those whose Right it is to chuse Members of Parliament should be under any Prejudices and Mistakes thro' the Artifices of disaffected Persons We think fit to declare That it is Our Royal Purpose to endeavour a legal Establishment of an Universal Liberty of Conscience for all Our Subjects it is also our Resolution inviolably to preserve the Church of England by such a Confirmation of the several Acts of Uniformity that they shall never be altered by any other ways than by repealing the several Clauses which inflict Penalties upon Persons not promoted or to be promoted to any Ecclesiastical Benefices or Promotions within the meaning of the said Acts for using and exercising their Religion contrary to the Tenor and Purport of the said Acts of Uniformity And for the further securing not only the Church of England but the Protestant Religion in general We are willing the Roman Catholicks shall remain incapable to be Members of the House of Commons whereby those Fears and Apprehensions will be removed which many persons have had That the Legislative Authority would be engrossed by them and turn'd against Protestants We do likewise assure all our loving Subjects that We shall be ready to do every thing else for their safety and advantage that becomes a King who will always take care of his People and if they desire the happiness of their Country We exhort them to lay by all Animosities and dispose themselves to think of such Persons to represent them in Parliament whose Abilities and Temper render them fit for so great and good a Work. And for the preventing any Disorders Irregularities or undue Proceedings whatsoever that may happen either before or at the time of Election of Members for the insuing Parliament We do hereby strictly require and command all Mayors Sheriffs Bailiffs and other Officers whatsoever to whom the execution of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for or concerning the choice of Members for the ensuing Parliament shall belong That they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed according to the Tenor thereof And the Members that shall be chosen to be fairly return'd according to the Merits of the Choice The Nation was by this time become so distrustful of all the Proceedings of the Court that this Declaration was thought absolutely necessary to assure them a Parliament should be holden and yet after all it was little believed The Preparations in Holland had made it necessary to wheedle the Church of England-men and therefore they were told only the Penalties of the Acts of Uniformity should be repeal'd that an Universal Liberty of Conscience might be established And the Roman Catholicks not being likely to be chosen for Members of the lower House in this Parliament they were contented to continue uncapable of being chosen in there intimating they intended however to sit in the House of Lords The 26th of September there was an Order made to authorize and empower the Lords Lieutenants many of which were Roman Catholicks or unqualified persons of the several Counties to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from being Deputy-Lieutenants and his Majesty also gave directions to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of England to put into the Commission of the Peace such Gentlemen as had been lately laid aside and shall be recommended by the said Lords-Lieutenants In the Interim certain Intelligence being brought that the Preparations in Holland were designed against England The 24th of September were summoned the Bishop of London Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester and Bristol and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 28th of Septemb. they appeared at Whitehall and there waited accordingly that day upon the King in a Body Winchester Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough but London and Bristol came not then to Town and the Archbishop was sick and came alone the next day There passed nothing then but general Expressions of his Favour and Promises of Duty on the Bishops part Whereupon they all desired the Archbishop to beg a second-Admission which was appointed on Tuesday the 2d of October but was put off till the next day The 28th of September his Majesty put out this following Declaration WE have received undoubted Advice That a great and sudden invasion from Holland with an armed Force of Foreigners and Strangers will speedily be made in an hostile manner upon this Our Kingdom and altho' some false Pretences relating to Liberty Property and Religion contrived or worded with Art and Subtilty may be given out as shall be thought useful upon such an Attempt it is manifest however considering the great Preparations that are making that no less matter by this Invasion is propos'd than an absolute Conquest of these Our Kingdoms and the utter subduing and subjecting Us and all Our People to a foreign Power which is promoted as We understand altho' it may seem almost incredible by some of Our Subjects being persons of wicked and restless Spirits implacable Malice and desperate Designs who having no sense of former intestine Distractions the Memory and Misery whereof should endear and put a value upon that Peace and Happiness which hath long been enjoyed nor being moved by Our reiterated Acts of Grace and Mercy wherein we have studied and delighted to abound towards all Our Subjects and even towards those who were once avowed and open Enemies and who do again endeavour to imbroil this Kingdom in Blood and Ruine to gratifie their own Ambition and Malice