all that is in my power to advance the Welfare of the Glory of the Nation Whereupon the Prince and Princess of Orange were that very Day being the 13th of February 1688 9. Proclaimed at White-Hall and in the City King and Queen of England France and Ireland by the Name of WILLIAM and MARY each Proclamation being Ecchoed with Universal Acclamations of Joy by the Multitudes of People which crowded the Streets Windows and Balconies and the Streets lined all the Way from Temple-Bar to the Royal-Exchange with four Regiments of the City Militia The Night was concluded with Bonfires Ringing of Bells and all other Expressions of Duty and Affection to Their Majesties KING WILLIAM and QVEEN MARY with hearty Wishes for Their long and happy Reign April 11th Being appointed for their Coronation Their Majesties were accordingly Crowned that Day at Westminster with great Pomp and Solemnity by the Lord Bishop of London and the Day kept with great Ceremony in most of the chief Towns of England The Coronation Oath was tendred by the Bishop to the King and Queen in these several Articles Their Majesties giving a distinct Answer to each of them Bishop Will you solemnly Premise and Swear to Govern the People of this Kingdom of England and the Dominions thereto belonging according to the Statutes agreed on in Parliament and the Laws and Customs of the same King and Queen I solemnly promise so to do Bishop Will you to your power cause Law and Justice in Mercy to be executed in all Your Judgments King and Queen I will Bishop Will You to the utmost of your power Maintain the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel and the Protestant Reformed Religion established by Law And will you Preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of this Realm and to the Churches committed to their Charge all such Rights and Priviledges as by Law do or shall appertain unto them or any of them King and Queen All this I promise to do After this the King and Queen laying his and her Hand upon the Holy Gospels said The Things which I have here before Promised I will Perform and Keep So help me God Then the King and Queen kissed the Book In Scotland the same Course was taken for Settling the Government there by a Convention which met at Edenburg upon the 14th of March according to the Direction of the Prince of Orange now King and the Advice of several Lords and Gentlemen of Stotland then at London Which Convention voted also King James by his Misgovernment to have forfeited the Right to the Crown and the Throne to be Vacant For the filling up whereof they conferred the Crown upon WILLIAM and MARY King and Queen of England c. and fetled the Succession in the same manner as our Convention had done with a new Oath of Allegiance to Their Majesties Accordingly on the 11th of April 1689. being their Coronation-day at Westminster Their Majesties were proclaimed at Edenburg King and Queen of Scotland The 1â—th of May next ensuing being the Day appointed for the publick Reception of the Commissioners sent up by the Estates of Scotland viz. the Earl of Argyle Sir James Montgomery and Sir John Dalrymple to Offer the Crown of that Kingdom to their Majesties and tender unto Them the Scottish Coronation Oath they accordingly met at the Council Chamber at Three a Clock in the Afternoon and were from thence conducted by Sir Charles Cotterel Master of the Ceremonies to the Banqueting-House being attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom then residing here The King and Queen went thither attended by many Persons of Quality the Sword being carried before them by the Lord Cardrosse And Their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a rich Canopy the Commissioners first presented a Letter from the Estates to the King then the Instrument of Government after that a Paper containing the Grievances to be Redressed and lastly an Address to his Majesty for turning the Meeting of the said Estates into a Parliament All which being Signed by his Grace the Duke of Hamilton as President of the Meeting and Read to Their Majesties the King returned to the Commissioners the following Answer When I Ingaged in this Vndertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did omit a Declaration in relation to That as well as to This Kingdom which I intend to make good and effectual to them I take it very kindly that Scotland has expressed so much Confidence in and Affection to Me. They shall find Me willing to assist Them in every Thing that concerns the Weal and Interest of that Kingdom by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of their Religion Property and Liberty and to ease them of what may be justly Grievous to them This done the Coronation Oath was tendered to Their Majesties which the Earl of Argile spoke word by word distinctly and the King and Queen repeated it after him holding their right Hands up after the manner of taking Oaths in Scotland The Oath was thus We William and Mary King and Queen of Scotland faithfully Promise and Swear by this our