about the latter End of Sept. surrendred up to the Imperial Army for want of Provisions having been blocked up and besieged from the Beginning of June And this indeed happened as much against the common Opinion and Expectation as the contrary Event did in the Siege of Maestricht The Affairs of Denmark and Brandenburg prospered all this while against Sweden who was in Alliance with France and that with much Advantage in most of the Sieges and Encounters that passed between them this Summer and the first part of the succeeding Winter So that the Swedes seemed to be losing apace all that they had been so long in Possession of in Germany But the Imperial Forces tho' joined with those of the several Princes upon the Vpper Rhine had for all that made but little Progress in their designed Conquests there and were forc'd to seek their old Winter-Quarters upon the German side of the River which was no less a true and indisputed Decision of the small Success of this Campagne than it was a powerful Motive to incline some of the Confederates to think more seriously of a Peace and particularly the Dutch who began now to grow very impatient after it especially in that they found France would make no great Difficulty in granting them any thing in Contest between them seeing they privately made Offers by their Emissaries especially at Amsterdam of such a Reglement of Commerce as they themselves could wish for the Restitution of Maestricht and all the Satisfaction imaginable to the Prince of Orange that he could pretend to upon the account of his Losses and their Seisure in the Course of this War year 1677 To return therefore to the Business of the Peace It was about the middle of Feb. 1677. N. S. before the Assembly was compleatly formed the King of England's single Mediation by all Parties accepted and that of the Pope's finally rejected the several Acts signed put into the Hands of the Mediators and by them exchanged among the several Parties And all these Preliminaries of the Treaty being thus dispatch'd the respective Embassadors did also by Agreement put into the same Hands their several Propositions or Pretensions which on the Emperor's part were That the King and Kingdom of France should restore to him and to the Empire and to all his Allies whatever they had taken from them during the Course of this present War make Reparation for all the Damages they had suffered and that a Peace should be established upon the best and surest Grounds that could be devised France in theirs seemed to demand little of the Empire only they said That the King having desired nothing more passionately than the Religious Observation of the Treaties of Westphalia his Majesty would gladly see Germany a second time owe the Re-establishment of its Repose to the Observation of the same Treaties and for that Effect he demanded they might be fully and entirely re-established The Spaniards insisted upon the Restitution of all the Places they had lost and Reparation for all the Damages they had sustained from France since the Year 1665 whether by Sea or Land by demolishing burning or otherwise and that the French King should give compleat Satisfaction to all the Confederates and by three different Articles demanded the same thing of the Swedes Whereas France on the other side said That their King being contrary to Justice and the Obligation of the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle attack'd by the Catholick King his Majesty had reason to pretend that in respect to that Crown all things should remain in the Condition the Fortune of War had put them without Prejudice to the King 's Rights which were to continue still in full Force and Power The Danes insisted That France should give them compleat Satisfaction and reimburse all the Charges of the War and by Four Articles required of the Swedes That betwixt the Two Kings and Two Kingdoms all Things should be restored in the same State they were in before the War that was ended between the Two Nations by the Treaties of Westphalia That the Treaties of Rochilde and Copenhagen should be abolished That all the Provinces which had been dismembred from Denmark and Norway should be restored to the Danes That all that the Swedes possess'd in the Empire should be taken from them That Wismar and the Isle of Rugen should remain in the Possession of the Danes And that for the Security of his Danish Majesty and his Kingdoms they might be allowed to put Garrisons into all the strong Places of Sweden that lay upon the Frontiers of the Two Kingdoms But France on her side proposed That seeing the King had not declared War against the King of Denmark but that his Danish Majesty running contrary to the Treaty of Copenhagen made in the Year 1660 for Performance whereof the King was Guarrantee had attack'd Sweden his most Christian Majesty was willing to desist from all Hostilities on his part provided that the foresaid Treaty and those of Westphalia were re-established As to what concerned France and the States-General tho' in truth Things were as good as agreed between them before the latter demanded that Maestricht Dalen Fangumont with all the Dependancies of the first should be restored to them A Reglement of Commerce with a Renunciation of all Pretensions each Party might have upon the other And as for the greater Damages they had sustained and whereof they might demand Reparation they were willing for the publick Tranquility to sacrifice them all provided Satisfaction might be given to their Allies To this were added Sixteen Articles concerning a full Satisfaction to be made the Prince of Orange in regard to what depended on the Crown of France and particularly the Restauration of the Fortifications of the City of Orange that were ruined in the Year 1660 and of the Castle demolished in 1663 the Rights of Toll upon Salt and other Commodities as well upon the Rhosne as through the Principality of Orange the Prerogative of Coining Money of Laick Patronage for Nomination to the Bishoprick together with the Exemptions Priviledges and other Immunities granted to the Inhabitants of the said Principality and particularly by Lewis XIII And as for Sweden they required no more but that the future Treaty might contain some Regulations for obviating the frequent Inconveniencies that happened concerning Commerce between the Two Nations To which France on her part answered That seeing the Union that had always been between the Crown of France and the States was only interrupted upon account of some Causes of Discontent which were easie in the present Posture of things to be removed and for the future prevented His Majesty was very ready to restore the States to his former Amity and to hearken favourably to all Propositions that might be made to him on their part both in respect to their Demands of Restitution Treaty of Commerce and the Re-establishment of the Prince of Orange tho' the French Embassadors occasionally opposed
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
