had largely promised the Protection of both And at the same time seeing Popery and Arbitrary Power hovering over their Heads and ready to seize on their Liberties and Properties and that both were designed to be perpetuated and enâ—ailed upon them and their Posterity by a succession of Popish Princes Mrs. Cellier having declared in Print before the pretended Birth That it would be a Prince and that the Queen would likewise bring forth a Duke of York and a Duke of Glocester After several consultations whither to fly for succour at length they resolved to apply themselves to His Highness the Prince of Orange to whose Illustrious Family it had been an Inherent Glory for some Ages to relieve the Distressed and support the Protestant Cause His Highness they saw inherited all the surpassing Qualities of his Ancestors Their matchless Prudence Justice Courage their Truth and Magnanimity and besides all these excellent Endowments they were well assured of the fair Title he had to the Crown it self To him therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with a great number of the Chiefest Gentry of the Kingdom make their application and in an humble Memorial represent their Grievances to their Highnesses to this effect That their Highnesses cannot be ignorant that the Protestants of England who continue True to the Government and Religion have been many ways troubled and vexed by many Devices and Machinations of the Papists carried on under pretence of Royal Authority and things required of them unanswerable before God and Man Several Ecclesiastical Benefices of Churches taken from them without any other Reason given than the Kings Pleasure themselves Summoned and Sentenced by Commissioners appointed contrary to express Law deprived of their free choice of Magistrates divers Corporations dissolved The Legal Security of their Religion and Liberty established by King and Parliament abolished and taken away by a pretended Dispensing Power New and unheard of Maxims broached That Subjects have no Right but what is founded and derived from the Kings Will and Pleasure the Militia put into the Hands of Persons unqualified by Law and a Popish Mercenary Army maintained in the Kingdom in times of Peace directly contrary to Law executing of ancient Laws against several Crimes and Misdemeanors obstructed and prohibited and the Statutes against corresponding with the Court of Rome against Papal Jurisdictions and Popish Priests suspended in the Courts of Justice those Judges displaced who acquit any whom the Court would have condemned as happened to the Judges Holloway and Powel for acquitting the seven Bishops the free choice of Members of Parliament wholly taken away notwithstanding all the Care and Provision made by the Law in that behalf by the Quo Warranto's against Charters and proposing ensnaring Questions all things levell'd at the Propagation of Popery for which the Courts of England and France have now for a long time so strenously bestirr'd themselves Endeavours and Practices used to perswade their Highnesses to Consent to the abolishing the Penal Laws and Tests though herein disappointed The Queens being with Child first Proclaimed and Divulged by Popish Priests and in the Sequel thereof a Child produced without any clear Proof or Evidence of sufficient and unsuspected Witnesses besides that it cannot be believed that the said Child was ever born of the Queen by Reason of her known Sickness and Indisposition and many other Arguments as not being confirmed by any certain foregoing Signs of Conception the place of her lying in being often changed and her pretended Delivery Celebrated in the absence of the Princess of Denmark and while the English Ladies were at Church in a Bedstead which was provided with a Convenient Passage in the side of it by which means the Child was conveyed to the Queen by the Ladies L' Abadie and Teurarier that these be matters left to the Discretion of a Free Parliament and that in the Name of your Highnesses and the whole Nation the Queen may be desired to prove the real Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales by a competent number of credible Witnesses of both Sexes or in Case of a failure herein that the reports of any such Birth may be supprest for the time to come That they humbly crave the Protection of their Highnesses in this matter as well as with respect to the Abolition and Suspension of the Laws made to maintain the Protestant Religion their Civil Rights Fundamental Liberties and Free Government and that their Highnesses would be pleased to insist that besides the business of the Child the Government of England according to Law may be restored the Laws against Papal Jurisdiction Priests c. be put in Execution the Suspending and Dispensing Power be declared Null and Void and the Priviledges of the City of London Free Choice of Magistrates and all the other Liberties as well of that as other Corporations be restored and maintained Their Highnesses with no less Willingness than Generosity and out of their Zeal for the Protestant Religion and Compassion of the Oppressed listned to their Complaints And his Highness well weighing the justness of their Requests and the Reality of their Grievances instantly began to take Measures in Order to their Deliverance And soon after his Highness went to meet the Elector of Brandenburgh and some other Princes and Noblemen of Germany at Minden which so alarmed the French King that Monsieur D' Avaux his Ambassadour presented a Memorial to the States General intimating that the King his Master being informed of the Motions and Conferences that were made and held towards the Frontiers of Cologne against the Cardinal of Furstemburgh and the Chapter He was resolved to maintain the Cardinal and their Priviledges against all those who should go about to trouble them but herein the Politicks of King Lewis fail'd him his Highness the Prince of Orange managing his Affairs with such an exact Secrecy that neither that King nor his Sagacious Council could penetrate into the Design till it was upon the Point of Execution and out of danger of being Defeated For upon his Highness return from that Conference to Loe Orders were given for drawing the Forces the States had raised for his Highness Assistance and incamping them upon the Mocker Hyde and the Forces of those other Princes whom his Highness had ingaged to aid him in this Glorious Expedition had Orders to be upon their March as those of Brandenburgh Hesse-Cassel c. And the States General assembled at the Hague where his Highness was present and their Debates and Consultations having been kept very Private for some days at length they published the following Manifesto That the States had resolved with their Ships and Men to assist the Prince of Orange who being invited by the Reiterated Importunities of the Nobility and Gentry of England to oppose that Arbitrary Government which His Britannick Majesty is designing to introduce into that Kingdom has fully determined to go over to that Countrey as well for that Reason as to save
