of England Party which stood stifly for the Succession The Tide now began to turn and the Popish Party to have a fair Prospect The Duke was called home and His Majesty disbanded Parliament after Parliament in hopes to get a healing one But failing thereof he published a plausible Declaration touching the Causes that moved him to Dissolve the two last Parliaments Which being read in all Churches and Chappels did very much strengthen the Court Party and turned the Hearts of many People against the late Proceedings of the House of Commons as having over-short the Mark. Which House consisting most of Dissenters gave a Jealousy to the House of Lords and indeed to all the Church-Party that under colour of rooting out Popery they design'd nothing less than the Ruin of the Church and so to kill two Birds with one Stone The Dissenters on the other side seeing the Church Party so stiff for the Dukes Right to the Succession tho upon the Grounds of Justice and Equity fail'd not to clamour against them as Abettors of Popery and Papists in Mascarade In short the Fewd grew so great between both Parties row distinguished by the Nicknames of TORIES and WHIGS that had not his Majesty who now bestirred himself in these difficult Times prevented it by his great Care and Wisdem it had certainly broke out into a Flame In the mean time these unhappy Differences gave fair play to the Papists who know best how to fish in troubled Waters The Popish Plot grew now out of date and lost much of its Credit Then up starts another called the Presbyterian Plot which proved fatal to several Persons of Quality and others of a lower Rank The King now exasperated in the highest degree against the Dissenting Party ordered the Penal Laws to be put in execution which made the Breach so much the wider betwixt Them and the Church Party And whilst the poor Dissenters lay under the lash an officious sort of Church of England Ministers made it their business to preach the stupid Doctrine of Non-Resistance with as much Zeal and Fervency as if there had been no Salvation without it Which some were hired for with a Promise of Church-Preferment whilst others did it meerly to shew their Parts but all wonderfully to the purpose of the Roman Catholick Party and to help forward the Designs of the next Reign The City of London which had strongly appeared against the Dukes Interest was now called to an Account and a Writ of Quo Warranto a dreadful piece of Latin before which no Reason could stand issued out against them to take away their Charter which was accordingly done Then other Corporations were prevailed upon fairly to surrender their Charters in expectation of new ones whereby all their Magistrates and Officers were dependant upon the King 's Will. And by the Duke's Interest many false Protestants were got into Places of Trust who upon the push would be ready to join with the Papists and lend them their helping hands Thus all Things were finely prepared against his Majesties Exit to make room for his Brother And which is observable at the very time when the King was resolved to sift out some Miscarriages and much inclined to call a new Parliament an odd kind of Fit seiz'd upon him which in four days time bereav'd him of his Life and Crown Thus died King Charles a Prince who was neither a sound Papist nor a zealous Protestant Admired for his great Sagacity beloved for his Clemency and the fittest Prince in the World to Reign had not his over-Indulgence to Ease and Pleasures made him averse from Business In which unhappy Temper he was too much followed by his Subjects of both Sexes THE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION PART II. Shewing Our Imminent Ruin in the Reign of the late King James With an Account of the suppos'd Great Belly KING Charles being dead the Lord knows how some wept upon his Tomb for Joy but most for Sorrow The Popish Party were the most concerned in the first and the Protestants whatever he was in the last We were but threatned before with the Danger of a Popish Succession now we had it The Papists had a blessed but doubtful prospect of it and now they were in possession To Secure which the Blood of the deceased King was hardly chilled in his Veins when his next Successor James Duke of York was Proclaimed King at White-hall and in the City in great haste that no Man might pretend Ignorance So that King Charles was scarce gone off the Stage when his Brother to play the last Act enters and ascends the Throne No Prince more courteous more obliging or more promising at first than he was to his new Subjects but particularly to the Church of England Party He came in like a Lamb but reigned like a Lion and followed in all things the Steps of King Lewis Not but that he had innate Vertues of his own but none that could stand proof against the precipitate Suggestions of the Roman Clergy and the irresistible Influence of those hot-brain'd States-men the Jesuites So great was the Opinion of his Justice and Valour when Duke of York that many