was sent down to Portsmonth with Orders to the Lord Dartmouth to send him under a good Convoy with his Nurse into France This he was said to have utterly refused whereupon he was brought back to London again on Saturday Doc. 8. and the Queen resolved to go over with him her self and not contented with this extorted from the King a Promise to follow her himself Which was the very worst Counsel the worst Enemy he had in the World could possibly have given him But to return back Scotland was by this time almost in as bad a condition as England and some of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland were sent up with a Petition for a Free Parliament and the Popish Chapels at York Bristol Glocester Worcester Shrewsbury Stafford Woolverhampton Bromidgham Cambridge and St. Edmond's Bury were about this time demolished and whereever the Lords in Arms came the Papists were disarmed And in Norfolk the Duke of Norfolk their Lord-Lieutenant had a great appearance of the Gentry with him where he and they declared for a Free Parliament and the Protection of the Protestant Religion This meeting was at Norwich the First of December and after that the same Declaration was renewed at Yarmouth and the Suffolk men approved of it but wanted a Lord Lieutenant to assemble and head them in order to the shewing their concurrence with safety Bristol was seized by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir John Guise the Lord Lovelace was delivered by the Gentry of Gloucestershire out of the Castle of Gloucester where till then he had been imprisoned The Lords Molineux and Aston in the mean time seized Chester for the King being R. C's and Berwick stood firm to him too but New-Castle received the Lord Lumley and Declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion York was in the hands of the associated Lords and the Garrison of Hull seized the Lord Langdale their Governour a Papist and the Lord Montgomery and disarmed some Popish Forces newly sent thither and then Declared for a Free Parliament and the Protestant Religion And Plimouth had long before submitted to the Prince of Orange And the Army at Reading upon another false Alarm on Saturday the 8th of December retired in great haste to Twyford Bridge and endeavouring to regain their post a Party of the Prince's men who were sent for by the Inhabitants of Reading upon their threatning to plunder and fire the Town attacked the Irish Dragoons and slew Fifty of them the Irish making little Defence tho' the Prince's Party were much fewer in number because they believed the whole Army was at hand The Popish Party was become so contemptible in London that on Thurday the Sixth of December there was an Hue and Cry after Father Peters publickly cried and sold in the Streets of London But this was not the worst neither for about the same time came forth this following Declaration in the Name of the Prince of Orange By his Highness William Henry Prince of Orange A Third Declaration WE have in the course of our whole life more particularly by the apparent hazards both by Sea and Land to which we have so lately exposed our Person given to the whole World so high and undoubted Proofs of our fervent Zeal for the Protestant Religion that we are fully confident no true Englishman and good Protestant can entertain the least Suspicion of our firm Resolution rather to spend our dearest Blood and perish in the Attempt than not to carry on the blessed and glorious Design which by the favour of Heaven we have so successfully begun to rescue England Scotland and Ireland from SLAVERY and POPERY and in a Free Parliament to Establish the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of these Kingdoms on such a sure and lasting Foundation that it shall not be in the Power of any Prince for the future to introduce Popery and Tyranny Towards the more easie compassing this great Design we have not been hitherto deceived in the just Expectation we had of the concurrence of the Nobility Gentry and People of England with us for the Security of their Religion and the Restitution of the Laws and the Re-establishment of their Liberties and Properties Great numbers of all Ranks and Qualities having joyned themselves to us and others at great distances from us have taken up Arms and Declared for Us. And which we cannot but particularly mention in that Army which was raised to be the Instrument of Slavery and Popery many by the special Providence of God both Officers and common Soldiers have been touched with such a feeling sense of Religion and Honour and of true Affection to their Native Country that they have already deserted the illegal Service they were engaged in and have come over to Us and have given us full assurance from the rest of the Army That they will certainly follow this Example as soon as with our Army we shall approach near enough to receive them without hazard of being prevented and betray'd To which end and that we may the sooner execute this just and necessary Design we are engaged in for the publick Safety and Deliverance of these Nations We are resolved with all possible diligence to advance forward that a Free Parliament may be forthwith called and such Preliminaries adjusted with the King and all things first setled upon such a foot according to Law as may give us and the whole Nation just reason to believe the King is disposed to make such necessary Condescension on his part as will give entire Satisfaction and Security to all and make both King and People once more happy And that we may effect all this in the way most agreeable to our desires if it be possible without