who were quartered about Tiverton Culhampton Honyton and other places The Sunday following his Highness went to the Cathedral where his Highness Declaration of the Reasons inducing him to appear in Arms in the Kingdom of England for preserving the Protestant Religion and for restoring the Liberties of England Scotland and Ireland was read by Dr. Burnet before a numerous Auditory the Substance whereof was That ' it was certain and evident to all men that the publick Peace and Happiness of any Kingdom and State could not be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs established by the lawful Authority in it were openly transgrest and annull'd more especially where the Alteration of Religion was endeavoured and a Religion contrary to the Law Design'd to be introduced whereas they who were most immediately concerned therein were indispensibly bound to preserve the establisht Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God establisht among them and to take effectual Care that the Inhabitant of such State or Kingdom might neither be deprived of their Religion nor outed of their Civil Rights more especially since the greatness of Kings Royal Families and all in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depended in a more especial manner upon an exact Observation of those their Laws Liberties and Customs upon which ground his Highness further declared That he could no longer forbear to let the World know how apparently he saw with regret that they who had then the chief Credit with the King had overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of these Realms and subjected them in all things relating to their Consciences Liberties and Properties to Arbitrary Government and that not only by secret and indirect ways but in an open and undisguised manner that those Evil Councellors for advancing and colouring this with some plausible pretences did invent and set on foot the Kings Dispensing Power by virtue of which they pretend that according to Law he can suspend and dispense with the Execution of the Laws that have been enacted by the Authority of King and Parliament for the Security and Happiness of the Subject and to render these Laws of no effect though it is most certain that they cannot be suspended but by the same Authority that made them for though the King may pardon the punishment of a Transgressor in Cases of Treason and Felony yet it cannot with any colour of Reason be thence inferred that he can intirely suspend the Execution of those Laws unless he has such an Arbitrary Power that the Laws Liberties Honours and Estates of the Subjects depend wholly upon his good Will and Pleasure and though they have obtained a Sentence for asserting this Dispensing Power to be a Right depending on the Crown yet it cannot be imagined that it should be put in the Power of twelve Judges to offer up the Laws Rights and Liberties of the whole Nation to the Arbitrary Will of the King especially such as are first advanced and then threatned to be turned out if they do not comply therein and some Papists who are incapable by Law are made Judges That the King though known to be a Papist was yet received and acknowledged by the People to be their King and did solemnly Swear and Promise at his Coronation that he would maintain their Laws and Liberties and the Church of England as it was establisht by Law and though several Laws have been lately made for preserving their Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to prevent all Papists from being put into any Imployment yet these evil Councillors have in effect Annulled and Abolished all those Laws and in direct Opposition thereto have set up as Illegal Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs in which one of the Kings Ministers who is a Papist sits and Acts though by Law uncapable of any publick Imployment that these Commissioners have suspended the Bishop of London only for refusing to obey an Order to suspend a Worthy Divine without Citation or Process they have turned out the President and Fellows of Hagdalen Colledge without citing them before any Legal Court or Comperent Judge only for refusing to chuse for their President a Person recommended by these Evil Councillors contrary to the Right of Free Election and contrary to Magna Charta That no man shall lose Life or Goods but by the Law of the Land and afterward put the Colledge wholly into the hands of Papists They have cited before them all the Chancellors and Arch-deacons of England to certifie the Names of the Clergy who did not read the Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience though the reading of it was not enjoined them by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries These Evil Councillors have procured Orders for building several Popish Churches Chappels Monasteries Colledges of Jesuits for corrupting of youth and raised one to be a Privy Councillor and Minister of State contrary to several express Laws by the Rules of which they evidently shew they are no way restrained and wherein they are served and seconded by these Ecclesiastical Commissioners They have also followed the same Methods in Civil Affairs by procuring Orders to examine all Lord Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Sheriffs Justices of Peace and all others that were in any publick Imployment whether they were for taking away the Penal Laws and Tests and those who in Conscience could not comply were turned out and divers unqualified Persons put in their Rooms they have seized upon the Charters of several Towns and procured the surrender of others which Elect Parliament men and placed new Magistrates many of them Papists in divers Corporations They have removed such Judges as would not in all things Conform to their Designs and put in others whose Compliance they disowned beforehand whereby much Blood hath been shed in many places of the Kingdom against all the Forms and Rules of Law without Suffering the Persons accused to plead in their own Defence They have put the Administration of Justice into the Hands of Papists though all their Sentences are Null and Void in Law and have disposed of all Military Imployments in the same manner both by Sea and Land to Strangers as well as Natives and Irish as well as English to maintain and execute their wicked Designs of inslaving the Nation by their Assistance In Ireland the whole Government is put into the Hands of Papists so that the Protestants through terror have in great numbers left that Kingdom and abandoned their Estates in it remembring well that Cruel and Bloody Massacre in 1641. In Scotland the King has declared himself clothed with such an Absolute Power as to be obeyed without Reserve These great Oppressions and open Contempts of all Laws being insufferable have put the Subjects under great Fears and to look out for such Lawful Remedies as are allowed of in all Nations but to deter them from endeavouring to preserve their Lives and Estates by Petition or other means Authorized by Law these