proposing to themselves a Prey and Booty in such a publick Confusion We cannot omit to make it known that altho' We had notice some time since that a foreign force was preparing against Us yet We have always declined any foreign Succours but rather have chosen next under God to rely upon the true and ancient Courage Faith and Allegiance of our own People with whom we have often ventur'd Our life for the honour of this Nation and in whose defence against all Enemies We are firmly resolved to live and die And therefore We solemnly conjure Our Subjects to lay aside all manner of Animosities Jealousies and Prejudices and heartily and chearfully to unite together in the defence of Us and their native Country which thing alone will under God defeat and frustrate the principal Hope and Design of Our Enemies who expect to find Our People divided and by publishing perhaps some plausible Reasons of their coming hither as the specious tho' false pretences of maintaining the Protestant Religion or asserting the Liberties and Properties of Our People do hope thereby to conquer this great and renowned Kingdom But albeit the design hath been carried on with all imaginable Secresie and Endeavour to surprize and deceive Us We have not been wanting on our part to make such Provisions as did become Us and by Gods Blessing We make no doubt of being found in so good a Posture that Our Enemies may have cause to repent such their
no such Court as that Commission sets up may be erected for the future III. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annexed to them and in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxford IV. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Publick Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly debated and argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the four Foreign Bishops who stile themselves Vicars Apostolical from further invading the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That your Majesty will be pleased graciously to fill the vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with men of Learning and Piety and in particular which I must own to be my peculiar boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have now here before you a very fair Choice VIII That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all further Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to restore to them their ancient Charters Priviledges and Franchises as we hear God hath put into your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our principal Requests IX That if it so please your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the calling of a free and regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be established between your Majesty and all your People X. Above all That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be effectual to perswade your Majecty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most holy Catholick Faith you were baptized and in which you were educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be re-united These Sir are the humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to your Majesty as suitable to the present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to dispose and govern yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to your own both temporal and eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Jo. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath Wells Tho. Petriburg We may guess at the Rages the Priests were in at these Advices by the resentment they expressed afterwards against these innocent and good Proposals when their Affairs were in a much worse state than now they were The Bishop of Rochester observes that they were drawn at Lambeth on Mâ—nday the first of October and presented the third and the Prince of Orange's Declaration was signed in Holland the tenth New Stile which was the first of our Month and the matter of them is very near the same except one or two particulars too high for Subjects to meddle with and all this at a time when the King thought of nothing but Victory when in all probability he was the strongest both at Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him and when the very Winds and Seas seemed hitherto as much on his side as they all afterwards turned against him October the 5th two days after the Bishops had made the Ten famous Proposals above-recited the King declared in Council That in pursuance of his Resolution and Intentions to protect the Church of England and that all Suspicions and Jealousies to the contrary may be removed he had thought fit to dissolve the Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical c. and accordingly did give Directions to the Lord Chancellor of England to cause the same to be forthwith done Now this was only half what was asked it not being declared illegal nor any Promise made so soon as ever the times would serve it should not be renewed And we shall see the Jesuits were champing on it bye and bye The 6th of October the King was also graciously pleased to restore to the City of London all their ancient Franchises and Privileges as fully as they enjoyed them before the late Judgment upon the Quo Warranto and the Lord Chancellor did them the honour to bring down the Instrument of Restitution and Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And Sir John Chapman was thereby constituted Lord Mayor till the time of Election and was accordingly sworn in the Guild-hall with the usual Solemnity The same day the Aldermen now in being that were at the time of the said Judgment took their former Places and the Vacancies were to be supplied by the Election of the Citizens according to the Ancient Custom of the City And an Address of Thanks was forthwith voted and signed for the Favour granted to them October the 10th his Majesty having received several Complaints of great Abuses committed in the late Regulations of the Corporations he thereupon in Council thought fit to authorize and require the Lords Lieutenants of the several Counties to inform themselves of all such Abuses and Irregularities within their Lieutenancies and to make forthwith Report thereof to his Majesty together with what they conceive fit to be done for the redressing of the same Whereupon he would give such further Orders as should be requisite But pressing News