Garrisons of Dixmude and Deynse which were detained Prisoners in France contrary to the Cartel and how the Confederates found themselves in a Condition to get Reparation for the same The 26th of Aug. being the day prefixed for the Garrison to march out 4 Brigades of Foot were commanded to make a Lane on both sides the Terra Nova up the Hill and so down again to the Muese to the way that leads to Givet a Bridge of Boats being laid over the Sambre between the Faâ—x Bourgh St. Croix and the Town for the King to come over to be present at the Marching out of the Garrison and likewise for the Troops encamped on the other side if there had been Occasion About 10 a Clock the March began The Mareschal de Boufflers's Guard du Corps went out first then his Domesticks and next himself with the Count de Guiscard the Governor at the Head of the King 's and Alfeld's Dragoons as many as were mounted being between 70 and 80 in all His Majesty was on Horse-back with the Elector of Bavaria before the Breach and were saluted by the Mareschal and Count with their Swords when presently Monsieur Dickvelt who had been acquainted with the Mareschal in his Embassies in France accosted him and rid with him to the Top of the Hill where Monsieur L' Etâ—ng Brigadier of the Brigade of the Life Guard rid up to him with about 12 Gentlemen of the Life Guard and Arrested him in his Majesty's Name for Satisfaction for the Garrisons of Dixmude and Deynse At which the Mareschal seemed at first very much incensed alledging the Publick Faith of the Capitulation wherein he was expresly mentioned saying That the French King his Master would resent this Treatment of a Man of his Character and revenge it to the utmost of his Power And that for his part he had defended the Place liâ—â— a Man of Honour and did not deserve it To whom Monsieuâ— Dickvelt replied That the French King his Master by detaining the Garrisons of Dixmude and Deynse contrary to the Câ—pitulations which made them Prisoners of War and consequenâ—â—â— should have been discharged within the Time limitted paying theâ— Ransom which was offered had forced them to that Way of demanding Satisfaction for the Infractions of the said Capitulations That tho' he was Arrested it was not out of any Dis-respect 〈◊〉 his Person and Character but on the contrary for when it 〈◊〉 proposed to his Majesty of Great Britain to detain the whole Garrison by way of Reprisal the King had expressed so much Value for his Person that he looked upon him as a sufficient Caution to Answer for 6000 Men the Number of the two Garrisons of Dixmude and Deynse But at the same time he offered him his Liberty by his Majesty's Order if he would pass his Word for sending back the said Garrisons or return himself a Prisoner within a Fortnight c. To which the Mareschal answered That he could not pass his Word of Honour in a Matter which he could not execute himself but that it was in vain to resist Whereupon he put up his Sword and went back with his Domesticks to Namur where the Earl of Portland gave him a Visit and told him as from himself That he made no doubt of his Releasement upon his Paroll of Honour as aforesaid To which the Mareschal answered That in regard he knew not the Reasons why his Master detained those Garrisons he could not engage for any thing From Namur he was conducted to Maestricht and treated in both Places with all the Civility and Respect due to his Quality But his Confinement was of no long Duration for upon the Return of his Gentleman of the Horse whom he had sent to give his Master an Account of what had happen'd who thereupon gave the Confederates an Assurance of the Discharge of the fore-mentioned Garrisons he was immediately released as our Men were in some convenient time after With this concludes the Campaign Flanders which we shall leave for this Year as we do his Majesty to go to his usual Diversion and then for England Whether by a Sympathy of Success in the several Parts of their Dominions the Spaniards who all along had been on the losing Side in Catalonia and more especially the last Year as we have already noted in its proper place seemed now contrary to most Men's Expectations to Bully the French And to this purpose 4 Squadrons of Miquelets receiving Advice that a Detachment of French were marching from Bagnoles to Gironne they encounter'd them in the Way and put them to the total Rout. With this Success they were so flush'd that understanding that St. Silvester was upon his March with 8000 Men to re-victual Castle-Follet with a Convoy of all sorts of Provisions the Lading of 3 or 400 Mules a Body of Spaniards in Conjunction with the Miquiâ—ets advanced towards the French and attacked them with so much Courage that they killed above 2000 upon the place â—nd took between 5 and 600 Prisoners besides all the Mules â—xcept about 30 which escaped into the Castle during the Heat of the Fight which lasted 6 Hours And this News was so much the more welcome to Spain in that it was seconded with the Catalonians and Miquelets routing another â—ody of about 2000 French who were marching from Pras de Melo to join the 8000 that were beaten before If the Spaniards had gone on as they begun they would have made something of it 'T is true that after this Action they more closely blocked up Castle-Follet with a Design to starve it and not to take it by Force But alas they could not hinder the Duke of Vendosme from putting Relief into it after all and to make their Forces retire from it with some Loss Neither had they any better Success before Palamos tho' the Place was invested by Sea by the Fleet under the Command of Admiral Russell as well as by Land by the Spanish Army with the Additional Force of near 5000 Men from on Board the Fleet. The French Accounts were That the Duke of Vendosme marching to the Relief of it the first time found himself too weak but being re-inforced with more Troops for that purpose the Spaniards no sooner understood his Intentions but they drew off their own Forces and the Re-inforcement from on Board the Fleet returned thither again But the Truth of the Matter was that the Place must have been given up in a day or two at farthest had not the Fleet been constrained to bear away upon Information received That Monsieur Tourville with the French Fleet was upon coming out of Thoulon with a Design to sail for the Ocean though after all it proved to be only an Amusement of the French as appeared by the Consequence The Campaign was not so inconsiderable in Catalonia but that it was much more so upon the Rhine where the French being at first superiour to the Prince of Baden would 〈◊〉 have made