solemn Oath in presence of the Eternal God That during the whole Course of our Life we will serve the same Eternal God to the uttermost of our Power according as he has requited in his most Holy Word revealed and contained in the New and Old Testament and according to the same Word shall Maintain the true Religion of Christ Jesus the Preaching of his Holy Word and the due and right Ministration of the Sacraments now Received and Preached within the Realm of Scotland and shall Abolish and Gainstand all false Religion contrary to the same and shall Rule the People committed to our Charge according to the Will und Command of God revealed in his aforesaid Word and according to the laudable Laws and Constitutions received in this Realm no ways repâ—gnant to the said Word of the Eternal God and shall procure to the utmost of our Power to the Kirk of God and whole Christian People true and perfect Peace in all time coming That we shall preserve and keep inviolated the Rights and Rents with all â—â—â—st Priviledges of the Crown of Scotland neither shall We Transfer nor Alienate the same That We shall forbid and repress in all Estates and Degrees Reis Oppression and alâ— kind of iâ—â—rong and We shall command and procure that Justice and Equity in all Judgments be keeped to all Persons without exception as the Lord and Father of Mercies shall be merciful to us That We shall be careful to Root out all Hereticks and Enemies to the true Worship of God that shall be Convilled by the true Kirk of God of the aforesaid Crimes out of Our Lands and Empire of Scotland And We saithfully Affirm the Things above-written by Our Solemn Oath But at the Repeating that Clause in thâ— Oath which relates to the Rooting out of Hereticks
you to defend the Laws Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to procure a Settlement in Church and State in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And so God Save the King In short the Genius of the whole Nation if you except the Papists and some false Protestants did run that Way and there was no stopping of so strong a Current Which his Highness the Prince of Orange was no sooner satisfied in but he marched from Exeter forward with his Army the Fort of Plimouth being already Surrendred to his Highness by the Earl of Bath At Exeter he only left a new raised Regiment to keep the City under the Command of Sir John Guyes then made Governour thereof The Army marching in three Lines and the Prince in the second Line his Highness marched out from Exoter Nov. 22. and came to Crook-horn on Saturday 24. Then the Gentlemen of the West came in apace and joined him almost at every Stage From Crook horn where he staid the 25th he came the next Day to Sherborn and lodged at the Castle where the Duke of Grafton and the Lord Churchill amongst others joyned him from the King's Army Whereupon the Lord Churchill who lay under particular Obligations to the King wrote a Letter to his Majesty in these following Terms SIR The Lord Churchills Letter to the King Since Men are seldom suspected of Sincerity when they act contrary to their Interests and though my dutiful Behaviour to Your Majesty in the worst of Times for which I acknowledge my poor Services much Over-paid may not be sufficient to Incline You to a charitable Interpretation of my Actions Yet I hope the great Advantage I injoy under Your Majesty which I can never expect in any other Change of Government may reasonably convince your Majesty and the World that I am acted by a higher Principle when I offer that Violence to my Inclination and Interest as to desert Your Majesty at a time when Your Affairs seem to challenge the strictest Obedience from all your Subjects much more from One who lyes under the greatest personal Obligations imaginable to Your Majesty This SIR could proceed from nothing but the Inviolable Dictates of my Conscience and a necessary Concern for my Religion which no good Man can oppose and with which I am instructed nothing ought to come in Competition Heaven knows with what partiality my dutiful Opinion of Your Majesty has hitherto represented those Vnhappy Designs which inconsiderate and self-interested Men have framed against your Majesties true Interest and the Protestant Religion But as I can no longer Joyn with such to give a pretence by Conquest to bring them to effect so will I always with the hazard of my Life and Fortune so much your Majesties Due indeavour to preserve Your Royal Person and Lawful Rights with all the tender concern and dutiful Respect that becomes SIR Your Majesties most Dutiful and most Obliged Subject and Servant CHURCHILL By this Desertion the King grew more and more sensible how little he was to depend upon an Army which daily mouldred away Not for want of natural Affection to his Majesty but only to bring him off from his evil Counsellors and into a necessity of Complying with the general Desire of the Nation to have all Things Rectified by a Free and Legal Parliament Before the King left Salisbury there hapned such a