fail'd us so often before We also declare We will with all earnestness recommend to that Parliament such an impartial Liberty of Conscience as they shall think necessary for the Happiness of these Nations We have not altogether forgot what kind of Liberty of Conscience the Late King always aim'd at a Liberty fatal to and inconsistent with the safety of the Protestant Religion and infallibly destructive to the Church of England A Liberty that was to end in the exalting the Romish Religion to a pitch in England that was not even the interest of wise Roman-Catholicks themselves to wish But why recommend to a Parliament Liberty of Conscience Might not the Dispensing Power supply all defects as it did before And if the Late King has an unquestion'd right to emit a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience when and how he pleaseth which was Treason in effect to Controvert some years ago then it 's altogether a piece of folly to trouble a Parliament with it This one Engine was like Goliah's Sword has none like to it and it would indeed be a disparagement to use any other when that is so ready at hand on all occasions But alas the word Impartial Liberty has unluckily slip'd in in the Declaration How came any body to dream that an Impartial Liberty of Conscience would ever please the Protestants of England An impartial Liberty is a Liberty of equal extent to all And does King Iames think the people of England would be willing there should be a Liberty of Conscience granted to the Roman Catholicks equal to what the Laws have already secured in favour of the Protestants In this sence all the Bishopricks and Livings of England must be divided Impartially into equal parts we must have one Roman-Catholick Archbishop and the other a Protestant and thus it must be with the rest of the Dignities and Livings of the Church The truth is when King Iames comes back we shall be heartily content with this division and think we well escape too if he takes no more than one half But who shall be security to us we shall lose no more We further declare We will not dispense with or violate the Test. And as for the dispensing power in other matters we leave it to be explained and limited by that Parliament A very Gracious Promise and a mighty Condescention He will not dispense with the Test as he did before tho still he has a Right so to do if he pleases for we were often told in the last Reign That this Dispensing Power was one of the brightest Iewels of the Crown and in a Royal Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to the Neighbouring Kingdom he told them plainly he dispensed with all Laws to the contrary by virtue of that Absolute Power every body was obliged to obey without reserve So that here is indeed no more than a simple Promise not to make use of that Power to dispense with the Test which he has an undoubted Right to still whereas the Law and the People of England say there is no such Power lodg'd any where and nothing but an Act of Parliament can suspend or make void an Act of Parliament in this case But pray how does this Promise Not to violate the Test agree with the Notion the late King always express'd he had of it He was pleas'd in his Closettings of Gentlemen constantly to inculcate into them the unjustness of the Test in it self how contradictory it was to that Christian Charity which ought to be among his Subjects how contrary to the very Law of Nature it self that any body should be incapacitated to serve their Countrey upon the account of their Religion These were the Common Places the late King had constant recourse to in all his Arguments for taking off the Test And in a great many Papers publish'd at that time by Publick Authority the same frightful Ideas were again and again represented If this Test then be such an unjust thing in it self if it be so contradictory to the Rules of Charity and the Law of Nature how comes it about now that he is resolv'd not to violate that which according to his Principles he is indeed obliged to abolish But Promises cost nothing especially when the Performance is never intended We declare also That we will give our Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent calling and holding of Parliaments The free Elections and fair Returns of Members And provide for impartial Trials And that we will ratifie and confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation as shall be tendred to us by that Parliament Here is a very comprehensive Paragraph and deserves well to be taken into consideration by pieces He will give his Royal Assent to all such Bills as are necessary to secure the frequent Calling and Sitting of Parliaments We all know the reason of putting in this Clause at this time But instead of frequent Parliaments if King Iames were once again upon the Throne we would rather there were none at all Since nothing can be of more dangerous consequence to England than the sitting of such kind of Parliaments as that which King Iames always aim'd at Doubtless we should then have a Representative Body to give it in his own Words that would render all Representations of the People in Parliament for the time to come utterly needless We might expect to see our Liberties and Laws given up to the Will of a Prince all at once and all the struggles between the Prerogative and Rights of the Subject put an end to at one blow in the entire resigning up all Pretences to these last for ever So far then would the calling of Parliaments be a terror to us that ev'ry Session of them would be but so many new Links added to our Chain till all remaining impressions of our former Liberty were intirely swallowed up in an irrecoverable Slavery The Freedom of Election and fair Returns of Members are two things diametrically opposite to the late King 's former Measures And he does or at least may know the Temper of this Nation better than to hope to succeed in his Designs by the means of a Parliament freely constituted of true Englishmen Slavery is a Pill will never go down with them And it 's only to a pack't House of Commons that those of King Iames's Religion can ever owe their long experienced Triumphs That he will provide for Impartial Trials we do not at all doubt if he mean Trials without favour or prospect of mercy for of those the last Reign was but one continued Instance and indeed no body can blame the late King for not executing Justice to the full But this is not all There are yet greater Blessings in store for us He will Ratify and Confirm all such Laws made under the present Vsurpation as shall be tender'd him by that Parliament Good God! where have we been all this time with
