of what Condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajoled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous 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 28th of Novemb. 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 's certain the Prince knew nothing of it disowned it as soon as he heard thereof but it did him good Service and I have been told that Captain B. boldly carry'd it to my Lord Mayor and charged him with the Execution of it But before this the Marquess of Hallifax my Lord 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 Decemb. 8. sent these Proposals to him Proposals sent by the King to the Prince of Orange then at Windsor 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 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 returned 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 delayed than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford December 8. 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange returned this Answer VVE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen Assembled with Vs 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 Vs or at any that have come to Vs be recalled And that if any Persons for having assisted Vs 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 at the same Distance and that the respective Armies be from London Forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade Tilbury-Fort be put into the hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned Vs for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the siting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the Landing of the French or other Foâ—eign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Vs shall be agreed on The King was so far from being pleased with this Answer that he resolved to withdraw from London as he did privately aboard a little Smack but he and his Company were seized by the Inhabitants of Fevershâ—m and somewhat roughly handled before they came to be known whence the King came to Rochester but before this he gave the E. of Feversham Directions by Letter to disband the Army Which Letter was to this effect My Lord THings being come to that Extremity that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales that they might not fall into the Enemy's Hands which they must have done if they had staid I am obliged to do the same thing in hopes it will please God out of his Infinite Mercy to this unhappy Nation to touch their Hearts again with true Loyalty and Honour If I could have relied on all my Troops I might not have been put to the Extremity I now am in and would at least have had one Blow for it But though I know there are many valiant and brave Men among you both Officers and Soldiers yet you know that both you and several of the General Officers and Soldiers and Men of the Army told me It was no ways advisable for me to venture my self at their Head or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them And now there remains only for me to thank you and all those both Officers and Soldiers who have stuck to me and been truly Loyal I hope you will still retain the same Fidelity to me And though I do not expect you should expose your selves by resisting a Foreign Army and a poisoned Nation yet I hope your former Principles are so inrooted in you that you will keep your selves free from Associations and such pernicious things Time presseth so that I can add no more JAMES Rex The Earl of Feversham presently after the Receipt of this Letter disbanded 4000 Men which was all the Army he had then with him and under his Command After which he sent this Letter to the Prince of Orange SIR HAving received this Morning a Letter from His Majesty with the Vnfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England I thought my self obliged being at the Head of his Army and having received his Orders to make no Opposition against any Body to let Your Highness know it with the Advice of the Officers here so soon as was possible to hinder the Effusion of Blood I have ordered already to that purpose all the Troops that are under my Command which shall be the last
be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and be responsible therefore in Parliament Things being brought to this desperate pass between them without any visible Hopes of a better Understanding the Thoughts of the Court now began to think of a Prorogation or Dissolution and the Commons were it seems aware of it For on Monday Jan. the 10th before the Usher of the Black-Rod came into the House to command their Attendance on the King in the House of Lords they had resolved That whosoever advised the King to prorogue this Parliament to any Purpose than in order to the Passing of a Bill for the Exclusion of James Duke of York was a Betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom of England a Promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner to France Which was no sooner done but they were Prorogued to the 20th of Jan. and upon the 18th he Dissolved them And so ended this Sessions of Parliament with which having run out a few Days into the new Year we conclude the Year 1680 only we shall note first two or three Particulars On the 30th of July this Year died at Whitehall the Right and truly Honourable Thomas Earl of Ossory Son and Heir apparent to his Grace the Duke of Ormond after some few Days sickness of a violent Feaver whose Heroick Bravery and forward Zeal to serve his King and Country on all commendable Occasions was manifested by many brave and generous Actions Which as they made him be honoured and esteemed by all while living made him dying to be as generally lamented He was the Father of his Grace the present Duke of Ormond who to his great Glory has been so far from degenerating from him that he hath to the Height express'd his Vertues and Excellencies both in Peace and Way and is a Person that deserves as much and if all Circumstances be considered a great deal more of his Country than any other Nobleman whatsoever Sept. following was remarkable for the Death of Two Electors of the Empire viz. on the 2d John George Duke of Saxony dying at Friburg after a long Indisposition in the 68th Year of his Age leaving only one Son by his Wife Magdaline Sibille of Brandenburg Ansbach John George the Third of that Name who succeeded him in his Dominions and Dignities And but 5 Days after departed also this Life Charles Lovis Count Palatine of the Rhine suddenly in the Way between Manheim and Frankendal after a light Indisposition of 2 or 3 Days he was 63 Years old and left by his Wife Charlotte Daughter of William Landgrave of Hesse one Son Charles then in England and to whom an Express was immediately dispatch'd to give him advice of his Father's Death and a Daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Wife to the now Duke of Orleans And towards the middle of Nov. appeared a Comet with a prodigious Stream of Light in the West The Star from which the Blaze proceeded was but small and when first discovered seemed to be not much above the Horizon but every Night afterward it appeared higher and higher in the Beginning of the Night and consequently setting latter and latter its Magnitude and Lustre also proportionably decaying year 1681 The Nation at the Dissolution of the last Parliament upon the 18th of Jan. as already mentioned were strangely amazed and began now in general to be very doubtful of any good Issue in their common Concerns which the Court was not unaware of and therefore in some measure to allay Things the King summoned another to meet on the 21st of March following at Oxford which was no sooner publickly known but it rather heightned than alleviated the Jealousies of the more intelligent Persons that there might be some hidden Design nourished in the Court that might have dangerous Influences both upon the Nation and Parliament Whereupon several of the Nobility after mature Consideration of the Matter resolved to petition the King against the Meeting of the Parliament at the forementioned Place which Petition was delivered by the Earl of Essex with which he made a short pithy Speech and both which we have hereunto subjoined May it please your Majesty THE Lords here present together with divers others of the Peers of the Realm taking notice that by the late Proclamation Your Majesty has declared an Intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from History and Records how unfortunate many Assemblies have been when called at a Place remote from the Capital City as particularly the Congress in King Henry the II's Time at Clarendon 3 several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the III's Time and at Coventry in Henry the VI's Time with divers others which have proved fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great Mischief on the whole Kingdom And considering the present Posture of Affairs the many Jealousies and Discontents that are among the People they have great Cause to apprehend that the Consequences of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to Your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to them Reigning Kings And therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to Your Majesty or to the People if we being Peers of the Realm should not on so important an Occasion humbly offer our Advice to Your Majesty that if possible Your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend reasonable Resolution the Grounds and Reasons of our Opinions are contained in this our Petition which we humbly present to Your Majesty TO THE KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY The Humble PETITION and ADVICE of the Lords undernamed Peers of the Realm Humbly Sheweth THAT whereas Your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Speeches and Passages to Your Houses of Parliament rightly to represent to them the Dangers that threatned Your Majesty's Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the suddain Growth of a Power unto which no Stop or Remedy could be provided unless it were by Parliament and an Union of Your Majesty's Protestant Subjects in one Mind and one Interest And the Lord-Chancellor in pursuance of your Majesty's Commands having more at large demonstrated the said Dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our Fears could imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would be certainly lost if a speedy Provision were not made against them And Your Majesty on the 21st of Apr. 1679 having called unto Your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and declared to them and the whole Kingdom that being sensible of the evil Effects of a Single Ministry or Private Advice or Foreign Committee for the general Direction of Your Affairs Your Majesty would for the future refer all Things unto the Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent Use of Your Great Council the Parliament Your Majesty had hereafter resolved to govern the
Gentry and Commons of Scotland are now in Arms upon the like Motives and Inducements that we are and in Prosecution of Ends agreeable with ours we do therefore approve the Justice of their Cause commend their Zeal and Courage expecting their and promising our Assistance for carrying on that glorious Work we are jointly engaged in being obliged for avoiding Tediousness to omit the Recounting many Oppressions under which that Kingdom hath groaned and the giving a Diduction of the several Steps that have been taken for Introducing of Popery and Tyranny We think fit therefore to signifie both to our Countrymen and Foreigners that we intend a larger Testimony and Remonstrance of the Grievances Persecutions Cruelties and Tyrannies we have â—â—late lain under and therein a more full and particular Account of the unparallell'd Crimes of the D. of Y. And we make our Appeal unto GOD and all Protestant Kings Princes States and People concerning the Justice of our Cause and the Necessity we are reduced unto of having our recourse to Arms. And as we do beseech require and adjure all sincere Protestants and true English Men to be assisting to us against the Enemies of the Gospel Rights of the Nation and Liberties of Mankind so we are confident of obtaining the utmost Aid and Succour which they can yield us with their Prayers Persons and Estates for the Dethroning the said Tyrant c. Nor do we doubt being justified countenanced and assisted by all Protestant Kings Princes and Commonwealths who either regard the Gospel of Jesus Christ or their own Interest And above all our Dependance and Trust is upon the Lord of Hosts in whose Name we go forth and to whom we commit our Cause and refer the Decision betwixt us and our Enemies in the Day of Battel Now let us play the Men for our People and for the Cities of our GOD and the Lord do that which seemeth good unto him When the Prince of Orange heard of the Duke's Landing and that he began to gather Strength and was proclaimed King he thought himself so far concerned that he not only dispatched over the 6 English Regiments in the Dutch Pay but also sent away Monsieur Bentink to the King with Orders to acquaint him That tho' he looked upon the Duke of Monmouth to be a Man of no great Parts yet that he had a Warlike Genius and was better skilled in the Military Art than any the King was to employ against him and that therefore if His Majesty pleased he would not only lend him his Troops but come in Person also to Command his Army But the same Thing in effect having been communicated to Skelton at the Hague he was so maliciously bent against the Prince and his Interest that he used such Diligence as to give the King Notice of his Intentions before Bentink could arrive and that with such evil Interpretation upon the Prince's Offer that the King put off Monsieur Bentink with telling him He should acquaint his Master that their common Interests did require the Prince his staying in Holland and further opened his Mind unto him in such Terms as sufficiently discover'd he did not take his Highness's Zeal for his Service to be at that time seasonable However King James did well enough at this time without such Assistance and he was so far favoured in the Course of Providence that the Duke was utterly Routed at Sedgmore soon after taken and ordered to be brought up to London forthwith with no other Design you may be sure than to have his Head chopt off However not to be wanting to himself under such hard Circumstances he thought fit on the 8th of July to write the following Letter to the King from Ringwood SIR YOUR Majesty may think it is the Misfortune I now lie under makes me make this Application to You But I do assure Your Majesty it is the Remorse I now have in me of the Wrong I have done You in several Things and now in taking up Arms against You. For my taking up Arms It never was in my Thoughts since the King died The Prince and Princess of Orange will be Witness for me of the Assurance I gave them That I would never stir against You. But my Misfortune was such as to meet with some Horrid People that made me believe Things of Your Majesty and gave me so many false Arguments that I was fully led away to believe That it was a Shame and a Sin before God not to do it But SIR I will not trouble Your Majesty at present with many Things I could say for my self that I am sure would move Your Compassion The chief End of this Letter being only to beg of You That I may have that Happiness as to speak to Your Majesty For I have that to say to You SIR that I hope may give You a long and happy Reign I am sure SIR when You hear me You will be convinced of the Zeal I have for Your Preservation and how heartily I repent of what I have done I can say no more to Your Majesty now being this Letter must be seen by those that keep me Therefore SIR I shall make an end in begging of Your Majesty to believe so well of me That I would rather die a Thousand Deaths than excuse any Thing I have done if I did not really think my self the most in the Wrong that ever any Man was and had not from the Bottom of my Heart an Abhorrence for those that put me upon it and for the Action it self I hope SIR God Almighty will strike Your Heart with Mercy and Compassion for me as He has done mine with the Abhorrence of what I have done Therefore I hope SIR I may live to shew You how zealous I shall ever be for Your Service and could I say but one Word in this Letter You would be convinced of it but it is of that Consequence that I dare not do it Therefore SIR I do beg of You once more to let me speak to You for then You will be convinced how much I shall ever be Your Majesty's most Humble and Dutiful MONMOUTH What Impressions this or what afterwards the Duke told him in Private might have upon the King's Heart I know not but the Consequence proved he little regarded it by hastening of the Execution which was done the next Day but one after his arrival upon Tower-Hill July 15 unheard by Virtue of an Attainder past upon him in this Parliament A brave but unhappy Man not only in the Manner of his Death but the Education of his Youth whereby he became too much Tainted with the Vices of the then Court where he could learn no better but it was hoped he did not end as he began for he said himself upon the Scaffold and acknowledged it for a Mercy That for 2 Years before he had led a Better and more Reformed Life than ever And here I can't but take Notice of the Manner
Points and Articles therein contained and declared have for our Selves our Heirs Successors Kingdoms Countries Lands Lordships and Subjects accepted approved ratified and confirmed and do accept approve ratifie and confirm the same and do promise upon the Word and Faith of a King to keep and observe the whole inviolably without ever acting to the Contrary directly or indirectly in any sort or kind whatsoever and thereto we oblige and mortgage all and every our Goods that are or shall be In witness whereof we have Signed these Presents with our own Hand and have made our Seal to be set thereto Given at St. Germain en Laye Aug. 18. in the Year of Grace 1678. and of our Reign the 36th Signed Lewis By the King And underneath Arnauld The ARTICLE concerning the Prince of Orange AS in pursuance of the War which for some Years has happened betwixt the most Christian King and the States-General of the Vnited-Provinces of the Low-Countries his Majesty caused to be seized all Things belonging to the Prince of Orange as well the Principality of Orange as other his Lands and Seignories lying in France and granted the Revenues thereof to Monsieur the Comte d' Auvergne who enjoys the same at present and since by the Grace of God a Peace is settled by the Treaty this Day concluded and so all the angry Effects of War ought to cease his Majesty hath promised to the said Prince and doth promise by this separate Act that immediately after the Ratifications exchanged his Majesty will take off the said Seisure and cause the said Prince to be restored to the Possession of the said Principality and of the Lands which belong to him in France Franche Comte Charleroy Flanders and other Countries depending upon his Majesty's Rule and to all his Rights Actions Privileges Usages and Prerogatives in such Estate and Manner as he enjoyed the same till he was dispossess'd by reason of the present War Nimeguen Aug. 10. in the Year of our Lord 1678. Marshal D'Estrades Colbert De Mesmes H. Beverning W. de Nassaw W. Haren WE well liking the separate Article aforesaid in all and and every Point thereof have by these Presents Signed with our Hand allowed approved and ratified and do allow approve and ratifie the same promising upon the Faith and Word of a King to fulfil observe and cause to be observed the same truly and faithfully without suffering any Thing to be acted directly or indirectly to the Contrary thereof for any Cause or upon any Occasion whatsoever In witness whereof we have Signed these Presents with Our Hand and have caused Our Seal to be put therto Given at St. Germain in Laye Aug. 18. in the Year of Grace 1678. and of our Reign the 36th Signed Lewis By the King And underneath Arnauld The Day after the Signing of this Peace came over the Ratification of the late Treaty between the King and States with Orders to Sir Will. Temple to proceed forthwith to see the Exchange of them which he did accordingly tho' after the Counter-pace made by the Dispatch sent by De Cross and the Consequences of it the same seemed now as unnecessary as it had been at first unresolved at the English Court and unexpected by the Dutch who many of them now were as unsatisfied with the Peace and especially with the Precipitation of Monsieur Beverning to Sign it upon the sudden Offer of the French Ministers to evacuate the Towns and before he had acquainted the States with it and received new Orders thereupon as the generality of that Nation were weary of the War but the Thing was done and after some Contestation the City of Amsterdam declaring her Approbation of it the rest of the Provinces came soon to acquiesce also in the same But while these Matters were transacted in the Cabinet there was a Work of another nature undertaken in the Field Mons had been straitly Blocked up for some time by the French Army under the Command of the Duke of Luxemburg who was so confident of the good Posture he was in that he sent the Mareschal d' Estrades one of the French Plenipotentiaries at Nimeguen word He was so Posted that if he had but 10000 Men and the Prince of Orange 40000 yet he was sure he could not be Forced whereas he took his Army to be stronger than that of the Prince But the Prince for all that and in spight of many Disadvantages from an Army drawn so suddenly together so hasty a March as that of the Dutch and Posts taken with so much Force and Fortified with so much Industry did upon Sunday the 17th of Aug. in the Morning Decampt with his own and the Confederate Armies from Soignes marched towards Roches and from thence resolved to advance towards the Enemy whose Right Wing was Posted at the Abby of St. Dennis and the Left at Mamoy St. Pierre with such advantage of Situation that they were almost thought unaccessible for besides the Woods there was only a Precipice led to them and that by narrow Paths About 12 the Cannon began to play upon St. Dennis and the Prince went to Dinner in the open Field just as the Duke of Monmouth arrived in the Camp when Dinner was ended the Battalions under the direction of Count Waldeck began to act on the side of the Abby and about 3 in the Afternoon made their Attack the Prince himself being there present and that with extraordinary Bravery all the Regiments of his Left Wing seconding one another in excellent Order In the mean time the Spanish Troops under the Command of the Duke de Villa Hermosa acted on the side of Chasteau being assisted by the Prince's Guards who had the Van and the English and Scots Troops Commanded by the brave Earl of Ossory The Action lasted from 3 in the Afternoon till 9 at Night during which the Prince rid toward Chasteau where the Dispute was likewise very sharp the Guards behaving themselves with extraordinary Vigour and the Earl of Ossory with his Troops doing Wonders The Prince himself was Ingaged among the foremost of the French who on such an occasion were not well to be distinguished from the Confederate Troops and Monsieur Overkirk shot a French Commander who attackt his Highness At last after a great Slaughter on both sides the Confederates remained Masters of St. Dennis Abby having thought fit to quit the Post at Chasteau by reason of the great difficulty they found to second their Attacks on that side The Duke of Luxemburg finding how things went on his side thought fit to Retire in the Night leaving his Dead many Wounded his Tents c. behind him and the Prince next Morning went to view the Camp the Enemy had Abandoned taking up his Quarters at the Abby of St. Dennis where the Duke of Luxemburg had had his the Day before But Advice of Signing of the Peace coming to the Prince next Morning from the States hindred the prosecution of this Advantage which