Quantity of Silk and Silver Stuffs So that every Soldier of the 2000 had for his Share 6 Piasters the rest being divided among the Officers and other Soldiers the Czar reserving only the Cannon and Ammunition to himself This being happily effected the Siege of Asoph was carried on with great Application which all the Endeavours of the Turks and Tartars could not relieve by Land they being routed in the Attempt and a great many of their Number slain So that it was surrender'd to the Czar upon Articles on the 28th of July in pursuance of which the Garrison consisting of 3000 Men besides Tartars marched out with their Arms and Baggage and presently the Muscovites marched in and found 90 Pieces of Cannon together with a great Quantity of Ammunition in the Town But want of Provisions hasten'd the Surrender of it The News hereof no sooner arrived at Constantinople but it occasioned a great Consternation there and more especially for fear of losing those Supplies of Provisions which usually come to that City by the Euxine Sea which the Loss of that Place opened a Gap for the Moscovites to be Masters of But now after so long a Peregrination 't is time we should return homewards and take notice That the State of Affairs in Flanders this Year being already given an Account of it gave the King an Opportunity of returning to England somewhat sooner than usual and the Parliament to meet about the middle of Octob. to whom his Majesty said That he thought it our Happiness considering the Disappointments in the Funds and other Difficulties we laboured under that Things had passed without any Disadvantage That this was a convincing Proof of the good Disposition of his Army and steady Affections of his People That the Enemy's Hopes had been hitherto frustrated in respect to the difficult Conjuncture we were in and that their unanimous Proceedings was the Way to have the same continued That the Business before them was very great and our Occasions pressing That he could not let slip the Occasion to tell them That some Overtures had been made towards setting up a Negotiation of a General Peace But that the best Way to Treat was with our Swords in our Hands and by shewing our selves prepared to make a vigorous and effectual War Wherefore he recommended earnestly to the Commons to take Care for Raising the necessary Supplies with Speed As he did also the Remedying of some Inconveniences still remaining in Relation to the State of the Coin And so he concluded as we shall also conclude the Year with leaving the Parliament to take care in the first place of this last Clause of his Majesty's Speech about the Coin and to make a strict Enquiry among other Things into the late Conspiracy which took them up much Time And of which but very briefly before we hasten to give an Account of the General Peace Yet we will observe first as we were wont to do That this Year proved fatal to Mary Anne of Austria Queen-Mother of Spain who departed this Life on the 17th of May after she had been long tormented with a Cancer in her Breast Her Death being no less considerable a Loss to the Confederacy in general than to Spain in particular considering her great Influence over the Spanish Counsels to make them take such Resolutions as were conformable to the Interests of the Common Cause For which Reason she was but little beloved in France and gave Occasion for a great Prince of that Nation as was reported to say when he heard of the dangerous Distemper which had seized that Princess That he could have wished she had died Ten Years ago year 1697 Tho' this Year produced a General Peace between the Allies and the French Monarch yet our Parliament before the Close of the last in pursuance to his Majesty's Pre-monition to them in his Speech at the first Opening of the Session proceeded vigorously to other Methods for carrying on the War But they had not been long sate when they met with a considerable Interruption therein by the Business of Sir John Fenwicke who was one of the Conspirators in the late Plot for invading the Land and taking away the King's Life and was designed to have been tried at the Common Law as the rest had been But there were some Accidents fell out which made his Case extraordinary and brought it into Parliament of which take this short Account Upon Sir John Fenwicke's Apprehension which was in Kent as he designed to have made his Escape that way beyond Sea it did appear by a Letter of his writ to his Lady thereupon and which hapned to come in the Governments Hands That he was so far sensible of his Guilt and Danger that he proposed no other way for the present to Escape than by either getting a Jury Pack'd that would be Obstinate and not bring him in Guilty or making Friends to the King for a Pardon or Reprieve at least to gain Time But after his being brought to Town Commitment to Newgate and farther Consulting with his Friends the said Methods being found not very Practicable there was another Topick resolved upon which had a much more apparent Prospect of Success and that was to set up a Counterplot by accusing a great many of the King 's best and greatest Friends to have been guilty of Conspiring against him which startled a great many People at first not knowing who and who was together And tho' the same in the dilatory Managements of it did for a time with Sir John to gain him Space to have his Tryal put off yet he could not be but sensible it would not do always and therefore there was another Game for him to Play before he could conceive himself out of Danger which was to seduce away one at least of the Evidences that had swore the Treason against him as well knowing according to the late Act one was not sufficient in Cases of High Treason And this being also effected in the Person of Cardell Goodman who privately withdrew into France the Danger seemed now to be quite over tho' they could have been glad both for his and others sake that Captain Porter also had been got to the same or a worse Place and made Overtures to him by a rascally Irish-man one Clancy by Name to that end But he proved stanch against the great Temptation and made a Discovery thereof unto the Government So that the Government thereby finding it self horribly abused by these Clandestine Proceedings and no room left to bring the Criminal by the ordinary Course of Law to a Condign Punishment The King thought fit to give leave to Admiral Rassell to acquaint the House of Commons and lay before them the several Papers which were given in by Sir John Fenwicke in the Nature of Informations against himself and several Persons of Quality and desired that the same might be read that so he might have an Opportunity to justifie himself or
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
the following Memorial and unravelled the Mystery of Skelton's being recalled and sent Prisoner to the Tower for discovering the King's Secrets My Lords THE sincere Desire the King my Master has to maintain the Tranquility of Europe will not suffer His Majesty to see the great Preparations for War both by Sea and Land made by Your Lordships without taking the Measures that Prudence the continual Companion of all His Actions inspires Him with to prevent the Mischiefs these War-like Preparations will certainly draw after them And although the King perswaded of the Wisdom of Your Counsels would not imagine that a Free State should so easily resolve to take up Arms and to kindle a War which in the present Juncture cannot but be fatal to all Christendom Nevertheless His Majesty cannot believe Your Lordships would engage Your Selves in so great Expences both at home and abroad to entertain in Pay so many Foreign Troops to put to Sea so numerous a Fleet so late in the Year and to prepare so great Magazins if You had not a Design formed answerable to the Greatness of these Preparations All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with Reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to You on His part That the Bands of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige Him not only to assist him but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by Your Troops or Your Fleet against His Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with His Crown I leave it to Your Lordships Prudence to reflect on the Consequences that such Actions may have His Majesty not having ordered me to make You this Declaration on His Part without His sincere Intention to prevent as I have already had the Honour to tell You all that may trouble the Peace of Europe Given at the Hague Septemb. 