Parties of Irish and Fortified London-Derry Slego the Isle of Inniskilling and other places which they thought Tenable For now Tyrconnel gave Order for stopping the Ports to prevent any more from going away and made many large and plausible Proposals to induce them to join with him though they had very little effect upon them The Convention at Westminster were still upon serious Debates about the present Condition of the Kingdom and in the mean time it was thought necessary to have the Presence of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange in England Whereupon a Squadron of English and Dutch Men of War were Ordered to wait upon her till her Equipage could be got ready and the Wind served to bring over her Highness And after the Lords and Commons had duly weighed the Circumstances of the Kings Departure they at length came to the following Resolution Resolved that King James II. Having endeavoured to Subvert the Constitution of this Kingdom by breaking the Original Contract between King and People and by the Advice of Jesuits and other wicked Persons having Violated the Fundamental Laws and having withdrawn himself out of this Kingdom hath Abdicated the Government and the Throne is thereby Vacant In pursuance of which Resolution the following Declaration was drawn up in Order to such an Establishment as that the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom might not again be in Danger and for Vindicating the Ancient Rights and Liberties of the People in these words VVHereas the Late King James the Second by the Assistance of divers Evil Councellors Judges and Ministers Employed by him did endeavour to Subvert and Extirpate the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom By Assuming and Exercising a Power of Dispensing with and Suspending of Laws and the Execution of Laws without Consent of Parliament By Committing and Prosecuting divers Worthy Prelates for humbly Petitioning to be Excused from Concurring to the said Assumed Power By Issuing and causing to be Executed a Commission under the Great Seal for Erecting a Court called The Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes By Levying Money for and to the Use of the Crown by Pretence of Prerogative for other Time and in other Manner than the same was Granted by Parliament By raising and keeping a Standing Army within this Kingdom in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament and Quartering Soldiers contrary to Law By Causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be Disarmed at the same time when Papists were both Armed and Employed contrary to Law By Violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament By Prosecutions in the Court of Kings Bench for Matters and Causes cognizable only in Parliament and by divers other Arbitrary Illegal Courses And whereas of late years Partial Corrupt and Urqualified Persous have been Returned and Served on Juaries in Trials and particularly divers Jurors in Trials for High Treason which were not Freeholders And Excessive Bail hath been required of Persons Committed in Criminal Cases to elude the Benefiâ— of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subjects and Excessive Fines have been imposed And illegal and cruel Punishments inflicted And several Grants and Promises made of Fines and Forfeitures before any Conviction or Judgment against the Persons upon whom the same were to be Levyed All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known Laws and Statutes and Freedom of this Realm And whereas the said late King James the Second having Abdicated the Government and the Throne being thereby Vacant His Highness the Prince of Orange whom it hath pleased Almighty God to make the Glorious Instrument of Delivering this Kingdom from Popery and Arbitrary Power did by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers Principal Persons of the Commons cause Letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Protestants and other Letters to the several Counties Cities Universities Boroughs and Cinque-Ports for the Choosing of such Persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to Parliament to meet and sit at Westminster upon the Two and twentieth day of January in this Year One thousand six hundred eighty and eight in Order to such an Establishment as that their Religion Laws and Liberties might not again be in danger of being Subverted Upon which Letters Elections having been accordingly made And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons pursuant to their respective Letters and Elections being now assembled in a full and free Representative of this Nation taking into their most serious Consideration the best means for attaining the Ends aforesaid Do in the first place as their Ancestors in like Case have usually done for the Vindicating and Asserting their Ancient Rights and Liberties Declare that the pretended Power of Suspending of Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority without Consent of Parliament is Illegal legal That the pretended Power of Dispensing with Laws or the Execution of Laws by Regal Authority as it hath been assumed and exercised of late is Illegal That the Commission for Erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and all other Commissions and Courts of like nature are Illegal and Pernicious That Levying Money for or to the Use of the Crown by protence of Prerogative without Grant of Parliament for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted is Illegal That it is the Right of the Subjects to Petition the King and all Commitments and Prosecutions for such Petitioning are Illegal That the raising or keeping a standing Army within the Kingdom in time of Peace unless it be with Consent of Parliament is against Law That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law That Election of Members of Parliament ought to be free That the Freedom of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parliament That Excessive Bail ought not to be required nor Excessive Fines imposed nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted That Jurors ought to be duly Impannelled and Returned and Jurors which pass upon Men in Trials for High Treason ought to be Freeholders That all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular Persons before Conviction are Illegal and Void And that for Redress of all Grievances and for the Amending Strengthening and Preserving of the Laws Parliaments ought to be held frequently And they do Claim Demand and Insist upon all and singular the Premisses as their undoubted Rights and Liberties And that no Declarations Judgments Doings or Proceedings to the Prejudice of the People in any of the said Premisses ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter into Consequence or Example To which Demand of their Right they are particularly Encouraged by the Declaration of his Highness the Prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a