the effusion of any Blood except of those execrable Criminals who have justly forfeited their Lives for betraying the Religion and subverting the Laws of their Native Country we do think fit to declare that as we will offer no violence to any but in our own necessary defence so we will not suffer any injury to be done to the Person even of any Papist provided he be found in such place and condition and circumstances as the Laws require So we are resolved and do declare That all Papists who shall be found in open Arms or with Arms in their Houses or about their Persons or in any Office or Employment Civil or Military upon any pretence whatsoever contrary to the known Laws of the Land shall be treated by Us and our Forces not as Soldiers and Gentlemen but as Robbers Free-booters and Banditti They shall be incapable of Quarter and intirely delivered up to the Discretion of our Soldiers And we do further declare That all Persons who shall be found any ways aiding and assisting to them or shall march under their Command or shall joyn with or submit to them in the discharge or execution of their illegal Commissions or Authority shall be looked upon as Partakers of their Crimes Enemies to
Romish Priests who are in or about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by Us for promoting his Highness's Generous Intentions for the Publick Good we shall be ready to do it as occasion requires Signed W. Cant. T. Ebor. Pembrook Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Berkeley Rochester Newport Weymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph F. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Potriburg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandois Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crowe Osulston Whereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn himself we the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are hereunto Subscribed being assembled in Guild-Hall in London having agreed upon and Signed a Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster assembled at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembrook the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend His Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same time to acquaint His Highness with what we have further done at this Meeting Dated at Guild-Hall the 11th of December 1688. The same day the Lieutenancy of London Signed this following Address to the Prince of Orange at Guild-Hall and sent it by Sir Robert Clayton Knight Sir William Russel Sir Basil Firebrace Knights and Charles Duncomb Esquire May it please your Highness WE can never sufficiently express the deep Sense we have conceived and shall ever retain in our Hearts that your Highness has exposed your Person to so many Dangers by Sea and Land for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom without which unparallel'd Undertaking we must probably have suffered all the Miseries that Popery and Slavery could have brought upon us We have been greatly concerned that before this time we had not any seasonable opportunity to give your Highness and the World a real Testimony That it has been our firm Resolution to venture all that is dear to us to attain those Glorious Ends which your Highness has propos'd for restoring and settling these distracted Nations We therefore now unanimously present to your Highness our just and due acknowledgments for that happy relief you have brought to us and that we may not be wanting in this present Conjuncture we have put our selves into such a posture that by the Blessing of God we may be capable to prevent all ill Designs and to preserve this City in Peace and Safety till your Highness's happy Arrival We therefore humbly desire that your Highness will please to repair to this City with what convenient speed you can for the perfecting the Great Work which your Highness has so happily begun to the general joy and satisfaction of us all After his Highness had certain Intelligence that the King was gone back to London he came forward by easie Journeys and entered Salisbury on Tuesday the 4th of December The 5th the Earl of Oxford came thither to him The same day the Lord Herbert of Cherbury and Sir Edw. Harley and most of the Gentry of Worcestershire and Hereford shire met at Worcester and Declared for the Prince of Orange Ludlow Castle was also taken in for him by the Lord Herbert and Sir Walter Blunt and the Popish Sheriff of Worcester secured in it by that Peer The 7th of December his Highness came on to Hungerford the 8th the Lords sent by the King came thither to him and had the Dispatch I have mentioned and after Dinner he went to Lidcot The 14th his Highness entered Windsor about Two of the Clock in the Afternoon The King in his departure put himself aboard a small Yatch or Smack commanded by one Captain Sanders but was forced for shelter to take into East Swale the Eastern part of the Isle of Sheppy in order to the taking in Ballast where the Inhabitants of Feversham in Kent being out to take up Jesuits and other suspected Persons found this small Vessel and seized it on Wednesday the 12th of December there were then present with him Sir Edward Hales and Mr. Labady and none of them being known at first they were very ill treated by the Seamen and brought up to Feversham as suspicious Persons The King being come there and by that time known he lodged that night at the Mayor's House and sent for the Earl of Winchelsea the Lord Lieutenant of that County to come to him The Lord Feversham having received a Letter from the King the 11th of December disbanded Four Thousand