9 1688. But for all this Things were in England in the utmost Disorder and Security all that ever the King or Country could do could not keep the Army within any tolerable Bounds And tho' there was so great a Storm gathering in Holland yet so stupid were the Popish Drivers that nothing would serve them but filling the Army with Irish Men who were likely still to be more disorderly and more hated But this was vigorously opposed by Lieutenant-Colonel Beaumont and other Officers in the Duke of Berwick's Regiment The former in the name of the rest making the following speech to the Duke upon the occasion Sir I am desired by these Gentlemen with whose Sense I concur to inform your Grace that we don't think it consistent with our Honours to have Foreigners imposed upon us without being complain'd of that our Companies were weak or Orders to recruit them not doubting but if such Orders had been given us We that first in very ill times raised them Hundreds could easily now have made them according to the Kings Complement We humbly Petition we may have leave to fill up our Companies with such men of our Nation we may judge most suitable for the Kings Service and to support our Honours or that we may be permitted with all imaginable Duty and Respect to lay down our Commissions Of this an Account was forthwith transmitted to the King then at Windsor who immediately ordered a Party of Horse down to Portsmouth to bring them up in Custody and a Court-Marshal was ordered to proceed against them And if the Memorial of the French Ambassador had not come in that very Morning to shew them their Danger they had in all probability lost their Lives for it but now they contented themselves with only casheering of them By this time there was certain Intelligence brought that the Preparations in Holland were designed against England And the King in his Proclamation of the 28th of Sept. gave convincing Proofs that himself believed it and so he ordered new Levies to be made and began to turn Cat in â—an by declaring in Council Octb. 2d that he would restore the Charter of the City of London And the Ministers were by this time become so sensible of their Danger that they procured a General Pardon On Wednesday October the 3d. the Archbishop of Canterbury Ì„Ì„ and the Bishops of London Winchester St. Asaph Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough all in a Body waited upon the King when the Archbishop spoke thus to him May it please Your Sacred Majesty WHen I had lately the Honour to wait upon you you were pleased briefly to acquaint me with what had passed two days before between your Majesty and these my Reverend Brethren by which and by the Account which they themselves gave me I perceived that in truth there passed nothing but in very general Terms and Expressions of your Majesties gracious and favourable Inclinations to the Church of England and of our reciprocal Duty and Loyalty to your Majesty Both which were sufficiently understood and declared before and as one of my Brethren then told you would have been in the same state if the Bishops had not stir'd one foot out of their Diocesses Sir I found it grieved my Lords the Bishops to have come so far and to have done so little and I am assured they came then prepared to have given your Majesty some more particular Instances of their Duty and Zeal for your Service had they not apprehended from some words which fell from your Majesty That you were not then at leisure to receive them It was for this Reason that I then besought your Majesty to command us once more to attend you all together which your Majesty was pleased graciously to allow and encourage We therefore are here now before you with all Humility to beg your Permission that we may suggest to your Majesty such Advices as we think proper at this Season and conducing to your Service and so leave them to your Princely Consideration Which the King being graciously pleased to permit the Archbishop proceeded as followeth I. Our first humble Advice is That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to put the Management of your Government in the several Counties into the Hands of such of the Nobility and Gentry there as are legally qualified for it II. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to annul your Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that no such Court as that Commission sets up may be erected for the future III. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Vniversities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annexed to them and in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the
President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen 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
these our good Intentions that they have endeavoured to alienate the King more and more from us as if we had designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom XVIII The last and great Remedy for all these Evils is the Calling of a Parliament for securing the Nation against those evil Practices of those wicked Counsellors but this could not be yet compassed nor can be easily brought about For those Men apprehending that a Lawful Parliament being once Assembled they would be brought to an Account for all their open Violations of Law and for their Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects they have endeavoured under the specious Pretence of Liberty of Conscience first to sow Divisions among Protestants between those of the Church of England and Dissenters The Design being laid to engage Protestants that are equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into Mutual Quarrellings that so by these some Advantages may be given to them to bring about their Designs and that both in the Election of Members of Parliament and afterwards in the Parliament it self For they see well that if all Protestants could enter into a good understanding one with another and concur together in the preserving of their Religion it would not be possible for them to compass their wicked Ends. They have also required all Persons in the several Counties of England that either were in any Employment or were in any considerable Esteem to declare before-hand that they would concur in the Repeal of the Penal Laws and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament only for such as would concur in it Such as would not thus preingage themselves were turn'd out of all Employments and others who entred into those Engagements were put in their Places many of them being Papists And contrary to the Charters and Priviledges of those Boroughs that have a Right to send Burgesses to Parliament they have ordered such Regulations to be made as they thought fit and necessary for assuring themselves of all the Members that are to be chosen by those Corporations and by this means they hope to avoid that Punishment which they have deserved tho' it is apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are null and void of themselves So that no Parliament can be Lawful for which the Elections and Returns are made by Popish Magistrates Sheriffs and Mayors of Towns and therefore as long as the Authority and Magistracy is in such Hands it is