their Arms to some of the Officers of the Ordnance who are to deposite the same in the Stores in the Tower of London And we do require and command all Justices of the Peace Constables and other Officers whom it may concern that they apprehend and seize all such Souldiers as shall not repair to their respective Bodies and that they be dealt with as Vagabonds Given at the Council-Chamber at Whitehall the Fourteenth of December 1688. Tho. Ebor. Hallisax Dorset Carlisle Craven Nottingham Rochester N. Duresme P. Winchester North and Grey J. Trever J. Titus It was but time to put out this Order for on Thursday morning the 13th of December about Three of the Clock there was a dreadful Alarm that the Irish in a desperate Rage were approaching the City putting Men Women and Children to the Sword as they came along whereupon the Citizens all rose placing Lights in their Windows from top to bottom and guarded every man his own Doors with his Musquet charged with Bullet and all the Trainbands in the City were assembled and there was nothing but shooting and beating of Drums all night This Alarm spread it self the whole length and breadth of the Kingdom of England and all that were able to bear Arms appeared at their several places vowing the Defence of their Lives Religion Laws and Liberties and resolving to destroy all the Irish and Papists in England in case any injury were offered them but then there were very few Papists slain in these Tumults and Frights but their Houses were generally rifled on pretence of searching for Arms and Ammunition The Lords after this sent the Lords Feversham Ailes bury Yarmouth and Middleton most humbly to entreat the King to return to Whitchall and ordered his Guards to go down to him to see him safe on board any Ship he should chuse if he persisted in his Resolution to go out of the Nation With them went the Servants of his Houshold to carry him Money and Cloaths all he had of the former being taken from him by the Seamen and his Cloaths rent and torn in the searching of him before he was known as he had in part signified in a Letter to the Lord Feversham Now considering the whole Nation in a manner had submitted to the Prince of Orange before the King was heard of after he had withdrawn himself it had perhaps been but reasonable to have suspended the inviting him back to Whitchall till they had received his Consent or at least asked it or had called a greater Assembly of the Peers than that day met The 12th day the four Lords sent by the Peers with four Aldermen and eight of the Common Council of London parted to wait upon the Prince of Orange with the Declaration signed by the Body of the Peers the day before at Guildhall The 15th the King removed to Rochester in order to his Return to London and some of his Troops of Guard went down thither to him And the next day being Sunday he returned about Five in the Evening to Whitchall attended by one Troop of Grenadiers and three Troops of Life Guard a Set of Boys following him through the City and making some Huzza's whilst the rest of the People silently looked on His Highness the Prince of Orange who was then at Windsor had sent Monsieur Zulestein to the King to desire him to continue at Rochester but he missing him the King came to Whitehall and from thence sent the Lord Feversham with a Letter to the Prince to Windsor to invite him to St. James's with what number of Troops he should think fit to bring with him he could now do no otherwise his own Army having been disbanded by his own order all the Forts in England except Portsmouth being in the Prince's hands and London and almost all the Peers in his absence having sent their Submission and inviting him to come forthwith to Town to take upon him the Care of the City This Letter being by the Prince referred to the Peers that were then at Windsor they concluded that the shortness of the time could admit no better Expedient than that the King might be desired to remove to some place within a reasonable distance from London and Ham a House belonging to the Dutchess of Landerdale was pitched upon and a Note or Paper to that purpose drawn up which was ordered to be delivered after the Prince's Guards were in Possession of the Posts about Whitchall WE desire you the Lord Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Lord Delamere to tell the King That it is thought convenient for the great quiet of the City and the greater safety of his Person that he do remove to Ham where he shall be attended by his Guards who will be ready to preserve him from any disturbance Given at Windsor the Seventeenth of December 1688. W. Prince de Orange Monsieur Zulestein followed the King to London and there delivered his Letter and the Sixteenth returned to Windsor The Earl of Feversham went the same day with the Letter to the Prince which was mentioned above and was by him committed to the Castle of Windsor The King so soon as ever he came to Whitehall issued out this Order of Councill At the Court at Whitehall the Sixteenth day of December 1688. Present The King 's most Excellent Majesty Duke Hamilton Earl of Craven Earl of Berkley Earl of Middleton Lord Viscount Preston Lord Godolphin Master of the Rolls Mr. Titus HIS Majesty being given to understand That divers Outrages and Disorders are committed in several Parts of the Kingdom by Burning Pulling-down and otherwise defacing Houses and other Buildings and Rifling and Plundering the same to the great terror of His Majesty's Subjects and manifest Breach of the Peace His Majesty in Council is pleased to Direct and Command all Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace Mayors Constables and all other Officers whom it may concern to use their utmost endeavours for the preventing of such Outrages and Disorders for the future and for the suppressing all riotous and tumultous Meetings and Assemblies whatsoever William Bridgeman There having been sufficient care taken for this by the Council before it was not consistent with his Interest thus to shew his Zeal for the Popish Party in the very first Act he did upon his return as if he had come back only to serve them During the time the King stay'd at Whitehall it was crowded with Irishmen Priests Jesuits and Roman Catholicks afrer the old wont and it is said one of the Priests sent an imperious Message to the Earl of Mulgrave the Lord Chamberlain to furnish his Lodgings with new Furniture for he meant to continue in them And the King also as was said discharged Leiburn a Popish Bishop out of Newgate on Monday the Seventeenth of December So that all things were returning apparently into the old Chanel and we were to expect nothing but what we had already seen and felt and
suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and tho' my dutiful Behaviour to your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much overpay'd may not be sufficient to incline you to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions yet I hope the great advantage I enjoy under your Majesty which I can never expect in any other change of Government may reasonably convince your Majesty and the World that I am acted by an higher Principle when I offer that Violence to my Inclination and Interest as to desert your Majesty at a time when your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all your Subjects much more from one who lies under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to your Majesty This Sir could proceed from nothing but the inviolable Dictates of my Conscience and a necessary Concern for my Religion which no good man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in competition Heaven knows with what Partiality my dutiful Opinion of your Majesty hath hitherto represented those unhappy Designs which inconsiderate and self-interested men have framed against your Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer join with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so I will alwaies with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much your Majesty's due endeavour to preserve your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender Concern and dutiful Respect that becomes SIR Your Majesty's Most dutiful and most obliged Subject and Servant The going off of these Great Men struck the King himself with Terror and Affliction and the Army which was before in very much disorder became thereby so full of Fear and Suspicion that a false Alarm being made by design or accident on Sunday the 25th of November the King and the whole Army left Salisbury the Army retreating to Reading and the King to Andover and on Monday the 26th of November returned in the Evening to London The Princess Ann of Denmark his second Daughter was gone privately the night