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
fit for Burthen or Draught and not actually employed in the Defence and Service of Us and the Country to be driven and removed by the space of at least Twenty miles from the Place where the Enemy shall attempt to Land and to secure the same in such effectual manner that they may not fall into the hands or power of any of Our Enemies Wherein nevertheless it is Our Will and Pleasure that the respective owners may suffer as little damage and loss as may be consistent with the great and publick safety of the Kingdom The same day the Earl of Oxford who had but a short time before been turned out of the Lieutenancy of Essex for refusing to consent to the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Tests was restored to the said Office as several others were about the same time The 22d of October his Majesty ordered the Council to be assembled and desired the Queen Dowager and such of the Peers of this Kingdom both Spiritual and Temporal as were in Town as also the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London and the Judges and several of their Majesties Council learned in the Law and the Ladies Lords and others that were present at the Queen's Labour did appear there and declare upon Oath what they knew of the Birth of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales as he was then call'd of all which a full and particular Relation was then promised to be published as was soon after done but then those Depositions are too well known to need and too long to be here inserted without cause They have since been examined by another Pen and therefore I may the better pass them by when I have put this short question Why were they so long delay'd and to what purpose were they now published Why they had received intelligence that the Troops were now on Shipboard and that the Prince of Orange would embark himself so soon as the Ships from the Texel have joyn'd with those in the Maes The Nation was by this time exasperated and fermented to that height against the Court and the Popish party that all places were fill'd with Reports and Whispers to their Disadvantage many of which were false and some ridiculous and impossible which yet were then greedily swallowed and industriously spread and promoted the Authors of them being utterly unknown and doing it on various accounts some out of meer Wantonness and Banter others out of Spite Design and Aversion And there can be nothing more unreasonable than to expect his now Majesty should be obliged to prove all the silly Stories were then spread abroad by those who pretended to favour his Interest but did in reality rather mischief than good to him To put a stop to these Rumours the 26. of October this following Proclamation was published ALtho' since Our Accession to the Crown We have graciously extended Our Royal Mercy and Clemency to Our Subjects by several General Pardons one whereof was lately published yet we are sensible that divers evil disposed persons being not reformed or wrought upon by such Our Grace and Favour do notwithstanding make it their business by Writing Printing or Speaking to defame Our Government with false and seditious News and Reports thereby intending to amuse Our loving Subjects and as far as they are able to create in them an universal Jealousie and Discontent especially in this time of publick Danger threatned by the intended Invasion upon this our Kingdom and consequently to alienate the Hearts of such of Our loving Subjects from Us who otherwise would readily yield unto Us that Aid and Assistance which by their Natural Allegiance they are bound to do And whereas by the ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm great and heavy Penalties are inflicted upon all such as shall be found to be Spreaders of false News or Promoters of any malicious Slanders and Calumnies in their ordinary and common Discourse or otherwise and morespecially upon such who shall utter or publish any words or things to incite or stir up the People to hatred or dislike of Our Person or the established Government Notwithstanding which there have been of late more bold and licencious Discourses than formerly and men have assumed to themselves a liberty not only in Coffee houses but in other Places and Meetings both publick and private to censure and defame the Proceedings of State by speaking evil of things they understand not We therefore considering that Offences of this nature proceed from the restless Malice of evil Persons or from the careless Demeanour of others who presume too much upon Our accustomed Clemency and Goodness have therefore thought fit by this Our Royal Proclamation by and with the Advice of Our Privy-Council streightly to forewarn and command all Our Subjects of what estate or condition they be that they presume not henceforth either by Writing Printing or Speaking to utter or publish any false News or Reports whatsoever or to intermeddle with the Affairs of State or Government or with the Persons of any of Our Counsellors or Ministers in their common and ordinary Discourses as they will answer the contrary at their utmost perils And because all bold and irreverent Speeches touching matters of high nature and all malicious and false