not possible to have any Lawful Parliament And tho' according to the Constitution of the English Government and Immemorial Custom all Elections of Parliament-Men ought to be made with an entire Liberty without any sort of Force or the requiring the Electors to chuse such Persons as shall be named to them and the Persons thus freely Elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all Matters that are brought before them having the Good of the Nation ever before their Eyes and following in all things the Dictates of their Conscience yet now the People of England cannot expect a Remedy from a Free Parliament Legally Called and Chosen But they may perhaps see one Called in which all Elections will be carried by Fraud or Force and which will be composed of such Persons of whom those evil Counsellors hold themselves well assured in which all things will be carried on according to their Direction and Interest without any regard to the Good or Happiness of the Nation Which may appear evidently from this That the same Persons tried the Members of the last Parliament to gain them to consent to the Repeal of the Test and Penal Laws and procured that Parliament to be dissolved when they found that they could not neither by Promises nor Threatnings prevail with the Members to comply with their wicked Design XIX But to Crown all there are great and violent Presumptions inducing us to believe that those Evil Counsellors in order to the carrying on their ill Designs and to the gaining to themselves the more time for the effecting of them for the Encouragement of their Complices and for the discouraging of all good Subjects have publish'd That the Queen hath brought forth a Son tho' there have appeared both during the Queen's pretended Bigness and in the manner in which the Birth was managed so many just and visible Grounds of Suspicion that not only we our selves but all the Good Subjects of this Kingdom do vehemently suspect That the pretended Prince of Wales was not born by the Queen And it was notoriously known to all the World that many both doubted of the Queen's Bigness and of the Birth of the Child and yet there was not any one thing done to satisfie them or put an end to their Doubts XX. And since Our dearest and most entirely Beloved Consort the Princess and likewise We Our Selves have so great an Interest in this Matter and such a Right as all the World knows to the Succession to the Crown Since all the English did in the Year 1672. when the States General of the Vnited Provinces were invaded with a most unjust War use their utmost Endeavours to put an end to that War and that in Opposition to those who were then in the Government and by their so doing they run the hazard of losing both the Favour of the Court and their Employments And since the English Nation has ever testified a most particular Affection and Esteem both to our dearest Consort the Princess and to Our selves We cannot excuse our selves from espousing their Interest in a Matter of such High Consequence And for contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant Religion and of the Laws and Liberties of those Kingdoms and for the Securing to them the continual Enjoyment of all their just Rights To the doing of which We are most earnestly sollicited by a great many Lords both Sipiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and other Subjects of all Ranks XXI Therefore it is That We have thought fit to go over to England and to carry over with us a Force sufficient by the Blessing of God to defend us from the Violence of those Evil Counsellors And We being desirous that our Intentions in this might be rightly understood have for this end prepared this Declaration in which as We have hitherto given a True Account of the Reasons inducing us to it so we now think fit to declare That this our Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament Assembled as soon as it is possible and that in order to this all the late Charters by which the Elections of Burgesses are limitted contrary to the Ancient Custom shall be considered as null and of no Force And likewise all Magistrates who have been unjustly turned out shall forthwith resume their former Employments as well as all the Boroughs of England shall return
Commalin Castle-Durmont and so beyond Carlow from whence he sent forward a Party of Horse under the Command of the Duke of Ormond to take Possession of Kill-kenny and so to secure the Protestants and other Inhabitants of the adjacent Countries from being plundered by the Enemy for by this time some of them begun to look behind them and to return to take along what they had not Time nor Conveniency to carry of at first From Carlow the Army passed on to Kells thence to Loughland-bridge and so to Bennet's Bridge 3 Miles to the N. E. of Killkenny and upon the 19th of July His Majesty dined with the Duke of Ormond at his Castle of Killkenny which had the good Luck to have been preserved by Count Lauzun with all the Goods and Furniture and left in a good Condition not without the Cellar well stored with what they had not time to drink at their going off Munday the 21st the Army encamped at Carruck from whence Major General Kirk with his own Regiment and Colonel Brewers as also a Party of Horse were sent towards Waterford more Forces designing to follow When he came before the Place he sent to summon the Town by a Trumpet who at first refused to surrender there being 2 Regiments then in Garrison However their Refusal was in such civil Terms that their Inclinations were easily understood for soon after they sent out to know what Terms they might have which were the same with Drogâ—eda But not liking those they proposed some of their own which were rejected and the heavy Cannon drawn down that way and some more Forces ordered to march When the Irish understood this they agreed to march out with Arms and Baggage on the 25th and were conducted to Mallow The Fort Dunâ—annon a strong and regular Place and well fortified with Guns was also surrendred into his Majesty's Hands upon the same Terms with Waterford which last place was view'd by the King the day it was given up who took great care that no Persons should be disturbed in their Houses or Goods and here the Lord Dovâ—t was admitted into a more particular Protection from his Majesty as having formerly applied himself when the King was at Hillsborough by Major General Kirk's means to desire a Pass for himself and Family to Flanders July the 27th the King left the Camp at Carrick and went towards Dublin in order for England which occasioned various Speculations and some fears that the Affairs of this Kingdom were in no pleasing Posture He left the Command of the Army to Count Solms lay that Night at Carlow and upon some Advice from England exprest himself doubtful whether to go over or return to the Army However he went on to Chappell Izard and spent there some time to hear divers Complaints and redress several Grievances He publish'd a second Declaration to confirm the former and ordered a weekly Fast But having a further Account from England that several wicked Designs were discovered and prevented the loss at Sea not so considerable and that the French had only burnt one small Village in the West of England and so gone off again he resolved to retuâ—â— to the Army which he did on the 22d of Aug. at