Men which was all the Army was left at Vxbridge where their head Quarters then were as I have said The same day the Dutch Officers taken in the Fly-boat and till then Imprisoned in Newgate were Discharged The 12th of December the Lords Spiritual and Temporal fate in the Council-Chamber at Whitehall and it was absolutely necessary they should the noise of the King 's withdrawing having put the Rabble of London into such a Ferment as has scarce been seen That Night they demolished the Popish Convent and Chappel at St. John's which they had attempted before the King went away and had hardly been prevented from destroying it by the Death of three or four Persons the Convent and Chapel of Fryars in Lincolns Inn-Fields and the Popish Chapels in Lime-street and Bucklers-Berry and the Chapel at Wild-house which was the Residence of the Spanish Ambassador Out of the Materials of these Buildings they made great Piles and at Night fired them instead of Bon-fires and the number that ran together was incredible and very terrible not only to the Roman Catholicks but to all considering men who did reflect seriously on the nature of the Times and the rage of the People The same day therefore the Lords put out an Order for the discovery of the Goods taken from the Spanish Ambassador promising a good Reward and commanding all Books and Papers taken out of his Library to be brought to the Council-Chamber in Whitehall The same day the late Lord Chancellor Jeffreys was taken at Wapping in a disguise and sent to the Tower first by the Lord Mayor which after was confirm'd by the Peers and Privy Council The 13th an Account being brought that the King was taken at Feversham several of his Servants went down to him but I do not find the Peers or Council sate that day The 14th the Privy Council and Peers met again and made this Order WE the Peers of this Realm assembled with some of the Lords of the Privy-Council do hereby require all Irish Officers and Souldiers to repair forthwith to the respective Bodies to which they do or did lately belong and do hereby declare that behaving themselves peaceably they shall have Subsistence pay'd them till they shall be otherwise provided for or imployed And the said Officers and Souldiers are to deliver up
rash and unjust Attempt We did intend as we lately declared to have met our Parliament in November next and the Writs are issued forth accordingly proposing to Our selves amongst other things that We might be able to quiet the minds of all Our People in matters of Religion pursuant to the several Declarations We have published to that effect but in regard of this strange and unreasonable Attempt from our Neighbouring Country without any manner of Provocation design'd to divert Our said Gracious Purposes We find it necessary to recall Our said Writs which We do hereby recall accordingly commanding and requiring Our loving Subjects to take notice thereof and to surcease all further proceedings thereon And forasmuch as the approaching Danger which now is at hand will require a great and vigorous Defence We do hereby strictly charge and command all Our loving Subjects both by Sea and Land whose ready Concurrence Valour and Courage as true English-men We no way doubt in a just cause to be prepared to defend their Country And We do hereby require and command all Lords-Lieutenants and Deputy-Lieutenants to use their best and utmost endeavours to resist repel and suppress Our Enemies who come with such Confidence and great Preparations to invade and conquer these Our Kingdoms And lastly We do most expresly and strictly enjoin and prohibit all and every Our Subjects of what degree or condition soever from giving any manner of Aid Assistance Countenance or Succor or from having or holding any Correspondence with these Our Enemies or any of their Complices upon pain of High Treason and being prosecuted and proceeded against with the utmost severity Given at Our Court at Whitehall the 28 of Septemb. 1688. The Reader may be pleased to observe that foreign Forces which must be French were declined which implies they were proffered and perhaps it had been never the worse for them if the Irish which considering their Religion and temper towards the English are as much Foreigners as the French hadbeen declined too for we shall see they did him much Mischief and little or no Service 2. That the meeting of the Parliament was discharged before ever there was any mention of restoring the Charters of the Corporations September the 30. his Grace the Duke of Newcastle the Earl of Lindsey the Earl of Derby and the Lord Germyns and others of the Nobility were said to have offered their Service to his Majesty and several of them had Commissions sent to them to raise men in their Countries None of these and very few other of the Nobility or Gentry coming up but only sending Letters which were now thought wonderful Obligations so dreadful was the thought of the Invasion at Court and so great the discontent of the whole Body of the Nation for the late Transactions month October On Tuesday the 2d of October the King declared publickly in Council that he would restore the Charter of the City of London so that the next day the Bishops turned that Request into Thanks for having prevented their Petition The Ministers by this time became so sensible of their Danger and of the temper of the Nation that the 2d day of October they procured a General Pardon in the beginning of which are these words It has always been our earnest Desire since Our Accession to the Crown that all Our People should live at ease and in full enjoyment of Peace and