become as subject to him notwithstanding his Infallibility as the Mufty is to the Grand Signior who never makes any Scruple to depose or bow-string the Infallible Gentleman whenever he crosseth his Designs and to set up another in his stead whose Infallibility will be more complaisant The Emperor of Germany is as religious and as zealous a Prince for the Roman Catholick Religion as ever sprung out of that Family But he has no mind after all to lose his Life his Empire and his Liberty he had rather there should be some Hereticks in Germany than to suffer the French King to send his Apostolick Dragoons to convert them and drive him into Exile The King of Spain values the poor dispeopl'd share he has yet left him in Europe too well to put it into the Hands of the French in order to the reducing the Northern Hereticks to the See of Rome No wonder then that these Princes should all unite with his now Majesty of England against a Prince of their own Religion when they saw he had embraced a design which would certainly end in his and all their Ruins and which would raise France to such an height of Power as could never be retrieved This was very near the state of Affairs at home and abroad when Monsieur the Comte d' Avaux the French King's Ambassador at the Hague the 9th of September last published this Memorial which first opened the Eyes of our small States-men here in England My Lords THe sincere desire the King my Master has to maintain the Tranquility of Europe will not suffer his Majesty to see the great Preparations for War both by Sea and Land made by your Lordships without taking the measures that Prudence the continual Companion of all his Actions inspires him with to prevent the Mischiefs these War-like Preparations will certainly draw after them And altho' the King perswaded of the Wisdom of your Councils would not imagine that a Free state should so easily resolve to take up Arms and to kindle a War which in the present Juncture cannot but be fatal to all Christendom Nevertheless his Majesty cannot believe your Lordships would engage your selves in so great Expences both at home and abroad to entertain in pay so many Foreign Troops to put to Sea so numerous a Fleet so late in the year and to prepare so great Magazines if you had not a design form'd answerble to the greatness of these Preparations All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore his Majesty hath commanded me to declare to you on his part That the Bands of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him not only to assist him but also to look on the first act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops or your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown I leave to your Lordships Prudence to reflect on the Consequences that such Enterprises may have his Majesty not having ordered me to make you this Declaration on his Part without his sincere Intention to prevent as I have already had the Honour to tell you all that may trouble the Peace of Europe Given at the Hague the 9th of September 1688. month September In England all things were then in the utmost degree of Disorder and Security the Army committing the utmost degree of Insolence in all places where they were quartered and the People making frequent and loud Complaints Whereupon his late Majesty issued out again an old Order which had been frequently and to no good purpose published before commanding that no Souldier should be lodged in any private House without the free and voluntary Consent of the Owner and that all Houses should be deem'd private Houses except Victualling-Houses and Houses of publick Entertainment or such as have License to sell Wine or any other Liquor c. Under this pretence they brought in all Bakers Cooks c. This Order bears date the 2d of September at Windsor Tho' the English Army were become thus intolerable to the Nation and there was so great a Storm gathering in Holland yet so stupid were our Drivers that nothing would serve our then Masters but the filling the Army with Irish men who were likely to be more disorderly and more hated to that end Major Slingsby Lieutenant Governour of Portsmouth under his Grace the Duke of Berwick had ordered the Regiment there quartered to take in about thirty Irish Gentlemen which was opposed by John Beaumont Lieutenant Coll. Thomas Pastor Simon Parke Thomas Orme William Cook and John Port Officers and Commanders in that Regiment which they had rais'd at their own Costs and Charges during the Monmouth Invasion The first of these made this Speech by their appointment and in all their names to the Duke of Berwick Sir I am desired by these Gentlemen with whose Sense I concur to inform your Grace that we do not think it consistent with our Honours to have Foreigners imposed upon us without being complain'd of that our Companies were weak or Orders to recruit them not doubting but if such Orders had been given us We that first in very ill times raised them Hundreds could easily now have made them according to the Kings Complement We humbly Petition we may have leave to fill up our Companies with such men of our Nation we may judge most suitable for the Kings Service and to support our Honours or that we may be permitted with all imaganable Duty and Respect to lay down our Commissions The Account of this Opposition being forthwith sent to Windsor where the Court then was the Rage and Fury against these rebellious heretical Officers was unspeakable and in truth nothing could be more contrary to their Designs which was by degrees to fill up the English Army with Irish and Roman Catholicks because they found it was not possible to do it at once as they had done in Ireland And now nothing would serve them but the hanging the six honest Gentlmen by Martial Law and accordingly a Party of Horse were ordered to go down to Portsmouth to bring them up in custody and a Court Martial was ordered to proceed against them and if the Memorial of the French Ambassador had not â—ome in that very Morning to shew them their danger â—n all probability they had been so treated but upon this the â—0th of September they were only casheer'd after they had on the Road been treated with great Severity and Indignity However this was one of those things which contributed very much to what followed The 20th of September the King being then returned with the Court to Whitehall published this Declaration HAving already signified Our pleasure to call a Parliament to meet at Our City of Westminster in November next and Writs of Summon being issued accordingly lest