Protestants durst rely upon his Justice and most promised themselves great Matters from his Valour Especially when upon his Accession to the Crown he declared to his Council that he would protect and favour the Church of England for her unshaken Loyalty and to his Parliament that he would carry the Glory of England beyond all his Predecessors Upon these Assurances he allayed for some time the Fears of his Protestant Subjects but especially the Church of England which thereupon Addressed him from all Parts of the Kingdom as their Tutelar Angel In short so great on a sudden were the Hopes of this King that Edward III and Henry V. the most glorious Monarchs of England were like upon his Account to be hissed out of our English Chronicles But it was not long before he pulled off the Mask And first to gratifie the Roman Catholick Party he declar'd himself of their Communion and made open Profession of it Which some Protestants lookt upon as a good Omen and the product of a generous Soul above Dissimulation whilst others more clear-sighted lookt upon it as an effect of a wilful Nature that thought it needless to Dissemble now the Power was in his own hands To Establish his Religion here was I confess a difficult Task considering how small the Popish Party was the Protestants then by the best Computation being reckon'd 200 to one But the Advantage of a Crown is a great Bait and has a mighty Influence The Hopes of worldly Preferment and the Dread of Majesty would in all probability draw in a great Party Besides what was expected by way of Persuasion from the Industry and Activity of Popish Emissaries Nor do I doubt but the King promised himself great Matters from the Church of England Party which having ventured so much to secure his
A COMPLETE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION FROM The first Rise of it to this present Time In Three Parts SHEWING I. The Growth of Popery in England under the Reign of the late King CHARLES By his Connivence French Intrigues c. II. Our Imminent Ruin in his Popish Successor King JAMES his Reign By his Invading of our Laws Religion and Liberties With a Particular and Impartial Narrative of the fictitious Great Belly III. Our Wonderful and Happy Deliverance by the PRINCE of ORANGE Our present King 's famous Expedition over into England With an Account of the late King James's Desertion and Abdication of Their Majesties happy Succession to the Throne of Great Britain and of Their prosperous Reign hitherto by Defeating the Jacobites dark Plots in England by Suppressing their open Rebellion in Scotland and by the Total Reduction of Ireland To Which is Added A Postscript by way of Seasonable Advice to the Jacobite Party LONDON Printed for Samuel Clement at the Lute in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. THE HISTORY Of the LATE REVOLUTION PART I. Shewing the Growth of Popery in England under the Reign of the late King Charles TO demonstrate the Growth of Popery in this Kingdom as the first Occasion of all our late Distractions I shall begin at the Head and come up to the Original Cause All the World knows that the Ruin of the Protestants and the Inslaving all Europe have been the two grand Designs of the Reign of Lewis XIV the first influenced by an infused blind Zeal and the last being the product of his own insatiable and boundless Ambition To the first he was prompted by those Spiritual Engineers the Jesuits who ever made it their business to set the World in a Combustion And the last he attempted to please his own Humour and gratifie his excessive Pride The Holy Cabal had resolv'd upon the Extirpation of the Protestant Heresie And such has been the effect of their Inchanting Eloquence and reputed Skill in Politicks that they are in a manner become Companions for Princes and Crowned Heads of the Roman Communion In point of Conscience they are their usual Directors and their Decisions are to them as Laws and Oracles 'T is therefore no wonder that the French King being inspirited by these Men should follow their Directions Whose Confessors being of that Order always indulged him in his Criminal Courses with Assurances of Salvation if he did but apply himself with Zeal and Fervency to so meritorious a Work as the Extinguishing the Protestant Heresie This forsooth would make him the Favourite of Heaven and an Immortal Prince on Earth Infatuated with these Delusions he struck in with the Society subscribed to their Dictates and resolved upon their Project In short he dispos'd all things to purchase Heaven with a Hellish Zeal and to improve his Fame upon Earth with the infamous Character of a Tyrant and Persecutor His Protestant Subjects to whom he owed his Elevation on the Throne he undermined during several years and by degrees weakened their Party till he thought fit at last to pull off the Mask and to fall foul upon them Abroad he had his Agents to inspire other Princes with the same Unchristian Zeal and put them upon the same Methods of Cruelty for promoting of a Religion whose