before from Whitehall with the Lady Churchil and if she had not left a Letter too behind her which shew'd the reason of her retiring in all probability all the Popish Party about Whitehall had been cut in pieces by the King 's own Guards upon a surmise they had made away this beloved Princess So that they were forced to print her Letter to the Queen to secure them selves from Violence The first thing the King did after his return to London was to remove Sir Edward Hales from being Lieutenant of the Tower and to put Sir Bevil Skelton a Protestant in his place Sir Edward had angered the whole City to the utmost by planting several Mortar pieces on the Walls towards the City which tho' designed only to awe it had enraged more than frighted them So that His Majesty saw he was not safe at Whitehall as long as Sir Edward was Master of the Tower. The 28th day His Majesty ordered in a Privy-Council the Lord Chancellor to issue out Writs for the Sitting of a Parliament at Westminster the 15th day of January following But it was now too late and the Nation was in that Ferment that it was not much regarded what the Court did or said The 30th day of November the King to appease the Minds of the People issued out this Proclamation WEE have thought fit as the best and most proper means to Establish a lasting Peace in this our Kingdom to call a Parliament and have therefore ordered our Chancellor to cause Writs to be issued forth for summoning a Parliament to meet at Westminster upon the Fifteenth day of January next ensuing the Date of this our Royal Proclamation And that nothing may be wanting on our part towards the Freedom of Elections as we have already restored all Cities Towns Corporate and Burroughs throughout our Kingdom to their ancient Charters Rights and Priviledges so we command and require all Persons whatsoever that they presume not by Menace or any other undue means to influence Elections or procure the Vote of any Elector And we do also strictly require and command all Sheriffs Mayors Bailiffs and other Officers to whom the Execution or Return of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for Members to the ensuing Parliament shall belong that they cause such Writ Summons Warrant or Precept to be duly published and executed and Returns thereupon fairly made according to the true merits of such Elections And for the Security of all Persons both in their Elections and Service in Parliament we do hereby publish and declare That all our Subjects shall have free Liberty to elect and all our Peers and such as shall be elected Members of our House of Commons shall have free Liberty and Freedom to serve and sit in Parliament notwithstanding they have taken Arms or committed any act of Hostility or been any way aiding or assisting therein And for the better assurance hereof We have graciously directed a general Pardon to our Subjects to be forthwith prepared to pass our Great Seal And for the reconciling all publick Breaches and obliterating the very Memory of all past Miscarriages We do hereby exhort and kindly admonish all our Subjects to dispose themselves to elect such persons for their Representatives in Parliament as may not be byassed by Prejudice or Passion but qualify'd with Parts Experience and Prudence proper for this Conjuncture and agreeable to the ends and purposes of this our Gracious Proclamation month December The Account of this Resolution going to the Fleot all the Officers and the Admirals drew up this Address To the KING' 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Address of George Lord Dartmouth Admiral of your Majesty's Fleet for the present Expedition and the Commanders of your Majesty's Ships of War now actually at the Spithead in your Majesty's Service under his Lordship's Command Most Dread Soveraign THE deep Sense we have had of the great Dangers your Majesty's Sacred Person has been in and the great effusion of Christian Blood that threatned this your Majesty's Kingdoms and in all probability would have been shed unless God of His infinite Mercy had put it into your Majesty's Heart to call a Parliament the only means in our Opinions under the Almighty left to quiet the Minds of your People we do give your Majesty our most humble and hearty Thanks for your gracious Condescension beseeching Almighty God to give your Majesty all imaginable Happiness and Prosperity and to grant that such Counsels and Resolutions may be promoted as conduce to your Majesty's Honour and Safety and tend to the Peace and Settlement of this Realm both in Church and State according to the established Laws of the Kingdom On board the Resolution at Spithead Decemb. 1. 1688. Signed Dartmouth Berkley Ro. Strickland And under them by 38. other Commanders In the week following the pretended Prince of Wales
Secondly This Expedient was not absolutely Necessary for the Administration of Justice might have proceeded Regularly without any such Deputation by Virtue of those Commissions which the Popish Judges and Justices of the Peace had already from the King. This I shall prove § 22. 1. From a parallel Instance King Charles the I. took a Journy into Scotland in 41. during the Session of Parliament at Westminster where though he appointed Five Lords to sign Bills in his Name The Continuation of Bak. Chron. yet the Judges and Justices Acted by vertue of their former Commissions without any new Authority from any Representatives of His Majesty Now Scotland is as much a distinct Kingdom from England as France and France as much His Majesties Dominions as Scotland And therefore if Commissions will hold in the King's Absence in one Place why not in the other § 23. Secondly The present Judges met in January last at Westminster to dispatch some Business in order to keep the Term but were forbidden to proceed by the Prince of Orange's Secretary So that it is plain it was the Opinion of these Reverend Judges that their Commissions from His Majesty were still in Force But in the next place § 24. If His Majesty had deputed any Persons to Represent him in Parliament this Method would have been attended with new and insuperable Difficulties For § 25. 1. If they had been Limited they would not have given Satisfaction For it being impossible to foresee the Business and Votes of a Parliament at a distance If they had been restrained to certain Points in all probability they would have wanted Power to have passed all the Bills and and so their Deputation would not have Answered the Desire of the Houses and the greatest part of their Grievances might have been counted unredressed If it 's said that the Parliament might have requested an Enlargement of their Commission from His Majesty To this I Answer That the Convention may send to His Majesty for an Expedient now if they please And I hope they will for I hear his Majesty has been so gracious as to send to them But 2. If these Commissioners were unlimited it would be in their Power to do a great many things prejudicial to the Crown In such a Case they might alter the Monarchy into a Commonwealth or Sign the Deposing of his Majesty if such Bills should happen to be offered And though there may be many Persons of Honour and Conscience enough to lodge such a Trust with Yet in regard his Majesty has been lately mistaken in some of whose Fidelity he had so great and Assurance he has small encouragement to be over confideing for the Future Indeed no Wise Prince will Trust so vast a Concern as a Kingdom with the Honesty of another especially when many of his Subjects are disaffected and in a Ferment So that nothing can be more unreasonable than to expect such Plenipotentiary and Absolute Commissioners § 26. 3. I shall prove in the last place That we have no Grounds either from the Laws of the Realm or from those of Nature to pronounce the Throne void upon such a Retreat of a Prince as we have before us 1. To begin with the Laws of the Realm which are either Acts of Parliament or those we call Common Laws Now there is no Statute so much as pretended to support this Deserting Doctrine and if there was it 's certain no such can be produced Indeed a Prince must be very weary of Governing and void of the common Inclinations of Mankind who would sign a Bill of this Nature and give his Subjects such a dangerous Advantage against himself and his Posterity Neither has this Opinion any better Countenance from Common Law For Common Law is nothing but Antient Usage and Immemorial Custom Now Custom supposes Precedents and Parallel Cases But it 's granted of all Hands That the Crown of England was never judged to be Demifed by the withdrawing of the Prince before now And therefore it follows by undeniable Consequence that this Opinion can have no Foundation in the Common Law because there is not so much as one Ruled Case to prove it by Nay our Laws are not only silent in the maintenance of this Paradox but against it as I shall make good by Two Precedents § 27. 