others and I was often foolishly willing to beast what my Master would have done tho I used all possible Endeavours against it I lie under many other Misfortunes and Afflictions extreme heavy but I hope they have brought me to reflect on the occasion of them the loose negligent unthinking life I have hitherto led having been perpetually hurried away from all good Thoughts by Pleasure Idleness the Vanity of the Court or by Business I hope I say that I shall overcome all the disorders my former life had brought upon me and that I shall spend the remaining part of it in begging of Almighty God that he will please either to put an end to my sufferings or to give me strength to bear them one of which he will certainly grant to such as rely on him which I hope I do with the Submission that becomes a good Christian I would enlarge on this Subject but that I fear you might think something else to be the reason of it besides a true sense of my Faults and that obliges me to restrain my self at present I believe you will repent in having engaged me to give you this account but I cannot the doing of what you desire of me The 29th an Account was given that the Dutch Fleet consisting of 52 Men of War with a very numerous Attendance of Victuallers and other Ships and Vessels for the Transportation of the Land Forces sailed the Friday before which was the 19th from the Flats near the Briel with the Wind at S. W. and by S. and the Prince of Orange embarkt on a Frigat of 28 or 30 Guns and with him the Count of Nassau General of the Horse the Count de Solmes Colonel of his Foot-Guards the Count de Stirum the Sieur Benting and the Sieur Cuerkerker and the Marshal de Schomberg went on board such another Frigat And the 20th most of the Fleet was seen in the Morning from Schevelingue when the Wind coming more Westerly and the next Night proving very stormy it obliged them to come in again having suffered considerable damage 400 Horses being thrown over-board and several dead men and one of their Men of War was stranded and another disabled There was very little of this Story true but it was a Report set on foot to deceive the Court here and it had the effect which was expected and the Priests began to boast very much of the assistance they expected from the Virgin Mary and the rest of the Saints who had been powerfully sollicited to confound this Heretical Fleet. The first of November we were again told from the Hague that the damage the Dutch Fleet had sustain'd by the late Storms was greater than was at first reported That there were 1500 Horses dead or unserviceable That the Prince of Orange had lost most of his own Horses and the Marshal de Schomberg the best of his That his Son Count Charles Schomberg was in great danger the Ship he was in having spent her main Mast That a Captain of Horse in the Sieur Bentin'gs Regiment was missing with his whole Troop and two Captains of Foot-Guards were likewise missing with their Companies That to supply these losses a great many fresh Horses were ordered to be sent to the Fleet and that it was said the Regiment of the Baron de Frizes should be imbarkt That in the mean time the Prince of Orange continued at Helvoetsluys intending to sail again so soon as the Fleet was in a condition and the Weather would permit Thus was our Court at that time imposed upon for want of good intelligence About this time a parcel of the Prince of Orange's Declarations were intercepted in London upon reading that expression in it That the Prince was most earnestly invited hither by divers of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and by many Gentlemen and others The King sent for some of the Bishops again and required of them a Paper under their hands in abhorrence of the Prince of Orange's intended Invasion by such a day the following Declaration was then in the Press and this Abhorrence was designed to be tacked to it but the Bishops of Canterbury London Peterborough and Rochester on whom only this Storm fell refused to do it as contrary to their priviledge of Peerage and their Profession in promoting a War against a Prince so near ally'd to the Crown and they earnestly desired this might be left to a Free-Parliament His Majesty hereupon was very much incensed against them and parted from them with Indignation And thereupon the Jesuited Party at Court were so violently enraged that as we are credibly informed saith the Bishop of Rochester one of the chief advised in a heat they should all be imprisoned and the Truth extorted from them by violence By which it appears no Solicitation could force the King to yield to the sitting of a Parliament whatever hazard he ran month Novemb. The 2d day of November there was published another Proclamation for the suppressing of the Prince of Orange's Declaration WHereas the Prince of Orange and his Adherents who design forthwith to invade Our Kingdoms in order thereunto have contrived and framed several treasonable Papers and Declarations hoping thereby to seduce Our People and if it were possible to corrupt our Army a very great number whereof being printed several persons are sent and imployed to disperse the same throughout Our Kingdoms And altho' all persons as well in criminal as in other cases are bound to take notice of the Laws at their peril yet to the intent that none may think to escape due punishment or to excuse themselves when they shall be detected by pretending Ignorance of the nature of their Crime We are graciously pleased by this Our Royal Proclamation published by the Advice of our Privy-Council to forewarn and admonish all Our Subjects of what degree or quality soever that they do not publish or disperse repeat or hand about the said treasonable Papers or Declarations or any of them or any other Paper or Papers of such like nature without discovering and revealing the same as speedily as may be to some of Our Privy-Council or some of Our Judges Justices of the Peace or publick Magistrates upon peril of being prosecuted according to the utmost severity of the Law. This Proclamation had the same effect with all the rest of their Counsels for men suspected thereupon that there was much more in the Declarations and Papers than they afterwards found and accordingly became more desirous by far to see it and the Spanish Ambassador here in London gave them as I have been credibly informed to whosoever desired them For about almost three Weeks together the Wind stood perpetually West during all which time the common question was every Morning Where is the Wind to day And a Seaman was observed to curse the Dragon in Cheapside for turning his Head where his Tail should be But in the latter end of October the Wind came East to