Reports tending to Sedition or to the Amusement of Our People are punishable not only in the Speakers but in the Hearers also unless they do speedily reveal the same unto some of Our Privy-Council or some other of Our Judges or Justices of the Peace Therefore that all persons may be left without excuse who shall not hereafter contain themselves within that modest and dutiful Regard which becomes them We do further declare that We will proceed with all Severity and Rigor against all such persons who shall be guilty of any such malicious and unlawful Practices by Writing Printing or other Publication of such false News and Reports or who shall receive or hear the same without revealing or giving Information thereof as aforesaid in due time We being resolved to suppress the said Enormities by a most strict and exemplary Punishment of all such Offenders as shall hereafter be discovered And We do hereby strictly charge and cammand all and singular Our Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Mayors Bailiffs and all other Our Officers and Ministers whatsoever to take effectual care for the speedy Apprehension Prosecution and severe Punishment of all such persons who shall at any time hereafter be found Offenders herein This Proclamation rather increased the Aversion men then generally had for the Government and there were very few who did not presently reflect on Father Petre who was then one of the Privy-Council as fitter to be hang'd than reverenc'd but they were then under Hatches and must comply and for two or three days News was wondrous scarce but then they fell to it again with so much the greater liberty the publick hatred prevailing over their Fear as the day of their wished Redemption grew nearer But
Collector of the Excise at Exeter and committed the Officer to Custody and that not one Person of Quality was yet come in to them This last was again confirm'd by another Express the next day The 13th an Account came from Cirencester That the Lord Lovelace going to the Prince with between 60 and 70 Horse was there seised by the Militia by Order of the Duke of Beaufort with about 13 of the Party one Major Lorege being slain in the Action together with his Son Captain Lee and Leiutenant Williams and six Common Soldiers wounded but notwithstanding this Resistance the Lord Lovelace was at last forced to yield and secured by the Duke of Beaufort and this was very acceptable News at Whitehall but the Joy was short and not well founded The 14th there came an Account from Salisbury That upon the 12th the Lord Cornbury pretending to have received Orders from his Majesty caused the Royal Regiment of Horse the Royal Regiment of Dragoons whereof he was Colonel and the Duke of St. Albans Regiment of Horse commanded by Colonel Langston to march from Salisbury to Dorchester where they refreshed themselves and then they went to Bridport and Axminster Several of the Officers thereupon apprehending some Design asked the Lord Cornbury as was said whither they were going Who answered To beat up the Enemies Quarters at Honiton But he finding the Royal Regiment of Horse and several Officers of the Dragoons did more and more suspect him he marched with those that would follow him towards Honiton Langston going before with the Regiment of St. Albans but the Royal Regiment of Horse and several of the Dragoons return'd to Bridport And the same day the Earl of Feversham came to Salisbury to Command the Forces in Chief The next day these Regiments return'd from Bridport to Salisbury and we were told there was not ten Troopers of the Royal Regiment wanting which sufficiently shews how firm they were in their Fidelity to his Majesty But notwithstanding this Flourish this News caused a great Consternation at Whitehall The 16th there was published a Proclamation to prohibit the keeping of Exeter Fair and other Fairs thereabouts because many on that Pretence went over to the Prince of Orange The same day the Reverend Dr. Lamplu then Bishop of Exeter was Translated to the Archbishoprick of York and Dr. Trelawny from the See of Bristol to that of Exeter And his Majesty also ordered a Publick Collection to be made thorow the City of London the Liberties and Suburbs thereof for the Relief of the poor and distressed Inhabitants of the City who were by the Distractions of the Times and the Interruption of Trade reduced to great Want and Misery The 17th of November the Archbishop of Canterbury the Archbishop of York Elect the Bishop of Ely and the Bishop of Rochester presented this Petition to the King. May it please Your Majesty WE Your Majesties most Loyal Subjects in a deep sense of the Miseries of a War now breaking forth in the Bowels of this Your Kingdom and of the Danger to which Your Majesties Sacred Person is thereby like to be exposed as also of the Distractions of Your People by reason of their present Grievances do think our selves bound in Conscience of the Duty we owe to God and our Holy Religion to Your Majesty and our Country most humbly to offer to Your Majesty That in our Opinion the only visible way to preserve Your Majesty and this Your Kingdom would be the Calling a Parliament Regular and Free in all its Circumstances We therefore most earnestly beseech Your Majesty That You would be graciously pleased with all speed to call such a Parliament wherein we shall be most ready to promote such Counsels and Resolutions of Peace and Settlement in Church and State as may conduce to Your Majesties Honour and Safety and to the quieting of the Minds of Your People We do likewise humbly beseech Your Majesty in the mean time to use such Means for the preventing the Effusion of Christian Blood as to Your Majesty shall seem most meet W. Cant. Grafton Ormond Dorset Clare Clarendon Burlingten Anglesey Rochester Newport Nom. Ebor. W. Asaph F. Ely. Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriburg T. Oxon. Paget Chandois Osulston It was said there was a sharp Answer given to this excellent Petition which was the Sense of all the King's Friends in the Nation except a few desparate Men whose Crimes had rendred them uncapable of the Mercy of a Parliament and some others who designed the Ruine of the English Liberties and Religion with the utmost hazard of the King and Kingdom The same day in the Afternoon the King left the City and with his Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark went to Windsor and the next Morning he went to Salisbury appointing in his absence the Privy-Council to meet for the Dispatch of all Affairs as occasion should require The 19th of November the Lords for their own Vindication published the Petition afore-represented and the next day the King's Answer to it was printed also which was this His Majesties most Gracious Answer My Lords WHat you ask of Me I most passionately desire and I promise you UPON THE FAITH OF A KING That I will have a Parliament and such an one as you ask for as soon as ever the Prince of Orange has quitted this Realm For how is it possible a Parliament should be Free in all its Circumstances as you Petition for whilst an Enemy is in the Kingdom and can make a Return of near an hundred Voices This was sufficiently disobliging considering the State of Affairs and the Temper of the Nation at that time but the Jesuits were so enraged at the printing the Petition that they published a Paper with this Title Some Reflections upon the Humble Petition to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal who subscribed the same presented November 17th 1688. which follows in these words THat the Peace-makers are blessed is a Truth our Saviour hath left recorded in the holy Scriptures and those are truly to be honoured who can contribute any thing to so happy a work But that either this way of Petitioning or the matter in it desired is likely to produce so great a Blessing is a Question worthy thy serious Consideration I shall first therefore take notice of some of the dubious Expressions in the Petition and then lay down some few Reasons why I judge the Petition in it self unseasonable and lastly endeavour to shew how unpracticable the summoning of a Parliament is at this present The Expression That a War is now breaking forth in the Bowels of the Kingdom shews that their Lordships either know or foresee that a Civil War is fomenting and I pray God this Petition do not more than any thing else occasion it or that the Prince of Orange intends to carry on the War through the Bowels of the Kingdom whereas those that wish well to the King hope it will be
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
Tilbury Fort be put into the Hands of the City VI. That a sufficient part of the Publick Revenue be assigned us for the Support and Maintenance of our Troops until the Sitting of a Free Parliament VII That to prevent the landing of the French or other Foreign Troops Portsmouth may be put into such Hands as by His Majesty and Us shall be agreed on Tilbury-Fort was then Garison'd by the Irish and there were a great many of them and other Papists in Portsmouth This Answer was sent to His Majesty on Monday the Tenth of December by an Express yet he resolved to leave the Town and ordered all those Writs for the Sitting of the Parliament that were not sent out to be burnt and a Caveat to be entred against the making use of those that were sent down And at the same time he sent Order to the Earl of Feversham to Disband the Army and Dismiss the Soldiers The Letter to the Earl of Feversham was in this Form. THings being come to that Extremity that I have been forced to send away the Queen and my Son the Prince of Wales that they might not fall into the Enemies Hands which they must have done if they had stay'd I am obliged to do the same thing in hopes it will please God out of his infinite Mercy to this unhappy Nation to touch their Hearts again with true Loyalty and Honour If I could have rely'd on all my Troops I might not have been put to the Extremity I now am in and would at least have had one blow for it But though I know there are many and brave Men among you both Officers and Soldiers yet you know that both you and several of the General Officers and Soldiers and Men of the Army told me It was no ways advisable for me to venture my self at their Head or to think to fight the Prince of Orange with them And now there remains only for me to thank you and all those both Officers and Soldiers who have stuck to me and been truly Loyal I hope you will still retain the same Fidelity to me and though I do not expect you