to the better and the Late King's Party sufficiently humbled It 's from the consideration of this change of Affairs in England and Scotland the Late King has been induc'd to change his Stile And to this alone instead of the Threats of the former we are beholding for this last Whining Declaration But to come to the Declaration it self to let the World see how little we fear its being capable to influence any body of common sense to their Party we shall give the express words of it Paragraph by Paragraph with some short Reflections on ev'ry one of them His Majesties most Gracious Declaration to all his Loving Subjects JAMES R. WHereas We are most sensible that nothing has contributed so much to our Misfortunes and our Peoples Miseries as the false and malicious Calumnies of our Enemies Strange Might not one have reasonably expected that in four years retirement the Late King should have been able to attain the knowledge of the real Causes of his own Misfortunes and his Peoples Miseries And is he yet to learn what all Europe is long since sufficiently persuaded of If he has We have not yet forgot the breach of reiterated Promises and a Coronation Oath the setting up a Dispensing Power above and contrary to Law the bringing over an Army of Irish Papists amongst us the employing those and almost only those that by Acts of Parliament were incapable the turning men out of their Freeholds for not obeying Commands directly contrary to an Oath they had taken before the endeavours made and methods us'd for overturning the Religion establish'd by Law and bringing in another by the same Law abolish'd with a thousand other bare fac'd Violations of our Rights and Constitution All these were not the Calumnies of his Enemies No! It was under those real and felt Evils we groan'd in the last Reign And to a wilful and formed Design of bringing all these and more upon us King Iames is only to ascribe the loss of Three Crowns Therefore we have always been and still are most willing to condescend to such things as after mature deliberation We have thought most proper for removing thereof and most likely to give the fullest satisfaction and clearest Prospect of the greatest Security to all ranks and degrees of our People What a wonderful Stock of Confidence was there required to pen this one single Period A Period which though consisting but of two Lines yet contains no less than five Superlatives to make up an Assertion that all England knows to be false Has the Late King been always most willing to condescend to such things as were thought most proper and most likely to give the fullest Satisfaction and clearest Security to his People What then meant his stiff Denial to comply with a Parliament that had exprest the firmest Loyalty to him in his greatest Exigence when they came only to address him with all Expressions of humility not to break in upon the Law by employing those whom the Law incapacitated Why sent he that Loyal Parliament a packing immediatly upon the back of this Address And told them plainly he would do the quite contrary to what they advised him Was this to be most willing to give the fullest satisfaction to his People When he would needs invade the uncontroverted Rights of Magdalen Colledge there was not wanting some even then to advise him of the danger and Illegality of that Design How willing he was to hear any Terms of Moderation in that Affair all the World knows And the thrusting out the Master and Fellows of that House merely because they would not comply with an illegal Command is not yet quite lost in the memory of man The sending the Bishops to the Tower was another convincing Evidence of his being always most willing to give the clearest prospect of the greatest Security to all Ranks and Degrees of People And to add one Instance more to a great many others that might be nam'd His refusal afterwards to call a Parliament upon the Address of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in his greatest Exigence and when his own Affairs most requir'd it did scarce bespeak him a Prince most willing to give his People Satisfaction So that if one had been to advise the Contrivers of this Declaration which way to make the whole look more ridiculous it had been to put in this Period That he still is most willing to satisfy all Ranks and Degrees of People in the same sense he has always been so which we are very inclinable to believe And so in that point we are agreed And because we desire rather to be beholding to our Subjects Love to us than to any other expedient whatever for our Restoration We have thought fit to let them know before-hand our Royal and sincere Intentions and that whenever our Peoples United Desires and our Circumstances give us the opportunity to come and assert our Right We will come with the Declaration that follows JAMES R. The Writer has stumbled here upon two unlucky Expressions Our Sincere Intentions and our Peoples United Desires When he fell upon the first it seems he had in his thoughts how naturally the people of England would be inclin'd to doubt the Sincerity of those Promises he makes them in the late King's name and even the very moment the Words were dropping from his Pen he himself was thinking how little credit they would obtain By this he can scarcely be judg'd a fit Amanuensis for a King It is infinitely below the Majesty and Honour of a Monarch to use the word sincere in speaking of his Intentions Among Gentlemen 〈◊〉 interlarding their Discourse with such an expression As what I say is true is not fashionable for the very saying so derogates from that just sense every virtuous man has of his own Honour and Veracity which puts him beyond the suspicion of telling an untruth But for a Minister to tell the people in his Prince's Name That his Master's Intentions towards them are Sincere is yet more ridiculous by how much more the Word of a Prince ought to be more Sacred and less liable to be suspected than that of private men The other Expression The united Desires of his People is as unluckily chose If the late King come not to assert his Right till his People's United Desires give him an opportunity we are in no great danger of seeing him in England or of making a trial how far he has a mind to keep his Word United Desires is a very comprehensive Word and it must be some Ages hence that such a thing can happen For it will be hard enough for the Teeth of one Age at least to eat out the Remembrance of the late Reign and while that is not forgot there is no great probability of the People of England's Uniting in their Desires to bring back King Iames. All that we have hitherto given of the Declaration being it seems intended only for a Preface