and Passion to create suitable Thoughts in the Hearts of those who had less Interest in the Defeat of the Prince's Army than the R. C's had The Birth of the Prince of Wales being thus worded made Men smile and they could presently recollect the Force and Value of the Deposers Evidence which had now been some time published but then nothing disgusted the Generality of Men more than to see the King continue so averse to the holding a Parliament till the Prince was expell'd out of the Nation the Consequence of which was notorious To what end said they should we fight when the Prince of Orange offereth at first to submit to a Free Parliament What shall we drive him out that we may never have one that shall sit to do us good Are the Jesuits such Reverers of Promises as to regard them when they can chuse No let us have a Parliament while the Prince is here to see us have Right or fight who will for me The same 5th day of November an Account was sent from Brixham That about 300 of the Dutch Fleet were come into Torbay several of which came directly to Brixham Key and Landed some Soldiers and the rest were sending them on Shore in Boats about 5 or 600 being then Landed and it was then said the Prince of Orange was come on Shore This Fleet consisted of 51 Men of War 18 Fire ships and 330 Tenders for the carriage of Men Horses Arms and Ammunition At his first Attempt he lost 400 Horse in a Storm and a Vessel was separated with 400 Foot which after came back to the Texel Hereupon order was given to the Harlem and Amsterdam Gazetteers to make a dreadful Representation of this Loss which had its effect upon our credulous Court. The Fleet was soon got in order again and sailed the first of November There lay then an English Fleet in the Buoy and Nore consisting of 34 Sail of Men of War and there were three in the Downs but the Wind was at E. N. E. and so they could not get out and they had no mind besides to do it At his Landing the People in great numbers from the Shore welcom'd his Highness with loud Acclamations of Joy. The first that Landed were six Regiments of English and Scoth under Mackay who met with no opposition but a hearty Welcome with all manner of Refreshments Thus the 5th 6th and 7th of November were employed in Landing the Army the Country-men bringing them in Provisions in great plenty The 6th of November an Account was sent from Exeter That the Prince of Orange was marching towards that City and they being in no Condition to oppose him the Bishop of that Diocess thought fit to leave the Town and to go to London which so pleased the King that he ordered him to be Translated to the See of York which was then vacant the 16th of November November the 7th the King published this Account of the Forces brought over by the Prince of Orange Horse The Life Guard. Regiment of Guards commanded by Benting Waldeck's Regiment Nassaw Mompellian Ginckel Count Vander Lip. The Princes Dragoons Marrewis Dragoons Sgravemoer Sapbroeck Floddorp Seyde Suylestein In all Troopers 1683 Life Guard 197 Benting's 480 Princes Dragoons 860 Marrewis 440 Â 3660 Foot. Companies Foot-Guard under Count Solmes 2000 25 Mackay 12 Balfort 12 Talmash 12 Bellises 12 Washops 12 Ossories 10 Berkevelt 10 Holstein 10 Wirtemberg 12 Hagendorn 10 Fagel 10 Nassaw 10 Carelson 12 Brander 10 Prince of Berkevelt 10 In all 164 Companies at 53 in a Company 8692 Guards 2000 Â 10692 Horse 3660 Foot 10692 Â 14352 List of the Fleet. Men of War 65 Fly-boats 500 Pinks 60 Fire-ships 10 In all 635 However Men were not easily then induced to believe that this was above one half of the Number brought over they concluding from the Number of Ships and the Companies taken in the Fly-boat by the Swallow-Frigat that the Army must be at least double to this Number though afterwards it appeared to be very near a true Account November the 8th the Prince went from Chudleigh towards Exeter where he arrived about One of the Clock and made a very splendid Entry with his Army the People much rejoycing at it and looking upon him as their Deliverer from Popery and Slavery That Night the Prince lodged at the Deanry the Dean as well as the Bishop having left the Town The 9th Dr. Burnet was sent to order the Priest and Vicars of the Cathedral not to pray for the Pretended Prince of Wales which they would not comply with till they were severely threatned The same day the Prince went to the Cathedral and was present at the singing Te Deum after which his Declaration was publickly read to the People The same day the late King published this Order FOr the more punctual and regular Payment of Quarters in the March of Our Forces We do hereby strictly charge and require That upon the Arrival of any Regiment Troop or Company in any Town or Village Publication be immediately made by Beat of Drum or otherwise and Notice given to the Chief Magistrate or Civil Officer of Our Pleasure That all Officers and Private Soldiers shall duely pay their Quarters and that such Chief Magistrate or Civil Officer do the next Morning come to the Place where such Regiment Troop or Company is drawn up before their March and make their Complaint to the Commander in Chief of any Wrong done or Quarters left unpaid Whereupon Our express Will and Pleasure is That such Commander in Chief shall cause Satisfaction to be made to the Party injured and the Debt to be paid And if any Commander in Chief shall fail therein We do hereby declare Our Resolution upon Complaint to punish such Commander in Chief by Cashiering or otherwise and to cause such Injury to be redressed and the Debt to be duely satisfied without delay The Soldiery had lived with very little Discipline in the Times of Peace and now the War was opening became more Insolent So that the ill observing this Order was one of those things which tended as much as any thing to the Ruine of that Army they being reduced to a great Want of all Necessaries by the People who feared their Payment and hated both them and the Cause they were embarked in About the same time there was published a very advantagious Character of the Prince of Orange which was greedily read and industriously spread under-hand The Prince continued three days at Exeter before any of the Gentry or Nobility appeared for him which caused a great Wonder in his Army and was published here the 18th we being told that some of the Rabble listed themselves for him and had Arms given them but the Mayor and Clergy of the City stood their Ground The 11th of November the King published an Account That the Enemy seised all the King's Money was found in the West and that they had taken 300 l. from the