are Word for Word inserted at the End of this Treaty have come to an Agreement and Conclusion upon mutual Condition of Peace and Friendship in manner following viz. I. It is Covenanted and Agreed that from henceforth there shall be a good firm and lasting Peace Confederation and perpetual Alliance and Friendship between the Most Christian and Catholick King their Children born to be born their Heirs Successors and Inheritors their Kingdoms Estates Countries and Subjects so that they shall love one another as good Brethren procuring with all their might one another's Good Honour and Reputation and faithfully preventing as far as they shall be able one another's Damage II. In pursuance of this good Re-union the Cessation of all manner of Hostilities agreed on and Signed the 19th Day of Aug. of this present Year shall continue according to the Tenour thereof betwixt the said Kings their Subjects and Vassals as well by Sea and other Waters as by Land and generally in all places where the War is carried on by their Majesties Arms as well between their Troops and Armies as between the Garrisons of their several places and if any Contravention shall have happened to be committed contrary to the said Cessation by taking of any Place or Places whether by Attack or Surprize or by private Intelligence nay though Prisoners shall have been taken or other Acts of Hostility committed through some accident that could not be foreseen or by such Persons as could not foresee it contrary to the said Cessation of Hostilities such Contravention shall faithfully be repaired on both sides without delay or difficulty by restoring to the full whatever shall have been taken and delivering the Prisoners without Ransom or paying of Charges in such way that all things be restored in such manner to the same condition they were in on the said 19th Day of Aug. when the said Cessation was agreed and Signed the Tenour whereof shall be observed till the Day of the Exchange of the Ratification of this present Treaty III. All Causes of enmity or misunderstanding shall remain for ever extinct and abolished and whatever hath happened or been done by reason of the present War or during the same shall be put into perpetual oblivion so as for the future no inquiry shall be made into the same on either side directly or indirectly by Law or otherwise under any pretence whatsoever nor may their Majesties or their Subjects Servants and Adherents on either side express any manner of resentment of whatever offences may have been committed against them or dammages received by them during the present War IV. In contemplation of the Peace the Most Christian King immediately after the Exchange of the Ratifications of this present Treaty shall put into the Catholick King 's Power the Place and Fortress of Charleroy the Town of Binche the Town and Fortresses of Aeth Oudernard and Courtray with their Provostships and Castellanies Appurtenances and Dependancies in the same manner as his Catholick Majesty possess'd them before the War of the Year 1667. All which Towns and Places the Catholick King yielded to the said Most Christian King at the Treaty Signed at Aix la Chappelle the 2d of May 1668. from which this present Treaty doth expresly derogate for so much as relates to the said Towns and Places their Appurtenances and Dependances In pursuance whereof the said Catholick King shall take Possession of the same and enjoy them to him and his Successors fully and peaceably excepting the Verge of Menin and the Town of Conde which tho' heretofore pretended to by the Most Christian King to be a Member of the Castellany of Aeth shall nevertheless remain to the Crown of France together with all its Dependances by Virtue of this present Treaty as shall be said hereafter V. The said Most Christian King obligeth himself and promiseth to put likewise into the Hands of the said Catholick King immâ—diately upon the said Exchange of the Ratifications the City and Dutchy of Limburg together with all its Dependances the Country of Ontremeuse the City and Cittadel of Ghent with all its Dependances likewise the Fort of Rodenbus and the County of Waes the Town and Place of Leuve in Brabant together with its Dependances the Town and Place of St. Ghilain whose Fortifications nevertheless shall be rased and the â—own of Pucierda in Catalonia in the Condition it now is with their Countries Places Castles Forts Lands Lordships Demesns Bailiffwicks Appurtenances Dependances and Annexations without reserving or detaining any thing therein to be possessed by his Catholick Majesty and his Successors in the same manner he enjoyed them before the present War VI. The said Places Towns and Places of Charleroy Binch Aeth Oudernard and Courtray their Bailifwicks Castellanies Governments Provostships Territories Demesns Lordships Appurtenances and Dependances and all thereunto annexed by what Name soever called with all the Men Vassals Subjects Towns Boroughs Villages Hamlets Forests Rivers Champain Countries and all other things whatsoever thereunto belonging shall remain by Virtue of this present Treaty of Peace to his Catholick Majesty his Heirs Successors and Assigns irrecoverably and for ever together with the same Rights of Sovereignty Propriety Regalities Guardianship and Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogatives and Preheminencies over the Bishopricks Cathedral Churches and Abbies Priories Dignities Curacies and all other Benefices whatsoever situate within the said Countries Places and Bailiffwicks so yielded up to whatsoever Abbies the said Priories do appertain and belong and all other Rights that heretofore belonged to the Most Christian King though not particularly here expressed so as his Catholick Majesty shall not be troubled or molested for the future by any means whatsoever in Right or in Deed by the said Most Christian King his Successors or any Princes of his Family or by any other or upon any Pretence or Occasion that may happen in the said Sovereignty Propriety Jurisdiction Appeal Possession and Enjoyment of all the said Countries Towns Places Castles Lands and Lordships Provostships Demesnes Castellanies and Bailiffwicks together with all the Places and other Things thereon depending And to this end the said Most Christian King as well for himself as for his Heirs Successors and Assigns doth renounce quit-claim yield and transfer as his said Plenipotentiaries in his Name by this present irrevocable Treaty of Peace have renounced quit-claimed yielded and transferred perpetually and for ever in favour and to the behoof of the said Catholick King his Heirs Successors and Assigns all the Rights Actions and Pretensions Rights of Regality Patronage Guardianship Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogatives and Preheminences over the Bishopricks Cathedral-Churches and all other Benefices whatsoever situate within the said Places and Bailiffwicks so yielded up to whatsoever Abbies the said Priories did appertain and belong and generally without any reservation or with-holding all other Rights whatsoever that the said Most Christian King his Heirs and Successors have and challenge or may have and challenge for any Cause or Reason
whatsoever over the said Countries Places Castles Forts Lands Lordships Demesnes Castellanies and Bailiffwicks and over all Places thereon depending as hath been said notwithstanding any Laws Customs and Constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding though confirm'd by Oath From all which and from the derogating Clauses of derogating Clauses it is expresly derogated by this present Treaty in order to the said Renunciations and Cessions which shall be valid and take place without that the Particular expressing or specification of any one shall derogate from the General nor the General from Particular and excluding for ever all Exceptions upon what Rights Titles Causes or Pretences whatsoever grounded And the said Most Christian King declareth consenteth willeth and intendeth That the Men Vassals and Subjects of the said Countries Towns and Lands yielded to the Crown of Spain as aforesaid shall be and remain discharg'd and absolv'd from this time forward and for ever from the Faith Homages Services and Oaths of Allegiance that they may have made to himself or the Most Christian Kings his Predecessors as also from all Obedience Subjection and Vassalage which they owe him by reason thereof it being the Intention of the said Most Christian King that the said Faith Homages and Oaths of Allegiance shall be void and of no force as fully as if they never had been made or taken VII The said Most Christian King shall also cause to be restor'd to the said Catholick King all the Towns Places Forts Castles and Posts that have or may have been seized by his Arms in whatsoever Parts of the World to the Day of the Publication of the Peace And in like manner his Catholick Majesty shall cause to be restor'd to his Most Christian Majesty whatever Places Forts Castles and Posts may have been seized by his Arms during the present War in any Parts of the World unto the Day of the Publication of the Peace VIII The Restitution of the said Places as aforesaid shall be made by the Most Christian King or his Ministers Really and Truly without any Delay or Difficulty for any Cause or upon any Occasion whatsoever to him or them that shall be deputed by the Catholick King in Time and Manner aforesaid in the Condition they now are without Demolishing Weakening Diminishing or Endammaging the â—ame in any sort and without pretending to or demanding any re-imbursement for fortifying the said Places or for paying what might be due to the Soldiers and People of War there IX It is further agreed That all Proceedings Judgments and Sentences given and made by the Judges and other the Officers of his Most Christian Majesty in such Towns and Places as his Majesty enjoy'd by Virtue of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle and quitted as above to his Catholick Majesty or by the Parliament of Tournay by reason of Controversies and Suits at Law prosecuted as well by the Inhabitants of the said Towns and their Dependances as by others during the Time they were under the Obedience of the said Most Christian King shall take place and be of as full Force and Effect as if the said King continu'd Master and actually possess'd of the said Towns and Countries Nor shall the said Judgments and Sentences be called in question or annull'd nor the Execution thereof be otherwise retarded or hindred nevertheless it shall be lawful for the Parties to seek Relief by Review of the Cause and Course of Law and Order prescrib'd by the Statutes yet so as the Judgments shall in the mean time remain in full Force and Virtue though without Prejudice to what is stipulated in that respect in the 21th Article of this present Treaty X. Whereas his Most Christian Majesty's Ministers after the Peace of Aix la Chapelle maintain'd at the Conference at Lisle That the Sluces both on the West and East-side of the Town of Newport and the Fort Vierboet at the end of the Western Sluce near the Mouth of Newport-Haven and one part of the Fort of Nieuven Dam built upon the Eastern Sluce with the Piers of the said Haven being kept in Repair by those of Furnes were within the Territory and Jurisdiction of the Castellany of Furnes and that consequently they belonged to his Most Christian Majesty And his Catholick Majesty's Ministers held the contrary that they did not and whether they did or did not that it ought to suffice that since the said Fortifications were made as well with respect to the Castellany of Furnes as to the Town of Newport his Catholick Majesty being a Sovereign Prince might Incorporate and Appropriate the said Parts thereof to the Haven and Fortifications of Newport and by that means make them inseparable from that Town It is agreed That the said Sluces and other Parts of the Fortifications of Newport above-mentioned shall remain to his Catholick Majesty as well as the Town it self without any Pretensions ever to be made to the same by his Most Christian Majesty by reason of the Town and Castellany of Furnes being his or otherwise And for the Draining of the Waters of the Castellany of Furnes it shall be continued and his Catholick Majesty shall enjoy the same in Manner and Form as hath been used till now XI The said most Christian King shall retain continue seized of and actually enjoy the whole County of Burgundy commonly called the Franche Comte and the Towns Places and Countries thereto belonging together with the Town of Bezaâ—con and the Liberties thereof and the Towns of Valenciennes and its Dependancies Bouchain and its Dependances Conde and its Dependances though heretofore pretended to be a Member of the Castellany of Aeth Cambray Cambresis Air St. Omer and their Dependances Ipre and its Castellany Warwick and Warneton upon the Lys Poperinghen Bailleul and Cassel with their Dependances Bavay and Maubeuge with their Dependances XII The said County of Burgundy the Towns Places and Countries thereto belonging together with the Town of Bezancon and the Liberties thereof as also the said Towns and Places of Valenciennes Bouchain Conde Cambray Aire St. Omer Ipres Warwik and Warneton Poperinghen Baileul Cassal Bavay and Maubeuge their Bailiffwicks Castellanies Governments Provostships and Territories Demesnes Lordships Appurtenances Dependances and all thereunto annexed by what Names soever called with all the Men Vassals Subjects Towns Boroughs Villages Hamlets Forests Rivers Plain-Countries Salt-Pits and all other Things whatsoever thereunto belonging shall remain by Virtue of the said present Treaty of Peace to his Most Christian Majesty his Heirs Successors and Assignes irrecoverably and for ever with the same Rights of Sovereignty Propriety Regality Patronage Guardianship and Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogative and Preheminence over Bishopricks Cathedral-Churches and other Abbies Priories Dignities Curacies and all other Benefices whatsoever within the Compass of the said Countries Places and Bailiffwicks so yielded up of what Abbies soever the said Priories hold Lands and have dependance upon and all other Rights that heretofore belonged to the Catholick King though not here
particularly expressed So that his Most Christian Majesty shall not in time to come be Troubled or Molested by any means whatsoever in Right or in Deed by the said Catholick King or his Successors or any the Princes of his Family or by any other or for any Cause or Pretence with Relation to the said Sovereignty Propriety and Jurisdiction Appeal Possession and Enjoyment of all the said Countries Towns and Places Castles Lands and Lordships Provostships Demesnes Castellanies and Bailiffwicks of the said Places and of all Things whatsoever thereunto belonging And to this end the said Catholick King for himself his Heirs Successors and Assignes doth renounce quit-claim yield up and transfer as his said Plenipotentiaries in his Name by this present irrevocable Treaty of Peace have renounced given up and for ever transferr'd in favour of the Most Christian King his Heirs Successors and Assignes all the Rights Actions Pretensions Rights of Royalty Patronage Guardianship Jurisdiction Nomination Prerogatives and Preheminences over Bishopricks Cathedral Churches and all other Benefices within the compass of the said Places Countries and Baliffwicks yielded up of what Abbies soever the said Priories held Lands and had dependance upon and in general without any reservation or with-holding all other Rights that the said Catholick King his Heirs and Successors have and challenge or may have and challenge for any cause or upon any occasion whatsoever over the said Countries Places Castles Forts Lands Lordships Demesnes Castellanies and Bayliffwicks and over all Places thereunto belonging as aforesaid any Laws Customs or Constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding tho' confirmed by Oath From all which and all derogating Clauses of Derogatories it is expresly derogated by this present Treaty in order to the said Renunciations and Sessions which shall be valid and take place without any derogation from a general Clause by a particular Specification or from a particular by a general one and for ever excluding all Exceptions on what Rights Titles Cause or Pretence soever grounded And the said Catholick King declareth consenteth willeth and intendeth That the Men Vassals and Subjects of the said Countries Towns and Lands yielded to the Crown of France as aforesaid shall be and remain discharged and absolved henceforward and for ever from the Faith Hommage Service and Oath of Allegiance that all and every of them may have taken or made to himself or to the Catholick King 's Predecessors together with all Obedience Subjection and Vassalage that are owing to him by reason thereof it being the Intention of the said Catholick King that the said Faith Hommages and Oaths of Allegiance shall bâ— void and of no force as if they never had been taken or made XIII And whereas his Most Christian Majesty hath declared by the Conditions of Peace which he offered that he was willing to restore the Town of Charlemont or in lieu thereof that of Dinant at his Catholick Majesty's Choice upon Condition that his said Catholick Majesty would charge himself to obtain from the Bishop of Liege the Cession of Dinant and that the Emperor and Empire should consent thereunto his Catholick Majesty has chosen to retain the Town of Charlemont as heretofore and consequently doth oblige himself and promise to obtain from the Lord Bishop and Chapter of Liege an Authentick Cession of the said Town of Dinant and the Emperor and Empire's assent within a Year to be computed from the Day of the Date of the Ratification of the Treaty of Peace which shall be betwixt the Emperor and the Most Christian King And in case his said Catholick Majesty shall not be able to obtain the said Cessions of the Bishop and Chapter of Liege and Emperor and Empire's assent he obligeth himself and promiseth after the Expiration of the said Term to cause the said Town of Charlemont to be put into his Most Christian Majesty's Power for him to enjoy the same in like manner as he shall enjoy all other Places and Countries yielded to the said Most Christian King by the 11th and 12th Articles of this present Treaty XIV And for the Preventing all such Difficulties as the Borders caused in the Execution of the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and the Re-establishing for ever a good Intelligence between the Two Crowns it is agreed That the Lands Boroughs and Villages reduced within the Provostships that are yielded or that belong to his Most Christian Majesty before this present Treaty or are on the other side of the Sambre shall be exchanged for others nearer to the Places for his Catholick Majesty's Convenience And likewise that the Villages of the Verge of Menin situated too near Courtray shall be changed for others nearer for his Most Christian Majesty's Convenience And likewise that such Villages of the Provostship of Mons as are so far up in the Country quitted to his Most Christian Majesty in Hanault that intercept Communication shall be exchanged for others belonging to the Countries quitted to his Most Christian Majesty that are nearer for the Convenience of his Catholick Majesty and generally that all Lands inclosed within Countries yielded or restored to either of the said Kings shall be exchanged for others of equal value provided that such Exchanges can be agreed upon XV. Commissioners shall be deputed on both sides 2 Months after the Publication of the present Treaty who shall assemble where it shall be respectively agreed as well to proceed to make the said Exchanges as to settle the Bounds between such Estates and Lordships as must remain to each of the said Kings in the Low-Countries by Virtue of this present Treaty as also to clear the real Debts lawfully secured by the Lands and Lordships yielded or restored to either of the Two Crowns and to settle how much each shall pay for the future and in general to make an amicable End of all Differences that may arise in the Execution of the present Treaty XVI If any such Difficulties should arise in the Exchanges aforesaid as may hinder their taking Effect no Custom-Houses shall be appointed on either side to perplex one another and to render the Communication more difficult betwixt Places under the same Dominion and such as shall be settled shall exact no Duties but of such Merchandizes as shall be conveyed from one Dominion to another to be consum'd there or to be carried to Places remote XVII The said King's giving back and restoring respectively the Places afore-mentioned may cause to be taken and carried away all manner of Artillery Powder Bullets Arms Provision and other Warlike Ammunitions that shall be found in the said Places at the time of their Restitution and such as they shall appoint for that Purpose may for 2 Months make use of the Waggons and Boats of the Country and shall have a free Passage by Water and Land to carry away the said Ammunitions And the Governours and Commanders Officers and Magistrates of the several Places and Countries shall give them all the Facilities they can
for the Carriage and Conveying away the said Artillery and Ammunition Also the Officers Souldiers and others that shall leave the said Places may take thence and carry away their moveable Goods but without exacting any thing from the Inhabitants of the said Places and of the Plain-Country or endamaging their â—ouses or taking away any Thing whatsoever belonging to the said Inhabitants XVIII The Levying of Contributions demanded on both sides in Countries now subjected thereunto shall continue for all that shall become due to the 16th of Octob. next and the Arrears that shall remain due at the time of the Ratification aforesaid shall be paid within 3 Months after the Expiration of the said Term and no Execution shall issue in the mean time against the Communion indebted provided they give good and solvent Bail of Persons residing in some Town within that King's Dominions to whom such Contributions shall be due XIX It is also agreed that the Most Christian King's Reception of the Profits whereof he is in possession within all the Countries that he gives back and restores to the said Catholick King shall continue to the Day of the actual Restitution of the Places to which such Countries do belong and what shall remain due at the time of the said Restitution shall be truly paid to the Farmers and also that within such time the Proprietors of Woods confiscated within the Dependences of the Places that are to be restored to his Catholick Majesty shall return to the Possession of their Estates and of all the Wood that shall be found upon the Place provided that from the Day of Signing this present Treaty all cutting of Wood shall cease on both sides XX. All Papers Letters and Writings concerning the Countries Lands and Lordships that are yielded and restored to the said Kings by this present Treaty of Peace shall be truly produced and delivered on both sides within 3 Months after the Ratifications of the present Treaty shall have been exchanged in what place soever such Papers and Writings are even those that were taken out of the Cittadel of Gendt and out of the Chamber of Accounts at Liste XXI All Subjects on both sides as well Ecclesiastical as Secular shall be settled in the Enjoyment as well of such Honours Dignities and Benefices as they were provided of before the War as of all and singular their Goods movable and immovable Estates for Life and Mortgages seized and possessed since the said time whether by reason of the War or for siding with the other Party together with all Rights Actions and Inheritances fallen to them even since the War began but not so as to demand or pretend to the mean Profits and Revenues accrued and grown due since the Seizure of such immovable Goods Rents and Benefices and before the Day of the Publication of this present Treaty XXII Nor likewise to such Debts Effects and Movables as shall have been confiscated before that Day so as neither the Creditors of such Debts or Depositaries of such Effects their Heirs nor Assigns may sue for or pretend to recover them Which Reestablishments in manner aforesaid shall be extended in favour of those that have taken the contrary part so as to restore them by means of this present Treaty to the Favour of their King and Sovereign Prince and the Possession of such of their Goods as shall be found in being at the Conclusion and Signing of this present Treaty XXIII And such Re-establishment of the Subjects on both sides according to the Contents of the 21th and 22th Articles shall take Effect notwithstanding any Gifts Grants Declarations Confiscations Forfeitures Sentences preparatory or definitive given for Contumacy in absence of the Parties or without hearing them all which Sentences and Judgments shall be void and of none effect as if they had not been given or pronounced and the Parties at liberty to return to the Countries from whence they departed personally to enjoy their immovable Goods Rents and Revenues or to settle their Aboads elsewhere wehre they will themselves at their own Choice and Election without being under any Constraint in that respect and if they shall chuse rather to live elsewhere they may depute and appoint such unsuspected Persons as they shall think fit for the Disposition and Enjoyment of their Goods Rents and Revenues but not with relation to Benefices requiring Residence which must be served and administred in Person XXIV Such as have been provided on either side of Benefices which were at the Collation Presentation or other Disposition of the said Kings or others whether Ecclesiasticks or Laicks or have Provisions from the Pope of any Benefices within the Obedience of either of the said Kings by whose Consent and Allowance they have enjoyed the same during the War shall continue in the Possession and Enjoyment of such Benefices for their Lives as well and duly thereof provided but without any future Prejudice to the Rights of the lawful Collators who shall enjoy and use the same as they did before the War XXV All Prelates Abbots Priors and other Ecclesiastical Persons that before or during the War have by the said Kings been nominated to Benefices or provided thereof which their Majesties were in Possession of a Power to provide or nominate before the Breach between the two Crowns shall be maintained in the Possession and Enjoyment of such Benefices without Disturbance for any Cause or upon any Pretence whatsoever And also in the free Enjoyment of all such Goods as shall be found to have anciently belonged thereunto and of the Right of Collating to the Benefices thereunto belonging wheresoever such Goods and Benefices are situated Provided always that such Benefices be supplied with Persons able and quality'd according to the Rules observ'd before this War So that hereafter no Administrators shall be sent on either side to govern the said Benefices and receive the Profits thereof which shall not be enjoyed but by Titularies lawfully provided And also all such Places as heretofore acknowledged the Jurisdiction of the said Prelates Abbots and Priors wheresoever situated shall acknowledge the same for the future if their Right appear to have been anciently settled although the said Places should fall out to be within the Extent of the other Princes Dominion or depend upon some Castellanies or Bayliffwicks belonging to the other Party XXVI It is Agreed and Declared That no part of the Pyrenean Treaty is hereby intended to be revoked but what concernâ— Portugal with which the Catholick King is now at Peace nor any part of the Treaty of Aix la Chappelle but for so much as shall be otherwise disposed in this present Treaty by the yielding up of the Places aforesaid so as the Parties shall neither acquire any new Right nor incur any Prejudice to their respective Pretensions to any thing not expresly mentioned in this present Treaty and consequently whatever was stipulated by the Pyrenean Treaty concerning the Interest of the Duke of Savoy and