Principles chiefly tend to make the Clergy Great and the Laity Slaves Hungary Bohemia Poland and Piemont not long since have felt the fury of this Spirit of Persecution And England by his means was like but few years ago to feel the same Calamity so near it was to fall a Sacrifice to the ambitious Designs of Popery and with its fall to carry the Ruin of all the Protestant Interest in Europe That the Design was laid in the Reign of King Charles is apparent by the Growth of Popery here whilst he swayed the Scepter And for this we may thank our unhappy Civil Wars in the Reign of King Charles I. when that good King being put to death by a prevailing Party and the Royal Family dispersed thereupon into Popish Countries the Princes of the Royal Blood were easily poysoned with Popish Insinuations that the only Way for their Restauration and to Reign Arbitrarily was to imbrace or at least to favour the Roman Religion Tho' I am not fully satisfyed that King Charles II. was ever actually Reconciled to the Roman Church whatever has been reported to the contrary but rather that he was too clear-sighted to think well of her Principles yet it is plain by the whole Series of his Reign that he made his Government as easy and favourable to the Roman Party as his Circumstances would allow and that he gave 'em all possible Incouragement But as he was a Prince naturally inclined to Clemency and abhorrent from Cruelty so this Proceeding of his was rather look'd upon as an Effect of his good Nature than of any Design upon the Protestant Interest of these Kingdoms If we reflect upon the Course of his Life during his Reign it seems his Aim was to please all Parties that he might injoy himself and Reign in Quietness But still he kept to an outward Profession of the Reformed Religion as by Law established and from time to time soothed up his Parliaments with solemn Protestations of his faithfulness to their Religion and Liberties Such was the Posture of Affairs in his Reign that tho' he would not himself bring in Popery downright yet he made the way smooth for it For whilst he minded his Amours more than the Government the Thieves stole in and grew upon us Who being countenanced by his Brother the Duke of York a Prince more daring and gone over to the Roman Church began now to build all their Hopes upon him The King having no Issue by the Queen and in process of time no hopes of any by her the Duke remained the Heir apparent and was consequently lookt upon as the Rising Sun On whom His Majesty too much given to Ease and Pleasure disburdened himself of the active and troublesom part of the Government which he left in a great measure to his Care Thus his R. H. had a fair Opportunity to gratifie the Roman Party and improve their Interest here whilst the King connived at iâ— And tho' â—e did not openly profess himself a Papist his forsaking at last the Church of England wherein he was bred and born and espousing so much as he did the Popish Interest sufficiently evidenced his being of that Communion The King being a Prince bigotted to no Religion but linked to the French Interest gave him a great Latitude And this was so far improv'd by the French King that in the Interview which happened at Dover Anno 1670 between our King his Brother and their Sister the Dutchess of Orleans a Treaty was there managed by the Dutchess between both Kings whereby the French King did promise King Charles to Subject his Parliament to him and to Establish the Roman Religion in his Kingdom In
order to which the Hollanders must first be brought down and both Kings joyn in Arms to make them incapable of being any longer a Support or Refuge for Protestants Delenda est Carthago In short Anno 72 the Storm broke out upon Holland that Nest of Hereticks And in two Campaigns we saw that Potent State at that time our only Rival upon the Ocean brought by the French King's Land Forces to the last Extremity whilst we harassed them at Sea and fought them but without any great Advantage on our side We had indeed a Frenchy Squadron in conjunction with our Fleet but their business it seems was not to fight All their Care was to be Spectators of our Fights at a convenient distance and to see if the English did their Duty well In the mean time they learnt the Art of our Sea-fights and had the satisfaction to see these two Protestant Nations thus weaken one another which was the French King 's chief Aim This Conduct of the French at Sea with the amazing Progress of their Arms by Land happened to open our Eyes For till then we were possessed of the Justice of the War on our side considering the many Provocations of the States as they were mustered in the King's Declaration We could not imagine that King Charles had any other Design than to curb their Pride and lessen their Power at Sea for the benefit of our Trade and Navigation in order to which a little help tho' from France was not thought amiss The Dover-Treaty lay then under the Rose and we knew not what Snake lay in the Grass The King wanting