Fulness of Our Present Deliverance astonished we think it Miraculous Your Highness led by the Hand of Heaven and call'd by the Voice of the People has preserved our dearest Interests The Protestant Religion which is Primitive Christianity Restored Our Laws which are our Ancient Title to our Lives Liberties and Estates and without which this World were a Wilderness But what Retribution can we make to Your Highness Our Thoughts are full charged with Gratitude Your Highness has a lasting Monument in the Hearts in the Prayers in the Praises of all good men amongst us And Late Posterity will Celebrate Your ever Glorious Name till time shall be no more The first care of his Highness was the English Army for which he made this Order Whereas upon the late Irregular Disbanding of the Forces divers Souldiers carried away the Arms belonging to their respective Regiments and have since lost or imbezilled the same We do hereby direct and require all Persons to whose hands the said Arms or any of them are come or with whom they now remain forthwith to deliver them to the said Souldiers or their Officers upon Demand and in default thereof forthwith to bring them to the Officers of the Ordnance now attending at Uxbridge Hounslow or the Tower of London in order to the returning the said Arms into the Stores of the Ordnance Given at St. James's the 21 of December 1688. His next care was the appointing Quarters for the several English Scots and Irish Regiments and the ordering them accordingly to repair to the places therein named The same Day was also a great Council of the Nobility about Sixty of the Peers then Meeting at St. James's who all except two Subscribed a Paper in the nature of an Association After which His Highness thus expressed himself My Lords I Have desired you to meet here to advise the best manner how to pursue the Ends of My Declaration in Calling a Free Parliament for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and restoring the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and settling the same that they may not be in danger of being again Subverted Upon which it was resolved That the said Proposals should be further Debated the next Day in the House of Peers at Westminster And Sir John Maynard Mr. Holt Mr. Polexfen Mr. Bradford and Mr. Atkinson five Counsellors at Law were odered to attend them for their Advice The 22. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster in the House of Lords and appointed Francis Gwin Esq to Sign such Orders as should be from time to time by them made which was thus signed by Tho. Ebor. Northfolk Somerset Grafton Ormond Beauford Northumberland Hallifax Oxford Kent Bedford Pembrooke Dorset Devonshire Bullingbrook Manchester Rivers Stamford Thanet Scarsdale Clarendon Burlington Sussex Maclesfield Radnor Berkeley Nottingham Rochester Fauconberg Mordant Newport Weymouth Hatton W. Asaph F. Ely. La Ware. R. Eure. P. Wharton Paget North and Grey Chandos Montague Grey Maynard T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery T. Culpeper Lucas Delamer Crew Lumley Carteret Osulston These Peers thus Assembled the 25th day of December Signed and Presented to His Highness this Address WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled in this Conjuncture do desire Your Highness to take upon You the Administration of Publick Affairs both Civil and Military and the Disposal of the Publick Revenue for the Preservation of our Religion Rights Laws Liberties and Properties and of the Peace of the Nation And that Your Highness will take into Your particular Care the present Condition of Ireland and endeavour by the most speedy and effectual means to prevent the Dangers Threatning that Kingdom All which we make our Requests to Your Highness to undertake and exercise till the meeting of the intended Convention the 22d Day of January next in which we doubt not such proper Methods will be taken as will conduce to the Establishment of these things upon such sure and legal Foundations that they may not be in Danger of being again Subverted Dated at the House of Lords Westminster the 25th of December 1688. WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Assembled at Westminster in this Extraordinary Conjuncture do Humbly desire Your Highness to Cause Letters to be Written Subscribed by Your Self to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and to the several Counties Universities Cities and Burroughs Cinque Ports of England Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed The Letters for the Counties to be directed to the Coroners of the Respective Counties or any one of them and in default of the Coroners to the Clerk of the Peace of the Respective Counties And the Letters for the Universities to be directed to the respective Vice Chancellors and the Letters to the several Cities Burroughs and Cinque Ports to be directed to the Chief Magistrates of each Respective City Burrough and Cinque Port containing Directions for the choosing in all such Counties Cities Buroughs and Cinque Ports within ten days after the receipt of the said Respective Letters such a Number of Persons to represent them as are of Right to be sent to Parliament of which Elections and the times and places thereof the Respective Officers shall give notice within the space of five days at the least Notice of the intended Elections for the Counties to be Published in the Churches immediately after the time of Divine Service and in all Market Towns within the Respective Counties and Notice of the intended Elections for the Cities Universities Burroughs and Cinque Ports to be Published within the Respective Places The said Letters and the Execution hereof to be returned by such Officer or Officers who shall Execute the same to the Clerk of the Crown in the Court of Chancery so as the Persons so to be chosen may meet and sit at Westminster on the 22d day of January next Dated at the House of Lords Westminster December the 25th 1688. Both which were Signed by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then Assembled and presented to His Highness the Prince of Orange the same day at St. James's The 28th of December the Prince of Orange returned this Answer to the Peers then Assembled at St. James's My Lords I Have considered of your Advice and as far as I am able I will endeavour to Secure the Peace of the Nation until the Meeting of the Convention in January next for the Election whereof I will forthwith Issue out Letters according to your desire I will also take care to apply the Publick Revenue to the most proper uses that the present Affairs require and likewise endeavour to put Ireland into such a condition as that the Protestant Religion may be maintained in that Kingdom And I assure you that as I came hither for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms so I shall always be ready to expose my self to any Hazard for the Defence of the same The 26th The Knights Citizens and Burgesses who had served in