1. From the Case of Edward the IV. who having not sufficient Force to Encounter the Earl of Warick who had raised an Army for King Henry was obliged to fly the Kingdom but that he deputed any Persons to Represent him our Histories don't give us the least Intimation Neither was it Objected at his return that he had Abdicated the Government by omitting to Constitute a Regent Neither is it material to Object that all Disputes of this Nature were over-ruled by his Victorous Army For if it had been the known Law of this Realm that a Prince had ipso facto forfeited his Crown by going beyond Sea without leaving a Deputation though his Departure should happen to be Involuntary If this I say had been the Law of the Kingdom it would not only have been a great advantage to Henry the VI. and made the Nation ring of it of which there is altum Silentium but we may be well assured King Edward would not have conferr'd Honour worn the Crown and taken the State and Authority of the King upon him till he had been Re-Established by Parliaments But that he did Exercise all Acts of Soveraignty before the calling of a Parliament appears from Daniel Stow and Baker And when the Parliament was Convened those who had taken up Arms against him were found Guilty of Treason and his Adherents were restored to Blood and Estate Daniel But there was no Confirmation or Resisting or his Title which is a Demonstration there was no need of it and that this Abdicating Doctrine was perfectly unknown to that Age. § 28. 2. To come nearer our own Times what Seals or Commissioners did Charles the II. leave behind him after Worcester Fight And yet I beleive no Mortal ever urged this as an Argument against his Restauration If it be Answered that there was much more danger in this case than in that before us To this I reply that if we Examine the matter more narrowly we shall find the disparity very inconsiderable For was there not a numerous Army of Foreigners and Subjects in the Field against his present Majesty at his retiring What Power or Authority or so much as Liberty was there left him And I am afraid that at that time he had fewer Friends to stand by him than his Brother after that unfortunate Battle in 51. § 29. And since this pretended Dereliction has no manner of Protection from the Constitution it has no other refuge but the Laws of Nature to fly to but a very little Storming will serve to drive it from this last Retrenchment § 30. For the Law of Nature is nothing but the Reason of the
some that wished well to the King said he was cunningly invited back to Whitehall with a design to ruine him the more effectually and without any pity from his Protestant Subjects The Peers at Windsor did not think it reasonable hearing this that the Prince of Orange should accept the King's Invitation and venture his Person in the same place for this they had another good reason the Duke of Grafton marching through the Strand on the Fourteenth day at the Head of a Foot Regiment of Guards to take the Fort of Tilbury out of the hands of the Irish by the Order of the Council an Irish Trooper came riding up to him and being beaten off by the Soldiers drew a Pistol against him for which he was shot dead upon the place And it was not improbable there were more of the same temper Hereupon the Peers at Windsor resolved to send the Prince's Guards to take Possession of the Posts about Whitehall to prevent all possibility of a Disturbance from Guards belonging to two several Masters which besides other ill Consequences might have perhaps involved the King 's own Person in the danger that might have arisen from any Dispute These Guards got not to London before Ten at Night being commanded by Count Solmes and the Guards then on Duty not being willing to dislodge it was Twelve at Night before the Lords could deliver the Paper they had brought from Windsor of which they first sent this Account to Secretary Middleton My Lord THere is a Message to be delivered to His Majesty from the Prince which is of so great Importance that we who are charged with it desire we may be immediately admitted and therefore desire to know where we may find your Lordship that you may introduce My Lord Your Lordship 's most Humble Servants Hallifax Shrewsbury Delamere He accordingly presently introduced them the King being by that time in Bed. Where they made an Apology for coming at so unseasonable a time and delivering him the Paper the King read it and said he would comply with it Upon which the Lords humbly desired he would remove so early as to be at Ham by Noon to prevent meeting the Prince in his way to London where he was to come the same day His Majesty readily agreed to this too and asked whether he might not appoint what Servants should attend him to which the Lords replied That it was left to him to give order in that as he pleased and so took their leave of him When they were gone as far as the Privy-Chamber the King sent for them again and told them He had forgot to acquaint them with his Resolutions before the Message came To send my Lord Godolphin next Morning to the Prince to propose his going back to Rochester he finding by the Message Monsieur Zulestein was charged with the Prince had no mind he should be at London and therefore he now desired he might rather return to Rochester than go to any other place The Lords replied That they would immediately send an Account to the Prince of what His Majesty desired and they did not doubt of such an Answer as would be to his Satisfaction Accordingly they sent to him who was then at Sion and before Eight next Morning there came a Letter from Monsieur Benting by the Prince's Order agreeing to the King's Proposal of going to Rochester whereupon he went the Guards being made ready and Boats prepared that Night to Gravesend in his own Barge attended by the Earl of Arran and some few others The same day Dec. the 18th about Three in the Afternoon his Highness the Prince of Orange came to St. James's attended by Monsieur Schomberg and a great number of the Nobility and Gentry and was entertain'd with a Joy and Concourse of the People which appeared free and unconstrained and all the Bells in the City were rung and Bon-fires in every Street The King continued at Rochester till the 23. of December and then about one or two in the morning privately withdrew himself taking only with him Mr. Ra. Sheldon and Mr. Delabady he went towards Dover and embarqued in a Vessel laid ready for his Transportation for France The Queen who went hence the 10th arrived the 11th at Calais and was in great pain not knowing what had happened in England for the King whom she expected every tide The King before he withdrew this second time wrote and left behind him this following Letter which was afterwards printed by his Order in London His Majesty's Reasons for withdrawing Himself from Rochester Writ with his own Hand and ordered by him to be Published THE World cannot wonder at my withdrawing my self now this second time I might have expected somewhat better usage after what I writ to the Prince of Orange by my Lord Feversham and the Instructions I gave him but instead of an Answer such as I might have hoped for what was I to expect after the usage I received by the making the said Earl a Prisoner against the Practice and Law of Nations the sending his own Guards at Eleven at Night to take Possession of the Posts at Whitehall without advertising me in the least manner of it the sending to me at One of the Clock at midnight when I was in Bed a kind of Order by three Lords to be gone out of my Palace before Twelve that same morning After all this How could I hope to be safe so long as I was in the power of one who had not only done this to me and invaded my Kingdoms without any just occasion given him for it but that did by his first Declaration lay the greatest Aspersion on me that malice could invent in that clause of it which concerns my Son I appeal to all that know me nay even to himself that in their Consciences neither he nor they can believe me in the least capable of so unnatural a Villany nor of so little common Sence to be imposed on in a thing of such nature as that What had I then to expect from one who by all Arts hath taken such pains to make me appear as Black as Well to my own people as well as to all the World besides What effect that hath had at home all Mankind hath seen by so general a defection in my Army as well as in the Nation amongst all sorts of people I was born free and desire to continue so and tho I have ventured my Life very frankly on several occasions for the Good and Honour of my Country and am as free to do it again and which I hope I shall yet do as old as I am to Redeem it from the Slavery it is like to fall under yet I think it not convenient to expose my self to be secured as not to be at Liberty to effect it and for that Reason to withdraw but so as to be within Call whensoever the Nation 's Eyes shall be opened so as to see how they have been imposed upon