And for the better effecting Our said Intention We have by Order made by Us in Council and under Our Sign Manual and We do also by this Our Proclamation made with the Advice of Our said Council discharge remove and dismiss all and every Person and Persons of and from all Offices and Places of Mayors Bailiffs Sheriffs Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants Recorder Town-clerk and all and every Office and Place which they or any of them have or claim only by Charter Patent or Grant from Our dear Brother or from Our Self since the Dates of the respective Deeds of Surrender or Rules of Judgment except such Corporations whose Deeds of Surrender are Inrolled or against whom Judgment is entred and that all and every such Person and Persons deliver up into the Hands of the said Persons hereby appointed and intended to act and execute the said Offices and Places all and every the Charters Records Books Evidences and Matters concerning the said Corporations And We do hereby further publish and declare That We have caused all and every the said Deeds of Surrender which can be found to be delivered and put into the Hands of Our Attorney-General to be by him cancell'd and returned to the Corporations and Bodies Politick of the respective Cities and Towns whom they concern and have also given to Our said Attorney Authority and do hereby Warrant and Command him not only not to proceed or enter Judgment upon the said Quo Warranto's or Informations in nature of a Quo Warranto or any of them but to enter upon the respective Records Noli Prosequi's and Legal Discharges thereof And We do hereby publish and declare Our further Grace and Favour to the said Cities Corporations and Burroughs at any time hereafter by any further Act to grant confirm or restore unto them all their Charters Liberties Franchises and Privileges that at the respective times of such Deeds of Surrender or Rules for Judgment made or given they held or enjoyed And in order to the perfecting Our said Gracious Intentions We do hereby likewise publish and declare Our Royal Will and Pleasure for and concerning the Restoring to such Our Cities Corporations and Burroughs within our said Kingdom and Dominion which have made Deeds of Surrender or have had Judgment given against them which Surrenders and Judgments are entred of Record That Our Chancellor Attorney General and Sollicitor-General without Fees to any Officer or Officers whatsoever upon Application to them made shall and they are hereby required to prepare and pass Charters Instruments Grants and Letters-Patents for the Incorporating Re granting Confirming and Restoring to all and every the said Cities Corporations and Burroughs their respective Charters Liberties Rights Franchises and Privileges and for restoring the respective Mayors Bailiffs Recorders Sheriffs Town-clerks Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants Officers Magistrates Ministers and Free-men as were of such Cities Corporations and Burroughs at the time of such Deeds of Surrender or Judgments respectively given or had and for the putting them into the same State Condition and Plight they were in at the times of such Deeds of Surrender or Judgment made or given And whereas divers Burroughs that were not heretofore Corporations have since the Year 1679. had Charters of Incorporation granted and passed unto them We hereby further express and declare Our Royal Pleasure to determine and annul the said last-mentioned Charters and Corporations And to that end We have in pursuance to the Power reserved in the said Charters by Our Order in Council and under Our Sign Manual removed and discharged and We do also by this Our Proclamation made with the Advice of our said Council remove and discharge all and every Person of or in the said last-mentioned Corporations of and from all Offices and Places of Mayors Bailiffs Recorders Sheriffs Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants and of and from all and every other Office and Place from which We have Power reserved by the said Charters respectively to remove or discharge them And We do hereby promise and declare That We will do and consent to all such Acts Matters and Things as shall be necessary to render these Our Gracious Intentions and Purposes effectual It being Our Gracious Intention to call a Parliament as soon as the General Disturbance of Our Kingdom by the intended Invasion will admit thereof Given at Whitehall It was necessary to transcribe this long Piece to shew what an hurry of Confusion the Nation was then in and how reasonable it was for the Bishops in their Seventh Proposal to desire the Restitution of all these Corporations and Burroughs to their Ancient State without which as things