any of the Parliaments in the time of His late Majesty Charles II. As also the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Fifty of the Common Council of the City of Lrndon being desired by His Highness to attend Him this day One hundred and Sixty Members and the rest came call but the Mayor who was sick to St. James's and were by Him acquainted with the State of things and desired to repair to the Commons House at Westminster where they chose Mr. Powle for their Speaker then sending to know what the Peers had done the Addresses as above recited were delivered to them with which they concurred And the 27th they also presented them to the Prince to whom He gave the same Answer he had given to the Lords the 28th in the Afternoon The 30th His Highness put out the usual Proclamation for the continuance of the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers and Ministers not being Papists to act in their Respective places till the Meeting of the Convention or other Order to the contrary Excepting also all such Offices or Places where since His Arrival in this Kingdom he had already or should hereafter otherwise provide month January The 2d of January He put out a Declaration for the better Collecting the Publick Revenue which I need not transcribe The 5th of January His Highness put out this following Order FOR the better Preventing Disorders that may happen in any Burrough Corporation or other place of Election of Members for the intended Convention by any Souldiers Quartered in those places And that such Elections may be carried on with the greater Freedom and without any colour of Force or Restraint We do hereby strictly charge and require all Collonels and Officers in chief with any Regiment Troop or Company to cause such Reigments Troops or Companies to march out of the Qaurters where such Election shall be made the several Garrisons only Excepted the day before the same be made to the next Adjoyning Town or Towns being not appointed for any Election and not to return to their first Quarters until the said Respective Elections be made and fully compleated wherein they are not to fail as they will answer the contrary at their peril The Scotch Nobility and Gentry in or about London were also by His Highness's Order Summoned to St. James's where they met the 7th of January at Three in the Afternoon to whom the Prince made this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen THE only reason that induced me to undergo so great an Undertaking was That I saw the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms overturned and the Protestant Religion in eminent Danger And seeing you are here so many Noblemen and Gentlemen I have called you together that I may have your Advice what is to be done for the securing the Protestant Religon and Restoring Your Laws and Liberties according to my Declaration Then they withdrew to the Council Chamber at Whitehall and chose the Duke of Hamilton their President And after some Debates Agreed the heads of a Paper which they ordered to be drawn The 8th they met again and the Paper was Read and Approved and ordered to be Ingrossed The Earl of Arran proposed in this second Meeting That it was his Advice that the Prince of Orange should be moved to desire the King to return and call a Free Parliament for the securing our Religion and Property according to the known Laws of the Kingdom which said he in my humble opinion is the best way to heal all our Breaches which was Disgusted by all and seconded by none of them The 9th They met again and Signed the Paper which was in these Words WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at Your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give Your Highness our humble and hearty thanks for Your Pious and Generous Undertaking for preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom In Order to the attaining of these Ends Our humble Advice and Desire is That Your Highness take upon You the Administration of All Affairs both Civil and Military The disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing of every thing that is necessary for the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a General Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire Your Highness to call to be holden at Edinburgh the 14th day of March next by Your Letter or Proclamation to be Published at the Market Crosses of Edinburgh and other Head Burroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient intimation to all concerned according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these Your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriff or Stewart-Clerks for the Free-Holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town Clerks of the several Burroughs for the Meeting of the whole Burgesses of the Respective Royal Buroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edinburgh and the Respective Clerks to make intimation thereof at the least ten days before the Meetings for Election And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edinburgh qualified as above expressed be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever To deliberate and resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to Your Highness's Declaration Dated the 10th day of January 1689. at the Council Chamber at White-Hall It was Signed by about Thirty Lords and Eighty Gentlemen and was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President The 14th His Highness met the Scotch Lords and Gentlemen in the same place again and spake to them as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen IN pursuance of Your Advice I will until the Meeting of the Estates in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the calling of the said Meeting for the preservation of the Peace the applying of the Publick Revenue to the most pressing uses and puting the Fortresses in the hands of Persons in whom the Nation can have a just confidence And I do further assure you that you will always find me ready to concur with you in every thing that may be found necessary for securing the Protestant Religion and restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earls of Crawford and Louthain being present in this last Meeting but coming up to London after the former desired they might Sign the said Address and they accordingly did so The 8th day January His Highness put out a Declaration against quartering Soldiers on private Houses And that all Houses should be deemed Private Houses except Victualling Houses and Houses of Publick Entertainment or such as sell Wine or any other Liquor by Retail In all which Houses We do think