to the Estates but before they proceeded to read it they passed an Act that notwithstanding any thing that might be contain'd in the Letter for Dissolving or impeding their Procedure yet they were a Free and Lawful Meeting of the States and would continue undissolved till they had setled the Government which done the Letter was read but the Convention took so little notice of the late Kings Exhortations to declare for him that the Messenger was first secured and then not being thought worthy detaining dismist with a Pass instead of an Answer After this Commissioners were chosen for drawing up the Settlement of the Government out of which the Bishops were lest as having disgusted the Generality of the States by their Prayers at the beginning of the Session That God would have Compassion on King James and restore him and other Passages which discovered their disaffection to their Majesties and the Government then about to be erected The Duke of Gordon who had the Command of Edenburgh Castle after he had for sometime amused the Convention by his delays so soon as he heard the late King was arrived in Ireland set up his Standard to signifie his Resolution to hold out that place and fired all the Cannon without Bullets to the gâ—â—â—â— Terror of those that lay under the Mercy of his great shot Aâ—â— 12. Both Houses of Parliament in England presented an humble Address to the King wherein they declare that being highly sensible of their late great Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power whereof it had pleased God to make his Majesty the glorious Instrument and desiring to the utmost of their abilities to express their Gratitude for so great and generous an Undertaking no less necessary for the support of the Protestant Interest in Europe than for recovering and maintaining the Civil Rights and Liberties of these Nations so notoriously invaded and undermined by Popish Councils and Counsellors and being likewise fully convinced of the restless Spirits and the continued endeavours of their Majesties and the Nations Enemies for the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion and the Subversion of our Laws and Liberties unanimously declared that they would stand by and assist his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes in supporting His Alliances abroad in reducing Ireland and in desence of the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom In answer hereto the King assured them of his great esteem and affection for Parliaments especially for this which would be much increased by the kindness they shewed to him and their zeal for the publick good and that he would never abuse the Confidence they put in Him nor give any Parliament cause to distrust Him because he would never expect any thing from them but what it was their Interest to grant that He came hither for the good of the Kingdom and since by their desire he was in that Station he would full pursue the same ends that brought him that God had been pleased to make him instrumental to redeem them from the Ills they feared and it was still his desire as well as his duty to endeavour to preserve their Religion Laws and Liberties which were the only inducements that brought him into England and to those he did ascribe the Blessings that had attended this undertaking he then remainded them of Assisting his Allies especially the Dutch and to consider the Deplorable Condition of Ireland which by the Zeal and Violence of the Popish Party and the Assistance and Incouragement of the French required a considerable force to Reduce it c. and that a Fleet may be likewise provided which in Conjunction with the States might make us entire Masters of the Seas and as they freely offered to Hazard all that is dear to them so he should as freely expose his Life for the Support of the Protestant Religion and the Safety and Honour of the Nation In Scotland the Viscount Dundee having made his escape from Edinburgh went to the North where he stirred up the Highlanders to joyn with him and declare for King James upon which the Convention ordered a number of Horse Foot and Dragoons to march against them and in the mean time the Lord Ross who was sent with a Letter to King William in England returned and brought an answer thereto After which the Estates drew up an Instrument of Government for Setling the Crown upon King William and Queen Mary Wherein they Recapitulate their Grievances and propose Remedies for the same And then declare That King James the 7th being a professed Papist did Assume the Royal Power and acted as King without ever taking the Oath required by Law and hath by Advice of Evil and Wicked Councellers Invaded the Fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdom and altered it from a Legal Limited Monarchy to an Arbitrary Despotick Power and did exercise the same to the Subversion of the Protestant Religion and the Violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom inverting all the ends of Government whereby he hath Forefaulted the Right to the Crown and the Throne is become Vacant And they do pray the King and Queen of England to accept the Crown and Royal Dignity of the Kingdom of Scotland c. And an Oath of Allegiance was drawn up to be taken by all Persons to them together with a Coronation Oath and April 11. being the Day of the Coronation of their Majesties at Westminster they were Proclaimed at Edenburgh with universal Joy and Acclamations Commissioners were also Dispatcht for London that is the Earl of Argyle Sir James Mountgomery of Skelmerly and Sir John Dalrymple of Stair younger from the meeting of the Estates with an offer of the Crown of that Kingdom to their Majesties and May 11. 1689. They accordingly at three of the Clock met at the Council Chamber and from thence were Conducted by Sir Charles Cottrel Master of the Ceremonies attended by most of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom who resided in and about this place to the Banquetring-House where the King and Queen came attended by many Persons of Quality the Sword being carryed before them by the Lord Cardross and their Majesties being placed on the Throne under a rich Canopy they first presented a Letter from the Estates to His Majesty then the Instrument of Government thirdly a Paper containing the Grievances which they desired might 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 Engaged in this Undertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did emit 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 hath expressed so much Confidence in and Affection to Me They shall find me