next Day and most part of the Night that followed But by how much the more Affectionate the Citizens and Nation appeared to be towards him the King and his Court proved to be so much the less so For all his Places of Profit and Trust were immediately taken from him Whereas the Duke of York was sent High Commissioner into Scotland where the Duke of Monmouth's Victory at Blackbourn had left a clear Field for the other to play his Game But this did not well agree with the King's Speech at the Opening of the last Parliament When he said That he had commanded his Brother to absent himself from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say that he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him to Popish Councils and a little Time will shew it You have heard before that the King by Proclamation dissolved the Parliament upon the 12th of July and issued out Writs for the Meeting of another on the 17th of Oct. following But like the usual Methods of many other Things in this Reign when they met they were prorogued to the 26th of Jan. and from thence to the 5th of Ap. 1680. and further from thence to the 21st of Oct. when he graciously declared they should Sit and do Business These were strange doings and therefore the more sober Part of the Nation and such as had a due Regard to the publick Good bestirred themselves in the Interval of the first Prorogation to move the King in the most dutiful Manner for the Sitting of the Parliament and that you may have a true Idea of the Matter we will give you an Instance or two of the Entertainment they met with at Court upon this Occasion There came several Petitions to this end from divers Counties and Corporations and among the rest one from Wiltshire was on the 22th of Jan. presented to the King by Thomas Thynne Esq accompanied by Sir Walter St. Johns and Sir Edward Hungerford He asked them Whether they had Directions from the Grand Jury for what they did And Mr. Thynne having answered No the King replied Why say you then that you come from the Country You came from a Company of loose disaffected People What do they take me to be And what do you take your selves to be I admire Gentlemen of your Estates should animate People to Mutiny and Rebellion you would not take it well I should meddle with your Affairs and I desire you will not meddle with mine especially with a Matter that is so essential a Part of my Prerogative Another Petition of the like Nature being presented to him the Day following by Sir Gabriel Barrington Coll. Mildmay Mr. Honywood c. in the Names of themselves and others the Inhabitants of the County of Essex the Answer was That he was extreamly surprized to see them meddle with Matters that so immediately concerned the Crown and him and that against the Sense of the best and chiefest Men in the County that he believed that some of those that had Signed the Petition might mean well but that they were abused by those that did not To which he was pleased to add in my Mind a very strange Passage That he was not willing to call to mind Things past yet that he could not but remember the Act of Oblivion tho' not as some did That those who had stood in need of that Act would do well not to take such Courses as might need another and that he very well remembred 40 and so turned away And for the Berkshire Gentlemen and their Petition which was presented the same Day from their Quarter-Sessions he was pleased to droll it out saying That they would agree that Matter over a Cup of Ale when they met at Windsor tho' he wondered that his Neighbours would meddle with his Business Farther that the Nation as well as these respective Gentlemen might not be ignorant of the Court-Sentiments in these Matters these Answers were publickly inserted in the Gazzettes but without the Petitions as if they would have it suggested slily to the World that there were some audacious and very criminal Things contained in them Whereas the Abhorrers of Petitioning and consequently of Parliaments and of the Fundamental Constitution of our Government had the Honour of having their Addresses put in ample Manner into the Publick Prints which in these Times were stuffed with nothing else many of them to be Dubbed Knights and a good Soak of Wine in the King's Cellar to boot by particular Order which I know to be true on my own Knowledge The King being found to be of this Humour and there happening to be so long an Interval of Parliament by the several Prorogations that were made and the Duke doing what he pleased in Scotland there could be no very earnest Prosecution of the Popish Plot you may well imagine nay it was so far ridiculed in this Time by L'Estrange and others Pensioners of the Tory Party that indifferent Men began to doubt whether there were any such Thing or no while the Popish Faction began to trump up a new Plot upon the Whigs or Dissenters But their Designs being not laid close enough though the Devil was at the Bottom of them they failed and so I will leave Matters till the Sitting of the Parliament and see what they are doing all this while beyond the Seas King Charles finding himself weak at Home tho' I must speak my Conscience I know of no one so great an Instrument of it as himself it was high time to make some Alliances Abroad and the rather since France by the late Peace was grown so extream Powerful and in the Main had no great Reason to be satisfied with his Conduct whatever good Meen they were pleased from time to time to put upon it he sent Mr. Sidney into Holland towards the latter end of the last Year to propose to the States the making a Treaty of Guarranty for the Peace concluded at Nimeguen France did then most industriously oppose that Alliance but yet in a covert Manner at first by a Stratagem as odd as it might seem to some Extravagant There being a Letter conveyed to the States-General from an unknown Hand wherein was represented at large the ill Posture those Provinces were fallen to which was the Reason the Neighbouring Princes had not the same Regard for their Republick as formerly witness the Menaces of Spain Denmark Brandenburg c. and that the only way to restore the States into the Condition it was in formerly was to enter into a strict Alliance with France in pursuance of which the French King would maintain 50000 Men in Arms and the States need not keep above 10000 Foot and 6000 Horse and Dragoons in their Pay That by that means those Provinces would be able to defend themselves against any whomsoever that should attack them That that Alliance should be confirmed every Year by mutual Oaths by the
French Embassador at the Hague and the Dutch one at Paris And this being effected the Subjects of their Republick should have alone the Trade in that King's Dominions to the Exclusion of all other Nations This was soon after seconded with a Memorial by the French Embassador concerning an Alliance the King his Master offered to enter into with the States to be founded upon the Foot of the Treaty made An. 1662. which Offers were further enforced by representing unto them as well the Advantage that would accrue to them upon their accepting as the Inconveniencies that might follow upon their refusal of it and telling them that any Delay in the Affair would be looked upon as a Refusal and that his Master would regulate himself accordingly But the States taking some time to deliberate and demurring upon the Matter they received Letters in the mean while from their Embassadors at Paris importing That being sent for by Monsieur Colbert and going to him he had put them in mind of the many Obligations the States had to the King his Master and of the particular Demonstration he had given them of his Affection in offering them a Peace in the midst of his Conquests upon the Terms he did That he had since expected Overtures from them of a nearer Alliance But they having been wanting he had himself for some time since made an Offer of the same by his Embassadors at the Hague That it had been debated in the Assembly of the States of Holland and that the said States had Adjourned themselves without coming to any Resolution therein That the King was much surprized to find them make so small an Account of an Alliance which they themselves had sought for some Years before by an Extraordinary Embassadors now the same was offered them That this Alliance proposed was only Defensive which the States could receive no Prejudice by but much Advantage That his Majesty understood that the King of England did oppose them while he pretended to make himself an Alliance with them and that his Majesty would have great Cause to be dissatisfied with the States if they should refuse the Overtures made by him and instead thereof close with those of the King of England concluding That his Majesty as his Embassador the Count d' Avaux had already told them would take their Delay for a Refusal That however he would keep the Peace with them but would at the same time look upon them as a State that did not deserve to live in good Amity with him and would not favour their Commerce Mr. Henry Sidney the King's Embassadors in Holland as I told you and now Earl of Rumney was no sooner informed of the foresaid Memorial and Proceedings of France but he put in a like Memorial to the States shewing That the King his Master having understood the Proposals that had been made them by the French Embassadors could not believe that the States could so far forget their own and common Interests of Christendom as to accept of them That his Majesty particularly would have Cause after their having refused the Act of Guarranty which he lately offered to enter into with them for securing their present Peace to resent their entring into any new Engagements with France especially since his Majesty might have just Cause to be jealous that the same could have no other end than to enable the French King to shew his Resentments of the Peace his Majesty had made with the States in 1674 and of what his Majesty did afterward in order to the procuring a more advantageous Peace for them and their Allies than that which was made at Nimeguen That such a Resolution in the States would certainly prejudice that strict Union and Friendship that was established between him and them and oblige his Majesty to take other Measures But that his Majesty for his part would not only punctually comply with what was stipulated and agreed in the Defensive Treaty made between England and Holland the 3d of Mar. 1678 if they would reject the French Alliance but also stand by them to the uttermost if they should be attack'd by France Mr. Sidney's Address and Diligence in the Prosecution of this Matter was admirable and succeeded so well that the States determined civilly to refuse the Alliance proposed by France But the French King having declared he was not satisfied therewith his said Embassador made another Effort to divert the States from their intended Resolution shewing That he had received further Orders from the King his Master to acquaint them That his Majesty was extreamly astonished at their manner of Proceedings in the Matter of the Alliance by him proposed and highly resented it That he was commanded to expect some Days longer their final Resolution in that Affair but that afterward he should say no more of it nor accept any Act which they should offer and that then they must expect his Master would take such Measures as he thought necessary for the Good of his Kingdoms and the Advantage of his Subjects in their Commerce That Mons Colbert had told their Embassadors at Paris The King his Master wonder'd extreamly to find all Persons in Holland full of Hopes which their Letters had given them That his Majesty would not depart from the Execution of the Peace and that if they would not enter into that Alliance with him they should only suffer somewhat in their Commerce That the Sense of what he had then told them from the King his Master had been wrong delivered by them and worse interpreted at the Hague That his Majesty did not threaten them with his Indignation but the Dissatisfaction which he had conceived at their Proceedings might perhaps be the Occasion of greater Prejudice to them than the Indignation of others and that they would do well to consider what had happened to them within 8 or 10 Years past the Beginnings whereof had been less considerable than the just Dissatisfaction which their present Conduct gave the King his Master D' Avaux had no sooner ended but Mr. Sidney was ready to oppose who after he had take notice to the States of the great Earnestness of the French to press them into their Alliance he thought fit to repeat his Instances to disswade them from it That the King his Master did not pretend to make use of Threats of which the Memorials of the French â—mbassador were full but would leave them wholly to be guided by the Consideration of their own Interests That his Majesty did perswade himself that after the Assurances of Assistance he had given them in whatever might happen they would not enter into any Engagements which his Majesty should have Cause to look upon as intended against him and that the Instances of the French King which were too sharp and pressing for a Free Republick would not divert them from their true Interests and from that strict Friendship that was between his Majesty and their State and of which his Majesty had
during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given a Charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly Read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Forenoon to Read the same twice in every Year That is to say on the 25th of Dec. and upon Easter-day during the Life of the said James Duke of York But the Lords Rancounter to the Commons in this Bill tho' they made a Sift upon the others Impeachment to Try and Sentence William Lord Viscount Stafford to Death for the Popish Conspiracy who on the 7th of Dec. was executed accordingly For after the Reading it the First time in the Upper-House the Question being put Whether it should be read the Second time it was resolved in the Negative by above a double Majority of Votes and so this great Affair dropp'd The Commons imployed much of their Time to prosecute and impeach all those that had countenanced the Popish Plot or were Abhorrers of Petitioning the King for the Meeting of the Parliament in the several Prorogations of it and voted That it ever had been the undoubted Right of the Subjects of England to Petition the King for the Calling and Sitting of Parliaments and Redress of Grievances And that to traduce such Petitioning as a Violation of Duty and to represent the same to his Majesty as Tumultuous and Seditious was to betray the Liberty of the Subject and contributed to the Designs of subverting the ancient Legal Constitutions of the Kingdom of England and introducing Arbitrary Power The first that fell under their Lash was Sir Francis Withens since a Judge a Member then of their own House whom they voted to be a Betrayer of the undoubted Rights of the Subjects of England and for that his high Crime expelled him the House receiving first the Sentence at the Bar upon his Marrow-bones Sir George Jefferys was the next then Recorder of London who for the present by Virtue of the House's Address to the King for that End was put out of all publick Offices tho' we have seen him since act the Tyrant in the highest Station the late King his good Master could advance him to but at last being left in the Lurch by him was found in a Seaman's Habit at Wapping and died in the Tower because he had not Courage enough to live a little longer to be hang'd Several others were censured upon the like Account and among the rest the House voted That it was a sufficient Ground for them to proceed against Sir Thomas Jones one of the Judges of the King's Bench and Sir Richard Westone a Baron of the Exchequer for high Crimes and Misdemeanors because they had advised and were assisting to draw up a Proclamation against Petitioning for the Sitting of the Parliament The like was passed against Sir Francis North Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas for the same who for murdering poor Stephen Colledge under Colour of Law at Oxford had the Great Seal of England committed to his Custody and therewith the Care of the King's Conscience who had none at all of his own All this while we hear nothing of the King's Business which was to get Money for the Preservation of Tangier and Perfecting the Alliance made with Spain But the Commons had Three Reasons why they would not comply with his Majesty in his first Demand One was for that the State of the Nation was such at that time that their giving any Money for that End might augment the Strength of the Popish Party and further endanger the Nation 's Safety Another was Seeing there were several Regiments besides Guards in England then in Pay they might be transported to Tangier with little Charge and be maintain'd there as cheap as at Home which Two Reasons they clench'd with this Third That that Garrison was the Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers And if Things went ill with the King on this Head he is like to fare no better with the other For the House had as many Reasons for not giving him Money for the Alliance of Mutual Obligations of Succour and Defence which he pretended to have made with Spain For first they seemed to be jealous of the King's Sincerity therein and the more because he had not declared to them what manner of Alliance that was and that it might be more to the Prejudice than Benefit of the Kingdom or if it should have been to the Advantage of it they could have no more Assurance of the Performance than they had of the Triple League That which was made with the Prince of Orange when he was in England Or that between the King and States of Holland by Mr. Hyde on the King's Part which were all broken almost as soon as made Besides it was impossible any great Benefit should arise to England and Spain by such an Alliance For if all Christendom after the separate Peace made by the Dutch at Nimeguen could not uphold Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from falling under the Dominion of France how could the King in the feeble and distracted State of the Nation be in a Condition to support it without them Add to this the Unreasonableness of giving Money upon such an Account For tho' the Kings of England have frequently demanded Supplies for maintaining vast Wars yet never any one of them before demanded Supplies for making Alliances And indeed whatever Alliance the King had made with Spain it will be found before his Reign has spun out that it was very ill performed on his part And if the Commons were not a little mortified at the Proceedings of the Lords and of the Court in respect to the Bill of Exclusion the King could not be well pleased to be sure with the Methods they took to answer his Demands of a present Supply in the ordinary way but was undoubtedly much more nettled at their Resolutions to hinder him from being relieved by extraordinary Methods afterwards For the House considering the weak and dangerous Condition of the Nation as well by the Debt the King had contracted by shutting up of the Exchequer as by his squandering away almost all the ancient Revenues of the Crown did in order to prevent the like upon the Revenue settled upon the King since his Restoration on the 17th of Jan. resolve 1. That whosoever should lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Custom Excise or Hearth-money should be adjudged an Hinderer of the Sitting of Parlaiment and be responsible for the same 2. That whosoever should buy any Tally or Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever should pay such Tally hereafter to be struck should
and all the Errors of my past Life and that Thou wilt not lay my secret Sins and Ignorances to my Charge but wilt graciously support me during that small Time of Life now before me and assist me in my last Moments and not leave me then to be disordered by Fear or any other Temptations but make the Light of thy Countenance to shine upon me Thou art my Sun and my Shield and as thou supportest me by thy Grace so I hope thou wilt hereafter Crown me with Glory and receive me into the Fellowship of Angels and Saints in that blessed Inheritance purchased for me by my most merciful Redeemer who is I trust at thy Right Hand preparing a â—lace for me and is ready to receive me into whose Hands I commend my Spirit But though this gallant Man ended his natural Life with a Death in it self ignominious yet his Memory shall always be retained by every good English Man After the Death of these Noble Persons the Remainder of the Game was play'd almost without Rub Bateman the Chyrurgeon Captain Walcot and Rouse followed all for Treason and all of different Complections and where Treason could have no Colour actually to take away the Life of those that were Opponents to Popish Tyranny and Arbitrary Government Misdemeanours were set on foot to take away their Means of Living by Fines from 10000 to 100000 l. for Words against his Royal Highness tho' by Magna Charta a Salvo Contenemento is reserved for Misdemeanors against the King And you may be sure from what has been said before that Jury men could not be missed off and Sheriffs to return them that would effectually do the Work But tho' I do readily confess I have no great Stomach to rake any further into the cursed Designs of our then Court in setting up Conspiracies for the Ruine of the Protestant Religion and our Civil Rights in these Kingdoms yet give me leave to say somewhat for the Reader 's Satisfaction of the Honourable Colonel Sidney who for his noble Extract and Quality was inferior to few but for his excellent Vertues hardly to be match'd by any which last was especially a constant Eye-sore to our Court and therefore he must be hooked Neck and Shoulders into the Conspiracy But though otherwise he was a Person of admirable Parts yet he said not much at his Tryal as believing whatever he should say would signifie nothing with that Judicature whom he thought had already prejudged him and so it was really in effect for as the Learned Mr. Hawles judiciously observed He was meerly talked to Death under the Notion of a Commonwealths-man and found Guilty by a Jury who were not much more proper Judges in the Case than they should have been if what he had writ had been done by him in Syriac or Arabick It 's observable the Indictment against him was never presented to the Grand Jury before they came into the Hall and yet they found it immediately and was in substance like the rest For a Conspiracy to Depose the King and stirring up Rebellion and as an Addition for writing a Libel to that Purpose The greatest part of the Evidence as it was in my Lords Russel's Case was only Hear-say nay West whose Evidence was once rejected must be admitted now and that to tell a long Story of what he had heard from one and another Person the rest viz. Rumsey and my Lord Howard's with his Council of 6 were much of the same Stamp only my Lord was very Rhetorical even to Pedantry upon the Matter according to his vain though usual Custom But to clench the Matter there was a Paper found in the Prisoner's Study said to be his Writing the Substance whereof was An Enquiry into the several Forms of Government and Reasons of their Decay together with the Rights of the People Bounds of Sovereignty and Original Power wherein among other Things were these Expressions The King is subject to the Law of God as he is a Man to the People that made him such as a King And wherein there are Examples cited how evil Princes had been sometimes destroyed by a Popular Fury as others had been deposed But where was the Treason of all this Or if it had been so why did they not prove that it was his Hand-writing But in short so far as any Man of impartial Principles and good Sense has heard of them Papers they contained in them a great deal more Learning and rectified Principles than the Chief Justice Jeffreys had Manners when without any Regard to the Noble Family and the Name of the Sidneys he said the Prisoner was born a Trayâ—or It will be too long to run through all the Particulars And therefore I shall and can only gratifie the Reader with something that was his own and that is his last Speech at his Execution upon Tower-Hill Dec. 7. 1683 after I have first premised that King Charles shewed his usual Gratitude to Mr. Sidney now the Right Honourable the Earl of Rumney the Colonel's Brother in cutting him off for so trivial a Crime if it was any for having not long before taken so much Pains to bring the Defensive League about with Holland which his Majesty valued himself so much upon in Parliament to say nothing of his Majesty's many other Obligations to that Noble Family Men Brethren and Fathers Friends Countrymen and Strangers IT may be expected that I should now say some great Matters unto you but the Rigour of the Season and the Inâ—irmities of my Age encreased by a close Imprisonment of above 5 Months doth not permit me Moreover we live in an Age that maketh Truth pass for Treason I dare not say any Thing contrary unto it and the Ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it My Tryal and Condemnation doth sufficiently evidence this West Rumsey and Keyling who were brought to prove the Plot said no more of me than that they knew me not And some others equally known unto me had used my Name and that of some others to give a little Reputation unto their Designs The Lord Howard is too infamous by his Life and the many Perjuries not to be denied or rather sworn by himself to deserve mention and being a single Witness would be of no Value though he had been of an unblemish'd Credit or had not seen and confessed that the Crimes committed by him would be pardoned only for committing more and even the Pardon promised could not be obtained till the Drudgery of Swearing was over This being laid aside the whole Matter is reduc'd to the Papers said to be found in my Closet by the King's Officers without any other Proof of their being written by me than what is taken from the Suppositions upon the Similitude of an Hand that is easily counterfeited and which hath been lately declared in the Lady Car's Case to be no lawful Evidence in Criminal Causes But if I had