and of his intention to Govern. Had it been parely Voluntary I would have allowed the Consequence but when he did and said all that he could to have got out of the hands of the Feversham men without Discovering himself and was at last brought up as Prisoner and discovered by those who knew him after he was Landed for him after all this to return to White-Hall is no Argument of his intention to stay and Govern us But admit it were What proof did he give that he would change his Measures Was not White-Hall crowded with Irish and English Roman Catholicks as before Was there any one step towards the Satisfying of his Protestant Subjects of his better Intentions towards them The only Order of Council he made after his return was apparently in favour of the Papists so that by that we may guess what would have followed The rest of the Paragraph is either mistimed mistaken or nothing to the purpose for I will grant him his Late Majesty had some cause as well as free leave to withdraw the second time So that after all I Conclude just contrary to my Author the first withdrawing was causeless and therefore Voluntary and therefore in his own Notion an Abdication From the VIIIth Section to the XXth Section is spent in a Controversie with the Author of the Present State of Affairs about the Abdication or Deposing of Richard II. and Edward II. and as I am no Friend to the Deposing Doctrine in General nor have any good Opinion of those Actions in particular nor those Books by me now which are absolutely necessary to the Discussing those Questions I shall leave the aforesaid Author to make his own defence if he please and go to his 20th Section where he proposeth this Question If its Demanded Why his Majesty did not leave Seals and Commissioners to supply his Absence It was Impracticable at this Juncture Now if this Answer is true then it follows that it was impossible his late Majesty should reign any longer for if he would not Govern us himself and either would not or could not find any other person or persons to supply his place and this was brought upon him by his own Act then was his Government and right at an end Government supposeth a Governour and Persons Governed if one of them fail the other fails too and the blame falls on the party that gives the cause Nor was it possible for us to continue in a state of Anarchy however it was brought upon us but after he was gone it was absolutely necessary that we should set up another in his place or run into Confusion and a state of War. And when we had once taken this care for our selves considering how ill we had been used it was very probable we should not be very willing to return again under his power and therefore his late Majesty ought to have continued his Post what Difficulties soever he had struggled with even to the hazard of his Life and Liberty or if he abandon'd his people to have expected that they would take care to provide for themselves as they did which was to put his Antagonist in the actual Possession of the Government for we could then much less than he find any other person or persons to set up But let us hear his Reasons When the Nation was so much embroiled and the Kings 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 Now this must be understood of his first withdrawing tho' he confounds it with the second for then I will grant it was not only difficult but Impossible But when he went first from White-Hall doubtless this was well considered and it would put an end to all our disputes if we knew the true Reasons which were then alledged for his going The three Lords which were sent to treat with the Prince are said to have returned his Answer the Evening before the King went away by an Express but it is Notorious he resolved to go before the Queen went and the next Paris Gazett told us he was expected every Tide in France so that it was no secret there so that what so ever Answer the Prince made he was resolved to be gone Yet he had promised the Nation and the Prince there should be a Free Parliament Now if the Nation was already so Imbroiled and the Kings Interest at so low an Ebb his going away must needs reduce his Kingdoms and Affairs into a much worse Estate The result of all which is that having well considered all things he at last resolved rather than suffer a Parliament to meet and determine the differences between him and his People and the Prince of Orange He would abandon his People when no body durst undertake to supply his place by reason of the Difficulties and this is a real and true Abdication For I will suppose after all that it was absolutely necessary that a Parliament should meet and that we must have been absolutely ruined one way or other if one had not met for if James the II. could have resetled himself without one then It is past all Controversie he would after that never have suffered one to meet and act freely who would abandon his Kingdom rather than suffer a Parliament in this Extremity when he had no other way to save himself And after he was gone nothing but a Meeting of the three Estates could have sufficient Authority to Re-Establish our shattered Government and settle the Nation But saith my Author Granting such a representation had been engaged in The Commissions must either have extended to the caling of a Parliament or not if not they would neither have been satisfactory nor absolutely necessary nor satisfactory for the want of a Parliament was that which was accounted the great Greivance of the Nation as appears from the Prince of Orang's Declaration where he says expressly That his expedition is intended for no other design but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled as soon as was posible Now here our Gentleman leaves us in the Dark without telling us what he thought but § 25. He reassumes it and shews that if the Commissioners were limited the greatest part of the Grievances might have been counted unredress'd if unlimited it would be in their Power to do a great many things prejudicial to the Crown And his Majesty having been lately mistaken in some of whose fidelity he had had so great an assurance he has small encouragement to be over confiding for the future That is it is fit he should trust no body so far Now I think I have sufficiently proved that we were in such circumstances that if we had not had a Parliament we had been certainly ruin'd And therefore any Deputation without a Commission to hold a Parliament would have signified nothing and a Commission that had not extended to all those