that then environ'd him forc'd from him indeed a faint kind of Compliance with their desire at first he made a show of Issuing out Writs for calling a Free Parliament but so strong was his Inclination to have none but such a pack'd House of Commons as might serve the Great Turn he had so long aim'd at that before half the Writs were sealed all the Scheme was altered in a moment and things went on in the old channel again Here was a demonstration with a witness how far the late King was inclin'd to call together the Representative Body of the Kingdom And he that could not be brought to it at so pinching a juncture as that was can never in reason be thought a hearty Friend to Free Parliaments Upon calling this Representative Body he will inform himself what are the United Interests and Inclinations of his people Sure he cannot be yet to learn what those are and he has had too many and too remarkable occasions not to be ignorant of them He could not but be so much acquainted with the Interests and Inclinations of the People of England as to see a rooted Principle of Liberty in opposition to Slavery predominant in every English breast and yet all that did not hinder him from a form'd Design of overturning the very fundamental Constitution that rendred that Principle of theirs warrantable He could not but know that the Inclinations of the Generality of the People of England were averse to the Religion of Rome and that their Interests were quite opposite to that Hierarchy Yet this did not dissuade him from making more steps in four years time towards the reconciling this Nation as the then Court-Phrase was to the Church of Rome than was made in France it self from the Death of Henry 4th till about three years before the Edict of Nants was revok'd for good and all But with the Concurrence of this Representative-Body he will be ready to redress all Grievances and give all those Securities of which we shall stand in need There was a time when scarce one single step was made in the Government but what deserv'd well the name of a Grievance and how well these Grievances were redress'd is worthy of our Enquiry The late King was not warm in the Throne when he ventur'd fairly to give us a taste of what he was afterwards to do He order'd a part of the Revenue that expired with his Brother's Death to be levied for his own use and that by virtue of his own Edict without an Act of Parliament A little after this he would needs send a solemn Ambassy to Rome to lay his Crown and Kingdoms at the Pope's Feet A Compliment few Kings ever made lest it should be taken in good earnest The Slights his Ambassador met with there were not able to mortify his Zeal in the least degree As he had sent a Splendid Ambassy to the Pope so he could not rest till he obtained the Glory of seeing a Nuncio sent hither whom he not only caressed himself but made it a Crime even in the greatest Peers of the Kingdom to refuse to attend at his Publick Entry a Minister whose Character was in it self High-Treason by the Law of England After the Storm rais'd by Monmouth was over he plainly tells the Parliament then sitting That he will employ Roman Catholicks in his Army that was as much in plain English as if he had said Gentlemen I judge it fit to tell you I think not my self obliged to govern any longer according to Law now that by your kind Assistance I am rid of a Competitor in the Throne After this we were not to expect any fair Weather all that followed was Thunder and Lightning The Penal Laws and Test must be taken off and the Dissenters cajol'd to consent to what at last was to ruin them as well as the Church of England Till a packt Parliament could be got to do this Job a Dispensing Power was set up that upon the matter was to supply the place of an Act of Parliament This devouring Monster altogether unknown to our Ancestors was not only to swallow up all Laws that stood in the late King's way towards the Grand Design but was to have the Force of a Law in it self as strong as any ever made by King Lords and Commons It was this Paramount All devouring Power claim'd by King Iames that produc'd afterwards the Ecclesiastical Commission the Suspension of the first Bishop of England the dashing in pieces the Ancient Rights of Magdalen College the Imprisonment of the Bishops in the Tower and a great many other things too long to be mention'd here All these were Grievances of a deep dye and yet neither Prayers nor Tears Submissions nor remonstrances could prevail with him to mitigate the weight of any of these blows They were heavy Grievances and he knew and was told every day they were so And how ready he was to redress them the whole course of that Reign testifies In the same sence he is willing to redress our grievances he may perhaps be willing to give us those securities we stand in need off Thanks to his love for what we do not want We know no better nor more natural securities than our Laws are they are the only sence next to Providence we trust in and while they are not violated we are safe But had not we those Securities before and did not the Late King break through them Could any Law in the world be exprest in more positive terms than that of the Test And yet this well-twisted rope like that of Sampson's of old prov'd but a thred of towe when the fury of King James 's Zeal came to touch it We likewise declare upon our Royal Word that We will protect and defend the Church of England as it is