had been carried of late especially it was altogether impossible a Free and Legal Parliament should be holden The 12th of October his Majesty having declared his Resolution to preserve the Church of England in all its Rights and Immunities as an Evidence of it signified his Pleasure to the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Winchester as Visitor of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford to settle that Society Regularly and Statutably who accordingly caused the 16th of that Month a Citation to be fixed up on the College Gates to recal Dr. Hough and the former Fellows of that Society by the second of November following And he accordingly went down to reinstate them and was joyfully received by the University but an Account coming that very Post that the Dutch Fleet had suffered very much in a Storm the 16th of the same Month N. S. and that they would hardly be able to sail till the Spring his Lordship was recalled to London and the Restitution put off But soon after that false News being contradicted the Affection to the Church of England revived and the 24th of October he returned and went thorow with the Work. The 20th of October we had the Favour of the following Proclamation bestowed upon us FOrasmuch as the great Preparations made to invade and conquer this Our Kingdom require Our utmost Care in providing for the necessary Safety and Defence thereof wherein we resolve thro' God's Assistance not to be wanting and to the intent that Our Enemies who will bring the heavy and sad Calamities of War may not strengthen themselves at their coming hither by seising the Horses Oxen and Cattel of any of Our Subjects which may be useful and serviceable to them for Burthen and Draught We have therefore thought fit and We do here by this Our Royal Proclamation published by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council strictly charge and command all and every the Lords Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants of Our respective Counties adjoining to the Sea and all Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Bailiffs and all and every other Officers and Ministers Civil and Military within their respective Counties Cities Towns and Divisions That they cause the Coasts to be carefully watched and upon the first approach of the Enemy to cause all Horses Oxen and Cattel which may be
the Parliament was broke the Closetting went on and a new one was to be chosen who was to get by closetting I need not say but it was certainly not I nor any of my Friends many of them suffered who I would fain have saved and yet I must confess with grief that when the King was resolv'd and there was no remedy I did not quit as I ought to have done but served on in order to the calling another Parliament In the midst of all the preparations for it and whilst the Corporations were regulating the King thought sit to order his Declarations to be read in all Churches of which I most solemnly protest I never heard one word till the King directed it in Council that drew on the Petition of my Lord the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Lords the Bishops and their Prosecution which I was so openly against that by arguing continually to shew the Injustice and the Imprudence of it I brought the Fury of the Roman Catholicks upon me to such a degree and so unanimously that I was just sinking and I wish I had then sunk but whatever I did foolishly to preserve my self I continued still to be the Object of their hatred and I resolv'd to serve the publick as well as I could which I am sure most of the considerable Protestants then at Court can testifie and so can one very eminent man of the Country whom I would have perswaded to come into business which he might have done to have helped me to resist the violence of those in power but he despaired of being able to do any good and therefore would not engage Sometime after came the first News of the Prince's designs which were not then look'd on as they have proved no body foreseeing the Miracles he has done by his wonderful Prudence Conduct and Courage for the greatest thing which has been undertaken these thousand years or perhaps ever could not be effected without Vertues hardly to be imagined till seen nearer hand Upon the first thought of his coming I laid hold of the opportunity to press the King to do several things which I would have had done sooner the chief of which were to restore Magdalen Colledge and all other Ecclesiastical Preferments which had been diverted from what they were intended for to take off my Lord Bishop of London's Suspension to put the Counties into the same hands they were in some time before to annual the Ecclesiastical Court and to restore entirely all the Corporations of England These things weredone effectually by the help of some about the King and it was then thought I had destroyed my self by enraging again the whole Roman Catholick Party to such a height as had not been seen they dispersed Libels of me every day told the King that I betrayed him that I ruined him by perswading him to make such shameful Condescentions but most of all by hindring the securing the chief of the disaffected Nobility and Gentry which was proposed as a certain way to break all the Prince's Measures and by advising his Majesty to call a Free-Parliament and to depend upon that rather than upon foreign Assistance It is true I did give him those Counsels which were called weak to the last moment he suffered me in his Service then I was accused of holding Correspondence