been seen to write them the Matter would not be much altered They plainly appear to relate unto a large Treatise written long since in Answer to Filmer's Book which by all intelligent Men is thought to be grounded upon wicked Principles equally pernicious unto Magistrates and People If he might publish unto the World his Opinion That all Men are born under a Necessity derived from the Laws of God and Nature to submit unto an Absolute Kingly Government which could be restrained by no Law or Oath and that he that hath the Power whether he came unto it by Creation Election Inheritance Usurpation or any other Way had the Right none must oppose his Will but the Persons and Estates of his Subjects must be indispensibly subject unto it I know not why I might not have published my Opinion to the Contrary without the Breach of any Law I have yet known I might as freely as he publickly have declared my Thoughts and the Reasons upon which they were grounded and I perswaded to believe That God had left Nations unto the Liberty of setting up such Governments as best pleased themselves That Magistrates were set up for the good of Nations not Nations for the Honour or Glory of the Magistrates That the Right and Power of Magistrates in every Country was that which the Laws of that Country made it to be That those Laws were to be observed and the Oaths taken by them having the Force of a Contract between Magistrate and People could not be violated without danger of dissolving the whole Fabrick That Usurpation could give no Right and the most dangerous of all Enemies to Kings were they who raising their Power to an exorbitant Height allowed unto Usurpers all the Rights belonging unto it That such Usurpations being seldom compassed without the Slaughter of the Reigning Person or Family the worst of all Villanies was thereby rewarded with the most glorious Priviledges That if such Doctrines were received they would stir up Men to the Destruction of Princes with more Violence than all the Passions that have hitherto raged in the Hearts of the most Unruly That none could be safe if such a Reward were proposed unto any that could destroy them That few would be so gentle as to spare even the Best if by their Destruction one of a wild Usurper could become God's Anointed and by the most execrable Wickedness invest himself with that Divine Character This is the Scope of the whole Treatise the Writer gives such Reason as at present did occur unto him to prove it This seems to agree with the Doctrines of the most Reverenced Authors of all Times Nations and Religions The best and wisest Kings have ever acknowledged it The present King of France hath declared That Kings have that happy Want of Power that they can do nothing contrary unto the Laws of their Country and grounds his Quarrel with the King of Spain Anno 1667 upon that Principle King James in his Speech to the Parliament Anno 1603 doth in the highest Degree assert it The Scriptures seems to declare it If nevertheless the Writer was mistaken he might have been refuted by Law Reason and Scripture and no Man for such Matters was ever otherwise punished than by being made to see his Error and it hath not as I think been known that they had been referred to the Judgment of a Jury composed of Men utterly unable to comprehend them But there was little of this in my Case the Extravagance of my Prosecutors goes higher The above-mentioned Treatise was never finished nor could be in many Years and most probably would never have been So much as is of it was written long since never reviewed nor shewed unto any Man And not the Fiftieth Part of it was produced and not the Tenth of that afforded to be read That which was never known unto those who are said to have conspired with me was said to be intended to stir up the People in Prosecution of the Designs of those Conspirators When nothing of particular Application unto Time Place or Person could be found in it as hath ever been done by those who endeavoured to raise Insurrections all was supplied by Innuendo's Whatsoever is said of the Expulsion of Tarquin the Insurrection against Nero the Slaughter of Caligula or Domitian the Translation of the Crown of France from Merovius his Race unto Pepin and from his Descendants unto Hugh Capet and the like are applied by Innuendo unto the King They have not considered that if such Acts of State be not good there is not a King in the World that has any Title to that Crown he wears nor can have any unless he could deduce his Pedigree from the eldest Son of Noah and shew that the Succession had still continued in the Eldest of the eldest Line and been so deduced to him Every one may see what Advantage this would be to all the Kings of the World and whether that failing it were not better for them to acknowledge they had received their Crown by the Consent of willing Nations or to have no better Title unto them than Usurpation and Violence which by the same Ways may be taken from them But I was long since told that I must die or the Plot must die Lest the Means of destroying the best Protestants in England should fail the Bench must be filled with such as had been Blemishes to the Bar. None but such as these would have advised with the King's Counsel of the Means of bringing a Man to Death suffered a Jury to be packed by the King's Sollicitors and the Under-Sheriff Admit of Jury-men who are not Free-holders Receive such Evidence as is above-mentioned Refuse a Copy of an Indictment or to suffer the Stat. of 46 Ed. 3. to be read that doth expresly Enact it should in no Case be denied unto any Man upon any Occasion whatsoever over-rule the most important Points of Law without hearing And whereas the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. upon which they said I should be tryed doth reserve unto the Parliament all Constructions to be made in Points of Treason They could assume unto themselves not only a Power to make Constructions but such Constructions as neither agree with Law Reason or common Sense By these Means I am brought to this Place The Lord forgive these Practices and avert the Evils that threaten the Nation for them The Lord sanctifie these my Sufferings unto me and tho' I fall as a Sacrifice unto Idols suffer not Idollatry to be established in this Land Bless thy People and say them Defend thine own Cause and defend those that defend it Stir up such as are faint Direct those that are willing Confirm those that waver Give Wisdom and Integrity unto all Order all things so as may most redound to to thine own Glory Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy Mercies And that at the last thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a Witness of thy
King of Great Britain provided no Complaint shall be received on this Subject three Months after the Exchange of the Spanish Ratifâ—cations VII The Contributions shall be continued on both sides till the Day of the Exchange of the Spanish Ratification and the Arrears then due shall be paid within three Months after and during that time there shall be no Military Execution on that Account provided the Places give good Security to pay the same and if any Difference arise concerning the said Contributions it shall be referred to the Arbitrage of the King of Great Britain VIII The most Christian King obliges himself to cause from this present time all Hostilities to cease in the Low Countries against the Places belonging to the King of Spain and even in the open Country in case the Spaniards do abstain from them IX In case the King of Spain do not accept the said Truce within the said Term of 6 Weeks and cause the Ratifications to be furnished in due Form the States-General do oblige themselves immediately afterwards to withdraw their Troops out of the Spanish Netherlands and not to give the Crown of Spain any Assistance during the present War and do further oblige themselves not to commit any Hostilities against his Majesty or his Allies and his most Christian Majesty likewise obliges himself not to attack or possess with his own Troops or those of his Allies any Place in the Low-Countries and even not to make War in the open Country if the Spaniards do abstain from it X. In case the War shall continue and that his most Christian Majesty shall make any Conquest upon Spain his Majesty promises not to accept any Equivalent in the Spanish Netherlands for the Conquests he shall make elsewhere during the present War and that he will not during the said time possess himself of any Places in the Low-Countries either by Revolt Exchange voluntary Cession or any other way whetever XI His Majesty obliges himself to give a Month longer to the Dyet at Ratisbone to accept the Truce upon the Conditions already offered them XII The King of Great Britain and generally all Princes that are willing to enter into a like Engagement may be Guarantees of this Treaty XIII Nothing shall be innovated in the said Treaty concluded at Nimeguen between his most Christian Majesty and this State XIV This Treaty shall be ratified by his Majesty and the said States within 3 Weeks from the Date thereof At the same time that this Truce was proposed in Holland there was also another put to the Dyet at Ratisbonne importing in a manner the same thing and was accepted of by them the more readily to be sure because of the War the Empire was now deeply engaged in with the Turks In both which we find the Republick of Genoua mentioned but for what Reason it is time we should here mention it being the same as was transmitted from the place it self when the Occasion happened The French Fleet arriving about the 17th of May before that City the Fort on the Mole saluted them with 11 Guns which was answered by the French Admiral with 9 when the Fort a little after saluted the Admiral again with 20 Chambers and 10 Guns which he returned with 7 so that they seemed yet to be in the dark what to think of it Next Morning the Senate sent 6 Deputies on Board the Admiral to complement him and to know the occasion of the Fleet 's coming thither which they knew no doubt well enough before and being returned they reported to the Senate that Monsieur Saignelay had told them the King was very much dissatisfied with the late Conduct of the Republick and that his Demands of them were That they should quit the Protection of Spain That they should join the 4 Gallies they had lately built with those of his Majesty That they would permit the French to have a Magazine of Salt at Savona That they should send 4 Senators on Board to beg his Majesty's Pardon c. The Senate resolved not to grant these Demands and therefore let the French know if they drew not farther off they would look upon them as Enemies But they taking no notice of it the Genoese about 3 in the Afternoon shot towards the Admiral without Bullet and an Hour after the several Forts fired with Shot which made the French Ships and Gallies draw further off But the 〈◊〉 Galliots continued all in a Row to fire one part of the City and began to throw their Bombs into the plate which put the People into a very great Consternation having never heard and much less seen and felt such 〈◊〉 thing before for I think this Action of the French was the first of Bombing any place by Sea before But it did not end here and they themselves have since felt the dire Effects of it On the 21th the Doge's Palace was quite beaten down and the Doge and Senate removed to the Albergho a great Fabrick built by the Publick where the Bombs 〈◊〉 not reach The next Morning being the 22th the French sent ashoar to let the Senate know That they were sorry to â—uine so fine a City and that they would yet give them 24 Hours to agree to the King's Demands Upon this the Great Council was called the 23th early in the Morning who resolved not to submit to the French Demands and this Answer was given them at the Mole the People now beginning to be couragious and with a great Shout crying Vive St. Georgio whereupon the French began again to shoot their Bombs into the Town and they from the Shoar fired upon the Fleet. The Inhabitants upon this occasion removed most of their movable Effects into the neighbouring Villages and to quiet the Rabble there was leave given them to break open all the French men's Houses and Shops which was soon done but it had an ill Consequence For the same Rabble began to rob and plunder what other Houses they pleased Whereupon the Senate gave the Serjeant General of the City leave to hang up whomsoever he should find stealing which after some Examples made of them brought all things quiet again On the 23th at Sun-set the French Ships and Gallies came very near and severely batter'd the Town for 7 Hours together and in the mean time landed 500 Men to the Westward and another Body on the East side of the City but they were so warmly received that they were forced at last to return to their Gallies excepting several they left slain and divers Prisoners behind them But on the 24th the Sea growing high the French Fleet weighed off which the Genoese were not a little glad of For besides the vast Loss they suffered by this Bombardment already they had dreadful Apprehensions of being entirely ruined which made them bethink themselves of giving the King Satisfaction before such another Return and therefore at last they were constrained sore against their Wills to send their Doge
in the first Place Secondly How unwarily it was it drawn for though it was to be thought every one understood the Design of the Commission was to introduce a Roman Hierarchy which assumes a Power over the Temporal in order to the Spiritual Good yet that Commission granted the Temporal Power viz. The Lord Chancellor and any other two viz. Lord Treasurer President or Lord Chief Justice a Power of Excommunication which is a pure Spiritual Act. This Commission thus granted and opened the first Lightning of it fell upon the Bishop of London whose pretended Crime was That by Virtue of the King's Letter he did not suspend Dr. Sharp then Dean of Norwich now Archbishop of York for Preaching a Sermon in his Parish-Church of St. Giles against the Frauds and Corruptions of the Church of Rome by a Power as Arbitrary as that by which the Commissioners acted But though the Romanists might be sufficiently incensed against the Bishop for his Non-compliance herein the King had another Cause of Offence with his Lordship for when the Lords in the last Parliament had Voted an Address of Thanks to the King as I have already noted for his Speech the Bishop moved in his own and his Brethren's Name that the House might debate the King's Speech which as it was extraordinary and unusual in the House so it was no less surprizing to the King and Court who now dreaded the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address and construed this Pace to be a Piece of Presumption in the Bishop for which in due time he should be sure to be remembred and so indeed it happened For notwithstanding the Bishops just Plea before the Commissioners in his own Defence and that Jefferies the Mouth of them had in a manner nothing else to say but Must not the King be obeyed Must not the King be obeyed As if a Man was bound to hang himself if the King commanded it yet they suspended him ab Officio where we leave him at present and proceed to shew you the further Effects of this goodly Commission when there was the least Opportunity to put it in Execution You must know the Presidentship of Magdalen College in Oxford falling vacant about this time and the Fellows fearing a Mandamus would be imposed upon them for some Person or other not qualified by their Statutes and whom by their Oaths they could not submit to chose Dr. Hough a Person every way qualified for their President which was no sooner done but the King sent them a Peremptory Mandamus to make choice of the Bishop of Oxford for their President who as being not qualified by their Statutes they rejected and in an humble Answer excused themselves as being otherwise obliged as well by their Oaths as Statutes with which the King was so Angry and used such Expressions upon the Occasion as were never perhaps before used by a Prince But finding his harsh Language could not frighten the Fellows out of their Duty he sent his Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs among them to turn them out of their Fellowships to which they had as much Right as any other Man to his Estate But the good Commissioners were so far from boggling at this that they yet went further and by a new strain of Tyranny never practised but by Absolute Tyrants made the Fellows uncapable of any other Ecclesiastical Preferments and a Seminary of Jesuits and Popish Priests were introduced into their rooms as much to the Subvertion of the Established Church as the Statutes of the College While Things were thus carried on with an high Hand by Virtue of this extraordinary Commission you cannot think they were more moderate in the Administration of ordinary Justice in the Westminster Courts you know how severely Oats was treated for discovering the Popish Plot. Now comes Thomas Dangerfield's Turn for his discovering of the Meal-Tub-Plot but with a worse-Fate For this Man having in King Charles his Time in his Depositions before the Parliament revealed that he was imploy'd by the Popish Party and chiefly by the Lords in the Tower and the Countess of Powis to kill the King and that he was incouraged and promised Impunity and Reward and part of it given him by the D. of York for that End he was now prosecuted upon a Scandalum Magnatum and as Juries went found guilty and had the same Sentence of Whipping with Oats But in his return from Tyburn towards Newgate after his Whipping he was run into the Eye with a Tuck at the end of a Cane by one Robert Francis a Red-hot Papist of which with the Agony of the Whipping he soon after died But his Body was so swoln and martyred with his Whipping that it was a Question whether he died of that or of the Wound in his Eye for which Francis however was justly Hanged the King thinking it would appear to be too base a Partiality to pardon him for so foul a Fact Much about the same time Mr. Sam. Johnson commonly known by the Name of Julian Johnson because of his being the Author of a Book so called was Sentenced by the Court of King's Bench Sir Edward Herbert being Lord Chief Justice to stand 3 times in the Pillory and to be Whipped from Newgate to Tyburn which was severely Executed without any regard to his Gown he being a Clergy-man for making this humble and hearty Address to all the English Protestants in the Army which the King had raised GENTLEMEN NExt to the Duty which we owe to God which ought to be the principal Care of Men of your Profession especially because you carry your Lives in your Hands and often look Death in the Face the second Thing that deserves your Consideration is the Service of your Native Country wherein you drew the first Breath and breathed a free English Air Now I would desire you to consider how well you comply with these Two main Points by engaging in this present Service Is it in the Name of God and for his Service that you have joined your selves with Papists which will indeed fight for the Mass-book but burn the Bible and who seek to extirpate the Protestant Religion with your Swords because they cannot do it with their own and will you be aiding and assisting to set up Mass-houses to erect the Popish Kingdom of Darkness and Desolation amongst us and to train up all our Children in Popery How can you do these Things and yet call your selves Protestants And then what Service can be done your Country by being under the Command of French and Irish Papists and by bringing the Nation under a Foreign Yoak Will you help them to make a forcible Entry into the Houses of your Country-men under the Name of Quartering directly contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right Will you be aiding and assisting to all the Murders and Outrages which they shall commit by their void Commissions which were declared illegal and sufficiently
Designs he proceeded now to shew how Absolute he would be in them and therefore on the 4th of May he passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be Read in all Churches and Chappels throughout England and Wales in Time of Divine Service and that all the Bishops in their respective Diocesses should take Care to have the same accordingly performed There is no question to be made but they understood the King's Meaning well enough and that under a Shadow of Favour to be intended hereby to Protestant Dissenters all the Good imaginable was meant to the Roman Catholicks and that whatever was intended by it there was no Good meant to them nor their Church and therefore it was their Business to ward off the Blow which 7 of them endeavoured to do in an humble Petition to the King wherein their Reasons were set forth why they could not comply with the Order of Council But they were so cautious in the Matter that after it was drawn up they would let no other see it before it was presented And the same was as also the King's Answer to this Effect TO THE KING'S Most Excellent MAJESTY The Humble PETITION of William Archbishop of Canterbury and divers of the Suffragan Bishops of that Province now present with him in behalf of themselves and others of their absent Brethren and of the Inferior Clergy of their respective Diocesses Humbly Sheweth THAT the great Aversness they find in themselves to the Distributing and Publishing in all their Churches Your Majesty's late Declaration for Liberty of Conscience proceeds neither from any Want of Duty and Obedience to Your Majesty our holy Mother the Church of England being both in her Principles and in her constant Practice unquestionably Loyal and having to her great Honour been more than once publickly acknowledged to be so by Your Gracious Majesty nor yet from any Want of Tenderness to Dissenters in relation to whom we are willing to come to such a Temper as shall be thought fit when the Matter shall be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation But among many other Considerations from this especially Because that Declaration is founded upon such a Dispencing Power as hath been often declared Illegal in Parliament and particularly in the Years 1662 and 1672 and in the Beginning of Your Majesty's Reign and is a Matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation both in Church and State that Your Petitioners cannot in Prudence Honour or Conscience so far make themselves Parties to it as the Distribution of it all over the Nation and the solemn Publication of it once and again even in GOD's House and in the Time of His Divine Service must amount to in common and unreasonable Construction Your Petitioners therefore most humbly and earnestly beseech Your Majesty that You will be pleased not to insist upon their Distributing and Reading Your Majesty's said Declaration And Your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever pray c. Will. Cant. Will. Asaph Fr. Ely Jo. Cicestr Tho. Bathon Wellen. Tho. Peterburgen Jonath Bristol His MAJESTY'S ANSWER I Have heard of this before but did not believe it I did not expect this from the Church of England especially from some of you If I change my Mind ye shall hear from me If not I expect my Command shall be obeyed But how unpleasing soever the Petition might be to the King which is sufficiently evinced by his Answer and what Revenge soever he might ruminate within himself to take upon the Bishops for it the Chancellor though he thought his Ecclâ—siastical Commission big enough to suspend the Bishop of London and the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and to expel the Master and Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford yet is seems he did not believe it sufficient to suspend these Bishop And therefore it was said he advised the King to Try them upon an Information of High-Treason at the King 's Beneh-Bar In order to this they were committed Prisoner to the Tower and that on the Day before I think the Legendary Birth of the Prince of Wales who came to Town on Sunday Morning the 10th of June that they might not have the Opportunity as it was the Place at least of some of them to be present thereat and make any Inspection into that pious Fraud But though the Nation was mightily alarm'd at their Commitment and more particularly with the Time and Circumstance of it and that this Discontent might have been read in the Faces of almost all Men â—â—ve Romanists yet the Court unconcerned held on their Pace and accordingly the Bishops were Tryed in Trinity Term following at the King 's Beneh-Bar upon an Information of High-Misdemeanor as aforesaid for their Petition to the King But how secure soever the King and his Chancellor thought themselves of the Judges and though Sir Robert Wright who was Chief Justice and Sir Richard Allibone a known Papist were Two of them yet they were not all of a Piece for Mr. Justice Powell both learnedly and stoutly defended the Cause of the Bishops And though I believe the Jury of themselves upon considering the Merit of the Cause were sufficiently disposed to acquit them as they did accordingly yet surely if they had done otherwise I question whether all the King's Guards could have secured them from the Fury of the People who were not a little chafed with these Proceedings and wrought such Seeds of Discontent in the Minds of most Men that afterwards broke forth with a Witness And though it is not to be doubted but the Great Men of our Nation began before this to look about them and to have a watchful Eye upon every Motion of the Court yet this awaken'd them to purpose to seek for a Remedy against the impending Evil by such Methods and from such Persons as were most interested to divert the Course of them But of this we shall more particularly speak hereafter the Course of our History leading us 〈◊〉 to the Prosecution of Foreign Affairs and Campaigns 〈◊〉 ready to begin And first we shall again begin with Hungary We left off last Year with the Surrender of Agria a most pleasing Piece of News to the Imperial Court as was that of the Fortress of Mâ—ngaâ—z early this Spring no less grateful to it Famine and no other Reason was the Occasion of the Surrender of this Place as well as the preceding one The Fortress had been held out by the Princess Ragotzi Count Tecâ—eley's Lady in a manner ever since the Beginning of the War But now dire Necessity constrained that Noble Lady to surrender both it and her self into the Emperor's Hands as it appear'd evidently by her saying when the Capitulation was brought from Count Caraffa to be signed by her Must I Sign my Husband's Death For I am perswaded that as soon as the Turks come to know I have abandoned this Place they will take off his Head The Terms of