now established by Law And secure to the Members of it all the Churches Universities Colledges and Schools together with their Immunities Rights and Priviledges This is not the first time the Late King has promis'd all this and done quite otherwise King Charles the 2d was scarce yet cold clay when in the speech he made to his New Councel He told them He would make it his endeavours to preserve the Government both in Church and State as it was then established by Law And afterwards adds That he shall always defend and support the Church of England and the Members of it I cannot see how larger promises could have been made And this last is but a repetition of the former Yet how well they were kept we have number'd up instances enough already Thanks to Heaven and to the Laws already made the Church of England and the Members of it are much better secured than King Iames's Royal word can possibly do it though he had never given us ground to call the truth of it in question Having so strong Barriers already we were errant fools to trust our safety to so weak props that have
our distinction of a King de Facto that some People have coin'd to save both their Credit and Estates Our Law says expresly That whatever is done by a King in Possession is sufficiently valid But here the late King at one dash and I believe without thinking on what he had promis'd us a few lines before does plainly insinuate that he is resolv'd to stand to what has been Enacted by a King in Possession not because it 's Law but out of meer compliment to his new Parliament So we have here a standing Law since the days of Henry the 7th torn up by the Roots and one of the most necessary provisions for the Publick Safety unhing'd And if this be not all over the Dispensing Power or rather worse I refer it to every body of common Sense However if if it be any mitigation of sorrow to have Companions in it we shall have the pleasure to see our de Facto Gentlemen come in for their share of a Publick Calamity in which their nice distinction will stand them in no stead as probably some of them vainly hop'd And in that Parliament We will also consent to every thing they shall think necessary to re-establish the late Act of Settlement of Ireland made in the Reign of our Dearest Brother And will advise with them how to recompence such of that Nation as have followed us to the last and who may suffer by the said Re-establishment according to the degree of their Sufferings thereby Yet so as that the said Act of Settlement may always remain Intire And if Chimny-money or any other part of the Revenue of the Crown has been burthen some to our Subjects We shall be ready to exchange it for any other Assesment that shall be thought more easie There was certainly a great measure of confidence requir'd to mention the first part of this period without a Blush The Abolishing the Act of Settlement in Ireland was the Late King's Master-piece In England he made only one step after another in order to overthrow our Legal Constitution But in Ireland he was pleas'd and that in a Parliamentary way at one blow to overturn the Great Charter by which the Protestants of that Island enjoy'd their Estates The true reason of this difference in his treating them and us was because here he had not yet been able to get a Parliament according to his mind but there he found just such a one as he wish'd for They went thorough-stitch without the least hesitation and struck home at the Root of the English Liberty in making void the Act of Settlement which was the only Pillar it lean'd upon But now he will consent to the re-establishing that Act of Settlement Very probable the only best time for a man to shew his real Inclinations is when he is Master and may do it without controul By what the Late King did in Ireland we may best judge what he inclines to do of himself for there he was Master of his own designs having few or none but those of his own Religion and Principles about him and consequently none to oppose him If then it was that he shewed such an open Hatred against the Protestants of Ireland as at one dash to send some Hundred Thousands of them a Beging by making void the Fundamental Law to which they ow'd their Bread what are we justly to expect from him in England if we by an unexampled piece of Folly bring him back to be our Master here But tho he designs to re establish the Act of Settlement in Ireland He will not permit his dear Irish to suffer by it no they are to be recompenced according to the degree of their sufferings This period must certainly be a very reliâ—ning one to the many Thousand Protestants of that Kingdom who have been ruin'd by the Irish and who cannot think of them without a just horrour for the Barbarities they committed in the two last Rebellions We are to have Golden Days when those whose Hands are yet reeking in Protestant Blood are to be recompenc'd for shedding it Strange We must be the most abject Slaves that ever were if we can hear this with Patience And what signs has the Englâ—sh Nation yet given of so gross stupidity that incouraged the Contrivers of this Declaration to banter us at this rate it had been time enough to have told us this when the wreath is about our Necks and we groaning under the weight of our Chains but beforehand while we are yet free to entertain us with such a dismal prospect is a piece of Policy I believe very few are able to fathom He puts a mighty Obligation upon us in being ready to exchange the Chimney money for any other Assesment that shall be thought more easy The truth is this is wisely enough propos'd and upon a very reasonable foresight If ever the Late King return Chimney-money must certainly sink no Protestant that can flee will be very desirous to stay in England and consequently from that and a thousand other Calamities wasting us there must necessarily come to be a vast number of Houses without Fire or Smoke for want of Inhabitants Thus â—e have sincerely declared our Royal Intentions in terms we think necessary for setling our Subjects minds and according to the advice and intimations we have received from great numbers of our Loving Subjects of all ranks and degrees who have adjusted the manner of our coming to regain our own Right and to relieve our People