Happiness under Our Government and nothing can be more agreeable unto Us than that Offenders should be reformed by Acts of Mercy extended towards them rather than Punishment Our open Enemies having upon Repentance found Our Favour and altho' besides Our particular Pardons which have been granted to many Persons it be not long since We issued forth Our Royal Proclamation of General Pardon to all our People yet forasmuch as they who live most peaceably do often fall within the reach of some of Our Laws c. Besides the usual Exceptions were excepted all Treasons committed or done in the parts beyond the Seas or any other place out of this our Realm and by name Robert Parsons Edward Matthews Samuel Venner Andrew Fletcher Colonel John Rumsey Major John Mauly Isaac Manley Francis Charleton Fsque John Wildman Esq Titus Oats Robert Ferguson Gilbert Burnet Sir Robert Peyton Laurence Braddon Samuel Johnson Clerk Thomas Tripping Esq and Sir Rowland Guynne The Pardon here hinted at came out some few days before this and in that all Corporations and Bodies Politicks were excepted which looked so like a design against the Bishops Deans and Colledges that it was taken notice of and this new Pardon sent after the former to shew the World the Ministers were only a little too intent upon their own security as they had most need of this Pardon that they never thought of the other On Wednesday October the 3d. the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of London Winchester Asaph Ely Chichester Rochester Bath and Wells and Peterborough all in a Body waited upon the King when the Archbishop spoke thus to him May it please Your Sacred Majesty WHen I had lately the Honour to wait upon you you were pleased briefly to acquaint me with what had passed two days before between your Majesty and these my Reverend Brethren by which and by the Account which they themselves gave me I perceived that in truth there passed nothing but in very general Terms and Expressions of your Majesties gracious and favourable Inclinations to the Church of England and of our reciprocal Duty and Loyalty to your Majesty Both which were sufficiently understoodand declared before and as one of my Brethren then told you would have been in the same state if the Bishops had not stir'd one foot out of their Diocesses Sir I found it grieved my Lords the Bishops to have come so far and to have done so little and I am assured they came then prepared to have given your Majesty some more particular Instances of their Duty and Zeal for your Service had they not apprehended from some words which fell from your Majesty That you were not then at leisure to receive them It was for this Reason that I then besought your Majesty to command us once more to attend you all together which your Majesty was pleased graciously to allow and encourage We therefore are here now before you with all Humility to beg your Permission that we may suggest to your Majesty such Advices as we think proper at this Season and conducing to your Service and so leave them to your Princely Consideration Which the King being graciously pleased to permit the Archbishop proceeded as followeth I. Our first humble Advice is That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to put the Management of your Government in the several Counties into the Hands of such of the Nobility and Gentry there as are legally qualified for it II. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to annul your Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs and that
however the Roman Catholicks from this time forward were studiously avoided no man fearing any trouble from any body else as in truth I never heard of any man that was prosecuted on this account The 28th of October the Earl of Sunderland was removed from the Office of Principal Secretary of State and the Lord Viscount Preston put in his room This Change pleased all men but it came too late As the Cause of the Dismission of the Earl of Sunderland was then wholly unknown so it gave occasion to the reviving a Report that had been spread not long before upon the Imprisonment of Sir Bevil Skelton the English Ambassador in France that there had lately been a League concluded between the King of England and France for the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion here and the establishing Popery and Arbitrary Government to which end the French King was as was said to send a considerable Army and great Sums of Money into England and as it was before pretended that Skelton being a Protestant had discovered this Transaction to the Prince of Orange So it was now said Sunderland had lost the Original League out of his Scritore and that it was carried over to the Prince of Orange who would produce it to the Parliament of England But since that the Earl of Sunderland has published a Letter wherein he has given a larger Account of the true Cause of his being laid aside than is any where else to be met with and therefore I think it reasonable to add it here The Earl of Sunderland 's Letter to a Friend in London published March 23d 1689. TO comply with what you desire I will explain some things which we talked of before I left England I have been in a Station of a great noise without Power or Advantage whilst I was in it and to my Ruin now I am out of it I know I cannot justifie my self by saying though it is true that I thought to have prevented much Mischief for when I found that I could not I ought to have quitted the Service neither is it an Excuse that I have got none of those things which usually engage men in publick Affairs My Quality is the same it