President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen College 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 pecular 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 has 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 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 Unformity 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 Vnderstanding 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 Majesty 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 VV. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely Jo. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath VVells Tho. Petriburg And because the King would seemingly remove all Jealousies from the Church of England he on the 5th of Oct. declared that he would dissolve the Commission for Ecclesiacal Causes and gave Directions to the Lord Chancellor accordingly to cause the same to be forthwith done But at the same it was not declared to be illegal which was the only Way to give Satisfaction in respect of it And because Magdalen College in Oxford was no less aggrieved with the High Commission than the Bishops themselves were the King after having Oct. 12th declared his Resolution to preserve the Church of England in all its Rights and Immunities did as an Evidence of it signifie his Pleasure to the Bishop of Winchester as Visitor of the said College to settle the College Regularly and Statutably Who accordingly on the 16th caused a Citation to be fixed on the College Gate to re-call Dr. Hough and the former Fellows of that Society by the 2d of Nov. following and the Bishop went down accordingly to re-instate them and was received with abundance of Joy But pray mind the Temper of this King For an Account coming that very Post that the Dutch Fleet had suffered very much in a Storm on the 16th of the same Month. N. S. and that they would hardly be able to sail till the Spring the Bishop was re-called to London and the Restitution deferred Yet soon after that false News being contradicted the Affection to the Church revived and so the Business of the College was effected on the 24th of the said Month. About this time the Queen-Dowager and others that attended at the Queen's Delivery as also the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London and divers Peers of the Land were ordered to attend to hear what the former could say concerning the Birth of the pretended Prince of WALES But now all Men's Tongues were let loose against the Government And my Lord Sunderland's being dismissed from his Office of prime Minister and Secretary of State made a mighty Noise That my Lord is a person of vast ability is a matter not to be doubted and that how various soever the reports then since have been concerning the cause of his being laid aside I think it 's good manners for us to listen to the account he was pleased to give himself in his Letter of March 23d 1689. which will fall pertinently in this place The Earl of Sunderland's Letter to a Friend in London published March 23d 1689. TO comply with what you desire I will explain some things which we talked of before I left England I have been in a Station of a great noise without Power or Advantage whilst I was in it and to my Ruin now I am out of it I know I cannot Justifie my self by saying though it is true that I thought to have prevented much Mischief for when I found that I could not I ought to have quitted the Service Neither is it an Excuse that I have got none of those things which usually engage men in publick Affairs My Quality is the same it ever was and my Estate much worse even ruin'd tho' I was born to a very considerable one which I am ashamed to have spoiled though not so much as if I had encreased it by indirect Means But to go on to what you expect The Pretence to a Dispensing Power being not only the first thing which was much disliked since the Death of the late King but the Foundation of all the rest I ought to begin with that which I had so little to do with that I
Confession of those Violences of the Government that we have set forth so the Defectiveness of it is no less apparent For they lay down nothing which they may not take up at pleasure and they reserve entire and not so much as mentioned their Claims and Pretences to an Arbitrary and Despotick Power which has been the Root of all their Oppression and of the Total Subversion of the Government And it is plain That there can be no Redress no Remedy offered but in Parliament by a Declaration of the Rights of the Subjects that have been invaded and not by any pretended Acts of Grace to which the Extremity of their Affairs has driven them Therefore it is that we have thought fit to declare That we will Refer all to a Free Assembly of this NATION in a Lawful Parliament Given under Our Hand and Seal at Our Court in the Hague the 24th Day of October in the Year of Our Lord 1688. WILLIAM HENRY Prince of Orange By His Highness's Special Command C. HUYGENS. At the same time an Extract of the States-General's Resolution was privately Printed at London wherein among other Reasons why they had intrusted the Prince of Orange with such a Fleet and Army is this which follows THE King of France hath upon several Occasions shewed himself dissatisfied with this State which gave Cause to fear and apprehend that in case the King of Great Britain should happen to compass within his Kingdom and obtain an Absolute Power over his People that then both Kings out of the Interest of State and Hatred and Zeal against the Protestant Religion would endeavour to bring this State to confusion and if possible quite to subject it There was also Printed about the same Juncture this Letter of the Prince of Orange to the Officers of the Army Gentlemen and Friends WE have given you so full and so true an Account of Our Intentions in this Expedition in Our Declaration that as We can add nothing to it so We are sure you can desire nothing more of Us. We are come to preserve your Religion and to Restore and Establish your Liberties and Properties And therefore We cannot suffer Our Selves to doubt but that all true English Men will come and concur with Us in Our Desire to Secure these Nations from Popery and Slavery You must all plainly see That you are only made use of as Instruments to enslave the Nation and ruine the Protestant Religion and when that is done you may judge what ye your selves ought to expect both from the Cashiering all the Protestant and English Officers and Soldiers in Ireland and by the Irish Soldiers being brought over to be put in your Places and of which you have seen so fresh an Instance that We need not put you in mind of it You know how many of your Fellow-Officers have been used for their standing firm to the Protestant Religion and to the Laws of England And you cannot flatter your selves so far as to expect to be better used if those who have broke their Word so often should by your Means be brought out of those Streights to which they are at present reduced We hope likewise that ye will not suffer your selves to be abused by a false Notion of Honour but that you will in the first place consider what you owe to Almighty God and your Religion to your Country to your Selves to your Posterity which you as Men of Honour ought to prefer to all private Considerations and Engagements whatsoever We do therefore expect That you will consider the Honour that is now set before you of being the Instruments of Serving your Country and Securing your Religion and We shall ever remember the Service you shall do Us upon this Occasion and will promise you that We shall place such particular Marks of Our Favour on every one of you as your Behaviour at this time shall deserve of Us and the Nation in which We shall make a great Distinction of those that shall come seasonably to join their Arms with Ours And you shall find Us to be your Well-wishing and assured Friend W. H. P. O. This Letter was spread under-hand over the whole Kingdom and read by all sorts of Men and the Reason of it being undeniable it had a great Force on the Spirits of the Soldiery so that those who did not presently comply with it yet resolved they would never strike one stroke in this Quarrel till they had a Parliament to secure the Religion Laws and Liberties of England Which the Court on the other side had resolved should not be granted till the Prince of Orange with his Army was expelled out of the Nation and till all those that had submitted to him which were not many then were reduced into their Power to be treated as they thought fit In the mean time the Fleet came about from the Buoy in the Nâ—re to Portsmouth under the Command of the Lord Dartmouth where it arrived on Saturday the 17th of November and on the Monday following the KING entred Salisbury which was then the Head Quarters of the whole Army But on the 16th of the aforesaid Month the Lord Delamere having received certain Intelligence of the Landing of the Prince of Orange in the West and seeing the Irish throng over in Arms under pretence of Assisting the King but in reality to enslave us at Home as they had already reduced our Country-Men in Ireland to the lowest Degree of Danger and Impuissance that they have at any time been in since the Conquest of Ireland in the Reign of King Henry II. He thereupon Assembled Fifty Horse-Men and at the Head of them marched to Manchester and the next Day he went to Bodon-Downes his Forces being then 150 strong declaring his Design was To join with the Prince of Orange This small Party of Men by degrees drew in all the North and could never be suppressed Now before His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange left Exeter there was an Association drawn up and signed by all the Lords and Gentlemen that were with him the Date of which I cannot assign but the Words thereof are as follow VVE whose Names are hereunto subscribed who have now joined with the Prince of Orange for the Defence of the Protestant Religion and for the maintaining the Antient Government and the Laws and Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland do engage to Almighty God to His Highness the Prince of Orange and to one another to stick firm to this Cause and to one another in Defence of it and never to depart from it until our Religion Laws and Liberties are so far secured to us in a Free Parliament that we shall be no more in danger of falling into Popery and Slavery And whereas we are engaged in this Common Cause under the Protection of the Prince of Orange by which means his Person may be exposed to Danger and to the cursed Attempts of Papists and other Bloody Men we do therefore solemnly
an Oath without Authority of Parliament was contrary to Law That the raising of Money without Consent of Parliament or Convention was contrary to Law That the imploying Officers of the Army as Judges c. was contrary to Law That the imposing extraordinary Fines c. was contrary to Law That the imprisoning of Persons without expressing the Reasons c. was the same That the prosecuting and seizing Mens Estates as forfeited upon stretches of the old and obsolete Laws c. was contrary to Law That the nominating and imposing Magistrates c. upon Burroughs contrary to their express Charters was the same That the sending Letters to the Courts of Justice ordaining the Judges to desist from determining of Causes and ordaining them how to proceed in Causes depending before them c. was contrary to Law That the granting of personal Protections c. was the same That the forcing the Subjects to depose against themselves in capital Causes however the Punishment were restricted was contrary to Law That the using Torture without Evidence or in ordinary Crimes was contrary to Law That the sending of an Army in a Hostile manner into any part of the Kingdom in time of Peace and exacting Locality and free Quarter was the same That charging the Subjects with Law-burroughs at the King's Instance and imposing Bonds without Authority of Parliament and the suspending Advocates for not appearing when Bonds were offer'd was contrary to Law That the putting Garrisons into private Mens Houses in time of Peace without Authority of Parliament was illegal That the Opinions of the Lords of the Sessions in the two Cases following were illegal viz. That the concerting the demand of Supply of a forefaulted Person although not given was Treason That Persons refusing to discover their private Thoughts in relation to points of Treason or other Mens Actions are guilty of Treason That the fining Husbands for their Wives withdrawing from Church was illegal The Prelates and Superiority of any Office in the Church above Presbyter is and has been a great and unsupportable burthen to this Nation and contrary to the Inclinations of the generality of the People ever since the Reformation they having reformâ—d Popery by Presbytery and therefore ought to be abolish'd That it is the Right and Privilege of the Subject to protest for remedy of Law to the King and Parliament against Sentences pronounc'd by the Lords of the Sessions provided the same do not stop executions of the said Sentences That it is the Right of the Subject to petition the King and that all Prosecutions and Imprisonments for such petitioning are and were contrary to Law Therefore for the redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthening and preserving the Laws they claim'd that Parliaments ought to be frequently call'd and allow'd to â—it and freedom of Speech and Debate allow'd the Members And then they farther claim'd and insisted upon all and sundry the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declaration or Proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter in Example but that all Forfeitures Fines loss of Offices Imprisonments Banishments Prosecutions Persecutions and rigorous Executions be consider'd and the Parties redress'd To which demand of their Rights and redress of their Grievances they took themselves to be encourag'd by the King of England's Declaration for the Kingdom of Scotland in October last as being the only means for obtaining a full Redress and Remedy therein Therefore Forasmuch as they had an entire Confidence that His Majesty of England would perfect the Deliverance so far advanc'd by him and would still preserve them from the Violation of the Rights which they had asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Laws and Liberties The said Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland had resolv'd That William and Mary King and Queen of England be declared King and Queen of Scotland to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom to them the said King and Queen during their Lives and the longest Liver of them and that the sole and full Exercise of the Power be only in and exercis'd by him the said King in the Names of the said King and Queen during their Lives And after their Decease that the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdom be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Queen Which failing to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body which also failing to the Heirs of the Body of the said William King of England And then withal they pray'd the said King and Queen to accept the same accordingly It was also declar'd by the Instrument That the Oath hereafter mention'd should be taken by all Protestants by whom the Oath of Allegiance or any other Oaths and Declarations might be requir'd by Law instead of it and that the Oath of Allegiance and all other Oaths and Declarations should be abrogated The Oath was but short and conformable to that which was prescrib'd in England I A. B. Do sincerely promise and swear That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary So help me God This Act being brought to perfection the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners were dispatch'd away with it for London to present it to the King and Queen and to take their Oath which being done the same day as Their Majesties were Crowned King and Queen of England they were also proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland and May 11th the Earl of Argyle with other Commissioners tender'd the Coronation Oath to their Majesties which was distinctly pronounced word by word by the Earl while their Majesties repeated the Sentences after him holding up their Right-hands all the while according to the Custom of Scotland but when the King came to that Clause in the Oath We shall be careful to root out Hereticks he declared that he did not mean by those words that he was under any obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners replied That neither the meaning of the Oath nor the Law of Scotland did import it Whereupon the King said That he took the Oath in that sense and called the Commissioners and other 's there present to be Witnesses of his so doing Then the Convention was turn'd into a Parliament who abolish'd Episcopal Church-Government and restor'd the Presbyterian one which with other concurring Causes made things somewhat uneasie in that Kingdom for a time For tho Edenburgh Castle was June 13th surrender'd to Sir John Lamier yet Dundee gathered strength in the North for the late King between whose Party and Mackays past several Actions and the first was July 16th near Blaine in the County of Athol where Mackay with 4000 Foot and 4 Troops of Horse and Dragoons attack'd Dundee who had 6000 Foot and 100 Horse on his side and between whom there was a
forth a Declaration of War against the French King which was to this purpose Their Majesties Declaration against the French King WILLIAM R. IT having pleased God to make Us the happy Instrument of Rescuing these Nations from great and imminent Dangers and to place Us upon the Throne of these Kingdoms we think our selves obliged to endeavour to the uttermost to promote the Welfare of our People which can never be effectually secured but by preventing the Miseries that threaten them from abroad When we consider the many unjust Methods the French King hath of late years taken to gratifie his Ambition that he has not only invaded the Territories of the Emperor and of the Empire now in Amity with us laying waste whole Countries and destroying the Inhabitants by his Armies but declared War against our Allies without any Provocation in manifest Violation of the Treaties confirmed by the Guaranty of the Crown of England we can do no less than joyn with our Allies in opposing the Designs of the French King as the Disturber of the Peace and the common Enemy of the Christian World And besides the Obligations we lie under by Treaties with our Allies which are a sufficient Justification of Us for taking up Arms at this time since they have called upon us so to do the many Injuries done to Us aud to our Subjects without any Reparation by the French King are such that however of late years they were not taken notice of for Reasons well known to the World nevertheless we will not pass them over without a publick and just Resentment of such Outrages It is not long since the French took Licences from the English Governour of Newfound-Land to Fish in the Seas upon that Coast and paid a Tribute for such Licences as an Acknowledgment of the sole Right of the Crown of England to that Island and yet of late the Encroachments of the French upon our said Island and our Subjects Trade and Fishery have been more like the Invasions of an Enemy than becoming Friends who enjoy'd the Advantages of that Trade only by Permission But that the French King should invade our Charibbee Islands and possess himself of our Territories of the Province of New-York and of Hudson's Bay in a hostile manner seizing our Forts burning our Subjects Houses and enriching his People with the spoil of their Goods and Merchandizes detaining some of our Subjects under the Hardship of Imprisonment causing others to be inhumanely kill'd and driving the rest to Sea in a small Vessel without Food or Necessaries to support them are Actions not becoming even an Enemy and yet he was so far from declaring himself so that at that very time he was negotiating here in England by his Ministers a Treaty of Neutrality and good Correspondence in America The Proceedings of the French King against our Subjects in Europe are so notorious that we shall not need to enlarge upon them his countenancing the Seizure of English Ships by French Privateers forbidding the Importation of a great part of the Product and Manufactures of our Kingdom and imposing exorbitant Customs upon the rest notwithstanding the vast Advantage he and the French Nation reap by their Commerce with England are sufficient Evidences of his Designs to destroy the Trade and consequently to ruin the Navigation upon which the Wealth and Safety of this Nation very much depends The Right of the Flag inherent in the Crown of England has been disputed by his Orders in Violation of our Sovereignty of the Narrow Seas which in all Ages has been asserted by our Predecessors and we are resolv'd to maintain for the Honour of our Crown and of the English Nation But that which must nearly touch us is his unchristian Prosecution of many of our English Protestant Subjects in France for Matters of Religion contrary to the Law of Nations and express Treaties forcing them to abjure their Religion by strange and unusual Cruelties and imprisoning some of the Masters and Seamen of our Merchants Ships and condemning others to the Gallies upon pretence of having on Board either some of his own miserable Protestant Subjects or their Effects And lastly As he has for some years last past endeavoured by Insinuations and Promises of Assistance to overthrow the Government of England so now by open and violent Methods and the actual Invâ—sion of Our Kingdom of Ireland in support of our Subjects in Arms and in Rebellion against Us he is promoting the utter Extirpation of our good and loyal Subjects in that our Kingdom Being therefore thus necessitated to take up Arms and relying on the help of Almighty God in our just Undertaking We have thought fit to Declare and do hereby Declare War against the French King and that We will in Conjunction with our Allies vigorously prosecute the same by Sea and Land since he hath so unrighteously begun it being assured of the hearty Concurrence and Assistance of our Subjects in support of so good a Cause hereby willing and requiring our General of our Forces our Commissioners for executing the Office of High Admiral our Lieutenants of our several Counties Governours of our Forts and Garisons and all other Officers and Soldiers under them by Sea and Land to do and execute all acts of Hostility in the Prosecution of this War against the French King his Vassals and Subjects and to oppose their Attempts Willing and Requiring all our Subjects to take notice of the same whom we henceforth strictly forbid to hold any Correspondence or Communication with the said French King or his Subjects And because there are remaining in our Kingdoms many of the Subjects of the French King We do Declare and give our Royal Word That all such of the French Nation as shall demean themselves dutifully towards us and not correspond with our Enemies shall be safe in their Persons and Estates and free from all molestation and trouble of any kind Given at our Court at Hampton-Court the 7th day of May. 1689 in the first Year of our Reign God save King William and Queen Mary I shall not meddle with the Declaration nor pretend to defend the Justice of it for I think it carries its own light with it but return to the late King who upon his Arrival in Ireland found himself not mistaken as to the Number of his Party which was indeed very strong and almost all the Country at his Devotion the greatest part of the Protestants having before upon their disappointment of Arms Ammunition Commissions and some Forces from England either deserted it or those that staid behind very unable to make any Resistance However they made some shew of forming an Army but were quickly routed by Lieutenant General Hamilton at a place called Drummore Mar. 15th which gave occasion to the late King and Tirconnel to take away the Arms and Horses of the rest of the Protestants except those that fled to Londonderry and some few that went towards Iniskilling who about