from Oppression and Slavery After this we suppâ—se it will not be necessary to enumerate the Tyrannical Violations and Burthens with which our Kingdoms have been oppressed and are now like to be destroyed We have a great many too too recent grounds to know the late King 's Royal Intentions towards us without running to this Declaration to search for them The truth was he could not in some sense be call'd a dangerous Prince as people are inclinable to call those that hide their Designs from publick view He was open enough in all he aim'd at and whether it was from his Natural Temper or that he thought himself sure of Success he was never at much pains to disguise his Intentions but instead of working under ground our ruin he push'd it on with a high hand and like Alexander the Great tho upon a more ignoble occasion he scorn'd to steal upon us a Victory But all this openness was only when he was upon the Throne at the Head of a good Army now the case is quite alter'd and a little disguising is thought proper in his present Circumstances We know of no Oppression and Slavery we lye under at present If our Taxes be thought heavy in themselves they are not so if we consider they are given to ward off the greatest Miseries that can befal a Nation and we must be a base People indeed if we think our Religion and Liberty can be too dear bought Now we
This may be Printed Iune 5. 1693. J. Trenchard AN ANSWER To the Late K. JAMES's Last Declaration Dated at St. Germains April 17. S. N. 1693. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-lane MDCXCIII AN ANSWER To the LATE K. JAMES's Last Declaration IT seems we are yearly to expect a New Declaration of the Late King 's and ev'ry one of them is to be of a quite different Strain from another In that published the last Year K. Iames was pleas'd to pull off the Mask and give us his own genuine Intentions what he had a mind to do with us when once he came to be our Master Then he was firmly resolved to remount the Throne by force of Arms and to sap its new foundation with English Blood This Kingdom was adjudged a Hecatomb to his Revenge And indeed the whole Nation was by a fair consequence excepted out of his Indemnity and nothing but Axes and Gibbets were to Attone for the Wrongs we had done him but now it 's thought fit the Mask should once more be put on and the Thunder of the Last Year be hush'd up in the Serene Temper of This. Here he desires rather to be beholding to his Subjects Love to him than to any other expedient whatever for his Restauration But the last year he was to use no gentler methods to regain us than a French Army sent him by his dearest Brother the French King that is in plain English He was to render us Slaves in the Right of Conquest A wonderful change in Stile And the first Essay in Politicks of a New Ministry at St. Germains But Good God! What a low Opinion must the Contrivers of this Declaration entertain of the whole Nation of England if they imagin'd in good earnest such a gross Sham could take with them When these Kingdoms have so severely felt the overthrow of their Laws Religion and Liberties brought upon them in spight of the most solemn Promises and the Sanction of an Oath to the contrary when an unexpected Providence had broke the Yoke from off our Necks and secured to us all those valuable things we were upon the point of losing for ever by changing our King without changing the Line or the Monarchy to imagine that after all this they can be wheedled in to trust the same Prince once more with their All meerly because forsooth He or some in his Name emits a kind of faint Promise to do otherwise than we know to our Fatal Experience he did before is at the same time to suppose this Island to be Inhabited by a Herd of Brutes and not Reasonable thinking Creatures I challenge all the Late King's Declarationmakers and even the suppos'd Contriver of this last for whose Parts I have a just Esteem to give me but one single instance from History That ever a free People who from a just and recent sence of an Invasion made by a limited Monarch upon their Laws and Fundamental Constitution had thereupon withdrawn their Allegiance from him and confer'd it upon another did ever afterwards willingly and tamely submit to His Government again No there is not one instance of this kind in all the Records of time For tho' scarce one Age has past without some remarkable Revolution in Kingdoms and States yet a thing of this nature was never yet heard of since the World was This appears one of the most universally received Principles of Humane Society Never to trust the Promises of one that has broke with us before especially if those former were back'd with the Religious Sanction of an Oath To break through this Principle in some trivial matter may be perhaps pardonable in a Philosopher or some good-natur'd man that ventures thereby no more than what he is content to lose But to submit the dearest and most sacred things that Men can possess on Earth the Liberties Laws and Fundamental Constitutions of his Countrey all that either he or his Children after him can call or wish their own To submit all these I say to a few feeble Promises of one that has broke to us much more solemn ones before were a madness that never a Nation under Heaven was yet guilty of As it is the easiest thing in the world to promise largely when a man finds it his interest so to do So it is ordinarily the last Refuge weak minds have their recourse to when all other means of compulsion or persuasion fail But at the same time he that threatens highly when he thinks he has power in his hands to make his Threats good and comes thereafter to cajole with soft Promises of good Treatment when that Power is gone one must divest himself of all common sence if he believe that that man's mind is really chang'd to the better and does not ascribe the change of his manner of treating with us to the change of his Fortune To bring this close to King Iames's Case Last year all things were in a readiness in France for a formidable Descent upon us and indeed it was within an ace of taking effect We were ev'ry minute in hazard of seeing a French Army land upon our Coasts and King Iames with them Matters were so ripened for them in the Neighbouring