with the Prince and it was every where said amongst them That no better could be expected from a man so related as I was to the Bedford and Leicester Families and so allied to Duke Hamilton and the Marquiss of Halifax After this Accusations of High Treason were brought against me which with some other reasons relating to affairs abroad drew the Kings displeasure upon me so as to turn me out of all without any consideration and yet I thought I escaped well expecting nothing less than the loss of my head as my Lord Middleton can tell and I believe none about the Court thought otherwise nor had it been otherwise if my Disgrace had been deferred a day longer all things being prepared for it I was put out the 27th of October the Roman Catholicks having been two Months working the King up to it without intermission besides the several Attacks they had made upon the before and the unusual assistance they obtained to do what they thought so necessary for the carrying on their Affairs of which they never had greater hope than at chat time As may be remembred by any who were then at London But you desired I would say something to you of Ireland which I will do in very few words but exactly true My Lord Tyroonnell has been so absolute there that I never had the credit to make an Ensign or keep one in nor to preserve some of my Friende 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was much concerned from the lust Oppression and 〈◊〉 tho' I endeavoured it to the utmost or my power but yet with care and diligence being upon the place and he absent I diverted the calling a Parliament there which was designed to alter the Acts of Settlement Chief Justice Nugent and Baron Rice were sent over with a draught of an Act for that purpose furnished with all the pressing Arguments could be thought on to perswade the King and I was offered forty thousand pounds for my Concurrence which I told to the King and shewed him at the same time the Injustice of what was proposed to him and the prejudice it would be to that Country with so good success that he resolved not to think of it that year and perhaps never This I was helped in by some Friends particularly any Lord Godolphin who knows it to be true and so do the Judges before named and several others I cannot omit saying something of France there having been so much talk of a League between the two Kings I do protest I never knew of any and if there were such a thing it was carried on by other sort of men last Summer Indeed French Ships were offered to join with our Fleet and they were refused since the noise of the Prince's design more Ships were offered and it was agreed how they should be commanded if ever desired I opposed to death the accepting of them as well as any assistance of men and can say most truly that I was the principal means of hindring both by the help of some Lords with whom I consulted every day and they with me to prevent what we thought would be of great prejudice if not ruinous to the Nation If the Report is true of Men Ships and Money intended lately for England out of France it was agreed upon since I was out of business or without my knowledge if it had been otherwise I believe no body drinks my Disgrace would have hapned My greatest Misfortune has been to be thought the Promoter of those things I opposed and detested whilst some I could name have been the Inventors and Contrivers of what they have had the Art to lay upon
enroll'd in Parliament and Chancery which is as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THis is certainly the Greatest Proof of the Trust you have in us that can be given which is the thing that maketh us value it the more and we thankfully accept what you have offered And as I had no other intention in my coming hither than to Preserve Your Religion Laws and Liberties So you may be sure that I shall endeavour to Support them and shall be willing to concur in any thing that shall be for the Good of the Kingdom and to do all that is in my Power to Advance the Wellfare and Glory of the Nation Thus ended that Stupendious Revolution in England which we have so lately seen to the great Joy of the Generality of the Protestants of Europe and of many of the Catholick Princes and States who were at last convinced that the attempting to force England to return under the Obedience of the See of Rome in the present conjuncture of Affairs would certainly end in the ruine of this potent Kingdom and whilest it was doing the present French King would possess himself of the remainder of the Spanish Netherlands and the Palatinate and perhaps of the Electorates of Cologne Ments and Triers a great part of which he hath actually seized whilest the Prince of Orange was thus Gloriously asserting the English Liberty The true reasons of the Swiftness of this Change may easily be assigned by shewing the temper and designs of James the II. The Temper of William the III. our Present Soveraign and The Nature of the English Nation and of the times all concurring with Wonderful Harmony to produce this wonderful effect For had James the II. undertook any thing but the subjecting England to Popery and the Exercise of an Arbitrary Power to that end his vast Revenue and personal Valour and the Reputation he had gained at home and abroad by the defeat of the Monmouth Invasion would have gone near to have effected it and after all this if he had in the beginning of October frankly granted all the Ten Proposals made by the Bishops and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up a confiderable number