Scotland the whole Party would not seem thereby to be discouraged especially those in England who thought it a very opportune Season while the King was absent to attempt something considerable to the Advantage of their Cause And therefore having timely concerted Matters with their Friends on the other side of the Water it was so agreed That while part of the French Fleet should bear up into the Thames to favour and assist the Designs of those that were in London who were very numerous by the flocking of a great many of the Conspirators from all Parts of the Country thither they were to have made an Insurrection in several Places at once Certain Persons were to have taken upon them the Administration of Affairs till the Return of King James who was to leave the Command of his Army to his Generals and hasten with all Speed into England The other part of the French Fleet having joyned their Gallies was to have landed 8000 Men at Torbay with Arms for a greater Number after which the Gallies and Men of War were to Sail into the Irish Sea to hinder the Return of King William and his Forces Their Party in Scotland was to have revolted at the same time in several Parts of that Kingdom But however the Matter was in reality the whole Contrivance seems to have been founded upon a Presumption if not Assurance of the English Fleet being first beaten by the French of which whether they had any foresight otherwise than from the inequality of the Strength which was considerably at this time to the Advantage of France I am not able to unriddle Yet the Conspiracy by the timous Discovery of it proved a vain Contrivance tho' the Grounds upon which the Formation thereof seemed to depend proved but too successful For all the French Fleet having entred the Channel as before concerted they veered some time upon the English Coast as expecting the Effect of the Conspiracy which was to have broken out the 18th of June of which the Queen had no sooner notice but she sent the Earl of Torrington who was Admiral Orders to fight the Enemy what-ever befel him as knowing they could have no good Design by coming so near us But how dishonourable soever this Action seemed to be to the English Nation yet there was one Circumstance that attended it that was somewhat favourable For the People generally were possess'd with an Opinion of the English Seamens Courage and Bravery above those of the French and many with so high a Conceit of the Admiral that Commanded them that it was some days before they could be brought to be perswaded of the Truth of what had happened And their Concern about it even then was much alleviated by the good News we had of his Majesty's Success in Ireland at the Battle at the Boyne which was fought the day after and of which by and by But we must first return where we left off in Ireland and that was to the Army going from Dundalk into their Winter Quarters and take a short View of the State of things there till the King's Arrival Dundalk Camp was not the only the Place that proved fatal to our Army in Ireland for they died in great numbers both Officers and Souldiers after they got into Quarters and among the former Colonel Langston departed this Life of a Fever at Lisburn and my Lord Hewet and the Lord Roscommon of the same Distemper at Chester So that about the beginning of the new Year several Regiments were broke into others and the Officers continued at half Pay till Provision could be made for them in other Regiments whilst others went over into England for Recruits However Sickness by degrees abating about the beginning of Febr. they found both Men and Horses such as survived in pretty good Heart when the General being informed that the Enemy were drawing down some Forces towards Dundalk and that they had laid in great Store of Corn Hay and other Provisions with a Design from thence to disturb our Frontier Garrisons sent a considerable Body of Horse and Foot that way himself following them on the 11th towards Drummore in order to wait the Enemies Motion But the Irish designs at this time lay another way For while the Duke was upon this Expedition there was Notice given Colonel Woolsâ—ey that they had a Design to fall upon Belturbet which he had taken from them a little before and that to that end a considerable number of them were advanced to Cavan and more to follow who thereupon marched diligently from Belturbet with 700 Foot and 300 Horse and Dragoons in the Evening towards them as thinking to surprize them next Morning ealry they being not above 8 Miles off But he met with so many Difficulties in his March that instead of being before day light at the Place he designed it was not only half an hour after break of day before he came in sight of it but also the Enemy had got notice of his coming So that instead of surprizing them he might well have been surprized himself For the first thing he saw was a Body of the Enemy drawn up in good Order and might consist of about 4000 Men but there being no retreating now either with Honour or Safety the Colonel was resolved to stand stoutly to it and therefore having first told his Men the Advantages of being brave and the inevitable Ruin of the whole Party if they proved otherwise and thereupon finding them very compliant to his Desire he sent a Party of Iniskilling Dragoons towards the Enemy who were presently charged by a great Body of their Horse and beat back past the Front of their own Foot who were so enraged at them that some of Major General Kirk's Men and Colonel Wharton's fired upon them and killed 7 or 8 of the number but some of the Enemies Horse pursued them so far that many of them were killed by our Foot as they endeavoured to get off By this time the Body of the Party was advanced near the Irish who were posted upon the top of a rising Ground not far from the Town and who as our Men advanced up the Hill fired a whole Volley upon them and then set up an Huzza but scarce killed a Man their Shot flying over them Our Men however went on till they came within Pistol-shot and then fired which so galled the Irish that they immediately retired towards the Town and entred into a Fort they had there and from whence they sallied and made a very fierce Attack upon the English who had too speedily fallen to Plunder But Woolsley having 250 Foot and about 80 Horse for a Reserve the Enemy were beat off again their Horse flying quite beyond the Town and the Foot retiring to the Fort again The Soldiers got good store of Shoes and other things in the Place but their Ammunition was blown up and their Provisions destroy'd for the Colonel was forced to set the Town on
my self a Member of the Church of England I must take this Opportunity and I do it for God's Glory to apply my self to you that are Royalists of that Church of the same Faith and Principles with my self and I beg of you for God's sake and the Love of your Souls to be very constant and serious in all Religious Offices and holy Duties of Divine Worship and Service which I have too much neglected as I own to my great Sorrow Let no Excuse no Dangers prevent or hinder you in these most necessary and serious Matters and be I beseech you very careful and circumspect in all your Actions Behaviour and Conversation as I earnestly exhorted all that came to me I have I thank God a great deal of Satisfaction in my present Sufferings and have found it so ever since I have been under them And blessed be God it doth continually increase upon me And I do now lay down my Life with all Chearfulness and Resignation in sure and certain Hope of a Resurrection to Eternal Life through our Lord Jesus Christ through whose Merits alone I hope for the Pardon of my Sins and the Salvation of my Soul And so O Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth And I do heartily and humbly beseech thee Almighty God and my most Gracious â—ather to forgive and bless this sinful Nation deliver it from the Guilt of Rebellion Blood and Perjury 〈◊〉 is now on all sides more than ever and from all those other heinous Sins which cry aloud Preserve and bless this Church Comfort our distressed King Restore him to his Right and his mislead Subjects to their Allegiance Bless also his Royal Consort our Gracious Queen Mary his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales That he may grow in Stature and in Favour with God and Man Support and Strengthen all those that suffer in any kind for a good Cause give them Patience under all their Afflictions and a happy Deliverance out of them Forgive all mine Enemies Pardon my former Neglect and remissness in Religious Worship and Holy Duties and all the Sins I have been guilty of to this very moment Consider my Contrition accept my Tears And now Thou art pleased to take me hence take me into thy Favour and grant that my Soul may be without Spot presented unto Thee through the Merits of thy Most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen John Freind Sir WILLIAM PERKYNS's Paper IT hath not been my Custom to use many Words and I shall not be long upon this Occasion having Business of much greater Consequence to employ my Thoughts upon I thank God I am now in a full disposition to Charity and therefore shall make no Complaints either of the Hardships of my Tryal or any other Rigours put upon me However one Circumstance I think my self oblig'd to mention it was Sworn against me by Mr. Porter That I had own'd to him that I had Seen and Read a Commission from the King to Levy War upon the Person of the Prince of Orange Now I must declare That the Tenour of the King's Commission which I saw was General and directed to all his Loving Subjects to Raise and Levy War against the Prince of Orange and his Adherents and to seize all Forts Castles c. which I suppose may be a customary Form of giving Authority to make War but I must confess I am not much acquainted with Matters of that Nature But as for any Commission particularly levelled against the Person of the Prince of Orange I neither saw nor heard of any such It 's true I was privy to the Design upon the Prince but was not to act in it and I am fully satisfied that very few or none knew of it but those who undertook to do it I freely acknowledge and think it for my Honour to say That I was entirely in the Interest of the King being always firmly persuaded of the Justice of his Cause and looked upon it as my Duty both as a Subject and an Englishman to Assist him in the Recovery of his Throne which I believed him to be deprived of contrary to all Right and Justice taking the Laws and Constitution of my Country for my Guide As for my Religion I die in the Communion of the Church of England in which I was Educated And as I freely forgive all the World so who-ever I may any ways have Injured I heartily ask them Pardon April 13. 1696. William Perkyns Here the Bigottry of these poor and wretched Men cannot but be admired and pitied that they should justifie their Treasons to the last Gasp which hot-headed Charnock did not think fit to do But this can be attributed to nothing else save the blind Zeal and rebellious Principles of those Clergy-men that were with them and who fairly if they had had their Desert should have been hang'd for Administring Absolution to them without any precedent Confession in direct Opposition to the Laws of that Church whereof they would be thought Members which thereupon was condemned by 14 Bishops being all that were then in London and assented to by all the rest that were Absent It 's well they liv'd under so mild a Government though they were unworthy of it had they been guilty in the late Reigns of any that had come near the pitch of their Crime they had infallibly swung for it when Julian Johnson was so severely Whipped and barbarously Used for his honest Address to the English Soldiery and Seamen The other 3 that followed viz. Cranborn Rookwood and Lowick all confessed the Crime though in a different manner but the 2 latter who were Roman Catholicks somewhat more modestly than the former tho' a pretended Protestant who called it a righteous Cause for which he suffer'd The Papers they deliver'd were these Major LOWICK's Paper In the Name of the most Holy Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen IN the first place I die in the Religion I was Baptized viz. Roman Catholick and humbly beg the Prayers of all Good People for a happy Resurrection and of all Catholicks for the Good of my Soul As for being ingag'd in this for which I die it was never so positive that I had a Horse from the beginning to the very last nor never see any allotted me or the two Men I was to provide as was sworn against me at my Tryal nor had I any on that Account nor was I at any of their Meetings when they settled any such thing And as for any Order of Commission from King James I never see any since I came last into England which is now above 5 Years and I am confident none that knows King James will believe he would give any such Order Indeed I must confess I believe King James was a coming to assert his own Right and I should if on Shore have done any thing in my Power to have assisted him and in order to
that I should have been very glad to have had a Horse but never had any And as for being concern'd in any Bloody Affair I never was in my Life but have done my Endeavour to prevent as much as I could on all Occasions and if the Killing the most miserable Creature in the World or greatest Enemy would now save my Life restore the King and make me one of the greatest Men in England I first would chuse to die because against the Law of God If any who are now Sufferers on this Account think I have been too forward and a Promoter of this Design I do now declare it was never my Inclination to do any rash thing However I beg their Pardons and of all the World I have offended either in Thought Word or any Action whatsoever and do freely forgive my Enemies and hope through the Mercy of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have Remission of all my Sins Good God preserve the King Queen Prince and Princess and all that Royal Blood of Stewards and may England never want one of that direct Line to Govern them and make them once more Happy I have had the Honour to serve my Royal Master in several Commissions and the last as Major and strove ever to serve him to the best of my Power and even to be Just to those who I had the Honour to Command Lord Jesus into thy Hands I recommend my Spirit O Jesus receive my Soul Robert Lowick Brigadier ROOKWOOD's Paper HAving committed the Justice of my Cause and recommended my Soul to God on whose Mercies through the Merits of Jesus Christ I wholly cast my self I had once resolved to die in Silence but second Thoughts of my Duty to others chiefly to my True and Liege Soveraign King James moved me to leave this behind me I do therefore with all Truth and Sincerity declare and avow That I never knew saw or heard of any Order or Commission from King James for the Assassinating the Prince of Orange and Attacking his Guards but I am certainly inform'd That he the best of Kings had often rejected Proposals of that Nature when made unto him Nor do I think he knew the least of the particular Design of the Attacking the Guards at his Landing so much talk'd of in which I was engaged as a Soldier by my immediate Commander much against my Judgment but his Soldier I was and as such I was to obey and act according to Command These twelve Years I have served my true King and Master King James and freely now lay down my Life in his Cause I ever abhorr'd Treachery even to an Enemy If it be a guilt to have complied with what I thought and still think to have been my Duty I am guilty No other guilt do I own As I beg all to forgive me so I forgive all from my Heart even the Prince of Orange who as a Soldier ought to have consider'd my Case before he Sign'd the Warrant for my Death I pray God may open his Eyes and render him sensible of the much Blood from all Parts crying out against him so to prevent a heavier Execution hanging over his Head than what he inflicts on me Amb. Rookwood But I confess after all that the Shouting of the People at the Execution of some of these wretched Assassins was cruel and inhumane and two base a Triumphing over Misery which always deserves our Christian Compassion As soon as the News reached Flanders that the King was safe and England happily delivered from the two bloody Tempests that threaten'd her the Generals and it was thought to be the particular Contrivance of Prince Vaudemont bethought themselves of making an extraordinary Bonfire for Joy by burning the French Magazine at Givet To which End after several Orders and Countermands given to the Garrison of Namur the greatest part of them were ordered to march with Provision for six Days and being joined by several other Troops they crossed the Meuse on the 12th of March and were followed the next Day by the Horse under the Conduct of the Earl of Athlone and Major-General Cohorne and having crossed the River Leile the Earl with one part of this Body marched towards Dinant while Cohorne with the rest sate down before Givet And having got all things ready by the 16th in the Morning he began his Work about Seven a Clock with Bombs and Red-hot Bullets which first set fire to the Forage and at the same time a certain Number of Soldiers were commanded to enter the Town with lighted Flambeaux in their Hands who fired the Cazerns and other Edifices where the Magazines of Oats and other Provisions lay So that that vast Magazine was utterly consumed and all this performed with the Loss of not above 9 or 10 Men. But notwithstanding this considerable Advantage to the Confederates the Conspiracy in England and other more than ordinary Affairs before the Parliament had spun out so much Time that the King could not be so early in the Camp this Year as was designed who was himself also unwilling to leave his Kingdoms till the Arrival of the Fleet from Cales under Sir George Rook who had upon occasion of the first breaking out of the Plot Orders sent him to return home and safely came upon the Coast towards the latter end of April to the dissipating of the great Fears we were in lest the French Fleet from Thoulon should overtake and ruine him And indeed they were not far behind for before the Junction of those Men of War we had then in the Downs with some of Sir George's Squadron and that he could get upon the Coast of Brest in order to intercept and fight them they were got safe into that and the other Harbours of France So that the French took the Field before the Confederates to whom they were superiour at first in number till the Junction of the German Troops who ever came late which was at all times a prodigious Disadvantage to the Confederates So that what with these things but most of all for the extream Want of Mony to pay the Army now our Coin was called in the Confederates could not act Offensively as they had done the preceding Year But about the time that the King arrived at the Hague there happen'd something to fall out which began to savour of somewhat else than the Toils and Inconveniences of War for Monsieur Caillieri was come thither from France with Proposals towards concluding a general Peace by setling such Preliminaries as might be a sufficient Basis to ground a Treaty upon I do not know whether there was any real Disposition in the French Court to a general Peace before the Year 1695 but the loss of Namur Casall and other Disadvantages did without all doubt powerfully operate towards it and nothing could have retarded their Motions in order to it but the Plausibility of the Invasion against England and that in such an hazardous Juncture when our Coin was
speak once more the Language of Nimeguen came hereby very far short of their Expectations However neither this nor the Siege of Barcelonâ— was designed by them to retard but rather to quicken the Spaniards pace towards a Peace So that the Conferences between their Plenipotentiaries and the Allies went on under the Mediation of the Young King of Sweden now his Father Charles XI of that Name had died on the 17th of April this Spring by the intervention of the Baron de Lillieroot his Ambassador who went between the one and the other for the said purpose After the Allies had made their Pretensions they drew up a large Deduction in justification of them of which they resolved to give the French Plenipotentiaries no Copy until they had Declared that they had received the King's Orders to make theirs But these same Plenipotentiaries having Declared that they had nothing to ask or pretend to and that they were ready to Answer the others The Allies changed their Thoughts the French Plenipotentiaries having in the mean time had several separate Conferences with those of the States General about Commerce and a Cessation of Arms which the former shewed themselves very eager for But there was but little appearance that this last point should then have been agreed to seeing the Peace was more likely to be Retarded than Advanced thereby Towards the end of May the Spanish Ambassadors presented their grievances to the Mediator who received them with a promise of having the same shortly Debated But the said Mediator did at the same time Declare that he was of Opinion that it would very much contribute to the advancement of the Peace if a Truce was agreed on by common consent seeing the Clamour and Fury of War did more harm than good to the Negotiation Mens minds being so much â—he less composed by how much they were Distracted and 〈◊〉 out of order by the daily â—venâ—â— of War This Opinion seemed then to be approved by silence but other things intervened and none of all the Allies made so much ado about having all the Names of the Confederate Princes exprest and particularly inserted in the Treaty as the Brandenburg Ambassador who insisted very much upon it as some of the Allies took it also very ill that both the one and the other pretentions of the Empire were proposed by the Emperor's Ambassador only in his Name but they had satisfaction given them in respect to these complaints for the said Ambassadorâ— replied that every one of the Allies was free to propose separate Articles concerning his own Affairs Several Princes did about the same time give in their Grievances to the Mediator while all Parties were in mighty Expectations oâ— News from divers parts that might favour their respective interests but more especially from Poland where the Frenâ—â— were Cocksure the Prince of Conti would carry that Crown whereas the Confederates had apparently all their Eyes turn'd upon Prince James but there was a third Person who ran away with the Bone in Contention whom no body eveâ— Dreamt to have any thoughts that way and that was the Elector of Saxony who in the end of the Spring took a Journey to Vienna under pretence of settling matters in Relatiâ—â— to the Campaign in Hungary where 't was given out he would Command the Emperor's Army again this Year But the Event proved that in reality the Design was to Concerâ— with the Emperor how the Elector might obtain the Crowâ— of Poland which his Religion could be no bar to since â—e was already privately reconciled to the Church of Rome 〈◊〉 at least given out so afterwards But whether in order 〈◊〉 the wearing of a Crown the Elector has obtained as mâ—â— Reputation and Glory by the Abjuration as the Gentlemeâ— of the Church of Rome are pleased to phrase it of the Proâ—â—stant Religion as his great Ancestor did in the Propagation of that Faith Preached by Martin Luther and the first Priâ—â— in Europe that avowedly tho' it was with the hazzard of aâ—â— took both him and it under his Protection I 'le leave otheâ— to Judge However it be the Design was certainly carried on with wonderful secrety and address for all of a suddâ—â— the Elector leaves Vienna which was attended with varioâ— Reports spread abroad immediately of some mis-understanâ—ing between the Emperor and Him which no body coâ—assign a cause for But when they saw the Elector muste◠〈◊〉 a Body of his Troops it wrought I know not what suspitioâ— and the Brandenburgers so far took the Allarm as suddenly 〈◊〉 get what Froces they could together to oppose any atteâ—â— that might be made that way But the Electors sudden maâ—â— towards Silesia and the Frontiers of Poland quickly ocâ—â—oned other Speculations and in Truth the next News thâ—â— had at Reswick was his being chosen on the 26th of 〈◊〉 King of Poland by a great majority of Voices above the Prince of Conti who was also Proclaimed King though the Expedition afterwards made into that Country by that brave Man proved little to his or the French King's satisfaction the Elector having in a manner weathered all his point before the other's Arrival The first news of it was a great mortification to the French Plenipotentiaries at Reswick however the Treaty went on and the Ceremonial part being in a manner all adjusted the French who had daily Conferences with the Ministers of the States General and of the other Allies made an offer of an Equivalent again for Luxemburg and Strasburg they being willing for the former to give up to his Catholick Majesty Conde Tournay Melen and Ipres as they were for the other ready to consign into the Emperor's hands Brisac Phillipsburg and Friburg But the French Plenipotentiaries had in the mean time sent the Pretensions of the Allies to their King while the Confederates protested That they would not be put by their right but that they should have liberty allowed them every one to present his Grievance to the Mediator The Princes of the Empire desiring also to â—e comprehended in the Treaty demanded the same things whereof neither the Imperialists nor the French made any great difficulty whether they were willing to have all their different Interests and concerns terminated together or every one of them by themselves in particular About this time it was the Plenipotentiaries of the States General Declared aloud with some sort of Indignation That it was an unjust and false Report that was spread abroad concerning their Masters having underhand concluded upon their Affairs with France And that they might still make a greater appearance of their just Comportment and Sincerity they openly diswaded the Ministers of the Allies from consenting to a Truce with France to which they were of themselves deaf enough and the rather for that the French had rejected the Pretentions of the Imperialists and Spaniards as being not willing to answer the same before the Confederates gave their Opinions concerning the