sudden Gust of Wind as hurried down the Crown which had stood many Years upon the top of a Spire of the Cathedral This was lookt upon as an ill Omen to the King And so was his Majesties violent Bleeding at the Nose that could not be stopt for a long time any manner of way The Vangards of both Armies being now near each other a Party of the Prince's appeared not far from Salisbury Upon which King James and his Army thinking the Prince's whole Force were coming upon them took the Alarm so that his Majesty in the midst of his Bleeding ordered his Coach forthwith to be made ready and drive away to Windsor Upon whose Departure his Forces in great haste and disorder marched some one way some another The King being come to Andover which was his first Stage homeward his Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark accompanied by his Grace the Duke of Ormond and the Lord Drumlangrig withdrew from his Majesty in the Night in order to joyn the Prince of Orange at Sherborn which they did the 29th From whence Prince George sent a most tender Letter to the King in these following Terms SIR Prince George his Letter to the King With a Heart full of Grief I am forced to write what Prudence would not permit me to say to your Face And way I ever find Credit with your Majesty and Protection from Heaven as what I now do it free from Passion Vanity or Design I am not ignorant of the frequent Mischiefs wrought in the World by factious Pretences of Religion but were not Religion the most Justifiable Cause it would not be made the most specious Pretence And Your Majesty has always shews too Vninterested a Sense of Religion to doubt the just Effects of it in One whose Practices have I hope never given the World cause to censure his real Conviction of it or his Backwardness to perform what his Honour and Conscience prompt him to I can therefore no longer disguise my just Concern for that Religion in which I have been so happily Educated which my Judgment throughly convinces me to be best and for the Support of which I am so highly interested both in my Native Country and in this your Kingdom Whilst the restless Spirits of the Enemies of the Reformed Religion backed by the cruel Zeal and the prevailing Power of France justly alarm and unite all the Protestant Princes of Christendom and ingage them in so vast an Expence for the Support of it can I act so degenerous and mean a part as to deny my Concurrence to such worthy Indeavours to disabuse Your Majesty by the Reinforcement of those Laws and Establishing of that Government on which alone depends the Well-being of your Majesty and of the Protestant Religion in Europe This SIR is that irresistible and only Cause that could come in Competition with my Duty and Obligations to your Majesty and be able to tear me from You whilst the same affectionate Desire of Serving you continues in me Could I secure your Person by the hazard of my Life I should think it could not be better imploy'd And would to God these your distracted Kingdoms might yet receive that satisfactory Compliance from your Majesty in all their Justifiable Pretensions as might upon the only sure Foundation that of the Love and Interest of your Subjects establish your Government and at strongly Vnite the Hearts of all your Subjects to You as is that of SIR Your Majesties most Humble and most Obedient Son and Servant This
was a strange Time for Flight For whilst the King fled from Salisbury and the Prince of Denmark from the King the Princess also took her Flight from the Cock-pit Her Royal Highness then big of the Duke of Glocester not being able to bear the King's Displeasure upon the Princes account or her own withdrew her self Nov. 26. early in the Morning and went with the Ladies Churchill and Berkley and the Lord Bishop of London to the North where the Forces were in Arms for the Prince of Orange Upon which her Royal Highness left a Letter for the Queen in these following Words MADAM The Princess of Denmark her Letter to the Queen I beg Your Pardon that I am so deeply affected with the surprizing News of the Prince's being gone as not to be able to see Your Majesty However I leave this Paper to express my humble Duty to the King and Your self and to let You know that I am gone to Absent my self to avoid the King's Displeasure which I am not able to bear either against the Prince or my Self intending to stay at so great a Distance as not to Return before I hear the happy News of a Reconcilen ent And as I am confident the Prince did not leave the King with any other Design than to use all possible Means for his Majesties Preservation so I hope You will do me the Justice to believe that I am uncapable of following him for any other End Never was any one in such an unhappy Condition so divided between Duty to a Father and Affection to a Husband that I know not what to do but to follow One to preserve the Other I see the general Falling off of the Nobility and Gentry who avow to have no other End than to prevail with the King to secure their