Golden-bridge and by the 27th â—eached Carrigallis where Lieutenant General Douglas joined him next day and on which in the Morning early my Lord Portland and Brigadeer Stewart were sent towards Limerick with 700 Horse and Foot who advanced within Cannon-shot of the Town with little Opposition from the Enemy and before whose return the King himself accompanied by the Prince my Lord Overkirk Lieutenant General 〈◊〉 and divers other great Officers with about 300 Horse went very near the Town and drove in a Party of the Enemy's Horse who made a shew of opposing them On the 9th the whole Army made its approach in excellent Order For no sooner had the Pioneers cut the Hedges that were in the way but the Men advanced which made the Enemy draw backwards till they came to a narrow Pass between a Bogs within half a Mile of the Town which was not above 150 Yards and this full of Hedges and other Incumbrances Herein however there were Lanes that led to the Town the middlemost being the broadest where stood the Irish Horse To the right and left of which the Hedges were lined all with â—â—â—squeteers of whom the English Foot were now got within less than 200 Yards The detacht Party of Foot was upon the Advance towards the Center The Horse a little to the right of them the Danes to the left And the blew Dutch with several English Regiments upon the right And all this in such Decorum that though the Hedges were very thick and troublesome yet the Front kept all in a Line except the advanced Party who went always some distance before Whilst these things were going on thus the King ordered 2 Field-pieces to be planted towards the left where they could bear upon the Enemy's Horse and fired from thence with so good Success that the Enemy soon quitted that Post And it is very remarkable our English Foot were so little concerned that tho' they knew the Enemy to be in the next Hedges yet whilst the Pioneers were at work they would sit down and ask one another whether they thought they should have any Bread that day for they began to want their Breakfasts tho' some few of them went into the other World for it while the Danes to the left stood with all the Care and Circumspection in the World and some of them observing the Posture of our Men and hearing what they said they thought they had no mind to fight But they were quickly convinced to the contrary for the Hedges were no sooner down and one Front advancing in a narrow Field and that the Irish fired a whole Volley upon them from the neighbouring Hedges but some of the English cried out aloud Ah you Toads are you there We will be with you presently and so they ran without any more ado along the Field directly towards the Hedges where the Irish were planted who thereupon quitted one Hedge after another So as that the Danes advancing on the left and the blew Dutch with the English on the right and the Horse coming on in the Center the Irish in less than half an hour after the Volley were driven under their very Walls and not a dozen Men lost on our side in all the Action which if the Irish had managed their business well would have cost us a great many more But as soon as they got under their Walls they plyed our Forces with their great Guns that killed several as they marched in which the whole Army did before 5 in the Afternoon and most of them incamp'd within Cannon-short Orders were given forthwith to draw 4 Field-pieces to Cromwell alias Iâ—eton's Fort to play upon the Town and Out-works The Danes according to their Post encamped to the left where
of the River of Limerick to give notice to the Commanders of the English and French Fleets of the present Conjuncture that they may observe the Cessation of Arms accordingly XXVIII THAT for the Security of the Execution of this present Capitulation and of each Article herein contain'd the Besieged shall give the following Hostages And the General shall give XXIX IF before this Capitulation is fully executed there happens any change in the Government or Command of the Army which is now commanded by General Ginckle all those that shall be appointed to command the same shall be obliged to observe and execute what is specified in these Articles or cause it to be executed punctually and shall not act contrary on any Account whatsoever Octob. 91. Baron De Ginckle To say nothing of other things in this Place you see that â—s many of the Irish Army as were willing of themselves to â—e transported into France might freely do it But the General on the 5th of Oct. receiving a Letter from a Lieuâ—enant-Colonel in the Irish Army wherein he complained â—e was imprisoned for denying to go into France he took it â—ery ill and ordered 4 Guns to be carried down immediately and planted upon Bolls-Bridge saying in some Heat He would teach them to play Tricks with him which Sarsfield hearing he came to the English Camp and several sharp Wordâ— passed between the General and him Sarsfield saying aâ— last That he was then in the General 's Power Not so replied the other but you shall go in and do the best you can But at last all things were quiet and the Prisoner enlarged and as many of the Irish as would go were some time after shipped off for France where upon their Arrival they were saluted with a comforting Letter from the late King James directed to Lieutenant-General Sheldon then the Oâ—ficer in Chief with them which was to this Effect JAMES REX HAving been informed of the Capitulation and Surrender 〈◊〉 Limerick and of the other Places which remained to 〈◊〉 in our Kingdom of Ireland and of the Necessities which foâ—â— the Lords Justices and the General Officers of our Forces theâ— unto We will not defer to let you know and the rest of the â—â—â—ficers that come along with you that we are extreamly satisâ— with your and their Conduct and of the Valour of the Soldieâ— during the Siege but most particularly of your and their Decâ—â—ration and Resolution to come and serve where we are And 〈◊〉 assure you and order you to assure both Officers and Soldiers 〈◊〉 are come along with you that we shall never forget this 〈◊〉 Loyalty nor-fail when in a Capacity to give them above othâ—â— particular Marks of our Favour In the mean time you are 〈◊〉 inform them that they are to serve under our Command and 〈◊〉 our Commissions and if we find that a considerable number is 〈◊〉 with the Fleet it will induce us to go personally to see them 〈◊〉 Regiment them Our Brother the King of France hath alreâ—â— given Orders to Cloath them and furnish them with all Necesâ—ries and to give them Quarters of Refreshment So we bid 〈◊〉 heartily farewel Given at our Court at St. Germâ—â— the 27th of November 1691. And thus ended this famous Irish War with so much 〈◊〉 more Glory and Advantage to the English in that the 〈◊〉 were so powerfully supported in it by the French Kiâ—â— who thought it much to his Interest to divert their 〈◊〉 that way whose Ancestors had done such terrible things 〈◊〉 his Country and had sent a good Fleet of Men of War 〈◊〉 Store-Ships to the Relief of this last Town which arriâ—â— in Dingle-Bay but a day or two after the Articles were 〈◊〉 The Scotch Affairs were so inconsiderable this Season thâ— there is nothing worth mentioning from thence neithâ—â— was there any thing extraordinary hapned by Sea tho' the Fleets on each side were very powerful and that one should think the French