Mony to prosecute the War convened his Parliament The Danger we were in by the apparent Ruin of a Neighbouring State of the same Religion with us and now become with our help a Prey to the French came soon under Debate The Parliament voted a Peace with the States And the King finding no Mony was to be had without it yielded to their Desire and made a separate Peace This startled King Lewis who from this very time concluded that King Charles was not to be relyed on for the execution of that grand Religious Design he had been so long big withal And to be even with him for his Desertion in this War he caused not long after the Dover Treaty to be published with his Priviledge by the Abbot Primi in his History of the War with Holland whereby he chiefly designed to make the King odious to his People The Duke of York upon this was look'd upon as the fitter Person for the Project in hand who wanting neither Zeal nor Ambition was a Vessel altogether prepared and moulded for his purpose Whereas King Charles was like the Church of Laodicea neither Cold nor Hot and therefore to be spued out The Dutchess of Orleans or rather the French King by her means had sent to King Charles a French Curtain Sollicitor but a true Member of the Holy Church as a Pledge or Memorandum of the Dover Treaty Who for her close and faithful Commerce with the King was made D. of P. The same Care he took of his R. H. to keep him in a right Cue and steady to his Principles but by way of Marriage So that he was both Procurer and Match-maker The Match was Mary the late Duke of Modena's Daughter an Italian Princess of no great Fortune but of an Ancient Family and which was most to the purpose a Princess intirely devoted to the present Interest The Duke had been three Years and a half a Widower And as the Case stood there was a Necessity for his R. H. to venture on a second Match that the Succession to the Crown might be Intailed either by Nature or Art to an Heir Male. The Lady Mary and the Lady Ann his two Daughters by Ann his first Wife were bred and born Protestants and such were not for the present Turn King Charles who was sensible how unacceptable this Match was to his People and fearing some ill Consequences of it upon himself resolved however to dispose of his Royal Nieces and to Marry them to Protestant Princes to allay the Jealousies and Fears from this New Match Which indeed were something the less for the then common Opinion That His Royal Highness was too much Frenchifi'd to get any durable Iâ—ue To the Lady Mary was given in Marriage to the Prince of Orange Anno 1677 and the Lady Ann to Prince George of Denmark in the Year 1683. But few days after the Lady MARY was married to the Prince of ORANGE the Dutchess of YORK was brought to bed of a Son created Duke of Cambridge who dying in four or five days the Popish Faction had but a short Joy of it In the mean time his R. H. being the next Heir to the Crown and the Papists resolved not to lose this Opportunity turned every Stone to make their Party good by Plotting and Conspiring even with Authority against the Government The KING was healthful and of a strong constitution but wanted zeal or boldness to secure their Interest The DUKE was zealous and bold but wanted a sound Body In short according to all humane probability the KING by the strength of Nature was the most likely to live These Considerations were like enough to give Birth to that famous Conspiracy which upon its breaking out made so great a Noise in the World I mean the Popish Plot. And tho I cannot believe it in all its Branches as made out by Dr. Oates yet in the main 't is more than probable that there was a Plot on foot against the Government Mr. Coleman the Dukes Secretary's intercepted Letters are a sufficient Proof of this who kept as appears by those Letters a close Correspondence with Father La Chaise the French King's Confessor for the Extirpating the Protestant Religion in these Kingdoms under the name of the Northern Heresy That to Extirpate imports a violent Act is a thing undeniable So that the Roman Religion was not to come in by fair means or by way of persuasion but by force and violence And 't is like a great deal more of that wicked Design had appeared if amongst Coleman's latest Letters for two years and a half that were brought to White-Hall many had not been there supprest and kept from the sight of the Parliament Yet upon his Trial he openly avowed the Design of Subverting the Protestant Religion wherein he owned himself a subordinate Minister This Plot kept for a while the Papists under Hatches and forced the Duke himself upon the King's Command to withdraw for some time out of the Kingdom so that he went first to Flanders and afterwards to Scotland Mean while the House of Commons who lookt upon him as the great Abettor and Supporter of the Popish Interest went so far as to attempt his Exclusion from the Crown But as vigorously as it was carried on in the House of Commons it was quashed in the House of Lords by the Church