of November That there should be a Free Parliament and to the Prince of Orange in his Message by the three Lords That he would consent to every thing that could reasonably be required for the Security of those that come to it and yet without any Provocation would burn the Writs and resolve to withdraw his Person before these Lords could possibly return him any Answer for he promised the Queen to follow her who went away the day before him I say this breach of his Word so solemnly made and given both to the Nation and the Prince shew that he was not Master of himself but turned about by others whither they pleased Now suppose the Prince had suffered him to continue at Whitehall and to call a Third Parliament what assurance could he have given that in the end of another forty days we should not have the same trick play'd us and then in March or April have been left in the same state of Confusion we were in in December to the certain ruine of these three Kingdoms and Holland into the bargain And when all had been done the Scruples would have been the same they are now the Obligations of the Oath of Allegiance the same and the sin of Deposing a Lawful Prince who resolved to do the Nation no Right would have been much greater and more scandalous than barely to take him at his Word and since he had left the Throne empty when he needed not to resolve he should ascend it no more Lastly Suppose the Prince had been Expelled by the King Would the King have then granted us what he would not grant us now Would he not have Disbanded his Protestant Army and have kept the Irish Forces in Pay and have every day encreased them What Respect would he ever after this have shewn to the English Laws Religion or Liberties when he had had no longer any thing to fear The memory of what happened after the Monmouth defeat though effected only by Church of England Men will certainly never be forgotten by others whatever these Bigots of Loyalty may pretend or say That Expression of the Lord Churchill's in his Letter That he could no longer joyn with Self-interested Men who had framed Designs against His Majesty's true Interest and the Protestant Religion to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect ought to be seriously considered by all the Protestants of the Nation This one Argument prevailed upon him when he ran the hazard of his Life Reputation and Fortunes and now they are all on the other side I should consider very seriously if I were one of them what Answer I could make to this turned into a Question in the Day of Death and Judgment before ever I should act the direct contrary to what he has done For my part I am amazed to see Men scruple the submitting to the present King for if ever Man had a just cause of War he had and that creates a Right to the thing gained by it the King by withdrawing and disbanding his-Army yielded him the Throne and if he had without any more Ceremony ascended it he had done no more than all other Princes do on the like occasions and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force he was no longer then bound to consider him as one that was but as one that had been King of England and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility how much soever the King complained of it who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage But when all is said that can be said there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Job Thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither princes nor servants for this day I perceive that if Absolons had lived and all we had died this day then it had pleased thee well Had the Protestant Religion the English Liberties the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours their Scruples and School-niceties and the Prince of Orange perished or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion our Laws and our Civil Rights with our own Swords and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self In truth the Men that would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World. PART the SECOND A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS Used for the RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF OUR GOVERNMENT WITH REFLECTIONS ON A Pamphlet stiled The Dissertion Discussed In a Letter to a Country Gentleman THE Prince of Orange being thus received in London the 18th of December The Common Council of that City the same day assembled and passed an Order that all the Aldermen and their several Deputies and two Common Council men for each Ward should wait upon and congratulate his Highness the Prince of Orange upon his Happy Arrival to the City at such time and place as His Highness should appoint and that the two Sheriffs and Mr. Common Serjeant should wait upon the Prnice to know his Pleasure when they should attend him which was done the day after his Entry at St. James's who appointed them the next day The Committee of the Common Council came accordingly the 20th of December and Sir George Treby their Recorder made him this Speech in their Names May it please your Highness THe Lord Mayor being disabled by Sickness your Highness is attended by the Aldermen and Commons of the Capital City of this Kingdom Deputed to Congratulate Your Highness upon this Great and Glorious Occasion In which Labouring for Words we cannot but come short in Expression Reviewing our late Danger we remember our Church and State overrun by Popery and Arbitrary Power and brought to the point of Destruction by the Conduct of Men that were our true Invaders that brake the Sacred Fences of our Laws and which was worst the very Constitution of our Legislature So that there was no Remedy left but the Last The only Person under Heaven that could apply this Remedy was Your Highness You are of a Nation whose Alliance in all times has been agreeable and prosperous to us You are of a Family most Illustrious Benefactors to Mankind to have the Title of a Soveraign Prince Stadt-holder and to have worn the Imperial Crown are amongst their lesser Dignities They have long enjoyed a Dignity singular and transcendent viz. To be the Champions of Almighty God sent forth in several Ages to vindicate his Cause against the greatest Oppressions To this Divine Commission our Nobles our Gentry and among them our brave English Soldiers rendred themselves and their Arms upon Your Appearing GREAT SIR WHen we look back to the last Month and contemplate the Swiftness and
Fulness of Our Present Deliverance astonished we think it Miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and call'd by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity Restored Our Laws which are our Ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can we make to Your Highness Our Thoughts are full charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all good men amongst us And Late Posterity will Celebrate Your ever Glorious Name till time shall be no more The first care of his Highness was the English Army for which he made this Order Whereas upon the late Irregular Disbanding of the Forces divers Souldiers carried away the Arms belonging to their respective Regiments and have since lost or imbezilled the same We do hereby direct and require all Persons to whose hands the said Arms or any of them are come or with whom they now remain forthwith to deliver them to the said Souldiers or their Officers upon Demand and in default thereof forthwith to bring them to the Officers of the Ordnance now attending at Uxbridge Hounslow or the Tower of London in order to the returning the said Arms into the Stores of the Ordnance Given at St. James's the 21 of December 1688. His next care was the appointing Quarters for the several English Scots and Irish Regiments and the ordering them accordingly to repair to the places therein named The same Day was also a great Council of the Nobility about Sixty of the Peers then Meeting at St. James's who all except two Subscribed a Paper in the nature of an Association After which His Highness thus expressed himself My Lords I Have desired you to meet here to advise the best manner how to pursue the Ends of My Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and restoring the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and settling the same that they may not be in danger of being again Subverted Upon which it was resolved That the said Proposals should be further Debated the next Day in the House of Peers at Westminster And Sir John Maynard Mr. Holt Mr. Polexfen Mr. Bradford and Mr. Atkinson five Counsellors at Law were odered to attend them for their Advice The 22. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster in the House of Lords and appointed Francis Gwin Esq to Sign such Orders as should be from time to time by them made which was thus signed by Tho. Ebor. Northfolk Somerset Grafton Ormond Beauford Northumberland Hallifax Oxford Kent Bedford Pembrooke Dorset Devonshire Bullingbrook Manchester Rivers Stamford Thanet Scarsdale Clarendon Burlington Sussex Maclesfield Radnor Berkeley Nottingham Rochester Fauconberg Mordant Newport Weymouth Hatton W. Asaph F. Ely. La Ware. R. Eure. P. Wharton Paget North and Grey Chandos Montague Grey Maynard T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery T. Culpeper Lucas Delamer Crew Lumley Carteret Osulston These Peers thus Assembled the 25th day of December Signed and Presented to His Highness this Address WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in this Conjuncture do desire Your Highness to take upon You the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that Your Highness will take into Your particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual means to prevent the Dangers Threatning that Kingdom All which we make our Requests to Your Highness to undertake and exercise till the meeting of the intended Convention the 22d Day of January next in which we doubt not such proper Methods will be taken as will conduce to the Establishment of these things upon such sure and legal Foundations that they may not be in Danger of being again Subverted Dated at the House of Lords Westminster the 25th of December 1688. WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster in this Extraordinary Conjuncture do Humbly desire Your Highness to Cause Letters to be Written Subscribed by Your Self to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and to the several Counties Universities Cities and Burroughs Cinque Ports of England Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed The Letters for the Counties to be directed to the Coroners of the Respective Counties or any one of them and in default of the Coroners to the Clerk of the Peace of the Respective Counties And the Letters for the Universities to be directed to the respective Vice Chancellors and the Letters to the several Cities Burroughs and Cinque Ports to be directed to the Chief Magistrates of each Respective City Burrough and Cinque Port containing Directions for the choosing in all such Counties Cities Buroughs and Cinque Ports within ten days after the receipt of the said Respective Letters such a Number of Persons to represent them as are of Right to be sent to Parliament of which Elections and the times and places thereof the Respective Officers shall give notice within the space of five days at the least Notice of the intended Elections for the Counties to be Published in the Churches immediately after the time of Divine Service and in all Market Towns within the Respective Counties and Notice of the intended Elections for the Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque Ports to be Published within the Respective Places The said Letters and the Execution hereof to be returned by such Officer or Officers who shall Execute the same to the Clerk of the Crown in the Court of Chancery so as the Persons so to be chosen may meet and sit at Westminster on the 22d day of January next Dated at the House of Lords Westminster December the 25th 1688. Both which were Signed by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then Assembled and presented to His Highness the Prince of Orange the same day at St. James's The 28th of December the Prince of Orange returned this Answer to the Peers then Assembled at St. James's My Lords I Have considered of your Advice and as far as I am able I will endeavour to Secure the Peace of the Nation until the Meeting of the Convention in January next for the Election whereof I will forthwith Issue out Letters according to your desire I will also take care to apply the Publick Revenue to the most proper uses that the present Affairs require and likewise endeavour to put Ireland into such a condition as that the Protestant Religion may be maintained in that Kingdom And I assure you that as I came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms so I shall always be ready to expose my self to any Hazard for the Defence of the same The 26th The Knights Citizens and Burgesses who had served in
any of the Parliaments in the time of His late Majesty Charles II. As also the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Fifty of the Common Council of the City of Lrndon being desired by His Highness to attend Him this day One hundred and Sixty Members and the rest came call but the Mayor who was sick to St. James's and were by Him acquainted with the State of things and desired to repair to the Commons House at Westminster where they chose Mr. Powle for their Speaker then sending to know what the Peers had done the Addresses as above recited were delivered to them with which they concurred And the 27th they also presented them to the Prince to whom He gave the same Answer he had given to the Lords the 28th in the Afternoon The 30th His Highness put out the usual Proclamation for the continuance of the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers and Ministers not being Papists to act in their Respective places till the Meeting of the Convention or other Order to the contrary Excepting also all such Offices or Places where since His Arrival in this Kingdom he had already or should hereafter otherwise provide month January The 2d of January He put out a Declaration for the better Collecting the Publick Revenue which I need not transcribe The 5th of January His Highness put out this following Order FOR the better Preventing Disorders that may happen in any Burrough Corporation or other place of Election of Members for the intended Convention by any Souldiers Quartered in those places And that such Elections may be carried on with the greater Freedom and without any colour of Force or Restraint We do hereby strictly charge and require all Collonels and Officers in chief with any Regiment Troop or Company to cause such Reigments Troops or Companies to march out of the Qaurters where such Election shall be made the several Garrisons only Excepted the day before the same be made to the next Adjoyning Town or Towns being not appointed for any Election and not to return to their first Quarters until the said Respective Elections be made and fully compleated wherein they are not to fail as they will answer the contrary at their peril The Scotch Nobility and Gentry in or about London were also by His Highness's Order Summoned to St. James's where they met the 7th of January at Three in the Afternoon to whom the Prince made this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THE only reason that induced me to undergo so great an Undertaking was That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in eminent Danger And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for the securing the Protestant Religon and Restoring Your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration Then they withdrew to the Council Chamber at Whitehall and chose the Duke of Hamilton their President And after some Debates Agreed the heads of a Paper which they ordered to be drawn The 8th they met again and the Paper was Read and Approved and ordered to be Ingrossed The Earl of Arran proposed in this second Meeting That it was his Advice that the Prince of Orange should be moved to desire the King to return and call a Free Parliament for the securing our Religion and Property according to the known Laws of the Kingdom which said he in my humble opinion is the best way to heal all our Breaches which was Disgusted by all and seconded by none of them The 9th They met again and Signed the Paper which was in these Words WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at Your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give Your Highness our humble and hearty thanks for Your Pious and Generous Undertaking for preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom In Order to the attaining of these Ends Our humble Advice and Desire is That Your Highness take upon You the Administration of All Affairs both Civil and Military The disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing of every thing that is necessary for the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a General Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire Your Highness to call to be holden at Edinburgh the 14th day of March next by Your Letter or Proclamation to be Published at the Market Crosses of Edinburgh and other Head Burroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient intimation to all concerned according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these Your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriff or Stewart-Clerks for the Free-Holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town Clerks of the several Burroughs for the Meeting of the whole Burgesses of the Respective Royal Buroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edinburgh and the Respective Clerks to make intimation thereof at the least ten days before the Meetings for Election And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh qualified as above expressed be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever To deliberate and resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to Your Highness's Declaration Dated the 10th day of January 1689. at the Council Chamber at White-Hall It was Signed by about Thirty Lords and Eighty Gentlemen and was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President The 14th His Highness met the Scotch Lords and Gentlemen in the same place again and spake to them as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen IN pursuance of Your Advice I will until the Meeting of the Estates in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the calling of the said Meeting for the preservation of the Peace the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing uses and puting the Fortresses in the hands of Persons in whom the Nation can have a just confidence And I do further assure you that you will always find me ready to concur with you in every thing that may be found necessary for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earls of Crawford and Louthain being present in this last Meeting but coming up to London after the former desired they might Sign the said Address and they accordingly did so The 8th day January His Highness put out a Declaration against quartering Soldiers on private Houses And that all Houses should be deemed Private Houses except Victualling Houses and Houses of Publick Entertainment or such as sell Wine or any other Liquor by Retail In all which Houses We do think
fit That all Officers and Souldiers be Lodged by the Direction and Appointment of the Magistrates Justices of the Peace or Constables of the place where such Forces shall come and not otherwise And we do hereby strictly forbid all Officers and Souldiers upon any pretence whatsoever to take up any Quarters for themselves or others without such Direction or Appointment upon pain of being Casheired or suffering such other punishment as the offence shall deserve The Prince found the Treasury very empty of Money the Cash in it being said to be but 40000 l. Whereupon he desired the City of London to advance a Sum for His present Occasions and the 10th of January they agreed to lend 100000 l. but it being raised by Subscriptions it amounted to above 150000 l. The 16th of January the Prince put out a Declaration to assure the Mariners and Seamen of their Pay and suppress the false reports had been spread to the contrary by the Discontented Party The Elections of the Members for the Convention in the mean time went on with the greatest Liberty that could possibly be conceived every man giving his Vote for whom he pleased without the least Solicitation from the Prince or any of his there had been Writs before this twice for a Parliament in a few Months and almost every place had before this fixed their Members so that the difference was not great between the Men that were and those that would have been chosen if the King had suffered the first or second Parliament he called to have met and this gives the truest Idea that can be desired of the temper of the Nation and what would have been the event if either of those Parliaments had sate The two Houses met the 22d of January and the Upper House there being no Lord Chancellor chose the Marquess of Hallifax for their Speaker and the Commons chose Henry Powle Esq after which a Letter was read in both Houses from His Highness the Prince of Orange on the Occasion of their Meeting which was as followeth My Lords I Have endeavoured to the utmost of my power to perform what was desired from me in order to the publick peace and safety and I do not know that any thing hath been omitted which might tend to the preservation of them since the Administration of Affairs was put into my hands It now lieth upon you to lay the foundations of a firm security for your Religion your Laws and your Liberties I do not doubt but that by such a full and free Representative of the Nation as is now met the Ends of my Declaration will be attained And since it hath pleased God hitherto to bless my good intentions with so great success I trust in him that he will compleat his own work by sending a spirit of Peace and Union to influence your Counsels that no interruption may be given to an happy and lasting Settlement The dangerous condition of the Protestants in Ireland requiring a large and speedy succour and the present state of things abroad oblige me to tell you that next to the danger of Unseasonable Divisions amongst our selves nothing can be so fatal as too great delay in your Consultations The States by whom I have been enabled to rescue this Nation may suddenly feel the ill effects of it both by being too long deprived of the service of their Troops which are now here and of your early assistance against a powerful enemy who hath declared a War against them And as England is by Treaty already engaged to help them upon such Exigencies so I am confident that their chearful concurrence to preserve this Kingdom with so much hazard to themselves will meet with all the Returns of Friendship and assistance which may be expected from you as Protestants and Englishmen whenever their condition shall require it Given at St. James's the 22d day of January 1688. To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster Will. H. P. d' Orange The first thing the Houses took care of was by mutual consent to draw up and present the following Address The Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster in this present Convention to his Highness the Prince of Orange Die Martis 22º Januarii 1688. WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster being highly sensible of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is next under God owing to your Highness do return our most humble thanks and acknowledgments to your Highness as the Glorious Instrument of so great a Blessing We do further acknowledg the great care your Highness has been pleased to take in the Administration of the Publick Affairs of the Kingdom to this time and we do most humbly desire your Highness that you will take upon you the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that your Highness will take into your particular care the present state of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual means to prevent the Dangers threatning that Kingdom All which we make our Request to your Highness to undertake and exercise till further Application shall be made by us which shall be expedited with all convenient speed and we shall also use our utmost endeavours to give dispatch to the matters recommended to as by your Highness's Letter To this Address thus presented by both Houses at St. James's the Prince of Orange made this Reply the same day My Lords and Gentlemen I Am glad that what I have done hath pleased you And since you desire me to continue the Administration of Affairs I am willing to accept it I must recommend to you the consideration of Affairs abroad which maketh it fit for you to expedite your business not only for making a Settlement at home upon a good foundation but for the safety of all Europe The Houses also ordered that Thursday the 21th of January Instant be appointed for a day of Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God in the Cities of London and Westminster and ten miles distance for having made his Highness the Prince of Orange the Glorious Instrument of the Great Deliverance of this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that Thursday the 14th of February next be appointed for a Publick Thanksgiving throughout the whole Kingdom for the same The 23d of January the Lords passed this Order Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster That no Papist or Reputed Papist do presume to come into the Lobby Painted Chamber Court of Requests or Westminster-Hall during the sitting of this Convention And it is further Ordered That this Order be Printed and Published and set upon the Doors of the said Rooms The 28th of January the Commons passed this Vote Resolved That King James the