of his Ministers to Justice and suffered the pretended Prince of Wales his Birth to be freely debated and determin'd in Parliament It would in all probability have prevented or defeated the then intended Invasion But whilest he thought to save the Pretended Succession the Dispensing and Suspending power and the Ecclesiastical Commission to carry on his former design with when he had baffl'd the Prince of Orange the Nation saw through the project and he lost all Had a Prince of less secrecy prudence courage and interest than the Prince of Orange undertaken this business it might probably have miscarried but as his cause was better so his reputation conduct and patience infinitely exceeded theirs he would not stir till he saw the French Forces set down before Philipsbourg and then he was sure France and Germany were irrevocably ingaged in a War and consequently he should have no other opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must at last have determin'd all the things in Controversie except we resolved once for all to give up our Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the will of our King and submit for ever to a French Government A Nation of less sense than the English might have been imposed upon of less bravery and valour might have been frighted of a more servile temper might have neglected its Liberties till it had been too late to have ever recovered them again But none but a parcel of Jesuits bred in a Cloister and unacquainted with our temper as well as Constitution would ever have hoped to have carried two such things as Popery and Arbitrary power both at once upon so jealous a Nation as the English is which hates them above any other people in the World. The cruel slaughter they had made of the poor wretches they took after the defeat at Bridgwater ought to have made them for ever despair of gaining any credit with the Dissenters who rarely forgive but never forget any ill treatment Yet these little Politico's had so little sense as to build all their hopes on the Gratitude and Insensibility of these men as if they should for Liberty of Conscience arbitrarily and illegally granted and consequently revocable at the will of the Granter have sold themselves to everlasting slavery They were equally mistaken in their carriage towards the Church of England party for when some of them had pursued both Clergy and Laity with the utmost obloquy hatred oppression and contempt to the very moment they found the Dutch storm would fall upon them Then all at once they passed to the other extream the Bishops are presently sent for the Government intirely to be put into their hands and all places Presses and Papers fill'd with the Encomiums of the Church of England's Loyalty and Fidelity who but three days before were Male-contents if not Rebels and Traytors for opposing the Kings Dispensing power and the Ecclesiastical Commission And which was the height of folly the same Pen which had been hired to defame and blacken the Church of England the Author of the Publick Occurrences truly stated was ordered to magnifie its Loyalty By which they gained nothing but the intire and absolute disobliging the whole Protestant party in the Nation so that for the future no body would serve or trust them To compleat their folly and madness they perswaded the King to throw up the Government and retire into France pretending we would never be able to agree amongst our selves but would in a short time be forced to recal him and yield to all those things we had so violently opposed or if not he might yet at least force us to submit by the succours he might gain in France without ever considering how possible it was we might agree and how difficult it would be to force us by a French Army which was equally contrary to the Interest of England and all Europe besides and to all intents and purposes destructive of the Interest of that Prince they pretended thus to exalt and re-establish Had France been now in Peace there might yet have been some colour for this but when all Europe was under a necessity to unite against him for its own preservation then to perswade the King of Great Britain to desert his Throne and fly thither for succour upon hopes of recovering his Kingdoms again by the assistance of the French the mortal and hereditary enemies of the English this was so silly a project that there seems to have been something of a Divine Infatuation in it However certainly no rational man will think that all the Princes of Europe would sit still and
Thing Now impartial Reason has always a regard to the Circumstances of Action and makes Allowances for Surprise for Straitness of Time for Resentment upon extraordinary provocation and never takes advantage of an Omission which may be fairly Interpreted from any or all of these Causes I mention this not that the present Case needs any such Allowance but to shew that the Law of Nature would admit it if Occasion required 'T is true written Laws either through the ambiguity of the Words or the defectiveness of the Sense are often abused by ill Men and wrested contrary to the Design of the Legislators But the Law of Nature is not tyed up to the Alphabet nor bound to determine by the Imperfections of former Ages Therefore this Principle will give the Enquirer no just Advantages against his Majesty for Equity has no Quirk in it nor ever lies at Catch Reason is always Just and Generous it never makes Misfortune an Accusation nor judges in favour of Violence Indeed what can be more Unrighteous though the Case was private and