Occasion and that most truly to in their own Justification That they had bore alone the Burthen of the War by keeping of great Fleets and numerous Land-Forces which they had set out at their own Charge for the common Good and notwithstanding so many States and Princes of the Empire they had paid almost alone the Expences of the War all along the Rhine And that Trade not having its ordinary Course all this bore very hard upon them To this may be added the advantageous Conditions of Peace granted them and first to begin with that of the English for whom and himself no Man surely in his Wits will deny but King William made as honourable Terms as could in Reason under the Circumstances of things be expected But a better View hereof will be had by the Articles themselves which follow I. That there be an Universal Perpetual Peace and a Truce and Sincere Friendship between the Most Serene and Mighty Prince William the Third King of Great Britain and the most Serene and Mighty Prince Lewis the Fourteenth the most Christian King their Heirs and Successors and between the Kingdoms States and Subjects of Both and that the same be so Sincerely and Inviolably observed and kept that the one shall promote the Interest Honour and Advantage of the other and that on both sides a faithful Neighbourhood and true Observation of Peace and Friendship may daily Flourish and Encrease II. That all Enmities Hostilities Discords and Wars between the said King of Great Britain and the most Christian King and their Subjects cease and be abolished so that on both sides they forbear and abstain hereafter from all Plundring Depredation Harm-doing Injuries and Infestation whatsoever as well by Land as by Sea and on fresh Waters every where and especially throughout all the Kingdoms Territories Dominions and Places belonging to each other of what Condition soever they be III. That all Offences Injuries Damages which the said King of Great Britain and his Subjects or the said most Christian King and â—his Subjects have suffered from each other during this War shall be forgotten so that neither on Account of them or for any other Cause or Pretence neither Party or the Subjects of either shall hereafter do cause or suffer to be done any Hostility Enmity Molestation or Hindrance to the other by himself or others Secretly or Openly Directly or Indirectly by Colour of Right or Way of Fact IV. And since the most Christian King was never more desirous of any thing than that the Peace be firm and inviolable the said King Promises and Agrees for himself and his Successors That he will on no account whatsoever disturb the said King of Great Britain in the free Possession of the Kingdoms Countries Lands or Dominions which he now Enjoys and therefore Engages his Honour upon the Faith and Word of a King that he will not give or afford any Assistance directly or indirectly to any Enemy or Enemies of the said King of Great Britain And that he will in no manner whatsoever favour the Conspiraces or Plots which any Rebels or ill disposed Persons may in any place Excite or Contrive against the said King And for that end Promises and Engages That he will not assist with Arms Ships Ammunition Provisions or Money or in any other way by Sea or by Land any Person or Persons who shall hereafter under any pretence whatsoever Disturb or Molest the said King of Great Britain in the free and full Possession of his Kingdoms Countries Lands and Dominions The King of Great Britain likewise Promises and Engages for himself and Successors Kings of Great Britain That he will inviolably do and perform the same towards the said most Christian King his Kingdoms Countries Lands and Dominions V. That there be a free use of Navigation and Commerce between the Subjects of both the said Kings as was formerly in the time of Peace and before the Declaration of the late War so that every of them may freely come into the Kingdoms Marts Ports and Rivers of either of the said Kings with their Merchandizes and may there continue and Trade without any Molestation and shall use and enjoy all Liberties Immunities and Priviledges granted by solemn Treaties and ancient Custom VI. That the ordinary Administration of Justice shall be restored and sâ—t open throughout the Kingdoms and Dominions of both Kings so that it shall be free for all the Subjects of either to claim and obtain their Rights Pretensions and Actions according to the Laws Constitutions and Statutes of each Kingdom VII The most Christian King shall Restore to the said King of Great Britain all Countries Islands Forts and Colonies wheresoever Situated which the English did possess before the Declaration of this present War And in like manner the King of Great Britain shall restore to the most Christian King all Countries Islands Forts and Colonies wheresoever Situated which the French did Possess before the said Declaration of War And this Restitution shall be made on both Sides within the Space of Six Months or sooner if it can be done And to that end immediately after the Ratification of this Treaty each of the said Kings shall Deliver or cause to be Delivered to the other or to Commissioners Authorized in his Name for that Purpose all Acts of Concession Instruments and necessary Orders duly made and in proper Form so that they may have their Effect VIII Commissioners shall be appointed on both sides to Examine and Determine the Rights and Pretensions which either of the said Kings hath to the places Situated in Hudsons-Bay But the Possession of those Places which were taken by the French during the Peace that preceded this present War and were retaken by the English during this War shall be left to the French by virtue of the foregoing Article The Capitulation made by the English on the 5th of September 1696. shall be Observed according to its Form and Tenor The Merchandises therein mentioned shall be restored The Governour of the Fort taken there shall be set at Liberty if it be not already done The Differences arisen concerning the Execution of the said Capitulation and the value of the Goods there lost shall be adjudged and determined by the said Commissioners who immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty shall be Invested with sufficient Authority for settling the Limits and Confines of the Lands to be restored on either side by virtue of the foregoing Article and likewise for exchanging of Lands as may conduce to the mutual Interest and Advantage of both Kings And to this end the Commissioners so appointed shall within the space of 3 Months from the time of the Ratification of the present Treaty meet in the City of London and within six Months to be reckoned from their first Meeting shall Determine all Differences and Disputes which may arise concerning this matter After which the Articles the said Commissioners shall agree to shall be Ratified
by both Kings and shall have the same Force and Vigour as if they were inserted Word for Word in the present Treaty IX All Letters as well of Reprisal as of Marque and Counter-Marque which hitherto have for any cause been granted on either side shall be and remain null and void Nor shall any the like Letters be hereafter granted by either of the said Kings against the Subjects of the other unless it be first made manifest that Right hath been denied And it shall not be taken for a denial of Right unless the Petition of the Person who desires Letters of Reprisal to be granted to him be first shewn to the Minister residing there on the part of the King against whose Subjects those Letters are desired That within the space of 4 Months or sooner he may inquire into the contrary or procure that satisfaction be made with all speed from the Party offending to the Complainant But if the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are demanded have no Minister residing there Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted till after the space of 4 Months to be reckoned from the Day on which his Petition was made and presented to the King against whose Subjects Reprisals are desired or to his Privy Council X. For cutting off all matter of Dispute and Contention which may arise concerning the Restitution of Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which either Party may complain to be taken and detained from the other in Countries and on Coasts far distant after the Peace is concluded and before it be notified there All Ships Merchandises and other moveable Goods which shall be taken by either side after the Signing and Publication of the present Treaty within the space of Twelve Days in the British and North Seas as far as the Cape St. Vincent Within the space of Ten Weeks beyond the said Cape and on this side of the Equinoctial Line or Equator as well in the Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as elsewhere Lastly within the space of six Months beyond the said Line throughout the whole World shall belong and remain unto the Possessors without any Exception or further Distinction of Time or Place or any consideration to be had of Restitution or Compensation XI But if it happens through Inadvertency or Imprudence or any other Cause whatever that any Subject of either of the said two Kings shall do or commit any thing by Land or Sea or on fresh Water any where contrary to the present Treaty or that any Particular Article thereof is not fulfilled this Peace and good Correspondence between the said two Kings shall not on that account be Interrupted or Infringed but shall remain in its former Force Strength and Vigour and the said Subject only shall answer for his own Fact and undergo the Punishment to be Inflicted according to the Custom and Law of Nations XII But if which God forbid the Differences now Composed between the said Kings should at any time be renewed and break out into open War the Ships Merchandises and all kind of moveable Goods of either Party which shall be found to be and remain in the Ports and Dominions of the adverse Party shall not be Confiscated or brought under any Inconveniency but the whole space of six Months shall be allowed to the Subject of both of the said Kings that they may carry away and transport the aforesaid Goods and any thing else that is theirs whither they shall think fit without any Molestation XIII For what concerns the Principality of Orange and other Lands and Dominions belonging to the said King of Great Britain the separate Article of the Treaty of Nimeguen concluded between the most Christian King and the States General of the United Provinces the 10th Day of August 1678. shall according to its Form and Tenor have full effect and all things that have been Innovated and Altered shall be restored as they were before All Decrees Edicts and other Acts of what kind soever they be without Exception which are in a manner contrary to the said Treaty or were made after the conclusion thereof shall be held to be null and void without any revival or consequence for the future And all things shall be restored to the said King in the same state and in the same manner as he held and enjoyed them before he was dispossessed thereof in the time of the War which was ended by the said Treaty of Nimeguen or which he ought to have held and enjoyed according to the said Treaty And that an end may be put to all Trouble Differences Processes and Questions which may arise concerning the same both the said Kings will name Commissioners who with full and summary Power may compose and settle all these matters And forasmuch as by the Authority of the most Christian King the King of Great Britain was hindred from enjoying the Revenues Rights and Profits as well of his Principality of Orange as of other his Dominions which after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nimeguen until the Declaration of the present War were under the power of the said most Christian King the said most Christian King will restore and cause to be restored in reality with Effect and with the Interest due all those Revenues Rights and Profits according to the Declarations and Verifications that shall be made before the said Commissioners XIV That Treaty of Peace concluded between the most Christian King and the late Elector of Brandenburg at St. Germains in Laye the 29 June 1679. shall be restored in its Articles and remain in its former Vigour between his Sacred Most Christian Majesty and his Electoral Highness of Brandenburg XV. Whereas 't will greatly conduce to the publick Tranquility that the Treaty be observed which was concluded between his Sacred most Christian Majesty and his Royal Highness of Savoy on the Ninth of Aug. 1696. 't is agreed that the said Treaty shall be confirmed by this Article XVI Under this present Treaty of Peace shall be comprehended those who shall be named by either Party with common consent before the Exchange of Ratifications or within six Months after But in the mean time the most Serene and Mighty Prince William King of Great Britain and the most Serene and Mighty Prince â—ewis the most Christian King gratefully acknowledging the sincere Offices and Indefatigable Endeavours which have been employed by the most Serene and Mighty Prince Charles King of Sweden by the inter position of his Mediation in bringing this happy work of the Peace with the Divine Assistance to the desired Conclusion and to shew the like Affection to him 't is by consent of all Parties stipulated and agreed That his said Sacred Royal Majesty of Sweden shall with all his Kingdoms Countries Provinces and Rights be included in this Treaty and comprehended in the best manner in the present Pacification XVII Lastly The Solemn Ratifications of this present agreement and alliance made in due Form shall be delivered on
both sides and mutually and duly exchanged at the Royal Palace of Ryswick in the Province of Holland within the space of three Weeks to be reckoned from the Day of the Subscription or sooner if it may be In Testimony of all and every the things before mentioned and for their greater Force and to give them all the Vigour and full Authority they ought to have the Underwritten Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaries together with the Illustirous and most Excellent the Extraordinary Ambassador Mediator have Signed and Sealed the present Instrument of Peace Done c. Signed by the English and French Ambassadors and by the Metâ—iator Separate Article Besides all that is Concluded and Stipulated by the Treaty of Peace Signed this present Day the 20th of Sptember it is moreover agreed by the present separate Article which shall have the same Force and Effect as if it was inserted word for word in the said Treaty That the most Christian King shall convenant and agree that it shall be free for the Emperor and Empire until the first Day of Novemher next to accept the Conditions of Peace lately proposed by the most Christian King according to the Declaration made on the first Day of this present Month unless in the mean time it shall be otherwise agreed between his Imperial Majesty and the Empire and his most Christian Majesty And in Case his Imperial Majesty does not within the time prefixed accept those Conditions or that it be not otherwise agreed between his Imperial Majesty and the Empire and his most Christian Majesty the said Treaty shall have its full Effect and be duly put in Execution according to its Form and Tenor And it shall not be lawful for the King of Great Britain directly or indirectly on any account or cause whatsoever to act contrary to the said Treaty Having thus premised the English Articles we shall next add those of the Dutch IN the Name of God and of the Holy Trinity Be it known to all present and to come That whereas after a long continuance of the most Bloody War that Europe time out of mind has been afflicted with it hath pleas'd Divine Providence to prepare for Christendom the end of her Miseries by cherishing a fervent Desire of Peace in the Heart of the Most High Most Excellent and Most Potent Prince Lewis XIV by the Grace of God Most Christian King of France and Navarr his Most Christian Majesty moreover not having any other Intention then to render it solid and perpetual by the Equity of the Conditions and the Lords the States General of the United Provinces of the Low-Countries being no less desirous sincerely and as much as in them lies to concur toward the Establishment of the publick Tranquility and return to the ancient Amity and Affection of his Most Christian Majesty have consented in the first place in order to it to acknowledge the Mediation of the Most High Most Excellent and Most Potent Prince Chares XI of Glorious Memory by the Grace of God King of Sweden the Goths and Vandals but a hasty Death having cross'd the Hopes that all Europe had justly conceiv'd of his Counsels and good Offices His Most Christian Majesty and the said Lords the States General persisting in their Resolution to stop as soon as may be the Effusion of so much Christian Blood thought they could not take a better Course than still to acknowledge under the same Character the Most High Most Excellent and Thrice Potent Prince Charles XII King of Sweden his Son and Successor who on his side has also continu'd the same Cares for the Advancement of the Peace between his Most Christian Majesty and the said Lords the States General in the Conferences held for this purpose in the Castle of Ryswick in the Province of Holland between the Extraordinary Embassadors and Plenipotentiaries appointed on both sides that is to say On the behalf of his Most Christian Majesty the Sieur Nicholas Augustus de Harlay Knight Lord of Bonnueil c. the Sieur Lewis de Verjus Knight Count of Crecy c. and the Sieur Francis de Callieres Knight Lord of Callieres c. And on the behalf of the Lords the States General the Sieurs Antony Heinsius Counsellor Pensionary of the States of Holland and West-Friese c. Everard de Weed Lord of Weede Dickvelt Rateles c. and William de Haren Grietman of Bilt c. who having implor'd the Assistance of Heaven and respectively imparted to each other their full Powers Copies of which shall be inserted at the end of this present Treaty and made Exchanges thereof in due form by the Interposition and Mediation of the Sieur Baron de Lillierooâ— Extraordinary Embassador and Plenipotentiary of the King of Sweden who acquitted himself of the Function of Mediator with all requisite Prudence Capacity and Equity agreed to the Glory of God and for the Welfare of Christendom upon the following Conditions I. There shall be for the future between his Most Christian Majesty and his Successors Kings of France and Nâ—varr and his Kingdoms of the one part and the Lords the States General of the United Provinces of the Low-Countriâ—â— on the other a good firm faithful and inviolable Peace in pursuance of which all Acts of Hostility shall cease 〈◊〉 be forborn of what Nature soever they may be betweeâ— the said Lord the King and the said States General as 〈◊〉 by Sea and other Waters as by Land in all their Kingdoms Countries Territories Provinces and Signories and between all their Subjects and Inhabitants of 〈◊〉 Quality or Condition soever they be without any Exception of Places or Persons II. There shall be a general Oblivion and Amnesty of 〈◊〉 that has been done on either side upon occasion of this 〈◊〉 War whether by those who being born Subjects of Fraâ—â—â— and engag'd in the Service of the Most Christian King 〈◊〉 their Employments and Estates which they possess'd 〈◊〉 in the Extent of France enter'd into and remain'd in 〈◊〉 Services of the Lords the States General of the United Provinces or by those who being born Subjects of the 〈◊〉 Lords the States General or engag'd in their Service by the Employments and Estates which they possess'd within the Extent of the United Provinces enter'd into and remain'd in the Service of his Most Christian Majesty and the said Persons of what Quality and Condition soever they may be without any Exception may re-enter and shall re-enter and shall be effectually re-admitted and re-establish'd in the peaceable Possession and Enjoyment of their Estates Honours Dignities Privileges Franchises Rights Exemptions Constitutions and Liberties without ever being prosecuted troubl'd or molested either in general or particular for any Cause or under any Pretence whatever by reason of whatever pass'd since the beginning of the said War and in consequence of the preseâ—â— Treaty and after it shall be ratify'd as well by his Most Christian Majesty as by the said Lords the States General it
at the time when it was taken as also the Banlieu and Provostship Appurtenances and Dependencies of the same City in all its Consistencies as the Catholick King enjoy'd it then and before the said Treaty as also the City of Aeth in the Condition it was at the time of its being last taken without breaking demolishing or weakning any thing or impairing its Works with the Artillery which was there at the same time together with the Banlieu Castlewick Appurtenances Dependencies and Annexes of the said City as they were yielded by the Treaty of Nimeguen the Places following excepted viz. The Bourg of Anthoin Vaux Guarrain Ramecroix Bethune Constantin the Fief de Paradise the last being intermingled within the Limits of Tournaisis and the said Fief of Paradise so far as it contributes with the Village of Kain Havines Meles Moncourt Kain le Mont de St. Audebert call'd de la Trinitie Frontenoy Maubray Hernies Caluelle and Viers with their Parishes Appurtenances and Dependencies without reserving any thing shall remain in the Possession and Soveraignty of his Most Christian Majesty nevertheless without any prejudice to what has been granted to his Most Christian Majesty by the Preceding Treaties VIII The City of Courtrary shall be surrender'd back into the Power Demesne and Possession of his Catholick Majesty in the Condition as now it is with the Artillery which was there at the time when it was taken together with the Castlewick of the said City the Appurtenances Dependencies and Annexes conformable to the Treaty of Nimeguen IX The said Most Christian King shall also cause to be restor'd to the Catholick King all the Cities Places Forts Castles and Ports which his Armies have or might have possess'd till the Day of the Peace and also since that in any place of the World where-ever situated as likewise his said Catholick Majesty shall cause to be restor'd to his Most Christian Majesty all the Places Forts Castles and Posts which his Arms may have possess'd during this War till the Day of the Publication of the Peace and in whatsoever Place situated X. All the Places Cities Burroughs strong Holds and Villages which the most Christian King has possess'd and reunited since the Treaty of Nimeghen within the Provinces of Luxemburg Namur Brabant Flanders Hainault and other Provinces of the Low-Countries according to the List of the said Reunions produc'd on the part of his Catholick Majesty in the Acts of that Negotiation a Copy of which shall be annex'd to this present Treaty shall remain to his Catholick Majesty except the Eighty two Cities Burroughs Places and Villages contain'd in the List of Exception which has been also produc'd on the Part of his Most Christian Majesty and to which he lays claim by reason of the Dependencies of the Cities of Charlemont Maubege and others surrender'd to his Majesty by the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and Nimeghen in respect of which Eighty two Places only a List of which shall be annex'd to the present Treaty it is agreed on both sides that immediately after the Signing this present Treaty that Commissioners shall be appointed on both sides as well to regulate to which of the two Kings the said Eighty two Cities Burroughs Places or Villages or any of them shall belong as to agree upon Exchanges to be made for the Places and Villages intermix'd in the Countries under the Dominion of either Prince And in case the said Commissioners cannot agree their Most Christian and Catholick Majesties shall refer the Ultimate Decision to the Judgment of the Lords the States General of the Vnited Provinces whom the said Kings have reciprocally consented to take for Arbitrators without prejudice nevertheless to the Plenipotentiary-Embassadors of the said Most Christian and Catholick Kings otherwise to agree the Matter in friendly Manner between themselves and before the Ratification of this present Treaty if it be possible so that all Difficulties as well touching the said Re-unions as Limits may be totally ended and determin'd In pursuance of which all Prosecutions Sentences Separations Incorporations Forfeitures Judgments Confiscations Re-unions Declarations Regulations Edicts and generally all Acts what-ever put forth in the Name and behalf of his Most Christian Majesty by reason of the said Re-unions whether made by the Parliament or Chamber settl'd at Metz or by any other Courts of Justice Intendants Commissioners or Delegates against his Catholick Majesty or his Subjects and shall be revok'd and annull'd for ever as if they had never been and moreover the Generality of the said Provinces shall remain to his Catholick Majesty except the Cities Towns and Places yielded to his Most Christian Majesty by the preceding Treaties with the Appurtenances and Dependencies XI All the Forts Cities Burroughs Places and Villages Circumstances Dependencies and Annexes hereabove restor'd and surrender'd back by his Most Christian Majesty without reserving or with-holding any thing shall return to the Possession of his Catholick Majesty to be by him enjoy'd with all the Prerogatives Advantages Profits and Revenues that depend upon 'em with the same Extent the same Rights of Property Demesne and Soveraignty which he enjoy'd before the last War at the time and before the Treaties of Aix la Chapelle and Nimeghen and altogether as he might or ought to enjoy them XII The Restitution of the said Places shall be perform'd on the behalf of the most Christian King cordially and sincerely without delay or scruple for any Cause or upon any Occasion whatsoever to Him or Them who shall be appointed by the said Catholick King immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty without demolishing weak'ning or diminishing any thing in any manner within the said Cities nor shall there be any Pretensions or Demands for Reimbursments for the Fortifications Publick Edifices and Buildings rais'd in the said Places nor for the Payment of what may be due to the Soldiers that shall be there at the time of the Restitution XIII The Most Christian King shall cause to be remov'd out of all the said Places which he restores to the Catholick King all the Artillery which his said Majesty caus'd to be carry'd into the said Places after they were taken all the Powder Bullets Arms Provision and Ammunition which shall be therein at the time that they shall be restor'd to his said Catholick Majesty and they who shall be entrusted by the Most Christian King for that purpose shall for Two Months make use of the Waggons and Boats of the Country they shall have free Passage as well by Water as by Land for the Transportation of the said Ammunition to the Places belonging to his Most Christian Majesty which shall be nearest adjoining The Governours Commanders Officers and Magistrates of the Places so restor'd shall afford all Accommodations in their Power to facilitate the Carriage and Transportation of the said Artillery and Ammunition Also the Officers and Soldiers who shall march out of the said Places shall have Liberty to remove and