several open violations upon the Laws of the Land and the Properties of his Subjects Some time before his Highness returning from Hounsleyrdike to the Hague gave audience to several Forreign Ministers and parted thence to visit the Garrisons of Maestricht Boisleduck and other Places and in his return was met by the Princess at Loo having in his progress given all necessary Orders for the well governing and strengthning of those Places In December 1687. the Marquess de Albeville Envoy Extraordinary from the King of England had Audience of his Highness and the States of Holland and about the same time the States considering the danger that might arise from the great number of Forreign Popish Priests notwithstanding the intercession of the Envoy of the Emperor of Germany on their behalf they made a Decree commanding them to retire out of the Netherlands and never to return again promising a reward of 100 Ducatoons to any that should make discovery and laying a penalty of 600 Florins upon those that should harbour or conceal any of them for the first offence 1200 for the second and corporeal punishment for the third whereupon many of them went over into England where their hopes and expectations of having their Religion setled daily increased The King of England being unwilling to afford any assistance to the Heretical States against his dear Ally the French King published a Proclamation in March 1687. commanding the return of all Subjects then in the Service of the States General either by Sea or Land with no other Allegation but that the King thought it fit for his service The States raised some dispute with the Marquess de Albeville about this matter refusing to let them return into England insomuch that the Marquess soon after delivered in a Memorial to the States by express Orders from the King signifying That his Master was much surprized to find that their Lordships persisted in their Resolution in refusing leave to his Subjects to return into England and that whereas their Lordships alledged that there was nothing so agreeable to nature as that he who was born free should have the right and liberty to settle himself wherever he should think it most advantageous to him and that it was in his power to be Naturalized and become a Subject to them under whose Soveraignty he submits his Person and that the Government receiving him thereby acquire over him the same Right it has over its own proper and natural Subjects The Marquess replied That this pretended Natural Liberty could not subsist after Obedience and Dominion had been introduced so that the Rights of Soveraignty and Obedience were now only to be considered and that in virtue of those Rights it had been the common opinion in all times that no natural subject could withdraw himself from the Obedience he owed to his Lawful Prince from whence it was that the Kings of Great Britain had in all times prohibited their Subjects to ingage in any Forreign service and had recalled them from it when and as often as they thought fit The Marquess further instanced a Capitulation made between the Earl of Ossory and his Highness the Prince of Orange That in case the King of Great Britain should recal his Subjects in the Service of the States they should be permitted to retire by Virtue of which Capitulation and his Reasons alledged the Marquess demanded their dismission from which the King would never depart neither was he willing to doubt of their Lordships compliance with it But it seems few or none were willing for very few returned judging it may be that they might do more service where they were for the interest of their Countrey than in fighting at home against their own Countreymen and Fellow Protestants and as their unwillingness justified the resolution of the States General so it rendred the endeavours of the Marquess ineflectual For the States having disbanded them the greatest part listed themselves again under their Command as well Officers as Souldiers though the King had ordered the Masters and Captains of Ships and Vessels to give such as would return free passage with promise of advancement when they came to England In May 1688. The Prince Elector of Saxony was splendidly entertained by his Highness the Prince of Orange at Homslaer Dyke and the next day his Highness accompanied him to Scheveling where they went on board a small Vessel that carried them to a squadron of 17 Men of War which arrived from Schonvelt under the command of Vice Admiral Allemond who upon their approach sent two light Frigats and a Shallop to meet them and they were saluted with the Cannon of all the Ships when having dined aboard the Vice-Admiral they returned to Scheveling and from thence his Electoral Highness went to visit Delft Rotterdam Dort Maestricht Leige Aix and Cologne and so returned home by the way of Franckfort About which time the Envoy of Brandenburg acquainted the Prince of Orange and the States with the Death of the Elector his Master a Prince extream firm to the Protestant Interest and whose Death was much regretted by the Protestant Princes and States The Prince and States sending a Gentleman with Complements of Condoleance to his Son and Successor The King of England having obtained the opinion of his Judges for the Dispensing Power soon made use of it For first he employ'd Popish Officers and put them into chief Command the Earl of Clarendon being recalled from the Government of Ireland and the Earl of Tyrconnel a Papist sent to succeed him to the great terror of the Protestants of that Kingdom The Earl of Castlemain was sent Ambassador to Rome An Army was raised and Mustred at Hunslow Heath The Lord Bishop of London was convented before a New and Illegal Court of Judicature for Ecclesiastical Affairs and suspended from his Office for refusing to suspend the Reverend Dr. Sharp under pretence that he had uttered seditious words in his Sermons Then a Declaration is published for Liberty of Conscience and suspending all the Penal Laws in matters of Religion and acquitting all Persons from taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy both in England Scotland and Ireland The Popes Nuncio arrived in England being received with much respect by the King and Dined with the King and the Lord Maver at Guild-hall Popish Chappels were erected in several places in London and other Cities and Towns in England The Charters of several Corporations that were yet unseized were now taken away These and divers other Illegal proceedings put the Nation into a ferment and they were inraged at the Authors of them Nay they do not stop here for after this the King again renewed his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience with a peremptory Order to command all the Clergy to read it in their several Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom and that the Bishops should distribute them through their several Diocesses But the rigorous proceedings against the Lord Bishop of London the last year