inferior than that any one should Suffer for being Injured and be barred his Right for the Faults of others If a Man should forfeit his House to those who set it on Fire only because he quitted it without giving some formal Directions to the Servants and be obliged to lose his Estate for endeavouring to preserve his Life I believe it would be thought an incomprehensible sort of Justice If to proceed in this manner be not to establish Wickedness by a Law I have done If Princes may be thus roughly treated their Birth is a Misfortune to them and we may say they are Crown'd rather for Sacrifice than Empire At this rate the People must e'en Govern themselves for the Throne will be a Place of too much Danger to sit on any longer We have an Excellent Church and we do well to take due Care to continue its Establishment but to dispossess our Prince upon this Score has as little Divinity as Law in it To endeavour to preserve our Religion by such Methods will make it more Fatal to us in the event than Atheism it self 'T is a mistake to think the World was made for none but Protestants and if Dominion was founded in Grace I am afraid our share would not be great in the Division § 31. If it is Objected That his Majesty 's not sending to his People upon his Removal is an Argument that he intended to govern them no longer To this I Answer 1. That I am pretty well assured That no Man who makes this Objection believes the truth of it and therefore I might safely leave it to his own Conscience to confute him Secondly His Majesty was scarcely Landed in France before the Administration was conferred upon the Prince of Orange which Action might very well discourage his Majesty from sending any Messages so soon as he intended But since it 's known his Majesty has sent Letters if not to the Privy Council as some affirm yet to the Convention § 33. Thirdly Those who were the Occasion of his Majesty's Departure should one would think have waited on him and invited him back For without Question the injuring Person ought to make the first step towards an Accommodation especially when Wrong is done to his own Prince Now whether his Majesty has been well used in this Revolution or not I leave the World to judge now but God will do it afterwards Thus SIR I have ventured to give you my Thoughts upon this Subject and am Affectionately Yours AN Answer to the Desertion Discuss'd HAving thus as truly and as shortly as I can from the Papers I have Collected stated the matter of Fact without which it is impossible to pass any judgment upon the merits of the case I come now in the next place to consider the small Piece which has necessitated me to take all this pains The Author of it is my acquaintance and a person for whom I have a great esteem both on the account of his Profession and of his personal worth learning and sobriety so that I cannot believe he had any ill design either in the writing or publishing of it his zeal for the Church of England's Loyalty and the difficulty and unusualness of the present case having been the occasions if not the causes of his mistake and therefore I will endeavour to shew him and the world his error with as much candor and sweetness as he himself can wish because I have the same design for the main that he had viz. the Honour of the Church of England and the safety of Government and especially our Monarchy It begins thus Sir I don't wonder to find a Person of your sense and integrity so much surprized at the report of the Thrones being declared vacant by the Lower House of the Convention for how say you can the Seat of the Government be empty whilest the King who all grant had an unquestionable Title is still living and his absence forced and involuntary I thought our Laws as well as our Religion had been against the Deposing Doctrine therefore I desire you would expound this State Riddle to me and give me the Grounds of this late extraordinary Revolution Sect. 1. In Answer to which he tells his Country Gentleman That the Gentlemen of the Lower House of Convention lay the main stress of their opinion upon his Majesties withdrawing himself c. Now that the King was de facto gone is not to be disputed but the Question is Whether his absence was truly forced and involuntary or no and by whom he was forced Our Author is for the affirmative and afterwards proposeth his Reasons which I shall examine And this Question being well stated the business of the Deposing Doctrine will appear nothing to the purpose Now before our Author could regularly enter upon this Question he ought first to have considered what the causes of this force was and what had been done by the King on his part and then have come to the other Whether the absenting himself was a fault or a misfortune So that to begin at the right end of the Question we must enquire what were the causes of this Revolution who were the Parties concern'd how things were managed on both sides and then come in the last place to the Question he begins with Now Sir are the Prince of Orange's Declaration and the Bishops Ten Proposals as to the things complained of true or false Are they justifiable or not by the Laws of England For if the King had done nothing which he could not fairly justifie his Title was unquestionable and therefore he ought not to have been disturbed either by his own Subjects or his Neighbours during his life But then Sir I think he had no right to govern us as he did and he had as little reason to expect whatever we did that his Neighbours would sit still and suffer him to do what he pleased to them and