no such Court as that Commission sets up may be erected for the future III. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased That no Dispensation may be granted or continued by Virtue whereof any person not duly qualified by Law hath been or may be put into any Place Office or Preferment in Church or State or in the Universities or continued in the same especially such as have Cure of Souls annexed to them and in particular that you will be graciously pleased to restore the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxford IV. That your Majesty will graciously be pleased to set aside all Licenses or Faculties already granted by which any persons of the Romish Communion may pretend to be enabled to teach Publick Schools and that no such be granted for the future V. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to desist from the Exercise of such a Dispensing Power as hath of late been used and to permit that Point to be freely and calmly debated and argued and finally setled in Parliament VI. That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to inhibit the four Foreign Bishops who stile themselves Vicars Apostolical from further invading the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is by Law vested in the Bishops of this Church VII That your Majesty will be pleased graciously to fill the vacant Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Promotions within your Gift both in England and Ireland with men of Learning and Piety and in particular which I must own to be my peculiar boldness for 't is done without the privity of my Brethren That you will be graciously pleased forthwith to fill the Archiepiscopal Chair of York which hath so long stood empty and upon which a whole Province depends with some very worthy Person For which pardon me Sir if I am bold to say you have now here before you a very fair Choice VIII That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to supersede all further Prosecution of Quo Warranto's against Corporations and to restore to them their ancient Charters Priviledges and Franchises as we hear God hath put into your Majesties Heart to do for the City of London which we intended to have made otherwise one of our principal Requests IX That if it so please your Majesty Writs may be issued out with convenient speed for the calling of a free and regular Parliament in which the Church of England may be secured according to the Acts of Uniformity Provision may be made for a due Liberty of Conscience and for securing the Liberties and Properties of all your Subjects and a mutual Confidence and good Understanding may be established between your Majesty and all your People X. Above all That your Majesty will be graciously pleased to permit your Bishops to offer you such Motives and Arguments as we trust may by God's Grace be effectual to perswade your Majecty to return to the Communion of the Church of England into whose most holy Catholick Faith you were baptized and in which you were educated and to which it is our daily earnest Prayer to God that you may be re-united These Sir are the humble Advices which out of Conscience of the Duty we owe to God to your Majesty and to our Country we think fit at this time to offer to your Majesty as suitable to the present State of your Affairs and most conducing to your Service and so to leave them to your Princely Consideration And we heartily beseech Almighty God in whose hand the Hearts of all Kings are so to dispose and govern yours that in all your Thoughts Words and Works you may ever seek his Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to your Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness to your own both temporal and eternal Happiness Amen We do heartily concur H. London P. Winchester W. Asaph W. Cant. Fran. Ely. Jo. Cicestr Tho. Roffen Tho. Bath Wells Tho. Petriburg We may guess at the Rages the Priests were in at these Advices by the resentment they expressed afterwards against these innocent and good Proposals when their Affairs were in a much worse state than now they were The Bishop of Rochester observes that they were drawn at Lambeth on Mâ—nday the first of October and presented the third and the Prince of Orange's Declaration was signed in Holland the tenth New Stile which was the first of our Month and the matter of them is very near the same except one or two particulars too high for Subjects to meddle with and all this at a time when the King thought of nothing but Victory when in all probability he was the strongest both at Sea and Land when as yet there was no appearance of such a Prodigious alienation of his Subjects Affections when at least his Army was thought to be still firm to him and when the very Winds and Seas seemed hitherto as much on his side as they all afterwards turned against him October the 5th two days after the Bishops had made the Ten famous Proposals above-recited the King declared in Council That in pursuance of his Resolution and Intentions to protect the Church of England and that all Suspicions and Jealousies to the contrary may be removed he had thought fit to dissolve the Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical c. and accordingly did give Directions to the Lord Chancellor of England to cause the same to be forthwith done Now this was only half what was asked it not being declared illegal nor any Promise made so soon as ever the times would serve it should not be renewed And we shall see the Jesuits were champing on it bye and bye The 6th of October the King was also graciously pleased to restore to the City of London all their ancient Franchises and Privileges as fully as they enjoyed them before the late Judgment upon the Quo Warranto and the Lord Chancellor did them the honour to bring down the Instrument of Restitution and Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And Sir John Chapman was thereby constituted Lord Mayor till the time of Election and was accordingly sworn in the Guild-hall with the usual Solemnity The same day the Aldermen now in being that were at the time of the said Judgment took their former Places and the Vacancies were to be supplied by the Election of the Citizens according to the Ancient Custom of the City And an Address of Thanks was forthwith voted and signed for the Favour granted to them October the 10th his Majesty having received several Complaints of great Abuses committed in the late Regulations of the Corporations he thereupon in Council thought fit to authorize and require the Lords Lieutenants of the several Counties to inform themselves of all such Abuses and Irregularities within their Lieutenancies and to make forthwith Report thereof to his Majesty together with what they conceive fit to be done for the redressing of the same Whereupon he would give such further Orders as should be requisite But pressing News