and against the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and the Follows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford this year were such evident breaches of his Indulgence to Tender Consciences that it gave still greater dissatisfaction to the Nation and portended some sudden alteration The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge being deprived of his Office and suspended of his Headship or refusing to admit one Alban Francis a Benedictine Monk to be Master of Arts without taking the Oaths by virtue of the Dispensing power though contrary to the Statutes which he was sworn to maintain And the fellows of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford being 26 in number for refusing to admit one Farmer a scandalous Popish Priest to the Presidentship of that Colledge and Electing Dr. Hough were pronourced guilty of disobedience to his Majesties Commands and deprived and expelled from their respective Fellowships And the Bishops judging that their distributing the Declaration would be an owning and asserting the Kings assumed Dispensing Power and foreseeing the pernicious consequences thereof the Archbishop of Canterbury and six others drew up a Petition in behalf of themselves and their Brethren setting forth the Reasons why they could not comply therewith This was so ill resented by the King and his Popish Councellors that the Petition was judged Tumultuary and all the seven Bishops were committed Prisoners to the Tower And now the Jesnits acted their Master piece of Policy as they imagined though it proved very fural to them For knowing that the King grew old and that on his life the hopes of Restoring their Religion depended since the Heir Apparent was a Protestant who would soon ruin all their Machinations They resolved if possible to advance a Popish Successor and thereby ensure Popery and Slavery to the Nation Hereupon they raised a report sometime before that the Queen was with Child though the People did not believe it and several Lampoons were made upon that Subject And the Bishops being now secured this was thought the proper time for the Queen to fall in Labour and accordingly June 10. 1683. It was published that she was Delivered of a Frince for which the King ordered all signs of rejoicing to be made and a day of Thanksgiving was appointed as being a thing of mighty consequence for advancing the Catholick Cause though the joy was somewhat abated by the Acquittal of the seven Bishops five days after who being Tried at the Kings Bench Bar were brought in Not Guilty at which the People yea the Kings own Army at Hounslow Heath shouted for joy to the severe mortification of the Court. The King having declared that he intended to call a Parliament to turn his Declaration of Liberty of Conscience into a Law and likewise to abrogate all the Penal Laws and Tests both against the Dissenters and the Roman Catholicks the Jesuits had a great desire to sound the intentions and thoughts of their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange upon that Subject To which purpose Mr. James Steward undertook to write a Letter to Pensionary Fagell not without the knowledge and approbation of the King which occasioned Minheer Fagels answer to this effect That Their Highnesses had often declared as they did more particularly to the Marquess Albeville His Majesties Envoy Extraordinary to the States That it is their Opinion that no Christian ought to be persecuted for his Conscience or be ill used because he dissers from the Publick and Established Religion and therefore they could be content that even the Papists in England Scotland and Ireland might be suffered to continue to their Religion with as much Liberty as is allowed the by the States of the United Provinces And as for the Protestant Dissenters Their Highnesses did not only consent but heartily approve of their having an Intire Liberty for the full exercise of their Religion without any trouble or hindrance That Their Highnesses were ready in case His Majesty of England should desire it to declare their willingness to concur in the setling and confirming this Liberty as far as it lay in them and were ready if desired to concur in Repealing the Laws provided always that those Laws remain still in their full force and vigor whereby the Roman Catholicks are excluded out of both Houses of Parliament and out of all publick Imployments Ecclesiastical Civil and Military as likewise all those other Laws which confirm the Protestant Religion and which secure it against all the attempts of the Roman Catholicks But that Their Highnesses could not agree to the Repealing of the Tests or those Penal Laws that tend to the security of the Protestant Religion since the Roman Catholicks receive no other prejudice from these than the being excluded from Parliaments or from Publick Imployments and that by them the Protestant Religion is covered from all the designs of the Roman Catholicks against it or against the publick safety and neither the Tests nor those other Laws can be said to carry in them any severity against the Roman Catholicks upon account of their Consciences they being only Provisions Qualifying men to be Members of Parliament or to be capable of bearing Offices by which they must declare before God and Men that they are for the Protestant Religion so that all this amounts to no more than a securing the Protestant Religion from any prejudice that it may receive from the Roman Catholicks That Their Highnesses have thought and do still think that more than this ought not be asked nor expected from them since by this means the Roman Catholicks and their Posterity would be for ever secured from all Troubles in their Persons and Estates or in the Exercise of their Religion and that the Roman Catholicks ought to be satisfied with this and not to disquiet the Kingdom because they cannot be admitted to sit in Parliament or to be in imployment or because those Laws wherein the security of the Protestant Religion chiefly consists are not repealed by which they may be in a condition to overturn it That their Highnesses also believed that the Dissenters would be for ever satisfied when they should be for ever covered from all danger of being disturbed or punished for the free Exercise of their Religion upon any pretence whatsoever This was the substance of the Letter written by that Great Minister of State as discovering the just sentiments of Their Highnesses which did no ways please the Papists who had high expectations of carrying all before them and therefore Mr. Steward in his second Letter to the Pensioner a while after says That the Court was quite beyond it and had taken other measures And what they were soon after appeared namely to defeat their Royal Highnesses of their just Interest and Right to the Succession of the Crown by pretending that the Queen was delivered of a Prince of Wales But the Nobility and Gentry of England beholding the deplorable State of the Nation and foreseeing the subversion of their Ancient Laws and Established Religion to be designed by him who