should expose your selves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation yet I hope your former Principles are so inrooted in you that you will keep your selves free from Associations and such pernicious things Time presseth so that I can add no more Jamex Rex The Earl of Feversham presently after the receit of this Letter Disbanded Four thousand Men which was all the Army he had then with him and under his Command after which he sent this Letter to the Prince of Orange SIR HAving received this Morning a Letter from His Majesty with the unfortunate News of his Resolution to go out of England I thought my self obliged being at the Head of his Army and having received his Orders to make no Opposition against any body to let your Highness know it with the Advice of the Officers here so soon as was possible to hinder the effusion of Blood. I have ordered already to that purpose all the Troops that are under my Command which shall be the last Order they shall receive from Feversham This was to all intents and purposes a clear and full Abdication or Desertion of the Army and put them under an inevitable necessity of submitting to the Prince of Orange they having no body to Lead or Head them against him And it is not conceivable how they could keep themselves from entring into an Association or Oath of Allegiance to the Prince now he was gone without exposing themselves by resisting a Foreign Army and a Poyson'd Nation For neither could the Nation long continue without a Prince nor would any Person that succeeded in that Capacity have ever suffered them to live within his Government without giving him Security by Oath for their Submission and Loyalty to him So that the whole design of this Letter seems to be the Sowing a Division in the Nation that at the same time he left us we might not unite or settle our selves under the other but by our Principles be divided that so he might the more easily reduce us again into the State we were in when the Prince first designed his Expedition against England This being done about Three of the Clock in the morning December the 11th the King went down the River in a small Boat towards Gravesend The principal Officers of the Army about the Town thereupon met about Ten of the Clock at Whitehall and sent an Express to the Prince of Orange to acquaint him with the Departure of the King and to assure him that they would assist the Lord Mayor to keep the City quiet till his Highness came and made the Souldiery to enter into his Service Much about the same time the Lords Spiritual and Temporal about the Town came to Guildhall and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen made the following Declaration The 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. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably hope that the King having issued out his Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested secure under the expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn himself and as we apprehend in order to his departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of Persons ill affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably involved these Realms We do therefore unanimously resolve to apply out selves to his Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard hath undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue us with as little effusion of Christian Blood as possible from the imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby declare That we will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties may be secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World may be supported and encouraged to the Glory of GOD the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjacent by taking care to disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and
some other Country § 7. And since his Majesty had sufficient reasons to withdraw these can be no pretence for an Abdication For we are to observe that to Abdicate an Office always supposes the Consent of him who Quits it That this is the signification of the Word Abdico appears from Tully Salust and Livie to which I shall only add the Learned Grotius De Jure Belli c. Libr. 1. Cap. 4. Sect. 9. Where he makes Abdicating the Government and plainly Giving it up to be Terms of the same importance § 8. And to prevent unreasonable Cavils he adds that a Neglect or Omission in the Administration of Government is by no means to be Interpretated a Renunciation of it We have but two Instances with us which looks like an Abdication since the Conquest which are in the Reign of Edward II. and Richard II. both which were unjustly Deposed by their Subjects However they did not renounce their Allegiance and declare the Throne void till they had a formal Resignation under the Hands of both those unfortunate Princes And hence it appears how unlucky our Enquirer is at citing the Laws For pag. 12. He tells us That since these Two Princes have been judged in Parliament for their Male Administration and since these Judgments have never been vacated by any subsequent Parliaments these Proceedings are part of our Law. From hence I observe § 9. 