II. having endeavoured to subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons having violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom have abdicated the Government and that the Throne is thereby vacant Resolved That this Vote be sent up to the Lords-House tomorrow morning for their Concurrence This Vote occasioned the Letter I am to Examine Hereupon followed several Conferences between the Lords and the Commons none of which being Printed and the Written Copies dispersed about the Town being of no good Authority I must leave them unrelated month February The sixth of February the Lords at last assented to the Vote above The 29th of January this Question was proposed in the Lords-House Whether a Regency with the Administration of Regal power under the name and stile of King James the Second during the Life of the said King James be the best and safest way to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdom Upon which the House divided Contents 48. Non-contents 51. This very much facilitated the Concurrence of the two Houses in the other Vote The Throne being thus declared vacant some were for the Prince of Orange to be Elected King alone others for the Princess to be forthwith proclaimed and acknowledged as next Immediate Heir of the Crown of England and others were for a Commonwealth But the two strongest parties were those who were for the Prince and those that were for the Princess so that at last there was a way found to twist these two into one by giving the Title indifferently to both and the Administration solely to the Prince to avoid the inconvenience of two co-ordinate Soveraigns Whilest these things were warmly debated in the Convention and the Town and all men were yet in suspence which way they would be determin'd some that were over zealous set a foot the following Petition the first of February and endeavoured to have it subscribed by the Multitude indifferently going up and down to publick places to solicite Subscriptions To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in the Grand Convention the Humble Petition of Great Numbers of Citizens and other Inhabitants of the Cities of London and Westminster WHereas we are in a deep sense of the danger of Delays and perplext Debates about settling the Government at this time Vacant by reason whereof the necessary ends of Government cannot be duly administred We humbly desire that his most Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange and his Royal Consort the Princess may be speedily setled in the Throne by whose Courage Conduct and Reputation this Nation and the Protestant Religion may be defended from our Enemies at Home and abroad And that Ireland now in a bleeding and deplorable condition may be rescued from its miseries and these Kingdoms settled on a lasting foundation in Peace and Liberty Whereupon his Highness being informed of the ill consequences and scandal of this way of proceeding caused this Order to be made and published to suppress it By the Mayor WHereas his Highness the Prince of Orange hath been pleased to signifie to me this day That divers persons pretending themselves to be Citizens of London in a tumultuous and a disorderly manner have lately disturbed the present Convention of the Lords and Commons at Westminster upon pretence of Petitioning It being regular and usual for the Citizens of this City that are under the apprehension of any Grievance to make their application to my self and the Court of Aldermen Therefore with the Advice of my Brethren the Aldermen of this City these are to require you That you command within your Ward that they forbear any such tumultuous Disturbance or Assembly as they will answer the contrary at their utmost peril Dated the third day of February 1688. The twelfth of February the two Houses at last fully agreed all things in dispute between them in this manner The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster WHereas the late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers evil Counsellors Judges and Ministers employ'd by him did endeavour to subject and extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By assuming and exercising a power of Dispensing with and suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without consent of Parliament By committing and prosecuting divers worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be excused from concurring to the said Assumed Power By issuing and causing to be Executed a Commission under the Great Seal for erecting a Court call'd The Court of Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs By Levying Money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative for other time and in other manner than the same was Granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace without consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law. By causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Aimed and imployed contrary to Law. By violating the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings-Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary and Illegal courses And whereas of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons have been returned and served on Juries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High Treason which were not Freeholders And Excessive Bail hath been required of persons committed in Criminal cases to elude the Benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject And Excessive Fines have been imposed And Illegal and cruel punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and freedom of this Realm And whereas the late King James the Second having abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque-Ports for the chusing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the 22d day of January 1688 in order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being subverted upon which Letters Elections have been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their Respective Letters and Elections
being now Assembled in a full and Free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid do in the first place as their Ancestors in like case have usually done for the vindicating and asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties declare That the pretended power of suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without consent of Parliament is illegal That the pretended power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is illegal That the Commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of the like nature are illegal and pernicious That Levying of Money to or for the use of the Crown by pretence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be Granted is illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be by consent of Parliament is against Law. That the Subjects being Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their condition and as allowed by Law. That the Election of Members of Parliament ought to be Free. That the freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannel'd and return'd and Jurors which pass upon men in Trials for High Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegal and void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the amending strengthing and preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do claim demand and insist upon all and singular the Premises as their undoubted Rights and Liberties and that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the prejudice of the people in any of the said Premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into consequence or example To which demand of their Rights they are particularly encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein Having therefore an intire confidence that his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the violation of their Rights which they have here asserted and from all other attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties The said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them and that the sole and full exercise of the Regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joynt Lives and after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess and for default of such Issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the Heirs of her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess of Orange to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them and that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God. I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as Impious and Heretical this Damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do Delare that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminece or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God. Jo. Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The same day this Delaration bears Date Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange arrived in the River of Thames in the Afternoon and was received with all the Hearty Demonstrations and Expressions of Joy by the City that are usual on such Occasions The 13th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered the following Proclamation to be published and made WHereas It hath pleased Allmighty God in his Great Mercy to this Kingdom to Vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is Due next under GOD to the Resolution and Conduct of His Highness the Prince of ORANGE whom GOD hath Chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being Highly Sensible and Fully Perswaded of the Great and Eminent Vertues of Her Highness the Princess of ORANGE whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with Her upon this Nation And Whereas the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and Presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of ORANGE and therein Desired Them to Accept the Crown who have Accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Realm do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration WILLIAM and MARY Prince and Princess of ORANGE to be KING and QUEEN of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging Who are Accordingly so to be Owned Deemed and Taken by All the People of the aforesaid Realms and Dominions who are from henceforward bound to acknowledg and pay unto them All Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching GOD by whom Kings Reign to Bless King WILLIAM and Queen MARY with Long and Happy Years to Riegn over us GOD Save King WILLIAM and Queen MARY John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum The 15th of February The Lords and Commons Ordered That His Majesties most Gracious Answer this day be added to the Engrossed Declaration in Parchment to be
After this Edward the Fourth returned into England and pretending to lay aside all Claim to the Crown and only to seek the recovery of his Lands which belonged to him as Duke of York which he confirmed to the men of York by his Oath being thus received in the North he won over his Brother Clarence and hasted to London and there he took poor King Henry his Prisoner again and in a Battel slew the Earl of Warwick who came to rescue King Henry and in another Battel defeated Margaret the Wife of Henry the Sixth took and in cold blood murdered Prince Edward the Eldest Son of Henry the Sixth and not long after Henry the Sixth himself Now what saith our Letter-man to all this If it had been a known Law of England that a Prince had Ipso facto forfeited his Crown by going beyond Sea without leaving a Deputation tho his departure should happen to be involuntary it would have been a great Advantage to Henry the Sixth Yes doubtless his departure did facilitate the Recrowning of Henry the Sixth for he was not so well beloved as Edward the Fourth was and it is apparent the Nation swore Allegiance to Henry the Sixth de novo for that very cause for no body then questioned but that Edward's was the better Title and the Crown was Entailed to Henry and his Heirs Male and for want of such Issue to George Duke of Clarence and his Heirs and when Edward the Fourth after this came up to London every body forsook Henry the Sixth and he was retaken and imprisoned without any resistance Now after two Victories what wonder was it if Edward the Fourth exercised all Acts of Soveraignty and Tyranny too before the calling of a Parliament and in it restored all his own party and attainted King Henry's He might as well have proved it lawful to stab and murder Kings and Princes and to swear and forswear from the same story His next Instance is the flight of Charles the second from Worcester fight which was nothing to the purpose neither for that Prince had done nothing to forfeit his right and was ready to have done any thing to assure his subjects of theirs But James the Second had as is confessed on all hands violated the rights of his Subjects above any Prince that ever swayed this Scepter and would rather throw up the Government than suffer a Parliament to meet to redress their Grievances and this was the only reason why he as our Author saith Had fewer friends to stand by him than his Brother had after the unfortunate Battel of Worcester in 1651. The true Fountain of the Law that is to Determin this difficult and rare Case is our Fundamental Constitution and the General Laws and Practise of other Nations in the like or simular Instances And as there is an Analogy of Faith in Theology so there is an Analogy here too for those who are sufficiently Qualified to judge by but then they must be no young smatterers in Law History or State Politicks Nor was this Question determin'd by such but by the whole three Estates upon Reasons altogether unknown perhaps to this Gentleman but which may be sufficient to satisfie all the Princes in Christendom when they shall be laid before them In the mean time the Judgment of the States is conclusive to us and tho' we know not all the Reasons they might have yet we now know enough to acquiess and be satisfied But then this has been so very well laid down and pursued by the Author of the Case of Allegiance in our present Circumstances considered in a Letter from a Minister in the City to a Minister in the Country that I will rather refer my Reader to that Book than transcribe it to no purpose In the 29. Sect. He tells us the last refuge of the Case of Dereliction are the Laws of Nature but a very little storming will serve to drive it from this last Retrenchment Bold and like an Hero considering whom he engageth with For saith he the Law of Nature is nothing but the reason of the thing very true Now Impartial reason has always a regard to the circumstances of Action and makes allowances for Surprize for streightness 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 Now tho he saith the present case needs not any such allowances Yet I will be so fair as to give all these Advantages and put it upon this fair Issue 1. Was not the whole English constitution acknowledged by the Late King to be so much in his favour That he said in his First Speech to the Council I have been reported a Man for Arbitrary power but that is not the first Story that has been made of me And I shall make it my endevour to preserve this Government both in Church and State as it is now by Law Established I know the Principles of the Church of England are for Monarchy and the Members of it have shewed themselves good and Loyal Subjects Therefore I shall always take care to defend and Support it I know too that the Laws of England are Sufficient to make the King as Great a Monarch as I can wish and as I shall never Depart from the Just rights and prerogatives of the Crown So I shall never invade any Mans Property Yet after all this Look upon nine of the ten Proposals made by the the Bishops Look upon the Prince of Orange's Declaration Look upon the Declaration made by the Lords and Commons the 12th of February last past and you will soon be satisfied in how many instances he had violated the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom and Sought the Ruine and utter Subversion of this Loyal Monarchical Church of England This conduct Lasted to the very moment they knew the Dutch preparations were made against him After this what could be done or said that was omitted to obtain a Redress in Parliament Was there any other way to Secure us than that of a Parliament Was this granted before it became Impossible to hinder it And when all mens Eyes were upon this did he not then Deliberately resolve to defeat our Expectations and to withdraw and leave us in a State of Anarchy and Confusion Here was no Surprize streightness of time no just resentment except he were angry that we could not contribute to our own Ruin and enslaving that we would not cut up our Laws Liberties and Religion with our Swords and Sacrifice our Deliverers to our Oppressors Nor were these violations only personal Injuries but they extended to the whole Church and Kingdom and to the whole Constitution and every branch of it nor were they such as would have ended with his Late Majesties life but were to have been intailed upon us and our posterity for ever for the Queen might have brought forth every year at that rate the Pretended Prince of Wales