majesty with overturning all Laws under the Name of Evil Counsellors Why Sir let his Counsellors be never so bad they are worse whose Service his Highness has used in Pâ—uning his Declaration By this Sample the Reader may judge of that whole Paper First He useth the utmost assurance to out-face the World as to the Matter of Fact. Secondly Pretends Redress Thirdly Promiseth a Parliament when it may be denied or over-awed Fourthly Makes all the Prince's Assisters Traytors and Perjur'd And Lastly Because the King was not accountable to his own Subjects concludes that neither was he so to the Prince though a Sovereign Prince So he was to be revered like a God and No-body not a Neighbour-interested Prince was to presume to say to him What doest thou To that height of stupidity was their Flattery then arrived but soon after it expired This is the best Abstract I can give of that Defence which is too long to be intirely inserted in this Work though it were to be wished a larger might in due time be published with all the material Papers at large This Paper was afterwards Answered but things then had so rapid a motion that the Reply coming too late was scarce read or regarded The Prince being then invited to London by the Peers by the Guild-Hall Declaration Though there was not all that Men had fondly expected in this Declaration yet here was enough to satisfie any rational Man that the Expelling this Prince and his Army before our Religion Liberties Properties and Government were effectually setled in Parliament and those who had so outragiously attempted the ruine of them were call'd to an Account would certainly end in the ruine of them and was a kind of cutting up our Laws and Religion with our Swords This and nothing else was the cause that where-ever the Prince's Declaration was read it conquered all that saw or heard it and it was to no purpose to excite Men to fight against their own Interest and to destroy what was more dear to them than their Lives At the same time an Extract of the States General their Resolution Thursday the Twenty eighth of October 1688. was also Printed privately in London wherein among other Reasons why they had intrusted the Prince of Orange with this 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 sear 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 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 At the same time was Printed also 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 Englishmen 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 slatter 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 and to your Posterity which you as Men of Honour ought to prefer to all private Considerations and Ingagements 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
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
of November That there should be a Free Parliament and to the Prince of Orange in his Message by the three Lords That he would consent to every thing that could reasonably be required for the Security of those that come to it and yet without any Provocation would burn the Writs and resolve to withdraw his Person before these Lords could possibly return him any Answer for he promised the Queen to follow her who went away the day before him I say this breach of his Word so solemnly made and given both to the Nation and the Prince shew that he was not Master of himself but turned about by others whither they pleased Now suppose the Prince had suffered him to continue at Whitehall and to call a Third Parliament what assurance could he have given that in the end of another forty days we should not have the same trick play'd us and then in March or April have been left in the same state of Confusion we were in in December to the certain ruine of these three Kingdoms and Holland into the bargain And when all had been done the Scruples would have been the same they are now the Obligations of the Oath of Allegiance the same and the sin of Deposing a Lawful Prince who resolved to do the Nation no Right would have been much greater and more scandalous than barely to take him at his Word and since he had left the Throne empty when he needed not to resolve he should ascend it no more Lastly Suppose the Prince had been Expelled by the King Would the King have then granted us what he would not grant us now Would he not have Disbanded his Protestant Army and have kept the Irish Forces in Pay and have every day encreased them What Respect would he ever after this have shewn to the English Laws Religion or Liberties when he had had no longer any thing to fear The memory of what happened after the Monmouth defeat though effected only by Church of England Men will certainly never be forgotten by others whatever these Bigots of Loyalty may pretend or say That Expression of the Lord Churchill's in his Letter That he could no longer joyn with Self-interested Men who had framed Designs against His Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect ought to be seriously considered by all the Protestants of the Nation This one Argument prevailed upon him when he ran the hazard of his Life Reputation and Fortunes and now they are all on the other side I should consider very seriously if I were one of them what Answer I could make to this turned into a Question in the Day of Death and Judgment before ever I should act the direct contrary to what he has done For my part I am amazed to see Men scruple the submitting to the present King for if ever Man had a just cause of War he had and that creates a Right to the thing gained by it the King by withdrawing and disbanding his-Army yielded him the Throne and if he had without any more Ceremony ascended it he had done no more than all other Princes do on the like occasions and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force he was no longer then bound to consider him as one that was but as one that had been King of England and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility how much soever the King complained of it who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage But when all is said that can be said there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Job Thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants for this day I perceive that if Absolons had lived and all we had died this day then it had pleased thee well Had the Protestant Religion the English Liberties the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours their Scruples and School-niceties and the Prince of Orange perished or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion our Laws and our Civil Rights with our own Swords and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self In truth the Men that would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World. PART the SECOND A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS Used for the RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF OUR GOVERNMENT WITH REFLECTIONS ON A Pamphlet stiled The Dissertion Discussed In a Letter to a Country Gentleman THE Prince of Orange being thus received in London the 18th of December The Common Council of that City the same day assembled and passed an Order that all the Aldermen and their several Deputies and two Common Council men for each Ward should wait upon and congratulate his Highness the Prince of Orange upon his Happy Arrival to the City at such time and place as His Highness should appoint and that the two Sheriffs and Mr. Common Serjeant should wait upon the Prnice to know his Pleasure when they should attend him which was done the day after his Entry at St. James's who appointed them the next day The Committee of the Common Council came accordingly the 20th of December and Sir George Treby their Recorder made him this Speech in their Names May it please your Highness THe Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom Deputed to Congratulate Your Highness upon this Great and Glorious Occasion In which Labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State overrun by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind to have the Title of a Soveraign Prince Stadt-holder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are amongst their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be the Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Soldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon Your Appearing GREAT SIR WHen we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and