Kingdom that an Insurrection was to break out there as soon as they set foot ashore here In a word The great Design of carrying a War into the Bowels of this island by the Power of France in conjunction with our Malcontents at home was well enough laid and wanted but little of Execution Then was a time for a Generous Prince to tell the People of England He desir'd rather to be beholden to his Subjects Love than to any other expedient whatsoever for his Restauration This had look'd plausible indeed and one would have been tempted almost to believe he was in earnest But alas the Late King thought there was no obligation upon him then to hide or dissemble his Intentions Buoy'd up with the hopes of an Infallible Success he spoke his mind plain out and in his Declaration at that time emitted to which I refer the Reader for brevity sake he talk'd in a loftier strain from St. Germains and his Camp in Normandy than ever yet he had done at the top of his Glory at White-hall Full with the mighty things he was to do at the head of a French Army he was pleas'd not to treat with us but to treat us as Slaves he had a mind to conquer with his Sword Nor could we have expected higher Language if we had been already lying groveling at a Conqueror's Feet But God be thanked the Scene is much alter'd with respect to King Iames since last Year All the Designs of the French Court for this Year are levell'd elsewhere and we know of no Preparations for invading England this Summer Scotland has not only put it self into a posture of defence but the whole face of Affairs there are wonderfully changed by this Session of Parliament
to another within the Belly of it the other follows thus JAMES R. WHEN We reflect upon the Calamities of our Kingdoms We are not willing to leave any thing unattempted whereby We may reconcile our Subjects to their Duty And tho' we cannot enter into all the particulars of Grace and Goodness which We shall be willing to grant yet we do hereby assure all our Loving Subjects that they may depend upon every thing that their own Representatives shall offer to make our Kingdoms happy For We have set it before our Eyes as our Noblest Aim to do yet more for their Constitution than the most Renowned of our Ancestors And as our chiefest Interest to leave no umbrage for Iealousy in relation to Religion Liberty and Property King Iames has all the reason in the world to reflect upon the Calamities of these Kingdoms since He was so very careful to bring them upon us The Calamities we groan'd under in his Reign have been hinted at before Where to lay the causes of the Calamities of this Reign which we believe is principally if not only here meant is worthy of our Enquiry and we need not go far to find them out It must be acknowledged that War in it self deserves well the name of a Calamity and a great one too But this we are at present engaged in is a War of Necessity and to save us from Calamities vastly greater than it self It 's a War for Defence of our Countrey our Religion our Liberties and all that can be dear to us in the world all which must stand or fall by the Success of it If the exorbitant Greatness and Power of France should happen to prove fatal to us in the upshot which Heaven forbid We know whom to thank for it And all Europe even those of the late King's Religion lay both it and all the direful effects of it with heaviest Execrations at his door It 's a truth as conspicuous as a Ray of the Sun That the two great Designs which took up the thoughts of a certain Prince both before and after his Accession to the Throne were How to make France formidable abroad and these Three Nations Slaves at home It 's only in these two Noble Designs he can yet be call'd a Successful Prince and for the first instead of a Sanctuary in France he deserves well the best Province of that Kingdom He tells us He is not willing to leave anything unattempted whereby he may reconcile his Subjects to their Duty So we find neither foul nor fair means have been neglected that 's certain Sometimes we have been tryed with Threats and now there 's another tryal how far Promises may work upon us Sometimes the Late King has a mind to reconcile us to our Duty by an Army of French and Irish even those generous Gentlemen that have Signaliz'd themselves in their own Country for their singular kindness to those of our Religion And sometimes when the other fails he designs to be beholding only to his peoples Love for his Restoration and to come over it seems with only a few that shall be thought necessary to attend his Person But we are fairly told We have been and are still out of our Duty otherwise there were no need of Reconciling us to it That is in plain English We are in his sense a pack of Villains and Traytors That would not timely submit our Religion Laws and Liberties to be overturn'd at his caprice nor yield up our selves Slaves at discretion But quite contrary either concurr'd with or accepted of our Deliverance when Heaven was pleased to bring it home to our door By this we may clearly judge of the Late King's Opinion of us and be better able to make a shrewd conjecture of the sincerity of his intentions towards us In this word of Reconciling us to our Duty is still the old Passive-Obedience Principle trump'd up upon us which was once within an ace of ruining us all And King Iames being still of Opinion that we fail'd in our Duty when we left that Principle It was not only altogether needless for him to make all those Promises but we are Knaves if we receive him not again without them since according to that Doctrine we are oblig'd to submit to him to day though we were sure he would sell us all for Slaves to morrow We are told We may depend upon every thing that our Representatives shall offer to make us happy How willing the Late King was to Grant what our Representatives did offer to him for our necessary security only I have mention'd before He kick'd them out of doors merely because they presum'd humbly to Advise him to Govern according to Law that is To Employ only those the Law capacitated for Employments With what sort of Representatives he aim'd afterwards during the whole course of his Reign to fill St. Stephen's Chappel The Regulations of Corporations the Closettings of