elated with their last Years Success might have adventured a second Fight now But they knew what they did well enough for they had another-guess Force and Admiral too to deal with now and they had another Game to Play which was to intercept our Turkey Fleet which was exceeding Rich and to that end cruised a long time upon the Irish-Coast But as Providence would have it they had been gone but about 10 days from hovering about Kingsale before the other came having all that time been held back by contrary Winds in their Passage from Cales The English Grand Fleet all this time kept another Course but it was not for want of Zeal or Fidelity in the brave Admiral but of Intelligence Yet as soon as the brave Admiral Russel now Earl of Oxford understood that they were got safe into Kingsale he took all the care imaginable for their being convoy'd safely to their respective Ports whither they were bound and then set sail in quest of the Enemy whom he was inform'd were turn'd to their own Coasts But being come within some Leagues of Brest he understood they lay at Bell-Isle secured in such a manner that it was impossible to attack them and so returned towards the English Shore but met with such tempestuous and stormy Weather that the Coronation a brave Ship and to the best of my Remembrance one or two more Ships of less Consideration were lost and the Admiral himself had much ado to get the rest of the Fleet safe into Harbour where now we leave them and come to see where King William was all the while We have already given you an account of the Congress at the Hague the Progress of the French Arms in the Spring both in Savoy and in Flanders and how the King could not engage them then in the latter and so he went for England where he made no long stay before he returned again into the Netherlands to head the Confederate Army which in Foot was somewhat superiour to that of France but in Horse the latter was stronger But tho' his Majesty did all that Man could do to bring Monsieur Luxemburg to an Engagement by several Marches and Countermarches he made as well as Umbrages he gave him of attacking Maubâ—ge or Mons yet all would not do the other as industriously avoiding fighting and would give no Opportunity for it but upon the greatest Disadvantage so that the King after he had first blown up the Fortifications of Beaumonâ— marched the Army towards Aeth from whence he parted on the 16th of Sept. for Loo leaving the Forces under the Command of Prince Waldeck who continued about the aforesaid Place for some time But moving off about the 17th of Sept. towards Benair Monsieur Luxemburg thought it a good Opportunity to fall upon their Rear with a good Body of Horse and the best in France and continued his design'd March so swiftly that upon the 19th he came up with their Rear-guard as they were marching towards
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
are too often accompanied I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by factious Pretences of Religion but were not Religion the most justifiable Cause it would not be made the most specious Pretence And your Majesty has already shewn too interested a Sense of Religion to doubt the just Effects of it on one whose Practices have I hope never given the World cause to censure his real Conviction of it or his backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to How then can I longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily educated which my Judgment truly convinceth me to be the Best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested in my Native Country And is not England now by the most endearing Tye become so Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the Reformed Religion back'd by the cruel Zeal and prevailing Power of France justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and engage them in so vast an Expence for the Support of it Can I act so degenerous and mean a Part to deny my Concurrence to such worthy Endeavours for the disabusing your Majesty by the Re-inforcement of those Laws and Re-establishment of that Government on which alone depends the Well-being of your Majesty and of the Protestant Religion in Europe This Sir is that irresistible and only Cause that could come in Competition with my Duty and Obligation to your Majesty and be able to fear me from you whilst the same affectionate Desire of serving You continues in me Could I secure your Person â— by the hazard of my Life I should think it could not be better employed And would to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Compliance from your Majesty in all their justifiable Pretensions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and as strongly unite the Hearts of all your Subjects to You as is that of c. The Lord Churchill left a Letter to the same purpose which runs thus SIR SInce Men are seldom suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and tho' my dutiful Behaviour to Your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much over-paid may not be sufficient to incline You to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions yet I hope the great Advantage I enjoy under Your Majesty which I can never expect in any other Change of Government may reasonably convince Your Majesty and the World that I am acted by an higher Principle when I offer that Violence to my Inclination and Interest as to desert Your Majesty at a Time when Your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all Your Subjects much more from one who lies under the greatest Personal Obligations imaginable to Your Majesty This SIR could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my Conscience and a necessary Concern for my Religion which no good Man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in Competition Heaven knows with what Partiality my dutiful Opinion of Your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs which Inconsiderate and Self-Interested Men have framed against Your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer join with such to give a Pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so I will always with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much Your Majesty's due endeavour to preserve Your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutigâ—l Respect that becomes c. Upon this the Army retreated to Reading and the King very disconsolate returned on the 26th in the Evening to London from whence the Princess Ann of Denmark his second Daughter was gone privately the Night before and if she had not left a Letter behind her to shew the reason of her Retreat the King 's own Guards had in all probability torn all the Popish Party to pieces upon a surmize that they had made her away The Letter she left for the Queen was as follows MADAM I Beg Your Pardon if am so deeply affected with the surprizing News of the Prince's being gone as not to be able to see You but to leave this Paper to express my humble Duty to the King and Your Self and to let You know that I am gone to absent my self to avoid the King's Displeasure which I am not able to bear either against the Prince or my self And I shall stay at so great a Distance as not to return before I hear the happy News of a Reconcilement And as I am confident the Prince did not leave the King with any other Design than to use all possible