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
and of his intention to Govern. Had it been parely Voluntary I would have allowed the Consequence but when he did and said all that he could to have got out of the hands of the Feversham men without Discovering himself and was at last brought up as Prisoner and discovered by those who knew him after he was Landed for him after all this to return to White-Hall is no Argument of his intention to stay and Govern us But admit it were What proof did he give that he would change his Measures Was not White-Hall crowded with Irish and English Roman Catholicks as before Was there any one step towards the Satisfying of his Protestant Subjects of his better Intentions towards them The only Order of Council he made after his return was apparently in favour of the Papists so that by that we may guess what would have followed The rest of the Paragraph is either mistimed mistaken or nothing to the purpose for I will grant him his Late Majesty had some cause as well as free leave to withdraw the second time So that after all I Conclude just contrary to my Author the first withdrawing was causeless and therefore Voluntary and therefore in his own Notion an Abdication From the VIIIth Section to the XXth Section is spent in a Controversie with the Author of the Present State of Affairs about the Abdication or Deposing of Richard II. and Edward II. and as I am no Friend to the Deposing Doctrine in General nor have any good Opinion of those Actions in particular nor those Books by me now which are absolutely necessary to the Discussing those Questions I shall leave the aforesaid Author to make his own defence if he please and go to his 20th Section where he proposeth this Question If its Demanded Why his Majesty did not leave Seals and Commissioners to supply his Absence It was Impracticable at this Juncture Now if this Answer is true then it follows that it was impossible his late Majesty should reign any longer for if he would not Govern us himself and either would not or could not find any other person or persons to supply his place and this was brought upon him by his own Act then was his Government and right at an end Government supposeth a Governour and Persons Governed if one of them fail the other fails too and the blame falls on the party that gives the cause Nor was it possible for us to continue in a state of Anarchy however it was brought upon us but after he was gone it was absolutely necessary that we should set up another in his place or run into Confusion and a state of War. And when we had once taken this care for our selves considering how ill we had been used it was very probable we should not be very willing to return again under his power and therefore his late Majesty ought to have continued his Post what Difficulties soever he had struggled with even to the hazard of his Life and Liberty or if he abandon'd his people to have expected that they would take care to provide for themselves as they did which was to put his Antagonist in the actual Possession of the Government for we could then much less than he find any other person or persons to set up But let us hear his Reasons When the Nation was so much embroiled and the Kings interest reduced to such an unfortunate Ebb It would have been very difficult if not impossible to have found persons who would have undertaken such a dangerous Charge Now this must be understood of his first withdrawing tho' he confounds it with the second for then I will grant it was not only difficult but Impossible But when he went first from White-Hall doubtless this was well considered and it would put an end to all our disputes if we knew the true Reasons which were then alledged for his going The three Lords which were sent to treat with the Prince are said to have returned his Answer the Evening before the King went away by an Express but it is Notorious he resolved to go before the Queen went and the next Paris Gazett told us he was expected every Tide in France so that it was no secret there so that what so ever Answer the Prince made he was resolved to be gone Yet he had promised the Nation and the Prince there should be a Free Parliament Now if the Nation was already so Imbroiled and the Kings Interest at so low an Ebb his going away must needs reduce his Kingdoms and Affairs into a much worse Estate The result of all which is that having well considered all things he at last resolved rather than suffer a Parliament to meet and determine the differences between him and his People and the Prince of Orange He would abandon his People when no body durst undertake to supply his place by reason of the Difficulties and this is a real and true Abdication For I will suppose after all that it was absolutely necessary that a Parliament should meet and that we must have been absolutely ruined one way or other if one had not met for if James the II. could have resetled himself without one then It is past all Controversie he would after that never have suffered one to meet and act freely who would abandon his Kingdom rather than suffer a Parliament in this Extremity when he had no other way to save himself And after he was gone nothing but a Meeting of the three Estates could have sufficient Authority to Re-Establish our shattered Government and settle the Nation But saith my Author Granting such a representation had been engaged in The Commissions must either have extended to the caling of a Parliament or not if not they would neither have been satisfactory nor absolutely necessary nor satisfactory for the want of a Parliament was that which was accounted the great Greivance of the Nation as appears from the Prince of Orang's Declaration where he says expressly That his expedition is intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as was posible Now here our Gentleman leaves us in the Dark without telling us what he thought but § 25. He reassumes it and shews that if the Commissioners were limited the greatest part of the Grievances might have been counted unredress'd if unlimited it would be in their Power to do a great many things prejudicial to the Crown And his Majesty having been lately mistaken in some of whose fidelity he had had so great an assurance he has small encouragement to be over confiding for the future That is it is fit he should trust no body so far Now I think I have sufficiently proved that we were in such circumstances that if we had not had a Parliament we had been certainly ruin'd And therefore any Deputation without a Commission to hold a Parliament would have signified nothing and a Commission that had not extended to all those