Members the Questions put to almost every man in England that had a Voice in Elections and all the rest of the means us'd to get a pack'd House of Commons were too publick witnesses So that indeed King Iames may safely enough promise to grant what our Representatives shall offer if he means such Representatives as those he was once minded to palm upon the Nation But he tells us He has set before his eyes as his noblest aim to do yet more for our Constitution than the most Renown'd of his Ancestors This is not the first time we have been told so And indeed these words appear to come of course For in a Speech he made to the Parliament in May 1685. he thought fit to tell them That he pleas'd himself with the hopes that by God's Blessing and their Assiistance he might carry the Reputation of this Nation higher in the world than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors The truth is it was a severe proof enough of our Faith even then to believe the days of King Iames the 2d should come to eclipse those of Edward the 3d. or Henry the 5th and it will be yet much more so now Every body was at that time upon the enquiry How his Late Majesty's hopes were then grounded and what were the wonderful steps by which he expected to arrive at so high a pitch of Glory We have been sufficiently enabled since to unriddle the Mystery For instead of Conquests abroad which has render'd the Reigns of some of his Ancestors so illustrious to Posterity he had hopes to perpetuate the Memory of his by much more remarkable and in his opinion much more glorious Conquests at home even those he had a mind to obtain over our Laws Religion and Liberties Neither in this design was he altogether inexcusable since upon his Principles to subdue the Northern Heresy carry'd more of true Glory along with it than the Conquest of any one side of the Globe If then he unluckily fail'd at that time to
surpass the renown of his Ancestors by making the Conquests I have hinted at it 's not to be doubted but he will push the harder for it the next time we give him an opportunity of doing it And to encourage all our Loving Subjects of what degree or quality soever to set their Hearts and Hands to the perfecting of so good a Work and to unite themselves in this only means of Establishing the future Peace and Prosperity of these Kingdoms We have thought fit to publish and declare That on our part We are ready and willing wholly to lay aside all thoughts of Animosity or Resentment for what is past desiring nothing more than that it should be buried in perpetual Oblivion They must indeed be his Loving Subjects that set their hearts and hands to the perfecting the work of the Late King's Restoration for none that have a true love for their Country will venture upon it If this work of Restoring him to the Throne be the only means of establishing the peace and happiness of these Kingdoms Then Popery and Slavery must be quite other things than we took them to be We fondly imagin'd our Lives and Estates could not be better bestow'd than in warding off from our selves our Country and Posterity those two But now our late Declarationmakers have found out the secret for instead of being such affrightful things as we believ'd they are the only means to establish our peace and happiness and indeed they and the Restoring of King Iames are reciprocal and must of necessity go hand in hand together He is ready and willing to lay aside all Resentments for what is past desiring nothing more than that it should be buried in perpetual oblivion It 's hop'd we may without offence believe him to be willing to lay aside all Resentments in the same sense as we believe him to have been always most willing to condescend to such things as might give fullest satisfaction to his people and the rather that in believing this last we arrive at the highest pitch of Faith even that of belieivng against sense But does he really desire that all that 's past should be buried in oblivion Certainly he has all the reason in the world so to do and they deserve to be branded for fools that doubt his Sincerity in that point But though the Late King should yet it s hop'd the people of England are not yet willing to bury in oblivion what 's past The sense of the hazards they were in was too great to be so soon forgot And yet we are heartily content they should be no otherwise remembred than as the Shipwrack'd Mariner retains the impression of the Shelve on which he once was in danger to split that is in order to shun it for the time to come And do therefore by this our Declaration under our Great Seal solemnly promise our free 〈◊〉 and Indemnity to all our Loving Subjects of 〈◊〉 degree or quality soever who shall not by Land or 〈◊〉 oppose Us and those we shall think necessary to accompany our own Person in this just attempt to recover our Right or in such a number of days after our Landing as we shall hereafter express shall not resist those who in any parts of our Dominions shall according to their Duty assert and maintain the Iustice of our Cause Beseeching God to incline the Hearts of our People that all effusion of Blood may be prevented and Righteousness and Mercy take place And for that end We further promise to all such as shall come to and assist us That We will reward them according to their respective Degrees and Merits Here is a touch of that mighty Act of Indemnity we are to be blest with upon the late King's Restoration An Indemnity which it 's hop'd we shall never stand in need of and yet one express'd in such words as would stand us in no stead tho we should come to plead it He pardons all but such as shall oppose him by Sea or Land A comprehensive Exception and fully as wide as that Universal one mention'd in his Declaration last year The word Oppose may receive a thousand different Interpretations at the Bar and God have mercy on us if ever it come to that For the late King was always careful enough to pick out Judges sufficiently inclin'd to put what Interpretations on Words or Things best pleased their Master However it be we know above One hundred thousand people excepted by this Clause at one blow all our Army by Land and all our Fleet at Sea They will certainly fall under the word Oppose tho they should never strike a stroke