coming over from time to time of the great Preparations in Holland these slow Methods soon appeared unsafe and not fit to be relied upon and therefore it became necessary to throw up at once this great and beloved Advantage now it was utterly impossible to keep it any longer By all which we may observe that all was pure Force and Fear and it will appear more fully in what is to follow The 11th of October there was publish'd a Form of Prayers to be us'd in all Cathedral Collegiate and Parochial Churches and Chappels within this Kingdom during the time of Publick Apprehensions from the Danger of Invasion and to be added to the daily Office both Morning and Evening immediately after the Prayers for the King and the Royal Family The first of these was a Prayer for Repentance the second for the King. O Almighty God the blessed and onely Potentate we affer up our humble Supplications and Prayers to thy Divine Goodness beseeching thee in this time of Danger to save and protect our most gracious King Give thy holy Angels charge over him preserve his Royal Person in Health and Safety inspire him with Wisdom and Justice in all his Counsels Prosper all his Undertakings for thy Honour and Service with good Suceess Fill his Princely Heart with a Fatherly Care of all his People and give all his Subjects Grace always to bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty that both King and People joining together to promote thy Glory and conscientiously discharging their Duties in their several Stations may all give thee Thanks and Praise for thy most mighty Protection and for all other thy great Mercies vouchsafed to us through Jesus Christ thy Son our Saviour Amen The third Prayer for Peace and Unity O Lord God our onely Hope in time of need save and deliver us we humbly beseech thee from all those Dangers that threaten us Give Peace in our Days O Lord if it be thy Will and prevent the Effusion of Christian Blood in our Land Reconcile all our Dissentions and heal all our Breaches Preserve that holy Religion we profess together with our Laws and Ancient Government and unite us all in unfeigned and universal Charity one towards another and in one and the same holy Worship and Communion that with one Heart and one Mouth we may glorifie thy holy Name and shew forth thy Praise from Generation to Generation And this we beg for the sake of Jesus thy beloved in whom thou art well pleased to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory now and evermore Amen I am fully persuaded these Prayers contributed very considerably to the late Revolution and taught Men they were no more bound to promote any of the late King's Undertakings with their Swords than with their Prayers but what tended to the Honour and Service of God And the very supplicating God to Preserve our Holy Religion together with our Laws and Ancient Government necessarily put Men in mind that they had been endangered and by whom was as well known and it seemed Nonsense and Hypocrisie to pray to God to preserve these and in the mean time to aid and assist the Enemies of both to destroy and ruine them October the 17th there was a Proclamation put out for Restoring Corporations to their Ancient Charters Liberties Rights and Franchises as followeth VVHereas We are informed That several Deeds of Surrender which have been lately made by several Corporations and Bodies Corporate of and in Our Cities and Towns within Our Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales of their Charters Franchises and Privileges are not yet Recorded or Inroll'd And that upon the Proceedings and Rules for Judgment which have lately been had upon the Quo Warranto's Judgments are not yet entred upon Record Whereupon notwithstanding New Charters have been granted in the Reign of Our late dear Brother and in Our Reign which said Deeds being not Inroll'd nor Recorded do not amount unto or in Law make any Surrender of the Charters Franchises or Liberties therein mentioned And such of the said Corporations or Bodies Politick against which Rules for Judgment have been made in the Life-time of Our late dear Brother or since in Our Court of Kings-Bench but no Judgments entred upon Record are not Discorporate or Dissolved and that it is in Our Power to leave such Corporations in the same State and Condition they were in and to discharge all further Proceedings and Effects that may be of such Rules for Judgments and Deeds of Surrender WE do hereby publish and declare That upon due Search and Examination made We have satisfaction that the Deeds of Surrender made by the Corporations and Bodies Politick of the said Cities and Towns except the Corporations following that is to say Thetford Nottingham Bridgwater Ludlow Bewdley Beverley Teuksbury Exeter Doncaster Colchester Winchester Launceston Lisderd Plimpton Tregony Plymouth Dunwich St. Ives Fowy East-Looe Camelford West-Looe Tintegal Penryn Truro Bodmyn Haldleigh Lestwithell and Saltash are not inrolled or recorded in any of our Courts And tho' Rules for Judgments have passed upon Informations in Nature of a Quo Warranto against the Corporations and Bodies Politick of several Cities and Towns in our said Kingdom and Dominion yet no Judgments have been or are entred upon Record upon any such Informations except against the City of London Chester Calne St. Ives Pool York Thaxted Llanghour and Malmesbury And We of Our meer Grace and Favour being resolved to restore and put all our Cities Towns and Burroughs in England and Wales and also Our Town of Berwick upon Tweed into the same State and Condition they were and was in Our late dear Brothers Reign before any Deed of Surrender was made of their Charters or Franchises or Proceedings against them or the Corporations or Bodies Politick in or of the said Cities Towns or Burroughs upon any Quo Warranto or Information in nature of a Quo Warranto had We do therefore hereby publish declare direct and require That the said Corporations and Bodies Politick and Corporate of all the said Cities Towns and Burroughs whose Deeds of Surrender are not Inrolled nor Judgments entred against them as aforesaid and the Mayors Bailiffs Sheriffs Aldermen Common-council-men Assistants Recorders Town-clerks Magistrates Ministers Officers Free-men and all and every others the Members of or in every of them respectively upon the Publication of this Our Proclamation take on them and proceed to act as a Corporation or Body Politick and where Places are vacant by Death or otherwise to make Elections constitute and fill up the same notwithstanding the usual Days and Times of Elections by the Ancient Charters and Constitutions shall happen to be past and to do and execute and perform all and every Matter and Thing as they lawfully might and ought to have done if no such Deeds of Surrender Rules for Judgment or other Proceedings upon any such Quo Warranto's or Informations had been had or made