ever was and my Estate much worse even ruin'd tho' I was born to a very considerable one which I am ashamed to have spoiled tho' not so much as if I had encreased it by indirect means But to go on to what you expect The pretence to a Dispensing Power being not only the first thing which was much disliked since the death of the late King but the foundation of all the rest I ought to begin with that which I had so little to do with that I never heard it spoken of till the time of Monmouth's Rebellion that the King told some of the Council of which I was one that he was resolved to give Employments to Roman Catholicks it being fit that all persons should serve who could be useful and on whom he might depend I think every body advised him against it but with little effect as was soon seen That Party was so well pleased with that the King had done that they perswaded him to mention it in his Speech at the next meeting of the Parliament which he did after many Debates whether it was proper or not in all which I opposed it as is known to very considerable Persons some of which were of another opinion for I thought it would engage the King too far and it did give such offence to the Parliament that it was thought necessary to prorogue it after which the King fell immediately to the supporting the Dispensing Power the most Chimerical thing that was ever thought of and must be so till the Government here is as absolute as in Turkey all Power being included in that one This is the sense I ever had of it and when I heard Lawers defend it I never changed my Opinion or Language however it went on most of the Judges being for it and was the chief business of the State till it was looked on as setled Then the Ecclesiastical Court was set up in which there being so many considerable men of several kinds I could have but a small part and that after Lawyers had told the King it was legal and nothing like the High Commission Court I can most truly say and it is well known that for a good while I defended Magdalen Colledge purely by care and industry and have hundreds of times begg'd of the King never to grant Mandates or to change any thing in the regular course of Ecclesiastical Affairs which he often thought reasonable and then by perpetual Importunities was prevailed upon against his ownsense which was the very case of Magdalen Colledge as of some others These things which I endeavoured though without Success drew upon me the Anger and Ill-will of many about the King. The next thing to be try'd was to take off the Penal Laws and the Tests so many having promised their concurrence towards it that his Majesty thought it feasible but he soon found it was not to be done by that Parliament which made all the Catholicks desire it might be dissolv'd which I was so much against that they complained of me to the King as a man who ruined all his Designs by opposing the only thing could carry them on Liberty of Conscience being the Foundation on which he was to build That it was first offered at by the Lord Clifford who by it had done the work even in the late King's time if it had not been for his weakness and the weakness of his Ministers Yet I hindred the Dissolution several Weeks by telling the King that the Parliament in Being would do every thing he could desire but the taking off the Penal Laws and the Tests or the allowing his Dispensing Power and that any other Parliament tho' such a one could be had as was proposed would probably never repeal those Laws and if they did they would certainly never do any thing for the support of the Government whatever exigency it might be in At that time the King of Spain was sick upon which I said often to the King that if he should die it would be impossible for his Majesty to preserve the peace of Christendom that a War must be expected and such a one as would chiefly concern England and that if the present Parliament continued he might be sure of all the help and service he could wish but in case he dissolv'd it he must give over all thoughts of fereign Affairs for no other would ever assist him but on such terms as would ruine the Monarchy so that from abroad or at home he would be destroy'd if the Parliament were broken and any accident should happen of which there were many to make the aid of his People necessary to him This and much more I said to him several times privately and in the hearing of others But being over-power'd
the Laws and to their Country And whereas we are certainly informed that great numbers of Armed Papists have of late resorted to London and Westminster and Parts adjacent where they remain as we have reason to suspect not so much for their own Security as out of a wicked and barbarous Design to make some desperate Attempts upon the said Cities and the Inhabitants by Fire or a sudden Massacre or both or else to be the more ready to joyn themselves to a Body of French Troops designed if it be possible to land in England procured of the French King by the Interest and Power of the Jesuits in pursuance of the Engagements which at the Instigation of that pestilent Society his Most Christian Majesty with one of his Neighbouring Princes of the same Communion has entred into for the utter Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of Europe Though we hope we have taken such effectual care to prevent the one and secure the other that by God's assistance we cannot doubt but we shall defeat all their wicked Enterprises and Designs We cannot however forbear out of our great and tender concern we have to preserve the People of England and particularly those great and populous