full Redress and Remedy therein Having therefore an intire Confidence That his said Highness the Prince of Orange will perfect the Deliverance so far advanced by him and will still preserve them from the Violation of their Rights which they have here Asserted and from all other Attempts upon their Religion Rights and Liberties the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled at Westminster do Resolve That William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange be and be Declared King and Queen of England France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging to hold the Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions ' to them the said Prince and Princess during their Lives and the Life of the Survivor of them And that the sole and full Exercise of the Regal Power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the Names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint Lives And after their Deceases the said Crown and Royal Dignity of the said Kingdoms and Dominions to be to the Heirs of the Body of the said Princess And for default of such Issue to the Princess Ann of Denmark and the Heirs of Her Body and for default of such Issue to the Heirs of the Body of the said Prince of Orange And the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do pray the said Prince and Princess to accept the same accordingly And that the Oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all Persons of whom the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy might be required by Law instead of them And that the said Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Abrogated I A. B. Do sincerely Promise and Swear That I will be Faithful and bear true Allegiance to Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY So help me God I A. B. Do Swear That I do from my Heart Abhor Detest and Abjure as impious and Heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope or any Authority of the See of Rome may be Deposed or Murdered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do Declare That no Foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preeminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm So help me God This Declaration being Presented to their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange in the Banqueting House at White-Hall on Wednesday Feb. 13. 1688. and their Consent thereunto Received they were both the same Day Proclaimed King and Queen of England France and Ireland c. at White-Hall Gate Temple-Bar and the Royal Exchange many of the Lords and Commons attending and the People proclaiming their Joys by Repeated Shouts and Acclamations The Tenor of the Proclamation was as followeth Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God in his great Mercy to this Kingdom to vouchsafe us a Miraculous Deliverance from Popery and Arbitrary Power and that our Preservation is due next under God to the Resolution and Conduct of his Highness the Prince of Orange whom God hath chosen to be the Glorious Instrument of such an Inestimable Happiness to us and our Posterity And being highly Sensible and fully perswaded of the Great and Eminent Virtues of Her Highness the Princess of Orange whose Zeal for the Protestant Religion will no doubt bring a Blessing along with her upon this Nation and where as the Lords and Commons now Assembled at Westminster have made a Declaration and presented the same to the said Prince and Princess of Oranâ—e and therein desired them to accept the Crown who have accepted the same accordingly We therefore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons together with the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London and others of the Commons of this Reaim do with full Consent Publish and Proclaim according to the said Declaration William and Mary Prince and Princess of Orange to be King and Queen of England France and Ireland with all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging who are accordingly so to be owned Deemed and taken by all the People of the afore said Realms and Dominions who are from hence forward bound to acknowledge and pay unto them all Faith and True Allegiance Beseeching God by whom Kings Reign to Bless King William and Queen Mary with long and Happy Years to Reign over us God Save King William and Queen Mary John Brown Clericus Parliamentorum It is Reported that his Majesty should thus generously express himself upon this Occasion That though the Regulations seem'd somewhat harsh they were easy to him that desired only to be a great King But in respect to one that Aim'd to be a Tyrant they were not strict enough Having thus brought their Majesty to the Throne let us make a few Remarks upon this Wonderful and Unparallel'd Revolution and so conclude the History of the House of Orange Had a Prince of less Secresie Prudence Courage and Interest undertaken this mighty Affair it might probably have miscarryed but as his Cause was better so his Reputation Conduct and Patience infinitely exceeded that of King James He would not stir till he saw the French Forces sit down before Philipsburg and that he was sure France and Germany were irrecoverably ingaged and that he should have no other Opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must have Determined every thing in Controversy except they were Resolved once for all to have given up their Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the Will of their Arbitrary Kings and submitted for ever to a French Government and indeed a Nation of less Sense than the English might have been imposed upon Of less Bravery and Valour might have been frighted Of a more Servile Temper might have neglected their Liberties till it had been too late to recover them again And none but a parcel of Jesuits unacquainted with their Temper and Constitution would ever have hoped to have carryed two such things as Popery and Arbitrary Power both at once upon a People so Jealous as the English are and who hate Idolatry and Tyranny above any Nation in the World As for King James II. had he undertaken any thing but these two his vast Revenue his Reputed Personal Valour and the Fame he had gained both at Home and Abroad by the Defeat of Monmouths Invasion would have gone near to have effected it And after all if he had in the beginning of October freely granted all the Proposals made him by the Nobility and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up his Evil Ministers to Justice and permitted the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales to have been freely Debated and Determined in Parliament it would in all probability have prevented this Expedition of the Prince of Orange But whilst he thought to preserve the pretended Succession the