them of his Most Christian Majesty without being liable to be disturbed therein XXXVI It hath more-over been concluded That the Law-Suits Sentences and Decrees passed by the Council Judges and other his Most Christian Majesty Officers concerning the Differences and Actions that have been determined as well between the Subjects of the Dutchies of Lorrain and of Barr as others at the time when the most Christian King possest those States shall take place and obtain their full and due effect in the same manner as if his said Christian Majesty had remained in full Possession of his said Estates it not being permitted to call in question the validity of the said Sentences and Decrees or to impede or stop the Execution thereof It shall notwithstanding be permitted to the Parties to demand a Review of what shall have been enacted according to the Order and Disposition of the Laws and Constitutions the Sentences nevertheless remaining in their full Force and Vertue XXXVII There shall be restored to the said Duke after the Ratification of the present Treaty the Archives and written Documents and Presidents that was in the Treasury of the Records of Nancy and Barr and in both Chambers of Accounts or other places and that have been taken thence XXXVIII The said Duke immediately after the Ratification of the Peace shall have Power to send Commissioners to the Dutchies of Lorrain and Barr to have a watchful Eye upon his Affairs Administer Justice take care of the Imposts Taxes upon Salt and other Duties dispose of publick Treaties and perform all other necessary things so that the said Duke may within the same time enter into the full possession of his Government XXXIX As to what relates to Imposts and Customs and concerning the Exemption in the Transportation of Salt or Wood either by Land or Water the Custom settled in the Year 1670. shall be observed without permitting any Innovation XL. The ancient Custom and Liberty of Commerce between Lorrain and the Bishopricks of Meâ—z Toul and Verdâ—â— shall be still in being and shall henceforth be observed to the Benefit and Advantage of both Parties XLI The Contracts and Agreements made between the Most Christian Kings and the Dukes of Lorrain shall be 〈◊〉 in like manner observed in their ancient Force and Vigour XLII The said Duke and his Brethren shall be impowered to prosecute the Right they pretend to belong to then in divers Causes by the ordinary Course of Law notwithstanding the Sentences past in their absence without being heard XLIII In Matters not here expresly agreed to the coâ—trary shall be observed in respect of the Duke his Estates and Subjects what hath been concluded upon by the present Treaty and more especially in the Article that begins All the Vassals and Subjects of both Parties In that which begins So soon as the present Treaty of Peace shall be And that which beginneth And to the end that the Subjects of both Parties may as speedily as may be enjoy Just as if they had been here particularly recited XLIV The Cardinal of Furstemburg shall be re-invested in all the Rights Estates Feudal and Allodial Benefices Honours and Prerogatives that belong to the Princes and Members of the Holy Roman Empire as well in respect of the Bishoprick of Strasburg on the Right-hand of the Rhine as of the Abby of Stevelo and others and shall enjoy with his Cousins and Relations that adhered to his Party and his Domestick Servants a full and absolute Amnesty and Security for whatsoever hath been done or said and for whatsoever hath been decreed against him or them and that neither He his Heirs Cousins Relations nor Domesticks shall ever be proceeded against in any Cause by the Lords Electors of Cologne and Bavaria their Heirs or any other Persons whatsoever upon the account of the Inheritance of the late Maximilian Henry And reciprocally the Lord Cardinal his Cousins Relations and Domesticks or any that have any Cause depending upon their Behalf shall not demand any thing upon what account soever from the Lords Electors or others from the said Inheritance Legacies that were left them or any Things that have been given them all Right Pretension or Action Personal or Real being totally extinct Such of the Canons who have adhered to the Cardinal's Party and who have been outed of their Prependaries or Canonical Benefices shall receive the same Amnesty and Security and shall make use of the same Privilege and shall be re-settled in all the Canonical Rights Benefices and Dignities and in the same Degree and Dignity in the Chapter of the Collegiate Churches and Cathedral Church as they were before their Deposition Yet so however that the Revenues remaining in the Power of those that possess them at present these same may enjoy just as the others that shall be re-settled do the Titles and common Functions of the said Dignities and Benefices the Chief Place and Rank notwithstanding is to be deferr'd and yielded to those who shall be re-settled and after Death or the voluntary Resignation of those who are in Possession those only that are re-established shall solely enjoy the said Dignities and Revenues and in the mean time each of them according to the Order they have among them shall obtain the new Prebendaries that shall become vacant And there is no question but this may be approved of by the above-said Ecclesiasticks whom this Regulation may concern The Heirs likewise of the Canons who have been deprived of their Dignity and are dead during the War whose Goods Chattels and Revenues have been sequestred or confiscated shall enjoy the intire Benefit for the Recovery of them by the Article which begins thus All the Vassals and Subjects of both Parties together with this express and particular Clause That Pious Legacies bequeath'd by the Deceased shall be paid forthwith without delay according to their Disposal out of the Revenues by them assigned XLV The Landgraves of Hesse Reinfeldt shall be in a more especial manner included in the Amnesty and shall be reinstated in respect of the Fortress of Reinfeldt and all the Lower Country of Catzenelboguen with all Rights and Dependences in the same Condition and Circumstances wherein the Landgrave Ernest their Father was before the beginning of this War Excepting always and in all Cases the Rights appertaining to Monsieur the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel XLVI All the Vassals and Subjects of both Parties Ecclesiasticks and Seculars Corporations Universities and Colleges shall be re-settled in their Honours Dignities and Benefices whereof they were in quiet Possession before the War as also in all their Rights Goods moveable and immoveable Rents and Revenues also those that are capable of being redeemed or which are for Life provided that the Principal thereof be not consumed and have been employed or retained during or upon the Occasion of this War with all the Rights Actions Successions and Entails that are fallen to them during the said War yet so that they
the Prince and Bishop of Munster L. S. Ferdinand L. B. Plettenberg de Senhausen respectively Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Padorb Munster and Hildes In the Name of the Elector Palatine as Duke of Newbourg L. S. John Henry Hetterman Plenipotentiary In the Name of the Duke of Wirtemberg L. S. John George Noble de Kulpis Knight of the Roman Empire intimate Counsellour of State and Director of the Counsel L. S. Anthony Guntor de Hespen Counsellour in the Supreme Council and Plenipotentiary to the Serene Duke In the Name of the Prince of Baden L. S. Charles Ferdinand L. B. de Plettersdorff Reserve l'Ordre alternatif In the Name of the Abbatial College of Suabia L. S. Joseph Anthony Eusebius de Halden de Neidtborg L. Baron de Antenriedt Plenipotentiary In the Name of the Counts of the Bench of Weteraw L. S. Charles Otton Count de Solms L. S. F. G. de Eclesheim Counsellor of Hannaw and Plentipotentiary In the Name of the Free and Imperial City of Cologne L. S. Herman Joseph Bullingen Burgomaster and Plenipotentiary In the Name of the City of Ausbourg L. S. John Christopher de Dirheim Plenipotentiary In the Name of the Imperial City of Francford L. S. John James Muller Plenipotentiary L. S. John Melchior Lucius Lecturer of Civil and Canon Laws Burgomaster and Plenipotentiary SEPARATE ARTICLE FOR the clearer Explanation of the eighth Article of the Treaty of Peace this Day Signed which Article begins thus All the States possest by the most Christian King shall be restored to the Elector Palatine It hath been thought convenient to resolve over and above that this Order will be observed in the Proposal of the Claims and Rights of Madame the Dutchess of Orleans exhibited against the Elector Palatine at such time as the Arbitrators shall be agreed at the time appointed for the Ratification of the Peace about a Place to meet in this Place shall be notified to each Party The Deputies on the Arbitrators part shall be sent thither within the space of two Months to reckon from the very time the Elector Palatine shall be fully re-established in conformity to the Article above-mention'd In the Month following shall the said Lady Dutchess produce in the same place the whole and intire explanation of her Pretensions or Demands against the Elector which shall be communicated to him within eight Days following There shall be within the space of four Months next ensuing explain'd and delivered to the Deputies of the Lords Arbitrators who shall set down the day that the four Months shall begin the Reasons and Grounds of the two Parties wherof four Copies shall be delivered that is to say one for each Arbitrator and a third to be annext to the common Acts of the Arbitration and a fourth to be interchangeably communicated within seven Days to each Party They shall in like manner answer and four Copies of the Answer of each Party shall be given the same Day to the Envoys of the Lords Arbitrators which shall be once more communicated within seven Days to the Parties interchangeably In the four Months following the Instruction of the Business shall be terminated on each side the Parties shall declare they are willing to submit to the Verdict of the Arbitrators and this conclusion of the Instruction and Commission shall be communicated to the Parties that they may take cognisance of the same and the Deeds shall be Enrolled in presence of the Solicitors of the said Parties After that the Arbitrators and their Deputies who shall have taken an Oath having viewed and examined the Right of the Parties during the space of six Months ensuing shall pronounce their Sentence publickly in the place where the Conference is held according to the Laws and Constitutions of the Empire now if it be found conformable it shall be effectually put in execution but if so be the Arbitrators or their Deputies do not agree in their Verdict the common Acts of the Arbitration shall be conveyed to Rome at the joint Charges of the Parties and that within the space of two Months beginning at the Day next ensuing the Judgment given and shall be delivered to the Pope as Supreme Arbitrator to be committed by him for its Examination within six Months more to Deputies no way suspected by the Parties who shall likewise be sworn and these same upon the former Proceedings it not being allowed to the Parties to draw up a new Declaration of their Titles shall pronounce within the space of six Months next ensuing and as it hath been said conformable to the Laws and Constitutions of the Empire the last Definitive Sentence which cannot be nulled or made void but the Lord Arbitrators shall cause to be executed without any delay or contradiction Now if so be one of the Parties demurr and delay to propound explain and prove his Title and Right within the time required it shall nevertheless be lawful for the other Party to explain and deduce his Title within the time prefixt which may never be prolonged and lawful also for the Arbitrators and Supreme Arbitrator to proceed according to the method just now explain'd and to pronounce and execute their Sentence according to the Acts and Deeds produced and proved Notwithstanding this procedure the Parties themselves and the Lords Arbitrators on their part shall not cease attempting some amicable way of accommodation and shall omit nothing that may any way contribute to the amicable terminating this Affair Since it is also agreed in the Article title of Peace afore cited that till this difference be terminated the Elector Palatine shall Annually pay to Madam the Dutchess of Orleans the Sum of 200000 French Livres or an 100000 Florins of the Rhine they have also agreed in particular as to the payment of the said Sum upon the time when it shall commence that it shall commence only after that according to the Contents of the said Article the States and Places therein specified shall be intirely restored to the Elector And to the end that Madam the Dutchess of Orleans may be the more assured of the payment of the said Sum the Elector shall nominate before the Ratification of the Peace a sufficient number of Renters or Receivers of the Prefectship of Germersheim and other places of the Palatinate that shall undertake to pay the said Sum to the said Lady Dutchess or to those impower'd by her and that every Year at Landaw to wit the moiety every six Months who if they do not keep time shall be lyable to be constrained to the payment by the ordinary course of Justice or if need require by Military execution from the Most Christian King Upon the whole this payment shall be made upon this condition viz. That what shall have been paid by vertue of this Annual Obligation to Madam the Dutchess of Orleans during the Canvassing of the Cause before the Arbitrators shall be in compensation and put upon the accompt of that which the said
The Keys of the City shall remain in the Custody of the President Burgomaster who shall also give the Word 15. The Old City shall be guarded by the City Soldiers except the Burgesses Gate and the Middle Post 16. If any of the Inhabitants will remove to any other Place they shall be permitted to depart with their Families and Effects 17. All Hostilities committed on either side shall be abolish'd by an Amnesty and the Soldiers that shall be oblig'd to quit some Posts shall do it with Drums beating lighted Matches and other Marks of Military Honour granted upon the like Occasions 18. General Brandt promises to obtain a just Ratification of the Articles above-mention'd These the Elector ratified with some Variation wherein in respect to the first Head he consented that the Oath which the City had taken to the King of Poland should remain inviolable he contenting himself for the present with the Assurances which the Magistrates gave him of their â—idelity But in case of a Rupture between him and the King and that their City was to be attack'd the said Article was to be void and they were to take the same Oath of Fidelity to him The Elector was also willing to contribute all that he had promised on his part for the Preservation and Defence of the City in case it were attack'd and to satisfie the Inhabitants for any Losses they might sustain by any new Fortifications he might be obliged to raise for the Defence of the Place he is farther content that the President of the Burgomasters should have the Custody of the City-Keys and give the Word and that the Guard of the old Town c. should be entrusted with the Soldiers in their Pay except the Burgesses Port and another Post granted to the Brandenburgers so long as the City should not be attack'd But if otherwise he would have his own Soldiers employ'd in all the Posts where there should be occasion for the Security and Defence of the City The Poles have blustred mightily about this Matter and the King at least wise in outward appearance shewed a mighty concern at it So that with many of them nothing but a War upon the Elector must serve However 't is hoped things are somewhat cooled and that the Interposition of the Emperor King of Denmark and the States General may bring all things again to an amicable Composure either to bring the Poles to pay the Elector his Money or confirm Elbing to him I confess as it fell out I do not think Elbing unhappy in the Change of Masters the Elector being a Protestant Prince who is under no Obligation to disturb her in the Exercise of her Religion and withal so famous for his Prudence Moderation and other admirable Qualities that he cannot but promote the Interests of it However I cannot without some sort of Indignation think of that Liberty some Princes have assumed to themselves of Mortgaging or out-right Selling of Cities and their Subjects as Men do Horses and Cows and not only so but many times also their Religion Lives and Properties Tho' by what divine or humane Right is beyond my Capacity to understand But to leave this ungrateful Subject and return to Lithuania We told you before of Oginski's Defeat and Flight which by the Consequence thereof did not appear to be so entire as was at first represented For he quickly recovered again and most part of the Nobility joyning in with him he in his turn before the end of November with a body of 15000 Men fights and defeats the General Sapieha's Army consisting of about 8000 and slew to the number of 2000 of them But tho this Loss began to open the Eyes of several of the chief Leaders of them and that being inferiour in Number they plainly saw the Dangers they expos'd themselves too if they persisted longer to trouble the Repose of the Dutchy and that thereupon they began to lend an Ear to the Remonstrances and good Offices of the Bishop of Wilna for the Re-union of the contending Parties Yet such was the Obstinacy of Prince Sapieha that he got what Troopâ— he could together and posted himself at some distance from the City of Grodno while the other Quartered himself on the other side of the said City with the Nobility of the Country and his other Adherents who far surpassed the Prince in Strength and where they seemed to be ready to engage when General Fleming suddenly came and posted himself with 28 Saxon Companies between both Armies with Orders to fire upon those that committed the first act of Hostility This he had no sooner done but he sent Orders to Prince Sapieha in the King and Republick's Name to disband his Army upon the Place Which tho' the Prince at first made a scruple to obey yet considering the pernicious Consequences of a Refusal and the vast inequality of Force between them his Enemy being computed to be thrice his Strength he resolved to yield Obedience Upon which Commissioners were appointed on both sides in the Presence of General Fleming whom the King had appointed as Mediator and a Treaty of Accommodation was signed December the 20th Importing That Sapieha's Army which was the chief Cause of the Contest in so severe a Season should be forthwith disbanded 2620 Foot should be kept still in Pay comprehending the Regiment allow'd by the Republick That the Officers should Swear an Oath of Fidelity and engage never to Attempt any thing against the Republick and faithfully to serve the King That the Hungarian Troops should be disbanded 1140 Dragoons should be kept on foot That the Soldiers as well disbanded as otherwise should be promised free Quarters in lieu of all their Pretensions That all Hostilities committed on both sides should be obliterated by a General Amnesty That the Money which the King had promised the Army by the Pacta Conventa should be paid and that the Republick should press the Performance of the said Pacta Conventa But as for the four Quarters promised by the Republick Deputies should be sent to the next Dyet that the Money might be paid to the Respective Companies No new Levies should be made without the Dyet and that till the same met all possible care should be taken that the General of Lithuania might exactly observe the Institution of the Coaequation And whereas some Palatines had hitherto refused Winter Quarters and other Contributions Commissioners should be sent to the Dyet to demand Satisfaction That the Right of Coaequation Partition c. as also the Tribunal of Lithuania should be preserved inviolable and that all Manifesto's for that end should remain in full Force as to that particular But should be annull'd in every thing that concern'd the General of Lithuania his Family and other Persons in particular comprehended in the said Manifesto's and that all possible security should be procured for their Persons Estates and Dignities That the Government of General should subsist upon the Terms of
way towards the introducing the Popish Religion into the Nation they took especial care to prevent the like for the future by Enacting in concurrence with the Royal Authority That the Kings and Queens of England should be obliged at their coming to the Crown to take the Test in the first Parliament that should be called at the beginning of their Reign and in the Bill of Succession added a Clause That if any King or Queen of England should embrace the Roman Catholick Religion or Marry with a Roman Catholick Prince or Princess their Subjects should be absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance They also annull'd the pretended Parliament in Ireland and also ordained That all those who should take up Arms against the King after the 24th of Feb. or should hold Correspondence with his Enemies should be guilty of high Treason And granted the King 2 Shillings in the Pound upon Land with the necessary Clauses and Restrictions and appropriated Part of the Mony for Payment of the Seamen and setting out the Fleet. After this being prorogued to the 12th of Apr. they were by Proclamation dissolved upon the 6th of Febr. and the King by the same Proclamation called a Parliament to meet on the 30th of March to whom he delivered himself to this Effect That being resolved to omit nothing on his Part that might contribute to the Peace and Prosperity of the Nation and to that end believing his Presence absolutely necessary in Ireland for the Reducing of that Kingdom he had called them together to desire their Assistance that he might be in a Capacity to carry on the War there with Speed and Vigour To which purpose he desired them to hasten the settling of the Revenues of the Crown and that he might have a Fund in the mean time settled upon the Credit whereof he might raise Mony for the present Exigences of the Nation Then he recommended to them the passing of an Act of Oblivion such as he had ordered to be drawn up for the preventing the loss of time usually spent in Deliberations of that kind and wherein but few were excepted that his Subjects might see he had no other Intentions but such as were conformable to the Laws of the Land and to leave those without Excuse that should go about to disturb the Government in his Absence And lastly recommended to them the Vnion with Scotland and then informed them That he intended during his Absence to leave the Administration of the Government in the Hands of the Queen and desired them to prepare an Act to that Purpose concluding with an earnest Desire that they would be as speedy in the Dispatch of Business as possibly they could in regard his Expedition into Ireland would not admit of any long Session The Parliament went roundly to work upon this Speech of the King 's yet so that it took up some time before they could bring all their Matters to bear But at length the Act of Oblivion after many Difficulties removed and so long desired by the King was approved and past so was another for putting the Administration of the Government into the Queen's Hands not only during the King's Absence in Ireland but when-ever his Affairs should call him out of the Kingdom They also found out Ways to raise the Subsidies that were granted settled the Revenues and divers Persons did in the mean time advance Money for the King 's present Occasions and that nothing might happen to the Prejudice of the Government while the King was absent the Deputy-Lieutenants of the Counties were authorized to raise the Militia in case of necessity and all Roman Catholicks ordered to repair to their places of Abode and not to stir above 5 Miles from thence without leave and all that held any Imployment in the State tho' never so inconsiderable to swear Fidelity to the King and Queen Thus Matters being brought to a good Conclusion his Majesty after returning them his Thanks Prorogued them to the 17th of June and then hasted for Ireland where he arrived on the 14th of the same Month and where at present we shall leave him and see what was doing nearer home The Rebels in Scotland under the Command of Colonel Cannon tho' not otherwise considerable for their Strength then by the unaccessible Places they possess'd in the Highlands yet continued still in a Body and took their Opportunity to make frequent Incursions into the Low-lands to plunder and spoil more like a Company of Banditti than Regular Troops over whom the Government there however kept a vigilant Eye and detected some Correspondence held between them and other Persons in Edenburg and elsewhere who before pretended to be Friends but it ended in the close Confinement of them Yet notwithstanding all this they could not prevent them from receiving some Succour from without For King James notwithstanding the Delay of the French Succours which did not arrive in Ireland before the 4th of March yet built so very much upon them that tho' he had neither Ammunition nor Provision to spare he caused in the mean time two Frigats to be rigged up at Dublin laden with Cloaths Arms and Ammunition and sent them away to his Friends in Scotland having besides on Board them Colonel Buchan Colonel Wauhup and about 40 Commission-Officers more who had all the good Luck to get safe into the Isle of Mull. With this Reinforcement they were so incouraged that sometime after that they adventured to the number of 1500 to march as far as Strathspag in the County of Murray which Sir Thomas Levingstone no sooner understood and being unwilling to give them any Opportunity for a farther Accession of Strength in being joyned with other Malecontents but he took along with him 800 Foot 6 Troops of Dragoons and 2 Troops of Horse and fell upon them so suddenly that the Horse and Dragoons entring their Camp put them into such an immediate Confusion that they betook themselves to flight leaving between 4 and 500 of their Number slain upon the Spot an 100 taken Prisoners and among them 4 Captains 3 Lieutenants and 2 Ensigns nor had any of them escaped had not a thick Mist fell in the height of the Execution This was no sooner done but Sir Thomas advanced to the Castle of Lethirgdey commanded by Colonel Buchan's Nephew and having lodged a Mine under it quickly brought the Garrison to surrender at Discretion Neither was Major Ferguson less successful in the Isle of Mull where he landed and destroy'd several Places belonging to the Enemy forcing them to desert the Castle of Dewart and betake themselves to the Hills Nor yet was the Blow given them by the Scotch Parliament of less Importance for besides their Passing an Act to restore the Presbyterian Ministers that were thrust from their Churches since the 1st of Jan. 1661. they made another declaring all those Rebels that were actually in Arms against the King and Queen But notwithstanding the ill Success of the Jacobites in