Cities from the cruel Rage and bloody Revenge of the Papists to require and expect from all the Lord-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace Lord Mayors Mayors Sheriffs and other Magistrates and Officers Civil and Military of all Counties Cities and Towns of England especially of the County of Middlesex and Cities of London and Westminster and Parts adjacent that they do immediately disarm and secure as by Law they may and ought within their respective Counties Cities and Jurisdictions all Papists whatsoever as Persons at all times but now especially most dangerous to the Peace and Safety of the Government that so not only all power of doing Mischief may be taken from them but that the Laws which are the greatest and best Security may resume their force and be strictly executed And we do hereby likewise declare That we will protect and defend all those who shall not be afraid to to do their Duty in Obedience to these Laws And that for those Magistrates and others of what condition soever they be who shall refuse to assist Us and in Obedience to the Laws to execute vigorously what we have required of them and suffer themselves at this juncture to be cajolled or terrified out of their Duty we will esteem them the most Criminal and Infamous of all Men Betrayers of their Religion the Laws and their Native Country and shall not fail to treat them accordingly resolving to expect and require at their hands the Life of every single Protestant that shall perish and every House that shall be burnt and destroyed by Treachery and Cowardize Given under our Hand and Seal at our Head Quarters at Sherburn Castle the Twenty eight of November 1688. WILLIAM HENRY PRINCE OF ORANGE By his Highness's special Command C. HUYGENS. This was the boldest Attempt that ever was made by a private Person for it is certain the Prince knew nothing of this Declaration and disowned it so soon as he heard of it but yet it was printed in London and a quantity of them were sent in a Penny-Post Letter to the Lord Mayor of London who forthwith carried them to the King to Whitehall and it is thought this sham Paper contributed very much to the fixing and hastning his Resolution of leaving the Nation however there was no enquiry made after the Author or Printer of it that I could take notice of On Sunday the Ninth of December it is said Count Dada the Pope's Nuncio and many others departed from Whitehall and the next Morning about three or four of the Clock the Queen the Child and as was said Father Peters crossed the Water to Lambeth in three Coaches each of six Horses and with a strong Guard went to Greenwich and so to Gravesend where they imbarked on a Yatch for France And it is supposed she carried the Great Seal of England with her it having never appeared after this Before this the Marquiss of Hallifax the Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin had been sent by the King and Council to treat with the Prince of Orange and to adjust the Preliminaries in order to the holding of a Parliament who the Eighth of December sent these Proposals to him SIR THe King commanded us to acquaint you That he observeth all the differences and causes of Complaint alledged by your Highness seem to be referred to a Free Parliament His Majesty as he hath already declared was resolved before this to call one but thought that in the present state of Affairs it was advisable to defer it till things were more composed yet seeing that his People still continue to desire it he hath put forth his Proclamation in order to it and hath issued forth his Writs for the Calling of it And to prevent any cause of Interruption in it he will consent to every thing that can be reasonably required for the Security of all those that come to it His Majesty hath therefore sent us to attend your Highness for the adjusting of all Matters that shall be agreed to be necessary to the Freedom of Elections and the Security of Sitting and is ready to enter immediately into a Treaty in order to it His Majesty proposeth that in the mean time the respective Armies may be retained within such Limits and at such distance from London as may prevent the Apprehensions that the Parliament may be in any kind disturbed being desirous that the Meeting may be no longer delay'd than it must be by the usual and necessary Forms Hungerford the 8th of December 1688. Hallifax Nottingham Godolphin To this his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange return'd this Answer WE with the Advice of the Lords and Gentlemen assembled with Us have in Answer made these following Proposals I. That all Papists and such Persons as are not qualified by Law be Disarmed Disbanded and removed from all Employments Civil and Military II. That all Proclamations that reflect upon Us or at any time have come to Us or declared for Us be recalled and that if any Persons for having assisted Us have been Committed that they be forthwith set at Liberty III. That for the Security and Safety of the City of London the Custody and Government of the Tower be immediately put into the Hands of the said City IV. That if His Majesty should think fit to be in London during the Sitting of the Parliament that We may be there also with an equal number of our Guards and if his Majesty shall be pleased to be in any place from London whatever distance he thinks fit that We may be the same distance and that the respective Armies be from London forty Miles and that no further Forces be brought into the Kingdom V. And that for the Security of the City of London and their Trade
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