Means for His Preservation so I hope You will do me the Justice to believe that I am not capable of following him for any other End Never was any one in such an unhappy Condition so divided between Duty and Affection to a Father and an Husband and therefore I know not what to do but to follow one to preserve the other I see the general Falling off of the Nobility and Gentry who avow to have no other End than to prevail with the King to secure their Religion which they saw so much in danger by the violent Counsels of the Priests who to promote their own Religion did not care to what Dangers they exposed the King I am fully persuaded that the Prince of Orange designs the King's Safety and Preservation and hope all Things may be composed without more Blood-shed by the Calling of a Parliament God grant a happy End to these Troubles that the King's Reign may be prosperous and that I may shortly meet You in perfect Peace and Safety Till when let me beg you to continue the same favourable Opinion that You have hitherto had of c. The first thing done upon the King's Return was the turning Sir Edward Hales out from being Lieutenant of the Tower and then to order Writs to be issued out for the sitting of a Parliament the 15th of Jan. but that was too late and the Nation was now in such a Ferment that neither this pace nor a Proclamation of the 30th of Nov. requiring the Elections to be done in a fair and legal manner signified any thing so that the King now began to provide for his Family and first he sent away the Prince of Wales to Portsmouth but my Lord Dartmouth would not suffer him to be carried into France yet the Queen soon after found a way to convey him her self and divers others thither And indeed it was high time for Scotland now was as much alarmed as England and some of the Nobility and Gentry were sent up with a Petition for a free Parliament all the North of England was secured for the Prince Newcastle receiving the Lord Lumâ—ey and declaring
for a free Parliament and the Protestant Religion York was in the hands of the associated Lords The Garison of Hull seized the Lord Langdale then Governor a Papist and the Lord Montgomery and disarmed some Popish Forces newly sent thither and then declared as New Castle had done Bristol was seized by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John Guise Plymouth had long before submitted to the Prince of Orange and in short the Popish party was become so contemptible in London that on Thursday Dec. 6th there was an Hue and Cry after Father Petre publickly cried and sold in the Streets of London but this was not the worst neither for about the same time came out this following Declaration in the Name of the Prince of Orange By His Highness WILLIAM HENRY Prince of Orange A Third Declaration VVE have in the Course of our Life more particularly by the apparent Hazards both by Sea and Land to which we have so lately exposed our Person given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion that we are fully confident no true English Man and good Protestant can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution rather to spend our dearest Blood and perish in the Attempt than not to carry on the blessed and glorious Design which by the Favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from Popery and Slavery and in a Free Parliament to Establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms on such a sure and lasting Foundation that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny Towards the more easie compassing this great Design we have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the Concurrence of the Nobility Gentry and People of England with us for the Security of their Religion and the Restitution of the Laws and the Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties Great Numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joined themselves to us and others at great distances from us have taken up Arms and declared for us And which we cannot but particularly mention in that Army which was raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery many by the special Providence of God both Officers and common Soldiers have been touched with such a feeling Sense of Religion and Honour and of true Affection to their Native Country that they have already deserted the illegal Service they were engaged in and have come over to Us and have given us full Assurance from the rest of the Army That they will certainly follow this Example as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them without hazard of being prevented or betray'd To which end and that we may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design we are engaged in for the Publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations We are resolved with all possible Diligence to advance forward that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King and all things first settled upon such a Foot according to Law as may give us and the whole Nation just Reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescension on his part as will give entire Satisfaction and Security to all and make both King and People once more Happy And that we may effect all this in the way most agreeable to our Designs if it be possible without the Effusion of any Blood except of those execurable Criminals who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion and subverting the Lawes of their Native Country We do think fit to declare That as we will offer no Violence to any but in our own necessary Defence so we will not suffer any Injury to be done to the Person even of any Papist provided he be found in such Place and Condition and Circumstances at the Laws require So we are resolved and do declare That all People who shall be found in open Arms or with Arms in their Houses or about their Persons or in any Office Civil or Military upon any pretence whatsoever contrary to the known Laws of the Land shall be treated by Us and our Forces not as Soldiers and Gentlemen but as Robbers Free-Booters and Banditti they shall be incapable of Quarter and entirely delivered up to the Discretion of our Soldiers And we do further declare That all Persons who shall be found any ways aiding or assisting to them or shall march under their Command or shall join with or submit to them in the Discharge or Execution of their illegal Commission or Authority shall be looked upon as Partakers of their Crimes Enemies to the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed That great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempt upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to join themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken suck effectual Care to prevent the onâ— and secure the other that by God's Assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender Concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and blood Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lords Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord-Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns in England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsover as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all Power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their Force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others