Religion which they saw so much in danger by the violent Counsels of the Priests who to promote their own Religion cared not to what Dangers they exposed his Majesty I am fully persuaded that the Prince of Orange designs the King's Safety and Preservation and hop all Things may be composed without more Blood-shed by the Calling a Parliament God grant a happy End to these Troubles that the King's Reign may be prosperoâ—s and that I may shortly meet You in perfect Peace and Safety Till when let me beg of You the Continuance of that favourable Opinion you have hitherto had of Your Majesties most obedient Daughter and Servant ANNE The same Day the Princess went the King returned to Whitehall from Salisbury Who seeing how Things went first turned Sir Edward Hales out of his Government of the Tower who being a Papist had threatned to Bomb the City and made Colonel Bevile Skelton Lieutenant of the Tower who had been a Prisoner there but a few Days before Then his Majesty gave Order to the Lord Chancellour to Issue out Writs for summoning a Parliament to meet at Westminster the 15th day of January next Which was a great Step towards a Reconcilement if so be the King had really intended it But it proved a meer Amusement For his Heart did beat for Versailles and the Pretence of a Parliament was only to posses the People with an Opinion that he was resolved to be Reconciled with them at any Rate and in the mean time to Prepare himself under hand for a Retreat Nov. 30. He signed the Proclamation for the speedy Calling of a Parliament and ordered it with all speed to be Published Never was false Coin better plated than this Proclamation was worded to amuse the People These are the VVords JAMES R. We have thought fit as the best and most proper Means to Establish a lasting Peace to this Our Kingdom to Call a Parliament The King's Proclamation for the speedy Calling of a Parliament and have therefore Ordered our Chancellour to cause Writs to be Issued forth for Summoning a Parliament to Meet at Westminster upon the 15th day of January next ensuing the Date of this Our Royal Proclamation And that nothing may be wanting on Our part towards the Freedom of Elections as We have already Restored all Cities Towns Corporate and Boroughs throughout Our Kingdom to their ancient Charters Rights and Priviledges so we Require and Command all Persons whatsoever that they presume not by Menace or any other undue Means to Influence Elections or Procure the Vote of any Flector And We do also strictly Require and Command all Sheriffs Mavors Bailiffs and other Officers to whom the Execution or Return of any Writ Summons Warrant or Precept for Members to the insuing Parliament shall belong that they cause such Writ Summons Warrant and Precept to be duly Published and Executed and Returns thereupon to be fairly made according to the true Merits of such Elections And for the Security of all Persons both in their Election and Service in Parliament We do hereby Publish and Declare That all Our Subjects shall have free Liberty to Elect and all Our Peers and such as shall be Elected Members of Our House of Commons shall have full Liberty and Freedom to Serve in Parliament Notwithstanding they have taken up Arms or committed any Act of Hostility or been any way Aiding or Assisting therein And for the better Assurance hereof We have Graciously directed a General Pardon to all Our Subjects to be forthwith prepared to pass Our Great Seal And for the Reconciling all Publick Breaches and Obliterating the very Memory of all past Miscarriages We do hereby Exhort and Kindly Admonish all Our Subjects to dispose themselves to Elect such Persons for their Representatives in Parliament as may not be Biassed by Prejudice or Passion but Qualified with Parts Experience and Prudence proper for this Conjuncture and agreeable to the Ends and Purposes of this Our Gracious Proclamation His Highness the Prince of Orange having staid some Days at Sherborn moved towards Salisbury by the VVay of Mere. At his Entrance into Salisbury which was in great State he was met by the Mayor and Aldermen in all their Formalities the Bells ringing the People shouting and the whole City in a Transport of Joy at the sight of their Deliverer His Highness rode into the City with the Prince of Denmark at his right hand and the Duke of Ormond on his left and took up his Quarters at the Bishop's Palace Here his Highness made a Halt for some Days VVhich the Princess of Denmark having notice of she came to Oxford attended by a select Troop of Country Gentlemen well Armed where Prince George went to meet her Royal Highness All the way the Army marched Care was taken to disperse the Prince's Declaration and where they hapned to Quarter upon Sundays there it was read in the Churches By this time the King's Army was much broken most of the Protestant Officers and Souldiers come away and Joyned his Highnesses Forces So that there was no Prospect of a Field-Battel After some Stay here the Prince came away and marched to Amsbury from