1. That our Author contradicts himself For here he owns that Male Administration is sufficient to warrant Deposition and Resistance But in his Enquiry into the Measures of Submission c. For both these Papers are generally supposed to come from the same Hand Pag. 5. Par. 14. He is much kinder to the Crown for there he asserts That it is not Lawful to resist the King upon any pretence of Ill Administration and that nothing less than subverting the Fundamentals of Government will justifie an Opposition Now I am much mistaken if Deposing of Kings is not Resisting them with a Witness But besides his self Contradiction the case is not to his purpose For § 10. 1. These Parliaments were called in Tumultuous times when the Subjects were so hardy as to put their Kings under Confinement Now if it is against the Constitution of Parliaments to Menace the Two Houses out of their Liberty of Voting freely then certainly Kings ought not to be overawed by Armies and Prisons These Parliaments therefore are very improper to make Precedents of § 11. 2. Those Princes were wrought upon so far as to resign their Crowns which each of them did though unwillingly Let this Enquirer produce such a Resignation from His Majesty and he says something § 12. 3. He is much mistaken in saying these Judgments as he calls them have not been vacated by subsequent Praliaments For all those subsequent Parliaments which declare it Unlawful to take up Arms against the King do by necessary implication condemn these Deposing Precedents for it 's impossible for Subjects to Depose their Princes without Resisting them § 13. 2. By Act of Parliament the First of Edw. 4. yet remaining at large upon the Parliament Rolls and for the greater part recited verbatim in the Pleadings in Baggett's Case in the Year Books Trin. Term. 9. Edw. 4. The Title of Edw. 4. by Descent and Inheritance and is set forth very particularly And that upon the Decease of Rich. 2. the Crown by Law Custom and Conscience Descended and Belonged to Edmund Earl of March under whom King Edw. 4. claimed § 14. It is likewise further declared That Hen. 4. against Law Conscience and Custom of the Realm of England Usurped upon the Crown and Lordship thereof and Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. occupied the said Realm by Unrighteous Intrusion and Vsurpation and no otherwise § 15. And in 39. Hen. 6. Rot. Parl. when Richard Plantagenet Duke of York laid claim to the Crown as belonging to him by right of Succession it was § 16. 1. Objected in behalf of Hen. 6. that Hen. 4. took the Crown upon him as next Heir in Blood to Hen. 3. not as Conqueror § 17. To this it was Answered That the pretence of Right as next Heir to Hen. 3. was false and only made use of as a Cloak to shadow the violent Usurpations of Hen. 4. § 18. 2. It was Objected against the Duke of York That the Crown was by Act of Parliament Entailed upon Hen. 4. and the Heirs of his Body from whom King Hen. 6. did Lineally Descend The which Act say they as it is in the Record is of Authority to defeat any manner of Title To which the Duke of York replied That if Hen. 4. might have obtained and enjoyed the Crowns of England and France by Title of Inheritance Descent or Succession he neither needed nor would have desired or made them to be granted to him in such wise as they be by the said Act the which takes no Place nor is of any Force or Effect against him that is right Inheritor of the said Crowns as it accordeth with Gods Laws and all Natural Laws Which Claim and Answer of the Duke of York is expressly acknowledged and recognized by this Parliament to be Cotton's Abridgment Fol. 665 666. § 19. From these Recognitions it plainly follows 1. That the Succession cannot be interrupted by an Act of Parliament especially when the Royal Assent is given by a King De Facto and not De Jure 2. The Act 9. of Edw. 4. by declaring the Crown to Descend upon Edmund Earl of March by the Decease of Rich. 2. does evidently imply that the said Richard was rightful King during his Life and consequently that his Deposition was Null and Unlawful If it 's demanded Why his Majesty did not leave Seals and Commissioners to supply his Absence This Question brings me to the Second Point viz. to shew That the leaving sufficient Representatives was impracticable at this Juncture For 1. When the Nation was so much embroiled and the King's Interest reduced to such an unfortunate Ebb It would have been very difficult if not impossible to have found Persons who would have undertaken such a dangerous Charge That Man must have had a Resolution of an extraordinary Size who would venture upon Representing a Prince who had been so much disrepected in his own Person whose Authority had been set aside and his Ambassador clapt up at Windsor when he carried not only an inoffensive but an obliging Letter But granting such a Representation had been ingaged in the Commissions must either have extended to the Calling of Parliaments or not if not they would neither have been Satisfactory nor absolutely necessary Not Satisfactory For the want of a Parliament was that which was accounted the great Grievance of the Nation as appears from the Prince of Orange's Declaration Where he says expresly That his Expedition is intended for no other Design but to have a Free and Lawful Parliament assembled as soon as is possible Declar. P. 12. § 21.