in the Quarrel the receiving a Commission to Oppose Him among the rest of Their Majesties Enemies will admit of no favourable sense in the case How far all the rest of the Nation may fall under the Exception it 's only to stretch the meaning of the words a little and they are all in the same Category with those that appear in Arms against him for there is an opposing of him in the Parliament-House in the Pulpit in one's Chamber and in a thousand other ways which a clear witted bene placito Judge can easily find out As to his Promise of Rewarding those that shall come in to him he has been always very careful that no body repent their good Service to him Witness the Parliament that had stuck so close to him in the affair of Monmouth's Insurrection whom he turn'd out of doors when the Danger was over and the Prelates of the Church of England who had adher'd to his Interest in the matter of the Bill of Exclusion upon whom afterwards he rubb'd all the Affronts were in his power and in fine witness a great many Protestants that had serv'd him effectually against Monmouth in keeping the Crown on his Head whom he afterwards turn'd out of their Employments to make way for his Rascally beloved Irish. We do further declare That we will with all speed call together the Representative Body of our Kingdom And therein will inform our selves what are the united Interests and Inclinations of our People and with their concurrence will be ready to redress all their Grievances and give all those Securities of which they shall stand in need What sort of Representatives the late King aim'd at when he sat on the Throne we have hinted at before They were only such as would break in upon our Laws and Constitutions to favour those that were design'd to be our Executioners at least the Instruments of our Slavery A Principle to have such and only such Representatives was so rooted in the breast of that Prince that even when the greatest danger came afterwards to threaten him he could not bring himself to the Temper of calling any other tho most of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal begg'd him earnestly so to do as the only means to settle the then troubled state of his Affairs The difficulties
pay a part and we have a right to call the rest our own but if our Enemies had their Wills of us instead of a Part they would make themselves Masters of our All. Herein we make a Composition that a great many of our Neighbours envy us for who would be heartity willing to part with the Quota of their Estates we retain provided they might be suffer'd to enjoy the Proportion but of what we pay And whereas our Enemies endeavour to assright our Subjects with the apprehensions of great Sums which must he repaid to France We positively assure them That our Dearest Brother the Most Christian King expects no other Compensation for what he has done for us than meerly the Glory of having Succor'd an Injur'd Prince To tell us at this time of day of the Generosity of his dearest Brother the Most Christian King is news indeed All Europe and his own Subjects are sufficiently sensible how well that Name becomes him Tho he had mortally hated the late King he did no more but what his own proper Interest obliged him to in protecting him And never had a Prince a larger prospect of Advantage than the French King has at present from King Iames since it 's by his means he intends if possible to make these three Kingdoms slaves to France But how comes the Late King to make us so large Promises for his dearest Brother Is it because he supposes no body will be prevail'd with to believe the French King upon his own word and if so he is much in the right on 't Or is it that he expects we will rely more upon his word when he promises for another than for himself If so he is mistaken for we believe 'em both alike The King of Spain has more reason on many Accounts to call the French King his dearest Brother being indeed so in more senses than one And yet he has found to his sad experience that no Oath nor Treaty could tie him up from Pretentions less plausible then those he has against England upon the Account of King Iames. He renounc'd again and again by his solemn Oath and upon the Sacrament all Pretences to Flanders in right of his Mother or Wife and yet every time he swore so he broke it as soon as he was in a Condition so to do Shall King Iames or we expect better Treatment from the French King than the King of Spain his Cousin-German and brother-in-Brother-in-law that never wrong'd him has met with We to whom he imputes his having been put to the Charges of a long War and King Iames who has been upon the matter the Original Cause of it We only add That We come to vindicate our own Right and to establish the Liberties of our People And may GOD give us Success in the prosecution of the one as We sincerely intend the Confirmation of the other IAMES R. Given at St. Germaines en Laye April 17th S. N. 1693. And in the Ninth Year of our Reign God Save the King The Contrivers of this Declaration have made pretty bold with the Late King in palming upon him a kind of Oath or Execration that it 's probable he knows nothing of Methinks they deserve but little thanks that put thus upon their Master what they themselves believe he would not approve of unless they think after the breach of a Coronation-Oath all other Promises may be broken of course and so they may coyn as many Oaths and Promises in his Name as they please if it serve their turn Well! for our part we are once willing to say Amen to the late King's Prayers and so perswaded are we of his real Intentions towards England That in his own words We wish him Success in the Prosecution of his pretended Right as he sincerely intends the Confirmation of our Liberty Thus have I fought with a Phantosm appearing in the likeness of a Declaration from K. Iames but for ought I know A Paper contriv'd writ and printed here without his direction and perhaps his knowledg I pretend to no Honour in so inglorious a Cause tho I must acknowledge the decency that 's due to a Prince whose Name is affixt to it has hinder'd me from treating the Party that contriv'd it so ill as they deserve FINIS Declarat 〈◊〉 Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat Declarat