willing to assist them in every thing that concerns the Well 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 After which 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 Meeting of the Estates of Scotland did Authorise their Commissioners to represent to his Majesty That that Clause in the Oath in relation to the rooting out of Hereticks did not import the destroying of Hereticks and that by the Law of Scotland no Man was to be Persecuted for his private Opinion and even Obstinate and Convicted Hereticks were only to be Denounced Rebels or Outlawed whereby their Moveable Estates are Confiscated His Majesty at the repeating that Clause in the Oath did declare That he did not mean by these words that he was under any Obligation to become a Persecutor To which the Commissioners made answer That neither the meaning of the Oath or the Law of Scotland did import it Then the King Replyed that he took the Oath in that Sense and called for Witnesses the Commissioners and others present and theâ— both their Majesties Signed the said Coronation Oath After which the Commissioners and several of the Scotch Nobility Kissed their Majesties Hands The Parliament in England proceeded to enact many Laws for the ease of the People and Security of the Kingdom One for taking away the Revenue arising from the Hearth-Money by his Majesties own desire who willingly resigned up his Right therein because it was found grievous to the People though it occasioned a great Diminution to the Revenue of the Crown another Act was passed for exempting their Majesties Protestant Subjects Dissenting from the Church of England from the Penaltier of certain Laws another for Abrogating the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and appointing other Oaths another for Prohibiting all Trade and Commerce with France with divers more and about the same time the House of Commons presented His Majesty the following Address We your Majesties most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled most Humbly lay before your Majesty our earnest Desires that your Majesty would be pleased to take into your most Serious Consideration the Destructive Methods taken of late years by the French King against the Trade Quiet and Interest of your Kingdom and particularly the present Invasion of your Kingdom of Ireland and Supporting your Majesty Rebellious Subjects and we not doubting in the least but through your Majesties Wisdom the Alliances already made as well as those that may be hereafter concluded on this occasion by your Majesty may be effectual to Reduce the French King to such a Condition that it may not be in his Power hereafter to violate the Peace of Christendom nor prejudice the Trade and Prosperity of this your Majesties Kingdom To this end we most humbly beseech your Majesty to rest assured upon this our Hearty and Solemn Promise and Ingagement That when your Majesty shall think fit to enter into a War with the French King we will give your Majesty such Assistance in a Parliamentary way as may enable your Majesty under the Protection and Blessing that Almighty God has ever afforded you to support and go through with the same To this Request and Resolution of the House of Commons which was so graceful to the Nation in general his Majesty was pleased to return this Answer Gentlemen I receive this Address as a Mark of the Confidence you have in me which I take very kindly and shall endeavour by all my Actions to Confirm you in it I assure you that my own Ambition shall never be an Argument to incline me to ingage in a War that may expose the Nation either to Danger or Expence but in the present Case I look upon the War so much already declared in effect by France against England that it is not so much an Act of Choice as an inevitable necessity in our own Defence I shall only tell you that as I have ventured my Life and all that is Dear to me to rescue the Nation from what it suffered so I am ready still to do the same in order to the preserving it from all its Enemies and as I doubt not of such an Assistance from you as shall be Suitable to your Advice to me to Declare War against a powerful Enemy so you may Rely upon me that no part of that which you shall give for the carrying it on with Success shall by me be Diverted to any other use Soon after a Declaration of War was published against France and the Reasons thereof Namely The unjust Methods of the French King these late years to gratifie his Ambition by Invading the Territories of the Empire now in Amity with us and in manifest Violation of the Treaties Confirmed by the Guaranty of the Crown of England His Majesty therefore can do no less than joyn with his Allies in Opposing that Kings Designs as the Disturber of the Peace and the Common Enemy of the Christian World Likewise the many Injuries done to his Majesty and his Subjects are a sufficient Justification for their taking Arms since they have called upon his Majesty so to do and though no notice has been taken nor Reparation demanded of late years for Reasons well known to the World yet his Majesty will not pass them over without a publick and just Resentment of such Outrages Also the Incroachments and Invasions of the French on our Trade and Fishing of Newfound Land and their Hostilities upon the Charibbee Islands New York and Hudsons-Bay Seizing the Forts burning the Houses Robbing the English of their Goods imprisoning some inhumanly killing others and driving the rest to Sea in a small Vessel without Food or Necessaries and this even at a time when that King was Negotiating a Treaty in England of Neutrality and good Correspondence in America also his Countenancing the Seizure of English Ships by French Privateers His Disputing the Right of the Flag in the Narrow Seas which in all Ages has been asserted by his Majesties Predecessors and which he is resolved to maintain for the Honour of the Crown and of the English Nation And that which most nearly touches his Majesty is His Unchristian Persecution of many English Protestants in France contrary to the Law of Nations and express Treaties forcing them to abjure their Religion by strange and unusual Cruelties imprisoning some English Masters and Seamen and Condemning other to the Gallies upon pretence of having on Board either the Persons or Goods of some of his own Miserable Protestant Subjects Lastly as he has for some years past endeavoured by Insinuation and Promises of Assistance to overthrow the Government of England so now by Open and Violent Methods